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The Musical Reforms of Martin Luther
By Charles K. Moss

One of the most significant events of the Renaissance was the religious movement of the Sixteenth Century. This milestone, known as the Protestant Reformation, was the most serious upheaval in the Christian Church since the introduction of Christianity into Europe. It divided the Western Church into two opposing factions and produced the various evangelical branches of Protestant Christendom.

Primarily, this revolution was neither political, philosophical, nor literary. It was emphatically a revolt that was centrally religious and idealistically moral in its motivation. The Reformation, however, did achieve revolution in politics, philosophy, literature, art, and music in the end, although it was not begun for the sake of these aims.

The Reformation was not an abrupt revolution, because it had its roots in the Middle Ages. There were many forces during the late Medieval centuries that were especially conducive to the rise of reform within the Christian Church: the unification of some European nations, the founding of universities, the revival of learning on a broad scale, the new astronomy of Copernicus, and the return to Greek philosophy as a source of wisdom. Within the church itself there were sufficient reasons for religious revolt. The Church was troubled with moral, financial, and political scandals. Grievances against such acts as these and the failings of church authorities to address such problems ultimately compelled some to face the risk of heresy by questioning the church’s doctrines and temporal practices. The true greatness of the Protestant Reformation lies less in what was actually done than in the much greater work that it made possible in the centuries following the Renaissance.

Much profound thought of the last four centuries, even in the Roman Catholic countries of Europe, has been a direct or indirect result of the Reformation. The movement in Germany was probably the most influential and extensive of the Sixteenth Century revolts against the Catholic Church. The German Reformation was directed by a man of genius and energy, Martin Luther.

Luther was born November 10, 1483 in Eisleben, Thuringia (a province noted for its many musicians even up to the birth of Johann Sebastian Bach). Luther was brought up in the strict religious atmosphere of the Roman Catholic Church. After attending the Latin Schools at Mansfeld, Magdeburg, and Eisenach, he entered the University of Erfurt in 1501. From this institution he received the Bachelor’s degree in 1502 and the Master’s degree in 1505. During his student years, Luther was terrified by thoughts of the wrath of God. He continually sought a means of finding inward peace. To achieve this goal, he entered an Augustinian Monastery on July 17, 1505 to become a monk. Two years later, he was ordained as a priest. In 1508 Luther was appointed Professor of Philosophy at Wittenberg University, and he also studied there subsequently to receive the Doctor of Theology degree in 1512. In 1515 Luther was appointed Augustinian Vicar for Meissen and Thuringia.

During the period of his appointment as Vicar, Luther underwent a modification in his views and beliefs. He was still devoted to the church, but in his continued quest for inner peace, he turned from religious philosophy to the Bible as the basis of his theological conclusions. These conclusions ultimately led Luther to combat some doctrines and practices of the church. He was eventually branded a heretic and was excommunicated for his radical defiance of Papal authority.

The sale of indulgences for sins by Johann Tetzel at a church near Wittenberg incited Luther into action. On October 31, 1517, he nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the Castle Church door at Wittenberg. This was not intended as a decisive attack on the church, and he did not wish the theses to be circulated. However, the news spread throughout Germany within a period of two weeks.

Later in 1518 Luther publicly professed his implicit obedience to the church, but simultaneously, he boldly denied the absolute power of the Pope. Due to the slow means of communication, the events that followed this act took place within several years. There was not an immediate conflict with the hierarchy of the church. However, on April 16, 1521 Luther was brought before the august meeting of the Holy Roman Empire, known as the Diet, at Worms, Germany. He was asked whether he acknowledged his writings and public statements. Luther requested a day for consideration of his answer. The next day, he replied that he would retract nothing written or said unless he could be shown through Scripture that his writings and statements were in error. He ended his brief speech with the sentence: “Here I stand, God help me!” Luther left Worms on May 25 having been declared an outlaw of the church. He was seized by the Elector Frederick and taken to Wartburg Castle. There he remained in hiding under the assumed name, “Squire George.”

