Luther Music Theory Final Draft 231011 Online

7/29/2019 Luther Music Theory Final Draft 231011 Online

1/26

!

!

ANDREAS LOEWE

THE MELBOURNE COLLEGE OF DIVINITY

Musica est optimum:Martin Luthers Theory of Music

Abstract:

Martin Luthers appreciation for music as a practical instrument to promotethe message of the reformation by the creation of vernacular hymnody andspecifically Lutheran liturgical music has dominated studies on Luther andmusic. The examination of his systematic understanding of music, on the otherhand, has been consistently neglected. This article argues that, more thantwenty years into his reformation, the philosophical basis of his music theoryremains very much indebted to the work of Johannes de Muris and hishumanist successors, shedding light on his understanding of music as a

quadrivial art form and the queen of philosophical learning.

1. Introduction:

Some twenty years ago, Carl Schalk published a slender volume,Luther on Music (1988), one of the first academically rigorousstudies on the subject. Schalks work significantly updated earlierstudies in English on the reformers understanding of music, inparticular Walter Buzsins Luther on Music(1946) and Paul Nettlspopular Luther and Music (1948).1 While Buszin and Nettl

!All translations my own. I should like to thank Dr Katherine Firth, ProfMarkus Rathkey, Dr Grantley McDonald and my research assistant PhilipNicholls for valuable feedback on the article, Alistair Clark for proofreading,and the State Library of Victoria Melbourne and Ms Sabrina Lindemann forreadily granting reproduction rights for the images used in this article.1 Carl F. Schalk, Luther on Music: Paradigms of Praise(St Louis, MO: Concordia,1988), 19; Walter Buszin, Luther on Music, The Musical Quarterly32 (1946), 80-97; Paul Nettl, Luther and Music (Philadelphia, PA: Muhlenberg Press, 1948;reprint New York: Russell & Russell, 1967). Where Nettls work is indebted to

Johannes Rautenstrauch, Luther und die Pflege der kirchlichen Musik in Sachsen(Leipzig: Breitkopf und Hrtel, 1907), Buszins is based in part on Karl Anton,

LUTHERSTHEORY OF MUSIC

! 2

provided a useful oversight of Luthers statements on music inEnglish, as Schalk explained, their works caused frustrationbecause of a lack of documentation: where Nettls slender

monograph was entirely unreferenced, Buszins study wasrestricted because of its brevity.2 In addition, both studiessubscribed to a now largely outmoded Protestant paradigm of thereformation and therefore require substantial re-evaluation.3Schalks principal concern, however, was not to provide such areassessment, but to sketch a thorough overview of therelationship between music and [the churchs] common life inthe writings of Martin Luther.4 This he undertook by tracingcertain paradigms of praise in Luthers statements on music andrelating them to a theological understanding of music that, in hisview, continued to influence music-making in Lutheran churchesto date.5

The work of Robin Leaver significantly extended Schalksscholarship, while sharing Schalks emphasis on the practicalimplications for liturgy and music-making in Luthers writings onmusic. In 1989 Leavers long-established interest in hymnody andliturgical music led him to address the liturgical reforms of MartinLuther.6 From 1997-2006, he published a stream of articles onLuther, Lutheranism and music, which he combined in a

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Luther und die Musik: Eine Gabe an das deutsche Volk zum Reformations-Jubilum(Zwickau: Herrmann, 1916). Neither appear to have been aware of the article

On Luthers Love for and Knowledge of Music The Musical Times, 1.11 (1845),82-83, 87, by an anonymous German Student, which provides a firstcomprehensive English-language compilation of Luthers sayings on music.2 Schalk (1988), 7.3 In particular, Nettl (1967), 2-6: Music in the Catholic Church and in theReformed Churches, 105-112.4 Schalk (1988), 31.5 Schalk (1988), 31.6 Robin A. Leaver, The Lutheran Reformation, in: Ian Fenlon, ed., TheRenaissance from the 1470s to the End of the Sixteenth Century (Englewood Cliffs:Prentice Hall, 1989), 263-285.


2/26

ANDREAS LOEWE

! 3

comprehensive study, Luthers Liturgical Music (2007).7 BothSchalks and Leavers works concentrate on Luthers practicalreforms to liturgical music and the history of the music employed

in Lutheran worship and education, especially Luthers hymnody.Neither addresses in any detail the theoretical basis thatunderpins the reformers insights into music, though both Schalkand Leaver acknowledgein passingthat the reformer isindebted to late-medieval philosophy for his theoreticalunderstanding of music.8

Schalks and Leavers emphasis on Luthers practical useof music rather than his theoretical understanding of musicshould not surprise: previous studies on Luther and music almostuniversally concentrated on Luthers aptitude as a musician, hisenthusiasm for music as an art form, and his practical use of

music to further his reformation, and so bypassed the subject ofhis music theory altogether.9 Even studies that intentionally setout to investigate Luthers philosophy of musical aesthetics, suchas Joe Tarrys Music in the Educational Philosophy of MartinLuther, banish the subject of his music theory to a couple offootnotes.10 While Schalk at least affords an entire paragraph toLuthers theory of music, he dismisses the importance of

!7 Robin A. Leaver, Luthers Liturgical Music: Principles and Implications, LutheranQuarterly Books 6 (Grand Rapids IL: Eerdmans, 2007).8 Schalk (1988), 18; Leaver (2007), 27-30, 34-5.9 Johannes Rautenstrauch (1907), 6, comments on Luthers theoretical

knowledge [theoretische Kenntnisse], although only with reference to hisknowledge of the musical genre, in particular Luthers understanding ofharmonics and his ability to offer practical advice on how compositions mightbe improved. Similarly, Nettl (1967), 31-32, offers a brief general overview ofthe development of a late-medieval philosophy of music but confines hisobservations on Luther to practical reforms.10 Joe E. Tarry, Music in the Educational Philosophy of Martin Luther, Journalof Research in Music Education, 21.4 (1973), 355-365, unfortunately does notfollow up on his suspicions, 356n, that Luthers understanding of music wasinfluenced by Boethius and, 357-8, that he regarded music as one of thequadrivial arts.


! 4

considering his music theoretical base in favour of his practicalapproach: For Luther as a theologian, music was not primarily amatter for mystical or allegorical speculation, but a practical art,

closely tied to the proclamation of the Word.11

More specialised studies on sixteenth-century German

music, among them Ralph Lorenz dissertation, PedagogicalImplications of musica practica in Sixteenth-Century Wittenberg (1995), orspecifically Lutheran music, including Rebecca WagnerOettingers Music as Popular Propaganda in the German Reformation(1999) and Christopher Browns Singing the Gospel (2005), alsotended to focus on the practical uses of music for Lutheraneducation and the importance of music as an instrument todisseminate reformation thought, rather than exploring Luthersphilosophical or theoretical understanding of music.12 From the

outset Leavers magisterial Luthers Liturgical Music (2007) affirmsthat the work is principally dedicated to an exploration ofLuthers liturgical music and invites other researchers toundertake the task of revealing more about Luthersunderstanding of music.13

The present contribution takes on Leavers challenge andpresents a detailed assessment of the reformers music theory.Rather than speculate on what Luther might have written in aprojected (but never written) treatise on music, however, thisarticle examines only extant sources in order to establish a

!11 Schalk (1988), 19.12 Ralph Lorenz, Pedagogical Implications of musica practica in Sixteenth-CenturyWittenberg, unpublished Doctoral Dissertation (Bloomington IN: IndianaUniversity School of Music, 1995); Rebecca Wagner Oettinger,Music as Popula rPropaganda in the German Reformation 1517-55, unpublished DoctoralDissertation (Madison WI: University of Wisconsin, 1999); ChristopherBrown, Singing the Gospel: Lutheran Hymns and the Success of the Reformation(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005).13 Leaver (2007), 19-20.


