Music as Propaganda in the German Reformation

The Protestant Reformation was a major 16th century European movement aimed initially at reforming the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. The Reformation in western and central Europe officially began in 1517 with Martin Luther and his 95 Theses. This was a debate over the Christian religion. At the time there was a difference in power. Roman Catholicism stands with the Pope as central and appointed by God. Luther’s arguments referred to a direct relationship with God and using the local vernacular to speak to the people. Luther’s arguments remove the absolute power from the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church in general. The revenue from the taxes paid to the Church would be reduced with Luther’s ideas, in part because of

The Protestant Reformation was a pivotal time of European history that occurred during the 16th century. The Protestant Reformation was comprised of people called “reformers” that challenged papal authority and questioned the Catholic Church’s ability to define Christian practice (“The Reformation”). The Protestant Reformation was revolutionary due to the fact that the reformers preached against everything the Catholic Church had been teaching. Some famous reformers are John Calvin and Martin Luther. However, Martin Luther-- to some--- is named the most successful and influential reformer of the 16th century. Martin Luther was tremendously effective and influential due to how resourceful he was, and his teachings spread across Europe swiftly.

A major 16th century movement initially aimed at reforming the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church, the Reformation was begun by a German monk named Martin Luther who challenge the Catholic Church’s doctrine by posting his 95 Theses on a church door. He did this because he was appalled that the church was selling indulgences, which were written letters that assured people’s salvation, in order to build a new Basilica in Rome under Pope Leo X. Martin Luther argued that the Bible, not the pope, was the central means to discern God’s word and was the only thing capable of giving salvation.

For by no means would I have the Latin language completely removed from the divine service, as my chief concern is with the youth. If I could bring to pass that Greek and Hebrew were as familiar to us as the Latin, and offered as much good music and song, we would hold mass, sing and read on successive Sundays in all four languages: German, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.”

The oratorio and cantata of the eighteenth century were both linked, unlike opera, to religious themes. Although intended for very different uses and circumstances of performance, all three genres contained musical commalities. Not surprisingly, the three genres would

The reformation began because of the corruption in the Catholic Church and the enormous amount of power the church had over Europe. During the sixteenth century the Catholic Church had tremendous sovereignty over the population of Europe. It was almost impossible to fight the Catholic Church because of the

The Church also used Baroque music to counter the spread of Protestantism. Baroque music intended to lift the soul towards God and Heaven with its grandeur. Baroque music was also used for a greater reason: communication. Music has the power to convey to people powerful emotions, whether good or bad (About the Baroque Period). One time, Sieur Claudin Le Jeune, a musician, sang an air, a song, and “that when this air was rehearsed at a private concert it caused a gentleman there to put hand to arms and begin swearing out loud, so that it seemed impossible to prevent him from attacking someone: whereupon Claudin began singing another air…which rendered the gentleman as calm as before” (Ibid) (Glossary of Musical Terms). Evidently, emotions are

Although many people saw music as a sin, Luther on the other hand lined more with the psalmist on music in churches. Luther believed that music helped to drive away the demons and really make people happy. This was an important thing during the time, because a lot of people in Europe were coming from a e of

Gregorian chant is so termed for the work that Pope Gregory the Great is ascribed in codifiying the songs of others into an organized liturgy, setting a formal order to the services of the mass. This gives us the interchangeable terms of plainchant, plainsong, and Gregorian chant. The chants were primarily written in monasteries and nunneries over the centuries of the middle ages. The chants were principally written and preformed for worship, though it can be inferred from the text that the chants served as entertainment for those in cloister.