It was during his long stay at Wartburg Castle that Luther began his work as a reformer. One of his first projects was to translate the Bible into German. A New Testament translation was printed in 1522. Meanwhile, the Wittenberg Augustinians had begun to change the worship service and to do away with the Mass. This displeased Luther greatly. He returned to Wittenberg and spent most of his remaining lifetime carrying out a gradual change in the form of the worship service. The Protestant Reformation was now fully underway. In spirit and inwardness, it had not been conceived as anti-Catholic, but ultimately a separate and distinct Protestant Church was formed.

Luther preached Justification by Faith , the theology of forgiveness of the individual. The central emphasis of all his reforms stemmed from his stress on the importance of the individual and his salvation. His musical reforms were also based in this same frame of reference. More than any other Christian teacher, Luther had the genius and failings of an artist.

It is with music as well as theology that Luther brought about sweeping reforms in the German Church. Luther’s early training and experience with music had a profound effect upon his musical reforms. As a child, he was constantly exposed to music in his little Thuringian village. He remembered all his life how his mother loved to sing. Luther was trained to become a Kurrende singer: a chorus that went from house to house singing for weddings and funerals. Although the music Luther learned in the boys choir catered to peasants, he was later to be exposed to the great music of the Netherlander masters such as Okeghem, Isaac, Obrecht, and especially Josquin Des Prez, whom Luther greatly admired. He once stated: “Josquin is a master of notes, which must express what he desires; on the other hand, other choral composers must do what the notes dictate.” Luther may also have been influenced by such German composers as Heinrich Fink and Adam von Fulda. In addition to his ability as a singer, he also acquired considerable skills on the lute and the flute (recorder).

When Luther began his musical reforms of the worship service, the German Church had, to a degree, already developed a musical tradition of its own. It had been the custom for centuries to sing tropes and sequences (little hymns) in services in connection with the Amens, Kyries, and Alleluias. The German language was already employed with familiar parts of the service such as the Ten Commandments, the Seven Last Words, and some Psalms. But more importantly, German was regularly used as the language for the Credo (Creed) and the Lord’s Prayer. In addition to these musical settings to simple melodies, the congregation had many folk tunes and semi-religious songs called Leisen. Most of these songs were sung in unison in the style of Gregorian Chant.

Therefore, Luther’s intent was to retain and expand upon a musical tradition that was already in existence in German Churches. He was not the founder of congregational singing as some believe, but there is no doubt that Luther established the practice of congregational singing of the Mass as a regular means of worship. Luther saw music as a gift from God (”Musica Dei donum optimi.”), and he set about to gather music into the service of the church. He wished to retain the richness and drama of the Roman Mass. However, it was in a gradual process that he found sweeping changes necessary.

In 1523 his first Formula Missae was published. This work was not a “reform” of the Mass, but it was a documented and detailed description of the Evangelical Mass as it was celebrated in Wittenberg. It was sung in Latin, and it was essentially a purified version of the traditional Mass. The only parts in German were the sermon and a few hymns. However, in the preface to this publication, Luther expressed the hope that a completely German service would soon follow, and he called upon the poets and musicians of the church to enlarge the scanty store of good German hymns.

The idea of a completely German liturgy did not originate with Luther. The year before the Formula Missae, services were done in the vernacular in Basel by Wolfgang Wissenburger and by Johann Schwebel in Pforzhiem. Also in 1523, Kaspar Kantz, prior of the Carmelite monks of Nördlingen, published the first musical setting of the Mass in the German language. In 1523 Thomas Münzer published, not only a musical Mass in German, but also a Matins and Vespers service, elaborately printed with all the original Gregorian chant melodies. Other versions of the German Mass were introduced in 1524 in Reutlingen, Wertheim, Königsberg, and Strassbourg.