3/26

ANDREAS LOEWE

! 5

theoretical framework for Luthers music theory.14 Drawing onhis writings and Table Talk, in particular his sustained systematicreflection on music, the Preface to the Symphoniae Iucundae (1538),

the article outlines Luthers theory of music and, whereverpossible, identifies and follows his own classification of music.15It contends that, despite the fact that Luther had alreadysignificantly departed from late-medieval philosophy in many ofhis theological writings, in his writings on music he remainedstrongly indebted to a late-medieval understanding of music as aquadrivial art, and therefore continued to draw on essentialelements of scholastic philosophy throughout his life.

2. Music among the Seven Liberal Arts:

An enthusiastic singer, capable lute player, competent composerand prolific hymn writer, Martin Luther frequently asserted thathe always loved music.16 Luther not only loved music but had

!14 Leaver (2007), 85-97, attempts to construct such a work, using Luthers brief1530 outline for the projected treatise Peri Tes Mousikes[On Music] against theenthusiasts, Martin Luther, D. Martin Luthers Werke: Kritische Gesamtausgabe[WA], Joachim Karl Friedrich Knaake, ed. et al. (Weimar: Hermann Bhlau,1883-1985), WA 30.2: 696, and a famous letter of October 1530 to composerLudwig Senfl, Briefwechsel[Br], WA Br 5: 639, no. 1727, as a basis.15 Luther, Praefatio zu den Symphoniae Iucundae, 1538, WA 50: 364-374. Theeditors, WA 50: 366, 12, suggest that the Latin version of the Prefaceis Luthers

original but include a contemporary German version which translates and, insome instances, amplifies the Latin. Walter Blankenburg, berlieferung undTextgeschichte von Martin Luthers Encomion musices, Lutherjahrbuch 39(1972), 80-104, suggests that the German was Luthers original. Since theheading of the German text, WA 50: 368, 13: never previously published inGerman [vormals nie Deudsch im Druck ausgegangen], allows for thepossibility of a previous Latin edition, this article uses both versions in parallel.16 WA, Tischreden [Tr], Tischreden aus den Jahren 1540-44, WA Tr 5: 557, 18, no.6248: Musicam semper amavi; Johannes Mathesius, Historien von deEhrwrdigen in Gott seligen t heuren Manns Gott es, D. Martin Luthers, Anfan g, Lehre,Leben (Nrnberg: Paul Kauffmann, 1608), 135v: And at times, following


! 6

studied music theory as a compulsory part of his liberal artsdegree at Erfurt. In a letter dated 1520, a fellow-student and laterrector of Erfurt University, Crotus Rubeanus [Johannes Jger]

addressed Luther: You were among our group of students themusician and erudite philosopher, suggesting that among hiscontemporaries Luther excelled in his understanding of music asa philosophical discipline.17

Certainly from the twelfth century onwards music hadbeen classified as part of the quadriviumarithmetic, geometry,music and astronomyfour sciences that were studied alongsidethe trivium of grammar, logic and rhetoric.18 Together, thequadrivial and trivial arts formed the corpus of learning in the artsfaculty of the medieval university. At the heart of musical studiesfrom at least the mid-fourteenth century onwards had been

Boethius De institutione musica libri quinque (c. 500) and Johannesde Muris influential commentary on the work of Boethius,Musicaspeculativa secundum Boetium(c. 1323).19 De Muris musica speculativanot only provided a commentary on the philosophical andarithmetic foundations of music, but combined music theory with

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!meals, the Doctor would sing, for he was a lute player [Vnnd nach Tische sangauch Doctor biweilen, wie er auch ein Lautenist war].17 Luther, Briefe 1520-22, WA Br 2: 91, 141-2: Eras in nostro quondamcontubernio musicus et philosophus eruditus.18 For the role played by musical education in the Quadrivium, see: AnjaHeilmann, Boethius Musiktheorie und das Quadrivium, Hypomnemata 171

(Gttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 2007), 68-104, and Karl GustavFellerer, Die Musica in den Artes Liberales, in: Joseph Koch, ed. et al., ArtesLiberales: Von der Antiken Bildung zur Wissenschaft des Mittelalters (Leiden: Brill,1976), 33-49.19 Gottfried Friedlein, ed., Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, Boetii DeInstitutione arithmetica libri duo; De institutione musica libri quinque (Leipzig: B. G.

Teubner, 1867); for a comprehensive introduction to Boethius, see: HenryChadwick, Boethius: The Consolations of Music, Logic, Theology and Philosophy(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990); Johannes de Muris, Musica speculativasecundumBoetium, in:Christoph Falkenroth, ed., Die Musica speculativa des Johannes de Muris,Beihefte zum Archiv fr Musikwissenschaft 34 (Stuttgart: Steiner, 1992).


4/26

ANDREAS LOEWE

! 7

such strong pedagogical qualities that his writings [were assured]a wide diffusion until the end of the Middle Ages.20

Figure 1: Mathematical properties of pitch using a Monochord, from: AniciusManlius Severinus Boethius, De Musica, fol. 35v. Late Tenth-Century ItalianManuscript. State Library of Victoria, Melbourne.

An integral part of the quadrivium, de Muris work becamea set text for students at universities in England, France andGermany, including the university of Erfurt.21 As a student at

!20 Emmanuel Pouelle, John of Murs, Dictionary of Scientific Biography, ed.Charles Goulston Gillispie (New York: Scribner, 1973), 7: 128-133, 128.21 J. C. Hermann Weissenborn, Acten der Erfurter Universitt, HistorischeCommission der Provinz Sachsen (Halle: Otto Hendel, 1884), 2: 134, 13, the1449 statutes of Erfurt University certainly make provision for the study of


! 8

Erfurt from 1501, Luther had a thorough philosophicalgrounding in the seven liberal arts.22 The curricular evidence ofthe continued use of Boethius and his later commentators like de

Muris at Erfurts philosophy faculty, as well as Jgersapprobation of Luthers excellence in mastering the philosophyof music, strongly support Blankenburgs assertion that Luthersuccessfully completed a regular course in musica speculativaas partof the liberal arts.23 Although the curricular requirements atErfurt do not explicitly include the study of theorists such asAdam von Fulda, Leaver is right in suggesting that he influencedthe reformers understanding of music: his Preface to the Symphoniae

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!music for one month [musica per 1 mensem] every year. In addition, 2: 134,21-22, Masters and Baccalaureate students in the liberal arts read Boethius for

four months [per quartuor menses] The statutes governing the quadrivialexamination of Masters students certainly make provision for an examinationon the Music of de Muris [musicam Muris], 2: 138, 23. For the place of deMuris in the Quadrivium at Paris, see: Joseph Dyer, Speculative Musica andthe Medieval University of Paris, Music and Letters90.2 (2009), 177-204, 181.

At Oxford, the work was used from 1431, according to James Weisheipl,Curriculum of the Faculty of Arts at Oxford in the early fourteenth century,Medieval Studies 26 (1964), 143-185, 171, probably alongside the anonymousCommentum Oxoniense in musicam Boethii, see: Matthias Hochadel, ed., CommentumOxoniense in musicam Boethii, Verffentlichungen der MusikhistorischenKomission der Bayrischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 16 (Mnchen: C. H.Beck, 2002), lxxix-xc.22 Weissenborn (1884), 2: 219, 12: the Easter term matriculations for 1501record the admission at Erfurt of Martin Luther from Mansfield [Martinus

Ludher ex Mansfeldt].23 Weissenborn (1884), 2: 134, 138; Walter Blankenburg, Luther, Martin, in:Friedrich Blume, ed., Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart: AllgemeineEnzyklopdie der Musik [MGG], 17 vols., (Kassel: Brenreiter, 1949-68), 8: cols.1334-1346, 1335: Ein regulres und erfolgreiches Studium der Musicaspeculativa im Rahmen der Artes liberales; Blankenburg further explained thatin addition to the work de Muris, Luther certainly would also have studied late-medieval commentators such as Johannes Tinctoris, in: Martin Luther und dieMusik, in: Erich Hbner and Renate Steiger, eds. et al., Kirche und Musik:Gesammelte Aufstze zur Geschichte der gottesdienstlichen Musik (Gttingen:

Vandenhoek und Ruprecht, 1979), 20.