In the chorus parts of this section, composer set rhythmic and harmonic changes, based on the text’s stress to deliver text apparently. For instance, the sentence “Gratias agimus tibi proter magnam glorificamus tuam” has the stresses of words as “Grátas ágimus tíbi proter mágnam glórificamus túam” Schubert gives the half notes for text “Gra”, “a” and “ti” from measure sixty-eight to seventy and changes harmony at measure seventy with text “ti” In the Gloria, he omitted text freely instead of the regular text setting. The second section of Gloria contains text “Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam glorificamus tuam” (we give thanks to thee according to thy great glory) It sings with full choir and repeats same text one more with male voices. From measure eighty-two to eighty-five, sopranos, mezzo-sopranos, and altos sing “Domine Deus, Rex coelestis” (Lord God, Heavenly King), and from measure eighty-nine to ninety-two, male voices sing “Deus Pater omnipotens” (God the Father

Medieval music was very praised because it was mostly about god. Plainchant was the first type of music that was used in the medieval times. They would just use monophonic texture in church during mass. This changed when homophonic texture was introduced in church. It gave a spiritual and emotional uprising in the mass. Between this era church was one of or if not, the most important thing to take a part of. This made churches bigger in size, and singing was one of the ways they expressed their love towards god. It started of as only Polyphonic but later changed to Homophonic. Instead of writing the same old and boring melodies, composers created music shifting from one texture to the other. This helped create a more pleasant and melodic sound.

The affect on sacred music, religious and secular life was profound. The music used in the liturgy of the Roman Catholic music continued to be composed in Latin as a complex melody which was difficult to understand. Primarily sung by priests, monks and brothers as it had been since the congregation did not participate. Patronage of music was slowly waning from the church and taken up by the courts. In midst of the turmoil the church convened the Council of Trent 1545-1563 standardization of the mass with restriction on the music performed. In contrast, Protestant music had begun to be composed in the vernacular of the location such as Germany, England and the Low Countries. In Germany the Lutheran Church sung in both Latin and German languages. The hymns within the protestant liturgy are written in Monophonic with a single melody line. However, the Puritans purged music from religious service altogether believing the absence of music helped to avoid temptation. Suppressing the urge to toe tap must have been near unbearable. Consequently, secular domestic music thrived during the Reformation thanks to technological development which in turn saw an economic uplift of the middle class to devote surplus leisure time and money to music and playing of instruments. (Kamien 98-99,

Guillaume Machaut’s Notre Dame Mass was composed during the Middle Ages and was “the first polyphonic treatment of the mass ordinary by a known composer” (textbook). Agnus Dei is an acapella that has a polyphonic musical texture and is in triple meter. Machaut’s composition is in Latin, and includes only male vocals. The Agnus Dei has three sections, like a Gregorian chant, that symbolize the Trinity and vary in melody. There is also a usage of dissonance and syncopation as well as hollow-sounding chords throughout this piece. Lyrical repetition throughout the three sections creates a sense of familiarity for the listener.

The feelings that the Ancient Romans had towards music could be described as ambivalent. They admired it and at the same time, they condemned it. Music, nevertheless, played a role in Roman society that, as time passed, became less and less important to the Romans. As a result, much of the information about music in Ancient Rome has been lost in time. However what has been discovered about this topic is quite fascinating, in spite of what it is lacking. The subsequent paragraphs will explain some of the aspects of Roman life regarding music. This includes the history of music in Ancient Rome, the instruments that the Romans played, the uses of music in their society and the impact that music in Rome has had on the music of today.

Unsurprisingly given what discussed so far, Luther had an extremely high view of music and of what this could accomplish - where this was true in particular with reference to the sphere of worship and of church services . In this sense, he was of the opinion that by praising God in music, the latter acted as a bridge allowing for the possibility of relishing God's absolute and perfect wisdom, by seeing its reflection in his work of music itself. Accordingly - always in the Preface to the Symphoniae Iucundae - Luther presented music as something able to connect the whole of creation with its creation. In Loewe's words, the Preface «follows an arc that takes as its origin the very beginning of creation and descends from God to those who have been given a voice, in order to return to heaven through composed music: Luther explained that the praises sung by his readers had the potential to take the singers straight back to heaven, and the ultimate origin and goal of music». Hence, by becoming consciously musical – that is, by actively producing music as opposed to just sounding – we come to reflective express and formulate one the basic aspects of creation . In this way, composed music amplifies and shapes natural music and – another belief which Luther shared with Herbenus – this way conjoins the musica humana and musica caelestis. Then, by being musical by producing music meant to be performed in church we turn creation – as it were, in the aspect of its musicality – back to