How it was possible, without today's means of communication, for the reputation of a musician, who was also in the service of a single place of education and devotion, to spread throughout Europe is something that modern man will find difficult to comprehend. The fact is, however, that the Roman composer and bandmaster Giacomo Carissimi received visitors from all over the world around the middle of the 17th century because of his incomparable ability to express every emotion and every word in tones and harmonies.

Johann David Heinichen (1683–1729) is without a doubt one of the most important composers from North and Central Germany in the same generation as Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) und George Frideric Handel (1685–1759). For a long time, he was known mostly for his two musical theory treatises – Gründliche Anweisung zur vollkommenen Erlernung des General-Basses (Complete instructions on learning basso continuo perfectly – Hamburg 1711) and Der Generalbass in der Composition (The basso continuo in composition – Dresden 1728) – as well as his activities as conductor at the Saxon-Polish court in Dresden. Later, modest attention was also given to his instrumental works, operas, sere- nades and (Catholic) sacred music written from 1721. However, the conditions under which Heinichen was able to develop his many talents as a lawyer, composer and music theorist have remained largely unknown until now. The same applies to his Protestant sacred music that was composed before 1710, the year he began his travels to Italy.