Gospel settings in seventeenth-century Lutheran Germany : meditation in the service of musical homiletics

Abstract

This article looks at seventeenth-century sacred music for contemporary significance. It considers the repertoire of the generations active before the early eighteenth century with attention to contemporary devotional and homiletic practice.  Settings of Gospel texts by mid-sevententh-century Kantoren and Kapellmeister reflect the rich variety of musical styles available to composers across Lutheran Germany.