Johann Klaj was one of the earliest representatives of German baroque mannerism and one of seventeenth-century Nuremberg's most gifted poets--perhaps the most gifted. Cofounder of the important poetic society Löblicher Hirten-und Blumenorden an der Pegnitz (Eminent Order of Shepherds and Flowers on the Pegnitz), generally known as the Pegnesischer Blumenorden (Flower Order on the Pegnitz), he played a leading role in restoring a level of literary quality unknown in Nuremberg since its golden age of Konrad Celtis, Eobanus Hessus, and Philipp Melanchthon. Klaj achieved greatness as the master of two forms in particular: Friedensdichtung (irenic verse) and Redeoratorium (declamatory oratorio). His irenic verse was a vehicle for celebrating the end of the Thirty Years' War; declamatory oratorio was a virtuosic performance genre of which Klaj himself was the creator and sole practitioner. In these two genres the musicality of his language is matched by few writers...