5/26

ANDREAS LOEWE

! 9

Iucundae (1538) is clearly dependent on Adam von Fuldas musictheory.24

Because Luthers systematic reflections on the nature and

function of music are few, his Preface to the Symphoniae Iucundaeaffords unrivalled insights into the reformers understanding ofthe theory of music.25 Luther had been asked to provide a prefacefor a collection of 52 motets by 19 composers, including LudwigSenfl, Johann Walter, Heinrich Isaac and Pierre de la Ruecompiled by Georg Rhau, a former Cantor of St Thomas Leipzigand composer turned Wittenberg publisher.26 Luthers reflectionson the origin, role and function of music in the Preface closelyfollow those of late-medieval and humanist commentators.Leavers suggestion, therefore, that in his understanding of theinventio of music Luther is distinctively different from his medieval

predecessors, stands in need of reassessment.

27

!24 For the influence on Luther of Adam von Fuldas De Musica, see: Leaver(2007), 34-35.25 For Georg Rhau, see: Marie Schlter, Musikgeschichte Wittenbergs im 16.Jahrhundert: Quellenkundliche und sozialgeschichtliche Untersuchungen, Abhandlungenzur Musikgeschichte 18 (Gttingen: Vandenhoek und Ruprecht, 2010), 170-180; for his Symphoniae Iucundae, a collection of 52 motets for church use, see:

Wolfram Steude, Untersuchungen zur mitteldeutschen Musikberlieferung undMusikpflege im 16. Jahrhundert, Musikwissenschaftliche Studienbibliothek

(Leipzig: Peters, 1978); for his influence as a publisher of the Lutheranreformation, see: Walter Wlbing, Der Drucker und Musikverleger Georg Rhau. EinBeitrag zur Drucker- und Verlegerttigkeit im Zeitalter der Reformation, unpublishedDoctoral Dissertation (Berlin: Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitt, 1922).26 Luther, Praefatio zu den Symphoniae Iucundae, 1538, WA 50: 364, 7-10; 22-23:asked Luther and Melanchthon for prefaces [sich Vorworte von Luther undMelanchthon erbat]. Melanchthons preface to Rhaus Selectae Harmoniae quatuorvocum de Passione Christi, 1538, is reproduced in: CorpusReformatorum [CR], KarlGottlob Bretschneider, ed. et al. (Braunschweig: C. A. Schwetschke & Sohn,1834-1946), 5: 918-21.27 Leaver (2007), 71.


! 10

In December 1538, the reformer had told a company ofsingers that he admired their music-making greatly.28 In theirensuing discussion on music Luther suggested that music was one

of the prime matters; a point he reiterated in writing the sameyear.29 In speaking about music as a discipline, therefore, Lutherdrew on a Boethian understanding of music and its place withinthe created order: prime matter, the sixth-century philosopherBoethius held, following Nichomachus of Gerasa and Aristotle,was matter that had never been shaped or formed by humanaction, and therefore was natural (prevalent in nature), ratherthan artificial (shaped by artisans or artists).30 In the context of aconvivial debate among singers, recorded as such in his TableTalk, Luthers reference to prime matter might suggest a casualor imprecise use of the term. However, the fact that Lutherreferred to music as prima materia more than once, suggests that

the reformer used the term intentionally, referring his hearersback to a philosophical school still very much prevalent in thethird decade of the sixteenth century.31

Not only Luthers understanding of the order of musicwithin creation shows that his views on music were underpinnedby traditional late-medieval music theory.32 The reformer

!28 Luther, Tischreden aus den Jahren 1538-40, WA Tr 4: 191, no. 4192, n5: In theyear [15]38, on 17 December, when Dr Martin Luther hosted some singers

who cheerfully sang some motets, he said admiringly [Anno 38, 17.Decembris, cum Doctor Martinus Lutherus apud se haberet cantores egrerias

motettas canentes, dixit admirans].29 WA Tr 4: 191, 34: Est materia prima; for the Artistotelian understanding ofprime matter, see: C. J. F. Williams, Aristotles De Generatione et Corruptione,Oxford Aristotle Series (Oxford: University Press, 2002), xv and in particularthe discussion Prime matter in De Generatione et Corruptione, in Appendix, 211-219; for its Boethian adaptation, see: Heilmann (2007), 305-307.30 Heilmann (2007), 306n.31 Luther, Tischreden aus den Jahren 1538-40, WA Tr 4: 191, 34, no. 4192; Praefatiozu den Symphoniae Iucundae, 1538, WA 50: 370, 9.32 For the Aristotelian understanding of music among the prime matters, see:Eckhard Roch, Zwischen Geist und Materie: Grundlagen des musikalischen


6/26

ANDREAS LOEWE

! 11

consistently classified music in strictly quadrivial terms as part ofthe study of the mathematical disciplines, alongside (and possiblysubordinate to) arithmetic.33 In Boethian terms, music theory had

long been regarded as a subset of arithmetic:The four mathematical disciplines of the quadrivium were paired byBoethius depending on whether the discipline concernedmultitude (arithmetic, music) or magnitude (geometry, astronomy).

Accordingly, arithmetic i s multitudo per se, while music is multitudo adaliquid(i.e. one number related to another proportionally).34

At German-speaking universities courses in music werefrequently taught by mathematicians: in Vienna, the arithmeticianErasmus Heritius [Hritz] taught both music and arithmetic,while in Frankfurt an der Oder the chair in sacred mathematicsAmbrosius Lacher undertook the teaching of speculative music

from his own influential textbookJohannes de Muris in MusicamBoecii (1508).35 Luther regarded music in similar terms: in his

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Materialbegriffes in Philosophie und Rhetorik, Archiv fr Musikwissenschaft 59(2002), 136-164, 138-144.33 For the place of music as a subset of mathematics, see: Eva Hirtler, DieMusik im bergang von der scientia mathematica zur scientia media, in: FrankHentschel, ed., Musik und die Geschichte der Philosophie und Naturwissenschaften imMittelalter: Fragen zur Wechselwirkung von Musica und Philosophia im Mittelalter,Studien und Texte zur Geistesgeschichte des Mittelalters 62 (Leiden: Brill,1998), 19-38.34 Joseph Dyer, The Place of Musica in Medieval Classifications ofKnowledge, The Journal of Musicology, 24.1 (2007), 3-71, 6; John Butt, Music

Education and the Art of Performance in the German Baroque, Cambridge MusicalTexts and Monographs (Cambridge: University Press, 1994), 3; Heilmann(2007), 103: The subordination of music theory to arithmetic [DieSubordination der Musiktheorie unter die Arithmetik].35 Ambrosius Lacher,Euclides Elementorum libri VI sumptu et opera Ambrosii Lacherde Merspurgk excussa (Frankfurt an der Oder, Magister Ambrosius: 1506),frontispiece: Sacre Mathematice ordinarius; idem,Epytoma Johannis de Murisin musicam Boecii (Frankfurt an der Oder, Magister Ambrosius: 1508); for hismusic theoretical teaching at Frankfurt, see: Klaus Wolfgang Niemller,Deutsche Musiktheorie im 16. Jahrhundert: Geistes- undinstitutionsgeschichtliche Grundlagen, in: Theodor Gllner, ed. et al., Deutsche


! 12

Appeal to the Counsellors of all Cities of German Nation (1524)encouraging town counsellors to set up schools and teach aLutheran curriculum, he expressed the hope that all children

should learn music alongside the whole of mathematics.36

Hisclassification of music as a subset of mathematics stronglysuggests that, despite the far-reaching reforms of his theologicalopinions, Luthers understanding of the music continued to beinformed by late-medieval philosophy.

