Congregational Singing in the German Lutheran Church, 1523--1780

Abstract

Sources used for the study include several hundred church orders and agendas, minutes of ecclesiastical visitations, hymnals, hymn-based musical compositions, tutorials and method books for teaching music (especially church music), sermons on music, theoretical and polemical works by pastors and church musicians addressing the issues of the day and, in the eighteenth century, journal articles and book reviews. Chapters deal with Luther and congregational singing, the Lutheran liturgy and its relationship to the pre-Reformation liturgy, liturgical provisions in the church orders, reports from ecclesiastical visitations, hymnal use by the congregation, conflict between choral music and congregational singing, organ accompaniment of singing, and issues of performance practice. Appendixes contain translations of important writings, lists of hymns mentioned in contemporary liturgical sources, and summaries of mass liturgies from the church orders.