The Musical Heritage of the Church Volume IV Edited by Theodore Hoelty-Nickel Valparaiso, Indiana The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 2 Table of Contents ( G L W R U ¶ V 3 U H I D F H Foreword Introduction Worship, Its Holiness, Spirit, and Truth M. Alfred Bichsel, Valparaiso University Church Music Reform Theo. Hoelty-Nickel, Valparaiso University Johann Gottfried Walther (1684 ±1748) Walter E. Buszin, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis The Editorial Practice of George Rhaw Leo Schrade, Yale University Heinrich Schütz and Johann S. Bach in the Protestant Liturgy Leo Schrade, Yale University Cultural Values of Church Music and Liturgical Worship Walter E. Buszin, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis Musicology in the Service of Church Music Hans Rosenwald, New York The Rise and Decline of English Church Music Donald N. Ferguson, Emeritus, University of Minnesota The Problem of Creating Suitable English Translations for the Great Masterpieces of Lutheran Choral Music Elmer Foelber, Editor, Concordia Publishing House The Musical Heritage in the Life of the Congregation Martin J. Bangert, Sheboygan, Wis. Toward the Future Carl Halter, Concordia Teachers College, River Forest, Ill. The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 3 ( G L W R U ¶ V 3 U H I D F H The essays contained in this volume were presented at the Valparaiso Church Music Seminar during the summer sessions from 1947 to 1952. They are being published as Volume IV of the Musical Heritage Series. It has been our policy to publish this material as it was presented at our conferences. The opinions expressed are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect our point of view. The editor wishes to extend his appreciation to Professor E. Foelber and his staff for many editorial suggestions. Also to Messrs. J. P. Miller, L. A. Miller, and C. I. Miller for the establishment of the J. P. Miller Church Music Foundation, which has made possible the continuation of these publications. Theo. Hoelty-Nickel Valparaiso University February 8, 1954 Foreword This volume marks the tenth anniversary of the Church Music Seminar of Valparaiso University. Begun in 1944 under the scholarly leadership of Professor Theo. Hoelty-Nickel, this annual gathering of leaders in the music of the Church has made lastingly significant contributions to an understanding of the magnificent musical heritage of the Lutheran Church. Nor has it neglected other strains of melody in the history of Christendom. Consistently it has sought and found and glorified the good, the true, the beautiful in the musical response of man to the fact of his redemption and the hope of his heaven. Surely few activities are more relevant in our dissonant time. A singing man ²singing of faith and God and love ²will probably be a believing man. His heart will know what the melodies say and, soon or late, that knowledge will be translated into life. Our colleagues in the Department of Music at Valparaiso University and their co-workers are therefore engaged in an important work. It is doubtful that any Church can argue its way out of the heresy and shoddiness and sentimentality of the twentieth century. Perhaps God will give us a day when we can sing and play our way out of the swampland of our time ²returning by way of worship and song to the great truth of our redemption and the eternal verities of the living God. For such a day our musical and liturgical scholars are preparing. More power to them! O. P. Kretzmann The Feast of the Epiphany, 1954 The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 4 Introduction Church Music Seminars of Valparaiso University Undoubtedly one of the most important departures from the lackadaisical attitude of congregations towards church music is the recent movement initiated by Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Indiana, which is affiliated with The Lutheran Church ±Missouri Synod. The P R Y H P H Q W K D V I R U L W V V O R J D Q ³ 7 K H 0 X V L F D O + H U L W D J H R I W K H & K X U F K ´ 3 U H D F K H U V F K R L U P D V W H U V organists, and other music lovers have united in this movement in order to awaken the Lutheran congregations of America from indifference and to demonstrate to them the greatness and the beauty of the tradition of the Lutheran Church in the field of musical composition. The head of this aggressive circle, which believes in invigorated religious thinking and invigorated church music culture, is Prof. Theodore Hoelty-Nickel, a practitioner of music who has a scholarly outlook on matters musical and under whose guidance the project has made noteworthy progress. The sessions of the church music seminars in Valparaiso are centered in such topics as the Protestant chorale, organ music in the 17th and 18th centuries, a cappella singing, and other topics stressing the relationship of the liturgy and religious thought to music. But the movement is by no means an academic one; on the contrary, Professor Hoelty-Nickel E H O L H Y H V W K D W W K H ³ + H U L W D J H R I W K H & K X U F K ´ L V D F R Q F H S W Z K L F K F D Q E H P D G H F O H D U W R F R Q J U H J D W L R Q V generally by professional and amateur ensembles combining their efforts to give practical demonstrations of old choral and organ music, both in the services and apart from the services. From the very outset the Valparaiso program has emphasized the necessity of applied scholarship. The principle is explained as the combined activity of scholars and practitioners for the purpose of effecting a restoration of Lutheran church music written between Luther and Bach. This movement should have a decided influence upon all American Protestant Churches. An important contribution to date is the publication of several volumes of lectures delivered at the Church Music Institute and printed by Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, Mo., which has recently begun to specialize in the publication of the musical heritage of the Church. While until a few years ago church music literature of the 16th to the 18th century was available practically only in esoteric scholarly editions, most of which had to be imported from Germany, we now have in America also a series of good church music of the masters edited for practical purposes in editions which reveal a scholarly attitude and an understanding of style. The writer of this article is happy to report that the music-pioneering Lutherans at Valparaiso University have shown a deep understanding of the strictly musicological issues. As the first musicologist to participate in the program, he was indeed gratified to learn that the members of the movement included in their deliberations, lectures, and discussions leading scholars of the world. To name but a few: Paul Henry Lang, Professor of Musicology at Columbia University, New York; Leo Schrade, Professor of Musicology at Yale; Paul Nettl, Professor of Musicology at Indiana University; and Professor Donald Ferguson, Professor of Music at the University of Minnesota. In formal and informal addresses, these and others have discussed questions concerning Luther, the chorale, the organ music of the Baroque, the performance of old masterworks in general. The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 5 Most gratifying of all ²in addition to the fact that these seminars have attracted musicians from D O O R Y H U $ P H U L F D W R D O L W W O H F R O O H J H W R Z Q L Q $ P H U L F D ¶ V 0 L G Z H V W ²is the enthusiasm which has persisted after the meetings. If congregations on the whole have become more responsive to the better things in choral and organ literature, it is to no small extent due to the vigor of these conferences. Furthermore, the project has increased the demand for special training courses and even special training institutions in which prospective church musicians would acquire the musical experience and the artistic and scholarly knowledge necessary for the understanding of the musical treasure of the past. This demand is now being met. There are available now in the Midwest opportunities fo U P X V L F L D Q V W R D F T X D L Q W W K H P V H O Y H V Z L W K W K H P X V L F R I / X W K H U ¶ V W L P H with the works of such men as Buxtehude, Pachelbel, Boehm, Kuhnau, and others. More specifically, it can be said that already the interest in the cantatas of Bach and his contemporaries has risen throughout the country largely as a result of the inquiries and investigations by these devotees of church music. Few conferences on music in the past decade have been either as wholesome or as productive as the Valparaiso meetings. Here is one of the few places where today music scholars and artists sit down together to discuss vital issues which in turn will benefit Christian congregations everywhere. The man who has made this situation possible is Theodore Hoelty-Nickel. And one of the few universities which thus far have shown an understanding of the sad state of church music in America and taken definite steps to provide a remedy is Valparaiso University. Hans Rosenwald The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 6 Worship, Its Holiness, Spirit, and Truth* M. Alfred Bichsel *A series of four meditations delivered at the Devotions of the University Church Music Seminar, Sheboygan, Wis. I Matt. 4:10: For it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord, thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. This text is one of great significance and importance to all Christians since it gives a command of the Lord Jesus. You will recall that our Lord directed these words to Satan during the temptation. At the conclusion of the temptation the devil departed, completely vanquished by this sweeping statement. It is a passage that is reminiscent of the giving of the Law in Deut. D Q G D O V R R I R X U / R U G ¶ V R Z Q V X P P D U \ R I W K H ) L U V W 7 D E O H R I W K H / D Z , W V S H D N V R I W K H X Q L W \ and singleness of purpose of worship. It lays down the principle of the nature of Christian worship, which should be directed only to God. Worship includes many things, since the entire life of the Christian is to include all phases of worship. This text has one of the chief elements of Hebrew poetry ²parallelism. It contains the characteristic known as synonymous parallelism, in which the second portion of the verse reiterates the thought contained in the first in similar terms. The two terms are worship and service. Worship implies prayer, praise, obedience, and all virtues. Service implies doing the work of His church, such as preaching His Gospel of salvation, training the young in His doctrine, and finally the performance of our several tasks faithfully to His glory and for the welfare of our fellow men. One of the phases of worship is corporate or public worship. This phase of worship has made use of the arts to give greater glory to Him who is the Author of them all, and to edify both those who appreciate the arts and those who practice them. Perhaps the art that is the most significant in Christian worship is music. At the same time, because it is an art that is so vast in its scope, it is one that, curiously and paradoxically enough, is the most misunderstood and abused on the one hand, and on the other, it is one that is most appreciated and practiced with as high a degree of perfection as is humanly possible. The Church of all ages has closely practiced the art of music. The poetical books of the Scriptures give numerous indications of such practice. Isolated poems in other books of the Bible clearly indicate that such was the practice in Old Testament times as well as at the dawn of the Christian era. Some of the poetical books are certainly well known to us, as, for example, the Psalter. The superscriptions of many of the Psalms indicate with certainty that their conception was a musical one. Numerous references are made to music throughout the Word of God from The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 7 Genesis, beginning with Jubal, to the Book of Revelation, where we find the song of the redeemed and the song of the multitude. We are worshiping together at a service opening a Church Music seminar. Certainly it would be most pertinent to call attention to some of the great songs of Holy Writ so that we who are called to sing the praises of Almighty God might derive inspiration from our predecessors. We whose vocation it is to do a very important phase of the work of the Church can be encouraged by the singleness of purpose which motivated the ancients to practice their art for the worship and service of God alone. First of all, we think of the songs of Moses, the great lawgiver and hero of the faith. The Bible has preserved for our inspiration two of his songs. The first is the song of deliverance on the occasion of the flight of the Children of Israel from the Egyptians. The climax of this song is I R X Q G L Q W K H Z R U G V ³ : K R L V O L N H X Q W R 7 K H H 2 / R U G D P R Q J W K H J R G V " : K R L V O L N H 7 K H H J O R U L R X V L Q K R O L Q H V V I H D U I X O L Q S U D L V H V G R L Q J Z R Q G H U V " ´ ( [ ±19.) The other great song of Moses is the one that describes the Lord God, Jehovah, as the mighty rock (Deut. 32:1 ±43). Another beautiful song of the Bible is that of Deborah and Barak in Judges 5, which was occasioned by the victory of Israel over the Canaanites. In striking poetical thought, this piece gives utterance to the great power of God in upholding Israel in order that he might obtain the victory. Of a different nature is the song of Hannah, who sings her song of thanksgiving upon the occasion of the birth of her promised son, Samuel. In this connection we are reminded of the Song of the Blessed Virgin Mary after the Annunciation. Finally, before we leave the Old Testament we must call attention to David, that greatest of all singers. It is from his pen that many of the Psalms have come down to us. As we come into the New Testament, it would be a grave omission not to think of others besides the Blessed Virgin who have given voice to their praise of God in poem and song. We think, for example, of the high priest Zacharias, the father of St. John the Baptist, who, when his tongue was loosed, first gave utterance by praising and thanking God for his great goodness and mercy in the words that we today know as the Benedictus (Luke 1:67 ±79). The other great canticle that has found its way into the liturgy of the Church is the Nunc Dimittis. This poem was spoken by Simeon at the presentation of our Lord in the Temple. Probably the greatest of all the songs of which there is record in Scripture is the song of the angels at the birth of our Lord. We have already made reference to the songs of heaven found in the Book of Revelation. We need only to include with them also the song of Moses and of the Lamb, which gives praise to God for His greatness, holiness, and might. The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 8 We, who are the spiritual heirs of the ancient Church of the Old Testament, ought to carry on in this singleness of purpose in worshiping God and in serving only Him through the practice of our art. Our ancestors of the Christian era continued the practice of the musical art. This is attested to by numerous references in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles. This fact has even been recorded in some pagan documents. The Church of each age has made its contribution to our noble art, and the sum total of these contributions is what we have in mind when we speak of our musical heritage. The Apostolic and post-Apostolic Church received as its heritage the musical concept of the Temple and the synagog cults. To this the Gentile converts brought the strophic hymns of their Hellenistic and Roman heritage. The Church of the Middle Ages developed its musical thought around the liturgical rigidity of the Eucharist, and the Church of the Renaissance found a new vehicle for the same liturgical concepts in a rich polyphony. When Martin Luther, in the age of the Reformation, speaks of music, he does so not as a dilettante, nor as a great man of another field who feels that he must give lip service to the art, but he speaks as a sensitive and well-informed practitioner. The music that he has in mind is the rich polyphonic music of the Renaissance Church. But the needs of the new Church were such that not only those versed in the art might give voice to their worship of God, but that the humble and oftimes ignorant laborer also might do likewise. If all are to worship the Lord our God, and serve only Him, it must follow that an art that is part of that worship and service should be made available to the lowliest or that the lowliest be brought to such a degree of proficiency that he might be enabled to understand a difficult and complex art. History has shown us that the Reformation attempted and succeeded fairly well in doing both. Thus as the Church of the Reformation contributed enormously to the Christian musical art, it is without question our task to preserve the musical treasures of this as well as that of all ages of the Church, and likewise to make our contribution to the Church of our day along the path that guided our ancestors. We are living in an age of extreme materialism, secularism, and nationalism. The arts, and that includes the musical, are under the strong influence of these forces and are directed at satisfying the dictates of, and paying homage to, questionable ideals. The music of the world is aimed at pleasing man and glorifying his perishable exploits. Without question we are completely surrounded by these manifestations of secularism in the arts. This text has a warning for those of us who have the grave obligation of practicing the greatest art in the service of Christ. If we wish to follow the injunction of this text to the letter, we must be on our guard constantly so that the music we make or compose is music that is conceived purely for the worship of Almighty God. We must be sure that the underlying force that compels us to make music is one that is dedicated only to serving Him and Him alone, without so much as an eye on the approbation of man, the aggrandizement of self, and the furtherance of selfish interests. The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 9 May God Almighty, who is the Author and Finisher of our faith, and who is the Source of every good and perfect gift and talent, and who is the mighty Protector of the arts, give us that wonderful gift of His Holy Spirit, so that we may worship and serve only Him in our calling to practice the art which blessed Martin Luther called the handmaiden of theology. With this dedication the deliberations, the discussions, and the making of music will be both profitable and blessed. Amen. II Ps. 96:9: Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. For our meditation this morning, we have selected a verse from the Psalm that we have just read together. This we have done because of the great and important message it contains for us who are called to be leaders and singers of the Church. , Q R X U P H G L W D W L R Q R I O D V W H Y H Q L Q J Z H G L V F X V V H G R X U / R U G ¶ V F R P P D Q G W R Z R U V K L S D Q G V H U Y H R Q O \ Him, and we saw that the heroes and saints of the faith throughout the history of the Church did this in the practice of the arts. This morning, using the verse of this Psalm as our guide, we shall briefly discuss how we are to worship. ³ 2 K Z R U V K L S W K H / R U G L Q W K H E H D X W \ R I K R O L Q H V V ´ 7 K H 3 V D O P L V W V L Q J V R I E H D X W \ D Q G L Q G L F D W H V W K D W it is begotten of holiness. Holiness, as we all know, is an attribute of God, for only He is absolutely holy. God, being holy, is also the very essence of perfection. The beauty of holiness implies perfection. Here we see the connection between beauty, of which God is the Author, and God certainly would endow His creation with His own attribute of perfection, and absolute Perfection itself. In human terms, we also conceive of beauty as a manifestation of perfection, for we think of a thing of beauty as approaching perfection. Especially in the fine arts do we ascribe a human degree of perfection to beauty. We look for such things as symmetry and balance, both of which concepts are inherent in the idea of perfection. The worship of all Christians, then, should be beauty itself, since all believers are the children of God, and beauty is likewise the creation of God. The devotion of the regenerate child of the Almighty should be the constant flow of beauty of mind and spirit; it should be the outgrowth of the beauty of life; it should reflect that perfection for which we strive continuously. Applying this thought to us who have dedicated our lives to the practice of our art for His cause and in His service, the perfection that is inherent in beauty should be our goal. As far as it is within our power, and to the extent that God has endowed us, we should shun mediocrity and strive for mastery and perfection in the practice of our vocation. As those of you who strive for such mastery well know, its attainment is possible only to a certain degree, and only through The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 10 physical discipline and mental and spiritual exercise. All of this is possible only through the loss of self and dedication to Christ. There is a very important thing to remember as we strive toward perfection, and it is this: that R X U J U H D W H V W H I I R U W V D U H T X L W H V K D E E \ Z K H Q P H D V X U H G E \ * R G ¶ V S H U I H F W V W D Q G D U G V D Q G L W L V & K U L V W our Lord, who makes up for our insufficiency. This thought must be ever present in our minds when we deal with those whom we teach and guide, or those whose mastery does not match R X U V O H V W Z H E H F R P H O L N H W K H Z L F N H G G H E W R U L Q R X U / R U G ¶ V J U H D W S D U D E O H May God, our Father, the Creator of beauty, the Essence of holiness and perfection, give us His Spirit and fire us with such zeal that we may dedicate our entire being to Him and His service as we strive for mastery and perfection in our calling, that we may rightly worship Him in the beauty of holiness and with pure minds, hearts, and lips join the Psalmist in praising Him and V D \ L Q J ³ / H W X V V L Q J X Q W R W K H / R U G D Q H Z V R Q J ´ III John 4:24: God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Perhaps there is nothing more difficult for the human mind to comprehend than the things that pertain to the Spirit. So bound up are we with things material that spiritual matters are almost, if not completely, foreign to us. So attached are we to physical needs, urges, and impulses, so closely are our lives associated with the senses that it is very difficult for us to break the fetters of physical being so that we might be able to fathom and search out the things of the Spirit. Yet that is exactly what our blessed Lord has commanded us to do if we would come into closer communion with Him. You certainly must recall the background of this beautiful and powerful text. Our Lord spoke these words toward the close of His conversation with the woman of Samaria at the Well of Jacob. Her conception of worship was purely a physical one; one that was concerned with times D Q G S O D F H V D V V K H F O H D U O \ L Q G L F D W H G E \ K H U V W D W H P H Q W 6 K H K D G V D L G W R - H V X V ³ 2 X U I D W K H U V worshiped in this mountain; and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to Z R U V K L S ´ Our Lord then indicated to her that neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem would men in the future worship God. He continued with words that paraphrase the idea contained in our text. These words are themselves a summary of the first part of His reply: ³ % X W W K H K R X U cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for W K H ) D W K H U V H H N H W K V X F K W R Z R U V K L S + L P ´ We should be sympathetic toward the poor woman, for all of us are in the same condition. Too often are we tempted to think of the worship of God in terms of types of services, external organization, denominations and sects, and thus we lose sight of the very essence of worship, which should be of the spirit. The Church has been called the mystical body of Christ, a concept The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 11 that is a most spiritual one, but all too often this spiritual idea has suffered because His mystical body has been adorned with the curious vestment of denominationalism. Yesterday morning we discussed beauty and its relation to holiness and perfection. We see now that all of these concepts belong to the spiritual realm, for they cannot become absolute for us in terms of things material and physical. We whose vocation is that of servants of Christ in a very specific way are most fortunate in the practice of our art, for no other art is as intangible and spiritual as is the art of music. This art is bound neither by the confines of time or space. It is the only art that is mentioned in the Scriptures and as such was dedicated to the things of the spirit, even though it was often associated with the poetic art. The other arts must be graphically portrayed and thus must be physically bound in order to be effective. On the other hand, the musical art has never been and can never be adequately conveyed by any or all of the systems of notation that have ever been devised by the genius of man. Though dependent upon physical and human agencies for execution, we know that music far transcends those same agencies. Music thus dependent upon physical means for spiritual expression is not unlike faith, which is dependent upon external agencies for its growth, that is, the preaching of the Word, and the administration of the Sacraments. Our Lord knew our condition and as a result realized our dependence on physical means. For that reason He established particularly the most blessed Sacrament of His body and blood as a means of conveying spiritual power to man. It has been said by some that the mystical conception of God makes Him remote, yet since He is a spirit, such an approach to Him must be part of the life of all who worship Him, especially those who practice the art of music in His Church. Let us, then, approach our task with our minds focused on things of the Spirit through contemplation of the mysteries of His grace, through meditation on His wonderful Word, and through prayer for the gift of His Spirit, so that the same Spirit may guide us in all truth and lead us through fruitful lives in our work unto that life of the Spirit where all material and physical things shall have vanished. IV Acts 17:24, 25: God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven D Q G H D U W K G Z H O O H W K Q R W L Q W H P S O H V P D G H Z L W K K D Q G V Q H L W K H U L V Z R U V K L S H G Z L W K P H Q ¶ V K D Q G V D V though He needed anything, seeing He giveth to all life and breath and all things. In our meditation yesterday morning we spoke on the spirituality of worship, but we did not mention another condition of worship contained in that passage: truth. It, too, is a spiritual concept as are beauty, holiness, and perfection. Worshiping God in truth would then imply a The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 12 U H F R J Q L W L R Q R I W K H S X U S R V H R I Z R U V K L S ) R U W K L V U H D V R Q Z H K D Y H W D N H Q D S D U W R I 6 W 3 D X O ¶ V S R Z H U I X O V S H H F K W R W K H $ W K H Q L D Q V R Q 0 D U V ¶ + L O O D V W K H E D V L V R I R X U P H G L W D W L R Q St. Paul, himself a man of great intellectual capacity, had a profound respect for the great learning of the Greeks, and he was very desirous of making himself heard among these intellectuals. You will recall that he was very much concerned over the attitude of the Greeks toward the Gospel. In the first chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians Paul refers to the Greeks as being seekers after wisdom. He feared that for many of the knowledge-seeking Hellenes the Gospel of Christ Crucified would be foolishness. At the same time we cannot conceive of the Greeks as seeking after knowledge and wisdom without at the same time seeking after truth, for both of these quests have as their ultimate objective truth itself. In fact, many of the wisdom- and truth-seeking Greeks had come so far as to recognize the utter worthlessness of their polytheistic paganism, as is evidenced from the fact that they had erected and dedicated an altar to the Unknown God. It is even quite certain that some of them had knowledge of the God of Israel through acquaintance with the Septuagint or contact with great Hellenistic Jews of the Diaspora such as Philo of Alexandria. This true and living God St. Paul is now prepared to reveal to them. It is true that when St. Paul told his hearers that God the Lord did not dwell in temples made with hands he was directing his remarks against the polytheistic, idolatrous worship of the Greeks and Z D V S D Y L Q J W K H Z D \ I R U W K H V S L U L W X D O Z R U V K L S R I W K H W U X H * R G < H W 6 W 3 D X O ¶ V U H P D U N V W R W K H Athenians have a very special application for us today. Faith in the living God must of necessity be accompanied by a desire for truth. A recognition of that truth will make it quite evident that we are totally and completely unworthy to stand before a holy and just God, were it not for the merits of Christ our Lord. Such a recognition will produce in us a spirit of humility and would make us realize that we cannot harness the Spirit of God for material purposes. The works of our hands, the praise of our lips, the sacrifice of our substance, are acceptable to God only through Christ. Why should we worship, then, if God has no need of it? The answer is very direct and simple ²because God has commanded it, and the fact that He has no need of it does not mean that He does not want it! Further¬more, it is we who have need of it, since it is in our worship that He will reveal His truth which will make us free. As far as it is necessary for us to know truth for our salvation, God has revealed that truth to us. It is, then, our duty to worship Him in that truth. It is for us also who have been called to serve as were the Levites of old to seek after the truth so that all of our efforts in the practice of our art will be closely allied with that quest for eternal verity and in bringing it to those with whom we work. To sum up, we who would stand before God in a special way by reason of our vocation should worship God constantly ²we are to worship and serve only Him, we must worship Him in the beauty of holiness, and finally we must worship Him in spirit and in truth. The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 13 Church Music Reform Theo. Hoelty-Nickel A European student of Church Music visiting America for the first time is bewildered by the confusion he finds in the music of the Protestant Church in this country. He finds all types of music represented ²different styles and forms in which manifold spiritual ideas are expressed which seem to have no relation to Christian faith and life. Unfortunately it is true that many Protestant churches will accept everything and anything so long as it pleases, so long as it meets the immediate requirements of a particular congregation or a group within the congregation. Some feel that the Church should arrange its musical service to fit certain tendencies of our time. They have broken with the culture of the past and neglected the treasure of song and prayer that have been handed down to us. They have promoted the idea that our religious form should coincide with that of the language and music of our day. It is therefore not surprising that our friends and colleagues from Europe accuse us of a lack of knowledge concerning the true essence of Church music. There was a time, however ²not so long ago ²when these men were confronted by the same problem we are trying to solve here in America. The thoughts and ideas expressed in this essay were developed by and for European church musicians as problems confronting Protestant churches in Europe some twenty years ago.* 7 K H U H D G H U ¶ V D W W H Q W L R Q L V G L U H F W H G W R W K H V F K R O D U O \ S X E O L F D W L R Q V R I W K H % D H U H Q U H L W H U 9 H Ulag, Kassel, Germany, and, in particular, to the journal Musik und Kirche, from which the writer obtained his material for this essay. All Baerenreiter publications may be ordered through Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, Missouri. In Europe these ideas have borne fruit as anyone familiar with Protestant church music in Germany can testify. Here in America we are only now beginning to bring about a sweeping reform in our entire church music program. Unfortunately the conception of music and its production has for many years been under the complete domination of pure intellectualism. We have become victims of the machine age with its devastating effects on our cultural life, on the fine arts, and on music in particular. Tendencies toward mechanization play a greater part in directing our current presentation of music than we, perhaps, realize. Pure intellectualism, unconcerned with the life-giving qualities of spiritual forces, has found its symbol and instrument in the machine. The spirit of the machine has permeated even the very heart of music. Many have permitted singing, the original form of musical expression, to fall into disuse, and have shown a preference for instruments. The use of instruments, particularly those with keyboards, introduces an element of danger: the automatic tone, or the production of music without the expression of personal emotion. Thus the piano is The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 14 often played as a release from boredom. There would be much more singing in our homes if inspiration still motivated the individual. Singing itself has not escaped the influence of the spirit of mechanization. Our choirs, and, unfortunately, our church choirs as well, are often reduced to lifeless instruments when their selections, which are often far too difficult, are drummed into them in many grueling hours of practice. A sensitivity for music is rare in most church choirs. The members are willing to sing anything at all, because they have no idea that music ought to be the expression of their individual lives; they sing without true feeling. In this respect they are often in the same situation as the entire congregation. The lack of spirit with which the hymns are sung in many congregations indicates that spiritual life is almost extinct and that this singing is purely mechanical. For that reason this kind of hymn singing carries no appeal, nor can it awaken new life in others. We offer unmistakable proof of the living fire within us by our very singing. The music of our times is of two types: that which has a spiritual quality, and that which has not. This becomes apparent when we consider the composers of our day, many of whom are stimulated to creative activity by logical speculation upon theories, not by an instinctive need to create out of a wealth of emotional experience. It is apparent, too, in the reproduction of music, in the presentation of musical works. It is not difficult to state for which type of music we, as church musicians, must declare ourselves. Without question we can take our stand only with music of the spirit. T K L V P H D Q V L Q S U D F W L F H W K D W Z H P X V W E H J L Q D Q \ U H Y L W D O L ] D W L R Q R I R X U & K X U F K ¶ V music with singing, the most primitive language of the heart; that we must conquer the spirit of the instrument as such, so that song, the true expression of a heart aroused, arises even from the instrument. We who look for all this in music are faced today by numerous problems. One of them becomes apparent if we contrast the so-called Gospel Song with the Chorale of Luther. The circles from which the majority of these Gospel Songs emanate were indeed conscious of religious values; but it is unfortunate that so many of the composers of the Gospel Songs recognized as an expression of their experience just that type of music which we must decline to accept. As a result, their songs s W D Q G L Q Q R U H O D W L R Q W R W K H & K R U D O H R I / X W K H U ¶ V W L P H It is certainly true that music is a form of expression; but not every form of expression is at the same time art, particularly not religious art. We are dealing here with subjective and objective equations. The creation of true art depends upon the voluntary subordination of the individual human ego to a Higher Being. That which is no more than the expression of the individual is thereby molded into a definite form which has a meaning far wider than the original personal one. Of religious music in particular we must make this demand, for it becomes thereby the symbol of our relationship to God. The Chorale of Luther took on form in exactly this way. In contrast to it the modern Gospel Song is no more than the expression of a subjective, egocentric experience. Completely missing is a consciousness of the disparity between the level of our ego and that of the Godhead. We must be unwilling to be restricted to egocentric expression. We The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 15 must use the objective spirit of the early church music as our model, for the problem facing us today is that we must not stagnate in subjectivity, but acquire the attitude of subordination which made possible the spirit of that earlier art. We arrive, then, too, at the point of condemning the mechanistic tendencies of the concert so general in our times. Presenting music in concert-hall style is typical for the period of the cult of the individual (Prima Donnaism). Along with subjectivity, the striving for accomplishment by the individual has entered into music. Technical skill has been further developed, and the emphasis placed on the individual conception and interpretation. The emphasis is no longer on that which is common to all, but on that which differentiates one from the other. This concert- K D O O D W W L W X G H K D V G H W H U P L Q H G W K H X Q G H U V W D Q G L Q J R I P X V L F Z L W K R Q O \ W R R P X F K V X F F H V V I U R P % D F K ¶ V time until the present. It is still with us today, unfortunately, also in the music of the Church. We need not even mention actual concerts in the church in this connection. Music in the very church service is too often regarded as if the choir were performing in a concert inserted into the service. But the choirs are not alone in holding this view; the congregation often has it, too. Many an organist and choir director chooses difficult, pretentious works, not only to show off his mastery, but also to meet the demands of the congregation, which would probably believe that there had been no real industry shown if a straightforward and fairly easy hymn, a simple chorale perhaps, were to ring out on occasion. Our congregations show this attitude not only toward the music in the service, but in many cases also toward the entire service. They consider themselves very often nothing but an audience, participants in a pleasurable passivity, as if they were at a concert or a performance. They do not consider themselves active worshipers. If we now abandon the subjective attitude towards this art, de-emphasize the personal element, and approach it as the expression of the impersonal which unifies through its superiority to the personal, then the music of the Church will again serve the purposes of religion. If the Church accepts this approach, it will rediscover the polyphonic art, in which will be presented a picture of true impersonal unity. In it we see each perfectly constructed pattern of music fused without loss of vitality into a larger pattern of more abiding value. Each part is granted recognition, but is qualified and shaped by the requirements of the whole. That the individual should appear prominent, that is, that the separate patterns of the music should appear to have been formed to achieve separate effects, is scarcely possible in a polyphonic artistic production. The larger unity is supreme. For that reason polyphony actually reflects the spirit of true unity of purpose and must continue to be the type of church music which we choose before all others. The highest peak of achievement in music has been reached by polyphonic form, which has appear H G L Q F R Q Q H F W L R Q Z L W K H D F K I U X L W I X O S H U L R G L Q W K H & K X U F K ¶ V K L V W R U \ W K H continuity of this relationship has never been broken. And it is the form which all the great masters of church music have adopted. $ U H Q H Z H G X Q G H U V W D Q G L Q J R I W K H P X V L F L D Q ¶ V D U W D V service must replace the concert-hall attitude. That this must come about seems obvious from the above. If art is a vital expression, then it is most intimately connected with our personal life, and is created to serve that life. The aesthetic The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 16 conception of art ² D U W I R U D U W ¶ V V D N H ²is consequently abandoned. From the role which the hymn K D V S O D \ H G L Q W K H & K X U F K ¶ V K L V W R U \ L W L V S H U I H F W O \ F O H D U W K D W V R Q J V Z H U H Q H Y H U V X Q J I R U W K H S X U S R V H of creating beauty, but in order to express the emotions of the soul. From our other premise, however, that in presenting music we ought not thrust our own personalities into the foreground, it follows that our duty in producing music is to make ourselves its servants. This very attitude, this subordination of our personalities to a work of art, guarantees that our presentation of music will be more than a passing intoxication. Hence it follows that for us who are church musicians the presentation of music should be the service of God, before all else, and that all music in the church service (which very term means service to God) must be offered up like prayer. This attitude implies our turning all attention heavenward to God, forgetting ourselves and what we have merited. A presentation in this spirit becomes a service to the congregation as a matter of course ²not in the sense that we intend to give it a G H O L J K W I X O P X V L F D O W U H D W E X W W K D W E \ R X U P X V L F Z H R S H Q D S D W K E \ Z K L F K * R G ¶ V : R U G F D Q U H D F K the congregation. In connection with this we must, however, demand that the attitude of passive listening to music be abandoned. Attempts to give the congregation a clearer understanding of musical affairs in the Church by all manner of explanations and references should be abandoned. They testify to a rationalistic attitude which we have not yet overcome. Understanding is not the important thing in the presentation of music; it is something much more profound. Through the agency of music the congregation ought to perceive to some extent the active operations of the world of higher concepts, and ought to gain strength to join the choir in song raised like a prayer. Great works of art continue to have value throughout the ages; they have a message for all eras. Our evangelical church music came to being in times of emergency, in the midst of heated battles for religious freedom. It sprang from the hearts of pious men. It is in every sense great. In this particular category the evangelical chorale and all music derived from it stand first. During the difficult days which lie before us, it is our duty to lead our congregations to an ever deeper acquaintance with the genuine spirit of Luther, as it is particularly well expressed in the hymns of that period. God grant that we gain a true appreciation of this duty. Johann Gottfried Walther (16841748) Walter E. Buszin The universality, the timelessness, and the prophetic character of the masterpieces of immortals like Bach often obscure the fact that they were representative of certain classes of composers and were children of their times. Hence the musician who seeks to become familiar with the styles, techniques, and even with the spirit of the periods of the masters must make a careful study also of the works of minor composers. The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 17 Such a lesser master, who deserves greater recognition than he has receive G Z D V % D F K ¶ V contemporary and personal friend Johann Gottfried Walther. It is interesting indeed to note that two eminent friends and co-workers of the two most famous men of the Lutheran Church, Martin Luther and Johann Sebastian Bach, were namesakes. It is interesting, too, that these two Johann Walthers had much in common, as did Luther and Bach. Both were dutiful servants of their Church. The work of both, important as it is, has been misjudged and underestimated. Both deserve to be esteemed as highly as they were by their more illustrious contemporaries and friends Luther and Bach. A fairly exhaustive history of music which I consulted recently devotes not a few pages to Johann Sebastian Bach, but does not mention Walther. Yet Walther was one of the foremost contrapuntists and church musicians of his day; he contributed materially to the growth and development of his illustrious fellow citizen of Weimar, Johann Sebastian Bach. His works give us a clear and complete picture of the contrapuntal developments and practices of German organists during the 17th and 18th centuries. For Walther was no innovator; almost everything he did had been done before. But he summarized and synthesized the techniques and styles of his predecessors. Already for this reason his compositions are of special interest to us church musicians. What is more, they deserve to be played more frequently by American organists than they have been in the past. : D O W K H U ¶ V I R U E H D U V Z H U H R I 7 K X U L Q J L D Q V W R F N $ F F R U G L Q J W R + : ( Q J H O [1] the history of the Walther family may be traced back to the early years of the 16th century, the time of the Reformation in Germany. In 1523 and 1531 Claus Walther, a tanner, was mentioned as one member of the tetrarchy of Erfurt. A century later the name of Balthasar Walther was listed as a witness at a court proceeding in Erfurt. Johann Stephan Walther, a weaver, father of Johann Gottfried, was born December 18, 1650. His wife, as did the mother of J. S. Bach, belonged to W K H / l P P H U K L U W U H O D W L R Q V K L S % D F K ¶ V P R W Ker, nee Elizabeth Lämmerhirt, was the stepsister of 9 D O H Q W L Q / l P P H U K L U W W K H I D W K H U R I - R K D Q Q : D O W K H U ¶ V P R W K H U Johann Gottfried Walther was born September 18, 1684, in Erfurt, where he was baptized on the 21st in the Barfüsserkirche. He was the only boy in the family and had two sisters. According to available reports,[2] W K H I D P L O \ Z D V S R R U D Q G : D O W K H U ¶ V P R W K H U Z D V R E O L J H G W R V X S S O H P H Q W W K H I D W K H U ¶ V P H D J H U L Q F R P H E \ V H Z L Q J P H Q G L Q J D Q G G R L Q J K R X V H Z R U N I R U R W K H U Z R P H Q Nevertheless the parents did their best to give their only son a good education. For three years before he entered the Kaufmannsschule (Latin school) of Erfurt at the age of seven, they had him instructed in reading and writing by a private tutor whom a druggist had engaged for his own family.[3] Upon the insistence of Johann Aegidius Bach, Rath-Musicus of Erfurt,[4] he took up the study of music ²studying voice with Cantor Jacob Adlung[5] and the clavichord with Johann Bernhard Bach, the oldest son of Johann Aegidius.[6] After Johann Bernhard Bach moved to Magdeburg, Walther continued his studies with Johann Andreas Kretschmar,[7] formerly a pupil of Johann Heinrich Buttstedt, who, in turn, had been a pupil of Johann Pachelbel. According to a letter of October, 1729, Adlung had Walther appear as vocal soloist when he was but eight years old and continued to use him in this capacity even after Walther, in 1697, changed schools and entered the Gymnasium Senatorum. At the Gymnasium he served as The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 18 organist. Here he was taught to read Italian tablatures by Johann Bernhard Bach, while Kretschmar acquainted him with the idioms of composition used by Pachelbel and Buttstedt. In 1702 he became organist at the St. Thomas Church in Erfurt and took up the study of composition. Later he continued his studies in composition with Buttstedt[8] and attended lectures delivered in the Erfurter Hochschule, paying his tuition from fees received for lessons on the clavichord. Realizing that he had undertaken too much, he resolved henceforth to devote his full time to the study of music. Buttstedt proved to be an unsatisfactory teacher, making no attempts to interest and inspire the D P E L W L R X V \ R X Q J P D Q + H F R Q I L Q H G : D O W K H U ¶ V Z R U N F K L H I O \ W R F R S \ L Q J U X O H V D Q G K D U P R Q L ] L Q J figured basses. As a result, Walther decided to study independently. When he did not understand what he read, he asked Buttstedt for information. Since Buttstedt at times barely answered his questions and refused to explain problems, Walther found himself obliged on at least one occasion to bribe Buttstedt ¶ V V R Q L Q W R V P X J J O L Q J D W U H D W L V H R Q P X V L F D O W K H R U \ E \ - R K D Q Q 7 K H L O H out of the house. He copied what he wanted and then had the treatise returned. As was his friend Sebastian Bach of later years, Walther was largely self-taught. As did Bach, so he, too, journeyed to various music centers to hear musical performances and to become personally acquainted with musicians of note. In 1704 he journeyed to Halberstadt to meet Andreas Werckmeister, whose writings on the mathematical and scientific aspects of music were much read at that time. Through Werckmeister he became better acquainted with the Klaviermusik of Dietrich Buxtehude. He also made it a point to meet Johann Graf, a pupil of Pachelbel, and Wilhelm Hieronymus Pachelbel, the son of Johann Pachelbel. In 1707, before establishing himself in Weimar, Walther was encouraged to apply for the position of organist of St. Blasius Church in Mühlhausen where Johann Rud. Ahle had been organist up to his death in 1706. For some unknown reason,[9] Walther withdrew his name from the list of candidates. As is well known, the vacancy was filled by Johann Sebastian Bach. On July 4 of the same year, Walther applied for and obtained the position of town organist of Weimar, which he held to the end of his life. Shortly after arriving in Weimar, Walther became the teacher of the son and daughter of the Grand Duke; before long the children of other members of the nobility residing in Weimar received instruction from him. Thus he had a good income. In 1708 he married Anna Marie Dressler, who became the mother of his eight children. J. S. Bach served as sponsor for one of these, Johann Gottfried, born in 1712. Salomo Franck, the Weimar poet, became sponsor for another. In 1708, after serving for only one year at the place which Walther had learned to despise, J. S. Bach entered the service of the Duke of Weimar. An intimate friendship developed between : D O W K H U D Q G % D F K 7 K H V W R U \ R I K R Z : D O W K H U G L V S U R Y H G % D F K ¶ V E R D V W R I E H L Q J D E O H W R S O D \ D W sight any piece of music[10] is too well known to require repetition. The incident, however, S U R Y H V : D O W K H U ¶ V P D V W H U \ R I F R X Q W H U S R L Q W : D O W K H U D Q G % D F K D V L V D O V R Z H O O N Q R Z Q D V V L J Q H G The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 19 problems and tasks to each other and thus aided each other in mastering the art of counterpoint. 6 S L W W D ¶ V F O D L P What the friendship was later disrupted[11] does not rest on valid proof, based, as it L V P H U H O \ R Q W K H I D F W W K D W W K H V N H W F K R I % D F K L Q : D O W K H U ¶ V Lexikon is unduly brief. Brodde[12] points out that Handel is not even mentioned in the Lexikon. But this omission does not prove W K D W : D O W K H U D Q G + D Q G H O Z H U H H Q H P L H V 7 K H Y H U \ I D F W W K D W : D O W K H U O D W H U F R S L H G P X F K R I % D F K ¶ V music, e.g., the first part of his Well-Tempered Clavichord, K H O S V W R G L V S U R Y H 6 S L W W D ¶ V D V V H U W L R Q What is more, in 1729 Walther sent to his pu E O L V K H U % R N H P H \ H U V R P H R I % D F K ¶ V F R P S R V L W L R Q V and urged him to publish them. Even as late as 1738 Walther spoke highly of Bach in a letter to % R N H P H \ H U 8 Q I R U W X Q D W H O \ 6 S L W W D ¶ V F R Q F O X V L R Q Z D V D G R S W H G H Y H Q E \ V F K R O D U V Z K R V K R X O G K D Y H been more cautious.