In the course of modern European cultural history, music has gained its own autonomous status. Sacred music is no longer representative. But is there still religious potential in the autonomous music since the 19th century? There is indeed - if we understand religion in a larger context. The contributions to this volume, which result from several years of fruitful collaboration of theologians and musicologists at the Evangelische Akademie Hofgeismar, translate Friedrich Schleiermacher’s formula that religion is an intuition of the universe into the sphere of listening. The possibility of a similar perception with regard to music is first discussed in two theoretical essays. 13 analyses of specific masterworks of European music history extending from Schubert to Schnebel attempt to provide concrete applications of this position. The book is accompanied by a DVD containing all the pieces discussed, some of which are not easily accessible elsewhere.