The depiction of emotions came to the fore in the music of the late 16th century. Religious content is foregrounded, told from the perspective of the protagonists in order to generate compassion and understanding. In Tarquinio Merula's Canzonetta sopra la nanna, Mary's love for her child is just as palpable as her fear of his impending fate. Sacred songs such as the Salve Regina are transformed by Claudio Monteverdi into an intimate prayer to the Virgin Mary. Placing secular texts in a spiritual context was another means used by early Baroque composers. Claudio Monteverdi rewrote the then-popular Lamento d'Arianna as Lamento della Maddalena; Arianna, who laments for her beloved Theseus, becomes Marie Maddalena, who has been abandoned by Jesus. The Aria sopra la Romanesca by Paolo Quagliati is a reinterpretation of a love sonnet. "Working out and showing all these emotions in an almost theatrical style is the appeal of this music. We particularly enjoyed doing that," says Pia Davila.

Homage to the powerful was nothing unusual in the Baroque era; Thomas Selle, however, took it a bit further: he paid tribute to several members of his prince's family with musical "Laudationes. Selle combined the compendium with "little sacred concerts," since secular power and religion went hand in hand. In these concerts, the everyday worries of the rural population, who hoped for consolation in religion, are the subject of discussion. Thomas Sella's work thus occupies a special position. The story is told on different levels, neo-Latin poetry meets Bible verses, combined in a highly intellectual way with subtexts and set to moving music. It unites: longing for peace and the romance of chivalry, religiosity and absolutism, cries of triumph and contemplation, archaism and humanism, pathos and charity, luxury and humility. Thomas Selle covers the entire spectrum of human nature in all its contradictions. Thus, this work remains highly topical even in our time.