[13] , Q : D O W K H U S X E O L V K H G K L V I L U V W R U J D Q F R P S R V L W L R Q V Y D U L D W L R Q V R Q ³ 0 H L Q H Q - H V X P O D V V ¶ L F K Q L F K W ´ D Q G ³ - H V X P H L Q H ) U H X G H ´ $ U H O D W L Y H S D L G W K H H [ S H Q V H V : D O W K H U Z L W K K H O G K L V Q D P H I U R P these compositions in order that they might be evaluated on their own merits. In 1720 Walther met with difficulties which prompted him to seek employment elsewhere, but the difficulties were ironed out, and Walther remained in Weimar. From 1726 on Walther met with many adversities. His family had become so large (eight children) that his income did not enable him to live comfortably. When Cantor Reinecke died in 1726, Walther applied for his position, hoping to be able to serve as cantor and organist. However, the position was offered to Laurentius Reinhardt, a professor of oratory and Greek, who remained in Weimar till 1729. Again Walther applied for the position, only to be slighted and ignored. As a result he complained incessantly and grew bitter. Meanwhile he had also lost many of his pupils, some of whom, after establishing themselves in Weimar, competed with their former teacher and deprived him of additional income. In earlier years he had abused his eyes by copying large quantities of music and as a result was afflicted with poor eyesight in later years. He corresponded diligently with Bokemeyer, the publisher. Both belonged to a group which K R S H G W R I L Q G W K H S K L O R V R S K H U ¶ V V W R Q H 6 R P H R I : D O W K H U ¶ V O H W W H U V G H Y R W H P D Q \ S D J H V W R propounding methods by which the precious stone might be found. Undoubtedly he felt that possession of this talisman might better his circumstances. From certain remarks of Walther it has been concluded that he and his cantor Labes did not get along very well. In 1745 Walther was incapacitated by illness. His son Johann Christoph was called from Jena to U H O L H Y H K L V I D W K H U % \ : D , W K H U ¶ V F R Q G L W L R Q Z D V V R E D G W K D W K H D V N H G W R K D Y H K L V V R Q appointed as his successor. The wish was not granted. Disappointed, embittered, and grief-stricken, Walther departed this world March 23, 1748. His wife died nine years later. $ P R Q J : D O W K H U ¶ V S X S L O V Z H I L Q G W K H I R O O R Z L Q J - R K D Q Q $ Q G U H D V 5 R W K $ G R O I ) U L H G U / D E H V K L V cantor) Johann Ludwig Krebs (later a pupil of Bach), Jacob Adlung, J. Philipp Samuel Alt, and : D O W K H U ¶ V V R Q - R K D Q Q & K U L V W R S K : D O W K H U Z D V D G H H Sly religious man, an able, painstaking, and thorough scholar, an excellent organist, a great contrapuntist, and a church composer of uncommon ability. He was held in high esteem by such men as Johann Kuhnau, J. S. Bach, Johann Mattheson, and others. Although we think of him largely as a composer of organ music, The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 20 Walther wrote also choral and vocal music. Very little of this is in existence today. It is not unusually good. Walther was a great collector of music. Had it not been for him, much precious music by such men as Dietrich Buxtehude and Johann Nicolaus Hanff would no longer be in existence. , W L V Z H O O N Q R Z Q W K D W 0 D W W K H V R Q F D O O H G : D O W K H U ³ D V H F R Q G 3 D F K H O E H O L I Q R W L Q D U W W K H I L U V W ´[14] Many have accepted this statement as an absolute verity, e.g., the editors of * U R Y H ¶ V Dictionary,[15] Lahee,[16] and others. Frotscher, however, upon careful analysis of many of : D O W K H U ¶ V R U J D Q F R P S R V L W L R Q V D U U L Y H V D W W K H F R Q F O X V L R Q W K D W 0 D W W K H V R Q ¶ V V W D W H P H Q W ³ + L V F R P S R V L W L R Q V Z U L W W H Q L Q 3 D F K H O E H O ¶ V V W \ O H K D Y H E H H Q S Uepared neatly and with good harmonious H I I H F W ´[17] is not even a half-truth and that Walther was more deeply influenced by Buxtehude, Boehm, Johann Bernhard Bach, and even by Johann Sebastian Bach. Otto Brodde, though influenced by Frotscher, does not go so far, preferring to link up Walther with Samuel Scheidt rather than with Johann Pachelbel.[18] Unfortunately, Dietrich,[19] on whose judgment Brodde and others depend to a great extent, devoted very little space to Walther, who was, after all, a composer of the 18th century. 9 H U \ I H Z R I : D O W K H U ¶ V F R P S R V L W L R Q V Z H U H S X E O L V K H G G X U L Q J K L V O L I H W L P H , Q D S S H D U H G K L V Musicalische Vorstellung Zwey Evangelischer Gesänge, nemlich: Meinen Jesum lass ich nicht und Jesu, Meine Freude, Auf dem Claviere zu spielen; in 1738 was published his Harmonisches Denck-und Danckmahl, bestehend aus VIII Vor-Spielen über das Lied: Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr, in 1741 his Monumentum Musicum CONCERTAM repraesentans & Praeludio con Fuga. After 1741 were published his Vorspiele über das Advents-Lied: Wie soil ich dich empfangen. When we consider that Bach was less fortunate and that contemporary compositions for church services were rarely published,[20] we may say that Walther was unusually fortunate. Undoubtedly his personal connections with the publisher Bokemeyer proved helpful to him. Although many of his compositions have been lost, there are extant today no fewer than 285 organ compositions based on the chorale, eight independent compositions for the organ, and thirteen tra Q V F U L S W L R Q V R I R U F K H V W U D O Z R U N V I R U W K H R U J D Q : D O W K H U ¶ V D Y D L O D E O H R U J D Q Z R U N V Z H U H collected by Max Seiffert and published in 1906 as vols. 26 and 27 of the Denkmäler Deutscher Tonkunst. Almost all recent outstanding collections of chorale preludes by the masters include V R P H R I : D O W K H U ¶ V F R P S R V L W L R Q V $ V X I I L F L H Q W D P R X Q W R I P D W H U L D O L V W K H U H I R U H D Y D L O D E O H I R U D I D L U examination and evaluation of his works.* *The author of this article has made available a collection of chorale preludes by Walther, as well as several compositions which have been published separately, by Concordia Publishing + R X V H R I 6 W / R X L V 1 L Q H R I : D O W K H U ¶ V F R P S R V L W L R Q V K D Y H E H H Q L Q F O X G H G E \ K L P D O V R L Q K L V collection Chorale Preludes by Masters of the XVII and XVIII Centuries, published by Concordia Publishing House. ²ED. It is, however, important to avoid the mistakes made in the past. Griepenkerl and Roitzsch have L Q F O X G H G L Q Y R O X P H 9 , R I W K H 3 H W H U V H G L W L R Q R I % D F K ¶ V R U J D Q Z R U N V W Z R F R P S R V L W L R Q V Z K L F K The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 21 today are known to have been wri W W H Q E \ : D O W K H U Q R W E \ % D F K W K H S U H O X G H V R Q ³ * R W W G H U 9 D W H U Z R K Q ¶ X Q V E H L ´ D Q G ³ , F K K D E ¶ P H L Q 6 D F K ¶ * R W W K H L P J H V W H O O W ´ 7 K L V Z D V G R Q H D K X Q G U H G \ H D U V D J R (1847). Mistakes have been made also more recently. Max Seiffert, for example, in Denkmäler Deutscher Tonkunst, erroneously credits Walther with three compositions: (1) A prelude on ³ . R P P + H L O L J H U * H L V W ´ D V F U L E H G L Q P R V W R I W K H U H F H Q W F R O O H F W L R Q V H J 5 D P L Q W R 3 D F K H O E H O (2) The chaconne R Q ³ 2 - H V X G X H G O H * D E H ´ Z K L F K ) U R W V F K H U V W L O O D V F U L E H V W R :alther.[21] Brodde, however, reports [22] that Walther in a letter of February 6, 1730, stated that he found no satisfaction in chaconnes and that he had assigned the chorale chaconne in question to one of his pupils in order to have him understand the nature and method of composing a chaconne. (3) A partita for violin by Johann Jacob Walther, a reputable violinist of the 17th century and included in his collection Hortus Chellicus. In a letter dated April 4, 1729, Walther stated that he wrote chiefly organ compositions based on the chorale because he was a church organist. He wanted to write music which would be suitable for the Lutheran church service. That good church music should be churchly and conservative no one knew better than Walther. His independent compositions, with which he took greater liberty, are decidedly in the minority. His arrangements of orchestral compositions for the organ were prepared, it is believed, to acquaint his students with this type of music, and were not to be used in the church service. It is quite possible, too, that he, like Bach, prepared these for court (social) functions. Though Walther took far more liberties with some of his Orgelchoräle and Choralvorspiele than in others, he never adopted a style or idiom which might clash strongly with the spirit of a soundly liturgical church service. Thus he showed more restraint than did Bach, who adopted the virtuoso concert style in some of his Choralvorspiele. : D O W K H U ¶ V P X V L F E D V H G R Q W K H F K R U D O H F R Q V L V W V R I W Z R W \ S H V W K H Choralvorspiele, in which the entire chorale is not always presented; (2) the Orgelchoräle, in which the entire chorale is presented. The two types served two different purposes. The Choralvorspiel was tonangebend, i.e., it was used to create and maintain atmosphere. The Orgelchoral was used to present the hymns according to the Alternatimspraxis, which was still in vogue at his time. According to this Alternatimspraxis, the congregation would sing one stanza, the choir another, the organist would play the third, the congregation sing the fourth, and so on. This same order was, of course, not always followed. When using the Orgelchoräle of Scheidt and others, the organist would play that part or variation of the composition which treated the stanza assigned to the organist. Hence the words per omnes versus R F F X U L Q F R Q Q H F W L R Q Z L W K Y D U L D W L R Q V R I W K L V W \ S H : D O W K H U ¶ V S D U W L W D V R U variations were not of the per omnes versus type; the variations were free and independent, written in the general spirit of the chorale which served as cantus firmus. , Q I R U W \ R I : D O W K H U ¶ V F R P S R V L W L R Q V E D V H G R Q W K H F K R U D O H W K H F K R U D O H D S S H D U V D V cantus firmus only once; in two hundred and forty-five it appears at least twice. This was due not only to the fact that Walther wished to str H V V W K H F K R U D O H D Q G P D N H L W S U R P L Q H Q W E X W D O V R W R : D O W K H U ¶ V V W \ O H of composition and to his fondness for certain contrapuntal devices. The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 22 Walther wrote two kinds of chorale fugues. The first type is rather free in character. It combines elements of the fugue with those of the canon, thus suggesting the chorale fantasies of Michael Praetorius and Samuel Scheidt ²undoubtedly the greatest organ literature based on the chorale written in the first half of the 17th century. In his free chorale fugues Walther, at times, uses the opening phrase of the chorale not only as dux but also as a sort of Leitmotiv for the entire composition. The other phrases of the chorale serve as themes for their respective parts of these chorale fugues, their countertheme occasionally being the opening phrase of the chorale. The E H V W H [ D P S O H R I W K L V W \ S H R I F R P S R V L W L R Q L V : D O W K H U ¶ V Choralvorspiel E D V H G R Q ³ ( L Q ¶ I H V W H % X U J L V W X Q V H U * R W W ´[23] one of his better-known chorale preludes. The second type of chorale fugue written by Walther is perhaps best represented by the closing P R Y H P H Q W R I K L V Y D U L D W L R Q V R Q ³ - H V X P H L Q H ) U H X G H ´[24] where a rather free fugue is played on the manuals (keyboards), while the chorale is played as cantus firmus on the pedals. The prelude on ³ ( U K D O W X Q V + H U U E H L G H L Q H P : R U W ´[25] is a two-voice fugue, the cantus firmus being played on the pedals; however, the fugue proper is not free, its materials having been taken from the cantus firmus. $ Q R W K H U I X J X H R I W K L V W \ S H L V K L V S U H O X G H R Q ³ * R W W G H V + L P P H O V X Q G G H U ( U G H Q ´[26] In not a few Choralvorspiele Walther follows the conventional pattern of fugue writing: the theme is announced in the bass in the tonic key, then moves to the tenor in the dominant key, returns to the tonic in the alto, and finally to the dominant in the soprano. In many of these I X J X H G S U H O X G H V W K H F R X Q W H U S R L Q W L V Y H U \ I U H H F I ³ + H U U - H V X & K U L V W L F K Z H L V V J D U Z R K O ´[27] and ³ 1 X Q E L W W H Q Z L U G H Q + H L O L J H Q * H L V W ´[28] , Q K L V I L U V W S U H O X G H R Q ³ ( L Q ¶ I H V W H % X U J ´ : D O W K H U I R O O R Z V this conventional pattern (using I and V); however, as stated before, he consistently uses the opening phrase of the chorale as the counterpoint. Incidentally, he likewise frequently uses the opening phrase of the chorale in the interludes of his chorale fugues. At times Walther uses the second phrase of the chorale as counterpoint to the first, e.g., in his S U H O X G H V R Q W K H F K R U D O H V ³ ' D V D O W H - D K U Y H U J D Q J H Q L V W ´ P H D V X U H [29] ³ + H U U - H V X & K U L V W L F K Z H L V V J D U Z R K O ´[30] ! D Q G ³ $ F K * R W W X Q G + H U U ´[31] , Q D S U H O X G H R Q ³ ( U V F K L H Q H Q L V W G H U K H U U O L F K ¶ 7 D J ´[32]the first and second phrases of the chorale make up the theme in the exposition, part company in the counter exposition, and appear again toward the close of the composition, the second theme serving as counterpoint to the first. ²In his S U H O X G H R Q ³ ( V Z R O O ¶ X Q V * R W W J H Q l G L J V H L Q ´[33] the second phrase of the chorale furnishes the thematic material for the interludes. Those who are acquainted with the chorale fugues of Pachelbel will recognize the influence this composer exerted over Walther. Just how this came about is rather difficult to determine with D E V R O X W H F H U W D L Q W \ 8 Q G R X E W H G O \ : D O W K H U K D G F R S L H G P X F K R I 3 D F K H O E H O ¶ V P X V L F 1 H L W K H U P X V W one forger that Walther had been a pupil of Buttstedt, who, in turn, had been a pupil of Pachelbel. The fact that Buttstedt may have been a poor teacher does not preclude his directing pupils to what was intrinsically good. Nor should one forget that Walther had made it a point to P D N H W K H D F T X D L Q W D Q F H R I 3 D F K H O E H O ¶ V V R Q : L O K H O P + L H U R Q \ P X V D Q G W K D W after all, Pachelbel had been one of the foremost composers of organ music of Germany and hence naturally enjoyed a following. Among his followers was also J. S. Bach, who, in his youth, copied the music of The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 23 3 D F K H O E H O L Q W K H P R R Q O L J K W L Q K L V E U R W K H U ¶ V D W W L F. However, also Pachelbel had been influenced by others, notably by Samuel Scheidt, who had much in common with Jan P. Sweelinck and Michael Praetorius. , W L V W K H U H I R U H Q R W V X U S U L V L Q J W K D W P D Q \ R I : D O W K H U ¶ V S U H O X G H V W U H D W W K H H Q W L U H F K R U D O H L Q W K H V W \ O H of the chorale fantasies of Scheidt and Praetorius. They are, however, much shorter than the fantasies of these men, and the individual sections likewise are much shorter than the sections of a chorale fantasy. Many of these preludes, are, therefore, fantasies in miniature form. A F R P S D U L V R Q R I : D O W K H U ¶ V S U H O X G H R Q ³ ( L Q ¶ I H V W H % X U J ´ Z K L F K L V R Q O \ W Z R S D J H V O R Q J Z L W K 0 L F K D H O 3 U D H U R U L X V ¶ O R Q J I D Q W D V \ R Q W K L V V D P H F K R U D O H[34] will bear out this point. However, the practice of writing short fantasies of this type was adopted also by the composers of the North, H J E \ ' L H W U L F K % X [ W H K X G H L Q K L V S U H O X G H R Q ³ + H U ] O L F K W X W P L F K Y H U O D Q J H Q ´[35] , Q W K H ³ ) R U H Z R U G ´ W R W K H W K L U G S D U W R I K L V Tabulatura Nova, Scheidt said that he had written this part ³ L Q J U D W L D P S R W L V V L P X P H R U X P T X L S X U H H W D E V T X H X O O R F R O R U H 2 U J D Q R O X G H U H J D X G H Q W ´ The cantus firmi of this part are all associated with Latin texts.[36] Now Dietrich[37] points out that Scheidt used the expression pure et absque ullo colore to indicate the proper treatment of liturgical texts. In treating secular texts (Liedvariationen), ornamentation was considered important. Such, however, was not the case in the variations on liturgical texts. In the third part of his Tabulatura Nova, Scheidt did not ornament any of the cantus firmi, since they were all liturgical. Furthermore, his counterpoint, being delineated from the cantus firmus, is never free R U I O R U L G 7 K L V S U D F W L F H R I 6 F K H L G W ¶ V Z D V L Q N H H S L Q J Z L W K W K H G L F W D R I Q X P H U R X V Kirchenordnungen. The foreword of the Kirchenordnung published in the Hamburg Melodeyn Gesangbuch of 1604 prescribes that the cantus firmi R I I L J X U D W H P X V L F V K R X O G Q R W E H ³ P D G H difficult and lengthened by coloratura passages or flourishes of virtuosity, but should remain beautifully simple as they ha Y H F R P H W R X V ´[38] According to Dietrich, the expression pure meant that the cantus firmus must not be ornamented, but kept plain, while the expression absque ullo colore[39]meant that the counterpoint should not be free, independent, and ornamental, but conform closely to the simple nature and spirit of the chorale or cantus firmus itself.[40] Such was the approved practice for treating a liturgical cantus firmus. The only change permitted was to lengthen or shorten the time signature ²from 4/4 to 2/2, or from 4/1 to 4/4. But the ornamentation considered desirable in the Liedvariationen was frowned upon in the liturgical Choralvariationen. In composing variations on ordinary chorales as distinct from the liturgical chorales, however, Scheidt, Steigleder, and others followed a middle course, which was in effect a synthesis of the two practices. The cantus firmus became, at times, moderately florid. It was also played as a solo on a separate manual, something not done in the time of Praetorius. Scheidt justified this practice on the ground that thus the cantus firmus could be heard more distinctly.[41] Pachelbel, in general, followed the principles of Scheidt and Steigleder, except for not hewing as strictly to the line as G L G 6 F K H L G W , Q 3 D F K H O E H O ¶ V P X V L F W K H cantus firmus is almost invariably plain. Only in the S U H O X G H R Q ³ : L U J O D X E H Q D O O ¶ D Q H L Q H Q * R W W ´[42] did he add coloratura passagework. His The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 24 F R X Q W H U S R L Q W R Q W K H R W K H U K D Q G L V P R U H L Q G H S H Q G H Q W D Q G I U H H U W K D Q 6 F K H L G W ¶ V Z K R D V V W D W H G before, held that the counterpoint be derived from, and be closely related to, the cantus firmus. What, now, did Walther do? He was influenced by Scheidt as well as by Pachelbel. He followed 6 F K H L G W I R U H [ D P S O H L Q K L V S U H O X G H V Z K L F K U H D O O \ F R Q V W L W X W H D S D U W L W D R Q ³ $ F K * R W W X Q G + H U U ´ a non-liturgical chorale. They, like the music of Scheidt, are very thematic in character, and in them also the contrapuntal material is derived from the chorale.[43] In his preludes (partita) on the O L W X U J L F D O F K R U D O H ³ $ O O H L Q * R W W L Q G H U + | K ¶ V H L ( K U ¶ ´ (Gloria in Excelsis) the counterpoint, being delineated from the cantus firmus, is moderately florid, since the character of the chorale compelled him, for the sake of contrast and variety, to introduce greater flow into his composition. But he did this with the reserve of a scrupulous church musician. One senses not only the influence of Scheidt and Pachelbel, but also of the Central German School. Frotscher V D \ V F R Q F H U Q L Q J W K H F R P S R V H U V R I & H Q W U D O * H U P D Q \ ³ 7 K H R U J D Q F R P S R V H U R I & H Q W U D O * H U P D Q \ does not use the phrases of a hymn to fantasize indiscriminately, but observes carefully the F K D U D F W H U R I W K H W X Q H I U R P Z K L F K W K H \ K D Y H E H H Q W D N H Q ´[44] Taking into consideration the S U R Q R X Q F H G W K H P D W L F F K D U D F W H U R I : D O W K H U ¶ V F R P S R V L W L R Q V E D V H G R Q W K H F K R Uale, one is forced already at this point to suspect that designating Walther as a second Pachelbel is rather misleading. The stronger influence of Samuel Scheidt becomes even more apparent when one considers : D O W K H U ¶ V O R Y H I R U F D Q R Q L F H I I H F W V ' L F W L R Q D U L H V, encyclopedias, and histories of music, if they P H Q W L R Q : D O W K H U ¶ V Q D P H D W D O O L Q Y D U L D E O \ U H F R U G W K H I D F W W K D W : D O W K H U P D G H P X F K X V H R I W K H canon. In fact, very little of his music fails to reveal his great fondness for canon and imitation. In this respect he differs from Pachelbel, who, though he used imitation and canonic effects, displays a pronounced preference for the fugue. Frotscher, Brodde, and others trace the influence back to Samuel Scheidt, who made much use of canon and imitation in his variations on liturgical hymns.[45] I believe, however, that this practice stems at least in part from that of Michael Praetorius, whose organ compositions based on the chorale likewise contain much canonical treatment and are closely related also in spirit to the chorale preludes of Johann Walther. The canon was clearly used by Walther to intensify, to add emphasis, and to condense. In this respect his use of the canon closely resembles that of Matthias Weckmann, who was fond of presenting the cantus firmus through the medium of a canon. The fact, however, must not be overlooked that in all probability Weckmann had been influenced by Samuel Scheidt. Some scholars, therefore, believe that Weckmann was merely the medium through whom Scheidt influenced Walther. Although Walther had a strong conservative bent, we must not conclude that he was influenced only by Scheidt, Michael Praetorius, Weckmann, Pachelbel, and by the Central German School. Likewise the influence of the North is very evident. While the use of flori G D Q G R U Q D P H Q W D O F R X Q W H U S R L Q W L Q : D O W K H U ¶ V P X V L F P D \ E H W U D \ W K H L Q I O X H Q F H of the North, it would not be wise to place too much stress on this argument. The florid F R X Q W H U S R L Q W X V H G R F F D V L R Q D O O \ E \ : D O W K H U H J L Q K L V ³ 6 F K P F N H G L F K R O L H E H 6 H H O H ´[46] bears The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 25 just as much resemblance, I believe, to the florid counterpoint used occasionally by Pachelbel and even by Scheidt in their compositions based on nonliturgical hymns. More convincing arguments may be advanced to show that Walther was influenced strongly by the composers of the North. It is generally known that Pachelbel and Scheidt refused to change the character of the cantus firmus by depriving it of its pristine simplicity and rendering it more ornate. We have stated previously that Pachelbel injected ornamental elements into the cantus firmus of only one Choralvorspiel. In this point, however, Walther differed radically from Scheidt and Pachelbel. In I D F W D Q H [ D P L Q D W L R Q R I : D O W K H U ¶ V X V H R I W K H cantus firmus makes one wonder how Mattheson, and others after him, could refer to Walther as a mere imitator of Pachelbel. At times, Walther indeed employs a cantus firmus without ornamentation or figuration, as in his W U H D W P H Q W R I ³ $ O O H L Q * R W W L Q G H U + | K ¶ V H L ( K U ¶ ´ + R Z H Y H U H Y H Q L Q W K L V F R P S R V L W L R Q Z K L F K Ls based on a liturgical chorale, the cantus firmus, after appearing in plain fashion, is later repeated with interesting figuration and ornamentation.[47] Walther follows the same principle in his S U H O X G H R Q ³ * R W W G H V + L P P H O V X Q G G H U ( U G H Q ´[48] Here the opening phrase of the chorale is at first presented in simple fashion except for one turn and a few mordents, but is later taken up as cantus firmus Z L W K I L J X U D W L R Q D Q G R U Q D P H Q W D W L R Q , Q I D F W R U Q D P H Q W D W L R Q D E R X Q G V L Q : D O W K H U ¶ V work. This characteristic may be attributed to the influence of Couperin and the French, or of Corelli and the Italians, and of Georg Böhm and the North German School. His prelude on ³ + H U ] O L F K W X W P L F K Y H U O D Q J H Q ´[49] reveals both ornament and florid counterpoint, such as one could only with difficulty imagine Pachelbel using to elaborate this particular chorale. This practice of Walther recalls strongly the cantus firmi R I % X [ W H K X G H ) U L W ] ' L H W U L F K U H P D U N V ³ 7 K H works of the young composers of Hamburg and Lübeck inevitably compel one to acknowledge the fact that their interest, unlike that of Scheidt, lay primarily, not in developing motifs after the P D Q Q H U R I 6 F K H L G W E X W L Q W R Q H F R O R U ´[50] One must conclude, too, that much of this music was written for the Klavier, not for the organ. Another Northern influence on Walther appears in his use of echo effects. Though they were employed sparingly and used but incidentally and casually in his Orgelchoräle and Choralvorspiele, the fact remains that Walther did introduce echo effects into his preludes on ³ + H U U - H V X & K U L V W G L F K ] X X Q V Z H Q G ´ [51] ³ : H Q Q G L F K 8 Q J O F N W X W J U H L I H Q D Q ´ [52] ³ ) U H X G L F K V H K U R P H L Q H 6 H H O H ´ [53] D Q G L Q W K H S D U W L W D R Q ³ : D V * R W W W X W G D V L V W Z R K O J H W D Q ´[54] Another device used by the North German School to be found in Walther was the ritornel, commonly used in operas and oratorios. Brodde believes[55] that Walther got the idea of using the ritornel not from the North Germans, but from the concertos of Vivaldi, Torelli, and Albioni, some of which he transcribed for the organ. Ritornels were not used by Pachelbel and by the F R P S R V H U V R I & H Q W U D O * H U P D Q \ : H I L Q G D Q L Q W H U H V W L Q J X V H R I W K H U L W R U Q H O L Q : D O W K H U ¶ V S U H O X G H R Q ³ + H U U * R W W Q X Q V F K O H X V V G H Q + L P P H O D X I ´[56] where the cantus firmus occurs in the tenor and the ritornel in the soprano and alto, while the pedal carries strong reminiscences of a basso ostinato. The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 26 7 K H S U H V H Q F H R I V F D O H V D Q G S D V V D J H Z R U N D V L Q : D O W K H U ¶ V S U H O X G H R Q ³ 2 + H U U H * R W W G H L Q J | W W O L F K : R U W ´[57] on the other hand, cannot be attributed to specifically North German influence, for these were employed also by Michael Praetorius, Pachelbel, Scheidt, and by not a few composers of Central Germany. Preludes of this type remind us, in fact, of the toccatas of Frescobaldi, the father of the Roman Catholic South German School. At times the compositions of the North German composers seem to have more in common with the music of Frescobaldi than do the F R P S R V L W L R Q V R I W K H 6 R X W K * H U P D Q V 2 Q H P L V V H V ) U H V F R E D O G L ¶ V I U H V K Q H V V D Q G V S R Q W D Q H L W \ Q R W D E O \ in the works of some South Germans. If it is true that Frescobaldi had been the teacher of Franz Tunder, it is not difficult to understand how Frescobaldi may have influenced the North German composers, and also a man like Johann Gottfried Walther, who was certainly influenced by 7 X Q G H U ¶ V L O O X V W U L R X V V X F F H V V R U D Q G V R Q-in-law, Dietrich Buxtehude, perhaps the most typical representative of the North German School. : K D W R I : D O W K H U ¶ V X V H R I F K U R P D W L F V " + L V F R P S R V L W L R Q V V K R Z W K D W K H Z D V Y H U \ I R Q G R I X V L Q J them to express sorrow and g U L H I D V P D \ E H V H H Q I U R P K L V S U H O X G H V R Q ³ + H U U - H V X & K U L V W L F K Z H L V V J D U Z R K O G D V ] L F K H L Q P D O P X V V V W H U E H Q ´[58] ³ $ F K * R W W W X G L F K H U E D U P H Q ´ D V H W W L Q J R I W K H Kyrie),[59] D Q G ³ : D U X P E H W U X E V W G X G L F K P H L Q + H U ] ´[60] , Q K L V S U H O X G H R Q ³ $ F K V F K | Q V W H U - H Vu, P H L Q 9 H U O D Q J H Q ´[61] he uses chromatics exactly as did the North Germans. Thus, though R F F X U U L Q J U D U H O \ D Q G D W W L P H V R Q O \ L Q F L G H Q W D O O \ : D O W K H U ¶ V X V H R I F K U R P D W L F V L V D G G L W L R Q D O evidence of the influence of the North. We are aware, of course, that chromatics were not used exclusively by the North Germans. Frescobaldi and the organists of South Germany employed them, likewise Pachelbel and Scheidt. In the music of Frescobaldi they are more or less incidental, whereas in the music of the North they almost invariably express profound emotions, grief, sorrow, repentance. Walther again followed the North Germans by incorporating in his works certain devices of secular music which the composers of Central and South Germany did not adopt so readily for their chur F K P X V L F 7 K H F R X Q W H U S R L Q W R I ³ & K U L V W X V G H U X Q V V H O L J P D F K W ´[62] suggests, at times, ( Q J O L V K D Q G ' X W F K P X V L F Z U L W W H Q I R U W K H Y L U J L Q D O 7 K H V D P H F D Q E H V D L G R I K L V S U H O X G H R Q ³ 9 R Q * R W W Z L O O L F K Q L F K W O D V V H Q ´[63] Idioms of music written for the Klavier occ X U L Q ³ / L H E V W H U - H V X Z L U V L Q G K L H U ´[64] D Q G ³ : D U X P V R O O W ¶ L F K P L F K G H Q Q J U l P H Q ´[65] Since the tendency to use idioms of Klavier- and virginal music is very pronounced in the Choralvorspiele and Orgelchoräle of Buxtehude, Böhm, and others of the North, their appearance in Walther may well be considered a manifestation of North German influence. Again Walther likely wrote much of this music primarily for the Klavier, perhaps that it might be played also in the homes. The final evidence of the influence of the North may disturb those who would deny the presence R I D O O V H F X O D U L Q I O X H Q F H V L Q : D O W K H U ¶ V Orgelchoräle and Vorspiele. Yet a careful examination of : D O W K H U ¶ V W Z R I L Q H Choralpartitas, ³ 0 H L Q H Q - H V X P O D V V ¶ L F K Q L F K W ´[66] D Q G ³ - H V X P H L Q H ) U H X G H ´[67]reveals the fact that both sets of variations have present in them elements of the dance. Of the former, Variation 2 reveals kinship to the bourrée; Var. 3 to the allemande; Var. 5 to the courante. In the latter, traces of the allemande appear in the second variation; of the bourrée, in the fourth and fifth; of the pavane, in the sixth; and of the courante, in the seventh. The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 27 Furthermore, elements of the gigue P D \ E H I R X Q G L Q : D O W K H U ¶ V Y D U L D W L R Q V R Q ³ / L H E V W H U - H V X Z L U V L Q G K L H U ´[68] Using dance forms in chorale variations was, of course, not an invention of Walther. It had been done by Buxtehude,[69] Boehm, Pachelbel, and by J. S. Bach. The practice may be traced back to the early years of the 17th century, when the Kunst- or Stadtpfeifer of Germany would put together several dance tunes and call the entire combination a Partie (German) or partita (Italian). Later such compositions were called suites. ²Incidentally, Frotscher[70] found elements of the gigue H Y H Q L Q : D O W K H U ¶ V V H U L R X V S U H O X G H E D V H G R Q W K H / H Q W H Q chorale ³ - H V X / H L G H Q 3 H L Q X Q G 7 R G ´ 8 Q O L N H % X [ W H K X G H D Q G % | K P : D O W K H U F R Q F O X G H G K L V V H W V R I Y D U L D W L R Q V R Q ³ - H V X P H L Q H ) U H X G H ´ D Q G ³ 0 H L Q H Q - H V X P O D V V ¶ L F K Q L F K W ´ Z L W K P R Y H P H Q W V W K D W are clearly adaptable to the organ and not in the least related to the dance. I Q Y L H Z R I W K H V H I D F W V 0 D U W K H V R Q ¶ V V W D W H P H Q W F D O O L Q J : D O W K H U D V H F R Q G 3 D F K H O E H O L V W R V D \ W K H least, misleading. Of course, Walther was influenced by Pachelbel. But he was equally susceptible to the influence of Samuel Scheidt, Michael Praetorious, and of the composers of North Germany. What distinguished Walther from Pachelbel[71]and from the Central German School is the fact that he did not hesitate to use color, figuration, and ornamentation in his cantus firmi. What distinguished him from the North German School is the fact that he is what the Germans call a Motivtechniker. His compositions, therefore, represent a synthesis of the practices of the Central Germans, of Samuel Scheidt, Johann Pachelbel, Michael Praetorius, and of the North Germans. Why did Walther, in his organ works based on the chorale, follow in the footsteps not only of the conservative, but also of the more liberal composers? Why did he even put the two styles beside H D F K R W K H U " : K \ I R U H [ D P S O H G R H V K H D V L Q ³ $ F K V F K | Q V W H U - H V X P H L Q 9 H U O D Q J H Q ´[72] present the chorale as the cantus firmus, first as plainly as possible, then as ornately as possible, apparently using a stretto, as if he were eager to get away from the plain chorale to introduce a colorful version of the cantus firmus?Though some will undoubtedly consider it far-fetched and idealistic, the following interpretation has been offered: Scheidt and Pachelbel felt that the plain cantus firmus symbolized a simple, childlike Christian faith and humble obedience to the Word of God; Böhm, Buxtehude, and others of the North felt that an ornamented and colorful cantus firmus symbolized a living and active Christian faith, free from legalism and devoid of undue restraint. Since Walther was a profoundly religious man, one may conclude that his church music is symbolic of the fusion of these two attitudes of Christian faith. $ E R Y H Z H U H I H U U H G W R W K H I D F W W K D W L Q I R U W \ R I : D O W K H U ¶ V H [ W D Q W R U J D Q Z R U N V E D V H G R Q W K H chorale it appears as cantus firmus only once. In all the others the chorale was used at least twice, each time as the cantus firmus of a separate movement. A careful study of these various presentations of the chorales as cantus firmi reveals that there is no inner (textual, liturgical) reason for the number of presentations of the chorale. In these 285 compositions Walther offers two or more movements based on the cantus firmus, from which the organist may make his choice or selections. They are, therefore, unlike the chorale partitas or the chorale variations, of the per omnes versus type. Walther did not use the designation alio modo employed by other composers in compositions of this type. Frequently Walther simply connected several preludes The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 28 based on the same chorale, producing a partita or a set of Choralvariationen.[73]According to Max Seiffert,[74] Adlung had reported that Walther re- X V H G V H Y H U D O R I K L V S U H O X G H V R Q ³ $ O O H L Q * R W W L Q G H U + | K ¶ V H L ( K U ´ L Q K L V S D U W L W D R Q W K L V F K R U D O H ³ Z L H Z R K O H L Q L J H 9 D U L D W L R Q H V V F K R Q V H K U D O W Z D U H Q ´[75] According to Brodde,[76] eight partitas are said to have been patched together in this way.[77] A few words on some of these partitas will afford a clear view of the idioms and practices of : D O W K H U 7 K H S D U W L W D ³ $ F K * R W W X Q G + H U U ´[78] consists of seven parts or variations. The hymn itself originally consisted of six stanzas, written in 1604 by M. Martin Rutilius; four stanzas were added later by D. Johann Major. Throughout his partita, Walther delineated the counterpoint from the chorale. In each section of the partita the various phrases of the chorale are segmented and separated from one another by rests. In each case, too, the cantus firmus is introduced by anticipatory imitation, that is, the fugal treatment found at the beginning in half- or quarter-note values prepares for the final appearance of the chorale in its full-note values. Each of the seven partitas is a prelude by itself, quite independent of the preceding and following part; in other words, the partita is a collection of seven independent chorale preludes, none of which is dependent for its interpretation upon any particular stanza of the hymn. Walther here departs from the practice of Scheidt and reflects in the preludes, of which the partita consists, the general spirit of the hymn as a whole. In the first, second, third, fifth, and seventh preludes the cantus firmus is plain, though its rhythm is partly changed in the fifth. In preludes four and six the counterpoint is ornate. The fifth prelude, or partita, may be classified as a chorale fantasy; the others must be regarded simply as preludes. : D O W K H U ¶ V S U H O X G H V R Q ³ $ O O H L Q * R W W L Q G H U + | K ¶ V H L ( K U ´[79] G L I I H U I U R P W K R V H E D V H G R Q ³ $ F K * R W W X Q G + H U U ´ L Q P R U H Z D \ V W K D Q R Q H $ J D L Q Z H I L Q G K R Z H Y H U W K D W W K H S D U W L W D F R Q V L V W V R I P R U H S D U W V than the hymn has stanzas: there are eight preludes, whereas the hymn has only four stanzas. While the counterpoint of preludes one, two, three, five, and six is thoroughly independent, that of preludes four, seven, and eight is delineated from the chorale. The seventh prelude is a chorale fugue. : D O W K H U ¶ V W U H D W P H Q W R I W K H F K R U D O H L V V L J Q L I L F D Q W V L Q F H ³ $ O O H L Q * R W W L Q G H U + | K ¶ V H L ( K U ¶ ´ is a liturgical chorale, the German Gloria in Excelsis Deo. He here departs from the practice of Samuel Scheidt and writes liturgical music in which the counterpoint is not derived from the cantus firmus. 7 K H Y D U L D W L R Q V R Q ³ - H V X P H L Q H ) U H X G H ´[80] D Q G ³ 0 H L Q H Q - H V X P O D V V ¶ L F K Q L F K W ´[81] are of special L Q W H U H V W V L Q F H W K H \ D U H S U R E D E O \ W K H P R V W S R S X O D U R I : D O W K H U ¶ V F K R U D O H Y D U L D W L R Q V 7 K H L U popularity is, perhaps, due largely to the fact that Straube included them in two of his famous collections of music. Here are variations in the real sense of the word, for the counterpoint is never derived from the basic chorale. The counterpoint enables the composer to present his cantus firmus X Q L Q W H U U X S W H G O \ L Q V H Y H U D O Y D U L D W L R Q V R I ³ 0 H L Q H Q - H V X P O D V V ¶ L F K Q L F K W ´ D Q G L Q D O O Y D U L D W L R Q V R I ³ - H V X P H L Q H ) U H X G H ´ H [ F H S W I R U W K H F O R V L Q J I X J X H Z K H U H W K H cantus firmus, found in the bass, is segmented. The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 29 A fusion of the more conservative traits of Scheidt and others and of the freer traits of the North * H U P D Q F R P S R V H U V D S S H D U V L Q : D O W K H U ¶ V H L J K W Y D U L D W L R Q V R Q W K H & K U L V W P D V F K R U D O H ³ / R E W * R W W L K U & K U L V W H Q D O O ] X J O H L F K ´[82] In some of the variations the counterpoint is delineated from the chorale; in others it is independent. The cantus firmus is plain in certain of the variations; in others it is colored and ornamental. Variations three and seven are related to the allemande; variations four, five and eight are related to the bourrée. In two of the variations Walther put special stress on the opening phrase of the chorale. He repeats it again and again, as in the first S U H O X G H R Q ³ ( L Q ¶ I H V W H % X U J ´ 7 K H V H Y D U L D W L R Q V D U H Q R W H D V L O \ D G D S W D E O H W R W K H R U J D Q V L Q F H W K H \ were written originally for the clavichord. : D O W K H U ¶ V L Q G H S H Q G H Q W S U H O X G H V D Q G I X J X H V L Q & 0 D M R U ' P L Q R U D Q G $ 0 D M R U U H Y H D O D & H Q W U D O * H U P D Q L Q I O X H Q F H D V Z H O O D V 3 D F K H O E H O ¶ V 7 K H I X J X H V D U H R I O D U J H U S U R S R U W L R Q V W K D Q W K R V H R I W K H Central Germans, many of which are hardly more than fughettas. In the preludes, Walther shows his fondness for imitation; they are usually related to the fugues with which they are united. The independent preludes and fugues of Walther could be discussed at length; however, I shall restrict myself to a brief discussion of the compositions edited by Max Seiffert and published by Kismet and Siegel.[83] The Toccata and Fugue in C Major[84] begins with a florid recitative in the manner of the freer independent compositions of Dietrich Buxtehude and Franz Tunder. In measure seven the florid recitative is replaced by music which is more contrapuntal and also more severe in character. In the sixteenth measure three massive tonic and submediant chords lead to the dominant of the dominant. They are followed by a section in G major, in which Walther makes much use of imitation. The Toccata closes with a recitative-like passage. The fugue is rather unusual. Measures 1 ±25 are based on the main theme of the fugue. In measure 9 the counterpoint appears. The theme and its counterpoint furnish the material for the interludes. In measure 50 appears the theme, which has clearly been taken from the principal theme. This theme is developed in measures 50 ±63, the original theme being ignored entirely. In measures 64 ±73, however, we again have the original theme, coupled this time with the theme which has been delineated from it. The fugue thus consists of three parts. Brodde[85] concludes that this practice reveals the influence of either Buxtehude or Bruhns. The influence of the North is indicated, I believe, also by the double-pedal part. The Prelude and Fugue in A Major[86] begins with a pedal passage, as do some compositions by the North Germans, but presently changes to the development of small motifs and to a frequent use of sequences. The strength of this composition lies in its purely objective character. The W K H P H R I L W V I X J X H U H P L Q G V R Q H R I W K H W X Q H ³ 6 W $ Q Q H ´ 0 D [ 6 H L I I H U W K R O G V W K D W : D O W K H U ¶ V Concerto in G Major[87] is unique in organ literature and is as important in its I L H O G D V L V % D F K ¶ V , W D O L D Q & R Q F H U W R L Q Clavier literature. The concerto was written in 1741. Its title does not suggest whether it was originally written for the organ or for the cembalo. The style does not suggest that it was written for the organ. Brodde[88] correctly points The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 30 out that the composition was written at a time when the distinction between Clavier and organ F R P S R V L W L R Q V K D G Q R W E H H Q G H I L Q L W H O \ I L [ H G , W P D \ E H Z H O O W R U H F D O O D W W K L V S R L Q W W K D W % D F K ¶ V V L [ trio sonatas as well as his Passacaglia in C minor were not written originally for the organ, even though today we think of them only as organ compositions. The concerto has five movements: Prelude (Adagio-Allegro), Largo, Vivace (with aria and ritornel), Aria, Vivace. Brodde[89] finds in this concerto traits of the canzon da sonar, of the sonata de chiesa, and of the concerto grosso. He likewise claims importance for this work, since it put at the disposal of the organist the form and use of the Italian concerto and thus helped to pave the way fo U % D F K ¶ V R U J D Q W U D Q V F U L S W L R Q V R I concertos by Vivaldi and other Italian masters. The Alcuni Variations of Walther,[90]which were built on a bass by Corelli, are not variations in the usual sense of the word. They form, in reality, a passacaglia, presenting contrapuntal motifs over a basso continuo. The third variation is in the form of a gigue, of which Corelli had written the upper part and the figured bass, while Walther supplied only the middle voice. Walther, at times, wrote out the ornaments found in these compositions since, though familiar to violinists, they were not so to organists. French influence is very apparent, particularly in the use and choice of ornaments. 8 Q I R U W X Q D W H O \ P X F K R I : D O W K H U ¶ V D E V R O X W H R U J D Q P X V L F K D V E H H Q O R V W , W L V N Q R Z Q W K D W he wrote P D Q \ F R P S R V L W L R Q V R I W K L V W \ S H + R Z H Y H U Z H P L J K W S R L Q W W R W K H I D F W W K D W Z K L O H : D O W K H U ¶ V J U H D W contemporary, Dietrich Buxtehude, appears at his best in absolute organ music, the opposite is true of Johann Gottfried Walther, who was at his best in organ compositions based on the F K R U D O H , W L V Q R W V X U S U L V L Q J W K H U H I R U H W R K H D U 7 H U U \ V D \ ³ : D O W K H U Z D V V H F R Q G R Q O \ W R % D F K himself as a composer in the organ-Choralvorspiel I R U P ´[91] We have referred to the influence certain other masters exerted on Johann Gottfried Walther. That he was influenced by others we by no means deny. The same may be said of Bach and many other masters. However, we are reluctant to particularize such influences; only too often the supposed proof for such statements turns out W R E H V S H F L R X V , Q : D O W K H U ¶ V F D V H L Q S D U W L F X O D U we prefer to say that Walther, a dutiful servant of the Church, made it a point to master all the techniques needed by a good composer of his day in order better to equip himself for the work he was called upon to do as a musician of the Church. References and Footnotes 1. H. W. Engel, Walthers Leben und Werke (diss., Leipzig, 1904) 2. Otto Brodde, Johann Gottfried Walther ²Leben und Werk (Kassel, 1937), p. 4. 3. & I : D O W K H U ¶ V D X W R E L R J U D S K L F D O U H S R U W L Q 0 D W W K H V R Q ¶ V Ehrenpforte, ed. Max Schneider S D Q G : D O W K H U ¶ V O H W W H U R I 2 F W R E H U L Q % U R G G H S S D Q G Z K L F K gives a more detailed account than the one in the Ehrenpforte. 4. Brodde, p. 4. 5. Mattheson, p. 387; Brodde, p. 4. In his letter of October 3, 1729, Walther refers to him as David Adlung; in the autobiographical sketch in the Ehrenpforte, as Jacob Adlung. This The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 31 W H D F K H U R I : D O W K H U ¶ V P X V W Q R W E H F R Q I X V H G Z L W K W K H P X V L F L D Q V F K R O D U D Q G W K H R O R J L D Q Jacob Adlung, born 1699, who was a pupil of Walther and who succeeded Buttstedt as organist of the Hauptkirche R I ( U I X U W X S R Q % X W W V W H G W ¶ V G H D W K L Q 6. Mattheson, p. 388. 7. Brodde, p. 4. 8. Strange to say, Gotthold Frotscher, Geschichte des Orgelspiels und der Orgelkomposition 0 D [ + H V V H ¶ V 9 H U O D J % H U O L Q-Schöneberg, 1935),Vol. I, does not mention the fact that Walther studied with Buttstedt; nor do others. 9. In his letter of October 3, 1729, he explained his action with the words, weil aber der Ort mir verhasst gemacht wurde (since, however, I had been brought to abhor the place). 10. Johann Nikolaus Forkel, Über Johann Sebastian Bachs Leben, Kunst und Kunstwerke (Bärenreiter Verlag, Augsburg, 1925 [reprint]), p 34; also Charles Sanford Terry, Bach, A Biography (Oxford University Press, 1928), p. 90. 11. Philipp Spitta, Johann Sebastian Bach. Vierte Auflage (Breitkopf und Härtel, Leipzig, 1930), p. 388. 12. Brodde, p. 9. 13. E.g., Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1926), V, 430. 14. Johann Mattheson, Vollkommener Kapellmeister (1739), p. 476: ³ P L W 5 H F K W G H U ] Z H L W H wo nicht an Kuns W G H V H U V W H 3 D F K H O E H O ´ 15. * U R Y H ¶ V Dictionary of Music and Musicians, V, 430. 16. Henry C. Lahee, The Organ and Its Masters. Seventh impression (The Page Co., Boston, 1917), p. 103. 17. ) U R W V F K H U S ³ ' L H * H V l Q J H V L Q G D X I G L H 3 D F K H O E H O V F K H $ U W V H K U Q H W W X Q G K D Umoniös D X V J H D U E H L W H W ´ 4 X R W H G E \ ) U R W V F K H U I U R P 0 D W W K H V R Q ¶ V Critica Musica, II, 175. 18. Brodde, pp. 24 ff. 19. Fritz Dietrich, Geschichte des deutschen Orgelchorals im XVII Jahrhundert (Bärenreiter Verlag, Kassel), 1932. 20. Contemporary church music was rarely published in the days of Walther and Bach, largely because of its provincial character or use. Much of the music was based on Lutheran chorales, and many chorales, even the gems of the 16th century, were used only in certain towns, cities, and communities, remaining quite unknown in other localities. It was not unusual to find certain chorales very popular in one town and altogether unknown in the neighboring town ²a deplorable situation, due in part to the Pietistic Movement of Germany, which discarded not a few of the fine objective and rugged chorales of the 16th century. Hence it did not pay to publish much music, since it sold only in certain communities and in smaller quantities. Much music, too, was written for special occasions (Gelegenheitsmusik) in certain churches and for that reason could hardly enjoy a wide sale and use. Cf. Hermann Kretzschmar, Bach Kolleg (Breitkopf und Härtel, 1922), p. 32. 21. Op. cit., I, 638. 22. Op. cit., p. 20. 23. See selections from Chorale Preludes by Masters of the XVII and XVIII Centuries in Anthology of Sacred Music Series, compiled and edited by Walter E. Buszin (Concordia The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 32 Publishing House, St. Louis 18, Mo., 1948), Vol. I (BA 1), 75 ff. Cp. also Denkmäler deutscher Tonkunst (D. d. T.), ed. Max Seiffert, vols. 26 and 27 (Breitkopf Härtel, Leipzig), No. 23. 24. See selections from Memorial Collection of Chorale Preludes by Johann Gottfried Walther in Anthology of Sacred Music Series, selected and edited by Walter E. Buszin (Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis 18, Mo.), Vol. II (BA 2), 45 ff. Also D. d. T., No. 54. 25. D. d. T., No. 26. 26. BA 2, pp. 30 ±32; D. d. T., No. 36. 27. D. d. T., No. 45, v. 4. 28. Ibid., No. 71. 29. Ibid., No. 19. 30. Ibid., No. 45, v. 4. 31. Ibid., No. 3. 32. Ibid., No. 27. 33. lbid., No. 32; BA 2, pp. 68 ff. 34. Edited by Heinrich Fleischer (Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, 1954). 35. Dietrich Buxtehudes Werke für Orgel, ed. Phil. Spitta (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1876); II, 78 and 79. Six Chorale Preludes by Dietrich Buxtehude, edited, collected, and arranged by Seth Bingham (J. Fischer & Bros., New York), No. 8090, pp. 5 ± ³ 2 / R U G W R 0 H 3 R R U 6 L Q Q H U ´ 36. 7 K H S U H O X G H R Q ³ - H V X V & K U L V W X V X Q V H U + H L O D Q G ´ L V Q R H [ F H S W L R Q V L Q F H L W L V D W U D Q V O D W L R Q R I the Latin hymn, Jesus Christus, Nostra Salus. The chorale variations of the first part of the Tabulatura Nova, except for one hymn with a Latin text found in the second part, are all based on German chorales. 37. Op. cit., p. 24. 38. ³ Q L F K W P L W . R O R U D W X U H Q X Q G P L W X P K H U I D K U H Q G H Q . X Q V W J H V l Q J H Q V F K Z H U J H P D F K W X Q G verlängert, sondern fein schlicht, wie sie auf uns kommen sind. ´ Dietrich, p. 23. 39. In the quotation ³ L Q J U D W L D P S R W L V V L P X P H R U X P T X L S X U H H W D E V T X H X O O R F R O R U H R U J D Q R O X G H U H J D X G H Q W ´ 40. Ibid., p. 24. 41. Tabulatura Nova, III, Instructions to the organist. Cf. Dietrich, pp. 26 ff. 42. Musica Sacra, Sammlung der besten Meisterwerke des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts für die Orgel (Franz Commer, Bote und Bock, Berlin), I, 258 ±259. 43. D. d. T., No. 3. 44. Op. cit., p. 625: ³ ' H U P L W W H O G H X W V F K H 2 U J H O N R P S R Q L V W I D Q W D V L H U W Q L F K W Z D K O O R V E H U G L H Zeilenthemen und über sie hinweg, sondern beachtet sorgfältig den Charakter der 0 H O R G L H Q ´ 45. Tabulatura Nova, part III; cf. his Magnificats, likewise his variations on the hymns Christe, qui lux es et dies and O lux beata Trinitas. 46. Johann G. Walther, Chorale Partita on Soul, Adorn Thyself with Gladness, edited by Walter E. Buszin (Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis 18, Mo.). The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 33 47. D. d. T., No. 8. 48. Ibid., No. 36; BA 2, pp. 30 ±32. 49. Johann Gottfried Walther, Orgelchoräle, ed. Hermann Poppen (Bärenreiter Verlag, Kassel, 1930), p. 55. 50. Op. cit., S ³ ( V L V W H L Q H X Q P L W W Hlbar sich aufdrängende Wahrnehmung, die man in den Werken der jüngeren Hamburger und Lübecker Meister macht, dass diese Komponisten Q L F K W Z L H H W Z D 6 F K H L G W 0 R W L Y W H F K Q L N H U V R Q G H U Q L Q H U V W H U / L Q L H . R O R U D W L V W H Q V L Q G ´ 51. D. d .T., Vols. 26 and 27, No. 44. 52. Ibid., No. 94. 53. Ibid., No. 71; BA 2, pp. 96 ff. 54. D. d. T., No. 91. 55. Brodde, p. 36. 56. D. d. T., Vols. 26 and 27, No. 43. 57. Ibid., No. 78. 58. Ibid., No. 45. 59. Ibid., No. 2. 60. Ibid., No. 89. 61. Ibid., No. 6, v. 2; BA 2, pp. 81 ff. 62. D. d. T., No. 17; BA 2, p. 9. 63. D. d. T., No. 86. 64. Ibid., No. 60; BA 1, pp. 82 ff. 65. D. d. T., No. 90; BA 2, pp. 108 ff. 66. Ibid., No. 68. 67. Ibid., No. 54; BA 2, pp. 45 ff. 68. D. d. T., No. 60; BA 1, p. 86. 69. & I H J % X [ W H K X G H V G D Q F H Y D U L D W L R Q V R Q W K H F K R U D O H ³ $ X I P H L Q H Q O L H E H Q * R W W ´ 6 S L W W D , , 132 ff. 70. Op. cit., p. 639. 71. Some scholars identify Pachelbel with the Central German School; others regard him as being in a class by himself. 72. D. d. T.,No. 6, v. 2; BA 2, pp. 81 ff. 73. Brodde, p. 48. 74. D. d. T., Introduction, p. XX. 75. ³ D O W K R X J K V H Y H U D O Y D U L D W L R Q V Z H U H D O U H D G \ Y H U \ R O G ´ 76. Op. cit., p. 48. 77. , H ³ $ F K * R W W X Q G + H U U ´ ³ $ F K Z D V V R O O L F K 6 X Q G H U P D F K H Q ´ ³ $ O O H L Q * R W W L Q G H U + | K ¶ V H L ( K U ´ ³ $ X V G H U 7 L H I H U X I H L F K ´ ³ ( U V F K L H Q H Q L V W G H U K H U U O L F K 7 D J ´ ³ / R E V H L G H P D O O P l F K W L J H Q * R W W ´ ³ : L H V R O O L F K G L F K H P S I D Q J H Q ´ ³ : L U & K U L V W H Q O H X W ¶ ´ $ P R Q J W K R V H Z U L W W H Q R U L J L Q D O O \ D V S D U W L W D V R U F K R U D O H Y D U L D W L R Q V D U H W K H I R O O R Z L Q J ³ + H U U - H V X & K U L V W G L F K ] X X Q V Z H Q G ´ ³ - H V X P H L Q H ) U H X G H ´ ³ / R E W * R W W L K U & K U L V W H Q D O O ] X J O H L F K ´ ³ 0 D F K ¶ V P L W P L U * R W W Q D F K G H L Q H U * W ¶ ´ ³ 0 H L Q H Q - H V X V O D V V ¶ L F K Q L F K W ´ 78. D. d. T., Nos. 3 ±9. 79. Ibid., No. 8. The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 34 80. Ibid., No. 54; BA 2, pp. 45 ff. Choralvorspiele alter Meister, ed. Karl Straube (Peters ed., Leipzig, 1907), pp. 142 ff. 81. D. d. T., No. 68. Alte Meister des Orgelspiels, ed. Karl Straube (Peters ed., Leipzig, 1904), I, 100 ff. 82. D. d. T., No. 64; Johann Gottfried Walther, & K R U D O H 3 D U W L W D ³ 3 U D L V H * R G W K H / R U G < H 6 R Q V R I 0 H Q ´ ed. Walter E. Buszin (Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis 18, Mo., 1948). 