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.

Alexander J. Fisher is Assistant Professor of Music at the University of British Columbia, Canada.

Contents: Music and religious identity in a divided city; Protestant song and criminality; Musical life and Lutheranism at St Anna; The Counter-Reformation and the Catholic liturgy in Augsburg; Devotional music in Counter-Reformation Augsburg; So vil choros musicorum: music in Catholic processions; The Holy Mountain: music in Catholic pilgrimage; Music, confession, and the disaster of the Thirty Years' War; Appendix; Bibliography; Index.