Description: The relationship between music and religious identity in Augsburg on the eve of the Thirty Years War is the focus for this book. How did 'Catholic' and 'Protestant' repertories diverge from one another? What was the impetus for this differentiation, and what effect did the circulation and performance of this music have on Augsburg's religious culture? These questions call for a new, cross-disciplinary approach to the music history of this era, one which moves beyond traditional accounts of the lives and works of composers, or histories of polyphonic genres. Using a wide variety of archival and musical documents, Alexander Fisher offers a holistic view of this musical landscape, examining aspects of composition, circulation, performance, and cultural meaning.
Review Quotes: '... an interesting study, with enough music quoted to give an idea of what the evangelising catholics were trying to do... ' Early Music Review '... an engaging account that will be of interest to music and non-music historians alike, Fisher's 'case for Catholic music' restores a much needed balance to the scholarly literature on early seventeenth-century German lands.' Sixteenth Century Journal 'This book is an outstanding specimen of the growing literature on urban religious and musical life in early modern Europe. It may not yield an entirely straightforward picture of Augsburg's history [...] but Fisher has made a significant, even indispensable, contritution towards that history.' Journal of Ecclesiastical History