83. Organum, ed. Max Seiffert (Kistner & Siegel, Leipzig, 1930), Vierte Reihe, No 15. 84. Ibid., p. 3 ff. D. d. T. Vols. 26 and 27, pp. 257ff. 85. Op. cit. p. 52. 86. Organum Series, p. 8 ff. D. d. T. Vols. 26 and 27, p. 268 ff. Johann Gottfried Walther, ³ 3 U H O X G H D Q G ) X J X H L Q $ 0 D M R U ´ H G : D O W H U ( % X V ] L Q & R Q F R U G L D 3 X E O L V K L Q J + R X V H, St. Louis 18, Mo., 1948). 87. Organum Series, Introduction and p. 13 ff. D. d. T., Vols. 26 and 27, p. 275 ff. 88. Op. cit., p. 53. 89. Ibid., p. 59. 90. Organum Series, p. 21 ff. D. d. T., Vols. 26 and 27, p. 301 ff. 91. Op. cit., p. 89. The Editorial Practice of Georg Rhaw Leo Schrade The first contact Georg Rhaw made with the Reformation seems to have come on the occasion of the famous disputation between Johann Eck and Martin Luther, which took place in Leipzig in 1519. It was then that Rhaw, in his capacity as cantor of St. Thomas, is recorded to have composed a Missa de Sancto Spiritu for an extraordinary combination of twelve voices, and a Te Deum. At the same time he filled the post of an instructor, or, as the official title goes, as ³ D V V H V V R U ´ at the university of Leipzig. At the age of thirty, a year before the disputation, he went to Leipzig to take the position after a fairly extensive study at the universities of Erfurt and Wittenberg. His participation in the dispute, though apparently of a musical nature only, was none too healthy for his material welfare. One year after the disputation, on the basis of his adherence to the Reformers, he was forced to resign from his Leipzig positions. A learned man and close to the humanistic circles that were in part identical with those of the Reformers, he for a while made a scant living as a teacher in the schools of Eisleben. In the capacity of a teacher he came to Wittenberg in 1524, and a year thereafter began his work as a printer, which he continued until his death in 1548. He died at the age of sixty. Such, in brief, was the life of a man who not only enjoyed the closest friendship with Luther and Melanchthon, who not only rose to I D P H D V W K H R I I L F L D O S U L Q W H U R I : L W W H Q E H U J W K H ³ W \ S R J U D S K X V : L W W H P E H U J H Q V L V ´ E X W Z K R D Oso has the noble distinction of being the greatest, the most gifted music printer the Lutheran Church has had throughout its existence. The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 35 Without the musical work of Georg Rhaw it is difficult to imagine that Protestant music in the age of the Reformation would and could have reached those standards that are in fact its renown in history. I do not mean that his merits lay in an unrivaled craftsmanship as a printer. In that respect Rhaw has been surpassed many a time, but his musical printings can hold their own even from the point of view of skill and craft. I stress here his genius as an organizer, one who through his profound ideas made his publications serve the purposes of the renewal of Christian doctrine, and who, moreover, made music a reality in the services of the Church. Strangely enough, his contribution as a composer has been rather negligible. As a matter of fact, we have no certainty about his composition. The festival mass which has been recorded has not been preserved. When in 1908 the historian Johannes Wolf re-edited the famous publication of Rhaw, the Newe Deudsche Geistliche Gesenge of 1544, without any explanation he simply assured the student of Protestant church music that all anonymous compositions contained in that collection are probably all by Rhaw himself. Of this we are no longer so sure; and a critical investigation shows that these anonymous works are most certainly by more than one composer. But it is unnecessary here to enter a discussion of musical style in order to cast some light upon Rhaw as a musician. Whatever his merits as a composer may have been, they could not possibly have brought about those outstanding results for which he was responsible as a leading figure in the musical activities in Wittenberg. Georg Rhaw distinguished himself also as a theorist of music. Judged from the response his activities in theory met in the professional world, his reputation seems to have been better established in theory than in composition. In the same year when he came to Leipzig he published a treatise under the title Enchiridion musices, which soon was followed by an Enchiridion utriusque musicae practice, published in Leipzig in 1520. One of these treatises deals largely with problems of musica plana, that is, the chant; the other with those of musica figuralis, that is, polyphony. And both these small works had an unbelievable success. They were republished again and again till after the middle of the century. Both were little handbooks, introductions into the problems of music, addressed to students. Although they were very learned in the sense that Rhaw evidenced a thorough acquaintance with theoretical literature, they were by no means original. On the contrary, Rhaw set out to give merely brief summaries compiled from more comprehensive works and more prominent theorists. Despite the almost total lack of originality, Rhaw scored a startling success, although in later years it was his own printing office that took over the publication. The reason for this remarkable success rests upon one of the chief characteristics of Georg Rhaw: his educational talents. Thus this trait leads us into the midst of those editorial matters which we desire to discuss. To indicate in advance the point of view that shall be taken, our discussion will center in two specific problems. One of them involves the Lutheran view of music as revealed in the editorial S U H I D F H V W R 5 K D Z ¶ V P X V L F D O S X E O L F D W L R Q V W K H R W K H U F R Q F H U Q V W K H U H O D W L R Q R I 5 K D Z ¶ V H G L W L R Q V R I music to the Lutheran liturgy. In both problems there seems to be inherent that educational purpose to which Rhaw devoted his lifework. For many years Rhaw had been active as the printer of the Wittenberg Reformers. Then he turned his interest to music. He first published a revised edition of his own treatise and characteristically dedicated this work to no less a man The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 36 than Johann Bugenhagen, next to Melanchthon the most influential figure in the reform of H G X F D W L R Q L Q W K H V F K R R O V D F F R U G L Q J W R W K H S U L Q F L S O H V R I W K H ³ Q H Z ´ G R F W U L Q H % X W D J D L Q D J U H D W many years pass H G E \ X Q W L O 5 K D Z ¶ V S U L Q W L Q J R I I L F H E U R X J K W R X W W K H I L U V W H G L W L R Q R I P X V L F 6 R I D U as we know, this was done in 1538. The anthology was presented as Selectae Harmoniae quatuor vocum. De Passione Domini. Besides the passion by Johannes Galliculus it contained P R W H W V , Q W K H W H Q R U Z H I L Q G W K H S U H I D F H ³ 3 K L O L S S X V 0 H O D Q F K W K R Q & K U L V W L D Q R / H F W R U L 6 D O X W H P ' ´ In the same year, an equally important anthology appeared. It was named Symphoniae Iucundae atque adeo breves, quatuor vocum, ab optimis quibusque musicis compositae ac juxta ordinem Tonorum dispositae, quas vulgo mutetas appelare solemus. Rhaw published this collection of fifty- W Z R P R W H W V ³ F X P S U D H I D W L R Q H ' 0 D U W L Q L / X W K H U L V ´ 7 K H S X E O L F D W L R Q V Q R Z I R O O R Z H G H D F K other in quick and regular succession. The Officia Paschalia De Resurrectione et Ascensione Domini came out in 1539 with the dedication written by Rhaw. Of outstanding importance was the next anthology, Vesperarum precum Officia Psalmi Feriarum et Dominicalium Dierum Totius Anni, cum antiphonis, Hymnis, et Responsoriis, composed for four voices by the best and most famous musicians. Rhaw himself wrote the preface to this liturgically important work. A publication, not less but differently significant, came out in the following year, 1541, as Opus decem Missarum, I R U I R X U Y R L F H V F R O O H F W H G E \ 5 K D Z ³ W R W K H E H Q H I L W R I W K H V F K R R O V D Q G D O O V W X G H Q W V R I P X V L F ´ V W D Q G V R X W Z L W K W Z R D Q W K R O R J L H V E R W K R I Z K L F K D W W U D F W R X U L Q W H U H V W I U R P the point of view of liturgy and of education. The first is the huge collection of hymns, the Sacrorum Hymnorum Liber Primus, which contains 134 hymns, chosen from the best musical D X W K R U L W L H V D P R Q J Z K R P W K H H G L W L R Q S U H V H Q W V D V I L U V W D U W L V W V D V ³ S U L P L D U W L I L F H V ´ 7 K R P D V Stoltzer, Henricus Finck, Arnoldus de Bruck. Also the prefa F H W R W K L V S X E O L F D W L R Q Z D V 5 K D Z ¶ V own. The second collection, of an entirely different kind, comprises three-part vocal compositions, so-called Tricinia; and such is also the title of the publication with Latin, German, Flemish, and French works of composers young and old. Two years passed by until Rhaw came forward with new editions. But 1544 is a particularly prominent year in Protestant church music, V L Q F H L W E U R X J K W 5 K D Z ¶ V Postremum Vespertini Officii Opus, including the Magnificat in all eight modes. The original print shows on the title page woodcuts of Luther, Johann Friedrich, Prince Elector of Saxony, and Melanchthon, and also a portrait of Rhaw himself. The Newe Deudsche Geistliche Gesenge, which Rhaw published in the same year, has already been mentioned. In it 5 K D Z L Q F O X G H G F R P S R V L W L R Q V I R U I R X U D Q G I L Y H Y R L F H V H G L W H G ³ I U G L H J H P H L Q H Q 6 F K X O H Q ´ D V Rhaw did not fail to emphasize. While of the works that appeared in 1545 two volumes of Bicinia, containing French, Latin, and German compositions of the most renowned musicians, served more directly an educational purpose, one publication was dedicated to the needs of the Lutheran liturgy: the Officiorum (ut vocant) de Nativitate, Circumcisione, Epiphania Domini, et Purificatione, Tomus primus. The importance of this publication is further stressed by the distinguished preface of Philip Melanchthon. These are the most essential collections Rhaw has edited in the service of the Lutheran Church. There are still others dedicated to the musical work of an individual composer, such as Sixt Dietrich, whom Rhaw gave the singular distinction of publishing his volume of thirty-six antiphons and the huge hymn collection as well, the Novum opus musicum tres tomos sacrorum Hymnorum (1541, 1545). That in this age of humanism and renaissance the individuality of the artist was glorified in such a manner, is fully in harmony with the cultural climate of the time. And that Rhaw, himself a man of humanistic thought, was fully The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 37 aware of this type of individualism, is shown by the stress he placed upon the aspects of fame in his publications. But Rhaw followed still another guide even as to works of individual composers. Liturgical considerations were foremost in his mind when he fixed the order of the selections he made, and he also gave much thought to the size and character of the contribution the individual composer made toward building up the musical liturgy of the Church. His editing R I ' L H W U L F K ¶ V K \ P Q V Z L O O F O H D U O \ V K R Z W K D W W K H O L W X U J L F D O F R Q V L G H U D W L R Q S U H Y D L O H G R Yer any other D V S H F W L Q F O X G L Q J W K D W R I W K H P X V L F L D Q ¶ V I D P H ²Although a simple listing of publications such as we have examined is surely far from being exciting, it has been indispensable for building the factual background that we need for our discussion of the two specific problems which we have singled out. Not that the list as such carries any significance, but the ideas behind it are important. : H V K D O O S D \ R X U D W W H Q W L R Q I L U V W W R W K H S U H I D F H V R I 5 K D Z ¶ V H G L W L R Q V 7 K H \ U H S U H V H Q W G R F X P H Q W V R I the highest standards with regard to musical, liturgical, and theological conceptions. By F R P S D U L V R Q 5 K D Z ¶ V S U H I D F H V V W D Q G R X W I D U D E R Y H W K H F R Q W H P S R U D U \ R X W S X W R I K L V F R P S H W L W R U V L Q the printing of music. Their extraordinary quality does not in fact, surprise us, since Luther and Melanchthon wrote some of them. But also the prefaces by Rhaw himself compare very well with those of the great reformers. He has a Latin style all his own, which at the same time, however, betrays the humanistic training of the man. On the basis of style, we assume that the Q R W H Z R U W K \ S U H I D F H W R ' L H W U L F K ¶ V K \ P Q V Z D V D F W X D O O \ Z U L W W H Q E \ 5 K D Z $ O W K R X J K W K H V H S U H I D F H V taken together represent a historical source of unusual importance in order to interpret the view of music the reformers maintained for the young Protestant Church, they are very little known. ² , W L V F K D U D F W H U L V W L F R I 5 K D Z ¶ V W K H R O R J L F D O D S S U R D F K W R P X V L F W K D W K H V X F F H H G H G L Q V H F X U L Q J W K H D L G of Luther and Melanchthon to authorize the music that he published. These prefaces were to be nothing less than a medium for expressing the theological idea with which the Lutheran Church would justify the existence of music. Hence, both Luther, with a profounder and more artistic insight, and Melanchthon, with a stricter theological argument, clarified first of all the religious implications they would hold up for the music of the Ecclesia Christiana. For both knew as F O H D U O \ D V G L G 5 K D Z W K D W W K H P X V L F W K H \ D O O S U H I D F H G K D G P X F K L Q F R P P R Q Z L W K W K D W R I W K H ³ R O G ´ Church, not only with regard to style and category of composition, but also in relation to the D F F H S W H G F R P S R V H U V V R P H R I Z K R P K D G Z R U N H G H [ F O X V L Y H O \ I R U W K H ³ R O G ´ & K X U F K R W K H U V V L P X O W D Q H R X V O \ I R U W K H W Z R F K X U F K H V ³ R O G ´ D Q G ³ Q H Z ´ , Q P D W W H U V R I D Q H [ W H U Q D O Q D W X U H V X F K D V the stylistic phenomenon of composition, it was entirely possible and theologically justifiable to take the stand of indifference, and indeed, Melanchthon, especially in the forties, was more and more inclined to look upon ceremonies, rites, including the external factors of the musical style, D V ³ U H V L Q G L I I H U H Q W H V ´ D V ³ W D D G L i S K R U D ´ W K L Q J V W K D W G R Q R W P D W W H U H V V H Q W L D O O \ $ O O W K H P R U H important was it to take an absolutely clear and uncompromising stand with regard to the essentials, and insofar as our problem is concerned, with regard to the spirit of music. All three, therefore, Luther, Melanchthon, and Rhaw, start from the very beginning; they define, in the first place, the divine origin of music. Thus in his preface to the Symphoniae jucundae Luther declared that mu V L F L V D ³ G R Q X P G L Y L Q X P ´ D Q G W K D W P X V L F D V S D U W R I W K H / R U G ¶ V F U H D W L R Q H [ L V W H G I U R P W K H E H J L Q Q L Q J R I W K H Z R U O G ³ 0 X V L F D D E L Q L W L R P X Q G L L Q G L W D ´ 0 H O D Q F K W K R Q K D V W K H Y H U \ same definition of the divine origin of music: Musicae initia humano generi divinitus insita; and The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 38 5 K D Z U H S H D W V W K L V L G H D L Q W K H V D P H Z R U G V ³ G L Y L Q L W X V K X P D Q R J H Q H U L G D W D ´ 7 K L V L G H D K R Z H Y H U L V not new. In announcing the doctrine of the divine origin of music, the Lutherans would not have differed in any way from the representatives of the older Church, not even from the philosophers of the ancient world, whence, in fact, this doctrine had come. It was in the pursuit of the argument concerning the nature of music that the difference between old and new was gradually worked out. The next step all three, Luther, Melanchthon, Rhaw, took in that argument concerned the purpose of music. The step was a logical one to take. For if the origin is divine, the purpose must be established accordingly. Melanchthon distinguished between the beginnings of P X V L F D Q G P X V L F D V D F U H D W L R Q ³ L Q L W L D 0 X V L F D H H W S R V W H D D U V ´ W K H Z R U N R I K X P D Q E H L Q J V Hence what man should do with this boon of Heaven is derived from the purpose. All three authors of the prefaces agree that the end of music is the glorification of God. Now, this, too, is an idea that had been maintained, as the end of music, since early Christian times, and nothing specifically Lutheran can be found in it. Rhaw launched into a discussion of the natural qualities of music. The divine origin regards these qualities to be reflective of divinity. Especially the immense, ethical power, which music holds, speaks of its divine nature: ³ , Q F U H G L E L O L V Y L V R F F X O W D T X D H G D P D F S O D Q H G L Y L Q D Y L V P D Q L I H V W D D W T X H D G P L U D E L O L V Y L V ´ Up to this point, the ideas are rooted in tradition, and there is no Protestantism in them, save perhaps a new intensity in the stress placed upon the religious essence of music. With the third logical step in the argument, the old and the new begin definitely to part company. For w K L O H H V W D E O L V K L Q J W K H ³ * O R U L I L F D W L R ' H L ´ as the traditional end of all music, the three authors add immediately a purpose that we do not find in the school of traditional thought. The additional purpose is that music serves the S U R S D J D W L R Q R I W K H / R U G ¶ V : Rrd. Tone and word, music and speech are naturally united, and it is * R G ¶ V : R U G W K D W W R R N P X V L F W R E H L W V P H G L X P ³ 7 K H U H L V Q R W K L Q J F O R V H U W R W K H : R U G R I * R G W K D Q P X V L F ´ V D L G / X W K H U L Q W K H S U H I D F H W R W K H Symphoniae jucundae: ³ Y H U E R G H L Q L K L O Y R O X H U X Q W conj X Q F W L X V T X D P P X V L F D P ´ $ Q G L Q R U G H U Q R W W R O H D Y H D Q \ G R X E W D V W R W K H L P S O L F D W L R Q V R I W K L V L G H D K H D G G H G W K D W V S H H F K L V D V D P D W W H U R I Q D W X U H F R X S O H G Z L W K W K H Y R L F H ³ 6 H U P R Y R F L F R S X O D U X V G R Q D W X V H V W ´ 7 K H U H I R U H Z H P X V W S U D L V H W K H / R U G ³ Y H U E R H W P X V L F D ´ D Q G W K L V P H D Q V ³ V R Q R U D S U D H G L F D U L R Q H H W P L [ W L V Y H U E L V V X D Y L P H O R G L D H ´ 7 K H / R U G P X V W E H S U D L V H G ³ E \ W K H U H V R X Q G L Q J sermon and through the words allied to the suave melody. Thus music becomes the medium for the propagation of the Evangelical message. Exactly this is meant when Melanchthon in his S U H I D F H W R 5 K D Z ¶ V Officia de Nativitate stated, that in suave and truly musical compositions (suavibus et vere Musicis cantilenibus) the words of the Prophets and Apostles are included (dicta Prophetica et Apostolica). To Melanchton, therefore, music is directly instrumental in P D Q ¶ V D S S U H K H Q V L R Q R I * R G D Q G K L V D S S U H F L D W L R Q R I W K H I D F W V R I & K U L V W L D Q I D L W K 0 X V L F L V D Q instrument with which to preach the Christian doctrine, the Gospel; the end of music is to bring this G R F W U L Q H W R V R X Q G L Q W K H Z R U O G ³ V R Q D U H K D Q F L Q P X Q G R G R F W U L Q D P ´ 7 K H ³ & X O W X V ' H L ´ L V W K H S U H D F K L Q J R I W K H * R V S H O D Q G P D Q ¶ V ³ 2 I I L F L X P ´ L V W R S U R S D J D W H W K H G R F W U L Q H D J D L Q D Q G D J D L Q L Q speech and song. Melanchthon sets forth three phases for the approach of the Dicta Prophetica et Apostolica: lectio, recitatio, and cantus. In passing through these phases, man will recognize Christ, the ³ / R J R V H W L P D J R D H W H U Q L 3 D W W U L V ´ W K H R Q H D Q G R Q O \ L Q W H U P H G L D U \ E H W Z H H Q * R G D Q G P D Q 5 H D G L Q J D Q G V L Q J L Q J L V W K H K X P D Q ³ R I I L F L X P ´ ³ F D Q W X F D Q W L R Q L E X V R E R H G L H Q W L D L Q R P Q L R I I L F L R The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 39 F H O H E U H P X V ´ 7 R J H W K H U Z L W K W K L V W K R X J K W R I D Q L Q V H S D U D E O H X Q L W \ E H W Z H H Q W K H : R U G R I * R G D Q G music, Melanchton went even so far as to say that where and whenever singing or religious music ceases, it is to be feared that the holy doctrine will die. The singer, the musician, is, in fact, the preacher of the Gospel. While Melanchthon presented this thought in form of a strictly theological argument, Rhaw added historical considerations. He accepted as a matter of fact the assumption that the Word of * R G W K D W L V W K H * R V S H O D Q G P X V L F D U H L Q G L V V R O X E O \ X Q L W H G Z L W K R Q H D Q R W K H U ³ Y H U E X P G L Y L Q X P 0 X V L F L V Q X P H U L V H W P R G L V L Q F O X V X P ´ 7 K L V X Q L W \ L V * R G ¶ V F U H D W L R Q $ Q G W K H Q K H V S H D N V L Q historical terms. The Prophets and the holy fathers have formulated their faith in Psalms and ³ V D F U D H F D Q W L R Q H V ´ W K U R X J K Z K L F K V X E V H T X H Q W O \ I D L W K K D V E H H Q D G Y D Q F H G I U R P R Q H J H Q H U D W L R Q W R another. Since it was the will of the Lord to have the Word allied to music, men in the course of W L P H K D Y H H [ S U H V V H G W K H G R F W U L Q H R I I D L W K D Q H Z L Q W K H P X V L F D O I R U P R I ³ & D U P L Q D ´ V D F U H G compositions. Thus came to life the vast treasure of sacred music from Biblical times down to the epoch of the Sancta Ecclesia Christiana Vitebergensis. Therefore, th H ³ G R F W U L Q D D & K U L V W R H W $ S R V W R O L V ´ K D V E H H Q F R Q W L Q X D O O \ U H Y H D O H G W K U R X J K ³ V D F U D H F D Q W L R Q H V ´ D Q G K \ P Q V , W L V L Q G H H G L Q connection with his publication of hymns that Rhaw gave this explanation. Not only that he in general terms, as it were, voiced his specifically Protestant view, the view of the Sancta Ecclesia Christiana Vitebergenis, he also defended in particular the special collection of hymns he presented for Protestant use. There are hymns, he records, that were composed in praise and commemoration of the martyrs of the early Christian Church. Since the martyrs stand up as models of true piety, the hymns dedicated to them and included in the collection should be regarded as acceptable after a purification from certain obvious errors. This purification is in K D U P R Q \ Z L W K 5 K D Z ¶ V D W W L W X G H D V D 3 U R W H V W D Q W % X W K H D O V R G H F O D U H G W K D W L Q Y L H Z R I W K H L Q F O X V L R Q of such hymns only those of evil intentions will blame him for it as if he had adhered to the old errors; for the Wittenberg theologians had condemne G W K H ³ L Q Y R F D W L R Q H V 6 D Q F W R U X P D W T X H D O L R V , G R O D W U L F R V F X O W X V ´ 6 R P H S X U L I L F D W L R Q V Z H U H R E Y L R X V O \ F D U U L H G R X W 7 R F L W H D Q H [ D P S O H I U R P 6 L [ W Dietrich. He omitted the first stanza of the hymn Ut queant laxis E H F D X V H ³ L W V H H P H G W R E H discordant with the true C K U L V W L D Q G R F W U L Q H ´ , Q V W H D G K H W R R N W K H V H F R Q G V W D Q ] D ³ 1 X Q W L X V F H O V R Y H Q L H Q V ´ 5 K D Z P X V W K D Y H E H H Q D W W D F N H G E \ U L J L G W K H R O R J L D Q V H O V H K H K D U G O \ Z R X O G K D Y H I H O W L W Q H F H V V D U \ W R P D N H W K H V R O H P Q G H F O D U D W L R Q L Q F O X G H G L Q K L V S X E O L F D W L R Q R I ³ : H K H U H Z L W K testify by this our writing that together with all pious men we condemn all dogmas that deviate I U R P W K H 6 F U L S W X U H V R I W K H 3 U R S K H W V D Q G $ S R V W O H V ´ 5 K D Z ¶ V S R O L F \ L V D O W R J H W K H U L Q K D U P R Q \ Z L W K / X W K H U ¶ V D Q G 0 H O D Q F K W R Q ¶ V + H L Q F O X G H G K \ P Q V H [ S U H V V O \ I R U W K H E Hneficient effect they may K D Y H R Q \ R X W K D Q G F L W H G 6 W 3 D X O ³ 2 P Q L D P X Q G D P X Q G L V ´ 8 Q W R W K H S X U H D O O W K L Q J V D U H S X U H Theologically speaking, Rhaw took exactly the same stand as Melanchthon, who looked upon V X F K P D W W H U V D V ³ D G L i S K R U D ´ D V L Q G L I I H U H Q W Q Rn-essential. As brief as this report necessarily had to be, it should have given evidence of the unusual L P S R U W D Q F H W K D W L W L V G X H W R W K H S U H I D F H V R I 5 K D Z ¶ V S X E O L F D W L R Q V + H U H I R U W K H I L U V W W L P H L Q connection with particular works dedicated to the services of the young Church, a specifically Protestant view of sacred music has been presented to the public. Here, for the first time, cycles of compositions that have a definite place in the new services, were interpreted as essentially The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 40 Protestant. The interpretation possessed the character of official authority, since it had direct connection with the music of the liturgy. Such an interpretation, however, was a distinct necessity. For only an absolutely clear definition of the spirit of the music would allow separating the Protestant from the Catholic view. Apart from assigning the individual compositions to certain liturgical functions, the music itself would not permit us to draw sharp lines. A large group of composers whose work was incorporated in the Protestant liturgy E H O R Q J H G W R W K H ³ R O G ´ & K X U F K D V Z H D O O N Q R Z 2 E U H F K W - R V T X L Q % U X P H O , V D D F 3 L H U U H G H O D 5 X H Fevin, Erasmus Lapicida, Mouton, Richafort, Verdelot, Thomas Stoltzer, and numerous others ranked high in the collections of Rhaw. It is true that Luther himself with his deep musical understanding declared the Netherlands polyphony without differentiation of style to be the accepted form of art in the young Church. His personal fondness for that music is so well known that we need not make any particular mention of it. But in modern times many of those in search after a specifically Protestant music of the age of the Reformation are rather disturbed by this I D F W D Q G D F W D V L I / X W K H U ¶ V G H F O D U D W L R Q Z D V W K H U H V X O W R I H P E D U U D V V P H Q W I H O W E H F D X V H Q R R W Ker music was available. That assumption is totally wrong from every point of view: historical, theological, and musical. The reason why the liturgical collections of Rhaw were provided with such prominent prefaces is derived from the will to reveal what is distinctive in Protestantism in view of the traditional material. This procedure was by no means a matter of embarrassment; on the contrary, it was as much a theological justification as in any other case where matters of the Gospel were involved. To deny the theological character implies, I believe, a denial of the fundamental factors of Lutheranism altogether. We maintain that the prefaces of Rhaw most clearly reveal that there is undeniably something of a specifically Protestant view of music. It rests upon the inseparable unity between Verbum Dei and Musica. Since man must preach the word of God, he also must avail himself of the medium of music to propagate the message of the Gospel. In other words: the use of music is not a voluntary matter nor one of a purely decorative nature, it is based upon the same indispensable necessity as the preaching of the Gospel through the spoken word. That again presents itself as a theological justification and bears directly upon our second problem: the liturgy, which Rhaw made the basis of his publications. Since the Lutherans attributed to the use of music a theological necessity, there was the obligation to provide the music for the services of the Church. Rhaw made the fulfillment of this obligation the task of his activity as the Protestant printer. He followed the liturgical principles that the Reformers had established. Although it often has been recognized that Rhaw proceeded in his publication in full harmony with the liturgical ideas of Luther himself, the argument has been carried in the wrong direction. In the O L V W R I 5 K D Z ¶ V Z R U N V Z H K D Y H P H Q W L R Q H G W K H F R O O H F W L R Q R I W H Q P D V V H V W K H Opus decem Missarum, which was published in 1541. In view of the fact that among his numerous musical publications he brought out only one collection of masses, authors of modern historical literature have taken this apparent neglect to be the most convincing sign of the general decline of the old P D V V L Q / X W K H U ¶ V O L W X U J \ 9 H U \ K D Q G V R P H W K H R U L H V K D Y H E H H Q D G Y D Q F H G D V W R / X W K H U ¶ V F R Q Feptions of the polyphonic mass. Since many publications of Rhaw had the title of Officia, it was assumed that by that title Rhaw actually meant the ecclesiastical hours, or those of the hours, Matins, Vespers, and Compline, that the Protestant Church retained. Since there were on the one hand The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 41 numerous compositions of the so-called Officium, and on the other, very few mass compositions, the supposed neglect was fortified by all sorts of statements Luther, in the course of time, had made about the mass. Attractive though these theories are, they are sheer imagination. Their D X W K R U V J D Y H X Q P L V W D N D E O H H Y L G H Q F H W K D W W K H \ N Q H Z W K H W L W O H V R I 5 K D Z ¶ V F R O O H F W L R Q V E X W Q R W W K H L U content. For Rhaw used the term Officium not always in the strictly liturgical connotation of the ecclesiastical hours, but with the freer, more general implication which Melanchthon established for the Officium, that is, any liturgical service man owes God is an Officium. Moreover, it was not an uncommon practice during the sixteenth century to name also the music of the mass an Officium. 7 K L V L V H [ D F W O \ W K H F D V H L Q 5 K D Z ¶ V S X E O L F D W L R Q V + L V Officia Paschalia, de Resurrectione, et Ascensione Domini, of 1539, and the Officia de Nativitate, Circumcisione, Epiphania, Purificatione, of 1545 contain actually masses, that is Lutheran masses. With these collections Rhaw, as we shall see, gave the answer to the urgent needs that the new liturgy made manifest. The Opus decem Missarum fits least of all into the liturgical efforts of Rhaw, and it may be strongly doubted that he intended them at all for liturgical use at Wittenberg. It is true, the masses were by composers whom not only Rhaw but all the Reformers regarded as their I D Y R U L W H V % U X P H O , V D D F 3 L S H O D U H 6 H Q I O D Q G 5 K D Z ¶ V V S H F L D O I D Y R U L W H W K H 3 U R Westant composer Adam Rener of Liége. The majority of these masses, however, are based on profane song tenores, and it is hardly imaginable that Rhaw made his selection from the point of view of the Lutheran liturgy, since the Reformers had clearly objected to religious compositions with profane tenores. Nevertheless, Rhaw wanted also this collection to serve Protestant purposes. Thereby another side of his editorial activity made itself felt. In view of the fact that the artistic music which the Lutheran Church accepted for its liturgy was in the style of Netherlandic polyphony, the need for adequate training of singers and musicians was as great as the need for the music itself. In other words, Rhaw, and all the Reformers as well, realized that the school was as important for the new doctrine as the church. To make musical training possible Rhaw as musical editor had to provide the material for the school. The material could be chosen for purely artistic reasons as long as the form and style of composition were identical with those of the works that the liturgy needed. Hence, Rhaw published some collections specifically dedicated to school use for the sake of improving the musical training of the young students. The unfailing educational instinct and genius of Rhaw had made him recognize that those schools were of greatest importance, for there, in these grade schools, or Trivialschulen, as they were called, the foundations were laid. Hence, Rhaw dedicated some of his publications to the students of such schools. The masses of 1541, as well as the collections of Tricinia and Bicinia with a repertory of secular and sacred compositions, were published in order to have the student get his musical training from the best that Europe had to offer. Thus the anthologies represent a fairly good cross section; they are as international as the Netherlandic music was at that time. Also with respect to his religious collections, Rhaw never lost sight of the educational intentions and often addressed the student directly. Primarily, however, the religious music serves to materialize the liturgical pattern in the Church. Thus Rhaw began his grand work of providing music for all the services needed in the Lutheran liturgy. He singled out first a season of the church year that was particularly close to the minds of the Reformers and fundamental to the doctrine, the Passion. The life of Christ is, of course, the central factor in organizing the church The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 42 year. That the liturgical work opens with the Passion may have some theological implications. As to these, we have, however, no certainty. At all events, the earliest collection of 1538 contains, next to the music for the Passion, motets liturgically appropriate to the season. With the second publication, Rhaw really unfolds his plan for the first time. I mean to say that we now can observe that a plan for a large liturgical enterprise exists. And for the first time the material Rhaw collected is comprehensive from a liturgical point of view. The collection contains fifty-two motets for the Sundays of the year. It is only one step that he takes, but the direction in which he will proceed is obvious. On the one hand the church year as a whole, on the other, the individual service will be the principles of the liturgical order on which Rhaw bases the edition R I K L V P X V L F + H Q F H W K H Y D U L R X V O L W X U J L H V F R Q Q H F W H G Z L W K W K H S K D V H V R I & K U L V W ¶ V O L I H D Q G commemorated in the various feasts of the year were first to be built up, and Rhaw systematically collected the music for these liturgies. If Rhaw had worked merely in harmony with tradition, that is, with the traditional structure of the church year, he certainly would have E H J X Q D W W K H E H J L Q Q L Q J R I & K U L V W ¶ V O L I H Z L W K $ G Y H Q W , Q V W H D G R Q F H D J D L Q K H D Q W L F L S D W H G W K H liturgies of the Easter season and set first the Officia Paschalia, de Resurrectione et Ascensione Domini. Apparently the completion of the cycles demanded great effort, which took time and energy. For several years passed before Rhaw was able to provide the necessary music for the liturgies of the Nativity, the Circumcision, Epiphany, and the Feast of Purification. As mentioned before, these liturgies were again called Officia. Both collections belong together; they supplement each other in that they complete the feasts of Christ. Both collections also are systematically organized in accordance with the music needed for the main service, the Hauptgottesdienst, on all the feasts. Therefore these Officia are, in fact, collections of mass compositions. They are the best and most complete editions of music for the Protestant mass that we have. It is profoundly regrettable that this most outstanding document of Protestant liturgical music has not yet been made accessible. Such regret is not linked to reasons of purely historical interest; the rea V R Q V D U H O L W X U J L F D O D Q G W K H R O R J L F D O , Q V W H D G Z H K D Y H 5 K D Z ¶ V Deutsche Gesänge in a modern edition, which naturally contributed a welcome addition to our knowledge of early Lutheran music. But the Deutsche Gesänge represents only a small fraction of the total liturgical task that Rhaw set himself to accomplish. I venture to say that they are not the cornerstone in the grand building of Protestant liturgy Rhaw erected with the aid of Luther and Melanchthon. Judged by what these men thought, the Officia are undoubtedly more important from a liturgical S R L Q W R I Y L H Z 7 K H V W U L N L Q J D U U D Q J H P H Q W R I W K H F R O O H F W L R Q L Q G L F D W L Y H R I 5 K D Z ¶ V O L W X U J L F D O thinking, is indeed instructive in every respect. All the musical composition for a complete main service of the feast is given in the order of the liturgy. We may follow the Easter mass. We have the Introit with Verse, to be followed by the Kyrie. The Gloria is abbreviated according to Lutheran principles. The next composition is the Alleluja with the Psalm verse; then comes, in three structural sections, the Easter Prosa Agnus redemit oves. The composition of the Gospel with salutation comes next. The Credo is to be sung by the congregation in German, and is therefore omitted. The congregation takes part further in singing choraliter the Easter sequence Christ ist erstanden. Again according to Lutheran principles, the Offertory is omitted. Hence the next composition is the Sanctus with Benedictus; Agnus and Communio complete the musical liturgy of the mass. An interesting use of the geistliches Lied in the vernacular together with the Latin text but incorporated because of liturgical considerations of the character of the Easter feast The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 43 can be observed in Prosa and Agnus. The first section of the Prosa has in three voices the Latin text Agnes redemit oves, while the tenor sings the cantus firmus Christ ist erstanden von der Marter alle; in the second section three upper voices have the Latin Dic nobis, Maria, and the bass sings three times Christ ist erstanden as the melody begins. The third section brings the Latin Credendum est magis in all parts. And as though the hymn Christ ist erstanden were a superior and unifying idea, it makes its appearance in the Agnus again, whose text is: Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Des sollen wir alle froh sein. Christ soll unser Trost V H L Q . \ U L H H O H L V R Q ´ Immediately after the first Officia for the main service, Rhaw began work on the musical liturgies of the second individual service, the Vespers. The first part appears as Vesperarum precum officia in 1540. The concentration on a liturgical order manifested itself once more. For here, too, the musical compositions follow the order of the service; they are not separated, as artistic categories, from the service of the day. Thus we have almost regularly for the Vesperae feriales: an introductory antiphonal initial to five Psalms which are set in strictly liturgical faux-bourdon, on the Psalm tone, and written in the notation of the chant, for four voices; then a responsory with the Psalm verse; finally, one or more hymns, Versiculum, Magnificat with the antiphon. Such is the arrangement throughout. The work for the Vespers was continued, with the antiphons by Sixt Dietrich, with the collection of 134 hymns of various composers, with eighty responsories of Balthasar Resinarius, and finally with the Magnificat collection, the Postremum Vespertini officii opus (1544), in the preface of which Rhaw, stricken by severe illness for years and anticipating his death, expresses his particular joy over having at least completed the work for the Vespers. He lived long enough to add the second collection of Officia. But with regard to D O O W K H V H U Y L F H V R I W K H / X W K H U D Q & K X U F K D Q G W R W K H W R W D O L W \ R I W K H F K X U F K \ H D U H Y H Q 5 K D Z ¶ V Z R U N remained a torso; a grand torso, to be sure, in fact, the most impressive one that we have from the sixteenth century, and one that, strangely enough, can be completed at any time. Unfortunately, no one has ever taken up the ideas of Rhaw. In the sixteenth century he had no successor, and soon thereafter he, his work, and his principles were altogether forgotten. Liturgically it was not to the good of Protestant church music that this happened. Rhaw knew that those who set themselves the task of establishing a musical liturgy, had to shoulder the first responsibility toward the liturgy. He knew that artistic and aesthetic thought came second. He himself suppressed his judgment as artist, or at least subordinated it to his thinking in terms of the liturgy. In one of the Vespers collections he frankly admitted that as an artist he wished to present compositions of greater artistic elaborateness; but he did not give in. The editorial practice of Rhaw contains many a stimulating lesson. Editing music for purely artistic reasons or historical interests differs widely from that of religious music for liturgical purposes. The editing of isolated compositions is now usually carried out more often in obedience to aesthetic considerations, and less, if at all, according to proper liturgical order with the needs of the individual services in mind. I believe that the principles of Rhaw essentially unaltered stand up even today as a true guide for any editor of religious music for liturgical purposes. The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 44 ( G L W R U ¶ V 1 R W H[1954]: A collection of the musical works published by Georg Rhaw is being issued under the general editorship of Hans Albrecht by the Baerenreiter Verlag and Concordia Publishing House. A twelve-volume edition is contemplated. For complete details address the Department of Music of Concordia Publishing House. Heinrich Schütz and Johann Sebastian Bach in the Protestant Liturgy Leo Schrade Any discussion of Heinrich Schütz and Johann Sebastian Bach is, if nothing else, a very ambitious enterprise. The reasons, obvious to all, need no particular mention. The discussion is by no means made easier by linking the two together. If the link were to be established for purely objective reasons of history, there may be no ground for any criticism. And yet, if the connection carries historical weight, we should assume an artistic communication to have existed between the two. There has been nothing of the kind. It is more than likely that Bach knew nothing of Schütz, except perhaps the Psalter of Becker, which, after its first publication in 1628, has frequently been re-edited and was still in use when Bach was young. But this work least of all could have exercised an influence artistic in nature on Bach. Hence there is no such thing as an artistic contact between the two. The frequently made D V V X P S W L R Q W K D W % D F K ¶ V Z R U N U H V W H G X S R Q Schütz is impossible to justify. Historically speaking, the only link that joins the two is, therefore, the idiom of the baroque epoch that they have in common, even as men of the same age always will speak essentially the same language. Both are the towering posts that set chronological limits to German baroque music, one at its beginning, the other at its end; and they are at the same time the cornerstones in the baroque phase of Protestant church music. But it is not this objective, historical point of view alone that related one to the other. Prejudices have often entered the discussion and consequently beclouded its issues. Schools of thought have been formed, and Schütz, whose greatness could not be doubted, was made the precursor of Bach in a very peculiar sense, as if he had started what Bach completed. Bach, the fulfiller, was therefore the greater of the two; they were actually pitted against each other. To make one greater at the expense of the other will always be a very questionable enterprise, to say nothing of the difficulty that we have in trying to understand why Bach should have had a small precursor at all in order to become as great as he was. There exists no scientific method by which one could furnish proof as to who of the two masters was the greater artist on purely aesthetic grounds. There are compositions by Schütz that stand above the best of Bach, and there are Z R U N V E \ % D F K Z K L F K V X U S D V V W K R V H R I 6 F K W ] ( Y H Q V R P R V W R I W K H W Z R F R P S R V H U V ¶ R Xtput does not lend itself to direct comparison. Hence, most of the comparisons made are failures because the points of comparison do not meet. Here lies the chief reason why the method as a whole can well be discarded without loss to anyone. If Schütz had really been the precursor of Bach artistically and stylistically in the sense that Bach had studied the work of Schütz and learned from his predecessor, the situation would be entirely different. Since history, however, does not confirm such a relationship, because Bach had entirely different artistic precursors, whose work he studied, and from whom he learned, the two composers must be taken as entities by themselves who belong to one age, and they will be great in their own time and beyond and The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 45 above all times, even if we should be unfortunate enough to approach greatness with thoughts of small measure. Surely I will not be expected even to attempt a comprehensive interpretation both of Schütz and Bach. I should like to limit myself to a few artistic problems that include certain aspects of matters liturgical and religious, and I should perhaps add that all will be seen under the historical point of view. To understand the artistic- O L W X U J L F D O V L J Q L I L F D Q F H R I 6 F K W ] ¶ V P X V L F W Z R V X E M H F W V P X V W E H discussed: certain factors of his artistic career and the temper of his musicianship on the one hand, and on the other the situation of the musical liturgy at the time when Schütz began to work for the Lutheran Church. The first very striking observation the student of 6 F K W ] ¶ V D U W L V W L F F D U H H U can hardly fail to make, results from the fact that, contrary to the usual habits of the time, Schütz came rather late and almost unwillingly to choose music as his profession. Despite his most extraordinary gifts in music that at once amazed people of his environment so as to encourage him to the musical profession, his heart was actually set upon humanistic studies. The thorough training in the liberal arts that made him a man of deep thought and culture, was in part due to the interest of Moritz of Hesse, a prince, exceptional among the German princes of the time, the majority of whom were rather uncouth, rough, and hardened by continual warfare. Schütz attended first the Collegium Mauricianum, a school founded by Moritz for the purpose of training the youngsters of the nobility of Hesse, to make them educated noblemen according to W K H L G H D O R I % D O G D V V D U H & D V W L J O L R Q H ¶ V El Cortegiano. The humanistic education of Schütz became fundamental to his conception of music. Let us hear a pa V V D J H I U R P * H L H U Z K R Z U R W H W K H ³ S R V W P R U W H P ´ I R U W K H I X Q H U D O R I 6 F K W ] ³ + H > 6 F K W ] V W D \ H G D W W K H Collegium Mauricianum for several years. In this distinguished court school, or rather Gymnasium, amidst counts, noblemen, and other valorous ingenia, he was brought up to study various languages, arts, and exercitia, for which his industrious, keen mind and intellectual appetite prepared him well. Within a short time he acquired Latin, Greek, French. . . . In view of his capacities and success his professors would K D Y H O L N H G K L P W R F R Q W L Q X H L Q W K H O H D U Q H G S U R I H V V L R Q ´ , V K R X O G O L N H W R D G G D Q R W K H U U H S R U W 6 S H D N L Q J R I : H F N P D Q Q W K H S X S L O R I 6 F K W ] - R K D Q Q 0 D W W K H V R Q W K H O H D G L Q J W K H R U L V W R I % D F K ¶ V period, wrote that Schütz in Dresden had advised Weckmann under all circumstances to study + H E U H Z D O D Q J X D J H ³ D P X V L F L D Q V K R X O G P D V W H U Z K H Q F R P S R V L Q J W K H 2 O G 7 H V W D P H Q W ´ , I W K H report is correct, we are bound to assume that Schütz at one time of his life had acquired the Hebrew language. This, I believe, is very close to the problems that will be discussed later. Why did Schütz consider the study of so many languages necessary for a musician? I am convinced that behind this demand is not only the learning of a humanistically trained man; nor does a purely artistic interest explain the request. What clearly seems to have caused the attitude is rooted in Lutheran ideas. The musician is the discoverer of the truth of the meanings inherent in words; and he cannot discover the truth unless he masters the original languages. To be the faithful interpreter of the connotations of the texts is a task of the composer that Schütz set forth because he was a Lutheran musician. The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 46 However, it still took many a year until Schütz would think of this task. First, there was the decision to be made in favor of professional musicianship. Schütz continued to pursue his humanistic studies and prepared himself for the profession of law by enrolling as a student at the University of Marburg. He was interested in music; in all likelihood he also composed while a university student. Despite his musical genius, nothing that he did in matters musical during that time gives the impression of that determination that distinguished the pursuit of his other studies. Indeed, in his autobiography, Schütz, in an almost nostalgic manner, reveals how close to his heart the study of the liberal arts and of jurisprudence had been. He mentions this at a time when he regretted that he had ever turned away from these studies. He cursed the decision that he had made, since now, old and embittered, he had to admit that he had worked in vain. At this point an adequate comparison appears between Schütz and the aged Bach. The same tones of bitterness, the same wrath that all the costly efforts and energies of a long life had been wasted; and the comparison holds even for the reasons of such painful distress. The reasons were not purely artistic, they were linked to religious and liturgical purposes which the two composers had spent their lives to serve. In all other respects, however, the comparison is wholly inadequate. How different their early career! Bach never questioned his choice of profession, and it appears as if he had no other choice. He grew into the position of organist and cantor by the power of tradition. He had a clear view of the task of his life as a composer already when Schütz still was wavering. Bach was trained in the well-established setup of musical education, linked to school and church. Schütz grew up among young noblemen, and later at the university amidst an international group of students who were attracted to Marburg as a Protestant university from all parts of Europe, Switzerland, Holland, Denmark, Poland, Russia, Hungary, and Scotland. Bach learned his musical technique as a craftsman. Schütz made himself first of all a humanist, who turned to study and training in music because of his enormous genius; Bach took up music, not because of the recognition of his genius, but because music was the craft of his kinsfolk; he did not think about any other profession. Schütz, however, was finally led into professional musicianship as a result of the persuasive encouragement of Moritz. Again, Martin Geier gives us an interesting report on the way in which the decision was made. Moritz came to Marburg for a visit, and 6 F K W ] D W R Q F H P D G H D S R O L W H F D O O R Q K L P ³ $ W W K H L Q W H U Y L H Z 0 R U L W ] L P P H G L D W H O \ E H J D Q W R V D \ that he had learned Schütz had completely turned to the Studium Juridicum. Since, however, he had always found Schütz to have particular inclination to the profession of the noble music, and since Giovanni Gabrieli in Venice, a man of world-wide fame, was still living, he, Moritz, would like to provide the funds needed to send him there in case he would be inclined to go in order to continue the study of music in a proper manner. Inasmuch as such offers were scarcely ever rejected by young men, he, Schütz, also was ready to accept the generous gift most gratefully, thinking that upon his return from Italy he would nevertheless pick up his books again and conti Q X H K L V V W X G L H V ´ 7 K L V L V D U D W K H U R G G Z D \ W R F R P H W R D G H F L V L R Q L Q I D Y R U R I P X V L F I R U D P D Q who was to become one of the leading composers of all time. Before he went to Italy, he seems to have played with the idea that all would be merely a matter of temporary change. But things turned out differently. In 1609 he followed the advice of Moritz and went to Venice to study with Giovanni Gabrieli. Schütz was twenty-four years old. At the same age Bach held his third The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 47 position and had gained a certain renown as an organist. More remarkable still, at the age of twenty-three, in 1708, when he resigned from his post in Mühlhausen, he had, with determined tones of finality, defined the end of his artistic work in a document that I regard as the most important in the Z K R O H R I % D F K ¶ V O L I H : H P D \ Z H O O T X R W H I U R P L W D O W K R X J K Z H D O O K D Y H U H D G L W P D Q \ D W L P H ³ $ O W K R X J K L W Z D V P \ L Q W H Q W L R Q W R D G Y D Q F H W K H P X V L F L Q W K H G L Y L Q H V H U Y L F H W R Z D U G L W V very end and purpose, a regulated church music in honor of God; although it was also my intention here to improve the church music, which in nearly all villages is on the increase