Finding God in the Night Sky: Revelation and Devotion in Domestic Music, 1762–1798

Throughout history, the night sky has captivated the imaginations of both artists and philosophers alike. Yet, its perception underwent a profound transformation spurred by the rise and general acceptance of the “New Sciences”. No longer were the movements of celestial bodies seen simply as manifestations of divine intervention; instead, they were understood as governed by natural laws, ordained by God. The night sky emerged as a luminous stage for divine revelation. On the other hand, the endless dimensions of the sky and the constant discovery of new celestial bodies like Uranus in 1781 illustrated the limits of human comprehension. Because of the acknowledgement of this, several theologians use the night sky as an allegory for God’s sublime being, of which only parts can be understood, and thus, humans must rely upon revealed faith and tradition. Lastly, towards the end of the 18^th century, the so-called pantheism controversy drew broader attention to theological movements that saw nature not as divided from deity, but the deity as the one substance in nature. According to them, nature does not demonstrate divine attributes but is in itself divine.

The plurality of these theological strategies of using the night sky as a hermeneutic key to divine revelation is reflected in hymns and religious arias produced in the latter half of the 18^th century. They cumulate in the works produced by the circle around the family Münter in Copenhagen, active from c. 1760 to 1800. Balthasar Münter, priest for the German Congregation at Sankt Petri Kirke, published three collections of religious songs, set to music by various composers like Ernst Wilhelm Wolf and Carl Philipp Emanuel as well as Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach. Like her father, Münter’s daughter, Friederike Brun, was active as religious poet as well. Composers who worked with her texts were amongst others Friedrich Ludwig Æmilius Kunzen and Johann Abraham Peter Schulz, with whom she had a deep friendship. Both Münter and Brun stood in close contact with a huge number of intellectuals, theologians, poets, and musicians. The works produced by this network reveals a close collaboration between text writers and composers, in which writers would also act as musicians, and musicians would participate in theological debates. 

Therefore, this project is interdisciplinary in its core. The repertoire of hymns, chorales and religious songs is read as musical, theological, and socio-cultural sources, as they provide insights in performance practices, co-existing theological systems, and devotion. Additional sources from these areas, written in both German and Danish, contextualise the repertoire and support its interpretation.

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Jan Temme de Vries is currently pursuing his doctoral research within the framework of the “NightMuse” project at the University of Basel. He holds a Master’s degree in Musicology and a Magister degree in Theology. Following his studies at the universities of Freiburg, Vienna, and Oslo, he has served as a guest researcher at the Center for Grundtvig Studies in Aarhus (2022), the Fryske Akademy in Leeuwarden (2023/24), the University of Groningen (2023/24), and the Centre for Privacy Studies at the University of Copenhagen (2025). He has been active as a church musician since the age of 11.

“Because Night is Perfection”: Sacred and Devotional Musicking During the Night in Seventeenth-Century Secular Contexts

What did religious and devotional musicking at night look like in 17^th century secular contexts? What repertoires, musical behaviours, topics, instruments and styles were associated with the sacred representation of the night in the age between the completion of the Council of Trent (1563) and the epilogue of the War of the Spanish Succession (1715)?

In order to address these questions, in my project I will focus on a series of emblematic case-studies and new paths of research employing interdisciplinary innovative and transversal methodological approaches to sources from the past. In light of the intricate political, economic, cultural and religious panorama that constitutes Modern Europe, the cities of Bologna, Modena and Vienna, strongly linked but highly different with regard to their political, socio-economic, artistic and cultural background, offer the ideal setting for a comprehensive multi-perspective study, which can be contextualised within the broader Italian and European panorama. The reconsideration of musical activity as marked and influenced by day and night, and an overall view of music as a complex cultural and sociological phenomenon will allow a multifaceted outlook on musicking in the seventeenth century.

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After receiving my PhD in Musicology (Bologna – Madrid, 2022) I was a research fellow at the University of Padua and a contract researcher at the Conservatory of Venice. I am editor of two volumes for the opera omnia of Giovanni Bononcini (Fondazione Arcadia – Milan) and Giuseppe Tartini (University of Padua – Bärenreiter) and I wrote a monograph on the life and works of Carlo Ambrogio Lonati (forthcoming). I combine my interest in philology and musical dramaturgy with my work as a harpsichordist and organist in concerts and recordings.

My main research interests are the 17^th- and 18^th-century serenata and Italian violin sonata as well as contemporary music, particularly the harpsichord works of György Ligeti and the musical theatre of Silvia Colasanti. I usually collaborate with various national and international cultural institutions and associations that promote music, including the Fondazione Ugo e Olga Levi of Venice and the International Baroque Festival “Grandezze e Meraviglie” of Modena.