The lute books seem to have been for personal use, Pater (later Abbot) Herman Kniebandl, for example. But there are sacred pieces in two of the books from Gruessau (Mss 2009?? and 2011 now in Warsaw). I imagine the use of secular music in the monasteries may have been "local option."
The magnificent mountainside Monastery at Melk maintained an orchestra in the 18th cen. which played for visitors from a hidden room. (e.g., the emperor stayed at Melk while travelling). (The sounds issued through a circle-shaped window above the banquet hall. Otherwise secular music was apparently prohibited the monks, with one exception. Every year the monks were bleed, and for a few days thereafter the orchestra was permitted to play minuets while the monks recuperated.. But the question is an interesting one. That is, secular music in sacred places. As well as sacred music in secular places. Now about Johann Michael Sciurius aka? Eich�rnchen? Is that a valid German family name? AJN. <><> To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