and is often better treated than here; although for the purpose of improvement I provided, not without expense, a good supply of the best selected church compositions, and also, in obedience to my duty, submitted a project for the repair of the unsatisfactory and damaged organ, and in short, would have fulfilled my obligations with enthusiasm: it so happened that none of this was possible without vexatious relations. . . . So God willed to bring about an opportunity that will not only put me in a better position so far as the subsistence of my livelihood is concerned, but will also make it possible for me, without annoyance to others, to persevere in working towards P \ H Q G Z K L F K F R Q V L V W V L Q R U J D Q L ] L Q J F K X U F K P X V L F Z H O O ´ , W Z L O O I R U H Y H U E H D P D ] L Q J W K D W D \ R X Q J man of twenty-three, with such clarity and determination, was able to formulate the reorganization of church music as the very principle of his art for the whole of his life. Schütz, even a year older, made the first really serious attempt to acquire the science of music. When he came to Giovanni Gabrieli, whom he venerated for the rest of his life, a sudden revelation must have come home to him that no longer allowed his musical genius to be held back from its rising path. Schütz shall not return to his books of jurisprudence; his musical genius had once and for all driven him to artistic creation. Of course, he realized immediately that his craftsmanship was totally unsatisfactory, at least to his own critical mind. He had been very familiar with the religious music of the sixteenth century that was cultivated by Moritz at the court of Kassel; and that music followed the pattern of purely Netherlandish tradition; there the work of Clemens non Papa, of Lassus, and Georg Otto represented the style of choral polyphony, more or less in purity. When Schütz came to Italy, he found the Venetian school of choral polyphony under Giovanni Gabrieli at its height and at its end. He was, of course, a most attentive observer; he absorbed the large religious choral works; he studied ²admittedly counterpoint; but ² to judge from the artistic results he apparently studied counterpoint largely through the profane medium. There are, indeed, very few artists with as sharp a mind as 6 F K W ] ¶ V Z K R K D G W U D L Q H G K L P V H O I W R W K H H Y H U-austere clarity of thought. Thus, when in Venice, he at once must have recognized that the Italian climate of music was predominantly profane; to put it in other words: he must have seen that the profane medium, such as the madrigal, revealed, more than any other category, specifically Italian characteristics. An that time, the five books of madrigals of Monteverdi were available. More than ten books of Mar H Q ] L R ¶ V P D G U L J D O V K D G E H H Q published. In 1611 there appeared the fifth book of madrigals by Carlo Gesualdo, Principe da Venosa. It seems that Schütz followed the line of madrigalesque composition from Cypriano de Rore through Gesualdo and Marenzio. The art L V W L F U H V X O W R I D O O W K H V H V W X G L H V Z D V 6 F K W ] ¶ V I L U V W Z R U N D F R O O H F W L R Q R I I L Y H-part madrigals, published in Venice (1611 ±12), but dedicated to his patron, the Landgraf Moritz of Hesse. The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 48 Schütz is all at once fascinated by the art of madrigalesque composition, which required a highly skillful and clever hand to be satisfactory to the sophisticated Italians. He at once knows about the latest phase of Italian poetry and chooses poems of Guarini and Marino for his madrigals. He is stirred by the technical problems which the madrigals present. And why? The answer gives the U H D V R Q Z K \ Z H P H Q W L R Q W K L V Z R U N R I 6 F K W ] ¶ V K H U H 6 W L P X O D W H G E \ F H U W D L Q W H F K Q L T X H V R I W K H Italian madrigalists, Schütz discovered that the composition of madrigals contained the most fascinating problems concerning the relation between text and music. He discovered that the madrigalist at his best was an interpreter of the text and its connotations. For the sake of the most faithful interpretation of the text he struggled with the vocabulary of the madrigal. This relationship between word and tone gave his work an enormous artistic passion. Fascinated by the problems of the text, he strikes out toward the boldest adventures in harmony, in chromaticism, in the treatment of the dissonance. Schütz apparently did not want to be outdone by any Italian; and wherever possible, he increased the technical difficulties, not for their own sake, but because of his artistic passion to be faithful to the text. The madrigals of Schütz are an exceedingly complicated, soloistic art; for only the best-trained singers will be able to render W K H P $ V D I L Q H F R Q Q R L V V H X U R I W K H K L V W R U \ R I W K H , W D O L D Q P D G U L J D O R Q F H V D L G ³ 6 F K W ] ¶ V P D G U L J D O V D U H S U R I R X Q G H U W K D Q D Q \ W K L Q J , W D O L D Q ´ ( L Q V W H L Q : H P D \ D G G W K D W W K H \ D U H W K R X Jh immensely artificial, the boldest madrigals ever written and at the same time they combined all that the madrigal had been: the whole apparatus, the techniques of generations. For the work of a beginner this is a miraculous achievement. When these madrigals arrived in Germany, they must have been admired with awe; one can be certain that the Germans, who were connoisseurs, had not seen anything like them. But those madrigals were probably also immediately shelved. We do not hear of any performance; nor is there any mention of a demand for them; nor has there ever been a German reprint of the Italian edition. One must assume that these works were lost for Germany. We have treated these compositions at such length for good reasons; they exemplify certain pri Q F L S O H V R I 6 F K W ] ¶ V D U W L V W L F D S S U R D F K : K H Q L Q , W D O \ 6 F K W ] W D S V W K H U H V R X U F H V R I S U R I D Q H styles of music; he carries the results of his studies home, but applies his experience to categories of religious music. That is a startling fact of first importance. We shall make the same observation again. The relation of Schütz to Italy is peculiar. He knows that the Italians had advanced the leading style of the seventeenth century; he knows that the style is essentially profane and that it originated in profane categories. His reactions will be consistent. Once he had made himself familiar with the style, he turned his knowledge to the benefit of religious composition. There is another reason for dwelling upon his early work. Historically speaking, the madrigals of Schütz were in their impact on German musicianship probably a total loss. One more attempt was made by Schütz to convince German musicians and win them over to all the subtleties of the madrigalesque style that he had presented in his first compositions. But significantly he made the attempt no longer within a profane category. He carried the style over into the sphere of religious music. The Cantiones Sacrae, which Schütz published in 1625, are the direct parallels of the early madrigals. The collectio Q R I P R W H W V Z U L W W H Q ³ T X D W X R U Y R F X P F X P E D V V R D G R U J D Q X P ´ L V Q R W The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 49 D V X Q L I R U P D V W K H P D G U L J D O H V T X H Z R U N V L Q F H W K H \ Z H U H F R P S R V H G D W G L I I H U H Q W W L P H V L Q 6 F K W ] ¶ V life. The publisher, eager to be fashionable and modernistic, forced Schütz to add the basso continuo to these classical four-part compositions of strict polyphony. Schütz protested in vain, for the musical structure of most of these motets precludes the organ as an accompaniment. Schütz frankly admits that he had been forced to that addition of the basso continuo against his own will; he turns to the organist and gives his advice, yet his advice amounts to saying: disregard the whole thing. ²In the preface to the Cantiones Sacrae Schütz made a brief but important remark; he stated that music to him had only one purpose: the glorification of God, not the consent and applause of the great men, the rulers, the princes. Although this statement of the ³ J O R U L I L F D W L R ' H L ´ D V W K H S X U S R V H R I D O O P X V L F P D \ Q R W K D Y H D Q \ I D U-reaching liturgical implications, the serious belief in the predominance of religious music should be kept in mind. The Cantiones Sacrae are as unique from an artistic point of view as were the madrigals. Schütz, who had meanwhile learned a great deal about the conservative character of German music, saw new possibilities in the classic form of Netherlandish polyphony of the past, and he hoped it would still be possible to recast it and to modernize it. This is the meaning of the Cantiones Sacrae. The same artistic problems that he had solved in the earlier madrigals are set forth once more. He applies the same adventurous boldness to the motets. So do all the harmonic experiments, the dissonances, the forbidden progressions and combinations, surely not for the sake of being complicated. Schütz more clearly than ever feels himself to be the interpreter of the text. The notes are expected to translate all the inner meanings of the words despite their polyphonic structure. Thus, in view of the technical difficulties, these motets can hardly be imagined as choral works; the choral style has not that flexibility which is here expected, and these motets call for a soloistic performance, as did the madrigals. Schütz has attempted a combination of almost irreconcilable elements: the strict Netherlandish polyphony on the one hand, and on the other a highly individualistic, faithful interpretation of the content of the texts by means of the madrigalesque vocabulary. The attempt remained an experiment, unique, of high artistic quality, but isolated; for the German musicians could not follow him, and Schütz never again repeated such an experiment. In this work the passionate will to interpret the text faithfully may also have influenced the choice of the texts. They are Psalms, passages from the Song of Songs, and religious lyrics of St. Bernard and St. Augustin. Schütz had brought home from his first Italian trip another artistic experience: the polychoral composition that the Venetian school since Adrian Willaert had cultivated, especially in conjunction with Psalm texts. The results of this experience were presented by Schütz in the collection Die Psalmen Davids, published in 1619, when Schütz had had the leading position at the court of Dresden for about two years. He applied the psalmodizing style to the polychoral combination and realized the antiphonal form in a double sense. The antiphony implied both the liturgical style of psalmodic recitation and the alternation of the choirs. In the preface Schütz P D G H D V X U S U L V L Q J U H P D U N ³ , K D Y H F R P S R V H G W K H V H P \ 3 V D O Ps in stile recitativo (which up to now is nearly unknown in Germany), since in my opinion there is nothing more appropriate for the composition of Psalms than the recitation without interruption and without any particular repetition, because of the extensive text. In view of this style, I kindly request that all those who have no knowledge of this manner should not take the tempo too fast, rather a medium, in order The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 50 that the words may be sung comprehensibly. Otherwise an unpleasant harmony will result, or nothing but a battaglia di Mosche, R U D Z D U R I I O L H V H Q W L U H O \ D J D L Q V W W K H Z L V K R I W K H D X W K R U ´ 7 K H use of the term stile recitativo is strange. Schütz did not refer to the recitative that originated within the new dramatic music. He took, quite correctly, the psalmodizing to be a stile recitativo. But the liturgical recitation in the manner of the chant could not possibly be said to have been unknown in Germany. Obviously, Schütz had in mind the application of the liturgical recitation to the polychoral forms. In doing so Schütz closely observed the characteristics of the German language. The selection of the texts is again of interest. Some of the texts are passages from Jeremiah, rather than the Psalms proper. Others show a combination of verses from various Psalms. All of them seem to be selected under the aspect of highly emotional lyricism affectionally rich; as such Schütz regarded them as a stimulating challenge to the imaginative power of composition. But are these Psalms really liturgical music? It is true, some of the Psalm compositions have the doxology and thus are in keeping with the liturgical structure of antiphonal psalmody. But one may doubt that the presence of the doxology alone is satisfactory evidence. Of course, the Psalms were performed as church music, and were therefore probably placed where the singing of Psalms was appropriate, that is, in the Vespers. These works could, however, also have been used on any special occasion. At all events, there is no mention of any particular liturgy or service for which Schütz may have intended the compositions to be performed. They all require a huge musical apparatus and carry the character of festival solemnity. I do not think that Schütz had primarily liturgical considerations in mind when he compo V H G W K H 3 V D O P V $ W W K D W W L P H 6 F K W ] ¶ V L Q W H U H V W V Z H U H Q H D U O \ H [ F O X V L Y H O \ F R Q F H Q W U D W H G R Q problems of an artistic nature; he thought entirely in terms of an artist. In that capacity he felt at once the urgent need for new solutions of the artistic problems he recognized as soon as he came into professional contact with the music of Italy. But this was not all. It took the foresight of a genius to discover as early as 1609 that German music, rooted firmly in the sixteenth-century style, would soon be hopelessly outdated, unless, through an intimate contact with the new tendencies of Italian music, a gradual transformation would be carried out. And that transformation appeared to him first as a purely artistic matter. The idea of reshaping German music, of keeping it in pace with a modern spirit, in order to prevent the musical art of his country from falling out with the time, this is the noble and ambitious task that Schütz set for himself at the beginning of his musical work. For that reason his mind is set on matters of art, of style, of techniques of composition. And yet it is remarkable and worthy of particular emphasis that he thinks of religious music when thinking of German music. Both to him are identical from the very start. To transform German music means transforming religious music. He said, and we quoted the statement, that the purpose of all music to him is the glorification of God. The religious character is, therefore, nothing but a general attitude, a state of mind, a temper of the music. It goes without saying that religious is not identical with liturgical music; a composition may be sacred without being liturgical. This general implication of religious music characterizes the artistic beginnings of Schütz. He is still far remote from accepting the idea of liturgy as the primary problem of any reform of church music while his mind was actually possessed by the passionate will artistically to reconcile German religious music to the new style of Italy. The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 51 At this point, especially, the enormous contrast between Schütz and Bach makes itself felt. Bach never had to strike the balance of artistic reconciliation between two divergent styles. Bach unknowingly became the heir to the artistic accomplishment of a reconciliation that was due to the efforts of Schütz. When approaching religious music, Bach did not start out with problems of an exclusively artistic nature; nor did religious music have, for him, merely an all-comprehensive, general connotation. When he set out to reorganize religious music and to bring about a well-regulated form, religious music at once implied the music of the Church, that is, of a liturgical character. Bach began with recognizing liturgy to be the prevailing problem of the religious music of his time; Schütz began with discovering artistic problems to be the first needs of religious music. Neither was really in harmony with his own time: Schütz was out of sympathy with the artistic characteristics of Protestant church music, and Bach disagreed with the religious-liturgical tendencies of his time if we at all can grant his time as having had liturgical tendencies, except negative ones. If in such a vital manner as this there is so fundamental a difference in the historical conditions between the two, comparison and evaluation of one set against the other do not make sense in any respect. By the power of historical conditions Schütz was forced first of all to establish a balanced artistic situation for Protestant music just as much as Bach was driven to a reorganization of church music under liturgical aspects because of the general situation of Lutheranism and Lutheran liturgy. This difference can hardly be over-emphasized and must continually be kept in mind if we care at all to endeavor to reach an objective interpretation. The further development in the work of the two composers moves on in exactly opposite G L U H F W L R Q V 6 F K W ] ¶ V E H J L Q Q L Q J V L Q W K H F R P S R V L W L R Q R I U H O L J L R X V P X V L F D U H S U H G R P L Q D Q W O \ L I Q R W exclusively, artistic. The clearer he became about the artistic problems of style, the more he grew to be the master over them, the more he opened his work to the realization of liturgical ideas. 6 F K W ] ¶ V S D W K O H D G V I U R P D U W W R O L W X U J \ $ Q G % D F K ¶ V G H Y H O R S P H Q W S U R F H H G V L Q U H Y H U V H R U G H U , Q W K H last phase of his life, when the rise of new music took place, which had nothing in common with what he artistically believed in, he realized that the new spirit of the time would demand an artistic revision of the musical style. He made a few feeble and exceedingly inadequate attempts to establish a contact with the younger generation by preparing major collections of his instrumental compositions for publication. He hoped that by doing so his art would be recognized also by the younger men. He hoped, of course, in vain. Beyond this he did not take part in the revision of the artistic principles of music; on the contrary, he rather strengthened artistically the musical forms which he had worked out throughout his life. Schütz, on the other hand, learned at the end of his life that after he had found the solutions to artistic problems, and after he had turned his thoughts more to liturgical and religious matters, his artistic efforts had not been rewarded by German musicianship. He had many pupils and followers, but he had no artistic and spiritual heir. And at the end he is as desperate and bitter as Bach. If there is any point of comparison, it is seen only on the basis of tragedy where Schütz and Bach stand in an inner relationship. What are, then, the liturgical elements in the work of Heinrich Schütz, and what do we think is the religious character of his composition on the basis of a liturgical understanding of music? The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 52 During the age of the Reformation, and largely throughout the sixteenth century, the highest artistic form in which the liturgical function came to its own, was the motet, in which category the chorale-motet may well be included, since even the German chorale wherever it had replaced a Proprium motet in the main service was not always sung choraliter with the participation of the congregation, but artistically formed in accordance with the style and behavior of motet composition. The Psalms and antiphons, the cantica, the Magnificat, their liturgical place being in the Vespers, largely followed the traces of the motet that governed the style. The musical interpretation of the texts, held within the framework of choral polyphony, was possible only as an objective procedure. That is to say: Music as a whole fulfills the interpretative function, and the single composition is always pars pro toto. Luther in particular and for the whole of the sixteenth century has clarified musical interpretation to be such an objective procedure. The individualistic approach of the text by the composer is thereby excluded. The individual genius of the musician can still be manifested through the degree of craftsmanship and through the degree of intensity. But that is not what can be called an individualistic interpretation of the text. This objective procedure in artistic work may well conform to the impersonal, objective character of the congregation in the liturgy, even if the congregation had no direct share in such artistic manifestation. Not only the chorale, but also the choral polyphony in the motet style seems to reflect in a unique manner the congruity of an artistic form with the congregation as an objective element of the liturgy. No wonder that the Lutheran musicians clung to the motet style with striking tenacity. Toward the end of the sixteenth century, the congregation begins, physically and idealistically, to be separated from an influence on form and character of artistic composition. Together with a rapid increase of very simple harmonizations of the chorales for musically untrained laymen, the congregation moved into its own closed circle of liturgical activity, and the distance between the development of the artistic forms of church music and the congregational share became rapidly, and, some of us may say, alarmingly, greater. In the seventeenth century, some musicians tried to draw the congregation closer again to the artistic form by providing artistic varieties for the performance of the chorale whose various strophes were performed in a changing manner. But this seems to have been a solution from which, as a liturgical factor, the artist drew the benefit rather than the congregation. In my opinion the separation of the congregation from the development of the artistic work is excessively difficult to evaluate, even if we change the positions from which to view the situation: as a matter of theological content, or of liturgy, or of religious music, or of art, or simply of history. Everyone with a strong sense for liturgy will be ready, perhaps too quickly, to condemn the event and its consequences. Without suggesting any compromise, unprejudiced caution in evaluating seems to me the best advice, since after all the congregation is not the only element of the Lutheran liturgy. Above all, what happened is a historical fact, a reality that has to be accounted for. And what we have mentioned here as a historical event, had bearing on both Schütz and Bach, though in different ways. Schütz grew up in a period when the event that we mentioned had already had its full effects, V L Q F H Z H F D Q Q R W S O D F H 6 F K W ] ¶ V D U W L V W L F F D U H H U P X F K E H I R U H + H O H D U Q H G that the congregational chorale stood within a sphere nearly untouched by artistic efforts of the The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 53 musicians. That is a factual situation we have to take into account as much as did Schütz. On the side of artistic composition he found the motet style to be the prominent form of the music of the services. This situation aids in explaining the reason why Schütz at once could concentrate his energies on artistic problems after he had fully recognized the implications. That, in fact, he did recognize the situation is clearly proved by the very existence of the Psalmen Davids as well as by the Cantiones Sacrae. The Psalm compositions were, as religious music within the artistic sphere and separated from the congregational liturgy, surely a success. Their success is also shown in the imitations by German musicians, and had it not been for the devastating effects of W K H 7 K L U W \ < H D U V ¶ : D U Z K L F K D I I O L F W H G F R X U W V F K X U F K H V V F K R R O V D Q G D O O S X E O L F L Q V W L W X W L R Q V D O L N H with poverty, the cultivation of such Psalm compositions with their huge musical apparatus would probably have flourished more and longer. The Cantiones Sacrae are another attempt within the same sphere, one more attempt that Schütz had made in order to test the foundations of the motet style and its liturgical function. They were not successful, as we have already pointed out. Their passionate interpretation of the texts which Schütz faithfully carried through, reveals yet another aspect of seventeenth-century music that is particularly characteristic of Schütz and of the liturgical element in his music. I shall presently discuss it. First, however, one more reference must be made to the separation of the congregational chorale from the sphere of artistic music. In that situation there may lie the answer to the rather infrequent use Schütz has made of the chorale in his artistic work. (It is, however, not quite so rare as is often stated.) At this point, reference may, perhaps, be made to the music of Michael Praetorius, whose compositions, in great contrast to Schütz, are frequently based on the chorale. Although Praetorius died in 1621, he is artistically not a seventeenth-century composer, not a modern composer. The only modernization he ever carried out within choral polyphony involves the polychoral style of Venetian derivation. Otherwise he operates with the tools of the motet style and thereby quite naturally frequently incorporates the chorale. And although Schütz had personal contact with Praetorius and thought very highly of his music, he definitely did not I R O O R Z K L P 7 K D W L V V W U L N L Q J 6 F K W ] ¶ V Psalms of David are not derived from Praetorius, but directly from Venice, from the same source from which Praetorius drew for his polychoral compositions. 7 K H L Q I U H T X H Q W X V H R I W K H F K R U D O H L Q 6 F K W ] ¶ V Z R U N K D V also been turned into an interpretation unfavorable to Schütz by comparison with Bach. Such an interpretation suffers from a P L V X Q G H U V W D Q G L Q J R I % D F K ¶ V D J H R I K L V D U W L V W L F L Q W H Q W L R Q V R I W K H S X U S R V H R I K L V P X V L F R I W K H liturgical situation of his music; in other words, it suffers from misunderstanding everything that L V H V V H Q W L D O L Q % D F K ¶ V P X V L F , I I U H T X H Q F \ R I W K H F K R U D O H L V D Q D F F H S W D E O H P H D V X U H E \ Z K L F K W R establish the greatness or even the Lutheran spirit of a composer, then all those whose work would consist of nothing but harmonizations of the chorales will be the greatest, and a host of little ones will at once be superior to the best religious art man has produced. Applied to our situation: on such grounds very decent, honorable, but small musicians would all be greater than Schütz. If and when Schütz made use of the chorale in his composition, and there is evidence of it in all his major collections, the Symphoniae Sacrae, the Kleine Geistliche Konzerte, the Geistliche The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 54 Chormusik, he always presents a highly fascinating and instructive treatment. Now he takes up the chorale melody and begins in faithful observance as though it were a strict cantus firmus. In the course of the chorale text, however, he suddenly breaks off, introduces changes, proceeds D E V R O X W H O \ I U H H O \ D Q G P D \ W K H Q U H W X U Q D J D L Q W R W K H P H O R G \ ³ 2 K L O I & K U L V W H * R W W H V 6 R K Q ´ Symphoniae Sacrae, I). Then he may strictly adhere to the full chorale melody without any actual change, but with a repetition of melodical phrases that is of his R Z Q P D N L Q J ³ 1 X Q N R P P G H U + H L G H Q + H L O D Q G ´ ibidem). He may make use of a chorale melody to be treated as material for the P R W L I V R I W K H F R P S R V L W L R Q ³ : L U J O l X E H Q D O O D Q H L Q H Q * R W W ibidem). Then he may take up merely the text of the chorale and regard its melody as unfit for the specific purposes of a F R P S R V L W L R Q ³ : D Q Q X Q V U H $ X J H Q V F K O D I H Q H L Q ´ Symphoniae Sacrae, II). Now he may introduce deviations from a traditional chorale melody for the first strophe; he may bring new deviations for the second strophe; he may drop the melody altogether for the third strophe; and he may I D L W K I X O O \ W D N H X S W K H H V W D E O L V K H G I R U P Z L W K R X W F K D Q J H I R U W K H I L Q D O V W U R S K H ³ $ O O H L Q * R W W L Q G H U + | K ¶ V H L ( K U ´ Symphoniae Sacrae, II).The artistic techniques with which Schütz has treated the chorale are at least as varied as those of Bach, despite the considerably lesser frequency. On this occasion I cannot list them all. All cases are exceedingly instructive. For the particular structure of a composition reveals nearly always the reason for the special method of treating the choral; D E R Y H D O O Z H F D Q X V X D O O \ L G H Q W L I \ W K H U H D V R Q W K D W Z D V E D F N R I 6 F K W ] ¶ V G H F L V L R Q Z K H Q W R G H Y L D W H from and when to maintain the chorale, when to drop it and when to take it up. The reasons largely rested on the individualistic attitude which Schütz assumed for his interpretation of the text. The use of the chorale in a larger artistic work has, however, not come about by considering the function material or idealistic, that the congregation fulfills in its relation to the chorale. When Schütz avails himself of the chorale, he does not think of the congregation. Here again, we are forced to recognize a marked and important difference between Schütz and Bach in their attitude toward the chorale. Bach often takes the chorale to be the most important organizing factor in the structure of the work; in addition to and above this structural function, however, the chorale is at least symbolically the representative of the congregation, the reminder of religious messages to the congregation, which cannot have an active share any more, but should be admonished to turn to religious values, which a gloriously enlightened time has R E V F X U H G U D W K H U W K D Q F O D U L I L H G % D F K ¶ V F K R U D O H V H H P V I L U V W R I D O O W R V H U Y H W K H aedificatio hominum, the second purpose of religious music next to the glorificatio Dei. Thus, Bach thought of the congregation when he approached the chorale. Schütz, on the other hand, treated the chorale primarily as matter of a religious text, independent of any relation to the congregation. And he understood the chorale text to be as traditional within the Lutheran Church as any other traditional Scripture: a passage of the Bible, a Psalm, the Gospel. I do not mean to say that the chorale text was to him as holy as the Bible; it would be presumptuous to venture such a statement. I mean to say that Schütz as an artist took the same attitude toward the Scriptures and the chorale texts, that is, the attitude of an interpreter. Here we come at last to our problem of the O L W X U J L F D O L P S O L F D W L R Q V L Q 6 F K W ] ¶ V Z R U N 7 K H separation of the congregation from the artistic development was only one of the important movements in the seventeenth century. That separation was by no means antireligious. It was The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 55 expressive of the desire to formulate the part of the congregation in austere simplicity. The powerful, emotionally stirring religious expression, equally sought after by seventeenth-century men, fell upon the individual. There arose in this century of religious and political passions an individualism that differed widely from the age of the Reformation. Religious poetry, in many instances as powerful as in the period of the Reformers, begins to speak of religious values and realities as individualistic experiences. The poet, the musician, each has his own message, not intended to be dogma or ever to become dogmatic, but surely meant to be expressive of a personal, subjective recourse of the individual to God, that is, to God as revealed in the Scriptures. Thus the musician becomes the subjective interpreter of the Scriptures and by the grace of God experiences their meaning. Of this meaning, that is, the interpretation he arrives at, he speaks in terms of artistic composition. We shall not dispute this subjectivism in terms of for or against on the basis of theological reasons. We accept its existence as a historical fact, perceptible in religious poetry and music alike. Moreover, Lutheranism had had this subjectivism as a possibility of its religious form from the very beginning. When it unfolded itself, subjectivism as such at least did not essentially conflict with certain theological aspects of Lutheranism. Especially the interpretation of the texts had the support of the doctrine. Although the new individualism manifested itself in many phenomena of the life of the Church, it found its chief expression in art, which included both poetry and music. It must be stressed that under the aspect of the interpretation of texts the new artistic individualism of the seventeenth century is in keeping with the Doctrina Christiana of Luther. In my limited opinion, and one that I clearly want to be understood in relation to art alone, a distinction between needs and principles is necessary. That is to say: There are periods in the history of the Church that seem to call for the more objective form of Lutheranism, the more uniform conception which binds all and in which all find themselves held and expressed; there are other periods in which individualism prevails and nonetheless seems to be a comprehensive representation of Lutheranism, for which, in other words, the individualism is the more adequate form of Lutheranism. That the seventeenth century in terms of art saw a fulfillment of Protestantism in the individualistic expression can hardly be doubted. What the music of the Lutheran Church is in need of today, of the more objective, more uniform conception of the Reformation, or of the manifestation of the individual according to the seventeenth-century form, that is altogether a different matter which must be decided by those who establish the course. But the needs of the present should not distort the interpretation of the past. The artistic interpretation of the texts in the form of the individualism that the seventeenth century has produced seems to be the climactic result of Lutheranism. As a matter of fact, it was for the first time in the history of the music of the Church that this genuine element of the doctrine, the interpretation of the texts by the individual in a state of grace, broke through. Whatever greatness lies in the music of the Reformation, and it abounds in greatness, the musician has not been the individual interpreter of the text. In view of this fact it is understandable and appropriate that the artists, the poets, and the musicians of the seventeenth century felt themselves to be most faithful to Lutheranism, inspired by what the Reformation had brought about. In sharp contrast to the history of the music of the Catholic Church, individualism as such has never brought music into conflict with the religious principles of the Lutheran The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 56 Church. Whenever a generally individualistic tendency arose, and it happened frequently in the music before the Reformation, the place of music in the Church at once became altogether problematic. Each time individualism made itself felt, the aged struggle ars contra religionem broke loose in full force. I do not see that this holds principally true for the music of the Lutheran Church. At all events, the great epochs of its history show that individualism as such, on principle grounds, did not cause the conflict between art and religion. The music of the seventeenth century surely proves that its individualistic traits did not endanger the principles of doctrine and of the Church, since those traits were altogether and indissolubly linked to the interpretation of the texts by the individual. That an artistic interpretation of texts is a proper, adequate, and acceptable form of religious life in the Church has been taught by Luther once and for all. Once more, then, not individualism as such is wrong, but it may be the wrong individual who takes advantage of this element of Lutheranism. Surely, only the great individual can successfully lead the artistic expression in the name, or in the place, of the congregation. For the new temper of the seventeenth century also changed the relation between the individual artist and the congregation. The individual musician becomes the active element since he took over the function of being the interpreter of the holy Word, of being the intermediary, or the medium of transmitting the message. Consequently, in view of the leading and active role the musician maintained as an artist, as a composer who transmits his interpretation of the text to the congregation, the function of the congregation began immediately to assume a certain passiveness. Surely, this fundamental change in the relation between individual and congregation must be reflected in the character and use of the congregational chorale. The simplicity of chorale harmonization, far removed from being intended as predominantly artistic expression, certainly was indicative of the structure of the congregation. But with equal certainty we can say W K D W L W G L G Q R W V D W L V I \ W K H F R P S R V H U ¶ V G H V L U H D F W L Y H O \ D Q G L Q G L Yidualistically to find the truth of divine content in the texts that he felt himself called upon to express in the highest and noblest artistic forms. In this change of relationship to the congregation there may lie another reason why Schütz none too frequently incorporated the chorale in his artistic composition. Schütz is, however, the greatest representative of that individualism which, founded on the Lutheran interpretation of the divine content of religious texts, is the most prominent character of seventeenth-century Protestantism. The striking tones of an extraordinary passion and of profundity which distinguish nearly all his works, resulted from his awareness of being the L Q W H U S U H W H U , Q G H H G D Q \ V W X G \ R I 6 F K W ] ¶ V Z R U N V D Q G R I Z K D W K H K D G V W D W H G D E Rut the procedure of composition, either in his letters, or in the prefaces to his works, or in the theoretical treatise that his pupil Christoph Bernhard wrote as a result of what he had learned from Schütz, all this gives indisputable proof that the primary problem he sees in musical composition from beginning to end, a problem that dictates structure, style, and technique of composition, a problem that truly possessed his mind, is the text and the translation of the content of the text into terms of music. Tone and word are an inseparable unit, a new entity, different from what it was in the period of the Reformation. Quite apart from the religious aspects of the matter, the individualistic artist of the seventeenth century sees the music, the tone, in subordination to the text. We shall refer briefly to this general historical situation that Schütz accepted for his composition. The word, the The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 57 text is the superior element through which the composer justifies the musical form and the style. Schütz takes the superiority of the text over the music to have religious implications, those of his Protestantism. The superiority of the text, in contrast to the Catholic composer of the seventeenth century and the composer of profane music, to him is twofold: prescribed by the musical style itself and inspired by the religious implication. What he himself called the stile oratorio, which he described on various occasions and which he had Bernhard explain at great length, is based on the predominance of the word. To Schütz, music exists only in its connection with the text; music without words never did inspire him to any artistic achievement, since such a composition would be deprived of the very foundation of his music. Schütz therefore had no interest in instrumental composition. As a matter of fact, he did not compose any instrumental work that was separated from a vocal context. And is this not another point upon which Bach and Schütz part company? Nobody should use, as a counterargument, the assertion that instrumental music was in its infancy at the time of Schütz. For such historical distortions no longer excite any interest. Schütz lived a long life, till 1672, in the course of which he had encountered pure instrumental music of great brilliance. German musicians were traditionally given to strong interests in instrumental forms, due in part to the sociological conditions of German musicianship. Schütz was not very German in that matter; he totally disregarded that tradition. Bach maintained the attitude of interpreting religious texts through music, comparable to the individualism of Heinrich Schütz. Nonetheless, the large quantity of his purely instrumental music is not a sideline in his work. Although most certainly his cantatas represent the essence of his art, his musical composition is not bound up with the word to the exclusion of any other artistic manifestation. The difference between the two composers as to basic conceptions becomes even more striking when we take into historical account the period Bach spent in Köthen as a court composer, a Hofkapellmeister. It was then and there that Bach had turned almost exclusively to the representative categories of instrumental music. It was with the choice of the position as a Hofkapellmeister that Bach had dropped his R U L J L Q D O W D V N R I U H R U J D Q L ] L Q J F K X U F K P X V L F , Q % D F K ¶ V D U W L V W L F F D U H H U W K L V Z D V W K H P R V W G H F L V L Y H turn he made; a turn that could not well be anticipated after he had at first in Muehlhausen formulated the purpose and end of his music in a manner that had the ring of finality as though that purpose would hold for the rest of his life. The turn could also not be anticipated after the enormous concentration on the realization of the task in Weimar, where the first large part of his liturgical music originated with the organization of a well-regulated church music in view. Weimar in the end brought disappointment as did Muehlhausen, and the turn to Koethen implies the turning away from religious music. An that moment, it looked as if Protestant music would lose Bach forever. All the great instrumental compositions fall into the period of Koethen. Bach no longer composed cantatas. Historically speaking, we must take the period at Koethen as an entity by itself, and it is of greatest importance to realize the hist R U L F D O L P S O L F D W L R Q V R I % D F K ¶ V renunciation of his religious task. When Bach received the call to Leipzig, he was not at all ready to end the attitude held at Koethen. It was only with great hesitation and also grave doubts that he accepted the position at Leipzig and, together with it, the return to his task. Much too often, this situation has been either overlooked or misinterpreted. The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 58 In this respect, then, the historical conditions of the work of Bach and Schütz have nothing in common. Schütz in his ninety-three years never departed from the once-accepted purpose of his art: the interpretation of the text. Never did he give over any part of his work to musical categories that would not conform to that purpose, as did Bach during the period of Koethen. Even the relatively small section of profane music which Schütz has composed does by no means disagree with the purpose of religious art; for there too he submitted the composition, in an equal measure, to the interpretation of the text. We must return to the point where we have seen Schütz discovering the implication of being the individualistic interpreter of the religious text. We also have seen that Schütz had made certain attempts to adjust the traditional motet style of Lutheran church composition to the new individualisic intentions; we have also seen that the traditional motet style did not have the flexibility Schütz expected it to have; it could not be bent without being broken. Shortly after or about the time he published the Psalmen Davids, the fruits of his first stay in Italy, Schütz learned of the most astonishing changes that took place in the art of music in Italy, carried out by musicians other than Giovanni Gabrieli, different from those whom he had met in Venice ten years before. A new generation had arisen there and, together with it, a new ideal of composition, a totally new style, related to dramatic music, which we know under the name of baroque style. When hearing about the new music, Schütz also must have learned that the new style was essentially based on the interpretation of text, a style that conformed to the intention of the artist. It is understandable that Schütz, who from the very first had seen the interpretative function of the composer to be the very essence of composition, who meanwhile also had come to learn that his purpose could not satisfactorily be fulfilled with the tools of the motet style of old even if modernized by madrigalesque or polychoral methods, was stirred to the core of his artistic being when he learned that the new style was the exact answer to W K H P X V L F L D Q ¶ V L Q W H Q W L R Q W R J L Y H D Q L Q G L Y L G X D O L V W L F L Q W H U S U H W D W L R Q R I W K H W H [ W L W V F R Q W H Q W L W V P R R G He knew that the modern style had been formulated within categories of secular character, that the new style was essentially profane; but that was no cause for concern as long as he would be able to acquaint himself with the new trends. Schütz heard about all this through Germans who returned from Italy, through Italians who began to come to Germany in ever-increasing numbers, and, of course, through whatever musical compositions he could get hold of. It was not much, but enough to whet his artistic appetite. The years passed by, and Schütz, growing more and more restless, could hardly restrain himself from his eagerness to go once more to Italy, to Venice. That restlessness is well revealed in the letters: as soon as he learns that someone of his surroundings is to go to Italy, he immediately puts in his request by all means to bring back as much of the latest Italian music as possible. His thirst for knowledge of the new style is insatiable. Moreover, the war began to have the unavoidably devastating effects under which the musical activities at the court suffered considerably, so that Schütz rightly felt he could easily be spared in Dresden. But for some years he must collect his information about the style of Italy through merchants and political ambassadors, since the court did not grant the furlough, for which he applied persistently. In was not until 1628 that he obtained a leave of absence and went R Q F H P R U H W R 9 H Q L F H % \ O H W W H U W R W K H ' U H V G H Q D G P L Q L V W U D W L R Q K H U H T X H V W H G I X Q G V L Q R U G H U ³ W R E X \ many new beautiful compositions, since I feel that from the time I was last here, the whole music K D V F R P S O H W H O \ F K D Q J H G ´ 7 Kat was, indeed true and clear to a man who, forty-three years old, looked upon the musical situation with the eyes of full maturity. He himself was an The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 59 accomplished artist, but his keen mind was ready to benefit from intensive studies. We know nothing about the personal contacts he made in Venice. Yet it is unthinkable that he failed to meet Claudio Monteverdi, the very creator of the style of which Schütz was in search. (Schütz O D W H U L Q F R U S R U D W H G V R P H R I 0 R Q W H Y H U G L ¶ V F R P S R V L W L R Q V L Q K L V R Z Q Z R U N , W Z D V L Q the sphere of profane music that Monteverdi, the Maestro di Cappella at St. Mark, had become the founder of the baroque style. With the soloistic stile concertato and the accompanied monody he had found the artistic form appropriate to the purpose of interpreting the next, in which he believed with as much passion and profundity as did Schütz. But Monteverdi did not arrive at this end for the sake, or through the aid, of religious considerations. His chief concern was the expression of human affections as given in the poetical texts he set to music. Although the most original musician, from whose work all the basic factors of modern music can well be derived, Monteverdi was no radical revolutionary. He gradually transformed the sixteenth-century polyphonic madrigal, and in this transformation arrived at the dramatic, baroque cantata of secular character. His cantata-madrigal was most influential for the development of the repertory and idiom of the seventeenth-century musician. By 1628, when Schütz came to Venice, Monteverdi, after having gone through a long struggle and various phases, had formulated the final form of the style that was to hold for the baroque epoch as a whole and, in certain aspects, for the rest of modern music. When in earlier years, as a matter of fact not much before the time when Schütz was in Venice as a student, Monteverdi was viciously attacked by representatives of sixteenth-century polyphony because of the startling novelties he introduced, he planned a reply in form of a treatise to be called Seconda Prattica in contrast to the old Prima Prattica. That treatise was never completed. Instead, he instructed his brother to make the reply and to explain briefly the fundamentals of his, that is, of modern music, principles that he had planned extensively to describe in the treatise. In the reply of his brother, together with the preface of his own fifth book of madrigals, we find the most important points taken into consideration. Two that are of interest to us should be mentioned. The first deals with the relationship between music and text, tone and word. Monteverdi maintained that the old style, the Prima Prattica of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, had allowed harmony to have complete control over the text; music prevailed over the words. Modern music, that is, his music, sets forth as the supreme law and invariable guide for all composition: that the text is master over the harmony. From the text and its content the composer derives the general outline of the musical form, the individual structure, and even the details. Thus Monteverdi, too, saw the composer to be the interpreter, who through his composition carries out an artistic exegesis of the text. And the second statement of importance is this: Monteverdi wants to assure his critics that even his most startling novelties were not the product of accidental and willful procedures. Based on the law of the relation to the text, they all were well considered and fully justified. And he concludes with the address to his student: Believe me, the modern composer works on the foundation of truth. Monteverdi meant the discovery of all the inherent secrets of the text by the individual, to be rendered faithfully in terms of music. In view of this conception of musical composition we can understand the reason why Schütz was immediately attracted to Monteverdi, who had given the principle as well as the form. Schütz made himself ready to acquire all the media of the new art, the stile concertato, the new soloistic form of melody, all the dramatic possibilities that the new style has brought about, the various forms of monody in the arioso, in the recitation, in the The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 60 mixture of aria and expressive declamation, in short, all the elements that by their very nature were flexible enough to allow a faithful interpretation of the text. Schütz acquired the style with all its implications. Of all the German composers of the seventeenth century he was the only one who exhausted all its possibilities. When he came home from Italy, it was not the profane music that he cultivated; he again took up the categories of religious music. He did not condemn secular music; he used the new style also for those works which he dedicated to representational purposes of courtly life. But most of these compositions are lost. And his chief efforts were, at all events, concentrated on the categories church music needed for the services. Despite the basic secularity of the style, Schütz consistently works with these categories in religious music. What Monteverdi achieved through a gradual transformation of the madrigal to the secular cantata is now presented as a complete and perfect product: the motet becomes the sacred cantata, not, of course, in the sense of Bach, but in accordance with the understanding of the form the seventeenth century had obtained through Schütz. In his Kleine Geistliche Konzerte Schütz gives an interpretation of the text in the style of the monody and the stile concertato. He does this with a completeness and perfection that in the field of religious music has never been surpassed. The three parts of the Symphoniae Sacrae and the Kleine Geistliche Konzerte not only show the result of what he had acquired through his studies, but they contain the new individualistic interpretations of traditional texts; they are the compositions which Schütz now dedicated to the services of the Church. The texts are mostly traditional. The first part of Symphoniae Sacrae (1629), for instance, is altogether based on passages of the Bible, from the Psalms, from Samuel, from St. Matthew, from the Caticum Canticorum. According to the traditional character of the texts, the compositions are motets; according to their musical form they are cantatas. Such compositions as Fili mi, Absalom from the Second Book of Samuel reveal what the new individualistic but faithful interpretation of text implied, a work without comparison. Most of the compositions contained in the three parts of the Symphoniae Sacrae and in the two parts of the Kleine Geistliche Konzerte are liturgical in the sense that they were composed for a definite liturgical place in the main service or in the Vespers. With regard to assigning the individual compositions to their proper places in the various liturgies of the church year, we must admit that much research is still to be done to arrange the work of Schütz in liturgical order. The first part of the Kleine Geistliche Konzerte, for instance, consists chiefly of Psalms; there are furthermore two Gospel compositions, one Epistle, four chorales. The second part has ten Psalms, three Gospels, four Epistles and six V W U R S K L F W H [ W V D P R Q J W K H O D W W H U ³ $ O O H L Q * R W L Q G H U + | K ¶ ´ ' H F L X V " ³ , F K U X I ¶ ] X G L U ´ 6 S H U D W X V W K H U H L V D O V R W K H $ Q W L S K R Q ³ 9 H Q L 6 D Q F W H 6 S L U L W X V ´ , Q W K H V H D Q G R W K H U F R O O H F W L R Q V L W L V V X U H O \ characteristic that the Gospel composition and such works as are related to it through the sermon, play a distinguished role, characteristic, because the act of interpretation had here a specific importance. The Germans called the music centered in the Gospel and sermon the ³ 3 U H G L J W P X V L N ´ This part of the liturgy had considerable importance for Schütz. At all events, the texts he had chosen usually present a particular challenge to the interpretative mind of the composer. The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 61 Although most of his works are liturgical in the strict sense of the word and can therefore be attributed to the specific liturgies, it becomes clear, when taking the work of Schütz as a whole, that he never had the intention to organize systematically the Lutheran liturgy with his music. The principle R I 6 F K W ] ¶ V O L W X U J L F D O P X V L F W K D W R I W K H L Q G L Y L G X D O L V W L F L Q W H U S U H W D W L R Q Z D V Q H Z , W would not have been a far-fetched idea to have the new principle penetrate all the liturgies. The result would have been a comprehensive musical reinterpretation of the services. This did not come to pass. Schütz did not aim at a well-regulated and reorganized church music. Perhaps he was too much of an individualist to be capable of carrying out his task systematically in organic harmony with the liturgy of the church year. His accomplished work seems to suggest it. At this point there is the final difference between Schütz and Bach. Bach had always thought of church music as an organized, systematic form. He thought in terms of liturgical completeness, which he would gradually reach when all the regulations that he foresaw for church music would materialize. In that sense, Bach is perhaps the stronger liturgical thinker of the two. At any rate, he saw the need of a systematic organization to come from the conditions of his own time. With U H J D U G W R W K H D U W L V W L F L Q W H U S U H W D W L R Q R I W K H U H O L J L R X V W H [ W V Z K L F K L Q % D F K ¶ V Z R U N Z H U H Q R W H Y H Q D O Z D \ V ³ W U D G L W L R Q D O ´ % D F K Z D V D V P X F K R I D Q L Q G L Y L G X D O L V W D V Z D V 6 F K W ] : D V R Q H I R U P R I individualism really greater than the other? We confess that we do not know. Under the aspect of church music, their work is not subject to a decision in favor of one or the other. The history of church music does not permit the issue to be formulated in a manner of ³ H L W K H U R U ´ , I L W Z H U H D P D W W H U R I D F F H S Wing and rejecting, we can accept only both or none. Such a condition, however, has no historical justification; but both, in an equal measure, can justify their artistic work within the liturgy of Protestantism. Cultural Values of Church Music and Liturgical Worship Walter E. Buszin Introduction When we speak of Christian culture, we refer to fruits of Christian theology and of Christian faith. The relationship between the Christian doctrines of justification and sanctification is reflected in Christian faith and its resultant culture. Culture is thus a natural product of a higher F U H D W L Y H S R Z H U 7 K H G L F W L R Q D U \ G H I L Q H V F X O W X U H D V ³ L P S U R Y H P H Q W R U G L V F L S O L Q H V H F X U H G E \ S U D F W L F H R U W U D L Q L Q J ´ & X O W X U H W K X V U H V X O W V D Q G W K U L Y H V R Q O \ Z K H Q F R Q V F L R X V H I I R U W V D U H P D Ge to produce and maintain it. In its very nature, culture is historical and social; its values are intangible, and it begins to decline and degenerate the moment man begins to neglect it. It is just as important, therefore, to conserve the values of a culture and to try to raise them as it is to create culture. 