Mendelssohn’s choral cantata Verleih uns Frieden gnädiglich (Give Peace, O Lord), which set Luther’s translation of a Latin antiphon to music, was part of the repertoire of Kölner Dommusik, which had just been founded in 1806, and used the parts of the building that were already completed. The simple choral movement with its Romantic harmonization and the finely chiselled instrumental framing was consistent with the spirit of the Cecilian Movement, a
Romantic renewal movement within Catholic Church music of the 19th century.