- Johannes Khuen
Johannes K(h)uen (1606 –
November 14 1675 ), priest, poet, and composer, was one of the leading literary figures of the earlyBaroque inBavaria . Khuen, who was born inMoosach and studied with theMunich Jesuits in the early 1620s, spent his entire career in the Bavarian capital as a chaplain to the Wartenberg family and beneficiary at the church of St. Peter. Between 1635 and his death he published at least fifteen books of vernacular sacred songs, some in multiple editions, with simple melodies and thoroughbass accompaniment that mark a distinctive stage in the adoption of sacredmonody north of theAlps . All were published in Munich, and the relatively narrow distribution of extant exemplars suggests that they were primarily intended for a local or regional audience.At least fifteen distinct titles attributable to Khuen appeared between 1635 and his death in 1675. Some of the larger compendia include the "Epithalamium Marianum" (1644), the "Tabernacula pastorum" (1650), the "Munera pastorum" (1651), and the "Gaudia pastorum" (1655). Khuen's poetry is closely related to that of the Munich "tract school" with which he was associated, and which included among its more prominent members the Munich court secretary
Aegidius Albertinus and the JesuitsJakob Bidermann ,Jeremias Drexel , and especiallyJakob Balde . Khuen's songbooks reflect the aims of the BavarianCounter-Reformation in their insistence on Marian, sanctoral, andChristological imagery; their vernacular poetry and folklike strophic melodies were designed for broad appeal.
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