Towards the close of the sixteenth century, music wouldincreasingly be defined in terms of its bridge-function betweenthe trivial and quadrivial arts, a centrality among the arts that wasextolled by Luther. This bridge-function of music was not onlyexpressed in philosophical writings but was also reflectedarchitecturally: in the 1589 redevelopment of the town hall in the

Lutheran Hanseatic town of Lemgo, music takes centre placeamong the seven liberal arts on an outstanding late-renaissancebas-relief.37 Its central position below the first floor bay windowof the Kornherrenstube provides a link in stone of the rhetorical

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Musiktheorie des 15. bis 17. Jahrhunderts I: Von Paumann bis Calvisius (Darmstadt:Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2003), 69-98, 78.36 Luther, An die Ratsherren aller Stdte deutschen Landes, 1524, WA 15: 46, 15:Die musica mit der gantzen mathematica lernen.37

I am grateful to Prof. Markus Rathkey for alerting me to this outstandingarchitectural expression of the bridge function of music in the late sixteenthcentury. For the architectural development of Lemgos town hall, and theKornherrenstube, see: Otto Gaul and Ulf-Dietrich Korn, eds., Die Stadt Lemgo,Bau- und Kunstdenkmler von Westfalen 49.1 (Mnster: Aschendorff, 1983),490 and 520f. and Max von Sonnen, Die Weserrenaissance: Die Bauentwicklung umdie Wende des XVI. und XVII. Jahrhunderts an der oberen und mittleren Weser und inden angrenzenden Landesteilen, Niederschsische Renaissance 1 (Mnster:

Aschendorff, 1969); for role of music in Lemgo during the renais sance, see:Hans Hoppe, Musikalische Renaissance in der alten Hansestadt Lemgo undam Hofe Simons VI. zu Brake, in: Heimatland Lippe57 (1964), 93-97.


7/26

ANDREAS LOEWE

! 13

artsgrammar, dialectic and rhetoricwith the mathematicalartsarithmetic, geometry and astronomy.38

Figure 2: Detail of Georg and Ernst Crossmanns 1589 sandstone bas-relief atthe town hall in Lemgo, showing Music at the centre of the Seven Liberal Arts,bridging trivial and quadrivial learning. The Art of Music is represented by atrumpeting female figure holding a music manuscript, seated in front of anorgan and next to a drum and a harp. The attributes of trumpet and harp referto Jubal, the father of those who play the harp and wind instruments (Gen.4.3). Photography: Sabrina Lindemann, University of Applied SciencesOstwestfalen-Lippe, 2008.

3. Sources for Luthers Theory of Music:

!38 Created in 1589 by Georg and Ernst Crossmann, the ornate sandstone bas-relief of the Kornherrenstube [Offices of the Supervisors of the grain trade] isadorned with seven allegorical depictions of Grammatica, Dialectica,Rhetorica, Mvsica, Arithmetica, Geometria, Astrono[mia].


! 14

Although it only takes up 83 lines in the Weimar edition, LuthersPreface to the Symphoniae Iucundaeprovides the most detailed outlineof the reformers theory of music. The Preface is framed by his

praise of the many and great uses of music.39

He sets out byextolling this excellent gift of God, which he commends toeveryone,40 and ends with a concluding commendation of thisnoble, salutary and gladdening creation of God.41 A solemnwarning not to abuse the gift of music in service of the enemy ofGod, the enemy of nature, and of this most joyful art, concludeshis reflection on music.42 Since the Prefacewas primarily addressedto music lovers and musicians (and not theologians orphilosophers), Luther made use of terminology that could easilybe understood by those without quadrivial music theory. Whilethis means that the language of the Prefaceis more accessible thanmany earlier textbooks on music philosophy, the work is neither

philosophically lightweight nor unstructured.43Luther made clear at the beginning of the Preface, that

music was such a wonderful and noble art that he found it hardto determine where I should to begin or stop praising it, let alone

!39 Luther, Praefatio zu den Symphoniae Iucundae, 1538, WA 50: 368, 5-6:Multitudine et magnitudine virtutis et bonitatis eius; 368, 19: Viel und grossenutze.40 WA 50: 368, 4-5: Omnibus commendatum esse donum illud diuinum etexcellentissimum; 368, 17: Schne vnd kstliche Gabe Gottes, 369, 14: Vonjederman tewr vnd werd zu achten ist.41 WA 50: 373, 8: Tu commendatam hanc nobilem, salutarem et laetam

creaturam; 373, 20-21: Darumb wil ich jederman diese Kunst befohlenvnd sie hiemit vermanet haben, das sie jnen diese kstliche, ntzliche vndfrhliche Creatur Gottes tewr, lieb vnd werd sein lassen.42 WA 50: 374, 4: Hostem Dei et aduersarium naturae et artis huiusiucundissimae; 50: 374, 8-9: Ein Feind Gottes, der Natur vnd dieser l ieblichenKunst.43 In the Prefacefor instance, Luther likened the human voice to prime matter,

WA 50: 370, 9: seu materia prima, and commented that philosophers mayhave classified and observed, but not fully grasped [mirantur, sed noncomplectuntur, WA 50: 370, 10], the complexities of the voice, let alone ofhuman emotions.


8/26

ANDREAS LOEWE

! 15

to find manner and form to praise it.44 Whether or not he reallywas a loss as to the proper manner and form for his praise ofmusic, he certainly resorted to a traditional theoretical form of

classifying music for his brief treatise, adopting a theoreticalframework he had studied at university. In Erfurt musica Murishad been a central part of Luthers philosophical education.45There are numerous parallels between de Muris and Luthersthoughts on the origins of music, which strongly suggest anintellectual dependence on de Muris textbooks. In addition,Luther drew on scholastic and humanist predecessors; hisreflections on the origin, form and function of music follow astructure common to three humanist music theorists thenworking in Germany: the Wittenberg music theorist Adam vonFulda (c. 1445-1505),46 the Cologne theorist Nicolaus Wollick (c.

!44 WA 50: 368, 6-7: Neque initium neque finem neque modum rationis

inuenire queam; 368, 19-20: Ein herrliche vnd edle Kunst ist, das ich nichtweis, wo ich dieselbe zu loben anfahen oder auffhren sol, oder auff was weisevnd form ich sie also loben mge.45 Weissenborn (1884), 2: 138, 23.46 For Adam von Fulda, see: Peter Slemon, Adam of Fu lda on musica plana andcompositio: De musica, Book II, A Translation and commentary, unpublished DoctoralDissertation (Vancouver: University of British Columbia, 1994), 6-19,incorporating a new edition of Adam von Fuldas De Musica, also published in:Martin Gerbert, ed., Scriptores ecclesiastici de musica sacra potissimum ex variis Italiae,Galliae et Germaniae codicibus manuscriptis collecti et nunc primum publica luce donati,[GS], 3 vols. (St Blasien, 1784; repr. Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1963), 329-81.


