The Impact of Protestant Prince Schools on Central German Figural Music Culture

• Applicant: Dr. Stefan Menzel
• Subject Area: Musicology
• Term: from 2016 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 322698668

The aim of this project is to give an account of the history of polyphonic sacred music in the heartlands of the reformation. Until today it is surprising how widespread this rather challenging type of music was in the homeland of Lutheran hymns, a fact that, though acknowledged by scholars, has never been subject to systematic inquiry. To begin, the impact of the reformation on Central German figural music culture will be examined, its consolidation and confessionalization traced in Wittenberg, Zwickau and St. Joachimsthal. At the centre of this project stand the prince schools of Meißen, Grimma, Pforta, and Schwerin where, ca. 1550-1580, the largest contemporary bodies of figural music where compiled. It will be argued that, after the decline of Wittenberg in 1547, the prince schools inherited the tradition of protestant figural music, maintaining certain repertoire traditions as well as establishing figural singing as a kind of general knowledge. To gain a distinct picture of the figural singing at the prince schools the historical formation of the repertoires as well as the way manuscripts, prints, and convolutes were used will be examined in detail. Finally, the influence of the prince schools on Central German music culture in general will be analysed for the time from ca. 1580 to 1600, determining the number of prince school alumni amongst Central German leading church musicians and investigating the maintaining of repertoire traditions in representative contemporary source bodies (Pirna, Löbau, Zwickau, Neustadt a. O., Udestedt). On the occasion of the reformation anniversary in 2017 the project aims to provide an up-to-date account of 16th century Lutheran church music, while shedding light on a musical heritage that has long been neglected on behalf of confessionally distinct pictures of the musical past of Central Germany.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants