unusual is a collection from 1602 called Contrapuncti, which are early examples of fugues. They are strictly contrapuntal, and include real answers; occasionally the points of imitation use stretto. Each successive point of imitation uses as its text the successive verse of the chorale being set. Even though most of his motets use frankly Renaissance contrapuntal idiom, he often used the basso continuo, a relatively recent innovation of the early Baroque, and also used instrumental doublings of the vocal parts. Franck was a conservative composer who was contemporary with the more famous, and much more progressive, Heinrich Schütz; however his works were popular and often reprinted during his lifetime. References Article "Melchior Franck", in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. Manfred Bukofzer, Music in the Baroque Era. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1947. The Concise Edition of Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, 8th ed. Revised by Nicolas Slonimsky. New York, Schirmer Books, 1993. External links Renaissance composers German Baroque composers German classical composers 1570s births 1639 deaths 17th-century classical composers German male classical composers 17th-century male musicians