Even in the early 17th century, Hamburg was an extremely attractive city - thanks to it's harbour and connection to the world's oceans, and through skilful alliance policy, it was an important trading metropolis, politically neutral to an oasis in the turmoil of the Thirty Years' War. This naturally led to the development of a flourishing cultural life, which in turn attracted the most capable minds. One of these was without question Thomas Selle, who was appointed to the coveted position of town cantor in 1641. In the years that followed, he wrote a whole series of sacred works here. Around 1650, Selle compiled what he considered to be the most relevant of his sacred compositions in order to preserve his work for posterity. As was usual in his time, there were different instrumentation variants of the works, so that Selle showed several alternatives in Concertuum Latino-sacrorum. The result is a fascinating compendium of one of the most important composers of his time.