Mystical Love In The German Baroque »

This book identifies the cultural and devotional conventions underlying expressions of mystical love in poetry and music of the German baroque. It sheds new light on the seemingly erotic overtones in settings of the Song of Songs and dialogues between Christ and the faithful soul in late 17th- and early 18th-century cantatas by SchYtz, Buxtehude, and J.S. Bach.

Introduction Mystical love in German Baroque poetry and music - theme and method

1 Petrarchism 1

2 Petrarchan poetry and the madrigal in seventeenth-century Germany 25

3 Affective expression in poetry and music 71

4 Affect and discourse of love 119

5 Mystical love in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Lutheran poetry and theology 151

6 Spiritual and mystical love in seventeenth-century vocal music 225

7 Mystical love in Johann Sebastian Bach's vocal works 273

Summary and perspectives From Laura to the heavenly bridegroom 319

App Compositions discussed in the text 329

Bibliography 331

Index 345