Andreas Hofer’s Ver sacrum seu flores musici is the first printed collection of paraliturgical music for the archiepiscopal court of Salzburg published in a modern edition, an important reparative to the overemphasis on the court’s instrumental virtuosos, Heinrich Biber and Georg Muffat. The eighteen pieces of the collection are ordered liturgically, with each composition assigned to a specific feast day. Hofer’s texts are a unique collection of centonized scripture, poetry, and prose, which, through creative manipulation of instrumentation, texture, and style, the composer musically dramatizes for the celebration of each feast. Referred to in the note to the reader as works “for the offertory” (despite the absence of any prescribed liturgical texts), these pieces demonstrate the malleable nature of the musical genre in the early modern period.

Andreas Hofer’s Ver sacrum seu flores musici is the first printed collection of paraliturgical music for the archiepiscopal court of Salzburg published in a modern edition, an important reparative to the overemphasis on the court’s instrumental virtuosos, Heinrich Biber and Georg Muffat. The eighteen pieces of the collection are ordered liturgically, with each composition assigned to a specific feast day. Hofer’s texts are a unique collection of centonized scripture, poetry, and prose, which, through creative manipulation of instrumentation, texture, and style, the composer musically dramatizes for the celebration of each feast. Referred to in the note to the reader as works “for the offertory” (despite the absence of any prescribed liturgical texts), these pieces demonstrate the malleable nature of the musical genre in the early modern period.

Music, Piety, and Political Power in 17th-Century Salzburg traces the role of sacred music in the service of politics at the archbishopric of Salzburg, one of many jurisdictions that made up the Holy Roman Empire in the second half of the 17th century. The author reveals that the use of music to present political, cultural, and religious meanings was not limited to cross-confessional communities, the Imperial capital of Vienna, or other early modern metropolitan centers such as Munich and Paris. Presenting music as a powerful cultural artifact that informs our understanding of the religious and political relationships shaping the history of central Europe, this study expands our understanding of the history of music, absolutism, and Catholicism in the 17th century and will be of interest to scholars working in those areas.

"This reference classic has approximately doubled in size since its last publication 20 years ago, and the expansion involves more than the thorough revision and addition of articles about music of the past. More articles about 20th-century composers and composer-performers have been added, as well as topical articles about the gender-related, multicultural, and interdisciplinary ways that music is now being studied. Add to these changes that New Grove is also available online, making it a source that would have made its many-faceted creator Sir George Grove proud"--Outstanding reference sources, American Libraries, May 2002.