Music and religious identity in Counter-Reformation Augsburg, 1580-1630

By the late-sixteenth century, Augsburg was one of the largest cities of the Holy Roman Empire, boasting an active musical life involving the contributions of musicians like Jacobus de Kerle, Hans Leo Hassler, and Gregor Aichinger.

This musical culture, however, unfolded against a backdrop of looming religious schism.

From the mid-sixteenth century onward, Augsburg was the largest 'biconfessional' city in the Empire, housing a Protestant majority and a Catholic minority, ruled by a city government divided between the two faiths.

The period 1580-1630 saw a gradual widening of the divide between these groups.

The arrival of the Jesuits in the 1580s polarized the religious atmosphere and fueled the assertion of a Catholic identity, expressed in public devotional services, spectacular processions, and pilgrimages to local shrines.

The Catholic music produced for these occasions both reflected and contributed to the religious divide.