Paradisus Musicus

Paradisus Musicus is the last collection of sacred music by Melchior Franck (ca. 1579–1639). It is a unique collection for small voices and continuo, and it includes expressive settings in German of the principal “comforting” texts from each of the sixty-six chapters of the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. Central to the collection are the concertos, which include forty duets for two treble or two tenor voices, nine trios, fifteen quartets, and two pieces for solo voice. The last eight concertos combine and contrast a pair of viols with the voices. As Kurt Gudewill suggests, although Franck came to the small sacred concerto later than contemporaries like Schein and Schütz, these concertos show Franck to be one of the most advanced composers of his time.