The Whole Church Sings: Congregational Singing in Luther's Wittenberg

By Robin A. Leaver

Authoritative study by a renowned musicologist and Reformation scholar

Many scholars think that congregational singing was not established in Lutheran worship until well after the start of the Reformation. In this book Robin A. Leaver calls that view into question, presenting new research to confirm the earlier view that congregational singing was both the intention and the practice right from the beginning of the Wittenberg reforms in worship.

Leaver's study focuses on the Wittenberg hymnal of 1526, which until now has received little scholarly attention. This hymnal, Leaver argues, shows how the Lutheran Reformation was to a large degree defined, expressed, promoted, and taken to heart through early Lutheran hymns. Examining what has been forgotten or neglected about the origins of congregational hymnody under Martin Luther's leadership, this study of worship, music, and liturgy is a significant contribution to Reformation scholarship.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Release date: May 12, 2017
• ISBN: 9781467446600

Book preview

The CALVIN INSTITUTE OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP LITURGICAL STUDIES Series, edited by John D. Witvliet, is designed to promote reflection on the history, theology, and practice of Christian worship and to stimulate worship renewal in Christian congregations. Contributions include writings by pastoral worship leaders from a wide range of communities and scholars from a wide range of disciplines. The ultimate goal of these contributions is to nurture worship practices that are spiritually vital and theologically rooted.

RECENTLY PUBLISHED

Visual Arts in the Worshiping Church

Lisa J. DeBoer

Singing God’s Psalms: Metrical Psalms and Reflections for Each Sunday in the Church Year

Fred R. Anderson

Missional Worship, Worshipful Mission: Gathering as God’s People, Going Out in God’s Name

Ruth A. Meyers

Worship with Gladness: Understanding Worship from the Heart

Joyce Ann Zimmerman

The Touch of the Sacred: The Practice, Theology, and Tradition of Christian Worship

F. Gerrit Immink

Evangelical versus Liturgical? Defying a Dichotomy

Melanie C. Ross

Arts Ministry: Nurturing the Creative Life of God’s People

Michael J. Bauer

From Memory to Imagination: Reforming the Church’s Music

C. Randall Bradley

By the Vision of Another World: Worship in American History

James D. Bratt

The Whole Church Sings

Congregational Singing in Luther’s Wittenberg

ROBIN A. LEAVER

WILLIAM B. EERDMANS PUBLISHING COMPANY

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

2140 Oak Industrial Drive N.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49505

www.eerdmans.com

© 2017 Robin A. Leaver

All rights reserved

Published 2017

23 22 21 20 19 18 171 2 3 4 5 6 7

ISBN 978-0-8028-7375-0

eISBN 978-1-4674-4700-3

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A Cataloging-in-Publication (CIP) record is on file with the Library of Congress

Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

1. The Reformation Celebrated in Song

2. Pre-Reformation Vernacular Song

3. Wittenberg Reforms, 1517–23

4. The Initial Repertory of Hymns, 1523–24

5. The Publication of the Wittenberg Hymns, 1523–24

6. A Congregational Hymnal in Wittenberg, 1524–26

7. Liturgical Developments in Wittenberg, 1523–26

8. From Enchyridion to Geistliche lieder, 1524–29

Appendix 1

Enchyridion geistlicher gesenge und psalmen fur die leyen, Wittenberg, 1524–26

Appendix 2

Geistliche Lieder, Wittenberg: Klug, 1529/33

Appendix 3

Luther’s Hymns and Liturgical Chants in Critical Editions and Hymnals

Appendix 4

Hymns by Authors Other than Luther

Appendix 5

Hymn Collections, 1524–36

Bibliography

Index of First Lines

Index of Names and Subjects

Preface

Luther studies in recent decades have been stimulated by research emanating from the University of Helsinki, usually referred to as the New Finnish Interpretation of Luther.¹ These studies challenge many long-held views concerning Luther’s theology and how that theology was practically expressed. Olli-Pekka Vainio, lecturer in systematic theology at Helsinki University, insists that there is nothing exceptionally Finnish in this particular understanding of the Reformer. . . . If something appears to be new, it is essentially an old treasure, which has been lost, but has now been found again. . . . We do not really ‘interpret’ Luther; we just say what he really meant . . . point[ing] out aspects of the Reformer’s thought that have either been forgotten or neglected for some reason.²

This book similarly attempts to examine what has been either forgotten or neglected about the origins of congregational hymnody in Wittenberg under the leadership of Martin Luther. It challenges some of the conclusions that have been drawn from the available evidence and attempts to provide new perspectives on the old treasure of the earliest Wittenberg hymns.