3 H U P L W P H W R T X R W H E U L H I O \ I U R P + 5 L F K D U G 1 L H E X K U ¶ V P R V W U H F H Q W E R R N Christ and Culture [1] (Harper and Bros., 1951, p. 37), in which he says: Let education and training lapse for one generation, and the whole grand structure of past achievements falls into ruin. Culture is social tradition which must be conserved by painful struggle not so much against nonhuman natural forces as against revolutionary and critical The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 62 powers in human life and reason. ²Culture cannot be maintained unless men devote a large part of their efforts to the work of conservation. You will have noted from the above that no attempt was made to define the essence of culture. The reason is a very simple one: We cannot define it. One can describe culture and write volumes about it, but one cannot define its essence. I We are living in a land which has its own culture. Unfortunately, however, American culture is today causing many thoughtful people a great deal of concern. We live in a land whose people care little about traditionalism and the historic past; the masses show little or no interest in trying to maintain the healthiest and most worthwhile elements of our own American cultural heritage. A visitor in a foreign land, on the other hand, discovers quickly that its people take pride in their cultural heritage; but he likewise discovers the ineffectiveness with which we have tried to impose our American culture upon others. In his very recent book, Journey to the Far Pacific [2] (Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1952, p. 54), Gov. Thomas E. Dewey of the State of New York says: The cultural bars between America and Asia are as numerous as the business bars. The Soviet Union not only suffers none of the handicaps under which we struggle in a business way, they have also outstripped us overwhelmingly in their cultural penetration into the free world. Traveling Soviet ballets, orchestras, singers, and artists, as well as every form of Soviet literature, are turning up all over the world in huge quantities. Much of the music and art is entirely unaccompanied by propaganda, but it is plainly the most powerful propaganda of all. For us to compete with the Soviet in cultural propaganda would probably cost billions; but as I noted the total absence of any sign of American culture in the Pacific, it seemed to me that our defeat in the struggle for the minds of people in this one area alone was so decisive as to require a complete overhauling of our attitude and approach. Of course an occasional baseball team or boxer makes a triumphant tour of Japan for profit and does some good; American movies and magazines circulate in the Pacific. But more often than not they deal with the ugliest aspect of American life, frequently exaggerating our defects for purposes of sensationalism or entertainment. What Gov. Dewey says about Asia applies in large measure also to Europe. It has been said repeatedly that America is trying to do with dollars what Russia is doing with her ideas and that in many parts of the world the ideas and not the American dollar are victorious. A serious problem confronts us today in the Christian Church, particularly here in the United States of America. We see the Church growing and thriving externally. A certain church body which is not so very large sets out to collect ten million dollars and collects fifteen million L Q V W H D G ³ : R Q G H U I X O ´ Z H V D \ % X W Z L W K L Q W K D W V D P H F K X U F K E R G \ D Q R E V F X U H S U R I H V V R U Z U L W H V D The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 63 O L W W O H D U W L F O H R Q ³ & K X U F K 0 X V L F I R U W K H & K X U F K : H G G L Q J ´ The Lutheran Witness, June 10, 1952), D Q G D Y H U L W D E O H U H Y R O X W L R Q W D N H V S O D F H 3 H R S O H F O D L P L Q J W R E H & K U L V W L D Q V L Q V L V W W K D W W K H S U R I H V V R U ¶ V ideas are silly, narrow, and extreme, and they insist, too, that it does not matter what type of music is sung or played in a church. Since one cannot very well question the Christianity of such people for the unfortunate conclusions they have drawn, one must put the blame elsewhere. Are these conclusions not due to a lack of Christian culture? Is there not something lacking in the training these Christians have received? The Christian Church has a great cultural heritage. The heritage is accessible and available. But that does no good, as we heard from H. Richard Niebuhr, if it is not used, taught, and applied while the Church educates her people and functions with them. We Christian people rightly place J U H D W V W U H V V R Q * R G ¶ V J U D F H P H U F \ D Q G I R U J L Y H Q H V V O L N H Z L V H R Q & K U L V W L D Q I D L W K L Q W K H U H G H P S W L Y H work of Christ. But this faith again bears its fruits, and among these fruits we find our great cultural heritage. Is it not strange that Christian people reject these fruits of the faith, given us by the Holy Spirit? It is like protecting and preserving a stalwart and productive tree but throwing its delicious fruit into the garbage can. True, Christian culture is not only a fruit of the faith created by the Holy Ghost, but also a human product. Because it is a product of the human mind and of human efforts, many reject it. But that, too, is the rankest folly, for God is constantly using human means to manifest His grace and to offer us eternal salvation. In the Holy Scriptures themselves the Holy Ghost employs human words in order to bring us Law and Gospel. We use the radio to bring the Gospel to people, and we use books to bring souls to the Christ. Why should we not use human culture to serve holy ends? Augustine went so far as to say that God Almighty can use even the forces of hell and the degenerate will of man to serve His holy purpose if He sees fit to do so. Why should we, then, object to using the elements of culture, particularly of Christian culture, in order to raise the level of man and to bring man closer to his God? The suspicious and intolerant attitude towards Christian culture which we find among many nominal Christians rejects some of the most blessed fruits of the Holy Spirit and of the Christian faith. Likewise it actually seeks to curtail the work of the Holy Ghost Himself. Permit me to illustrate. There are many who object to chanting the Word of God; others forbid the use of motets, cantatas, and passions in a church service, especially if accompanied by an orchestra. They permit, of course, the reading of portions of the Word of God, and they insist on the preaching of sermons. In other words, they believe strongly in reading, speaking, and preaching the Word of God, but they object to singing and playing it. But do they not thus seek to shorten W K H D U P R I W K H / R U G " ' R W K H \ Q R W F X U W D L O W K H Z R U N R I W K H + R O \ * K R V W " ' R W K H \ Q R W U H M H F W * R G ¶ V Word itself and replace it with what their limited and perverted minds tell them? Do not their anticultural aversions thus turn them from what the Psalms and St. Paul have to say? These are the very people who have caused the Church to lose vital parts of her precious heritage, who have done much to secularize and desecrate Christian services of worship, and who have Q H J D W L Y H G W K H & K U L V W L D Q U H O L J L R Q I R U W K H P V H O Y H V D Q G I R U W K H L U F K L O G U H Q D Q G F K L O G U H Q ¶ V F K L O G U H Q They condemn the use of musical instruments and at the same time ignore the exhortation of the The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 64 Psalmist who, in Psalm 150, tells us to praise God with all the instruments of an orchestra, even with the dance, and not once mentions the spoken word, not even song and chorus. We so often warn against teaching for doctrines the commandments of men (Matt. 15:9), and yet that is exactly what is done by many so-called Christian anticulturists. Rightly has it been said that had the Church concerned herself about her cultural heritage in the past, the secularization of 19th century culture would likely not have taken place. We of the Church have nothing against secular culture. Many of us are very fond of it and make diligent use of it. Our lives would be poorer and less interesting if we could not enjoy it. However, what we do regret is that the Church of the past and of the present has not coordinated her theology with her culture. Theology has isolated itself from its own offspring and has thus driven Christian culture out of Christian churches, schools, and homes into museums, concert halls, archives, and libraries of the world. The Church has thus forgotten the great masters God has sent her and to this day rejects the claims of the relatively few who insist that she has a cultural heritage from God in order that she might use it and benefit from its use. The worst offenders are often found among those who with Luther assert that the sermon is the main thing in a service of worship. Unfortunately, however, they do not listen to what else Luther has to say, e.g., about the use and enjoyment of the arts, in particular, of music. We have referred repeatedly to music. While we are interested, too, in painting, in sculpture, in literature, in architecture, and in the entire cultural heritage of the Church, it is rather self-evident that Lutherans think first of music when they think of Christian culture. We are happy to claim such famous artists as Albrecht Dürer, the two Cranachs, Matthias Grünewald, and others for our Lutheran Church particularly, and yet we Lutherans have not produced in the other fields of Christian culture what we have produced in the field of music. We take pride in being the Singing Church and are sensitively aware of the fact that we are likewise the Church of the Lutheran chorale. We are most happy to share our heritage with others and find it interesting to discover that by sharing it with others we do not lose, but gain. The fact that we find many within the Lutheran Church who do not appreciate the chorale is due not only to a musical situation which confronts us, but also to a lack of interest in Christian culture in general on the part of many of our people. We are learning every day that the deep interest many non-Lutherans show for the chorale and for the entire musical heritage of the Lutheran Church helps not only to put due emphasis on the ecumenical character of our heritage, but also to get our people to realize that after all there must be something to our chorales. The chorale has done much to develop among Lutherans throughout the world a spirit and a feeling of unity. Singing hymns of non-Lutheran origin in the Lutheran service helps to remind us of the fact that we are members of the Christian church at large. Moreover, singing our chorales with fellow Lutherans, especially when away from home or in foreign lands, reminds us of the universal character of our glorious Church. It is impossible to measure the integrating force of the chorale. And when, in addition, we bear in mind that from the chorale came a very large percentage of our classical organ music, countless motets and cantatas, plus the rich spiritual values that have come to the Church through our musical heritage wherever it has been The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 65 used, we must realize more and more that very salutary and exalted reasons should impel us to make diligent use of our cultural heritage. Let us not forget that the cultural heritage of the Church is the cultural heritage of a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and of a peculiar people. This being the case, we use this cultural heritage, according to 1 Peter 2: ³ W R V K R Z I R U W K W K H S U D L V H V R I + L P Z K R K D W K F D O O H G X V R X W R I G D U N Q H V V L Q W R + L V P D U Y H O R X V O L J K W ´ Though this heritage serves as a bearer and as an interpreter of the Word, we should never seek W R X V H L W W R U H S O D F H W K H : R U G I R U * R G ¶ V : R U G F D Q Q R W E H U H S O Dced; the Word is always needed, also, and perhaps particularly, by our culture. When music serves as the bearer, interpreter, and proclaimer of the Word, it animates the precious texts we use and helps us to enjoy and understand them. In his interpretation of the last words of David, recorded 2 Samuel 23:1, Luther says (St. Louis Ed., III: 1888, trans. W. E. B.; cf. The Musical Quarterly, G. Schirmer, Inc., January, 1946, page 92): Since it proclaims and sings of the Messiah, the Book of Psalms is for such hearts a sweet, comforting, and lovely song; this is the case even when one speaks or recites the mere words and does not employ the aid of music. Nevertheless, music and notes, which are wonderful gifts and creations of God, do help gain a better understanding of the text, especially when sung by a congregation and when sung earnestly. According to these words of Martin Luther, church music is indeed the viva vox evangelii, the living voice of the Gospel. That is the character not only of a good sermon, but also of our liturgies, our music, our hymns, our Christian art, and of all elements of real Christian culture. What the Word of God, and particularly the Gospel of Jesus Christ, can mean to the Christian musician and to the man and woman of culture, we can learn effectively and beautifully from the life and work of Johann Sebastian Bach. The character of his personality and of his compositions points out to us that he was a man of God and a man who had absorbed the deep spirit of Christian culture at its best. It is not difficult to understand why those who are averse to our finest Christian culture and also to the chorale are so often averse particularly to Bach. The greater his works and the deeper his spirit, the more do they dislike his music. On the other hand, we can understand, too, why Bach was so averse to certain unchristian influences of his day. It is well known that in 1728 Bach had difficulties with Gottlieb Gaudlitz, the subdeacon of St.Thomas Church at Leipzig. Bach insisted, in keeping with practices of the past, that he, as cantor, select the hymns for the service of worship. It is believed by many that Bach here showed a rather petty spirit. However, Bach was merely trying to defend a practice of the Church which had been observed from the sixteenth century down to his day. In recent years investigations have been made to determine what type of person this Gottlieb Gaudlitz was. It has been discovered that he leaned heavily toward rationalism and was not interested in the good, old sturdy chorales, with their staunch melodies and sound Christian doctrine. Gaudlitz wanted to hear hymns sung which bespoke a watered-down type of theology and failed to express properly W K H W U X W K V R I W K H % L E O H 7 K H U H O D \ W K H U H D O U H D V R Q I R U % D F K ¶ V R E M H F W L R Q V 7 K H Word meant so much to him that he was willing to make life unpleasant for himself in its defense. And with that love for the Word we find also a great love for the cultural heritage of the Church, for to this day we The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 66 believe that the foremost chorales and chorale tunes of the Church are the oldest chorales, those of the 16th and l7th centuries, the very chorales preferred by Bach to all others. Christian culture and the Word were not separated from each other in the life of Bach; on the contrary, he integrated them with each other and fostered their joint use. Need we wonder that Luther and Bach belong together and that the two are the two most illustrious men of the Lutheran Church? If we desire to contrast a very great master with Bach, we may think of Beethoven. Beethoven was aware of the religious values of musica sacra, as witness many statements he made as well as his music. In his music we find spiritual struggle, spiritual longing, and also victory over adversity. But his victories are not rooted in the Word of God as are those of Johann Sebastian Bach. On the contrary, they are rooted in his great but tragic and limited ego. Hence his victories are not complete; they do not settle his strife and striving once and for all. His ego does not permit him to link up his longings with the longings of the Church. He is isolated and speaks the language of the isolationist who insists: Selbst ist der Mann. Even his monumental Missa Solemnis O L N H % D F K ¶ V Mass in B Minor, is really not a part of the musico-cultural heritage of the & K X U F K $ F F R U G L Q J W R % H H W K R Y H Q ¶ V R Z Q Z R U G V L W Z D V Q R W Z U L W W H Q I R U W K H & K X U F K E X W I R U W K H concert hall. Despite his sacred works, Beethoven plays a relatively insignificant role in the musico-cultural history of the Church. The same would have to be said of Bach had he written only his otherwise monumental Mass in B Minor and a few other sacred works which might well E H S X W D V L G H R I W K H V D F U H G Z R U N V R I % H H W K R Y H Q % H H W K R Y H Q F R X O G K D U G O \ K D Y H Z U L W W H Q % D F K ¶ V Passions According to St. Matthew and St. John, because he lacked, to mention only one reason, the faith and the ecclesiasticism that were needed to create them. For non-Christians and the unchurched it is, of course, very difficult, if not impossible, to understand why the Word of God found in the Bible is so indispensable for the development of ecclesiastical musical culture, but the problem is not a difficult one for those who themselves are aware of the creative character of the Christian faith based on the Word, notably on the Gospel of Christ Jesus. When we think of great sacred choral music growing directly out of the Holy Bible, we think, too, of the astounding Word-bound music of Heinrich Schütz. With some justification many affirm that Schütz was even more adept than was Bach at setting Biblical texts to music. Be that as it may, the fact remains that today Schütz excites our profound admiration through the skillful way in which he treats Bible texts in his remarkable compositions. Many other composers of the era between Luther and Bach could be cited to illustrate the fact that a great musical culture grew directly out of the Word. How different are the texts we must hear in churches so often today! And how different is their music! Again, it is not merely a matter of music, it is also a matter of culture, Christian culture, its refinement and discipline. Before proceeding to considerations regarding the cultural values of liturgical worship, something ought yet be said about the church organ and its music. We are all aware, I am sure, that a great renaissance in organ building is taking place today. While in America the movement is still in its initial stages, it is quite established in Europe, particularly in Germany. Unfortunately a rather tragic situation confronts us in America. Knowing that the movement has a future, all American organ builders express their willingness and desire to build classical The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 67 R U J D Q V Z K L F K V R P H U D W K H U X Q I R U W X Q D W H O \ U H I H U W R D V ³ E D U R T X H ´ R U J D Q V 7 D N L Q J L Q W R V H U L R X V consideration the great difference which exists between the orchestral and romantic type of organ and the classical organ, how, we ask, is it possible for a builder who for decades has built enclosed organs with a sensuous and sentimental type of organ tone and which may be played multa con espressione suddenly qualify himself for building classical organs? This is as impossible, I believe, as it is to change and raise the culture of a people within a very brief period of time. There is a certain amount of lack of artistic and commercial integrity involved in much of the movement. If classical organs are built, they should be built out of conviction and with a thorough understanding of all that is involved and not merely to make more money or keep up with the times. Many today believe that building a classical organ means only to include fewer eight-foot and more four- and two-foot stops, plus some mixtures. However, there is far more involved, and if you desire proof, then listen to some of the shrieking organs that have been built in America (and even in Europe!) since World War II. I am very happy that tomorrow we shall K D Y H W K H R S S R U W X Q L W \ W R Y L V L W 0 U + R O W N D P S ¶ V H V W D E O L V K P H Q W L Q & O H Y H O D Q G 0 U + R O W N D P S K D V E X L O W classical organs for many years. He has done this out of conviction, as may be seen from the fact W K D W K H E X L O W W K H P G H V S L W H W K H I D F W W K D W K H Z D V I R U D Q X P E H U R I \ H D U V $ P H U L F D ¶ V R Q O \ E X L O G H U R I classical organs. For this very reason the nature and character of his excellent work are by no means unknown in Europe. When his praises are sung by men like Albert Schweitzer, Christhard Mahrenholz, and Wilibald Gurlitt, the very men who initiated the classical organ movement in Europe, then we ought most certainly give serious thought not only to what he has done, but also to what he stands for. We here have another issue which involves cultural values. It does matter whether or not an organ is intrinsically a classical organ or whether its name is a pseudonym, for pseudoculture is one of the most vicious forces endangering the Church today. I invite you to draw your own conclusions as to what kind of organ culture has its toots in the Victorian romantic organ. Look at the compositions that were written for it, and look at the organists who are imbued with its spirit and impressed by its weaknesses, and you will soon discover the type of church-music culture they represent. You will likewise understand why the electronic organ is finding its way into so many churches today. The moment people identify sentimentalism and miscreated prettiness with worship, they lower the standards of Christian culture and produce an aesthetic of a low order. It is this type of unbridled and unpalatable aestheticism that Richard Kroner objects to in part when he says in his recent publication Culture and Faith (the University of Chicago Press, 1951, page 132): Aestheticism refuses to respect the boundaries of art and tends to expand art over the whole range of culture, making it the consummation, the absolute. Such a transgression necessarily violates all the other realms of culture, invades their legitimate territory, and distorts the meaning of their contributions. It creates the semblance of an absolute reconciliation achieved by art, whereas, in reality, this reconciliation itself is distorted by enlarging it beyond its prerogative. Aestheticism would like to make art a religion and religion an aesthetic contemplation. If you will but look at the church art you find in most churches, you will soon discover that it is very much in keeping with the romantic type of organ. The same may be said, of course, of The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 68 nineteenth-century hymnody and choral music and of all the theatrical Effekthascherei which has found its way into much worship life of our day. We still have much of this, and the majority of our organists still prefer a four-manual organ to one that has only three; they still prefer having the entire organ enclosed and under expression, and they still desire as many mechanical devices as possible. Try to tell them that a three-manual organ is altogether sufficient, that at most only the swell should be under expression, and that too many mechanical devices endanger the real artistic quality of music and mechanize its performance, and you will be looked upon either with a blank stare or as an outdated simpleton. We need not even go as far as does Dr. Kroner in the words quoted above, for he objects not so much to the pseudoaesthetics which we object to, but rather to the extravagant claims made by aesthetes who worship beauty as a religion. II We all are aware, I am sure, of the cultural character and worth of liturgical service. If we insist, as we do, that the arts are bearers of religion and of religious reaction, then we are certainly most willing to say the same of our liturgies. Furthermore, if we likewise insist that in great religious music and art man objectivizes his religiosity, then we are willing to say this also of corporate liturgical worship. There exists, therefore, a very close relationship between liturgics and the other areas of Christian culture. And just as good church music is the bearer of the Word, so are our liturgies not only bearers of the Word but likewise bearers and promoters of Christian culture. There is something timeless about liturgies, church music, and Christian culture in general. Christian culture is thus a symbol of eternity. To the expert church musician as well as to the liturgist it does not matter much whether a creation of Christian culture comes from the 14th, 16th, 18th, or 20th century. If it is intrinsically good, it is always good, regardless of the time of its creation or origin. Great works of art, great music, and the great liturgies really never become obsolete; in fact, they usually improve with age. For this very reason many of the arguments advanced by sincere but unknowing Christians are invalid. However, even among church musicians you will hear intrinsically good church music condemned and ridiculed because it dates from the 16th century or from the 20th. Even the 19th century, in which church music descended to low depths of sentimentalism and tawdry subjectivism, produced some good church music. I firmly believe that there exists no better indicator of the cultural insights and standards of a church musician than his choice of music. There is no better way to discover a F K X U F K P X V L F L D Q ¶ V D Z D U H Q H V V R U X Q D Z D U H Q H V V R I W K H U H O D W L R Q V K L S Z K L F K P X V W R I Q H F H V V L W \ H [ L V W between the liturgy and its music than to observe and hear what type of music he selects for the liturgical service and for the individual parts of the liturgy. But we should not stop here. I believe, too, that the character of the liturgical culture of a clergyman is revealed not only by his choice of appointments, vestments, rubrics, rites, and ceremonies, but also by his choice of hymns, by the content and style of his sermon and by the manner in which he works together with his organist and choirmaster as well as by the suggestions he offers. When people, including F K X U F K P X V L F L D Q V D Q G F O H U J \ P H Q R E M H F W W K D W W K H \ F D Q Q R W H Q M R \ / X W K H U ¶ V Deutsche Messe, or the music of J. S. Bach and Heinrich Schütz, or 16th-century hymns, or the art of an Albrecht Dürer, The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 69 or Gregorian chant, and that for this reason these should not be used in the worship of God, they thereby reveal not only a lack of understanding and an undeveloped and undernourished taste, but they likewise reveal, as a rule, that there is something fundamentally wrong with their whole concept of worship. The problem is likely not one of faith, but it is most certainly a problem of worship culture. It is not always supremely important that we understand great art, or a great liturgy, or great music. Nor is it of supreme importance that we possess a highly developed aesthetic appreciation of our great culture. Christian culture is greater than its aesthetic, and the very fact that it so often surpasses human understanding only proves that it is the product of a Word which is as eternal as it is divine. True, it is a human product, but it is more so the creation of people whose genius and skills have been given them by God Almighty and who obediently put themselves at the disposal of the Holy Ghost that He may guide them and unfold before their minds and their hearts the great mysteries of life and eternity. That is what we, too, must learn as worshipers. Great liturgical culture, like great hymns and great music, should be enjoyed because it is a gift of God; and if our finite minds cannot grasp it, we ought still to remember that God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; God is His own Interpreter, And He will make it plain. William Cowper, 1774 In other words, Christian culture, as a tool of the Holy Ghost, can temper our conceit and humble us in our thinking. What happened liturgically, musically, culturally in the 19th century is but a manifestation of what happens when man goes his own way and insists upon being guided not by faith, but by human reason. What we are suffering in our worship life today is but an aftermath of the ages of Pietism, Rationalism, and romanticism. It is the aftermath of two centuries of base egotism which rejected great traditions of the Church, which sought to drown her great culture in W K H G H S W K V R I P D Q ¶ V F R U U X S W L R Q 7 U X H F X O W X U H F R X O G Q R W W K U L Y H D P L G V W V X F K V X U U R X Q G L Q J V I R U W U X H culture is self-effacing, and modesty is one of its foremost virtues. True Christian culture is not the product of a proud and opinionated ego; it is rather a benefit derived from a dedication of R Q H ¶ V V H O I W R * R G D Q G W R + L V & K U L V W 7 K L V W K H W K F H Q W X U \ G L G Q R W X Q G H U V W D Q G D Q G W K L V P D Q \ R I our 20th century do not understand. It is basically for this reason that they object to liturgical worship, ecclesiastical tradition, fitting church music, and noble Christian hymnody. Cultural activity, whether religious or secular, always involves human society. Culture cannot thrive in the den of the recluse, just as it will not be propagated by the hermit of the desert. However, for this very reason, too, it cannot flourish when in the hands of the basically self-centered and intolerant romanticist and sentimentalist. As an element of the Christian cultus, liturgics cannot flourish and prosper amongst those who are completely and romantically wrapped up in their own personal ideas and who cannot fit themselves into the wholesome traditional thinking of the Christian Church. It is ordinarily the cultured type of Christian who The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 70 can think objectively, liturgically, ecclesiastically. It is the Christian who is imbued with the spirit of the cultural heritage of the Church who can derive great strength and inspiration from the great objective liturgies of the Church and who can best appreciate those majestic objective K \ P Q V R I W K H & K X U F K Z K L F K K D Y H Z L W K V W R R G W K H U D Y D J H V R I W L P H D Q G Z K L F K D U H V W L O O W K H & K X U F K ¶ V greatest hymns. On the other hand, it is among people who do not appreciate Christian culture that we find those who reject the great liturgical, musical, and hymnological heritage of the Church and who find in it little or no worship value, perhaps only coldness, aloofness, and mere formalism. The liturgical movement of our day would experience better growth and enjoy a much wider following if the Christo-cultural life and thinking of nominal Christian people were more selfless, normal, and healthy. The fault lies not only with those who are subjectively intolerant towards liturgical tradition, but also with those whose liturgical interest and activity are as subjective as they are indiscreet. There is much unfortunate sentimentalism and romanticism also among those who are liturgically overindulgent. To ascertain the intensity of liturgical heat or coldness, one can, perhaps, best apply the thermometer while the person in question does some chanting. I am sure we have all heard Gregorian chant sung with much of the ³ I H H O L Q J ´ Z K L F K R U G L Q D U L O \ D F F R P S D Q L H V 6 F K X P D Q Q ¶ V ³ 7 U l X P H U H L ´ R U 0 D O R W W H ¶ V ³ / R U G ¶ V 3 U D \ H U ´ Liturgical practice soon loses its cultural value when its societal, its ecclesiastical, its objective character and tradition are ignored. We emasculate liturgical worship the moment we attempt to fuse and blend straightforward and virile liturgical culture with a type of worship culture whose very nature is foppish, weakly affectionate, and languishing. A healthy type of Christian culture cannot possibly thrive under such circumstances. It becomes a hybrid, for it has a mixed parentage which is incapable of producing a full-blooded, normal offspring. That this fact applies to much of our liturgical activity today we all know only too well. We need not think only of what emanates ordinarily from the organ and choir loft, but likewise from the nave, the chancel, the sanctuary, the altar, and the pulpit. Many of the liturgical difficulties we experience within the Church today are due to the fact that our ecclesiastical culture is no longer purebred and unalloyed, but is motley, composite, and heterogeneous. Fortunate ties and relationships do exist between the liturgical and musical heritage of the four great liturgical branches of the Christian Church which have also given us a good ninety per cent of the greatest music of the Christian Church. I refer, of course, to the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Church, and the Lutheran Church. However, even within the total heritage of these groups there exist differences and varieties of types which represent various cultures. Thus much of the liturgical music of the Eastern Orthodox Church, despite its many excellencies, cannot very well be blended with the liturgical music of the other three bodies. It is the product of a unique and distinctive type of Christian culture. Much Anglican chant of the 19th century is altogether alien to Gregorian chant or Lutheran chant of the 16th and 17th centuries. But even within each of the four bodies we find divergences representing cultures that are actually at war with one another. Much Roman Catholic church music of our day is hardly in keeping with the decrees of the Council of Trent and cannot very well be put beside Gregorian chant and the music of a Palestrina. Similar situations exist within the Anglican and the Lutheran Church. As previously stated, this is in large part a cultural problem rather than a liturgical or musical problem. Various cultures have developed within each The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 71 of these bodies which are often irreconcilable with one another; a forced and heterogeneous intercourse can produce only an illegitimate, crossbred offspring. An uncultured and untrained or poorly trained liturgist and church musician will likely not be aware of the difficulties involved, and many of us here present have undoubtedly had many severe headaches and spent many a sleepless night, not only because those whom we serve are not aware of the incompatibilities involved, but also because we ourselves have often been insensible and even impervious to the reality and dangers of said problem and its solution. There can be very little if any homogeneity and singleness of purpose in liturgical worship when it is the outgrowth of a mingled and chaotic culture. Even a casual perusal of the cultural and liturgical problems which confront us in America today should help to drive home the meaning of what has been said. Although time does not permit that we extend our discussion of the cultural values of liturgical worship much further, attention should be called to a difficulty which is closely related to the one we have just discussed, a difficulty of paramount significance, a difficulty which confronts and vexes us all. In many areas of culture we Americans have no indigenous culture of our own. The field of liturgics is definitely one of these areas. Our liturgical culture is actually a foreign culture which does not appeal to the temperament of many American people. Though conditions are improving, American Protestantism is still quite unliturgical and antiliturgical in the conduct of its services of worship. Is this, perhaps, due to the fact that we have sought and still seek to transplant and superimpose a liturgical culture which is not indigenous and which still remains foreign to wholesome American culture and to the American way of life and worship? The problem is acute also because much American thinking is very shabby, untrue, and superficial. Modernism has made great inroads into many churches and church bodies of America. The Word has been brushed aside and its truthfulness denied; the holy Sacraments are mere ceremonies to many; and finally, the Christian Church as an institution is not held in high regard by much of American Protestantism. The church building is not regarded as a place where * R G ¶ V K R Q R U G Z H O O V D Q G W K H F Kurch service is often no more than a program or a scenario. When wedding and funeral services take place, people think it is altogether self-evident that they take over completely and do exactly what they please. They insist that the paraments be changed, that the church be decorated to suit their taste, the organist should play what they want him to play, they select the solos which are to be sung, and they frequently engage soloists who never attend church services otherwise and whose faith is anything but the Christian faith. Not infrequently they select the text for the officiating clergyman, brides and bridesmaids trip and waltz down the center aisle, and so forth. We have all seen such abuse. Things have become so bad that, fortunately, we are today experiencing a reaction. This reaction is gaining strength from day to day. If liturgical culture is to thrive among us as it should, then we must begin to teach our people, particularly the youth of the Church, to think Christo-culturally and ecclesiastically. If we desire no longer to transplant and superimpose a foreign culture, then, too, we must teach and inspire our people to see and experience the effectiveness of a true, God-centered Christian culture. If we do this, then will we also become creative liturgically and produce a liturgical and musical The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 72 heritage which is native and indigenous. While conditions are improving in many circles, we still cannot think of producing a sufficient amount of liturgical worship materials which will serve our purpose e [ D O W H G O \ D Q G Q R E O \ 7 R R P D Q \ D P R Q J X V D U H V W L O O W R R ³ F R U Q \ ´ D Q G V H Q W L P H Q W D O W R R prosaic and uninformed, to be able to produce what will live and lead on to greater heights. But we can make a start, and if we will but regard ourselves as humble pioneers and not as messiahs of a great movement, then this movement will proceed onward as well as upward. We here have a great task before us, a task which imposes upon each and every one of us great responsibilities toward a people who, I repeat, are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a peculiar people. In ministering to these people and developing among them the great cultural heritage of the Christian Church and a deep-seated appreciation of it, we also, to quote again I U R P 3 H W H U ³show forth the praises of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His P D U Y H O R X V O L J K W ´ Musicology in the Service of Church Music Hans Rosenwald In the two lectures which I am to give this year on the service which musicology has given and can continue to give to the Church I propose to touch upon some points which I believe apply today in this country and which should be of interest to the Lutheran organist and choir director. Let us understand first that musicology is that branch of learning which concerns every phase of music. Not only does it use its scientific tools to discover musical knowledge, but it tries to systematize it as well. There can be no question that every musician possesses a good deal of knowledge in more than one area of music. Moreover, much of the knowledge of a musician may E H Z H O O R U J D Q L ] H G 7 K H P X V L F R O R J L V W K R Z H Y H U L V ³ W K D W V W U D Q J H V S H F L P H Q ´ Z K R D S S O L H V W R P X V L F the same methods a mathematician or a chemist applies to his field. You may also call him a researcher. Musicology embraces an understanding of acoustics, aesthetics, and of music pedagogy, to name but some of its branches. Musicologists are interested mainly in the history and literature of music, branches of musicological endeavor which have contributed to our now knowing a great deal more about the major and minor masters of the past than we used to know, for instance, fifty years ago. Yet right here we should state that hundreds of composers and ²what is of special interest to us ²hundreds of church-music compositions still lie undiscovered. Many others, even in modern editions, are already covered with dust on the shelves of European and American libraries. Some have been made available to practicing musicians, but many more are waiting for their redemption from dust. Many of these again could play a vital role in our church-music life today. In the field of musicology we find as many differences in scholarly opinions as advocates of different theories in other scholarly endeavors. We have the type of musicologist who concerns himself with problems ²to be sure of greatest importance ²concerning Greek aesthetics or medieval notation; we have another who dwells on much more specific data of bygone epochs, The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 73 data perhaps of philological nature. We have those actively engaged in a type of research which, by its very nature, can have but little to do with the burning questions of our musical life. I am making these distinctions to make sure that you understand my own interest in musicology to be entirely a part of my interest in applied music. Even though the concentration on such scholarly problems as are of urgent interest to present-day composers and performers may be considered as V R P H W K L Q J R I D Q X Q Q H F H V V D U L O \ S U D F W L F D O R U H Y H Q O L P L W H G R X W O R R N E \ W K H ³ L Y R U \ W R Z H U U H V H D U F K H U ´ yet I must maintain that musicology in America today must come to the creative and re-creative musicians lest they remain so much apart from one another that the interests of the scholars and the interests of the musicians would forever be hopelessly separated. My present subject is one which must take cognizance of practical matters. I go even further. In Germany we made hundreds of attempts to bring the discoveries of musicology into closer contact with life in the Lutheran Church, but the success was, on the whole disproportionate to the efforts. The reason was simple: the scholars rarely were sufficiently practical-minded to help the application of their findings along, and the musicians not only remained unaware of these findings, but often were not given the background necessary to study them. This is the reason why, though the German V F K R O D U V K D G I L J X U H G R X W K R Z % D F K ¶ V Z R U N V V K R X O G E H S O D \ H G D Q G V X Q J W K H F R Q G X F W R U V D Q G singers continued to play and sing them in their own way, and the results of research never came to interest the majority of musicians as much as they did other scholars and musicologists. The U H V X O W W K H Q Z D V ³ D U W I R U D U W ¶ V V D N H ´ R U ³ P X V L F R O R J \ I R U P X V L F R O R J \ ¶ V V D N H ´ , E H O L H Y H W K D W L Q V W H D G we must see to it that, as I stated recently, ³ W K H W K U H D G V W K D W U X Q I U R P W K H O L E U D U \ W R W K H F K X U F K F R Q F H U W K D O O D Q G E U R D G F D V W L Q J V W X G L R V K R X O G E H N H S W U X Q Q L Q J ´ , D P Z L O O L Q J W R F R Q W L Q X H W R D U J X H this point with musicians as well as with my musicological colleagues even though I have done so with only mediocre success before. Musicology is a child of the nineteenth century. At first such men as Fétis (1784 ±1871), Kiesewetter (1773 ±1850), and Winterfeld (1784 ± D U H D V V R F L D W H G Z L W K L W ) p W L V ¶ V Z U L W L Q J V were of comparative nature. Unlike his scholarly forerunners, he did more than just describe musical history. He evaluated styles, and he compared them with each other. Kiesewetter, too, had a great part in making scholarly attitudes understood. In 1826 the Royal Netherlands Society of Sciences set this question for competition: What were the merits of the Netherlanders in music, principally in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries? This question incited almost a contest between Fétis, the Belgian, and Kiesewetter, the Viennese. The latter emerged the winner. On the other hand, Carl von Winterfeld, who was a distinguished jurist, was almost at the same time busily engaged in the exploration of the music of the sixteenth century. In 1834 he published his book on Gabrieli Johannes Gabrieli und sein Zeitalter (two volumes plus one of musical illustration). The year 1947 was the centenary of the completion of his great encyclopedic contribution, consisting of three big volumes, Der evangelische Kischengesang und sein Verhaeltnis zur Kunst des Tonsatzes (1843 ±47). Even though some modern scholars have insisted that musicology began to blossom with Guido Adler and his contemporaries, yet I am inclined to give credit to men like Kiesewetter and Winterfeld. The latter most specifically may be given c U H G L W I R U K D Y L Q J P D G H W K H I L U V W F R Q W U L E X W L R Q W R R X U V X E M H F W ³ 0 X V L F R O R J \ L Q W K H 6 H U Y L F H R I W K H & K X U F K ´ + L V P D Q \ Z U L W L Q J V P D N H K L P H Y H Q W R G D \ R Q H R I W K H J U H D W H V W R I W K H V F K R O D U V L Q W K H field of church music. The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 74 One could treat our subject by giving a complete history of the contributions which creative musicians in the course of time have made to church music and by then correlating their output with the serious and often tragically futile efforts of scholars to redeem music from obscurity, to make it available in authentic editions, to give critical evaluations, and to pioneer for certain music, in their desire to make it functional in the church-music repertoire. Obviously we cannot do such a thing, which, even if we confined ourselves to Lutheran music, would represent material for an entire course of lectures. A great deal of church music from Luther to Bach, which constitutes the great heritage of the Lutheran Church, is available in many editions, and the musicologists of older generations who have contributed to this availability are numerous. Let me quote just a few of the standard works written on various phases of our field with which I believe a church musician must be familiar when he desires to drink from the fountain of serious research. Wilhelm Baeumker (1842 ±1905) wrote in 1862 and the following years his work of four volumes on the German Catholic Hymn (Das Deutsche Katholische Kirchenlied . . .), which in more than one respect is a standard work and has often formed a basis of departure for research on Lutheran music. In 1904 and the following years, A. Fischer wrote on the German Evangelical Hymn of the Seventeenth Century (Das deutsche evangelische Kirchenlied des 17. Jahrhunderts). Hoffman von Fallersleben wrote on the history of the German church song (Geschichte des Deutschen Kirchenlieds, X S W R / X W K H U ¶ V S H U L R G 7 K H U H L V W R E H P H Q W L R Q H G ( ( . R F K ¶ V ³ + L V W R U \ R I W K H & K R U D O H ´ (Geschichte des deutschen Kirchenlieder und des Kirchengesanges . . . ) of 1847 and the following years, eight volumes in all, and the ³ ( Q F \ F O R S H G L D R I ( Y D Q J H O L F D O 0 X V L F ´ (Encyklopaedie der Ev. Kirchenmusik) by S. Kuemmerle L Q I R X U Y R O X P H V 7 K H U H L V 5 Y R Q / L O L H Q F U R Q ¶ V ³ / L W X U J L F D O 0 X V L F D O + L V W R U \ R I W K H ( Y D Q J H O L F D O 6 H U Y L F H V I U R P W R ´ (Liturg-Musikalische Geschichte der Ev. Gottesdienste von 1532 bis 1700), a work which was published in 1893. He is the author who also, in 1900, published his Chorordnung fuer die Sonn- und Festtage des Ev. Kirchenjahres. There is A. G. Ritter with his ³ + L V W R U \ R I 2 U J D Q 3 O D \ L Q J ´ (Zur Geschichte des Orgelspiels, 14. ±18. Jahrhundert), Rierschel with his book on liturgics (Lehrbuch d. Liturgik, 1900 ±1909), Schering with his History of Oratorio (Geschichte des Oratoriums), Leichtentritt with his History of the Motet (Geschichte des Motette). There are also other works, by Julius Smend, for instance, on