! 16

1480-1541),47 and the Maastricht theorist Matthus Herbeneus (c.1445-1538).48

Though Luthers Prefacereflects the influence of all three

theorists, it shows particular affinity with Herbenus Nature ofSinging and the Miracle of the Voice(1496).49 Herbenus had dedicated!47 For Adams potential connection with Nicolaus Wollick, see: Slemon (1994),132; for a critical edition of Wollicks seminal Opus Aureum Musicecastigatissumum de Gregoriana et figurativa atque contrapuncto Simplici percommodetractans(Kln: Quentel, 1501), see: Die Musica Gregoriana des Nicolaus Wollick, ed.Klaus Wolfgang Niemller, Beitrge zur Rheinischen Musikgeschichte 11(Kln: Staufen, 1955), 1-80, and idem, Nicolaus Wollick, 1480-1541, und seinMusiktraktat, Beitrge zur rheinischen Musikgeschichte 13 (Kln: Arno VolkVerlag, 1956).48 For Matthus Herbenus [Herben], from 1485 rector [Praefectus] of St ServaasSchool, gospeller [Evangelarius] and, following his priesting in 1504, chaplain

[Capellanus] of St Servaas Collegiate Church in Maastricht, see: RegionaalHistorisch Centrum Maastricht, MS Collection 14B.002A: Kapittel van StStervaas te Maastricht, 980-981; Kapelanen, 14; and Heinrich Hschen,Herbenus (Herben), Matthaeus, in: MGG 6: 190, revised by Klaus-JrgenSachs (2002), MGG 8: 1359-60; H. H. E. Wouters, Mattheus Herbenus

Trajectensis, een humanist van het eerste uur, in: Miscellanea Trajectensia.Bijdragen tot de geschiedenis van Maastricht, Werken uitgegeven door LimburgsGeschied- en Oudheidkundig Genootschap 4 (Maastricht: Limburgs Geschied-en Oudheidkundig Genootschap, 1962), 263-329; G. J. M. Bartelink,Bemerkungen ber die Quellen der Schrift De natura cantus ac miraculis

vocis von Herbenus Traiectensis, Humanistica Lovaniensia 21 (1972), 51-64,and J. IJsewijn, The coming of humanism to the Low Countries, in: Heiko

Augustinus Oberman, Thomas A. Brady Jr., eds., Itinerarium Italicum. The profileof the Italian renaissance in the mirror of its European transformations, dedicated to Paul

Oskar Kristeller on the occasion of his 70th birthday, Studies in Medieval andReformation Thought 14(Leiden: Brill, 1975), 193-301.49 Matthus Herbenus, De natura cantus ac miraculis vocis, Joseph Smits van

Waesberghe, ed., Herbeni Traiectensis De natura cantus ac miraculis vocis, Beitrgezur rheinischen Musikgeschichte, vol. 22 (Kln: Arno Volk, 1957), 16-78; Theoriginal of the work, completed in Maastricht on 5 May 1496 [Ex Traiectosuper Mosam, quinto Kalenda Maias Anni dominici MCCCCXCVI] the anddedicated to Dalberg, is located in Mnchen, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, MSClm [Codices Latini Monachense] 10277, f. 2r-56v, a copy, produced inGermany and dedicated to Johann II of Baden, Bishop of Trier, in Berlin,Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz, MS lat. Quarto 479, f. 1-37.


9/26

ANDREAS LOEWE

! 17

his work to Johannes von Dalberg, Bishop of Worms andChancellor of the Palatinate Court in Heidelberg. Herbenustheory of music has very concrete practical implications for voice

building and voice production (a characteristic that may well havebeen attractive to Luther). During his visits to Heidelberg,Herbenus had sought to reform the renowned Schola Cantorumatthe Palatinate Court in line with his thoughts on music.50 Inaddition to his collaboration with the Kapellmeister of thePalatinate Court, Johannes Susato [von Soest], at HeidelbergHerbenus came into contact with a circle of leading humanistsincluding Rudolf Agricola, Johannes Reuchlin, Jodocus Gallus[Jost Han], Johannes Vigilius, Dietrich von Pleningen, his closefriend Johannes Trithemius [von Trittenheim], and the youngPhilipp Melanchthon.51 At the end of his life, recalling his owntime among the humanists gathered around Dalberg as a youth

[deinde adolescens vidi], Melanchthon praised the PalatinateAcademic Sodality [sodalitas litteraria Rhenana] not only as an

!50 Peter Walter, Johannes von Dalberg und der Humanismus, in: ClaudiaHelm, Jost Hausmann, eds., 1495Kaiser, Reich, Reformen: der Reichstag zuWorms: Ausstellung des Landeshauptarchivs Koblenz in Verbindung mit der Stadt Wormszum 500jhrigen Jubilum des Wormser Reichstags von 1495 (Koblenz:Landesarchivverwaltung Rheinland-Pfalz, 1995), 139-171, 148: durch seineberlegungen auf die berhmte Sngerkapelle am pfalzgrflichen Hof in

Heidelberg Einfluss nehmen wollte. He certainly knew and in 1469 had veryprobably travelled from Maastricht to Rome with the then succentor of StMarys Maastricht, Johannes Susato [von Soest] who, in 1472, was appointedKapellmeister of the Heidelberg Schola, see: Klaus Pietschmann and StevenRozenski, Jr., Singing the Self: The Autobiography of the Fifteenth-CenturyGerman Singer and Composer Johannes von Soest, Early Music History 29(2010), 119-159, 130-132.51 For Johannes Susato, see: Pietschmann and Rozenski (2010), 119-121,Heinrich Hschen, Susato, Johannes de, in: Karl Gustav Fellerer, ed.,Rheinische Musiker(Kln, 1966), 4: 1657, and Sabine !ak, Die Grndung derHofkapelle in Heidelberg,Archiv fr Musikwissenschaft, 50 (1993), 14563.


! 18

adornment of Germany, but a promoter of learning inGermany.52

Despite the fact that, prior to the publication of a modern

critical edition (1957), HerbenusNature of Singing and the Miracle o fthe Voicewas only ever published in part, he was instrumental inshaping the understanding of the interdependence of rhetoric andmusic in later humanist writings on music.53 In addition to thetwo extant copies in Munich and Berlin, eighteenth-centuryantiquarian accounts report the existence of two further copies ofthe work in the Zurich library [Bibliotheca Tigurina] and in theformer library of Raymund Kraft in Ulm.54 Herbenus influencedthe work of his Heidelberg companion, the Augustinian RutgerusSycamber who, in his Dialogus de musica (1500), praised bothHerbenus and his work: so learned a man and so great andincomparable a musician and writer that, without a doubt, he maybe said to be most appealing.55 In his Tetrachordum musices(1511)Johannes Cochlaeus also follows [Herbenus] opinions, Mller-

!52 Karl Hartfelder, ed.,Melanchthoniana Paeda gogica: Eine Er gnzung zu d en WerkenMelanchthons im Corpus Reformatorum (Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1892), 71: Nonsolum ornamento Germaniae fuit, sed etiam studijs profuit.53 The dedication and preface of Herbenus work were reproduced in: JohannGeorg Schelhorn, Amoenitates Literariae: Quibus Variae Observationes, Scripta itemquaedam anecdota & rariora Opuscula exhibentur (Frankfurt and Leipzig: DanielBartolomus, 1725), 2: 82-86.54 Jean-Franois Foppens, Bibliotheca Belgica, sive Virorum in Belgio vita, scriptisqueillustrium (Brussels: Petrus Foppens, 1739), 2: 867; Georg Wilhelm Zapf, ber

das Leben und die Verdienste Johann von Dalbergs (Augsburg: NP, 1789), 42-43, n.30: in der ehemaligen Raymund Kraftischen Bibliothek zu Ulm. Bothcollections have been subsumed into larger collections, neither of whichappear to hold the manuscripts today.55 Rutgerus Sycamber de Venray, Dialogus de musica, Fritz Soddemann, ed.,Beitrge zur rheinischen Musikgeschichte 54 (Kln: Arno Volk, 1963), 1-64,26: Tam docto viro, tam magno et incomparabili musico et scriptori, quodsine dubio dixerim, delectabilissimo; for Sycamber, see: Konrad Wiedemann,Rutgerus Sycamber, in: Peter Bietenholz and Thomas Deutscher eds.,Contemporaries of Erasmus: A Biographical Register of the Renaissance and Reformation(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1987) 3: 301-2.


