According to Grove (too long to copy out, and I haven't got a scanner), the 'pursuit' meaning of the word is said to have something to do with, as it were, 'looking for difficulties' when composing music, as all the pieces of that genre are contrapuntal/polyphonic in nature. This is not easy to do/compose and is thus a technique to be 'sought after', i.e. 'pursued'. Grove does not state that this is the real meaning of the word, but suggests it as a possibility. Hope this helps
Tom Beck --
