Discursive Parameters in Sacred Songs (1600–1650)

Abstract Chapter 2 first establishes the history of sacred songs in the vernacular and describes exemplary collections of sacred songs and their significance in formulating criteria for analysis applied to publications after 1650. An analysis of the sacred songs themselves as well as the collections’ introductions reveals why music was used to reach out to lay women. While early seventeenth-century collections focused on using music to combat the spread of Protestantism, later publications targeted the libertine influences of secular songs. The chapter also focuses on the establishment over time of several other trends: (1) the shift in social horizon toward women; (2) the shift in function from educational to devotional and recreational; (3) the shift away from the provinces to Paris and polite society, particularly those associated with the royal court; and (4) the shift away from multi-voice settings to solo songs.