Enables readers and listeners to engage fully with the musical theology of these much loved choral works.

Behind the traditions of Western sacred music over the past four centuries lie a host of extraordinary individuals - everyday men and women - who submitted their talents to God, and to our great benefit. From Monteverdi to Howells, Rachmaninoff to Virgil Thomson and from Renaissance Italy to contemporary America, Gordon Giles takes readers on a 30-day, musical journey of discovery into the spiritual world of church music.