The art of music. Vol. 01 (of 14) : $b The pre-Classic periods
History
The art of music. Vol. 01 (of 14) : $b The pre-Classic periods
Music -- History and criticism; Musicians
'The Devil does not need all the good tunes for himself,’ Luther wisely
remarked, and he drew from all sources, secular and sacred, for his
melodies. The same breadth of choice was likewise exercised by his
followers throughout the century: a song sung by the footsoldiers at
the battle of Pavia became the _Durch Adam’s Fall ist ganz verderbt_;
the chorale melody _Von Gott will ich nicht lassen_, can be traced to
an old love song, _Einmal tät ich Spazieren_; a love song, _Mein G’müt
ist mir verwirret von einer Jungfrau zart_, by Hans Leo Hassler, became
the choral melody to the funeral-hymn _Herzlich thut mich verlangen_,
and later the same melody was set to Paul Gerhardt’s hymn, _O Haupt
voll Blut und Wunden_, and in that form holds a leading part in Bach’s
St. Matthew Passion. Nor were the chorale tunes taken from Germany
alone. Favorite part-songs of Italy and France were appropriated and
set to German words.
The hymn-book compiled by Luther with the help of Rupff and Walther
was published in Wittenburg in 1524. It was intended for church use,
and that the compilers had the choir, not the congregation, in mind is
proved by the fact that all the tunes are contrapuntally set, with the
melody as _cantus firmus_ in the tenor, that is to say, in the middle
of the music, not soaring triumphantly aloft majestically to guide the
congregation. We have, therefore, in these chorales of Luther not a new
form but a new spirit. How great a part the congregation ever actually
took in them is open to discussion. Doubtless in those churches where
there was no skilled choir, congregational singing played an important
rôle; but it seems likely that in those churches where there was such
a choir, congregational singing was kept as much in the background as
possible. In 1586 Lukas Osiander published a set of fifty chorales,
'set contrapuntally in such a way that the whole Christian congregation
can always join in them.’ This was obviously a kind attempt to bring
the more or less neglected congregation into the musical part of the
service. In Osiander’s arrangements the melody is in the soprano. But
the setting is still too intricate for general use and the same rather
condescending, yet still lofty, attitude toward the congregation is
characteristic of all composers down to the time of Bach.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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