the Evangelical Service published in 1904 (Des evangelische Gottesdienst). There are the contributions of Friedrich Spitta and his more famous brother Philipp Spitta, the author of the great biography of Bach. There is the old Tucher, now one hundred years old, on the Treasure of the Evangelical Hymn (Schatz des evang. Kirchengesangs, 2 vols.), and the more modern work by W. Stahl, which traces the historical development of the Evangelical church music (Gcschichtliche Entwickelung der Evang. Kirchenmusick, 2d ed., 1920). There is, in addition to Winterfeld, previously mentioned, Philipp Wackernagel with his bibliography of the history of the German chorale in the sixteenth century (Bibliographie zur Geschichte des Deutschen Kirchenliedes im 16. Jahrhundert), which was published in 1855, and with his other contributions. And there is the tremendous opus of Johannes Zahn that was published in 1888 and the following years, which traces the melodies of the German Evangelical chorale (Die Melodien der Deutschen Evang. Kirchenlieder, aus den Quellen geschoepft und mitgeteilt, six vols.). In addition to works by Westphal (Das evangelische Kirchenlied, 5. Auflage, 1918), Ph. Wolfrum (Entstehung und Entwickelung des deutschen evang. Kirchenliedes, 1890), Fr. Zelle (Die Singweise des aeltesten The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 75 evangelischen Lieder, 1899 to 1900), and many others. There are hundreds of articles in musicological periodicals that testify to the never-tiring efforts on the part of many German scholars to present the music of a glorious past to the musicians of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and to congregations which, willing to accept this music, want to have their worship beautified and appropriately established in accordance with tradition. It was the tercentenary of the Reformation in 1817 which gave the impetus to some of the earliest of these scholarly efforts. It is impossible here to retrace the preceding gradual degeneration to which Lutheran music had fallen victim in the course of the eighteenth century ²a degeneration which, most conspicuously, did not exclude the chorale. In the time of Rationalism the efforts of philosophers and of many theologians were directed at a gradual liberation of the German Christians from the orthodox concepts of their forefathers. Instead of traditional worship general edification was desired. The Rationalists considered the chorales by Luther and his strong and vigorous composer-successors to be of lesser value than those by the minor masters who followed Bach and who used for their melodies texts which were less obliging liturgically and more general and neutral, and more acceptable often to Christians of many shades and varieties. They altered traditional tunes and created new ones which as a rule were of a conviction less strong and surely of a character less artistic. The musically substantial contributions of the second part of the eighteenth century do not lie in the field of Protestant church music, but in other fields. Even though at the beginning of the nineteenth century there was no dearth of hymnbook editions, yet these collections are replete with thoughtless alterations and abound in new melodies at a time when awareness of the tradition was fast diminishing. Perhaps it required such a sorry state of affairs to make the thoughtful church-music lover eager for reform. The historians in remembering the Reformation believed that Lutheran church music could be given a new impetus by their going back to its very sources. They proceeded therefore to search for the music which had made Luther strong and successful. In 1829 Mendelssohn U H S H U I R U P H G % D F K ¶ V Passion According to St. Matthew. But three years later a new Prussian Agenda appeared, ordered by King Frederick William III, an agenda which found imitation in many churches throughout Germany. When the first scholars submitted the results of their research, new points of view were applied in the selection of music for worship, and problems of interpretation of melody, rhythm, and tempo were debated. A man like Schoeberlein, with his ³ 7 U H D V X U \ R I / L W X U J L F D O D Q G & R Q J U H J D W L R Q D O 6 L Q J L Q J ± ´ (Schatz des liturgischen Chor- und Gemeindesangs, 3 vols.), made a basic repertoire of vocal music available to a broad public. He was a theologian deeply concerned about the state of music in his Church and sufficiently practical minded to help remedy it. A great task of organization was awaiting those who were ready to counteract the degeneration of the period of Rationalism with appropriate reforms. The concern was to achieve on a larger scale what Mendelssohn had done with the St. Matthew Passion, to save what was worth saving of the church music written in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and early eighteenth centuries, to revive the choir and congregational music in the Lutheran churches, to inaugurate special singing societies, concentrating on the performance of worth-while church music. In 1883, owing to the The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 76 pioneering of the old musicologists, the German Evangelical Choral Association (Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchengesangverein) was founded, which in our century included close to two and one-half thousand choral organizations, all of which were united in the aim to revitalize music in worship. At the same time the Bach Society and other organizations, like the Schuetz Society, not only were instrumental in the publication of authentic editions that could be used by practitioners, but also inaugurated festivals dedicated to authoritative performances of old music. And yet, despite all these organizational undertakings, it may be said that the German people at large as well as the German church musicians at large remained unaware of most of the musicological contributions, as we have previously stated. The question, then, arises: Shall these old and our new musicological efforts here continue to remain without influence on church music as we hear it today? Or has the time come when the musicians of the Lutheran Church take cognizance of their heritage? If so, what can we do to promote a better understanding of the past and to communicate it to those congregations which are willing to depart from the sweet, sentimental, and pseudoromantic slush that has gradually been sneaked into choral book and organ album? We are by no means confronted with a hopeless situation. In the American Lutheran Church we have made excellent beginnings. We are gradually making available more and more good music, music that in years past had been relegated to obscurity. We discuss this music in seminars such as ours. We have some of our addresses printed and circulated. We are undertaking special steps to make the pastors aware of our musical heritage. We are likely to do much more constructive work in any one of these endeavors in the future. The outlook is encouraging. But as yet there are not available sufficient vehicles, in my opinion, for the full realization of our good intentions. We need a music journal which would give the leaders in Lutheran music ample opportunity for comments and discussion, which would serve as a stimulus to church musicians, and play a role scarcely to be underestimated in the raising of the musical standards within the Lutheran Church. Second to that ²and perhaps not even second ²we need systematic and practical editions of the heritage of the Lutheran Church, the music of the masters who lived between Luther and Bach. Some publishers have made a start ²Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, is most active in leading our return to artistic tradition. But it is obvious that we must interest many more publishers in many more publications that will benefit Lutheran worship. Some of this music has already been made available by musicologists in Germany and in German editions, but these editions are either no longer available or, if they are, are articles too expensive for importation. Furthermore, the work of the few remaining musicologists in Germany is likely not to be very fruitful within the next decades. There are some good scholars there still, but they are not granted much leisure time, a prerequisite for research. Then, too, there are forbidding financial conditions which will make it impossible for publishers to have this treasury edited on a large scale. [Since 1947, when this was written, these conditions have materially improved.] Here, however, we enjoy better financial conditions, awakened enthusiasm, as well as authoritative and well-trained guidance. Certainly there must by now exist an adequate understanding for a project which will gradually make the entire treasury of Lutheran church music available for the benefit The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 77 of all Lutherans. I propose to point out some of the things that can be undertaken by musicologists in furtherance of this project: 7 K H : H L P D U H G L W L R Q R I / X W K H U ¶ V : R U N V 9 R O X P H F R Q W D L Q V / X W K H U ¶ V Lieder. We need that volume in an American edition. There are any number of studies on Luther and his relationship to music which should be made available in translation, including Aug. Jak. Rambach: Ueber Luther's Verdienste um den Kirchengesang (Hamburg, 1813). In order to obtain a clearer picture not only the strictly musico-technical investigations made known to musical circles, but also some studies made by literary historians and others, for instance, those made by Fritz Strich on the subject of the Renaissance and Reformation. The chorale melodies of the sixteenth century have been treated in a great number of special writings. Their rhythms, their melodic variants, their harmonic language all are a challenge to the church musician who does more than merely dish them out, who really knows with what he deals. The chorales as treated in the volumes of the Choralforscher and the hymnologists must be made known to our musicians, and they can be made known best by translations. Perhaps an encyclopedia of the chorale, summarizing the results of the earlier German scholars could be compiled so as to create a basis for choral studies here. From the earliest days of Wittenberg to the culmination of Lutheran music in the work (over two hundred years later) of the cantor of St. Thomas in Leipzig, Johann Sebastian Bach, there is a tremendous amount of music that we need at once. For instance, the songs for the public schools (Neue Deutsche Gesaenge fuer die gemeinen Schulen) published in 1544 by Georg Rhaw that throw light on one hundred twenty-three (123) chorale motets of the past, German motets in the first part of the sixteenth century. (This is volume 34 of Denkmaeler deutscher Tonkunst, edited by Joh. Wolf.) We need new editions of the chorale books of Rogier Michael, of Calvisius, of Eccard, of Scheidemann, of Vulpius. These are but a few names, but certainly some of them V K R X O G E H D Y D L O D E O H D V I R U L Q V W D Q F H D O V R - R K D Q Q & U X H J H U ¶ V Praxis Pietatis Melica of 1647. the most important of all seventeenth-century chorale books, to give the church musician an adequate introduction into the mysterious workings of chorales, chorale editions, chorale settings, chorale translations, etc. Not to lose myself in a mass of detail, let me just offer a few suggestions with respect to attempts at reviving the organ music before Bach. The chief work for the organ of Samuel Scheidt, which for the first time appeared in print in 1624 ²his Tabulatura Nova ²deserves wide recognition. The chorale variations for the organ by Paul Siefert, which have a tremendous coloristic effect, should be accessible. Scheidemann, the skillful improviser, has left us some excellent organ music to beautify our services. Somewhat better known than any of these is, of course, the great Pachelbel, who was active as organist at St. Stephan, Vienna, E H I R U H S O D \ L Q J W K H 6 H E D O G X V R U J D Q L Q 1 X U H P E H U J 3 D F K H O E H O ¶ V Z R U N V S D U W L F X O D U O \ K L V F K R U D O H preludes, have made him one of the outstanding masters of the entire organ literature. There are the chorale preludes of Böhm, which exercised a powerful influence on Johann Sebastian Bach, and the organ works of men like Weckmann, Reinken, Luebeck, Tunder, Buxtehude, and Bruhns ²and yet, despite our familiarity with these names, how much of this most ingenious organ music of all times, all of it written for the church and most of it written for the Lutheran The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 78 Church, have the Lutheran organists at their finger tips, have Lutheran congregations on their minds and in their hearts? And then, to turn to some of the vocal music that is our heritage. Here no other name is as outstanding as that of Heinrich Schuetz. Known to many Lutheran congregations abroad, he is practically unknown here and almost relegated to the point of a minor composer in most books dealing with the history of music. And yet what inwardness of feeling, what piety, what daring, what pathos and expressiveness in his motets, vocal concertos, in the Cantiones Sacrae, and in his oratorios and larger works! I for one would advocate that in order to make Schuetz known, and as soon as possible, to all Lutherans, all that has been written about him, or at least most of it, should be translated into English. This would include contributions by Spitta, Pirro, Moser, Einstein, Schuh, and many others. I would at once forecast that if this were done there would come as a result a mighty Schuetz revival, such as we have witnessed in the twenties in Germany. For in Germany, too, there were times when the work of Schuetz had completely fallen into oblivion, but the organization of Schuetz societies gradually reinstated this great master of the baroque in his deserved place. Every year in Chicago there is a performance on Good Friday of the Schuetz Seven Last Words upon the Cross. It is given at the little Kenwood Church, and it is done on the basis of the Schirmer edition, which unfortunately is inadequate. But despite that fact it every year inspires worshipers anew, for it is done in that unpretentious, simple, and forthright manner which always affects the believers. This performance has always seemed to me indicative of how Schuetz would elicit a great response in America were he heard. But beyond this Passion work, and with the exception of a few choral items here and there, we hear little by Schuetz in America. We should hear much more. And we should hear Scheidt, Hammerschmidt, Rosenmueller, Ahle, Schelle, Kuhnau, most of the Bachs, Weckmann, Bernhardt, Staden, Kindermann, and all the others. Another matter which concerns musicology and church-music practice alike is that of performance. When musicologists had completed their task to bring to life the commanding works of the past, they simultaneously began to realize that their times, the nineteenth century and the beginning of our century, had lost the emotional and intellectual affinity to the rediscovered scores. Bach, like Handel, wrote scores mainly for his own use, and since the performances were directed and supervised by himself, the notational clue to them is often missing. When Mendelssohn revived the St. Matthew Passion, the question of authentic interpretation became at once a matter of debate. One hundred years after the creation of the J U H D W Z R U N R Q H E H J D Q W R Z R Q G H U K R Z L W K D G V R X Q G H G X Q G H U % D F K ¶ V R Z Q G L U H F W L R Q - X V W D V O L W W O H D V the great organ works of Bach were heard, and the many cantatas which he wrote, so insignificant appeared to be whatever tradition of Bach performance had been handed down from the eighteenth to the nineteenth century. We cannot adequately cover our subject without entering, even though it must be briefly, the issue of the so-called objective performance versus the subjective. In the extreme, these schools of interpretive thought would be mutually exclusive. The objective school has written on its The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 79 banner strictest allegiance to the scoring of the masters. This motto sounds simple. Its realization is complicated. The directions which Bach or Handel left us for dynamics and for tempo are most of the time so meager that even if we should like to adhere with the greatest fidelity to their concepts, we often can only conjecture what they were in view of the lack of precise instructions. It is this meagerness of instructions which has given a great deal of publicity to the teachings and claims of the subjective school of interpretation. In the absence of authoritative comments by the old composers themselves, conductors, instrumentalists, and singers in the course of time have seen fit to choose their own dynamics and phrasings. This is the reason why we hear romanticized Buxtehude organ work, a dramatized Schütz Passion, a sentimentalized Bach cantata. It is the reason why the recitatives as they are sung today often reveal that their interpreters little understand the spirit of what they sing. And in chorus work the subjective approach transforms the neat outlines of the sixteenth-century choral music ²as heard on recordings ²into the excessive dimensions which in the late nineteenth century had become an L G H D O U H I O H F W H G I R U L Q V W D Q F H L Q 0 D K O H U ¶ V Symphony of a Thousand; the phraseology becomes modern, the dynamics brilliant, the rhythms highly accented, the tempo rubato, etc. The battle between the objectivists and the subjectivists which began one hundred years ago still continues with the objectivists faulting their adversaries for a lack of scholarship and correct approach no less than the subjectivists accusing the objectivists of a lack of imagination. There can, however, be little question that a reconciliation of these points of view is possible. Our main demand must be that the performing musician concern himself with the problems inherent in the music of the past and with the score in the original. Surely, he cannot profess to be of service to the heritage of the Lutheran Church unless he himself is willing to diagnose all the works which he performs and to which he listens. On the other hand, there is, I believe, a limit as to how far we should go in enforcing the sound ideals of the old masters. One of my teachers more than twenty years ago, representing the dogmatic school of the extreme objectivists, refused to listen W R D Q \ R I % D F K ¶ V N H \ E R D U G P X V L F X Q O H V V L W Z D V S O D \ H G R Q W K H S U R S H U L Q V W U X P H Q W D K D U S V L F K R U G R U a clavichord. This was, of course, a well-meant insistence, but in effect it was disastrous. Many of the pianists who came under his influence shied away from playing the old masters altogether since the number of harpsichords or clavichords was limited and since a learned musician would not deign to listen to a harpsichord piece played on a Steinway. Instead of Bach on the piano, there was practically no Bach at all. Cui bono? If we concentrate for a minute on the Bach issue in this respect, we must realize that the economy of the instruments used for the performance of the cantatas or Passions is striking. With eighteen to twenty players available, Bach was perfectly satisfied, and if, of these eighteen, nine played wind instruments, he accomplished an ideal in sonority. As regards singers, Bach asked for a minimum of three for each part; and if he had four, he had all he cared for. Yet in the modern arrangements we scarcely, if ever, hear more orchestra players than singers. If we listen to the Christmas Oratorio, we have to use twice, three, or four times as many chorisrers as instrumentalists. The objectivists then complain that the polyphonic lines are no longer audible; they would like to see a proper co-ordination of vocal and instrumental forces reinstated, and we believe that such a demand is legitimate. On the other hand, the subjectivists point to the fact that The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 80 as a rule the halls in which we perform the music of the old masters today are much larger. It is important, then, that we also take that point into consideration. It is even possible, without destroying the modern attitude of having a chorus that outnumbers the orchestra, to give the instruments a better opportunity in the performance. This can be done by way of seating arrangements and by placing the strings and woodwinds in front of the choir. With respect to the St. Matthew Passion, for instance, there is to be considered that here Bach uses a minimum of twenty-four players, for he demands two orchestras. Since normally his orchestra consisted of about twenty players, we see that it corresponded exactly to the ensemble of the singers. He had about eighteen singers in the Grosse Kantorei. When performing music by older masters, one certainly follows tradition when substituting or reinforcing voices that are either lacking or not too well represented. It is the merit of Felix Mendelssohn that in 1829, when reviving the St. Matthew Passion, he used a small group of sixteen voices, which was about the size employed by Bach at St. Thomas Church. Altogether, in fact, Mendelssohn displayed fidelity to the original. Mendelssohn liked the clarity and gracefulness which resulted from the application of such minute proportions as were historically authentic. Thus he became a real pioneer of an interpretation based upon true tradition. 0 H Q G H O V V R K Q ¶ V U H Y L Y D O D O V R R E W D L Q H G V S H F L D O V L J Q L I L F D Q F H L Q D V P X F K D V L W O H G V K R U W O \ D I W H U K L V death, in 1850 (the centenary o I % D F K ¶ V G H D W K W R W K H L Q D X J X U D W L R Q R I D J U H D W S X E O L F D W L R Q S U R M H F W Z K L F K I L Q D O O \ U H V X O W H G L Q D F R P S O H W H H G L W L R Q R I % D F K ¶ V Z R U N V 6 L P L O D U S U R M H F W V Z H U H L Q D X J X U D W H G for the works of Handel, Palestrina, Lassus, Mozart, Schütz, Purcell, and Haydn. We can say that in practically all of these projects subjectivity fortunately was given little consideration. Even though some of these editions are not all they could be, yet on the whole, a sufficient degree of accuracy was reached, which makes them most useful for reference. In his History of Musical Instruments, Curt Sachs, in comparing the problems of musical performance with those of S D L Q W L Q J V D \ V ³ $ Q R X W O L Q H G U D Z Q E \ 5 D S K D H O F R X O G Q R W E H F R O R U H G Z L W K & H ] D Q Q H ¶ V S D O H W W H 2 Q O \ the old instruments, the original ones, can express the eighteenth-century sound ideals with D S S U R S U L D W H F R O R U V + D U S V L F K R U G V J D P E D V D Q G D Q F L H Q W R U J D Q V D U H Q H H G H G ´ $ O W K R X J K , E H O L H Y H that this is going too far and that if we enforce the use of the old instruments we would likely hear less old music than is heard anyway, yet insistence on the old instruments surely helps us to recognize the absurdities in many of the arrangements that have become popular and which, let us be honest, most people and, I fear, most musicians, lacking good taste, prefer to historically more legitimate renditions. When talking about transcriptions, we naturally think of the many made by modern conductors D Q G D U U D Q J H U V R I % D F K ¶ V R U J D Q Z R U N V - X G J H G E \ W K H R E M H F W L Y H W K H R U \ W K H \ D U H P H U H E D U E D U L V P V but they are also popular, and they can be well done. It is easy to argue that a musicologist should not advocate the scoring of chorale preludes for the organ by Bach for orchestra. It is just as easy to point out that since the public at large hears very few of them on the organ it is useful W R W U D Q V F U L E H W K H P V R D V W R P D N H W K H P S O D \ D P R U H Y L W D O U R O H L Q H Y H U \ E R G \ ¶ V P X V L F D O H [ S H U L H Q F H But speaking in favor of these transcriptions, I should also emphasize that it is necessary that they be done with the utmost care and artistic discrimination. The Hollywoodian excesses that we hear in those by both Stock and Stokowsky are offensive. But there are good transcriptions The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 81 available. Why not have them if Bach himself went on record with his own arrangements which are beautiful examples of discriminating and sympathetic rescoring? By way of such detours we may eventually lead more people to desire the originals on the organ. There is another problem involved. I have heard a great many performances, particularly of church-music works, on old instruments, for which the music was written. Yet the use of these instruments was far from guaranteeing an historically correct execution. It can be shown that even if we do play the old instruments today we shall scarcely ever approach them in the manner in which once they were approached. No matter how conscious a violinist is of his historical obligation, he will not play his instrument in the manner of the old violinists. He will have to make readjustments, and with these readjustments, he will realize his departure from his original aim, which was to play the composition in exactly the same manner in which the old composer heard it. Continuing to harp on this subject, I must declare that I am not altogether opposed to the use of the romantic organs. We are all grateful to Albert Schweitzer for having reconstructed the Silbermann organ. We are glad that we possess the baroque organ at the Germanic Museum at Harvard University, which has been used for many recordings by F. Power Biggs. We rejoice in the Westminster Choir School organ in Princeton; in that of the Church of the Advent in Boston; in organs such as those built by Holtkamp in Cleveland. These are all instruments which, just like their European counterparts, enable us to perform the church music of Scheidt, Sweelinck, Buxtehude, Pachelbel, Krieger, and Bach with all the transparency and clarity that should be theirs. Be that as it may, I certainly would not want our desire for reawakening the heritage of the Lutheran Church to go unsatisfied, for the spread of this heritage would be retarded by an insufficient number of such instruments. What I would rather advocate is that our organists should listen to these baroque organs when authoritative players express themselves thereon, reviving the old masters. In that way they would become style-conscious, and they would approach their romantic organs more correctly. It is an established fact ²and we have spoken in our sessions about this before ²that, given stylistic sensitivity, it is possible to play a baroque chorale prelude on a nineteenth-century organ very well. As in the case of the harpsichords and the orchestral transcriptions, so also in the case of the organ I believe that one does not need go so far as some of my musicological colleagues have gone. The implications of style are more important than the vehicle. The approach and attitude mean more than ludicrous historicism. Musicology must be applied, and its usefulness must be translated into terms which take on meaning here and now. Even the interpreter whose aim is objectivity finds himself sometimes on subjective terrain. It is then that he reveals his taste and his real background. If he has taste, he will show it in reconstructing an old work with all its idiomatic implications despite the fact that he has a modern instrument and goes to work in a large hall. As a matter of fact, the instruments and the hall to him might likely disappear into the background as he intends to discover the inner language and the intangibles which are never expressed in any notation. It is this discovery of the intangibles which distinguishes the creative and genuine musician from the unimaginative virtuoso and the nonproductive theorist whose interest in music so often and strangely limits The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 82 itself to the matters surrounding the performance. Music, however, in my thinking means musical performance. All our musicological efforts should become tools of it. From this discussion you organists and choir directors might easily receive the impression that the musicologists want you to be superhuman monstrosities; that we musicologists want you to have made a complete study of all the theories and practices of music, old and new; that we want you to be acquainted not only with your own field, but with all instruments and voices; that we want you to be not only able practitioners, but also excellent scholars with ambitious projects and a serious attitude toward the systematization of knowledge. However, we do realize very well that a church musician must impose upon himself those limitations which enable him to concentrate on the demands made on him in his particular position. Yet I also believe that the time has come when we must push forward toward the envisioning, as it were, of the desirable type of the Lutheran church musician of the future, and in the ideal state of church-music affairs this artist will have to be a person having scholarly interests as well as a keen sense for practical exigencies. In anticipating the future type of the church musician we are making practical plans for the thorough and wise education of the young students who now have come under our influence. The manner in which we who teach and train those who now depend on our guidance will determine the future state and condition of church music. It is, then, up to us to set new standards of artistic integrity which include greater thoroughness than has been the daily order in the past. Our education must include intensive orientation in the matters of history and literature of music. I wish that every one of you could have become acquainted with an artist who until very recently lived in Germany, who, to me, has always appeared as the very fulfillment of the type of personality that would constitute the church musician of the future. This man, to me, was the embodiment of what I should like to call a Künstlergelehrter (artist-scholar), in other words, a man in whose outlook and in whose character the prominent good qualities of the artist and those of a scholar were united. In 1903, Karl Straube became organist of St. Thomas in Leipzig and thus a successor to Johann Sebastian Bach. He was a musician whose work as an artist was all the most ambitious scholar could desire. The eleventh successor to the Bach office, he did not limit himself to his duties at St. Thomas Church. He was the director of the Bachverein, a mixed-chorus society of Leipzig. He was an excellent teacher of the organ. His position at the Conservatory of Leipzig ranked high. He was a conductor of the choral concerts at the famous Gewandhaus, and he finally headed the Institute of Church Music (Kirchenmusikalisches Institut). Having survived the storms of the Third Reich and the Second World War, he was, until his death in 1950, still in Leipzig and still actively engaged in the study of music as a musician who never ceased to be a student. Straube was the product of a family of pastors and musicians. His father was a harmonium builder, his grandfather at one time a composer of songs. His mother, an Englishwoman, played the piano and was pupil of the distinguished Sir Julius Benedict. Straube automatically tended toward music as a profession. Born in Berlin, he moved already at an early age in the circles of The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 83 the musical intellectuals and, an example of intellectual precocity himself, began to view all his responsibilities with a critical attitude. Simultaneously he developed an unquenchable thirst for musical knowledge. Even at a time when he was certain to choose the career of a church musician he studied Beethoven, Brahms, and Bruckner, and never ceased to penetrate also into those scores which he did not need to know for professional reasons, but from which he would benefit for his general understanding of music. Straube, while having a dislike for methodical training on the organ, seized every opportunity to listen to great organists. But with equal interest he heard opera; he watched Muck and Weingartner, in the Berlin Singakademie and Philharmonie; he heard the great violinist Joseph Joachim and enjoyed the performances of great choral works by Siegfried Ochs. In the Berlin Cathedral (Dom) he heard Albert Becker. Later he was completely fascinated by the personality of Hans von Buelow. When in 1895 ²Straube was then twenty-two ²Heinrich Reimann was looking for an organist for the famed Emperor Wilhelm Memorial Church (Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche), he could not think of anybody more versatile in the art than, and superior in expression to, Karl Straube. At that time Straube was not only an already remarkable technician, but he al V R N Q H Z D O P R V W D O O R I % D F K ¶ V R U J D Q P X V L F D Q G P X F K R I W K D W R I % D F K ¶ V S U H G H F H V V R U V + H saw eye to eye with Reimann in the interpretation of old organ music, which both of them played with all the lush colors of the Wagnerian orchestra, both eager to exploit their instruments to the utmost, both, consequently, indulging in the luxurious sonorities and the coloristic effects of the post-Romantic school. But it was precisely at that time that the awareness of the past began to increase in Straube. His alert and versatile mind soon began to search for the truth of musical tradition. Now he read not only scores, but also books. Through the books he tried to come ever closer to the spirit of the musical works which he had studied. A period of reinterpreting Bach set in. He tried to solve the problems inherent in Bach scores in a manner completely different from the way in which he had started and through which he had made a success. He soon recognized that neither the bombastic grandiloquence of Liszt nor the color orgies of Wagner had anything whatever to do with the intimacy, the sincerity and the piety of Bach. Far from limiting himself one-sidedly to old music, he at the same time reviewed what the modern composers of his epoch had to say. His friend Reimann had called the Max Reger E Minor Suite, Op. 16, an unplayable work. Demonstrating that it could be played if it could be understood, Straube scheduled it in 1897. His playing of this suite was the beginning of a close friendship between himself and the composer. 6 O R Z O \ E X W V \ V W H P D W L F D O O \ 6 W U D X E H U R V H W R W K H S R V L W L R Q D Q G W K H U H S X W D W L R Q R I * H U P D Q \ ¶ V R U J D Q L V W No. 1. His digging into the past treasuries of the Protestant Church and his inquisitiveness for the new made him of all the organisms of his time easily the one with the greatest repertoire. He taught even Reger how to play the organ, and with the spontaneous spark of his untiring creativity, Reger, in turn, inspired Straube. Straube became a revolutionary. He insisted on obtaining a new organ from his congregation in order that he might be able fully to reveal the The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 84 E H D X W \ R I 5 H J H U ¶ V ³ : L H V F K R H Q O H X F K W ¶ W X Q V G H U 0 R U J H Q V W H U Q ´ : K H Q W K H F R Q J U H J D W L R Q G H F O D U H G that no funds were available for a new instrument, he himself went out to get the money from other foundations, but he ended up by paying a considerable sum of the expenses out of his own pocket so that the organ could be altered. Straube brought the Bach Society, which had been founded in 1857 by Spitta, Herzogenberg, and Holstein but had almost disintegrated, W R D Q H Z I O R Z H U L Q J + H S H U I R U P H G % D F K ¶ V Passion According to St. John. Having studied meanwhile the history of the work, he emerged in the performance as a purist. Even though he used, instead of the harpsichord the piano, and instead of the lute the harp, he left the orchestral proportions untouched, which meant, for instance, that he retained the clarinets, which had been customary in performances and were then generally F R Q V L G H U H G Q H F H V V D U \ H O H P H Q W V L Q W K H ³ E H D X W L I L F D W L R Q ´ R I W K H Z R U N 6 W L O O D O O L Q D O O, Straube wavered between a musicological attitude and his love of Liszt and Wagner, whose creations proved tempting indeed. With a fidelity to the work in question unrivaled at that time except perhaps by Hans von Buelow, whose spirit he followed, Straube proceeded to put into his scores precise instructions of phrasing and dynamics. His idea was to eliminate doubts as much as possible. Like his idol Buelow, he was always ready to overlook details in order to arrive at the general mood in the great lines of the works. The Mendelssohn tradition had looked upon Bach arias as music chiefly sweet, happy, calm, dignified, and romantic. At the first Bach Festival in Leipzig, Straube presented the St. Matthew Passion in his own vigorous interpretation. There was more drama in the arias, and the music was altogether stronger, the ³ W X U E D H ´ choruses being executed in a dramatic and realistic manner rather than in the smooth and elegant fashion which had been the Mendelssohnian trademark. At this point of his career, Karl Straube recognized the urgent necessity for the complete re- H Y D O X D W L R Q R I % D F K + H U H P R Y H G % D F K ¶ V R U J D Q P X V L F I U R P W K H V S K H U H R I W K H V H Q W L P H Q W D O romanticists to the more rational of the modernists. He refused to make his original attitude, which was post- 5 R P D Q W L F W R V W D Q G L Q W K H Z D \ R I K L V E H W W H U X Q G H U V W D Q G L Q J R I % D F K ¶ V Z R U N + H was ready to change his mind. Thus his Bach festivals turned out to be a series of glorious S H U I R U P D Q F H V R I % D F K ¶ V P X V L F 7 K H \ U H I O H F W H G W K H V H U L R X V D Q G V F K R O D U O \ D W W L W X G H D Q G devotion of which Straube was capable because of the revision of his principles. Indeed, the flexibility of the Straube mind and his sensitivity were paid tribute by the fact that he who had come from Reger and who had once approached the organ in a Liszt-Wagnerian manner was soon elected the leader of the new organist movement toward the principles of which he had made, so to speak, unofficial contributions long before it was launched. This movement found that the registrations and the spirit of the baroque organ could well be restored. In the pursuit of this musicological attitude Straube openly rejected his earlier editions of organ works. He undertook a study of the organ of Michael Praetorius in Freiburg and that of Arp Schnitger in Hamburg. He gradually broke entirely with his past as an organist, and he declared that the organ performance of church music had to be reconcilable with historico-stylistic conditions. The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 85 I hope that even this brief discussion of Karl Straube and his ideals makes it clear that the combination of scholar and artist is not just a pipe dream. The Straube case makes clear that whenever artistic imagination is coupled with scholarly integrity, problems concerning the revival and the development of church music need not worry anybody. It is obvious that wherever such a case as that of Straube exists the research of musicologists will not go unheard by practitioners. Musicians groomed in the Straube spirit have tasted the obligations of the scholar. They will arrange and edit old music as it should be done. They will cultivate a broad attitude toward repertoire; they will organize programs which, as those of the Thomanerchor used to do, draw from many areas of choral music. Twenty years ago Straube was the first to perform The Art of the Fugue and, in 1928, The Musical Offering. The baroque organ, which he promoted together with Willibald Gurlitt, Guenther Ramin, and Hans Henny Jahnn, remedied many mistakes that, owing to the old romantic approach, were committed by organists in Germany and in other countries. In Straube's dedication of the new series of Alte Meister des Orgelspiels, addressed to the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Leipzig, he not only admitted his old errors, but with intellectual clarity and courage explained his changed attitude. He declared that his original approach to the first collection, then thirty years old, had been the result of an emotional romanticism that he now found necessary to discard since it was inadequate for the rendition of old church music. He stated that musicological experience had taught him the necessity for understanding styles and ideas apart from their environments and their idiomatic implications. Such an outlook, he argued, must always benefit art, and art, through such an outlook, can only gain in depth and breadth. If musicologists, then, are to benefit church music in a practical way, and if church musicians endeavor to apply the research of the scholars to the practice of their profession, we need the same attitude that Straube took. If we can develop this attitude, we may expect new impulses, and our modest beginnings may eventually lead into a greater epoch of musica sacra. The Rise and Decline of English Church Music Donald N. Ferguson I The Rise You are all aware how richly your Lutheran church music has embodied the ideals of the Lutheran faith. Although it needed a musician of the greatness of Bach to bring that embodiment to its highest fruition, it is certainly true that a background not only of musicianship but also of faith was essential, and that without his abiding faith Bach would have left us a very different literature. My problem today is to show how English church music embodies another Protestant faith. That literature also has a significant musical background. A good many musicians of very high attainment contributed to it. But for reasons that are largely social and political it holds no such place in the affection of the world as the German musical literature; and I must first point briefly at what seem to me the most important facts that bear on this problem. I have a vast field The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 86 to cover and must rely on your knowledge of the growth of Lutheran church music to provide most of the necessary comparisons. The background of English Protestantism seems to me to be the background of all Protestantism ²an attempt to interpret the teachings of Christ in a manner more in accord with His own utterances, and more attuned to the spiritual needs of the common man, than that offered by the Church of Rome. But that attitude of protest is possible also in other fields of thought. It had already been manifested in Britain before there was any thought of religious dissent. Magna Charta is not a religious document; yet it embodies an emphasis on human rights and an opposition to tyranny which I think may justly be called a protestant attitude. The temporal power of the Church brought political and religious issues into ever sharper focus ²for example, in the struggle between Henry II and Thomas à Becket; in the institution of the Parliament and the resistance to papal oppression under Henry III; and in the limitation of ecclesiastical jurisdiction under Edward I. Along with these determinations went certain departures from the conventional liturgical observances on the Continent ²for instance, those L O O X V W U D W H G L Q W K H 6 D O L V E X U \ D Q G W K H 6 D O H P ³ 8 V H V ´ 7 K H V H G L I I H U H Q F H V K R Z H Y H U P X V W Q R W E H overemphasized. The Church of Rome was more tolerant of such departures in those days than it later became ²especially after the Council of Trent. Yet there is no doubt that the seeds of Protestantism were early sown, and at first with little opprobrium for the sower. Even so recalcitrant a believer as John Wycliffe, who, like Luther, denied the doctrine of transubstantiation and translated the Bible in order that men might read and interpret the Scriptures for themselves ²even John Wycliffe died in his bed; but John Huss, only thirty years O D W H U I R U G R F W U L Q H V Z K L F K V H H P W R X V Q R P R U H ³ K H U H W L F D O ´ W K D Q : \ F O L I I H ¶ V P H W W K H G H D W K R I D P D U W \ U + X V V ¶ V X S S R U W E \ ( P S H U R U 6 L J L V P X Q G V H H P V W R K D Y H E H H Q O H V V H I I H F W X D O W K D Q - R K Q R I * D X Q W ¶ V S U R W H F W L R Q R I : \ F O L I I H , W L V Q R W H Z R U W K \ W K D W W K R X J K W K H / R O O D U G V : \ F O L I I H ¶ V I R O O R Z H U V were persecuted, there was no real crusade against them, as there had been against the Waldensians and the Albigensians a century earlier. Another important contribution to the protestant attitude came from the great Humanistic movement. Here, of course, the general trend of thought is the same in Germany and England. The German Humanists, from Rudolph Agricola to Erasmus, managed to divest Scholastic theology of its almost necromantic power. But the great English Humanist Sir Thomas More, with his wonderful ideal of a form of government in which wars of aggression were unheard of, and in which no one could be persecuted for his religion so long as he dealt fairly with his neighbor, was the most influential of all, at least in England. I suspect that some of his ideas as well as thos H H [ S U H V V H G L Q + R R N H U ¶ V Ecclesiastical Polity ²if in a strangely transmogrified form ²underlie the peculiar type of Protestantism that emerged, under Henry VIII, in the concrete form of the Anglican doctrine. I can make but the barest mention of facts like these and must trust your imagination to magnify them to their true importance. There was indeed no hint of an actual break with Rome until Henry VII, desiring a male heir to W K H W K U R Q H ³ G L V F R Y H U H G ´ W K D W K L V P D U U L D J H W R & D W K H U L Q H R I $ U D J R Q K L V E U R W K H U $ U W K X U ¶ V Z L G R Z was illegal and that his daughter Mary, therefore, was illegitimate. There is no doubt that Anne The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 87 % R O H \ Q ¶ V F K D U P V L Q W H Q V L I L H G + H Q U \ ¶ V G H W H U P L Q D W L R Q W R E H U L G R I & D W K H U L Q H E X W K H K D G V W L O O Q R thought of being a protestant against the Roman faith. Indeed, in 1521, he had been awarded by W K H 3 R S H W K H W L W O H R I ³ ' H I H Q G H U R I W K H ) D L W K ´ L Q U H F R J Q L W L R Q R I K L V ³ $ V V H U W L R Q R I W K H 6 H Y H Q 6 D F U D P H Q W V ´ ² G L U H F W O \ D J D L Q V W / X W K H U / D W H U K H D O V R I R U E D G H W K H F L U F X O D W L R Q R I 7 \ Q G D O H ¶ V ( Q J O L V K % L E O H D V ³ H [ H F X W H G L Q D S U R W H V W D Q W V S L U L W ´ % X W L Q K L V S U L Y D W H P D U U L D J H W R $ Q Q H % R O H \ Q having been of necessity revealed, the Parliament (which now, through the Machiavellian ingenuity of Thomas Cromwell, had become the mere mouthpiece of the Crown), passed the Act of Supre P D F \ D Q Q R X Q F L Q J + H Q U \ D V ³ W K H R Q O \ V X S U H P H K H D G R Q H D U W K R I W K H & K X U F K R I ( Q J O D Q G ´ But there is no pronouncement from the lips of the defender of this new faith that is comparable W R W K H I D P R X V Z R U G V ³ + L H U V W H K H L F K L F K N D Q Q Q L F K W D Q G H U V * R W W K H O I H P L U ´ The break with Rome was thus far more largely political than religious; but it is of considerable importance to our problem that it was so, for there is no doubt that from its first foundation the English Church considered itself (and still does) a legitimate continuation of the older organization and therefore a sharer in the blessings of the Apostolic Succession. I have no time to describe the manner in which the 39 Articles (originally 42) were established, nor the vicissitudes of the development of Protestantism under Edward VI and Mary. Conformity to its pattern of worship (not necessarily involving complete assent to the formulated doctrine) was demanded under Elizabeth (whose actual religious belief certainly did not conform to the 39 Articles); but while recusant Catholics and Protestant non-conformists were persecuted under her (though with less violence than had been done under Mary), it does not appear that the Established Church represented the majority of religious opinion in England. In fact W K H P D M R U L W \ R I W K D W R S L Q L R Q Z D V D O U H D G \ & D O Y L Q L V W L F , G R X E W W K D W + H Q U \ ¶ V G L V W D V W H I R U / X W K H U ¶ V L G H D V S O D \ H G D Q \ J U H D W S D U W L Q G H W H U P L Q L Q J W K L V & D O Y L Q L V W L F W U H Q G , Q V X F K P D W W H U V W K H example of John Knox ²dour as his religious philosophy was ²was more inspiring than that of the bishops; and I suspect that sympathy for the Huguenots in France and Holland (against the J U H D W H V W R I ( Q J O D Q G ¶ V H Q H P L H V & D W K R O L F 6 S D L Q Z D V P R U H R I D G H W H U P L Q D Q W W K D Q W K H D F W X D O theology involved. But for our purpose as musicians the great point is the lack of that wide unanimity of feeling which, unless I am mistaken, was deep enough to sustain German 3 U R W H V W D Q W L V P W K U R X J K W K H K R U U R U V R I W K H 7 K L U W \ < H D U V ¶ : D U I have taken a great deal of time for this very imperfect sketch. But it seems to me that English church music has failed to reach the heights of Lutheran music, not so much because of a lack of great composers ²we shall find that England was by no means impoverished in this respect; nor indeed because of a lack of earnest belief ²of which earnestness many other proofs than the death of Cranmer and Ridley and Latimer might be cited; but because the Established Church, for whose services it would be necessary for the composers to write, did not offer a creed to which the whole, or even the majority, of the nation could unhesitatingly give assent. The theological background of English church music was unpropitious. The general background of English music, on the other hand, was favorable. Even if, as Manfred Bukofzer has pretty conclusively shown, the famous canon Sumer is icumen in must be dated The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 88 from forty to seventy years later than has always been supposed, there are many other evidences that England, until the fifteenth century, kept pretty well abreast of the times. In the first half of the fifteenth century, indeed, she was actually in the lead. Every historian recognizes John Dunstable as a pathfinder. His influence was strongest on the Continent, where his works were almost exclusively preserved. But the chapel of the Duke of Bedford (regent during the minority of Henry VI), in which Dunstable apparently served, must have ended with his death in 1435; the + X Q G U H G < H D U V ¶ : D U Z K L F K X Q W L O W K H G H D W K R I - R D Q R I $ U F K D G J R Q H I D Y R U D E O \ I R U ( Q J O D Q G turned to the favor of France; and almost immediately after it was ended ²with the virtually complete expulsion of the English from the Continent ²came the even more disastrous Wars of the Roses. It is not strange to find Tinctoris regretting the degradation of English music during that peri R G , W L V W U X H W K D W W K H J U R X Q G R I 7 L Q F W R U L V ¶ R E M H F W L R Q L V W K H I H H E O H Q H V V R I W K H ( Q J O L V K understanding of the mathematical intricacies that were so astonishingly cultivated from the days of Dufay to those of Josquin; but it is also true that these mathematical feats were less highly regarded by their inventors than has until recently been supposed. And with the pacification that came with the accession of the Tudors, English music began once more to reveal its distinctive character. While we should properly say that English church music can hardly have begun before the establishment of the English Church, it is evident that the methods of composition are not subject to royal regulation and that we must take account of the earliest of sixteenth-century composers if we are to have any idea of the developments that will ensue. The first composer whom we must recognize in this brief survey is Robert Fayrfax, who began his work during the reign of + H Q U \ 9 , , D Q G Z D V U H J D U G H G X Q W L O K L V G H D W K L Q D V ³ W K H S U L P H P X V L F L D Q R I W K H Q D W L R Q ´ + L V surviving works are almost all religious in character and are of course Catholic in tone ²five or six Masses, two Magnificats, and some half dozen motets. Two secular pieces, however, were S U L Q W H G L Q : \ Q N L Q G H : R U G H ¶ V 6 R Q J E R R N R I 1530 ²the first book of music printed in England. An indication of the level from which English church music may be assumed to have risen may E H J L Y H Q E \ G H V F U L E L Q J D I H Z R I W K H W H F K Q L F D O I H D W X U H V R I ) D \ U I D [ ¶ V P X V L F The counterpoint is sound and solid, but there is little display of the learned imitative and proportional devices which had been so largely cultivated on the Continent. (This is the result of the hiatus noted by Tinctoris.) Yet the individual voices, which are virtually of equal interest, are smooth and melodious; and despite the rhythmic simplicity of the texture, which is mostly in note-against-note counterpoint, there is a definite feeling for choral effectiveness. His Albanus Mass L Q K R Q R U R I W K H S D W U R Q V D L Q W R I 6 W $ O E D Q ¶ V $ E E H \ L V Q R P L Qally for five voices; but it is seldom that all five are singing simultaneously. Three, variously selected for