The multiplicity of vernacular Masses threatened confusion; so Luther’s friends appealed to him to submit his own “blueprint” of a German Mass to bring uniformity to liturgical practices. Luther objected to the idea of a forced uniformity because he felt that each center of the Evangelical Church should be free to create its own liturgy, borrow from others, or maintain the Latin Mass, at least in part. Nicholas Hausmann of Zwickau suggested the formation of a council to establish liturgical uniformity. In Luther’s view, evangelical freedom was not to be used as a pretext to establish a new legalism. Furthermore, the strongest reason for Luther’s hesitancy to endorse any available musical setting was his own integrity as a musician. He wanted the German Mass to be truly German, for he wrote in his pamphlet published in 1524, Against the Heavenly Prophets:

I would gladly have a German Mass today. I am also occupied with it. But I would very much like it to have a true German character. For to translate the Latin text and retain the Latin tones or notes has my sanction, though it doesn’t sound polished or well done. Both the text and notes, accents, melody, and manner of rendering ought to flow out of the true mother tongue and its inflection also. Otherwise, all of it becomes an imitation in the manner of the apes.

With the aid of two musical collaborators, Conrad Rupff and Johann Walther, Luther’s project became a reality. Rupff was employed as the Kapellmeister to the Elector of Saxony, and Walther came from Torgau where he served as the cantor at the court of Frederick the Wise. Walther is the more important of the two composers, because he is responsible for much of our knowledge of Luther as a musician. The two men stayed with Luther for three weeks in Wittenberg, and the 1526 publication of the German Mass, Deutsche Messe und ordnung Gottis dientis (German Mass and Order of Divine Service), was the result of their labors. Walther stated that during the work on the German Mass, Luther himself composed several Gospel lessons, Epistles, and the Words of Consecration of the Elements with the aid of his flute. Walther notated the music as Luther played and sang.

In its final version, Deutsche Messe contained the following alterations from the pre-Reformation service as it was performed in Wittenberg. The Introit was replaced by the singing of a hymn or German psalm: Ich will den Herrn loben or Meine Seele soll sich rühmen. The Kyrie Eleison was sung three times instead of nine. Following the Collect and Epistle, a German hymn, Nun bitten wir den heil’gen Geist, or another with a similar text was sung. After the Gospel lesson came the German Creed, Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott (We all believe in one true God), a tune widely known before the Reformation. The sermon was followed by a musical paraphrase of the Lord’s Prayer and an exhortation to the communicants. The singing that followed the Words of Consecration was either Jesaia, dem Propheten, das geschah (Isaiah, mighty seer, in days of old), Jan Huss’ hymn, Jesus Christus, unser Heiland (Jesus Christ, our blessed Savior), or Christe, du Lamm Gottes (Christ, Thou Lamb of God), a melody completely derived from the Gregorian Agnus Dei.

The extent to which Luther changed the Mass can be seen by looking at the music itself and the directions for performing it. It is obvious that Luther avoided the use of Gregorian melismas in his German chants. In his directions for the Introit he wrote: “For the Introit we shall use a Psalm, arranged as syllabically as possible.” The German Mass was not designed to be a choral masterwork for the priests and choir to sing. It was conceived purposefully as a musical work for the congregation, priest, and choir. Luther’s musical reforms were centered on the inclusion of all believers in corporate worship, not just for skilled musicians and their musica reservata that was common before the Reformation. This does not imply, however, that Luther was in any way opposed to elaborate musical settings, but it was rather a recognition that not all churches could maintain the services of highly skilled singers and musicians. Where it was possible, Luther embraced the cultivation of music within the church to the highest art possible. He enthusiastically supported the refinement of musical arts within the German Church.

The German Mass possessed limited rather than universal significance. Its main value lies in its idiomatic use of the German language and the impetus it gave to congregational song. It was prepared largely for the uneducated laity, the village volk, in churches where there were no trained choirs capable of singing the traditional Latin chants. The collaborators on the German Mass did not use ligatures in their musical notation, as was still a common practice of the time. However, the chants were written in the traditional Church Modes, and the Reformer assigned certain modes to specific parts of the Mass, for he wrote: “Christ is a kind Lord, and His Words are sweet; therefore, we want to take the sixth mode for the Gospel; and because Paul is a serious apostle we want to arrange the eighth mode for the Epistle.”

Luther developed his Introit, Psalm 34, by reworking the first psalm tone. The Medieval model had two accented notes in both the mediation and the termination of the psalm tone, but Luther provided three accented notes. He also allowed word accents in the intonation section which was definitely contrary to Gregorian musical practice. With these alterations, very little was left to be sung on the Psalm’s reciting tone. In his cadences, Luther adapted the music to the text by taking many liberties. What he produced was music that followed the rhythm of speech more closely than did Gregorian Psalmody. However, there was one great drawback, the difficulty of adapting Luther’s tailor-made music for Psalm 34 to other Psalms. Luther’s Introit did not function as a generic or easily adaptable psalm tone. This is a probable reason that it was never widely used.

