Motet Notes

Johann Hermann Schein: "Ich bin die Wurzel des Geschlechtes David"

The text of the motet is from Revelation 22:16, 20, 21. It is no small thing to set the final words of the Bible to music, and Schein undertakes this task with a full sense of its momentous impact. The piece has a grand and conclusive bearing about it, as if the composer himself had for a moment felt the gifts of prophecy and hope so potent in the text.

© John Harbison