The "promotion of the worship of God and German loyalty, cultivation and improvement of the German language and poetry" was the goal of the so-called Pegnitz-Schäfer, formulated in baroque floweriness. The poets' association, based in Nuremberg and named after the river Pegnitz there, was progressive in one respect, however: women could also become members. Gertraud Möller was the best known of them in her time, and was even crowned "poeta laureata" in 1671. The poet, who came from Königsberg, took the opportunity to compile an extensive collection of her works, which were printed under the title Parnaß-Blumen. Much of this magnificent collection of poems was set to music by Möller's Königsberg composer friend Johann Sebastiani, just as magnificently for singing voices with instrumental accompaniment. Alternating between touching love and mourning songs and pointed caricatures, Wunderkammer and Aelbgut's selection presents the plump baroque reality of life with haunting intensity.

Classical Music

After exploring the evolution of Italian and French music in the seventeenth century, Jerôme Lejeune devotes a new volume in his History of Early Music to Germany. During this century in which the Lutheran musical tradition developed further, Germany lived through a particularly enthralling period, bringing the musical world a highly original language, but also assimilating Italian and French models with talent and imagination; all of this unquestionably prepared the way that leads to Johann Sebastian Bach. As in the other volumes of this collection, the recorded examples are selections taken from the works that are the most representative of their period. The Ricercar catalogue is particularly well-provided with examples of German music of the seventeenth century.