Subproject 1: Musica angelica et consociatio hominum cum angelis. Angelic music in ecclesiastical spaces

This subproject combines expertise in music history, art, theology, and early modern piety to identify the performative and iconographical constitution of angelic music as a deeply intermedial phenomenon and to investigate the dynamic interaction between images and inscriptions present in churches and the music performed in ecclesiastical spaces. While the collaborative research focuses on the interplay of music, words, and images in the early modern period, the subproject is particularly interested in analysing the hermeneutical and eschatological relevance of this specific manifestation of spiritual intermediality. Special attention is given to the proleptic nature of all forms of horizontal media, as well as to the early modern belief that music was the only art form to be practised beyond Judgement Day.

To examine intermedial representations of angelic music in ecclesiastical spaces, the subproject analyses two corpora of polychoral compositions, which differ in terms of their compositional technique and transmission history, as well as the religious institution in which they were created: the first being compositions from German-speaking Protestant regions and Roman Catholic compositions in the so-called Colossal Baroque style being the second. In these works, polychorality is understood as the realisation of the biblical principle ‘alter ad alterum’ attributed to angelic singing – a viewpoint documented in the seventeenth century by Michael Praetorius, among others. In musical performances, this principle is realised by the way in which the musicians are positioned within the church space, which in turn enhances the music’s potential for cooperative interaction with the architecture and visual aesthetics.

To ensure a thorough understanding of the musical compositions in question, the interdisciplinary subproject connects them with research on early modern exegesis of relevant biblical texts, which includes critical commentaries, pious literature, sermons, and decorative motifs that accompany images and inscriptions on church walls. Of special interest are the iconography of angels and the inscriptions found on or near church organs, as they illustrate the idea that making music in churches creates a foretaste of the heavenly music to come – for instance, when organ music and the words sung by the congregation interact with the visual images, which in turn comment on and contextualise the music being played in the church.

The subproject benefits considerably from its close collaboration with subprojects 2, 3, and 4 since the representation of angels also plays a major role in early modern discourses on love, in meditational literature, and in sacred operas.