Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Jan/78

Contributor - Mr. Herman Mulder

Title - The Growth Of Sacred Music: Part III "Martin Luther And The Reformation"

Topic - Music

"Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation; 0 my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation! Join the great throng;

Wake harp and psalter and song; Sound forth thy glad adoration."

Written in 1665.

Hymns of praise, hymns of adoration, and hymns of faith; all these would never have been possible had it not been for the Reformation initiated by Martin Luther.

The Church in Luther's time had no specific territory, but it was a state. It had its king in the pope, its princes in the cardinals, and its subjects in all of western Christendom. The authority of the Church was based on long tradition and many written go laws, but it did not unchallenged. Kings opposed the hand of the Church in. ruling their country; scholars questioned the interpretation of dogma; and the general public was burdened under the tithes and Church taxes.

When Martin Luther posted his ninety-five theses on the church door at Wittenberg in 1517, he had no intention of starting a movement that would result in the formation of organized Protestant churches completely separate from Rome. Luther, after all, was a Catholic monk.

Luther was a lover of music, -a singer, and a composer of some skill. He believed strongly in the educational power of music and wanted all the congregation to take some part in the music of the services. Remember that from the fourth to the sixteenth century music in the Church was mostly performed by church choirs. The congregation had little participation, except for the occasional responses.

The most important musical contribution of the Lutheran church was the congregational hymn called in German a "Choral" or "Kirchenlipd" and in English a "Chorale". As one of his reforms, Martin Luther wanted that the congregation participated in the service. He conducted services in German rather than Latin, and filled the service with congregational singing. "I wish", he wrote, "to make German psalms for the people, that is to say sacred hymns, so that the word of God may dwell among the people also by means of song."

Luther and his aides created the first chorales. They adapted a number of tunes from Gregorian chant, others from popular sources and from non-sacred music. Good. texts and melodies were taken, too, from Latin hymns and psalms. Originally sung in unison, these hymns soon were written in four part harmony to be sung by the church choir. The congregation continued to sing along in unison.

The effect that the Reformation had on music in France, The Netherlands, and Switzerland was quite different from developments in Germany. John Calvin and other leaders of the reformed Protestant sects were against keeping any part of the Catholic service. As a result, the notable musical productions of the Calvinist churches were the Psalters, rhymed metrical translations of the Book of Psalms.

The most important Dutch composer was Jan Pieter Sweelinck. Translations of the French Psalter appeared in Germany, Holland, England, and Scotland. Sweelinck used many of the French tunes and adapted the words for use in the Reformed Churches in Holland.

A combination of the English and the French - Dutch traditions, used in the Psalter brought out by Henry Ainsworth at Amsterdam in 1612 for the use of the English Separatists in Holland, was brought to New England by . the Pilgrims in 1620, and remained in use many years after the appearance of the first American Psalter, the "Bay Psalm Book" of 1640.

Much of the Reformation music took on a national flavour. The French Psalter melodies were alive and sparkling. Since the Calvinist churches in The Netherlands discouraged musical elaboration, the Dutch Psalter tunes remained fairly simple. The Lutheran chorales. on the other hand, developed into elaborate vocal and instrumental forms of music.

Two men were destined to follow in Martin Luther's footsteps; they were to build on the foundation which he had laid. Both men were German; both were born in 1685; both led active music lives closely related to the church. The men were Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frederick Handel.

Next month Part IV - "Johann Sebastian Bach, Master of the Chorale".

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