contrast, are the S U H Y D L O L Q J Q X P E H U 7 K H U H L V Q R . \ U L H L W Z D V X V X D O H Y H Q E H \ R Q G ) D \ U I D [ ¶ V W L P H W R S U H V H Q W W K L V portion of the service in plain song, troped). Also, the words from et in spiritum sanctum to et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum are omitted from the Credo. The source of the principal W K H P D W L F P D W H U L D O L V S U R E D E O \ D S K U D V H R I S O D L Q V R Q J E X W W K L V L V W X U Q H G L Q W R D N L Q G R I ³ P R W W R ´ (somewhat as in the fourteenth-century Mass of Machaut), and a kind of musical unity is preserved by these means. The device of isorhythmic structure, well known to both Machaut and Dunstable, appears to have been completely abandoned. Most of the music is in triple time; but The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 89 that this represents a continuation (far beyond its abandonment on the Continent) of the thirteenth-century convention is quite unthinkable. , Q W K H I R U P R I W K H P R W H W Z K L F K L V O D W H U W R E H F R P H W K H ( Q J O L V K D Q W K H P ) D \ U I D [ ¶ V W H F K Q L T X H L V essen W L D O O \ W K H V D P H D V L Q W K H 0 D V V 7 K H Z R U G ³ D Q W K H P ´ K R Z H Y H U D S S H D U V L Q D U H F R U G Z K L F K P H Q W L R Q V W K H S D \ P H Q W W R ) D \ U I D [ L Q R I ³ V I R U V H W W L Q J D Q D Q W K H P R I R X U H / D G \ H D Q G 6 D L Q W ( O L ] D E H W K ´ 7 K L V W H U P Z D V W K H Q S U R E D E O \ D F X U U H Q W F R U U X S W L R Q R I W K H R O G H U W H U P ³ D Q W L S K R Q ´ It is to gain a different meaning when the form of the service changes. (In the opening section of ) D \ U I D [ ¶ V S L H F H W K H Q D P H ( O L ] D E H W K ²not the later Virgin Queen, but Elizabeth of York, Henry 9 , , ¶ V F R Q V R U W ²is made to stand out with singular emphasis, even though it is the mother of John the Baptist, and not the English Queen, who is being addressed.) Another composer, contemporary with Fayrfax, who wrote chiefly to Latin texts, was Nicholas Ludford, who shows more acquaintance than Fayrfax with the learned process of the Continental musicians but is his inferior in imagination. The younger men show a more sympathetic acquaintance with continental methods. In a collection dated 1516 there is a motet, Quam pulchra es, by Sampson which shows much of this style, and even the lesser composers of the following generation are well schooled in the Continental technique, though few of them can be regarded, by comparison with the greatest, as masters. Taverner abandons all effort toward massiveness, V X F K D V Z D V ) D \ U I D [ ¶ V J U H D W H V W V W U H Q J W K D Q G + H Q U \ 9 , , , Z K R G D E E O H G L Q composition as in everything else, can be regarded only as a bungler. Neither did the establishment of the English Church attract all the composers to the setting of English religious texts. Many continued to write, not only to Latin words, but obviously in sympathy with the older faith. Such, for instance, was Robert Johnson, a Scottish priest, who nevertheless is reported as a heretic who fled to England long before the Reformation. He appears to have V H U Y H G D V F K D S O D L Q W R $ Q Q H % R O H \ Q D Q G L Q F R Q W U L E X W H G W K U H H D Q W K H P V W R ' D \ ¶ V P X V L F I R U The Book of Common Prayer. His greatest works, however, are to Latin texts ²a motet, Ave, Dei patris filia, and a setting of Psalm 20. His skill, however, is by no means that of his Continental contemporaries, Clemens non Papa, Philippe de Monte, or Orlando Lasso. A few English composers continued to favor Latin texts even to the time of Queen Elizabeth. Robert Parsons, a P H P E H U R I W K H 4 X H H Q ¶ V & K D S H O, and Alfonso Ferrabosco, an Italian by birth who lived most of his life in England, are the most conspicuous. Their methods show the same increasing devotion to Continental models that we noted a moment ago with Ludford. Considering the vacillations of religious opinion ²or of repressive force ²in England under Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth, this adherence to older tradition is not remarkable. We shall find that the greatest of all the English composers of the sixteenth century, William Byrd, remains throughout his troubled life an adherent of the older faith. But we must turn now to the rise of that style which is more truly representative of English Protestantism. It will be needful, in my relatively brief time, to deal with forms rather than with men. The simplest and in some aspects the most important of religious forms is the hymn, and I will first deal with it. I have said that Calvinism rather than the doctrine of Luther was the prevalent type of Protestantism in England. As a result a considerable amount of English The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 90 hymnody is derived from the Genevan and other Psalters. It differs from the Lutheran not only in the matter of the texts, but also in the manner in which the music was set to those texts. Calvin actually was fond of music; but he had no mind to allow a sensuous delight, even under the guise of an appeal to the Almighty, to imperil the souls of his followers. His first ritual, that of 1533, made no provision whatever for music; for that of 1537 he suggested the introduction of music. Having seen the value of Lutheran hymn singing at Strasbourg, whither he was banished in 1538, he composed the Psalter of 1539, I U R P Z K L F K ' U 7 H U U \ V D \ V ³ W K H Z K R O H O L W H U D W X U H R I Y H U Q D F X O D U S V D O P R G \ G H U L Y H V ´ 7 K H W H U P V ³ + \ P Q ´ D Q G ³ 3 V D O P ´ D U H E \ Q R P H D Q V V \ Q R Q \ P R Xs. In the Catholic practice the two were clearly distinguished. But the shift from the Latin to the vernacular made possible a kind of assimilation of the two forms. This came about, of course, through the metrical translation of the Psalms. The seven Penitential Psalms seem to have been turned into French verse before the end of the fifteenth century; but the first significant effort of this sort was that of the witty, elegant, yet often sincere poet Clément Marot, a favorite at the court of Francis I (Hen U \ 9 , , , ¶ V J U H D W D Q W D J R Q L V W 0 D U R W ¶ V I L U V W F R O O H F W L R Q F R Q W D L Q H G W K L U W \ 3 V D O P V ( P S H U R U & K D U O H V 9 Q R I U L H Q G R I / X W K H U ¶ V U H Z D U G H G W K H S R H W Z L W K J R O G G R X E O R R Q V and the metrical Psalms immediately became popular among the Catholics, whether of high or low degree. They were also approved by a committee of the Sorbonne, which found in them ³ Q R W K L Q J F R Q W U D U \ W R W K H I D L W K + R O \ 6 F U L S W X U H R U W K H R U G L Q D Q F H R I W K H & K X U F K ´ % X W Z K H Q W K H \ were published, in 1542, they were also taken up by the Huguenots, the Albigensians, and the Waldensians, and even by many communities of Lutherans in Germany. The Sorbonne repented L W V G H F L V L R Q 0 D U R W ¶ V D U U H V W Z D V R U G H U H G E X W K H H V F D S H G L Q W R 6 Z L W ] H U O D Q G D Q G I R X Q G W K D W R I K L V Psalms had already appeared in the Strasbourg Psalter of 1539. In 1543 he added twenty to the original collection of thirty Psalms, together with several canticles and the Ten Commandments. But death cut short his effort, and the remaining Psalms were versified by Théodore de Bèze, who finished his work in 1562. Observe that there is here no interpolation of ideas other than those contained in the original texts. The intimacy of many of the Lutheran hymn texts stands in conspicuous contrast. The music to which these poems were set was sometimes popular melody and sometimes an adaptation of older tunes originally set to Latin words. The most conspicuous composer or arranger of these melodies was Louis Bourgeois, many of whose tunes or adaptations still find a place in the English hymnals. His melodies, again, were admirably harmonized by Claude Goudimel. About half of the tunes are in the older or severer church modes; the others are in the Lydian or Ionian ²the nearest approach to our major mode. In the harmonizations, the melody, according to the fashion of the day, was kept in the tenor; but many modern arrangements transplant it to the soprano ²sometimes with awkward results. Douen counted 837 editions, either of the Genevan Psalter or of works based immediately upon it; and it is evident that here was begun a movement as fair in apparent promise as that which blossomed so profusely in the German chorales. But while the Lutherans were at first much taken with these pieces and kept not a few of them for their own use, the Calvinists in other lands were hindered, even from the first, in their free development. The translations, especially into English, were inferior and in pedestrian rhythms. Two thirds of the Psalms in the Scottish Psalter D U H H L W K H U L Q ³ & R P P R Q The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 91 0 H D V X U H ´ V \ O O D E O H V R U L Q ³ / R Q J 0 H W H U ´ 7 K H ) U H Q F K Y H U V L R Q V R Q W K H R W K H U hand, show as many as 120 different meters. This variety, which is reflected in the music of % R X U J H R L V D Q G * R X G L P H O L V T X L W H O R V W L Q W K H ³ P R Q R W R Q R X V G U R Q L Q J ´ D V ' U ) U H U H G H V F U L E H V L W R I the English Psalms. Thus the English service offered no basis for such expansions of musical expression as were gradually introduced into the Lutheran services in the shape of cantatas, Choralvorspiele, and the like. The Hymn, or Psalm (I may here again loosely combine these utterances into a single type), was not, indeed, the immediate origin of the cantata, which is a seventeenth century invention and drew considerably from the opera. But Calvin favored neither instrumental music nor any kind of part singing. While his taste was not allowed to rule that of all the adherents to his doctrine, I cannot but feel that his attitude was an important factor in stunting the growth of a deep musical consciousness which, among the Lutherans, made possible the work of Bach. Of course the metrical stanzas to which the Psalms were shaped made possible the simple, strophic musical form of the Hymn. But that form was by no means obligatory. Succeeding stanzas, or even succeeding phrases, might each have their own appropriate music. For these, as in the older settings of the Mass, various methods of entrance and variable numbers and registers of voices might be devised. This, indeed, is the general technique of the older motet, in which each phrase of words had its own musical strain, usually imitatively begun and extended as far as the taste of the composer dictated. Out of this motet form, by simple transplantation rather than by any novelty of technique, came the most highly elaborated form of English church music and the one most similar in significance ²but not in form ²to the German cantata. As we have seen, L W Z D V F D O O H G W K H D Q W K H P I U R P W K H R O G H U Z R U G ³ D Q W L S K R Q ´ , Q G H H G L Q F H U W D L Q W \ S H V L W S U H V H U Y H V something of that kind of musical dialog which is characteristic of the antiphonal and responsorial psalmody of the Catholic Church. But the text of the English anthem was not necessarily taken from the Psalms. Although it was basically Scriptural, the rendering into English made possible some measure of free paraphrase. It is obviously in the form of the anthem that the musical ingenuity as well as the religious imagination of a composer could find its fullest outlet. Also the monodic chant still had its place; but since the congregation was still expected to take part in this type of utterance, there was no maintenance of the high floridity to which the Gregorian chant had risen. Instead, only the few inflections that correspond to the Initium, the Mediatio, and the Punctum in the simpler type of Gregorian chanting were retained. The main part of the text was recited on the monotone, as it still is. It seems to me important to remember that from its beginning the English Church had possessed ²as of course the Catholic Church had not ²the musical resource of harmony, and that this harmony (which had evolved in the Catholic service as a kind of decoration of the chant) considerably obviated the need for cultivating the difficult unisonous choral art which the older Church had brought to such extraordinary heights. Something of the process of evolution in the English type of chanting may be seen in John 0 H U E H F N H ¶ V Book of Common Prayer Noted, which was issued under Edward VI. Merbecke assigns three precise time values to the different notes ²those corresponding to the breve, the The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 92 semibreve, and the minim; and his method is therefore not in accord either with the Solesmes fashion of treating all the neumes, of whatever shape, as of equal time value, or with the idea of W K H ³ P H Q V X U D O L V W V ´ Z K R U H F R J Q L ] H W Z R G L I I H U H Q W Q R W H O H Q J W K V 0 H U E H F N H V H W to this kind of chant not only the Matins (which became the present-day Morning Prayer and loosely approximates to the Catholic Mass rather than to the ancient Office of Matins); and the Evensong (which is the modern Evening Prayer and relates also to the Office of Vespers), but also the Communion and W K H V H U Y L F H ³ $ W W K H % X U L D O O R I W K H ' H D G ´ + L V 0 D W L Q V D Q G ( Y H Q V R Q J D U H P X F K V K R U W H U W K D Q W K H L U present-day equivalents ²a fact which suggests that there was in those days but a meager space for such a form as the anthem. How Edward VI's Prayer Book, founded on what were originally 42 Articles, was modified in ( O L ] D E H W K ¶ V U H L J Q W R F R U U H V S R Q G W R W K H $ U W L F O H V R I W K H S U H V H Q W ( Q J O L V K & K X U F K L V D T X H V W L R Q obviously beyond our present consideration. Our concern, in the remaining minutes, will be with the anthem. Again I must go back to the beginning of the 16th century to take account of its growth. The history is difficult to trace, for a great deal of the pre-Reformation music, out of which its method must have orig L Q D W H G Z D V G H V W U R \ H G G X U L Q J + H Q U \ 9 , , , ¶ V V S R O L D W L R Q R I W K H monasteries. The first composers of whom we must take note, Christopher Tye and Thomas Tallis, were born early in the 16th century and were thus in their first artistic maturity when the spolianion took place. Tye still writes Masses ²one called by himself Euge bone, though no antiphon can be I R X Q G I U R P Z K L F K W K H W K H P D W L F P D W H U L D O L V G H U L Y H G D Q G R Q H R Q D S R S X O D U ( Q J O L V K V R Q J ³ : H V W U R Q : \ Q G H ´ 7 K L V O D W W H U R I F R X U V H I R O O R Z V W K H & R Q W L Q H Q W D O I D V K L R Q Rf using tunes like O ¶ + R P P H armé for the same purpose. But though Shepherd and Taverner also need this tune as a theme for the Mass, this practice had little currency in England. (Whether the English singers, as is recorded of the Continentals, sang the words of the song instead of the words of the service is a T X H V W L R Q X S R Q Z K L F K , K D Y H Q R F R P P H Q W % X W 7 \ H ¶ V 0 D V V H V D Q G K L V R W K H U / D W L Q Z R U N V I L Y H-part motets to the words Miserere mei, Deus, or Omnes gentes, plaudite manibus), while skillfully and solidly constructed, compare somewhat unfavorably with his settings of English texts. Of subtlety of expression he had less than his great followers, though this not to say that he was indifferent to the sense of words. Even the motet Omnes gentes is quite literal in its bell-like H [ R U G L X P ³ $ O O Q D W L R Q V ´ L Q W K H P R U H U D S L G D Q G L Q F L V L Y H ³ & O D S \ R X U K D Q G V ´ D Q G L Q W K H O R Q J P H O L V P D W L F S K U D V H V I R U ³ 3 U D L V H * R G L Q D Y R L F H R I H [ D O W D W L R Q ´ % X W K L V ( Q J O L V K Z R U N V ²presumably written after the Reformation ²show sturdier sense of meaning and a more definitely English melodic character, even though his work is only a beginning in the new style. Of his lesser contemporaries, John Redford, Robert Parsons, John Thorne, and Richard Farrant must at least be mentioned. Their work is less D Q J X O D U W K D Q 7 \ H ¶ V E X W L Q D O O W K H P X V L F R I W K L V S H U L R G W K H U H are numerous false relations of a kind most unwelcome to any but the ultramodern ear. I have not time to describe these but can only say that they arise, not through ignorance of harmony, but through the logical pursuit of singable melody for each of the voices involved. Thomas Tallis, who after 1540 became a member of the Royal Chapel, retained that post until his death in 1585 ²serving that is, almost throughout the time during which the English Reformation The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 93 was accomplished. Up to his time he is certainly the greatest English composer after Dunstable, and some of his works are fearlessly compared by the English historians with those of Palestrina. Like Tye, he wrote to both Latin and English texts, and his contrapuntal skill was prodigious. There is 40-voice motet (eight five-part choirs) and the text Spem in alium non habui, which is as elaborate in structure as anything of Continental origin. But he could also write without any display of learning, as in his Prayer, Litany, Morning Prayer, Communion, and Evening Prayer in the Dorian mode ²a work which is still much performed in larger English churches. But his motets and anthems most fully display his imaginative stature. A setting of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, the five-part Absterge Domine, the Salvator mundi, and the Derelinquit impius will substantiate almost any laudatory criticism; and his English anthems are no whit behind the motets. Even in gentler themes he finds the musical mot juste. In 1575 Tallis and William Byrd were granted a monopoly of music printing by Queen Elizabeth. The first work they issued was a collection of Cantiones sacrae ²34 pieces in five and six parts, of which 16 were by Tallis. It is here that our present taste, at least, finds the fullest H Y L G H Q F H V R I 7 D O O L V ¶ J H Q L X V 7 K H S L H F H V D U H P R W H W V R U D Q W K H P V ²the anthem now being made out of the motet by the simple process of translating the Latin text, or supplying other English words, as in the case of O sacrum convivum, W R Z K L F K W K H ( Q J O L V K W H [ W ³ , & D O O D Q G & U \ ´ K D V E H H Q provided. Robert Whyte, a pupil of Tye, occupies a kind of middle place between his master and Tallis. He seems to have preferred contemplative, rather than vigorous subjects and to have found for these a quiet musical phraseology singularly well attuned to his text. I cannot cease to marvel at the variety that sixteenth-century composers could devise, in an idiom which, analyzed harmonically, presents only triads and their first inversions, with all discords strictly prepared and resolved. The uncertainty that hung over England until the destruction of the Armada in 1588 was probably not greatly reflected in the liturgical services; but the release from that uncertainty marks the beginning of what is possibly the most ebullient period in the history of art. Quite naturally the most conspicuous works, whatever the medium, are secular in nature, and the richest musical efflorescence is, of course, in the secular form of the madrigal. But the release is evidenced also in a certain freer command of technique; and since that command is independent of its subject matter, it is applicable also to religious composition, and the summit of English church music may well be said to have been reached at the same time as the summit of its secular art. I am frankly doubtful as to whether the peak lies here or with Purcell, a century later; but that question is after all of no great moment, and your opinion will be as good as mine. A very great height, at least, was reached at the turn of the 16th century. The fact that will be adduced by those who argue for the pre-eminence of the 16th century is the extraordinary number of first-rate composers living at that time. In would serve little purpose here merely to read a long list of these names. That twenty-four composers are represented in the great madrigal collection The Triumphs of Oriana ²among whom two of the greatest figures of The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 94 the time, William Byrd and Orlando Gibbons, are not included ²will sufficiently illustrate the condition. The richest contribution to English church music was made by these two men; and I shall have time for no more than a brief account of their work. William Byrd, who was born in 1542 ²53 and died in 1623, was all his life a Catholic and suffered many indignities on that account. Yet the fact that he shared in the monopoly of music printing with the conformist Tallis is a sign both of his artistic eminence and of that kind of tolerance which underlay the policy of the great sovereign. % \ U G ¶ V Z R U N V L Q F Oude three Masses ²for three, four, and five voices respectively ²which were quite useless as service music for the English Church but may have been used for private celebrations and are exquisitely expressive of his own inflexible convictions. Ernest Walker notes ²I think, justly ² W K D W W K H V H 0 D V V H V F R P S D U H I D Y R U D E O \ Z L W K D Q \ R I 3 D O H V W U L Q D ¶ V D Q G \ H W differ from them in possessing a certain individuality of feeling which, from the very nature of his effort, Palestrina would endeavor to suppress. I suspect that this individuality is a reflection ² H Y H Q L Q % \ U G ¶ V & D W K R O L F P L Q G ²of that independence of thought which, in general, I have called Protestantism in the form of the motet, even in Latin, there was more scope for this feeling; and % \ U G ¶ V S L H F H V L Q W K L V I R U P H [ Kibit it, sometimes in passages that are quite frankly illustrative. 7 K L V O L W H U D O Q H V V Z D V P X F K S X U V X H G L Q W K R V H G D \ V , W L V D I H D W X U H I R U Z K L F K W K H ³ S X U H ´ P X V L F L D Q V R I our own time seem inclined to apologize. I do not belong to that school and therefore find these ³ L O O X V W U D W L R Q V ´ ²for example, a long, languid, descent set to the word dormientes in the Cantio sacra, Vigilate ²natural and appropriate; especially since there is never, for the sake of mere illustration, the least abatement of sound musical technique. 0 D Q \ R I % \ U G ¶ V / D W L Q P R W H W V K D Y H E H H Q W X U Q H G L Q W R D Q W K H P V E \ W K H S U R F H V V H V R I W U D Q V O D W L R Q R U W H [ W X D O D G D S W D W L R Q D O U H D G \ P H Q W L R Q H G + L V ³ 6 R Q J V R I 6 D G Q H V V D Q G 3 L H W L H ´ D Q G ³ 6 R Q J V R I 6 X Q G U \ 1 D W X U H V ´ O L N H Z L V H L Q F O X G H P D Q \ S L H F H V Z K L F K D V D Q H 3 U R W H V W D Q W L V P will readily recognize as suitable for devotion, whether or not they are appropriate for liturgical use. The distinction between sacred and secular is, in any case, one which depends primarily on the nature of the text ²as is amply proved by the frequent adaptation to hymns or Psalms of melodies originally set to secular words. There is no reason why a fervent melody, made originally to reflect a certain longing, for example, may not sufficiently express religious longing also ²as in the well-known Lutheran K \ P Q E D V H G R Q ³ , Q Q V E U X F N L F K P X V V G L F K O D V V H Q ´ Z K L F K F D Q K R Q H V W O \ E H F R P H U H O L J L R X V P H U H O \ E \ W K H V X E V W L W X W L R Q R I W K H Z R U G V ³ 2 : H O W ´ I R U ³ , Q Q V E U X F N ´ In that loftiness of mind which devotional music ²to my mind, more than any other human utterance ²can embo G \ , W K L Q N L W Z R X O G E H J H Q H U D O O \ D J U H H G W K D W % \ U G ¶ V P X V L F L V D E R Y H D O O W K H rest. That he is to be regarded as the greatest of the English church composers of his time is a proposition that may be debated; for there must enter into that problem how far his Catholic faith is expressed, in his work, in contrast to that belief which constitutes the Anglican a Protestant Church. But I am convinced ²and think you will agree ²that the religious attitude of mind is less a question of creed than of devotion to the ideals embodied in the creed; and I am herefore disposed ² H V S H F L D O O \ L Q Y L H Z R I W K H L Q G L Y L G X D O L W \ R I % \ U G ¶ V X W W H U D Q F H ²to ignore the question of The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 95 his Catholicism and include him with the others as an English church musician. Someday, when we have learned to understand the subtleties of the language we use, we musicians may be able to disentangle the Protestant from the Catholic in terms of these essential emotions; but as yet our thought is too cluttered up with the mere niceties of verbal distinction to attempt such a feat. If membership in the Anglican communion is a prime criterion by which to determine the Anglicanism of a church composer, we shall be compelled to award the palm to Orlando Gibbons. His life embraced but 42 years (1583 ±1625), but in that time he became what Ernest : D O N H U F D O O V ³ Y L U W X D O O \ W K H I D W K H U R I S X U H $ Q J O L F D Q P X V L F ´ + H O D F N V W K H P \ V W L F L V P W K D W L P E X H V the work not only of Byrd, but of all his predecessors, who were sensitive to the charm of the ancient Latin liturgy; but he is able, probably because of this lack, to interpret the words of the V H U Y L F H R U W K H W H [ W V R I K L V D Q W K H P V Z L W K D P R U H L P P H G L D W H K X P D Q L W \ + L V ³ S U R J U H V V L Y H Q H V V ´ L V apparent in his almost complete abandonment of composition in the old church modes. He also uses, more than any predecessor, the solo voice, and thus establishes the two types of anthem structure that will presently be fully crystallized ² W K H ³ I X O O D Q W K H P ´ F K R U D O W K U R X J K R X W Z L W K Q R more for a single part (and that not a solo voice) than what we should now call the entrance of a I X J X H V X E M H F W D Q G W K H ³ Y H U V H D Q W K H P ´ L Q Z K L F K F R Q V L G H U D E O H S D V V D J H V D U H J L Y H Q W R D V R O R Y R L F H with other portions set polyphonically for the whole choir. Both the abandonment of the old modes and the extended employment of the accompanied solo voice exemplify the new homophonic style which the Italians began, at the opening of the seventeenth century, to use for the dramma per musica. The vast change in the complexion of musical art which thus arose affects, of course, the whole body of religious as well as of secular music during that century. England, as we shall see, was reluctant to adopt the opera, and it was again so distracted by civil war that it lagged behind the Continent perceptibly. Yet in spite of the conflict of creeds, and the authorized supremacy of a form of worship to which by no means the whole nation gave assent, the achievements of the English church musicians, up to the end of the reign of Charles I, are of high, and sometimes of the very highest, order. II The Decline The advent of the Stuarts in 1603 proved an event of evil omen for England. Although it established the union of the hitherto often warring kingdoms of Scotland and England, it threatened the existence of what had become the most democratic system of government in Europe. James believed fanatically in his divine right to rule and would stoop to any duplicity to maintain his absolutism. The conflicts of religious and political interest that had been smoothed under Elizabeth were by no means reconciled D Q G - D P H V ¶ E H K D Y L R U V R R Q U H D Z D N H Q H G W K H P Although its adherents were in the minority, the English Church had achieved a kind of operative technique ²a mutual adjustment of Humanism and dogma ²than bade fair to allay at last the strife. But, under the Stua U W V + R R N H U ¶ V K R S H W K D W U H D V R Q P L J K W I L Q G O D U J H S O D F H L Q W K H R S H U D W L R Q R I the divine Law was to prove vain. James had no mind to submit to an ecclesiastico-political organization, such as Knox and Melville had set up in Scotland. The bishops, the ecclesiastical princes of the English Church, The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 96 were needful for the conduct of his rule, and he would on no account relinquish them. Catholicism, tolerated under Elizabeth until the latter years of her reign, began with high hopes under James, but the Gunpowder Plot revealed a mutual distrust implying little hope for peace. For however tolerant the Anglicans might be, the Calvinists believed Catholicism to be the rule of Antichrist, and they were likewise fundamentally opposed to the organization and the doctrine of W K H $ Q J O L F D Q & K X U F K $ Q G W K H U H Z D V D U L V L Q J D Q H Z V H F W W K H ³ % U R Z Q L V W V ´ W K H I R X Q G H U V R I Congregationalism, who dissented from Catholic and Calvinistic, or Anglican, doctrine alike. The sympathy of the English people for the Protestant cause at the outbreak R I W K H 7 K L U W \ < H D U V ¶ War was deep; but it was ineffective. For James, at the outbreak of the conflict, had refused desperately needed help, even to King Frederick of Bohemia, his son-in-law. Alarming sympathy Z L W K 6 S D L Q Z D V V H H Q L Q & K D U O H V ¶ X Q V X F F H V V I X O Vuit for the hand of the Spanish Infanta, and his actual marriage with Henrietta Maria of France proved even more dangerous for English liberty than the Spanish marriage would have been. If liberty and Protestantism are allied, as I have contended, it is evident that a decline in English church music is imminent. The usual swing of the pendulum of creative energy would suffice, perhaps, to explain the G H F O L Q H 7 K H J U H D W F R P S R V H U V R I W K H ( O L ] D E H W K D Q H U D G L H G L Q W K H ¶ V D Q G W K H U H Z H U H Q R Q H W R take their place. The lowering and the bursting of the clouds of civil war under Charles were fatal to creative effort in their time. The attitude of the Puritans was less unfriendly than has often been painted. Their destruction of organs and libraries is a matter of record; but the fondness for music of many an individual Puritan is largely unchronicled. Cromwell apparently was a genuine music lover and intervened to save more than one musical establishment from the heedless destruction that was rampant. (He seems, however, to have been a pretty niggardly paymaster for musicians.) But if the older current of musical thought had still been running when the Restoration came, it is possible that a swift efflorescence, comparable to that under Elizabeth, might have occurred. That current, however, was profoundly changed. The Monodic Revolution in Italy coincided with the advent of the Stuarts in England. While that innovation by no means spread immediately abroad, it had had its effect by the time England was ready again to undertake new musical creation. The technique of the anthem, with Orlando Gibbons, had been essentially the technique of the madrigal, or at any rate, the technique of polyphony, which England had borrowed from the Continent. Slow in that acquisition, she was still slower in absorbing the new technique of the dramma per musica. Some influence of that style may be found in the masques, but it was by no means fully assimilated. The masque, indeed, was the most admired form of composition during the second quarter of the F H Q W X U \ + H Q U \ & R R N H & K U L V W R S K H U * L E E R Q V 2 U O D Q G R ¶ V V R Q : L O O L D P D Q G + H Q U \ / D Z H V D Q G 0 D W W K H Z / R F N H D O O F R P S R V H G F R Q V S L F X R X V H [ D P S O H V R I W K L V I R U P + H Q U \ / D Z H V ¶ V H W W L Q J R I 0 L O W R Q ¶ V Comus ²since that is the most famous English poem in that style ²is the best-known example; but there is, of course, nothing to compare with the work of Monteverdi in the opera, and it contributed little to the later operatic efforts of English composers. These same composers, The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 97 however, did produce anthems; but while these works are often solid and musicianly efforts, it is evident that they are really a kind of by-product. Henry Lawes published in 1637 A Paraphrase vpon the Psalmes of David . . . Set to new Tunes for private Devotion. He and his brother published another collection of Choice Psalmes put into Musik for Three voices. After the 5 H V W R U D W L R Q + H Q U \ D O V R F R P S R V H G D Q D Q W K H P ³ = D G R N W K H 3 U L H V W ´ I R U W K H F R U R Q D W L R Q R I & K D U O H V , , 0 D W W K H Z / R F N H D O V R D I W H U W K H 5 H V W R U D W L R Q F R P S R V H G W K L U W H H Q D Q W K H P V ³ I R U W K H X V H of some Y H U W X R V R O D G \ H V L Q W K H F L W \ ´ D Q G W K H U H D U H D I H Z R W K H U V D O R Q J Z L W K / D W L Q D Q G ( Q J O L V K K \ P Q V E X W his chief interest was in dramatic music. He was the teacher of Pelham Humphrey. Christopher Gibbons left a few anthems, but his work is apparently of little significance. I need hardly dwell on the looseness characteristic of almost all the literature of the Restoration. And it will be evident that church music in that period can hardly be expected to show the intensity of devotion apparent in the work of contemporary German composers, such as Heinrich Schütz, or the Danish-German master Buxtehude. Yet the work of John Blow (condemned as ³ F U X G H ´ E \ W K H R I W H Q S U H M X G L F H G % X U Q H \ Z D V Y R O X P L Q R X V D Q G S U R E D E O \ L P S R U W D Q W + X V N D V V H U W H G that fourteen services D Q G P R U H W K D Q D K X Q G U H G D Q W K H P V R I % O R Z ¶ V H [ L V W H G E X W O L W W O H R I W K L V Z R U N K D V E H H Q S X E O L V K H G $ U N Z U L J K W D Q G 3 D U U \ K D Y H V X I I L F L H Q W O \ G H I H Q G H G K L P D J D L Q V W % X U Q H \ ¶ V censures. He was the teacher of Henry Purcell and both his predecessor and successor, at West P L Q V W H U $ E E H \ E X W L W L V O L N H O \ W K D W 3 X U F H O O ¶ V J U H D W H U J H Q L X V R E V F X U H G W K H O H V V H U O L J K W Pelham Humphrey is doubtless the great figure of the period. His talent being unmistakable, he Z D V V H Q W E \ & K D U O H V , , W R ) U D Q F H ³ W R O H D U Q I U R P / X O O \ W K H J U H D W P D V W H U of French dramatic F R P S R V L W L R Q K R Z W R F R P S R V H ( Q J O L V K F K X U F K P X V L F ´ + H F D P H E D F N 3 H S \ V U H O D W H V ³ D Q D E V R O X W H Monsieur, as full of form, and confidence, and vanity, and disparages everything and H Y H U \ E R G \ ¶ V V N L O O E X W K L V R Z Q ´ $ O W K R X J K K H G L H G D W W Z H Q W \-seven, he left a large body of composition, of which a considerable part is sacred. As we should expect, his style is harmonic U D W K H U W K D Q F R Q W U D S X Q W D O D Q G S H U K D S V P R U H G U D P D W L F W K D Q U H O L J L R X V ³ : K \ D U W W K R X V R I X O O R I K H D Y L Q H V V 2 P \ V R X O " ´ L V J L Y H Q D Q L Qtensity and directness of emphasis unthinkable in older polyphonic music. There is a similar heightening of natural force in one of the verse anthems. 7 K H E D V V K D V ³ : D V K \ H ´ W K H W H Q R U ³ 0 D N H \ R X F O H D Q ´ W K H D O W R ³ 3 X W D Z D \ W K H H Y L O R I \ R X U G R L Q J V from bef R U H 0 L Q H H \ H V ´ D Q G V R R Q 7 K H 0 R Q R G L F 5 H Y R O X W L R Q K D V D U U L Y H G L Q ( Q J O D Q G Michael Wise, although he began chiefly with theatrical music, was appointed organist at Westminster Abbey in 1669, and thereafter poured out a remarkable quantity of anthems and other religious pieces. They are perhaps less genial, as the Germans say, than those of Humphrey, but more truly earnest. None of these men, however, exhibits that absolute and commanding genius which was possessed by Henry Purcell. He, too, was of course chiefly a dramatist; but his sacred works are as true to the spirit of their texts as are his dramatic pieces ²and that statement is justifiably in the superlative. I will not attempt to summarize his life or work, but rather try to show you, by describing a single work, something of his artistry. This is a Te Deum (but it has no Latin text). The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 98 The distribution of the voices is constantly and skillfully varied, and yet the whole impression is one of unity and force. 7 K H Z K R O H F K R L U E H J L Q V ³ : H S U D L V H 7 K H H 2 / R U G, we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord. All the H D U W K G R W K Z R U V K L S 7 K H H W K H ) D W K H U H Y H U O D V W L Q J ´ 7 K U H H V R O R Y R L F H V D O W R W H Q R U E D V V ³ 7 R 7 K H H D O O D Q J H O V F U \ D O R X G W K H K H D Y ¶ Q V D Q G D O O W K H S R Z ¶ U V W K H U H L Q ´ 7 Z R V R S U D Q R V D Q G D O W R V V R O L ³ 7 R Thee cherubim an G V H U D S K L P F R Q W L Q X D O O \ G R F U \ ´ 7 X W W L ³ + R O \ K R O \ K R O \ / R U G * R G R I 6 D E D R W K ´ 6 H P L F K R U X V , ³ + H D Y H Q D Q G H D U W K D U H I X O O R I W K H P D M H V W \ R I 7 K \ J O R U \ ´ 6 H P L F K R U X V , , ³ 7 K H J O R U L R X V F R P S D Q L H V R I W K H $ S R V W O H V S U D L V H 7 K H H ´ 6 H P L F K R U X V , ³ 7 K H J R R G O \ I H O O R Z V K L S of W K H 3 U R S K H W V S U D L V H 7 K H H ´ 6 H P L F K R U X V , , ³ 7 K H Q R E O H D U P \ R I P D U W \ U V S U D L V H 7 K H H ´ 7 X W W L ³ 7 K H K R O \ & K X U F K W K U R X J K R X W D O O W K H Z R U O G G R W K D F N Q R Z O H G J H 7 K H H ´ 7 K L V Z L O O V X I I L F L H Q W O \ L O O X V W U D W H the method of distributing the text. There presently appears a firmly knit fugue on three subjects, and the device of double canon is also effectively used. The tonality is remarkably stable throughout, the traces of modality being rare. The words are not much repeated, and even where of necessity they overlap, it is H Y L G H Q W W K D W W R P D N H V H Q V H R I W K H W H [ W K D V E H H Q W K H F R P S R V H U ¶ V guiding principle. The same technique is evident in a Magnificat and a Nunc Dimittis. Here, once more, is a musical method representative of its own time, used to express a belief whose earnestness no one will dispute. How it came about that England all but ignored the genius of Purcell is a question to which I think no one has given an adequate answer. French influence, increasingly throughout the seventeenth century, altered the surface and to a lesser extent the body of English literature. Rationalism, also from France, suggesting contradictions between natural law and the laws of faith, brought the hitherto unquestionable within the scope of question. Under the guise of social and intellectual progress, a subtle indifference to the problems of religion was brewing that has posed questions with which ²as my lamentably nontheological mind sees them ²theology has had to deal ever since the Reformation. For while liberty and Protestantism are akin, they are both subject to the subtle degenerative diseases induced by our inveterate mental indolence. Into this condition of uncertainty came the commanding personality of Handel ²a German by birth and training; an Italian (in dramatic technique) by adoption; an eclectic by disposition ²exactly the man, I think, to provide the surface of an apparently sound musical activity. His chief interest was certainly not in music for the service of the Church; but that is not to cast any doubt on the sincerity of his belief. His disdain of mere artistry seems to me well illustrated in his impatient rejoinder to someone who praised him for the pleasure his Messiah had given to the D X G L H Q F H ³ , K R S H G W R P D N H W K H P E H W W H U ´ % X W K L V F K X U F K P X V L F L I Z H P H D Q E \ W K D W P X V L F designed for the service, is slight in volume in comparison with his other works. If, on the other hand, we include the oratorios ²but many of these are only incidentally religious, the dramatic purpose being nearly as dominant as if they were operas ²the volume is much greater. The Chandos Anthems, at any rate, are commanding pieces, sufficient ²if such works had been a rule with Handel rather an exception ²to have established a new tradition of Anglican church music. The oratorios did indeed establish a tradition ²not of service music, adapted to the specific creed of the Anglican Church, but of a kind of extraliturgical religious celebration, Protestant in tone The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 99 and of a more universal appeal than any existent creed could offer. How far the Oratorios may have contributed to religious toleration in England is a question beyond my grasp as a historian; but in appears to me a question of some importance. On English musical activity, at any rate, the influence of the Handelian oratorio was immense. The huge choirs, and the many great choral festivals held every year in England, are in no small measure representative of a tradition founded by Handel; and their very existence shaped the major effort of British composers until the end of the nineteenth century. But from their very nature these institutions could hardly stimulate the more intimate and often more exalted style of composition devoted to the immediate act of divine worship. A vast deal of service music was L Q G H H G F R P S R V H G E X W ³ % H Q Q H W W L Q ) ´ Z R U W K \ D V L W P D \ K D Y H D S S H D U H G W R L W V P L G-nineteenth-century contemporaries, is a sample of service music hardly destined to awaken the religious consciousness as do the Bach cantatas. Handel was an importation into England, and he succeeded because of that fact. He failed when he had been so long a resident of London that his work had lost the glamour of the imported product; and although he rose again to favor with the oratorios, in was not because his style had become more English, but because the English had at last so far absorbed his style as to suppose it their own. And the taste for imported music did not Z D Q H 5 H P H P E H U W K H L P P H Q V H Y R J X H R I + D \ G Q L Q / R Q G R Q L Q W K H ¶ V + L V Creation is a noble musical monument in any language, and his Seasons ²perhaps more English because of its text ²is a comparable artistic achievement; but the purpose of both works is essentially that of + D Q G H O ¶ V R U D W R U L R V % H H W K R Y H Q ¶ V Ninth ²a Protestant declaration of spiritual independence, but only in the broadest sense religious music ²was originally commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and was performed in London in March, 1825, less than a year after its first performance in Vienna. No British composer was expected to compete with that work. 7 K H Q L Q W K H ¶ V F D P H 0 H Q G H O V V R K Q Z K R V H St. Paul and Hymn of Praise, if not precisely intended for English consumption, were executed conformably to English taste. His Elijah was first performed an Birmingham in 1846; and these works ² Z K L F K F R P S D U H Z L W K % D F K ¶ V R U Z L W K 3 X U F H O O ¶ V D V W K H F R Q F H U W H G 0 D V V H V R I W K H V H Y H Q W H H Q W K F H Q W X U \ F R P S D U H Z L W K W K R V H R I 3 D O H V W U L Q D ²represent the taste that ruled until the end of the century. , W D S S H D U H G I R U D W L P H W K D W ( O J D U ¶ V W K U H H G H H Sly religious oratorios, The Dream of Gerontius, The Apostles, and The Kingdom ²even though they were essentially Catholic in tone ²had inaugurated a new style in English composition. How far they actually went in this direction I am unable to say. Modernism was awakening in England as elsewhere; but its progress (or perhaps I should say its speed) was far less rapid than in Germany. And the two World Wars, which bid fair to be as destructive of ideals as they were of life and material substance, have brought no notable regeneration either of religion or of religious music. The problem of the present state of English church music is one about which I find myself too ill informed ²and too lacking in the time required to become informed ²to speak. In would be easy to compile a list of names and a catalog of modern works; but to speak of these in a critical way at all appropriate to the audience I have before me is a greater task than I have been able to accomplish. The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 100 I will therefore summarize briefly some statements ²not altogether fortunate, I think ²which I made on the subject of the modern idiom as suited to devotional music. I am not, I think, a hopeless reactionary in this problem. I have little patience with the smug stories of harmony contained in the nineteenth-century texts. I have no complaint to make of those who break those rules. They ought to be broken ²except in so far as they represent what no theorist has yet been able to formulate, the actual laws of musical thought. Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis, Ovid sang; and those changes have been the despair of the aged, and at the same time the hope of W K H Z R U O G ¶ V U H J H Q H U D W L R Q H Y H U V L Q F H K L V G D \ 7 K H Q L Q H W H H Q W K F H Q W X U \ G H Y L V H G I R U L W V H O I D Q H Z musical idiom ²a fact which nobody now regrets, but to which P D Q \ D 3 K L O L V W L Q H R I W K H ¶ V brought a profound pessimism. The twentieth century has boldly asserted its right to a new musical idiom, and only the most hidebound conservative would deny that right. A valid musical idiom, however, is harder to establish than is the need for it. In those new and often terrible regions of the soul which modern psychology has revealed, there is much human matter which no artist could ever have dealt with until our day. But this matter, once its existence is acknowledged, adds still another to those problems of the soul with which religion has to deal, and still another to those manifestations of religious feeling which it is the proper business of church music to express. Whether or not the idiom which the musicians of the twentieth century have devised is a valid idiom even for the expression of the worldly aspect of the new time is a question to which the majority of music lovers have given a dubious answer. I can find but a handful of musical compositions, written in the last thirty years, that have been accepted by any large portion of the musical public as real contributions to musical literature. Even when they are not found repellent, they seem to lack that which has always been desired ²a kind of nourishment for the spirit. I have examined too few of the extant examples of modern church music to be able to speak with any certainty as to their religious content. I am also one to whom familiarity with the new language comes with some difficulty, and I am aware that my opinions are affected by that fact. But I think that the new psychology is less new than it seems and that its revelations, instead of offering a new understanding of man, offer merely a certain rectification of our hard-won understanding of what turns out to be, after all, the old Adam. With him all religions wrestle. With that wrestling all religious music has been concerned and will be concerned until he is overcome. The sign of overcoming ²which man sometimes achieves ²is a certain exaltation of spirit which even the unregenerate often recognize and sometimes emulate. I find ²whether rightly or wrongly ²little of that exaltation in contemporary music; and it is on that ground alone that I am doubtful of its appropriateness to the expression of religious feeling. The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 101 The Problem of Creating Suitable English Translations for the Great Masterpieces of Lutheran Choral Music Elmer Foelber The problem of creating suitable English translations for the great masterpieces of Lutheran choral music is a knotty one indeed. Its solution requires from him who essays it a deep understanding of the theological content of the masterpieces before him and, coupled with it, a lively faith in that content. Next, there is required a thorough acquaintance with the artistic forms into which the great hymns are cast. The translator must know both their freedoms and their limitations. And to his knowledge he must bring artistic judgment and imagination. In addition, he must appreciate the idioms peculiar to the languages involved and the styles characteristic of each literary period. Finally necessary for a satisfying solution of the problem is a constant regard for the tune to which the words are to be united. In order to see more clearly that the requirements set out above are essential for a truly successful translation of the great hymns, we shall look at a number of the translated hymns in The Lutheran Hymnal and note where the translators succeeded in creating a suitable translation and where they failed. To him who rises to ask, To what purpose? we would say that the urge to revise for the purpose of improving must be kept alive also with respect to the translation of hymns. Before we proceed with our critical examination of a certain number of translated hymns and a discussion of the literary and musical principles and practices involved, let us notice several prolegomena which may be helpful in evaluating the hymn as a literary form. At once this question suggests itself: Exactly what is a hymn? We may begin to answer by quoting Jeremiah % D V F R P 5 H H Y H V ¶ V G H I L Q L W L R Q ³ $ K \ P Q L V D V S R Q W D Q H R X V O \ U L F D O H [ S U H V V L R Q R I U H O L J L R X V I D L W K D Q G D V S L U D W L R Q ´ > @ 7 K L V G H I L Q L W L R Q L P P H G L D W H O \ S U R P S W V X V W R D V N D Q R W K H U T X H V W L R Q : K D W L V P H D Q W E \ the term lyrical? In answer, it may be observed that the lyric has two distinguishing essential T X D O L W L H V V X E M H F W L Y H H [ S U H V V L R Q R I W K H D X W K R U ¶ V P R R G V D Q G I H H O L Q J V U K \ W K P D Q G K D U P R Q \ of sound which suggest music. In contrast, a ballad, epic, or dramatic narrative tells a story objectively, to have what effect it may; the listener or the reader supplies the emotion. The lyric, on the other hand, presents not a situation or a story, but a feeling. Narrative poetry arouses H P R W L R Q Z L W K R X W E H W U D \ L Q J W K H D X W K R U ¶ V D W W L W X G H O \ U L F D O S R H W U \ D U R X V H V H P R W L R Q E H F D X V H L W e [ S U H V V H V W K H D X W K R U ¶ V I H H O L Q J , Q W K H O \ U L F W K H S R H W F R P H V L Q W R W K H O L P H O L J K W E X W L Q Q D U U D W L Y H S R H P V K H K L G H V E H K L Q G W K H V F H Q H V , Q D O \ U L F W K H S R H W ¶ V W K R X J K W V S D V V L R Q V D Q G P R R G V D U H D O O-important elements. Like Whitman, the lyricist celebrates himself; imaginatively he tells of his emotion. And the reader is stirred and delighted because, having known in his own life a similar emotion, he finds an outlet and an uplift in a poem which repeats the essential part of his experience and expresses his actual self as well as if he himself had written it.