Die Sweelinck-Tradition im schweizerischen Engadin

Since the early eighteenth century, the printed editions of all Sweelinck’s psalm compositions are present in the municipal archives of Zuoz, Oberengadin. A number of these compositions have become part of the local musical culture and have been preserved in dozens of manuscript copies. The original prints of Sweelinck’s psalms appear twice, both times as part of an extensive convolute. One was purchased in Amsterdam in 1707 by the Swiss nobleman Balthasar Planta. The other was in the possession of the same Balthasar Planta in 1741. Already before 1832, the books were dispersed: a part remained in Zuoz, a part ended up in the Library of Congress in Washington, and a third part is untraceable.