The Kyrie of Deutsche Messe was based on the first psalm tone also. Here Luther greatly shortened what was a very elaborate Ordinary in the Roman Mass. Being totally syllabic, it is impossible to tell if Luther derived his Kyrie from a Gregorian example due to its very simple construction. In the music for the Epistle, the inflections are based on the eighth psalm tone, but the tonality is almost the modern F Major. The reciting tone is again neglected with emphasis placed on the inflections. In comparison to traditional Roman settings of the lessons, Luther’s music is more “melodious,” has a greater range, a seventh, and uses wider intervals. An additional musical example of an Epistle is given at the end of Deutsche Messe. Because the final Epistle setting is simpler and more consistently constructed, it is believed that Walther composed it.

For the chanting of the Gospel lesson, a feature from the Gregorian tone for chanting the Passion Story was borrowed. This was the practice of having three separate reciting tones: one for the Evangelist (the note A), one for Christ (the note F), and one for all other persons (the note C). Although the music for the Gospel is in the fifth mode, the words of Christ are composed in the sixth mode. Though this may seem to be a contradiction of Luther’s original statement on the use of the modes for the Gospel, it is evidence that the Church Modes really had little to do with the musical practices of the time. They existed as theoretical bases for composition far more than they were actually used in composition.

The German Mass contained one unique innovation, the singing of the Words of Institution, the words of the Holy Communion referring to the significance of Jesus’ body and blood of the New Testament. In the Roman Mass, the words were not sung but murmured. In the German Mass they are written as a simple sequence of tones full of symbolism and mystery of the sacrament as Luther viewed it.

The Sanctus is a paraphrase of Isaiah 6:1-4. This part of the German Mass seems to have been a favorite of Johann Walther because he said that it, more than any other section of the service, showed Luther’s mastery of adapting notes to the text. Luther deleted the traditional “Holy, Holy.” The melody rises and falls to accentuate certain words, and there is even a climax implied on the words “loudly raised the shout.” Although it is written in the Lydian mode, it sounds remarkably like F Major. The melody of the Sanctus is not at all similar to Gregorian chant, for there are very wide intervals used in its construction. The almost step-wise movements of many Gregorian Sanctus settings stand in stark contrast Luther’s work. Luther, identifying the musical model, states that his melody is a free adaptation of a plainchant Sanctus entitled In Dominicis Adventus et Quadragesimae in the Graduale Romanum . It is also noteworthy that the Sanctus was to be sung during the administration of Holy Communion, thus intensifying the act of taking the bread and wine.

There was no musical setting of the German Credo, Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott (We all believe in one true God), given in Deutsche Messe , because it was already part of the service. It was the subject of many different musical arrangements and harmonizations by various composers, including everything from polyphonic motets for skilled choristers to monophonic congregational versions.

The collaboration of Luther, Walther, and Rupff produced a musical and liturgical model that was intended only to be an example of how the Mass should be done in the German language. It was not intended to replace the Latin Mass in any way, but to help the uneducated laity understand the act of worship. Luther was adamant that it should not be adopted universally, for he wrote in the preface to Deutsche Messe :

In the first place, I would kindly and for God’s sake request all those who see this order of service or dersire to follow it: Do not make it a rigid law to bind or entangle anyone’s conscience, but use it in Christian liberty as long, when, where, and how you find it to be practical and useful.

As far as Luther’s personal practice in Wittenberg was concerned, he continued to use the Latin Mass published earlier in Formula Missae . The precept of liturgical freedom was paramount in Luther’s thinking, thus creating a great elasticity in liturgical practice. The entire service could be in German; there could be a hybrid Mass, partly in Latin and partly German; or certain Ordinaries could be omitted and substituted with chorales (hymns) with texts very similar to the Ordinary. All chorales except those substituted for Ordinaries were required to fit the season of the Church Year.