10/26

ANDREAS LOEWE

! 19

Heuser and Niemller suggest.56 Similarly, in his Pandectae(1548),the Zurich bibliographer and musicologist Conrad Gesner alsorefers to Herbenus work, which suggests that the work was well

known both in Catholic and Protestant humanist circles.57

Regardless of whether Luther got to know Herbenus

work through Melanchthon and other members of theHeidelberg humanist sodality, through a widely-travelled musictheorist and fellow-Augustinian like Sycamber, the Erfurt friendsof Abbot Trithemius,58 or even through the pages of a theologicalopponent like Cochlaeushis Preface to the Symphoniae Iucundaeshares two key concepts formulated by Herbenus:59 the insistenceon the significance of music as an instrument to communicateGods Word, and a sense of marvel at the power of music tocontrol the human emotions.60 Since Herbenus also makes use ofde Muris philosophical framework, there is further significant

!56 Franz Mller-Heuser, Vox humana: ein Beitrag zur Untersuchung derStimmsthetik des Mittelalters, Klner Beitrge zur Musikwissenschaft 196(Regensburg: Gustav Bosse, 1997), 46: In dieser Einstellung folgt ihm 1511

Johannes Cochlaeus; Klaus Wolfgang Niemller, Die Musikalische Rhetorikund ihre Genese in Musik und Musikanschauung der Renaissance, in:Heinrich F. Plett, Renaissance-Rhetorik (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1993), 285-311, 290,supports his view.57 Conrad Gesner, Pandectae (Zurich: Froschauer, 1548), no. 100: MatthaeiHerbeni de natura vocis ac ratione Musicae libri 5; Lawrence F. Bernstein,The Bibliography of Music in Conrad Gesners Pandectae (1548), ActaMusicologica, 45.1 (1973), pp. 119-163, 134: The works of Jean Gerson (nos.

117 and 177) and Mathaeus Herbenus (no. 100) would undoubtedly havepassed through Gesners hands.58 For Trithemius Erfurt connections, see: Harald Mller, Habit und Habitus:Mnche und Humanisten im Dialog, Sptmittelalter und Reformation Neue Reihe32 (Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006), 214.59 Leaver (2007), 35, suggests that both the works of Cochlaeus and Wollickinfluenced the Compendaria musicae artis (Leipzig: Stckel, 1516) of MichaelKoswick and, through him, music education at Wittenberg in the first decadesof the reformation.60 Herbenus (1957), 41, 48; Luther, Praefatio zu den Symphoniae Iucundae, 1538,

WA 50: 369, 11-371, 12.


! 20

overlap in the understanding of the nature of music, and its placeand function in creation, between Herbenus writings on musicand Luthers Preface.

4. Luthers Theory of Music:

Luther believed that it was by praising God in music that humanswere enabled to to taste with wonder (but not to comprehendfully) the absolute and perfect wisdom of God in his wonderfulwork of Music.61 In his Preface, he presented his readers with avision of music as an instrument that has the ability to connectthe entire created order with its Creator. His Prefacefollows an arcthat takes as its origin the very beginning of creation anddescends from God to those who have been given a voice, inorder to return to heaven through composed music: the praises

sung by his readers had the potential to take the singers straightback to heaven, and the ultimate origin and goal of music, Lutherexplained.

Like the philosophers of music he followed in his Preface,Luther adopted a traditional Boethian classification of the variousforms of music, distinguishing between the music of the naturalworld [musica naturalis, natrliche Musica, WA 50: 368, 10-372, 10]and the music that rests in various instruments [quae in quibusdamconstituta est instrumentis], that is music composed through theexercise of skill [musica artificialis, durch die Kunst gescherfft vnd poliert,

!61 WA 50: 372, 12-13: Hic tandem gustare cum stupore licet (sed noncomprehendere) absolutam et perfectam sapientiam Dei in opere suo mirabileMusicam; 372, 30-32: Da sihet vnd erkennet man erst zu teil (denn gentzlichkanns nicht begrieffen noch verstanden werden) mit grosser verwunderung diegrosse vnd volkomene weisheit Gottes in seinem wunderbarlichem werck derMusica.


11/26

ANDREAS LOEWE

! 21

WA 50: 372, 11-373, 6] and performed either by voices, orinstruments, or both.62

Luthers comments on natural music are subdivided into

three further categories: adopting a categorisation of musicoutlined in Adam von Fuldas De Musica (1490) and NicolausWollicks Opus Aureum Musice(1501), Luther in turn addressed themusic of the natural world [musica mundana], the music of thehuman voice [musica vocis humanae, Kunst der Menschlichen Stimme]and the music of heaven [musica caelestis].63

4.1. The Origins of Music:

Johannes de Muris had postulated that music had been at theheart of creation from the time before the first substances were

separated.64

Luther closely followed de Muris early fourteenth-century textbook definition that music belonged to thetranscendental matters in numbering music among those things

!62 Boethius, De institutione musica libri quinque, 1: 2, in:Friedlein (1867), 187.20-23; Ernest T. Ferand, Sodaine and Unexpected: Music in the Renaissance,Musical Quarterly37.1 (1951), 10-27, 27, provides a helpful schematic overview.63 GS 3: 333: There are two forms of music: natural and artificial music.Natural music is [divided into] universal and human music. Universal musicincludes that of the heavenly and supernatural bodies that resonate through themotion of the spheres a genre researched by mathematicians. Human[music] exists in body and soul, a genre researched by physicians, about

which I shall say nothing at present. Articifi cial music is a genre researched bymusicians that falls into instrumental and vocal music. Instrumental music isthe sound created by diverse instruments. Although [this sound] is created bythe voice, nevertheless its sounds are musical [Musica est duplex, naturalis etartificialis. Naturalis est mundana et humana. Mundana est supercoelestiumcorporum ex motu sphaerarum resonantia et hoc genus considerantmathematici. Humana exstat in corpore et anima et hoc genus considerantphysici, de quibus nihil ad praesens. Artificialis: hoc genus tenent musici. Est

vel instrumentalis vel vocalis. Instrumentalis est sonus per diversa instrumentacausatus, qui cum sit vocalis, tamen eius voces sunt materiales].64 De Muris (1976), 77: A prima substantias separatas.


! 22

that were called into being at the very beginning of the world.65De Muris explained that both its provenance as a first fruit ofcreation and a fruit of the Spirit was attested to by the prophets

[Psalmists]: indeed, the very heavens declare the glory of God(Ps 19.1).66 Luther developed these insights further: the testimonyof the Psalmists to the creative gift of music was not onlyevidence for its essential nature but proof that the gifts of theSpirit were communicated through music itself. Music, therefore,was both an intrinsic part of creation that dated back to the verybeginning of the cosmos and in itself an agent of Gods ongoingwork in creation. It also had the capacity to communicate thegifts of the Holy Spirit to humankind: through music the Spiritsgifts were instilled in the Prophets [i.e. the Psalmists], Lutherknew.67 The Psalmists, in turn, used their spiritual gifts to enableothers to share in singing the eternal song that lies at the heart of

all creation, thereby concluding the arc that links the Creator tohumankind, and humankind to its maker.