But there is a major problem: the available evidence is fragmentary and incomplete. The printed copies of the early Lutheran hymns—individual broadsides, small pamphlets, and the early hymnals—are ephemeral literature; they are either extremely rare or no longer extant.

Consider the following:

The earliest collection of hymns printed and published in Wittenberg that we are aware of is the set of part-books containing the motets of Johann Walter that appeared toward the end of 1524, but only two of the five part-books are extant, bass and tenor (which mostly contains the chorale melodies). But in some settings the cantus firmus—the chorale melody—is not in the tenor voice and therefore inaccessible in one of the lost part-books. Fortunately, two complete sets of the second edition of the part-books, published in Worms in 1525, have survived.

There are several extant copies of the 1524 collection of hymns published in Erfurt with the title Enchiridion, but the Erfurt supplement issued the following year, Etliche Christliche Gesenge, was not known until the pioneer Lutheran hymnologist Johann Christoph Olearius reprinted its contents, without music, in 1717,³ and the original unique copy did not surface from successive private ownership until 1942.⁴

Of the first edition of the extremely important Wittenberg Geistliche Lieder of 1529, there is now no known copy. One apparently still existed in the nineteenth century but has since disappeared.⁵ A single copy of the earliest later edition of 1533 was not discovered until the early eighteenth century; in 1736 it came into the possession of the Gotha theologian and historian Ernst Solomon Cyprian,⁶ who reprinted its contents, without music, in 1739.⁷ Thereafter the single surviving copy remained in private hands until it was obtained in 1932 by the Lutherhalle, Wittenberg, and was eventually issued in facsimile in 1954.⁸

Then there is the single copy of the Wittenberg hymnal of 1526 that forms the focal point of this study, which came to light only at the end of the nineteenth century.⁹ This source has often been noticed in Luther studies but usually as a secondary rather than a primary source. How many other Wittenberg broadsides, pamphlets, and small collections of hymns that at one time existed but have since disappeared remains an enigmatic conundrum.

The title of this book, The Whole Church Sings, is based on a statement by Martin Luther in his Deutsche Messe, issued in 1526. Because of the fragmentary and incomplete nature of the evidence concerning the extent of congregational participation in hymn singing in these early Reformation years, the tendency in some quarters has been to deny that it was of any significance. The suggestion is that it took some time for congregational singing to be really established in Lutheran worship, that the choir did most of the singing, and that there was no effective congregational hymnal published until 1529. However, it is possible to draw other conclusions from the same documentary sources, from which, if they are also seen against the background of the social and cultural contexts within which the Reformation movement was being played out, a somewhat different picture emerges, as this book attempts to demonstrate.

The substance of this study was developed from two keynote addresses. The first I gave at the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod Institute on Liturgy, Preaching, and Church Music, held at Concordia University, Seward, Nebraska, in July 2014, and the second at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Christian Scholarship in Music, held at Emory University, Atlanta, in February, 2015. I am grateful to the organizers of these events for giving me the opportunity to explore and develop my research interests. For their personal support and encouragement, I sincerely thank my colleagues Stephen Crist of Emory University and Markus Rathey of Yale University. Derek Remeš of Eastman School of Music I gratefully thank for preparing the musical examples. There are three people whose consistent help and assistance have been invaluable; indeed, without it I still would not be finished. Matthew Carver of Nashville has been of enormous help in unraveling linguistic knots in German and Latin in order to create readable and accurate translations—of course, any infelicities in this regard are mine, not his. Daniel Zager, dean of Sibley Library, Eastman School of Music, Rochester, has read every word, sometimes many times; his advice and counsel have materially affected the way this study was completed. And of course, as always, my wife, Sherry Vellucci, has been a source of immense support and encouragement, while at the same time demonstrating patience and forbearance toward her distracted husband; she was also responsible for compiling the indexes.

Throughout this study a number of conventions have been followed. If the first line of a hymn is cited without reference to an author, it is a hymn by Luther. If the first line of a hymn is given in italics, either the text of the hymn or both text and tune are being referenced; if the first line is given in small capitals, then only the tune with that identity is meant. The spelling Enchyridion (from Greek encheiridion, handbook) is used to designate the Wittenberg hymnal of 1524–26, in order to distinguish it from other collections that have the same title.

