Concise History of Western Music
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Chapter Index Chapter 1: Music in Ancient Greece and Early Christian Rome Chapter 2: Chant and Secular Song in the Middle Ages, 400Ð1450 Chapter 3: Polyphonic Music from Its Beginnings through the Thirteenth Century Chapter 4: French and Italian Music in the Fourteenth Century Chapter 5: England and Burgundian Lands in the Fifteenth Century: The Beginnings of an International Style Chapter 6: The Age of the Renaissance: Music of the Low Countries Chapter 7: The Age of the Renaissance: New Currents in the Sixteenth Century Chapter 8: Church Music of the Late Renaissance and Reformation Chapter 9: Church Music of the Late Renaissance and Reformation Chapter 10: Opera and Vocal Music in the Late Seventeenth Century Chapter 11: Instrumental Music in the Late Baroque Chapter 12: Music in the Early Eighteenth Century Chapter 13: The Early Classic Period: Opera and Instrumental Music in the Eighteenth Century Chapter 14: The Late Eighteenth Century: Haydn and Mozart Chapter 15: Ludwig van Beethoven Chapter 16: Romanticism and Nineteenth-Century Orchestral Music Chapter 17: Solo, Chamber, and Vocal Music in the Nineteenth Century Chapter 18: Opera, Music Drama, and Church Music in the Nineteenth Century Chapter 19: European Music from the 1870s to World War I Chapter 20: The European Mainstream in the Twentieth Century Chapter 21: Atonality, Serialism, and Recent Developments in Twentieth-Century Europe Chapter 22: The American Twentieth Century
 

Outlines:
  - The Music of the Reformation in Germany
  - Catholic Music at the End of the Sixteenth Century
  Quiz
  Listening Guide
Chapter 8: Church Music of the Late Renaissance and Reformation
The Music of the Reformation in Germany
  1. Historical Background

    1. Martin Luther was a singer and composer, and admired the music of Josquin des Prez.

    2. Luther believed in the ethical power of music and wanted the entire congregation to participate.

    3. Although some larger Lutheran churches retained the Latin liturgy and its polyphony, other churches developed new liturgy and musical styles.

  2. The German Mass

    1. Luther first published his German Mass in 1526.

    2. He retained some features of the Roman Mass and discarded others.

    3. Texts were in sometimes in German, and recitation formulas were adapted to the German language.

    4. Hymns in German (chorales) replaced some musical portions of the Mass.

    5. Local churches used the German and Latin Masses in individualized combinations.

  3. The Lutheran Chorale

    1. Strophic congregational hymn (chorale or Kirchenlied, church song)

    2. Luther himself wrote many texts and some melodies, for example, the text of Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott, 1529.

    3. Many melodies came from Gregorian hymns, for example, Victimae Paschali laudes (NAWM 5) became Christ lag in Todesbanden (Christ Lay in the Bonds of Death).

    4. Many chorales were contrafacta of secular songs (e.g., NAWM 34 and HWM, ex. 8.1; contrafacta are new or spiritualized texts added to extant music).

    5. Polyphonic chorale settings used lied techniques, imitation, or cantus firmus techniques.

    6. Arrangements with the tune in the highest voice to an accompaniment of block chords, became the favored technique in the last third of the century.

    7. Lasso and other composers used the chorale melodies freely as the basis for composed polyphonic compositions (chorale motets).

  4. Reformation Church Music Outside of Germany

    1. Calvinist churches
      1. Founded by Jean Calvin (1509–1564)
      2. Allowed only monophonic singing of psalms in the vernacular
      3. For singing at home, four-part settings in chorale or motet style were preferred.
      4. The French Psalter was translated and published in other countries, such as England, Holland, and Germany.
      5. Example: CHWM, ex. 8.32 (Psalm 134 in France, "Old Hundredth" in English psalters)
      6. The 1620 Psalter of the New England pilgrims combined English and Dutch versions of psalms.
      7. Calvinist churches discouraged elaboration, so never expanded into other forms the way Lutheran chorales did.

  5. England in the Sixteenth Century (before England's separation from the Roman Catholic Church in 1534)

    1. English composers were isolated from the continent until after 1510.

    2. English composers preferred five- and six-part voice textures, with long melismas.

    3. John Taverner (ca. 1490–1545) was the greatest English musician of the early sixteenth century
      1. Wrote Latin music under Henry VIII
      2. Composed Anglican music with English texts under Edward VI
      3. Under Catholic Queen Mary composed to both Latin and English texts
      4. His style is full and florid, and typical of English music.

    4. Service
      1. Replaced the Mass (except under Queen Mary)
      2. Combines parts of Matins and Vespers (Morning and Evening Prayer) and Holy Communion, from the Mass, with fewer sung portions than in a Catholic Mass
      3. Great Service used contrapuntal, melismatic music.
      4. Short Service used chordal, syllabic music.

    5. Anthem corresponds to the Latin motet, but the language is English.
      1. Full anthems were written in contrapuntal style for a cappella chorus: Example: NAWM 50, Sing joyfully unto God by Byrd
      2. Verse anthems alternated accompanied solo voice(s) with passages for chorus.

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