Therefore, it was Luther’s insistence on liturgical freedom that largely caused his own musical composition, Deutsche Messe , to fall into disuse and relative obscurity as a musical entity in successive centuries. But another contribution of the Reformer was not destined to decay but to flourish: his insistence upon the use of the German hymn or chorale in all worship services. Luther strongly believed that the congregation should actively participate in the worship service. A means of achieving this was through the singing of chorales. Therefore, it was the composition and adaptation of hymns that became Luther’s most important musical contribution.

This was not a new musical practice, for almost fifty years before Luther, Jan Huss and his followers, the Bohemian Bretheren (Moravians), were singing and collecting hymns that were either adaptations of Gregorian melodies or popular secular airs. This group published its first collection of hymns in 1504 in the Czech language, and in 1531 a German translation was published by Michael Weiss at Landskron in Moravia.

In 1524 the first Lutheran hymn book, Achtliederbuch , was published. There were eight metrical chorales included. Four of the hymns were composed by Luther himself. Between 1524 and 1545, Luther composed and compiled nine hymnals. The melodies found in these books were a mixture of Latin hymns, popular religious songs, and secular tunes recast in a religious context. Others were Medieval melodies of the Minnesingers and Meistersingers, and still others were melodies from outside Germany. More specifically, these first published Lutheran chorale books contain hymns that may be classified as follows:

* Melodies that came from German hymns of the Middle Ages.
* Melodies derived from Latin hymns (Sequences, Tropes, etc.).
* Melodies originally associated with secular texts (Contrafacta).
* Melodies newly composed for the Lutheran service.

Among those of the first group is the still popular In dulci jubilo (Good Christian men, rejoice) ( Lutheran Book of Worship 55). This melody was originally sung as a lullaby in one of the Medieval Mystery Plays. The first hymn source that Luther used other than preexisting German texts were those adapted from Sequences, Tropes, and Gregorian chants. The Erfurt Enchiridion contains three chorales from this source: Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (Savior of the Nations, Come) ( LBW 28), Christum Wir sollen loben schon , and Komm, Gott Schöpfer heiliger Geist (Come Holy Ghost, Our Souls Inspire) ( LBW 473), which are translations, respectively, of the Latin hymns Veni, Redemptor Genitum (ascribed to Saint Ambrose), A solis ortus Cardine (written by Sedulius in the Fifth Century), and Veni, Creator Spiritus (ascribed to Saint Gregory).

The first secular melody found in the chorale books is Mein Freud’ möcht sich wohl mehren which the Reformer turned into Herr Christ, der einig Gotts Sohn (The Only Son from Heaven) ( LBW 86). Luther found it necessary to discard some secular chorale melodies, such as Aus fremden Landen komm’ ich her , because this and other similarly adapted melodies retained their popularity in the taverns and dance places. As Luther said, he was “compelled to let the devil have it back again” .

In the last group, the number of newly composed melodies written during the early years of the Reformation is small in comparison to the number derived from the other sources already mentioned. There were certainly many competent composers in the Protestant camp, but the tendency to use melodies already known to the congregations was more prevalent than the desire for new hymn tunes. Five or six chorales for each season of the Church Year were sufficient at the time, since the same ones were used on each Sunday during a particular season. The purpose of this practice was to train the uneducated (the vast majority of a congregation) through many repetitions of the same chorales. However, some newly composed melodies were contained in early Reformation hymn books. Among these are two of the finest Renaissance chorales: Vom Himmel hoch (From Heaven Above) (LBW 51) and Allein Gott in der Höh’ sei Ehr (All Glory Be to God on High) ( LBW 166).

Luther relied on Johann Walther’s musical expertise in preparing the publication of the Wittenberg Gesangbuch in 1524. Here Luther selected the melodies and texts, and Walther was the composer of the polyphonic settings. Since many reforms were for the sake of education, the chorales are arranged for four voices in a simple manner so that the young could learn them also. In Walther’s own publication, the Gesangbüchlein , he uses two types of polyphony. First, there are simple settings in which the voices enter together and note-against-note counterpoint is written. Secondly, there are elaborate contrapuntal settings, employing devices such as imitation and canon. Walther was creating the chorale motet or chorale anthem for performance by the choir alone. A good example of this new genre of Protestant music is his composition in five-part polyphony, Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist (To God the Holy Spirit, Let Us Pray) (LBW 317).

