As the monasteries of the German-speaking countries emerged from the ravages of the Reformation, they found themselves in quite a different religious landscape. Gone were the days of absentee abbots who preferred hunting to chanting, or illiterate monks who feasted rather than fasted. In the wake of the Council of Trent, monks and nuns, friars and sisters, were expected to contribute to the religious regeneration of the Catholic Church, and to find a new sense of purpose for their cloistered existence. Music played an important part in this project, both as a tool of monastic discipline and as a source of spiritual joy. In a healthy religious institution the daily round of prayers, the Liturgy of the Hours, was sung diligently and devoutly with the correct melodies. Monks brushed up their skills in writing chant books, nuns introduced the Roman breviary, and novice masters and mistresses spent hours teaching the boys and girls Latin and singing.

Towards the end of the sixteenth century many religious orders, especially the Benedictines and Augustinians, embraced polyphonic music for the celebration of solemn feasts, with singing, organ playing and even instruments. Masses, motets and Magnificats by renowned contemporary composers – and a good number of talented monks as well – not only adorned the sacred spaces for the greater glory of God, but also reached out to the people beyond the cloister. Music was intertwined with the monastic existence, and this album, entitled A monk's life, charts the life cycle of a monk through the music he might have heard, sung or composed.