Martin Luther

and the Protestant Reformation

                Among the many figures involved in what became known as the Protestant Reformation, was no one greater than its originator – Martin Luther.  It was through his conviction lead actions that caused the greatest split of the Roman Catholic Church in history.  Although this important split is what he is most well-known for, his modifications to the liturgical music of the church, such as altering and translating the traditional liturgy and creating chorales for congregational singing, are equally important. A more detailed look at these changes in music and more will be discussed following a brief summary of the beginnings of the Reformation.

                As the age of the Roman Catholicism           increased, so did its corruption and materialism.  The church instated the practice of selling indulgences in order to raise the money needed for building St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome.  In this practice, people would pay money to the church in order to supposedly release their beloved one’s souls from the torment of purgatory after they died.

                The practice of selling indulgences also served as the drawing line for Luther – he could stand the corruption no more.  On October 31, 1517, according to history (and probably some legend as well), Luther compiled a list of ninety-five disputes that he had with the church and nailed them to the door of the Castle’s Church in Wittenberg.  Although unintentional, this is what set in motion the eventual break in the Catholic church.

About four years later, in April 1521, Charles V called for Martin Luther to attend the Diet of Worms and recant his ninety-five theses.  This is where he supposedly made the legendary statement, “Here I stand, I can do no more, God help me.”  This statement was not good enough and Luther was sentenced to death.  However, on his leave from the castle that day, he was supposedly kidnapped by a band of masked soldiers who, under the command of Luther’s friend, Frederick the Wise of Saxony, carried him into hiding at Wartburg Castle where he was able to safely live another twenty-five years.

It was there at Wartburg Castle where he translated the New Testament of the Bible from its original Greek language into German, laid the foundations for the Lutheran religion and made significant contributions to the music of the church service and the Western world.

By far, the most important musical idea that Martin Luther introduced into the church service was the chorale.  This part of the service, for the most part, replaced the Proper and was similar to the hymns that congregations still sing today.  These chorales were intended for the entire congregation to sing in unison because he felt that everyone needed to participate in the service.  To assure the ease of singing, the chorales for the congregation were written in German and primarily consisted of easily memorized strophic melodies with simple metrical and rhythmic patterns.

Although this was the most common way of singing chorales, there were also various other ways for them to be performed, depending on the occasion.  For instance, the choir could sing the chorale in four-part harmony, alternating with verses sung by the congregation in unison.  In years to follow, as the organ became a more refined instrument, all four parts would be played on it while the congregation continued to sing in unison.

As these Lutheran chorales became more widely popularized and accepted, volumes full of them began being published and, similar to the idea of the cantus firmus mass from the Medieval and Renaissance Periods, the new idea of contrafacta had begun being used.  This process consisted of simply taking an existing melody and adding new sacred text to it.

Other changes that Luther inserted into the music of the church service concerned the Ordinary of the Mass.  Because he thought it was educational to children, he kept it in the original Latin language, but revised the text to correspond with his beliefs and theology.

In 1526, Martin Luther wrote the first mass in the German language.  This German Mass was similar to the Latin, with the exceptions that the recitation notes and phrases were changed in order to match the flow of the German language and the Gloria was left out.  Although he did not mean for this translation to be popularly accepted, it was used in many of the smaller churches.

Luther’s actions caused a great split in the Roman Catholic Church – a split that desperately needed to happen.  Because of these actions, people became freed from the financial burdens that the church was imposing on them and were actually able to take an active part in the service. Without the influence of Martin Luther, the Protestant Reformation would not have occurred when it did, leaving it hard to imagine what religion and music would be like today.