The extent to which Luther himself composed chorales cannot truly be determined. This has been a subject for debate for centuries. There are thirty- eight chorales attributed to him, but these are not all new compositions. Some of these hymns are vernacular translations of Medieval Sequences; some are revisions of Pre-Reformation German hymns; others are versifications of Psalms or Scripture passages. Since Luther borrowed heavily for the texts to the chorales, it is reasonable that he likewise borrowed melodies, just as most other composers of his time did. The best known of his chorales is Ein’ Feste Burg ist unser Gott (A Mighty Fortress is Our God) ( LBW 228). This melody is woven from Gregorian and other reminiscences, and the words are a paraphrase of Psalm 46. However, it is widely accepted that Luther is indeed the composer. The Lutheran Book of Worship , published by The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, contains Luther’s original Isorhymic melody and the later metrical settings by J.S. Bach and others.

During Luther’s time, congregational chorales were performed in the service without accompaniment. They were most often sung with the choir in unison, and occasionally the congregation would sing the melody while the choir sang a simple polyphonic harmonization. However, the pipe organ was never used to accompany hymns. The general view of Luther toward the organ was not at all enthusiastic because of its “primitive” nature (mean-tone tuning). The pipe organ was used to preludize to give the initial pitch to the priest and choir. And it was used with chorales in alternation with the choir, one verse played by the organ and the next sung.

It can be concluded that Martin Luther did not pretend to be a great composer, but he was a practical musician who possessed considerable skills. He had the good sense to call upon professional composers for help when the need arose. His role as a musical Reformer is generally clear, but the extent to which he was a composer of original music we do not know with certainty. Some authorities say that he composed no chorale melodies at all; while others say that he wrote over one hundred hymns. The degree to which Luther composed is only moderately important, for his greatness lies in the freedom and elasticity with which he established the Lutheran service and in the great importance he attributed to music. This attitude toward music is wonderfully expressed in his Forward to Georg Rhau’s Symphoniae , a collection of chorale motets published in 1538, as follows:

I, Doctor Martin Luther, wish all lovers of the unshackled art of music grace and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ! I truly desire that all Christians would love and regard as worthy the lovely gift of music, which is a precious, worthy, and costly treasure given to mankind by God. The riches of music are so excellent and so precious that words fail me whenever I attempt to discuss and describe them…. In summa, next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world. It controls our thoughts, minds, hearts, and spirits…. Our dear fathers and prophets did not desire without reason that music be always used in the churches. Hence, we have so many songs and psalms. This precious gift has been given to man alone that he might thereby remind himself that God has created man for the express purpose of praising and extolling God. However, when man’s natural musical ability is whetted and polished to the extent that it becomes an art, then do we note with great surprise the great and perfect wisdom of God in music, which is, after all, His product and His gift; we marvel when we hear music in which one voice sings a simple melody, while three, four, or five other voices play and trip lustily around the voice that sings its simple melody and adorn this simple melody wonderfully with artistic musical effects, thus reminding us of a heavenly dance, where all meet in a spirit of friendliness, caress and embrace. A person who gives this some thought and yet does not regard music as a marvelous creation of God, must be a clodhopper indeed and does not deserve to be called a human being; he should be permitted to hear nothing but the braying of asses and the grunting of hogs.

The Reformation brought into existence a new Church, a new liturgical service, and many new musical practices. Luther modified the Mass and changed it from a liturgy sung by the choir and priests exclusively to a vehicle of congregational worship that included all believers. Martin Luther viewed music as having powers to repulse evil and to glorify God at the same time. All of his musical reforms were derived from the old, but with a new concept of purpose and understanding. Luther stated:

… if one sings diligently with skill and application, then music can make man good and at peace with himself and his fellows by providing him a view of beauty. Music drives away the devil and makes people happy; it induces one to forget all wrath, unchastity, arrogance, and other vices, quia pacis tempore regnat musica (for music reigns in times of peace).