!65WA 50: 369, 1-2: Musicam esse ab initio mundi; cf. Johannes de Muris,Speculum musicae, Liber primus, in: Walter Grossmann, Die einleitenden Kapitel desSpeculum Musicae von Johannes de Muris: Ein Beitrag zur Musikanschauung desMittelalters (Leipzig: Breitkopf und Hrtel, 1924; reprint ed.,Nendeln/Liechtenstein: Kraus, 1976), 53-93, 76: rerum transcendencium; WA50: 369, 1: ab initio mundi. From the mid-twentieth century onwards, theSpeculum has been re-attributed to Jacques de Lige, see: Klaus-Jrgen Sachs,Zur Funktion der Berufungen auf das achte Buch von Aristoteles Politik in

Musiktraktaten des 15. Jahrhunderts, in: Hentschel (1998), 269-90, 274, andFrank Hentschel, Sinnlichkeit und Vernunft in der mittelalterlichen Musiktheorie,Beihefte zum Archiv fr Musikwissenschaft 47 (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag,2000), 14. However, previously the work was not only thought to have beenauthored by de Muris but frequently published together with his MusicaSpeculativa.66 De Muris (1976), 77: As the prophet says about these things, The heavensdeclare the glory of God. [De quibus dicit propheta: Celi enarrant gloriamdei].67 WA 50: 371, 10-11: Dona sua [Spiritui Sancti] per eam [musicam] Prophetisillabi.


12/26

ANDREAS LOEWE

! 23

Luthers introductory remarks in the Preface echoHerbenus belief that God is excellently honoured by the artof music, and that creation itself praised Gods unbounded joy,

utter love, peak of wisdom and incomprehensible power throughmusic from the very beginning.68 While both writers share muchcommon ground, there are differences. Where Herbenus couchedhis belief in the eternity of music in a rhetorical questionWhowould deny that music exists eternally in God?Lutherexpressed the same insight by a positive affirmation: Musicexisted from the beginning of the world.69 Rhetorical preferencesnotwithstanding; both subscribed to the belief that music existedfrom the very beginning of creation. Herbenus affirmed thatmusic was from eternity before the creation was made fromnothing before it was finished and separated from Godsnature.70 Luther elaborated further that music was not only

eternal but that, from the moment of creation, it had beenimparted to all creation, instilled and implanted in all creatures,individually and collectively.71

4.2. Musica naturalis:

Luthers belief the centrality of music in the created order nextled him to consider the various forms of music in the naturalworld. In his analysis, he followed the philosophical frameworkset out in Adam von Fuldas De Musica (1490) and NicolausWollicks Opus Aureum Musice (1501) who, themselves bothbroadly following Boethius, identified distinctive subgroups of

!68 Herbenus (1957), 36: Deus excellentius honoraretur, cf. WA 50: 368, 10-369, 11.69 Herbenus (1957), 36: Quis negaverit discantandi aeternaliter in Deoexistere?; WA 50: 369, 1-2: Musicam esse ab initio mundi.70 Herbenus (1957), 16-78, 35: Ab aeterno antea in Creatore fuisse quamcreatura facta ex nihilo quam finito et a natura sua alieno.71 WA 50: 369, 1-2: Inditam seu concreatam creaturis vniuersis, singulis etomnibus.


! 24

natural music:72musica mundana, the sounds of the natural world;musica humana, the music that humans and animals make whenthey laugh, cry or speak; and musica caelestis, the music of heaven.73

Luther adopted their distinctions, addressing first the subject ofmusica mundana[WA 50: 369, 2-11], secondly the subject ofmusicahumana[WA 50: 369, 12-370, 12], and lastly the music of heaven[WA 50: 370, 13-372, 10].74

4.2.1. Musica mundana:

As its name suggested, musica mundana is constituted by thesounds that occurred in the natural world. In his treatise DeMusica, Adam von Fulda explained that musica mundana iscomprised of the music of the heavenly and supernatural bodies

that resonate by the motion of the spheres a genre researchedby mathematicians.75 Like Fulda and de Muris, Luther believedthat that there was nothing in existence that, when moved [tamenmotus sit, durch was beweget vnd getrieben wird], did not make a sound.76De Muris had stipulated in his Summa Musice that it was not

!72 See the excellent schematic overview provided by Ferand (1951), 27,showing the classification of music into naturalis and artificialis in both works.

Where Adam von Fulda, GS 3: 333, divided musica naturalis into mundana andhumana, Wollick (1955), 12, divided it into humanaandcoelestis aut mundana.Unlike Wollick (1955), 12, who equated the music of heaven with that of theheavenly bodies and sounds of the spheres, Luther regarded celestial music in

terms of music in praise of God, like Herbenus (1957), 67. Almost certainlyattracted by its Trinitarian parallels, Luther adopted a three-fold subdivisioninto mundana, humana and caelestis. See WA Tr 1: 395, 10-16, no. 815, forLuthers strong conviction that the Blessed Trinity could be discerned insimilar three-fold structures throughout the seven liberal a rts.73 Friedlein (1867), 187-9.74 WA 50: 368, 10: Primum [firstly]; 369, 20: erstlichen aber [first of all]; 369,31: zum andern [secondly].75 GS 3: 333: Mundana est supercoelestium corporum ex motu sphaerarumresonantia et hoc genus considerant mathematici.76 WA 50: 369, 2; 369, 36.


13/26

ANDREAS LOEWE

! 25

possible for bodies to be moved rapidly and persist withoutsound.77 In the PrefaceLuther closely followed the language of deMuris argument: Nothing exists at all [nihil enim, nichten nichts]

that does not make a noise or sound.78

Towards the beginning of his Musica speculativa, de Muris

had identified three elements requisite for the generation ofsound:

The generation of sound of necessity requires three elements: thatwhich strikes, that which i s struck, and the medium through whichthis percussion occurs. The first rapidly breaks the air, the second is abody with the ability to resound naturally, the third air which is

violently struck.79

Music can in particular be noticed when the air moved aninanimate object, de Muris held: for sound is the movement of

air generated by the impulse of a mover on a moved object.80

Luther shared this view, and explained to his readers that

When [air] passes through something, or moves something andbrings forth its music, its sound, and things that previously were silent[inpalpabilis, stumm] become audible, and [turn into] music that onecan hear and perceive.81

!77 Johannes de Muris, Summa, GS 3: 190-248, 199: Non fuit possible, tantacorpora tam velociter moveri et tam continue absque sono.78 WA 50: 369, 2-5: Nihil enim est sine sono, seu numero sonoro, ita vt et aeripse per sese inuisibilis et inpalpabilis, minimeque omnium musicus; 369, 22-7:

Da ist nichten nichts in der Welt, das nicht ein Schall vnd Laut von sich gebe.Also auch, das auch die Lufft, welche doch an jr selbs vnsichtbarlich vndvnbegreifflich gibt sie auch jre Musica, jren klang von sich.79 De Muris (1992), 79: Ad generationem soni necessario tria requiruntur:percutiens, percussum, medium percutiendi. Primum frangens aerem celeriter,secundum corpus sonabile naturaliter, tertium aer fractus violenter.80 De Muris (1992), 79: Est igitur sonus fractio aeries ex impulsu percutientisad percussum.81 WA 50: 369, 5: Tamen motus sit sonorus et audibilis, tunc etiam palpabilis;369, 26-29: Wenn sie [the air] durch was beweget vnd getrieben wird, so gibtsie auch jre Musica, jren Klang von sich, vnd die zuvor stum war, dieselbige


! 26

In this way, even entities that were invisible, such as air,could be perceived by the senses, Luther made clear: even air,which is in itself invisible and cannot be grasped by all senses

when moved brings its own forth music, its own sound.82

Unlikede Muris, however, Luther was less interested in providing hisreaders with a detailed examination of the physical processesrequired to create sound, than in bringing the miracle of sounditself to the attention of his readers.83 The fact that sound made itpossible for human beings to perceive aurally things that hadpreviously been neither audible nor comprehensible, even thingsthat can neither be seen or touched [inuisibilis et inpalpabilis,vnsichtbarlich vnd vnbegreifflich], was nothing short of themiraculous.84