Writing about Luther’s hymns for English readers presents a number of problems, not least of which is deciding how to refer to the texts when there are different English versions of the same hymn. And even when the translations appear to be the same in each hymnal, close inspection reveals that they are sometimes variant versions. For example, Luther’s classic hymn Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott appears as A Mighty Fortress Is Our God in most American hymnals, as A Safe Stronghold Is Our God or even A Fortress Sure Is God and King in English hymnals, and as Our God He Is a Castle Strong in the American edition of Luther’s Works (LW 53:284–85). To attempt to record all these versions within each of the chapters of this book would lead to confusing, cluttered pages. However, the German first lines are not entirely unfamiliar, since they are commonly used in hymnals as the tune names associated with the translated hymn texts. Therefore in the text of this book Luther’s hymns are referred to by their German first lines, but in Appendix 3 they will be found listed alphabetically with information on where they occur in contemporary hymnals in the particular English versions familiar to the reader. In the text the German first lines often follow the spelling and capitalization of the various sources, and they are sometimes given in their Low German versions. However, in the listings of the contents of hymnals, and in the Appendixes, the first lines are given in their modernized High German forms.

Lob, Ehr sei Gott im höchsten Thron

Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her, stanza 15, line 1

1. See, for example, Olli-Pekka Vainio, ed., Engaging Luther: A (New) Theological Assessment (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2010).

2. Vainio, Engaging Luther, vii. This comment resonates with my own approach to Luther studies. My first book, Luther on Justification (St. Louis: Concordia, 1975), was written out of frustration with established Luther studies that conveyed more about what the authors thought about Luther than what Luther himself actually wrote.

3. See chap. 1.

4. Martin von Hase, Ein Enchiridionfund (Erfurt, Johannes Loersfelt 1525), Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte 39 (1942): 254–55.

5. See chap. 8 and appendix 2.

6. See Geleitwort in the facsimile reprint Das Klug’sche Gesangbuch 1533 nach dem einzigen erhaltenen Exemplar der Lutherhalle zu Wittenberg, ed. Konrad Ameln (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1954), 5.

7. Geistliche Lieder (Gotha: Reyher, 1739), incorporated into Die Hauskirche, oder, erbauliche Schrifften, ed. Ernst Solomon Cyprian (Gotha: Reyher, 1739), [3]:111–80.

8. See n. 6 above.

9. Enchyridion geistlicher gesenge und psalmen fur die leyen, mit viel andern, denn zuvor, gebessert (Wittenberg: Lufft, 1526), unique copy in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin—Preußischer Kulturbesitz, shelfmark: Libri impr. rari oct. 243.

Abbreviations

1

The Reformation Celebrated in Song

The germ of the idea of writing this book occurred in the years when the significance of the chronological countdown to 2017 had begun to dawn on people, and preparations were beginning to be made with regard to how the half-millennium of Luther’s protest in 1517 should be celebrated. The writing was completed in the months before the anniversary year had begun, when events and publications were being announced with great anticipation. The event to be commemorated is, of course, Luther’s publication of his 95 Theses, questioning the theology and practice of indulgences. Whether or not they were actually nailed to the door of the church of All Saints in Wittenberg has been a matter for debate, ¹ though it seems most likely, since it doubled as the university church, and the door also functioned as the university notice-board. The Theses were directed to Luther’s theological colleagues and constituted a call for debate. There is some confusion with regard to the date—was it the eve of All Saints’ Day (31 October) or All Saints’ Day itself (1 November)? Luther sometimes speaks in general terms without mentioning the date, such as At the beginning of the Gospel I proceeded gradually against Tetzel [the primary indulgence-seller in Saxony in 1517]. ² At other times he seems to suggest that the event took place on 1 November rather than 31 October, such as: In the year [15]17 on the Day of All Saints, I began for the first time to write against the pope and indulgences. ³ However, it needs to be borne in mind that saints’ days begin on the eve of the day before, and therefore the evening of 31 October is the beginning of All Saints’ Day.

