Cross, sword, and lyre

by Steven Saunders

Cross, Sword and Lyre introduces a nearly lost culture: the Vienna court of the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II (1619-37). During the Thirty Years War, Vienna was home to one of the largest, most resplendent musical organizations in Europe, and an important hub for the assimilation of modern Italianate music in the German-speaking lands. In this book Steven Saunders looks at the music in its cultural context, showing how sacred music at this pivotal centre was shaped by the composers, institutions, and ideas of the period. He examines the life and works of the most important court composers, particularly the two imperial chapel masters Giovanni Priuli and Giovanni Valentini. The book demonstrates how their music was shaped by liturgy, court ceremony, dynastic tradition, and music's function as courtly representation and political statement, as well as by the personnel, instruments, and repertoire of the music chapel.