[2] $ O \ U L F E H L Q J D O O W K L V L W L V R E Y L R X V W K D W 5 H H Y H V ¶ V G H I L Q L W L R Q L V P X F K W R R E U R D G , W Q H H G V D Q X P E H U of additional differentia in order that the hymn may be distinguished from the other members of the class into which Reeves has placed it, such as the song lyric, the simple lyric, the sonnet, the The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 102 R G H W K H H O H J \ 7 K H V H G L I I H U H Q W L D K H O D W H U R Q V X S S O L H V L Q W K H I R O O R Z L Q J U H P D U N V ³ 7 K H K \ P Q L V W K H most social type of poem, requires social thinking and communal feeling. . . . The meaning of a hymn must be instantly evident, not subtle. . . . The hymn is characterized by restraint in imagery and absence of pretty fancy. . . . The style of the hymn must not be too fulsome in imagery and passion. . . . Personal particularization is not suitable for hymns, which must be an expression of D F R P P R Q P L Q G & R O O R T X L D O L V P V D U H X Q V X L W D E O H I R U K \ P Q V ´ > @ 5 H H Y H V S U D L V H V % L V K R S . H Q ¶ V ³ 3 U D L V H * R G ´ I R U L W V V L P S O L F L W \ L P P H G L D F \ D Q G K D U P R Q \ > @ + H T X R W H V D S S U R Y L Q J O \ - R K Q ' R Q Q H ¶ V U H P D U N W K D W W K H U H O L J L R X V V R Q J P X V W Q R W E H E H G L ] H Q H G + H F R P P H Q G V : D W W V ¶ V K \ P Q V I R U W K H L U V L P S O L F L W \ D Q G X Q L Y H U V D O L W \ + H O L N H V ' R G G U L G J H ¶ V ³ + D U N W K H * O D G 6 R X Q G ´ E H F D X V H L W possesses unity, controlled emotion, breadth, and harmony of images. On the other hand, Reeves finds fault with many hymns because they are made up of pious clichés, artificially joined together, and are not warm and breathing. He believes that galloping meters and peculiar fancies are unsuitable. We add, then, to the distinguishing characteristics given by Reeves in his formal definition the following: simplicity, naturalness, artlessness, restraint. Now, these words indicate qualities commonly found in the old English popular ballads, which became the center of literary interest for many Scots and Englishmen in the eighteenth century. These qualities are the distinguishing marks also in the great Romantic poets, led by Coleridge and Wordsworth, who named their famous collection Lyrical Ballads. We find these qualities also in the hymns of the Wesleys, who discovered them in the great German hymns, with which the Moravians in America had made them acquainted. It is interesting to note that the balladic-lyrical characteristic, which the English spiritual songs did not acquire until the eighteenth century, was part and parcel of the German Choral ever since Luther interested himself in providing suitable hymns for congregational use. What the great Reformer thought a hymn should be like is set out E \ + D Q V 3 U H X V V D V I R O O R Z V ³ 6 R Q V W U L F K W H W V Lch seine [Luthers] Kritik vor allem gegen Uebertreibungen, er bekaempft jede Unnatur in der Musik. Als der Komponist Lukas Edemberger Gesaenge plenas fugarum mirgebracht hatte, tadelte das Luther: Weil or zuviel Fugen gesucht hat, darum hat er die suavitas vernachlaessigt. Artis sat habet, sed caret suavitate (TR 4897). Das entspricht gaenzlich der reformatorischen Psyche: Reduktion! Einfachkeit! Natuerlichkeit! Ebenso hat es ja der aeltere Duerer als Ziel seiner Kunst gewuenscht: simplicitas! Man war der verwirrten und veraengstigten Gotik entronnen und hatte seine Fuesse auf einen weiten Raum gestellt. Man wollte nicht wieder in die Verwirrung zurueck. Drang zum Natuerlichen, Wahren war es auch, wenn Luther in der Musik ruecksichtslos verlangte, dasz Wort und Weise zusammenstimmen muessten. Er konnte es nicht verstehen, dasz die Alten die H U Q V W H Q : R U W H G H U 3 D V V L R Q X Q G G D V µ 2 W X 3 D X S H U - X G D V 5 H [ & K U L V W L H ¶ X Q G . \ U L H O H L V R Q L Q G H Q V L H E H Q W H Q . L U F K H Q W R Q G K I U R H K O L F K H : H L V H J H V H W ] W K D W W H Q 7 5 ´ > @ $ Q R Wher pertinent T X R W D W L R Q I U R P / X W K H U D V U H S R U W H G E \ 3 U H X V V L V W K L V ³ ( V P X V ] E H \ G H W H [ W X Q G 1 R W W H Q D F F H Q W weyse und geperde aus rechter murtersprach und stymme komen, sonst ists alles eyn nachamen, Z L H G L H D I I H Q W K X Q ( O ´ > @ , Q W K H T X R W D W L R Qs adduced by Preuss, Luther asks for simplicity especially in music, for there the extravagances were great, indeed. It is clear, K R Z H Y H U W K D W L Q / X W K H U ¶ V R S L Q L R Q W K H U H H [ L V W H G D Q H H G I R U V L P S O L F L W \ D O V R L Q W K H G L F W L R Q R I V D F U H G song. The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 103 We note from the final quotation from Luther that he has in mind not only original German K \ P Q V E X W D O V R W U D Q V O D W H G K \ P Q V + H G H P D Q G V R I W K H W U D Q V O D W R U V ³ U H F K W H P X W W H U V S U D F K X Q G V W L P P H ´ + H D V N V I R U L G L R P D W L F * H U P D Q Q R W R I D Q \ D J H E X W R I K L V R Z Q V X F K D V K H X V H G L Q K L V translation of the Bible. But Luther found that it is much more difficult to translate verse than prose. He, no doubt, was disappointed with what be himself achieved in doing hymns into * H U P D Q 3 U H X V V R E V H U Y H V ³ 6 R K D W / X W K H U D E J H V H K H Q Y R P 3 V D O W H U X Q G D Q G H U Q liturgischen Stuecken, altkirchliche Hymnen in deutsche Reime gebracht und die Kontinuitaet mit der Kirchengeschichte gewahrt. Gerade diese Uebersetzungen sind freilich zum Teil weniger gelungen. Ihr Deutsch ist merkwuerdig ungelenk, auch faellt die Betonung des Metrums und die Q D W X H U O L F K H G H U : R U W H R I W X Q V F K R H Q D X V H L Q D Q G H U ´ > @ 8 Q I R U W X Q D W H O \ 3 U H X V V G R H V Q R W L O O X V W U D W H W K L V S R L Q W Z L W K H [ D P S O H V + H G R H V K R Z H Y H U U H I H U W K H U H D G H U W R K L V H V V D \ ³ ' H U 7 U R P P O H U U K \ U K P X V L Q / X W K H U V ) H V W H % X U J ´ I R U D G H W D L O H G G L V Fussion of it.[8] / X W K H U ¶ V I D L O X U H W R meet with complete success may serve to comfort present-day translators somewhat when they stumble and fall. They will, at the same time and on that account, approach their task with ever deeper earnestness and increased readiness to have their failures pointed out to them. As we herewith close our preliminary discussion of the problem before us, we remind ourselves once more of what the hymn is: a lyrical ballad or a fusion of the subjective element of the lyric and the objective element of the ballad, with sometimes the objective more prominent than the V X E M H F W L Y H D V L Q ³ - H V D L D G H P 3 U R S K H W H Q G D V J H V F K D K ´ 1 R > @ Z L W K V R P H W L P H V W K H V X E M H F W L Y H D Q G W K H R E M H F W L Y H L Q E D O D Q F H D V L Q ³ $ X I D X I P H L Q + H U ] P L W ) U H X G H Q ´ (No. 192); with V R P H W L P H V W K H V X E M H F W L Y H S U H G R P L Q D W L Q J D V L Q ³ $ X V W L H I H U 1 R W V F K U H L ¶ L F K ] X G L U ´ 1 R Turning now to the current problem of creating suitable English translations for the great masterpieces of Lutheran choral music, we may say that its solution makes three specific demands: (1) The thought content of the original must be preserved; (2) The emotional content of the original must be retained; (3) Unity between the music of the words and the music of the tune must be achieved. The masterpieces of Lutheran choral music are great, first of all, because they are rich in thought content, as every really great poem is great because of the excellency of its thought. To be sure, we have many fine poems having hardly any thought content, such as & R O H U L G J H ¶ V ³ . X E O D . K D Q ´ but they do not belong to the highest class. The translator of the Lutheran masterpieces is, then, confronted with the formidable task of reproducing in another language, if he possibly can, all of the thought content of the original. He must not water it down or level it out or confuse it. He must strive to reproduce every detail, in order that it stand out in its full strength and clarity. The demand fairly thrusts itself upon the translator of the Lutheran choral, since the choral especially is rich in theological thought and doctrine. Failure to fulfill this requirement results in weakening the effect which the Lutheran choral is intended to produce. Luther D. Reed, in his The Lutheran Liturgy, makes this point very clear from his delineation of the history of the hymns used by the synods which now are united in the United Lutheran Church.[10] The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 104 Faithful reproduction of the thought content is not, of course, identical with literal translation, though it should be approximated as far as aesthetic considerations will permit. Hymn No. 1,[11] translated by Catherine Winkworth, illustrates the point. It should be noted, however, that she could have remained even closer to the original if she had not submitted to a certain tyranny of rhyme, from which poets are breaking away more and more. In hymn No. 3 Miss Winkworth is even more successful. Tersteegen, in No. 4, is less so. Loy, in No. 5, does the unusual, giving an almost faithful reproduction of the thought content. W. G. Polack likewise in Nos. 6 and 7. In No. 16 Miss Winkworth, forced by the rules of rhyme, confuses the thought content of stanza 1. In No. 19 we meet for the first time a composite translation. It, too, is a faithful rendering of the German original. So is Miss Winkwor W K ¶ V L Q 1 R , Q 1 R Z H K D Y H D Q R W K H U F R P S R V L W H translation, not so successful in stanzas 1 and 4 as in stanzas 2 and 3. No. 25, also composite, loses something in clarity, evidently because of restrictions of rhyme. Alfred Brauer, in No. 26, achieves his end except in stanza 5, where he introduces an extraneous thought, thereby destroying the unity of the thought pattern. Likewise, in stanza 6 the unwarranted allusion to angels mars the unity. In No. 28 Miss Winkworth again succeeds; also the composite translation of No. 30. So also Crull in No. 33 and Miss Winkworth in Nos. 34 and 36. Crull is again successful in No. 38, Miss Winkworth in No. 39; also Schaefer in No. 41, and Polack in No. 42. In No. 45, stanza 1, which is a composite translation, the thought is blurred. In No. 53 Crull departs from the thought of the original in stanzas 1, 4, 5, 6, but in No. 55 he reproduces the original faithfully. So does the composite in No. 58; also Miss Winkworth in No. 61, In No. 251, which is a composite, we meet with the widest departure from the original, dictated, no doubt, by the rhyme scheme. Time does not permit cataloguing here all the translations, 347 in number, of which 248 are from the German. On the basis of the examples listed, we can, however, venture the assertion that as to thought content the translations are rather faithful to the original. We shall now proceed to a consideration of the second requisite for a satisfying translation of the great masterpieces of Lutheran choral music. This is that the emotional content of the original must be retained. The emotional element in a hymn is provided by the images, the rhythms, and the tone colors. In his famous preface to the second edition of The Indian Emperor, written in - R K Q ' U \ G H Q G H F O D U H G ³ 3 R H V \ R Q O \ L Q V W U X F W V D V L W G H O L J K W V ´ 1 R Z D S R H P F D Q U H D O O \ delight only if its emotional appeals are of a high order; that is to say, if the images are appropriate to the thought content, if the rhythms are adjusted to both the thought and the images, and if the tone colors or sounds of the words serve to intensify the effect produced by the thought, images, and rhythms. Obviously, a masterpiece possesses this grand harmony. It would V H H P W K H Q W K D W L Q Y L H Z R I W K H H [ F H O O H Q F \ E H I R U H K L P W K H W U D Q V O D W R U ¶ V Wask is not too difficult, especially if he is dealing with sister languages. But this is not the case. Though the German and the English languages occupied the same cradle and lived in close companionship up to the so-called homecoming of William the Conqueror, they went their separate ways after that, the English language being materially modified by the Norman French, and with the advent of the Renaissance by the Latin and Greek. As a result, it is much more difficult to translate the emotional than the thought content. Not infrequently the translator is forced to substitute different images, to modify the rhythms, and to give up the tone colors. In many instances, however, the rhythmic beauty of the original can be preserved, perhaps even enhanced, if the The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 105 translator frees himself from the kind of tone coloring called end rhyming. In that case he should not hesitate to liberate himself, especially in view of the fact that the hymn is intended to be sung rather than spoken. The melody more than compensates for any loss that may have been sustained from dropping certain rhymes. We emphasize this point because our examination of the translations in The Lutheran Hymnal revealed the fact that the rhyme scheme of the original was consistently and meticulously imitated no matter what the cost in terms of images and rhythms. An instance of severe loss in image content is stanza 2 of Hymn 21. Other examples, immediately apparent, are found in Nos. 6; 28, stanza 3; 34, stanza 2; 42, stanza 1; 45, stanza 3; 55, stanza 1; 58, stanza 2; 69, stanzas 2 and 3; 72, stanza 4; 90, stanza 2; 95, stanza 2; 251, stanzas 1 and 2; 329, stanza 1; 288, stanza 2; 231, stanza 2; 247 and 470, stanza 4. The third objective to be reached by the translator is to achieve unity between the music of the words and the music of the tune. This unity involves a complete parallelism as to the rhythm of the words and the rhythm of the tune. If, for example, the tune is set in a trochaic pattern, the Z R U G V P X V W O L N H Z L V H E H W K X V D U U D Q J H G ³ 2 S H Q 1 R Z 7 K \ * D W H V R I % H D X W \ ´ 1 R H [ H P S O L I L H V D violent clash of rhythms, the melody beginning with a strong accent and the metrical line of the Z R U G V Z L W K D Q L D P E X V 6 L P L O D U O \ L Q ³ $ O O 3 U D L V H W R * R G : K R 5 H L J Q V $ E R Y H ´ 1 R W K H L Q L W L D O unstressed syllable is we G G H G W R D V W U R Q J P X V L F D O D F F H Q W % X W L Q ³ 7 K H / R U G + D W K + H O S H G 0 H + L W K H U W R ´ 1 R Z H U H F R J Q L ] H D V W U L N L Q J X Q L W \ D F K L H Y H G K R Z H Y H U D W F R Q V L G H U D E O H F R V W L Q G L F W L R Q L Q V W D Q ] D O L Q H - X V W D V V W U L N L Q J R Q W K H R W K H U K D Q G L V W K H O D F N R I X Q L W \ L Q ³ 2 - H Vus & K U L V W 7 K \ 0 D Q J H U , V ´ 1 R % R W K I D L O X U H D Q G V X F F H V V L Q R Q H D Q G W K H V D P H K \ P Q D U H V H H Q L Q ³ $ Z D N H 0 \ + H D U W Z L W K * O D G Q H V V ´ 1 R O L Q H V D Q G F O D V K L Q J D Q G W K H U H P D L Q L Q J R Q H V Q L F H O \ D G M X V W H G W R W K H W X Q H L Q D O O V W D Q ] D V , Q ³ / R U G + H O S 8 V ( Y H U W R 5 H W D L Q ´ 1 R Z H P H H W D similar situation, the unstressed initial syllable of the metrical line matched with the strongest P X V L F D O D F F H Q W $ U H S H W L W L R Q R I W K H V D P H L Q F R Q J U X L W \ R F F X U V L Q ³ % D S W L ] H G L Q W R 7 K \ 1 D P H 0 R V W + R O \ ´ 1 R , Q P D U N H G F R Q W U D V W V W D Q G V W K H H [ F H O O H Q W S D U D O O H O L V P R I U K \ W K P V L Q ³ - H V X V 3 U L F H O H V V 7 U H D V X U H ´ 1 R $ P L [ W X U H R I D J U H H P H Q W D Q G G L V D J U H H P H Q W L V Q R W H G L Q ³ - H V X V 7 K \ % O R R G D Q G 5 L J K W H R X V Q H V V ´ 1 R / L N H Z L V H L Q ³ % \ * U D F H , ¶ P 6 D Y H G * U D F H ) U H H D Q G % R X Q G O H V V ´ 1 R D Q G ³ 5 H Q H Z 0 H 2 ( W H U Q D O / L J K W ´ 1 R In English prosody not only the order of the stressed and unstressed syllables, but also the length plays a part. It is highly desirable that long syllables be matched with comparatively long notes. To illustr D W H , Q ³ * R G + L P V H O I , V 3 U H V H Q W ´ 1 R W K H V H F R Q G K D O I Q R W H K D V D V L W V F R P S D Q L R Q W K H short syllable ent; the fourth half note, the long Him. Farther down the hardly audible ple is joined to a half note. Love and own, both long, enjoy a whole note, and r L J K W O \ V R , Q ³ . \ U L H * R G ) D W K H U L Q + H D Y H Q $ E R Y H ´ 1 R Z H D J D L Q G H U L Y H D H V W K H W L F S O H D V X U H I U R P W K H P D W F K L Q J R I O R Q J notes with such words as love, King, bring, Son, throne, and, in contrast, feel disappointed in singing a half note to an er. It may be remarked that the weaknesses pointed out here are found also in the original German. This is, no doubt, true, since to many of the chorales there came to be attached at various times The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 106 tunes with different rhythmic patterns. Such is the case also with respect to many English hymns. In addition, there has prevailed the practice of using one tune for a number of hymns of varying rhythms. A pertinent example is melody No. 50, which has been doing duty for seven hymns, D P R Q J W K H P ³ 9 D O H W Z L O O L F K G L U J H E H Q ´ D Q G ³ + H U ] O L F K W X W P L F K Y H U O D Q J H Q ´ W K H I L U V W K D Y L Q J D Q initial iambus, the second, a trochee.[12] This being the case, one may be inclined to take the view that whether there be unity between the music of the words and the music of the tune is of no importance. But such a view is untenable, for it assumes that the tune is the main thing, as it is in opera or the popular song hit. In a Lutheran hymn, as well as in other serious compositions in which tunes and words are joined, the words are the U D L V R Q G ¶etre. The music of the tune is to intensify the music of the words.[13] It G R H V Q ¶ W V H H P U L J K W W R G L V W R U W W K H Q D W X U D O U K \ W K P R I W K H Z R U G V D Q G W H D U W K H S D W W H U Q R I W K H S R H P L Q W R shreds. Small wonder that whenever this is done the singing of the worshipers is sluggish and lifeless, for they sense the incongruity. The problem of creating suitable English translations of the great Lutheran choral masterpieces is formidable, but not unsolvable. Within the last fifty years much has been done to work it out, and many successes have been achieved. A good beginning has been made. It is our hope that an increasing number of poetically and musically gifted men and women will address themselves to the task before us; that the poets and musicians collaborate as a team to draw our hymnody up to new heights of beauty. The hymn is too important a factor in our worship to be made only the part-time concern of a committee or two for a limited number of years. It deserves our constant and best attention. Notes 1. J. B. Reeves, The Hymn as Literature, p.204. 2. Blair and Chandler, Approaches to Poetry, p. 250. 3. Reeves, op. cit., p. 97. 4. Ibid.,p. 112. 5. Hans Preuss, Martin Luther der Künstler, pp. 96 and 97. 6. Preuss, op. cit., p. 97. 7. Preuss, op. cit., p. 151. 8. Loc. cit. 9. The numbers in these parentheses and all the following indicate hymns in The Lutheran Hymnal. 10. Luther D. Reed, The Lutheran Liturgy, p. 170. 11. This number and all the following numbers indicate hymns as they are numbered in The Lutheran Hymnal. 12. Kirchengesangbuch für Evangelisch-Lutherische Gemeinden, pp. 297 and 298. 13. A striking example of unfailing congruity between the verbal and the musical accents is * X V W D Y 0 D K O H U ¶ V 6 \ P S K R Q \ 1 R L Q ( 0 D M R U ³ 7 K H 6 \ P S K R Q \ R I D 7 K R X V D Q G ´ The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 107 Bibliography Blair, Walter, and Chandler, W. K. Approaches to Poetry (New York, 1935). Kirchengesangbuch für Evangelisch-Lutherische Gemeinden (St. Louis, 1892). The Lutheran Hymnal (St. Louis, 1941). Preuss, Hans. Martin Luther der Künstler (Gütersloh, Germany, 1931). Reed, Luther D. The Lutheran Liturgy (Philadelphia, 1947). Reeves, Jeremiah Bascom. The Hymn as Literature (New York, 1924). Mahler, Gustav. 6 \ P S K R Q \ 1 R L Q ( 0 D M R U ³ 7 K H 6 \ P S K R Q \ R I D 7 K R X V D Q G ´ The Musical Heritage in the Life of the Congregation Martin J. Bangert The purpose of this essay is to assist in preserving and fostering for the Christian congregation the music most serviceable for its spiritual and aesthetic needs. There is no intention of placing into an historical strait jacket the music employed in the divine service. During the time when the Israelites sojourned in the wilderness, their house of worship was a collapsible tabernacle. This was the best they could provide for this purpose, and the Lord was pleased to accept it. When the Israelites had permanently established themselves, however, King ' D Y L G F R Q F H L Y H G W K H W K R X J K W W K D W * R G ¶ V K R Q R U G H V H U Y H G V R P H W K L Q J E H W W H U W K D Q W K H R O G 7 D E H U Q D F O H ' D Y L G V D L G ³ 6 H H Q R Z , G Z H O O L Q D Q K R X V H R I F H G D U E X W W K H $ U N R I * R G G Z H O O H W K Z L W K L Q F X U W D L Q V ´ 6 D P ' D Y L G U H V R O Y H G W K D W W K H K R X V H K H Z R X O G E X L O G I R U W K H / R U G ³ P X V W E H H [ F H H G L Q J P D J Q L I L F D O R I I D P H D Q G R I J O R U \ W K U R X J K R X W D O O F R X Q W U L H V ´ & K U R Q Although David was not permitted to build this house, God was pleased with the elaborate and artistic concept R I W K H S U R S R V H G 7 H P S O H I R U + H V D L G W R ' D Y L G ³ , W Z D V Z H O O W K D W L W Z D V L Q W K L Q H K H D U W ´ O . L Q J V The artistic construction of the Temple, the materials used in the building of the Tabernacle, and the music in the time of David are more than suggestive of the fact that we should honor the Lord with our substance (cf. Prov. 3:9). The Hymn in the Divine Service Of all the music performed in the church service the hymn for the congregation is the most important. The church can exist and prosper without organ and choir music. (It can exist and prosper also without Bach!) History shows that the Lutheran Church grew strong when there were few large organs and relatively few choirs. It was during this era, before the advent of the first English hymnal, when the musical equipment of the Church consisted of the German Gesangbuch Z L W K R X W Q R W H V W K D W W K H / X W K H U D Q & K X U F K J D L Q H G I R U L W V H O I W K H Q D P H ³ W K H Singing & K X U F K ´ The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 108 If a recent poll on favorite hymns has any meaning, it indicates that the Missouri Synod has disowned and repudiated the chorale. Officially, at least in print, we have acknowledged the chorale to be the highest type of hymn, combining excellence of music with genuine orthodoxy of text. Our practice has frequently not been consistent with our vaunted claims in this respect. We wonder whether there is a similar parting of ways between our Lutheran Confessions and church practice! Some say that people like the lighter Gospel hymns. Do we function according to the principle of giving people what they want? Jeremiah evidently did not give the people what they most desired, or he would not have found himself standing in the mire of a dungeon as a reward for his preaching. If the music frequently requested at weddings is a criterion, then we must conclude that popular taste for church music at the present time is a very poor guide for the Church to follow. Others say that the chorale is too difficult for the present-day congregations to sing. A glimpse into the history of the Lutheran Church in America will challenge this objection. The writer of this essay spent his boyhood in a small country parish of the Western plains where buffaloes roamed and coyotes howled. Not much opportunity for a musical education there! The pastor of the congregation also taught the parish school four days a week. He played the tunes of the German Gesangbuch with one finger on the reed organ. The organist for the Sunday services was a farmer who also served the community as blacksmith. On Sunday morning, after milking a dozen cows, he would dash off to church and with gnarled fingers lustily intone the melodies of the Gesangbuch on an asthmatic reed organ. Young and old in the congregation, without notes D Q G Z L W K R X W N Q R Z O H G J H R I Q R W H V V D Q J / X W K H U ¶ V ³ * U R V V H U * O D X E H ´ ³ $ X V W L H I H U 1 R W ´ and many R W K H U J U H D W F K R U D O H V Z K L F K K D Y H E H F R P H ³ W R R G L I I L F X O W ´ I R U R X U F X V K L R Q H G D J H , I F R Q J U H J D W L R Q V today utilized some of the energies often expended on social functions of doubtful value, for learning to sing more of the great hymns of the Church, they would regain much of the spiritual strength common to the pioneers. Still others say that if a hymn or composition contains the Word of God, we should be satisfied regardless of the accompanying music. No pastor would deliver his sermon in kindergarten jingle and defend his action on the premise that the sermon contained the Word of God. We do not rightly honor the Lord with a tabernacle of curtains when we should build Him a temple of cedar! Surely a pastor will endeavor to deliver his sermon in language which is at least on a high school level. Have we perhaps failed to realize that there also exists today a musical standard of high school level? It is very probable that there are today many high school and college students who have a finer musical training than have many pastors and some organists. A growing number of worshipers today are able to distinguish between the good and the inferior in church music. If a pastor or an organist cannot distinguish between the good and the inferior, he might in all humility be guided by those who have a knowledge of the matter and by the testimony of the The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 109 F H Q W X U L H V , Q I H U L R U F K X U F K P X V L F R I I H Q G V V R P H J R R G F K X U F K P X V L F R I I H Q G V Q R R Q H * R G ¶ V K R Q R U deserves the finest and noblest in music. It may well seem strange to us that although the use of great art in our church architecture and in the various appointments in our houses of worship is usually met with general approval, the use of great art in our church music is often met with gross lethargy, even sanctimonious opposition. Luther probably has the answer to this situation when he says that the devil does not at all object to our building large and beautiful churches as long as the Word of God is not proclaimed there. Similarly it seems that the devil and the world do not object to great art in the church except when it concerns church music, which is a conveyor of the eternal Word. Good church music, like the Gospel, is apt to meet with opposition. Doctrinally also the chorale seemed to be quite adequate for the needs of the fathers during the I L U V W V H Y H Q R U H L J K W G H F D G H V R I R X U 6 \ Q R G ¶ V H [ L V W H Q F H , W L V V R P H W K L Q J R I D P \ V W H U \ Z K H Q W R G D \ we hear the same sermon in consecutive German and English services only to discover that a totally different set of hymns is used for the English service. Certainly we have the freedom to use a different set. We wonder, however, how the fathers were able to build so strong a church with the chorale as their only musical equipment! A strong and virile Christianity expresses itself in strong and rugged hymns. There can be no strong musical expression with weak materials. ³ 5 H P R Y H Q R W W K H D Q F L H Q W O D Q G P D U N Z K L F K W K \ I D W K H U V K D Y H V H W ´ 3 U R Y The Chorale and the Organ The best efforts of a well-trained and conscientious organist can be frustrated by the choice of inferior or inappropriate hymns, particularly by an ill-chosen opening hymn for the service. Good organ music and hearty congregational singing is something everyone desires and accepts willingly. Fortunately or unfortunately, the average worshiper cannot analyze the factors that contribute to an inspiring service. A craftsman, in order to build a good product, must have certain materials. The church musician, in order to build an inspiring service, must also have the proper materials. Foremost among these materials are the hymns chosen for the service. These may be either good or inferior. It is the task of the organist to lead into the first hymn by playing D Q H I I H F W L Y H S U H O X G H 7 K L V S U H O X G H V K R X O G E H P R U H W K D Q ³ D S U H W W \ S L H F H ´ Zhich is in the same key and perhaps in the same meter as the hymn which follows. If a standard chorale has been chosen, the task is usually quite simple. The organist has merely to turn to the vast treasury of chorale preludes now available. If the opening hymn is ill chosen, the organist is frequently at a loss to find suitable material with which to prelude the hymn and thus to key up the congregation for the service. This situation accounts for much of the insipid organ music frequently inflicted upon the innocent worshiper. Happy and fortunate the congregation and organist with a pastor who chooses strong hymns in text and music; who will, especially on festival days, be so considerate as to give the organist a choice of several opening hymns so that he may build up the service in the best possible musical The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 110 way. It may be truly said that, to a great extent, it is the pastor who determines the organ music by his choice of hymns. In those congregations where the chorale is sung only infrequently, the organ literature based on the chorale has lost much of its value and significance. No doubt there are congregations where W K H R U J D Q L V W F R X O G Z L W K V R E H U P L H Q S O D \ D S U H O X G H R Q ³ ) U R P + H D Y ¶ Q $ E R Y H ´ R Q ( D V W H U 6 X Q G D \ R U L Q W U R G X F H ³ - R \ W R W K H : R U O G ´ Z L W K ³ & K U L V W O D J L Q 7 R G H V E D Q G H Q ´ D Q G Q R R Q H Z R X O G N Q R Z W K H difference. Such a situation could well exist where the best in hymnody has been withheld from the congregation. We do not eliminate great paintings from our houses of worship because some people are colorblind. Let us not eliminate great hymns because some people lack musical sense and appreciation. There was a time in Lutheran history when theologians were musicians and musicians were theologians. Today this combination is much too rare. Some theological circles apparently admit any song so long as at least one line of the poetry contains a reference to God, even though it be in the third person. It would be well if organists, in private study and in conferences, gave more attention to theology and if pastors widened their musical horizon by a more extensive survey of the fundamentals of church music. The Chorale and the Church Choir The foremost function of a choir is to assist and lead the congregation in singing the hymns of the divine service. This duty of the choir is especially important when unfamiliar melodies are used during the service. It is ill-advised to fling unfamiliar melodies at a congregation unless some group has previously studied them and can assume leadership. The choir (or any other group) can, in this capacity, become the medium for introducing the best in hymnody to any congregation. The material for the regular choir selections might be drawn heavily from chorale literature (1) because this material contains the finest in text and music, and (2) because worshipers love to hear familiar music. As we are happy to meet an acquaintance, so an audience is delighted to hear music with which it is familiar. Bach and his companions well knew this bit of psychology and applied it in their music. In the great cantatas, after the elaborate choruses, arias, and recitatives have been heard, it is the concluding chorale which grips performers and audience alike, because of its simplicity, familiarity, and power. Opportunities for the Lutheran Instrumentalist The present system of teaching music in our high schools has produced thousands of well-trained Lutheran instrumentalists. The Church can certainly make use of these musicians. We are not thinking of Lutheran symphony orchestras. It makes little difference to the Church whether a Beethoven symphony is performed by a group of Lutherans or by a group of Mormons. The P D U Y H O R I * R G ¶ V J U D F H L V W K D W W Z R K X Q G U H G \ H D U V D J R W K H / R U G J D Y H W R W K H / X W K H U D Q & K X U F K D The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 111 literature which our musically trained youth might well employ in worshiping the Savior. The chorale literature contains much of great value to the instrumentalist as well as to the organist, the vocalist, and the choir. Let us not, however, have instrumentalists play in the service for the mere sake of giving them something to do. This practice might result in an abomination. The purpose must be to proclaim the Word. Nor should we overlook the cultural value of having our youth come into contact with art expressions of the 16th and 17th centuries. There is indeed a pathetic contrast between the contribution made to the Church by the instrumentalists of the early Lutheran Church and the F R Q W U L E X W L R Q P D G H E \ R X U L Q V W U X P H Q W D O L V W V W R G D \ P D Q \ R I Z K R P K D Y H J D L Q H G ³ G L V W L Q F W L R Q ´ Ey organizing dance bands. Since there is little said or written about this situation, we must assume that the condition is quite acceptable to the Church. Let us not, however, place too much blame on our young people if some of them stray into musical bypaths if we, as custodians, withhold from them their musical birthright. Experience has shown that many of our accomplished musicians respect Lutheran church music. What is more, they love it. The Chorale and the Children of the Parish No church denomination has greater musical possibilities than the Lutheran Church with its system of parochial schools. Our Church trains most of its organists at its own synodical institutions. These men, in turn, train the children in the parishes where they serve as teachers, organists, and choirmasters. In addition, we have the noblest musical literature. Good organization within the church, however, means nothing unless the results of this organization are employed for the highest purpose. In recent years we have heard much D E R X W F K L O G U H Q ¶ V F K R L U V 7 K H V H R U J D Q L ] D W L R Q V D U H I L Q H E X W O H W us keep them secondary to a higher objective. This higher objective finds its fulfillment in teaching the children of the parish, all of them, the great confessional music of our Church, which finds its expression in the chorale and related literature. It does indeed mean something to D Q L Q G L Y L G X D O W R K D Y H V X Q J L Q D I L Q H F K L O G U H Q ¶ V F K R L U E X W L W P H D Q V D J U H D W G H D O P R U H W R D congregation if old and young have in heart and mind the faith and doctrine expressed in the chorale. The universal priesthood here, too, must find expression in training all the youth to participate in the singing of great hymnody. The motivation for all our work must be the love for Christ. There will be thousands in heaven Z K R K D Y H Q H Y H U V X Q J D F K R U D O H R U F R Q I H V V H G W K H L U I D L W K L Q W K H $ S R V W O H V ¶ & U H H G 7 R W K H J O R U \ R I God, let us employ the finest and noblest in church art and church music as it has been and will be created with the passing of time. The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 112 Toward the Future Carl Halter When Dr. Hoelty-Nickel asked me to present this paper to the Valparaiso Music Conference of 1947, he did it not with any expectation that I would add to the sum total of human knowledge on the subject of music. In that he certainly will not be disappointed. He asked me rather to speak as one of the practicing musicians of the Church to give my views, based upon the day-to-day work of music in one of our Lutheran parishes, on the status of music in the Church and the direction in which we are going. I make no apologies for speaking, not as an historian of music, but as a practical church musician, because the business of the practical church musician is the thing for which such history exists. It is the duty and privilege of the church musician to provide a setting for the * R V S H O D Q G W R O H D G * R G ¶ V S H R S O H L Q V R Q J , W L Q Y R O Y H V D W U H P H Q G R X V U H V S R Q V L E L O L W \ Z K L F K therefore must not be taken lightly and requires the utmost of anyone in preparation and consecration. I am sure that I am speaking the mind of all the practicing musicians who are here today when I say that we are very grateful to Valparaiso University for having instituted this series of conferences. They have been of great benefit to us. The Valparaiso conferences on Church Music have rendered many valuable services. They have furnished us with some historical facts, well integrated, well related to one another, so that we have gained a better understanding of the past, the root ideas and ideals which underlie the music which we use. They have also helped to acquaint us with a great deal of music of which we previously were unaware or which we had not considered carefully enough. Our musical services have grown richer, I am sure, for having attended these meetings at Valparaiso University. These conferences have furthermore given us some sound bases for our judgment of the music which we use. They have sharpened the realization that there are degrees of fitness among the various styles of composition which engage us, and they have helped us to sift the worthy from the unworthy. But by far the most important thing which these Valparaiso conferences have done for us these past years has been to make us think for ourselves about the questions which daily come before us as musicians in the church. No longer, I believe, are we likely to do our work day after day, Sunday after Sunday, without examining our position, without asking ourselves whether we are really doing the right thing for the people in the pew who must listen to us and our choirs every Sunday. These benefits have come to us through the Valparaiso conferences because these conferences have directed our eyes backward in the history of the Church and in the history of church music. The Church has always looked backward. It has proceeded into the future conservatively on the E D V L V R I W K H S D V W : K H Q H Y H U D Q H Z S R O L W L F D O ³ L V P ´ U D L V H V L W V K H D G L Q W K H Z R U O G L W L V Y H U \ O L N H O \ W R go gunning for the Church first, because the Church, rooted as it is in the eternal verities, will always be a stumbling block to any ephemeral doctrine or practice which may develop. The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 113 Our own Church has lately been re-examining its roots. Perhaps that examination has been intensified by the fact that we celebrated the centennial of the Saxon Immigration and more recently the centennial of the founding of the Missouri Synod. But I believe that this backward look has antedated even these two occasions. We have searched our own hearts and the acts of our forefathers in order to find out just what constitutes Lutheranism, just what makes us distinctive, just what can be correctly characterized as Lutheran doctrine and practice. It is not strange, therefore, that the music of our Church should have undergone, and should now be undergoing, such a searching examination also. We want to know just what is good Christian music; more particularly, just what is good Lutheran music. What makes the music of our Church distinctive among the churches of the world? What makes the music of Lutheranism different from the music of Catholicism and the music of the sectarian churches? This search has led us to some very important results. First of all we have realized that there is a very definite and apparent connection between the doctrine which any church teaches and the music which it sings. One cannot listen long to the music of Palestrina without realizing that here speaks the mysticism, the withdrawal from earth, of the Catholic Church. It is the perfect music for a religion which hides some of the majesty and some of the glory and some of the mystery of God behind a mediating priesthood. Similarly, one cannot listen long to the music of Bach without realizing that here speaks a voice that is absolutely sure, the voice of a vigorous Christianity, which stands boldly before God and calls + L P ³ ) U L H Q G ´ ,t is as if all the people in a great fugue were speaking unanimously of the great facts of God, of faith, of life, and of eternity. We have learned, in the second place, something about the basic nature of Lutheran doctrine and music. We have learned that Lutheran doctrine and the music which gives it expression are I R X Q G H G V T X D U H O \ R Q 6 D F U H G 6 F U L S W X U H 7 K H \ D U H F H Q W H U H G L Q W K H * R V S H O D Q G \ R X F D Q ¶ W X Q G H U V W D Q G the music unless you understand the Gospel. We have learned also that the music of Lutheranism is in the language of its people. When Luther, attempting to give his people a voice in song, began to look about for sources of material, he looked to the people. He drew on the folk song, religious and secular, of the German people. He drew also upon the heritage which he and the people knew from their association with the Catholic Church. Gregorian elements are very noticeable in the music of the Reformation era. We have also recognized that Lutheran music is very straightforward. There is a sure-footedness and bluntness about it which sometimes offends people who would rather be a little less definite about their faith. We have discovered also in looking backward upon the early beginnings of our Church that the genius of Lutheran music is creativeness. Luther, the founder of the Lutheran Church, was a creative genius in many fields, not the least of which was music. Luther saw that if his people were to have the kind of faith which he was trying to awaken in them, they would require means for expressing that faith, and so, as before stated, he insisted that they have hymns. He created those hymns for them out of their own language, musical and literary, and out of their own spiritual experiences. The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 114 Finally, since we have taken time to re-examine the roots of our Lutheran faith and of our Lutheran musical practice, we have been able to achieve unity of purpose and practice and a new focus for our musical efforts ²not that we have already attained a unity which is absolute (which would not even be desirable), but certainly we understand a good deal more about music in the Lutheran Church and about the bases of such music. Moreover, I am certain that our practice in the congregations from one end of the country to another has been benefited by the fact that we have been looking backward. Obviously, however, a mere backward look carries with it some dangers. In our reinteresting ourselves in the music of the Reformation, we may easily forget or may even have already forgotten some things that are very important for our own time and for the people whom we serve. I think that it is very important, for one thing, to remember that the music of a past era is an expression of the ideals of that era and not the ideals themselves. We may become blinded to the fact that music, even when it serves the Gospel, does not have the timelessness of the Gospel. We certainly do not assert that the works of Luther or Walther are inerrant like the Gospel. Nor can we insist that our people must accept the music of the Reformation era as they accept the Gospel. : H P X V W D O V R J X D U G D J D L Q V W W K H G D Q J H U R I X V L Q J W K H S D V W P H U H O \ I R U W K H S D V W ¶ V V D N H , W L V S R V V L E O H to resurrect some things better left buried. When scientists exhume an ancient civilization, they have to dig through tons and tons of dirt before they find the things which they wish to put into W K H L U P X V H X P V : H P X V W E H F D U H I X O W K D W Z H G R Q ¶ W X V H W K L Q J V V L P S O \ E H F D X V H W K H \ D U H R O G Furthermore, we must be careful that when we present even the best music of our heritage, we present it not from the standpoint that it is good because it is traditional. We must present it for only one reason: This music has meaning for the souls whom God has entrusted to us. If the P X V L F P H D Q V Q R W K L Q J I R U W K H P W R G D \ W K H Q L W V K R X O G Q ¶ W E H S U H V H Q W H G , W V K R X O G E H put into a museum. If mere antiquarianism moves us to resurrect the music of the Reformation, it is certainly a false motive. We must further guard against the danger of becoming so interested in one era of the history of music that we are unable and unwilling to see anything in any other music. We should then be in the position of a man who has built himself a house so strong that no one can get into it and he K L P V H O I F D Q ¶ W J H W R X W 7 K H Y H U \ W K L Q J Z K L F K Z H O R Y H F D Q E H F R P H R X U S U L V R Q / H W X V U D W K H U I R O O R Z the example of Luther and Bach. When he was casting about for music for his church, Luther drew on the music of the Catholic Church and on the popular music of his day, the folk songs. Bach incorporated into his style all that he had learned from all the musicians of the world in the many days and nights in which he had copied their works. He was strongly influenced, as we know, by the Italian Catholic organists and composers. We on our part must not become so parochial and limited that we are unable any longer to use or even to listen to music other than that of our heritage. Furthermore, let us not deceive ourselves at this point. We are in danger of presenting too difficult selections from the heritage or of presenting even the best of the heritage in such a The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 115 manner that the presentation or the composition is completely beyond the grasp of the people for whom it is intended. As well might our pastors learnedly discourse to their people in Latin. If we wish to impress our people with our erudition or with our ability as players and singers, then, of course, the sky is the limit as far as the difficulty of the music is concerned. But if, on the other hand, we are interested in getting across to the people a message which they may understand, which may awaken an echo in their hearts, we must be careful in the use of the heritage, no matter how beautiful it is, no matter how wonderful we may think it to be. I am not advocating that we discard the use of the heritage because people may sometimes not understand. I am advocating that we carefully prepare our people by using a spiritual approach to this spiritual music so that they may understand it when it is used. But until they have reached a point where they can understand it, let us be very circumspect in its use. Finally, I should like to mention another thing. Interest in the past may very easily become veneration of the past, the sort of blind, unreasoning veneration which some people who become immersed in a certain era of history reserve for their specialty. Veneration of the past may, in turn, lead to stultifying oneself by condemning any new expression which may arise. It is a very simple thing to do. You are interested in a certain type of music, and you say that this music has such and such characteristics. Someone comes forward with another kind of music, whether new R U R O G D Q G \ R X V D \ ³ 1 R W K D W P X V L F L V Q R J R R G 7 K D W P X V L F F D Q Q R W E H X V H G , W G R H V Q R W K D Y H W K H characteristics of the music which I like and which I have proved by long and weighty arguments W R E H W K H R Q O \ N L Q G R I P X V L F Z K L F K L W L V I L W W L Q J W R X V H ´ , I Z H Z L V K W R V W R S D O O Q H Z H [ S U H V V L R Q W K H Q let us set up a list of technical considerations and characteristics which every new expression in music must meet in order to be considered good and useful for the Church. You will not get any Q H Z H [ S U H V V L R Q D W O H D V W I R U D W L P H 7 K D W ¶ V Z K D W W K H 5 R P D Q & D W K R O L F 3 R S H V K D Y H D W W H P S W H G W R G R on various occasions, and they were moderately successful. Of course, you must expect that the people eventually will say what they want to, anyhow. At this point a reformation sets in, as history proves. : H D U H D O O N H H Q O \ L Q W H U H V W H G L Q W K H I X W X U H R I P X V L F L Q R X U / X W K H U D Q & K X U F K 7 K D W ¶ V Z K \ Z H F R P H here. We come here in order to live with others who have similar interests, to learn with them about the things that have happened in the past so that we may more wisely live for the future. But what shall we do in the future with regard to the heritage? , Q W K H I L U V W S O D F H , G R Q ¶ W E H O L H Y H D Q \ R I X V V K R X O G D W W H P S W W R W X U Q W K H F O R Fk back musically in our churches just simply to see the hands run backward. That may be a very entrancing sight to some, but I think we can be sure that it will pretty largely escape the interest of our people. We must avoid presenting the music of the heritage simply because it is the music of the heritage. A purely technical and mechanistic presentation and judgment of music, however fine that music may be, carries with it the seeds of death. The music of the Reformation must be presented as a living expression. It must be presented as an expression of a faith which lives on in our own hearts and in the hearts of our people. We must present not the heritage. We must present the ideals of the heritage, the faith of the heritage, the spirit of the heritage. If we wish to do our best for the music of the Lutheran Church in our lifetime and for the future as long as the Lutheran The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 116 Church may stand, we can do no better than to rededicate ourselves to the principles of the Reformation. Earlier I pointed out several of these principles as they relate to music. I think we can all see that they will apply very well to the future. 1. The music of the Reformation era was Gospel-founded. That means for us that we must be immersed in the Gospel. It is not enough for us as Christians, and particularly as Lutheran musicians, simply to acquiesce with our minds and with our words in the truths of the Gospel. We must be completely integrated with the Gospel. Our lives must be a complete expression of the Gospel. We must delete everything from our lives which is incompatible with the Gospel. We must live for the Gospel. We must be so completely absorbed in the Gospel that nothing else has more than relative significance for us. We must permit God to speak to us. 2. Following Luther, we must consider the people whom God has sent us to serve. It seems to me that in many of the discussions which I have heard among Lutheran musicians in recent years, I have heard a great deal about the history of music in the Lutheran Church and about the glories of this Lutheran music, and I agree with it. But I have heard very, very little talk about how we can best use this music for the spiritual benefit of our people. I have felt that we often were using D Q D Q W L T X D U L D Q ¶ V D S S U R D F K , W L V D V L I a painter delighted in painting abstract paintings which nobody but himself understood. Such a person may gain considerable notoriety for himself, but it will usually and, I think, only be the notoriety of a freak because he serves no one but himself. We must, like Luther, remember that the songs which we give the people to sing must be an expression of their own hearts. Unless those songs are such an expression, they will not sing them except under pressure; and if pressed to sing songs which they do not care to sing, they will certainly not sing them in a way which will be pleasing to their heavenly Father. I am not pleading here for abandonment of the music of the heritage. That would, of course, be utter folly, because it would be a denial of the very roots from which we sprang. It would be a denial of the greatest art which the world has produced, which God has given the world through the medium of the Lutheran Church. What I am asking for is that we make sure before we use this music that we have so well prepared the hearts and minds of our people that they can worship with it. Spiritual revival must precede musical revival. 3. We must become creative. In the days of the Reformation the glory of the doctrine which Luther had reopened before the eyes of the German people and the people of the world, and the great love which Luther himself and his gifted followers felt for the people who had flocked D U R X Q G / X W K H U ¶ V E D Q Q H U J D Y H U L V H W R D Q H Z V R Q J : H K D Y H I D U P R U H W K D Q W K H H [ D P S O H R I / X W K H U however, to urge us on in this direction. God has said that His mercies are new to us every day, D Q G H Y H U \ R Q H R I X V N Q R Z V W K D W W K L V L V W U X H * R G ¶ V P H U F L H V K D Y H E H H Q Q H Z W R P H H Y H U \ G D \ H Y H U \ week, every year of my life, and they have been new to you in that same manner. The mercies He has shown to me are not the same mercies in every case which He has shown to you, and the mercies He has shown to our generation are not in all respects the same mercies He has shown to other generations. The Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church Volume IV From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House. For personal use only. Page 117 God has also told us that, reflecting these old mercies which are ever new, we should sing a new song. He has told us very little about the kind of music that we ought to use in His worship. He V S H D N V L Q Y H U \ J H Q H U D O W H U P V E X W R Q H Z R U G + H G L G X V H + H V D L G ³ Q H Z ´ , W V K R X O G E H Q H Z $ Q G V R building upon an eternal faith, we must go into the future with a creative aim. Each of us must, by his very life and every act, seek to sing his own new song of gratitude and devotion to the Almighty. When one looks at it carefully, one can realize that this is the only way in which we really can keep the heritage, if by keeping the heritage we mean more than merely pushing down the same keys which were pushed down by Bach, more than recreating in our churches the technical, physical characteristics of a sixteenth-century worship service in the Lutheran Church. If, instead, we want to recreate in our own hearts and in the hearts of our own people the spirit of the Reformation, the ideals of the Reformation, the faith of the Reformation, then we must relate the music which is used in our churches to the life and faith which is in the people. Otherwise the music is the corpse of a spirit which has fled. This can be done, I am confident, not merely by using the music of the Reformation. This can be done only if we are so caught up by the glory of the Gospel, if we are so inflamed with a zeal for souls, that we will use music for its meaning, for its spirit, and not for its archaic value. This will mean also that there will come among us a creative expression, an expression of the joy we feel in God, an expression of the thankfulness we have toward Him for all the things that He has given us. Only when we have become completely imbued with the spirit of the Gospel; only when we have been so filled with love for the people whom God has sent us to serve; and only when we have in song expressed our own thankfulness to God for His great mercies, will we have really and completely preserved the heritage. It is not enough in preserving the heritage to recreate what has been done before. We must get at the spirit of the heritage, and that spirit must become ours, and that spirit must find a new expression in our lives and in our music. When this end has been achieved, then truly we shall have preserved the heritage.