There is some evidence that Luther and his colleagues marked the anniversary, at least in some years. For example, on the tenth anniversary in 1527 he wrote a letter to Nicholas Amsdorf and signed it: Written at Wittenberg on the Day of All Saints, in the tenth year after the indulgences had been trampled underfoot, in memory of which we are drinking at this hour⁴—no doubt it was Wittenberg beer that was being consumed. Significantly, the following year an important detail was included in the Braunschweig Church Order by Johannes Bugenhagen, Luther’s close colleague and pastor of the Wittenberg parish church. In the section Concerning Festivals, Bugenhagen notes that the Braunschweig Church Order was agreed and accepted on the Sunday after Aegidius in the year 1528, then adds: Therefore, every year on this Sunday [after St. Aegidius Day, 1 September] a preacher should hold before us this grace, which we have experienced in order to thank Christ that He helped us continue with this Order to our salvation and that of our children.⁵ Since there is reference in this section of the Church Order to singing in connection with other festivals, preaching on the anniversary of the introduction of the Braunschweig Church Order would have been in the context of the singing of appropriate hymns, though none are prescribed. But the fact that Bugenhagen, pastor in Wittenberg, commends an annual commemoration of the beginning of Reformation theology and practice in Braunschweig suggests that something similar may well have been customary in the Wittenberg parish church, when there would be preaching and the singing of appropriate hymns on 31 October each year. But there is no documentation to confirm this hypothesis.

Apparently, the earliest reference to an observance of an anniversary of Luther’s posting his 95 Theses is in a sixteenth-century manuscript in the Wittenburg University library which mentions an event that included hymn singing. It must have taken place sometime after 1564, the year the university purchased the Lutherhalle from Luther’s heirs and successors. The source indicates that in subsequent years it was customary for the university’s professors to gather together in the Lutherstube (Luther’s room) in the Lutherhalle in the early morning of the anniversary of Luther’s posting of the 95 Theses, 31 October, where they sang Luther’s version of Psalm 67, Es wollt uns Gott gnädig sein. Afterward they proceeded to the Castle Church of All Saints for a special service and sermon.⁶

The centenary in 1617 was marked as a significant milestone. At the Saxon court in Dresden, the centenary was celebrated in an elaborate fashion between 31 October and 2 November. Details of the services held over the three days, morning and evening, were included with the published sermons that had been given by the senior court chaplain, Matthias Hoë von Hoënegg, Chur Sächsische Evangelische JubelFrewde/ In der Churfürstlichen Sächsischen SchloßKirchen zu Dreßden/ theils vor/ theils bey wehrendem/ angestalten Jubelfest/ neben andern Solenniteten, auch mit Christlichen Predigten/ auff gnedigste anordnung gehalten (Leipzig: Lamberg, Kloseman, 1617).⁷ Much special celebratory music was composed by Heinrich Schütz for these services in the Dresden court chapel, involving many musicians and singers:

This music was performed by the musicians of the Elector of Saxony, our most gracious Lord: eleven instrumentalists, eleven singers, three organists, four lutenists, one theorbist, three organ choir boys, five discantists with interchange of all kinds of magnificent instruments, with two organs, two regals, three clavicymbals, and, in addition, eighteen trumpeters and two kettledrums, all presented with due solemnity under the leadership of Heinrich Schütz of Weissenfels.⁸

Even though there was much elaborate music, the primary thread of the music-making was supplied by congregational hymns, often with the congregation alternating with the choir and instruments. Sometimes the latter involved trumpets and timpani, as in the final section of Luther’s German Te Deum, Herr Gott, dich loben wir, or in between the verses of the six-chorus Magnificat, when the congregation sang the individual stanzas of Luther’s Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort. Other hymns were sung throughout the three days, notably Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, after the morning sermon on 1 November.

These celebrations in Dresden in 1617 established the model for later notable Reformation anniversaries: that the special ceremonies should follow the pattern of major festivals of the church year and be spread over three days, that there should be special sermons preached and festive music newly composed, and that the services should include the singing of the primary hymns of the Reformation period, especially the hymns of Martin Luther. However, there was not much to celebrate in the decades following the centenary because of the ravages and devastation of the Thirty Years’ War (1618–48). After decades of recovery the Saxon elector Johann Georg II directed that the churches in his domain should celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Reformation in 1667.⁹ In subsequent years an annual Reformationsfest gradually became normative in Saxony on 31 October.¹⁰ It was the bicentenary of 1717, however, that extensively and intensively made an astonishing impact, affecting not only Lutherans in Germany but also those in other parts of Europe.