_Odæ sacræ_ or part-songs; Bartholomäus Gesius (about 1555-1613); Melchior Franck (about 1573-1639); Hermann Schein (1586-1630), known chiefly by his _Cantional_, published in 1627, consisting of over 200 chorale-melodies, inclusive of about 80 original ones, which he harmonized, mostly note against note, retaining the old irregular rhythm of the earliest chorale melodies; and Andreas Hammerschmidt (1612-1675), who, in his _Musikalische Andachten_ (‘Musical Devotions’) in five volumes and ‘Dialogues between God and a Faithful Soul’ in two volumes, pointed to a new and freer style in sacred composition and made a deep impression on contemporary music of the Lutheran service. With Heinrich Schütz, who will be discussed in a succeeding chapter, Hammerschmidt constitutes the important connecting link between the sixteenth-century ecclesiastical style and the perfected forms of Sebastian Bach. In retaining the trained choir for the performance of the more elaborate choral music of the service, Luther was forced to make special provision for the education of the choristers, for with the Reformation came the suppression of the abbeys and monasteries that formerly had been the chief supporters of the choir-schools, and the complete transformation of the choristers from their former semi-clerical to a laic status. As early as 1524 he had aroused Protestant Germany to the imperative need of public education as the only means of securing the success and permanence of Protestant ideals, by addressing a stirring appeal to the councilors of German cities. In all Protestant centres schools were founded and actively maintained by municipal, private, and parochial endowment. Music was an integral part of Luther’s scheme of public education, and in connection with the larger institutions he urged the appointment of precentors or cantors[47] who should have charge of the training of the choristers and the selection and singing of the church music. These precentorships became a powerful element in the development of Protestant sacred music and in the diffusion of choral culture. The most famous one was that of the _Thomasschule_ or School of St. Thomas in Leipzig, where a long line of illustrious musicians from Schein, Kuhnau, and Sebastian Bach down to Moritz Hauptmann, E. F. Richter, and Wilhelm Rust (died 1892) enjoyed brilliant careers as cantors. Here a choir of about sixty boys served four churches--St. Thomas, St. Nicholas, St. Peter, and the New-Church. The lay character of the choirs and the close relation between the religious life of the church and the home aided greatly in the general movement of popular musical education.