For de Muris, the processes through which air was able togenerate sound led to a sustained mathematical investigation ofmusical proportions.85 In his Preface Luther, on the other hand,was content to leave the physics of acoustics unexplored. He didnot explore the subject beyond noting that it was a combinationof air [aer, Lufft] and movement [motus, beweget vnd getrieben] by, onor through another entity [was: literally something, the tertiumquid of scholastic ontology] that enabled human beings to hearand sense things that they might otherwise not perceive. At theend of his brief reflection on the sounds of the universe and theirgeneration Luther returned to his overarching theme: musica

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!sehet dann an, lautbar vnd eine Musica zu werden, die mans als denn hrenvnd begreiffen kann.82 WA 50: 369, 3-5: Et aer ipse per sese inuisibilis et inpalpabilis, omnibusquesensibus tamen motus sit sonorus et audibilis, tunc etiam palpabilis; 369,23-29: Auch die Lufft, welche doch an jr selbs vnsichtbarlich vnd

vnbegreifflich wenn sie durch was beweget vnd getrieben wird, so gibt sieauch jre Musica, jren Klang von sich.83 WA 50: 369, 5: Mirabilia; 369, 19: wunderbarlich.84 WA 50: 369, 4: Plane mutus et nihil reputatus; 369, 29: Die zuvor nichtgehret noch begreifflich war.85 De Muris (1992), 83-89.


14/26

ANDREAS LOEWE

! 27

mundanawas a wonderful and spiritual mystery.86 He concludedthe section by expressing his regret that he was unable toelaborate on [the mystery of sound and its generation in the

universe] in this place. Unfortunately, in his later writings henever returned to a sustained discussion on the subject.87

4.2.2. Musica humana:

Since the sounds and noises of animals were even morewonderful than the way the air created sounds and noises in andthrough inanimate objects, Luther believed, he next explored theconcept of musica humana.88 In his De Musica, Adam von Fulda,following de Muris, had defined musica humanaas the music thatexists in body and soul, explaining, this genre is explored bynatural philosophers.89 Where Fulda had cut short the debate on

musica humanaand the genre of physics it inspired with a simpleabout which I shall say nothing at present, in his Book of theNature of Singing and the Miracle of the Voice Matthus Herbenusreflected at length on the voices that occurred in the naturalworld.90 The voice was granted to the nobler creatures Herbenusheld: those with voices are easily proved superior to mute andinanimate beings.91 Luther also believed that the music ofanimals was superior to that of inanimate objects in nature: thesounds and noises that animals make, especially the music of

!86

WA 50: 369, 5-6: Mirabilia in hoc significante spiritu mysteria de quibus hicnon est locus dicendi; 369, 29-30: Durch welches der Geist wunderbarlichevnd grosse Geheimnis anzeiget, dauon ich itzund nicht sagen wil.87 Leaver (2007), 85-97, attempts to outline a projected treatise on music byLuther.88 WA 50: 369, 7: Mirabilior; 369, 32: Noch viel wunderbarlicher.89 GS 3: 333: Humana [musica] exstat in corpore et anima et hoc genusconsiderant physici.90 GS 3: 333: De quibus nihil ad praesens.91 Herbenus (1957), 35: Quae voces edunt praestantiores et mutis et inanimisfacile perhibentur.


! 28

birds, were prime examples of musica humana.92 Indeed, thepatron of all sacred music, the

most musical King and singer of God, David, sings and prophesies

himself with great wonder and passionate spirit about the marvelloussong of birds in Psalm 104: Above them the birds of heaven havetheir habitation; they sing among the branches [Ps 104.12].93

In his first book on the voice, Matthus Herbenus hadexplained that it was their dignitas, their place and order increation, that had granted humans the gift of intelligent speechand discourse:94

Human beings stand out from the sensitive creatures on account oftheir dignity and excellence. Thus they have not only been given a

!92 WA 50: 369, 7: Musica in animantibus, praesertim volucribus; 369, 32: Der

Thieren vnd sonderlich der Vogel Musica.93 WA 50: 369, 8-11: Vt Musicissismus ille Rex et diuinus psaltes Dauid cumingenti stupore et exultante spiritu praedicit mirabilem illam volucrum peritiamet certitudinem canendi, dicens Psalmo centensimo tertio [following thenumbering of the Vulgate], Super ea volucres coeli habitant, de medioramorum dant voces; 369, 32-35: Wie denn der Knig David, der kstlicheMusicus, welcher auff seinem Psalter vnd Seitenspiel lauter Gttlichen Gesangsinget vnd spielet, selbs bezeuget vnd mit grosser verwunderung vnd freidigen[i.e. leidenschaftlichem] Geist von dem wunderbarlichen Gesang der Vogel am104. Psalm weissaget vnd singet: Auff denselben sitzen die Vogel des Himels

vnd singen vnter den Zweigen.94 Herbenus (1957), 68; The dignity of our nature is manifested in the human

voice [Ex voce humana manifesta est nobis naturae dignitas]; for GiovanniPico della Mirandola and his understanding of dignitas hominis, see: August

Buck, ed., Giovanni Pico della Mirandola: ber die Wrde des Menschen, tr. NorbertBaumgarten, Philosophische Bibliothek 427 (Hamburg: Felix Meier, 1990), vii-xxvii, and idem, Die Rangstellung des Menschen in der Renaissance: dignitaset miseria hominis, Archiv fr Kulturgeschichte 42 (1960), 61-75; for otherhumanist exponents of the concept, including Lorenzo di Valla, GiannozzoManetti and Juan Luis Vives, see for instance: Sven Grosse, Renaissance-Humanismus und Reformation: Lorenzo Valla und seine Relevanz fr dieKontroverse ber die Willensfreiheit in der Reformationszeit, Kerygma undDogma 48 (2002), 276-300, and Erik de Bom, Homo ipse ludus ac fibula:

Vivess Views on the Dignity of Man as Expressed in his Fabula de Homine,Humanistica Lovaniensia57 (2008), 91-114.


15/26

ANDREAS LOEWE

! 29

voice, like other creatures, but use discourse and speak with theirvoice.95

Luther shared Herbenus understanding of discourse and speech

in terms of a divine gift: the human voice was a gift graciouslybestowed [begnadet] on human beings by their creator in hisabundant and incomprehensible munificence and wisdom.96While music, sound and song of animals such as birds wassuperior to the music of the wind and the air, and as suchmarvellous, the miracle of the human voice was greater still,Luther believed.97 Since the human voice possessed the capacityfor discourse and speech [articulationem vocis et verborum] and thegift of emotion [gemt], in the natural world it was without peer:the human voice cannot be compared to all other songs, soundsor noises, for God has blessed it with such music, that it cannotand may not be grasped.98

In the opening chapter of his extensive reflection on thevoice, On the Nature of Song and the Miracle of the Voice,Herbenus provided a useful overview of the descriptions of thevoice according to the ancients.99 Even the philosophers hadbeen unable either to grasp the innate quality [ingenium] of thehuman voice nor were they able to tell precisely how it was thathumans were enabled to speak, Herbenus admitted. Some

!95 Herbenus (1957), 35: Sed cum super sensibilem creaturam dignitate atqueexcellentia emineat homo. Itaque non solum vociferatur ut ceterae

animantes, immo vero et sermone utitur et voce loquitur.96 WA 50: 369, 14-370, 1: Supereffusa et incompraehensibilis munificentia etsapientia; 370, 16-17: Seine vberschwengliche vnd vnbegreiffliche Gte vnd

Weisheit.97 WA 50, 369, 21-22: Der Vogel Musica, Klang vnd Gesang.98 WA 50: 369, 38-370, 18: Des Menschen Stimme, gegen welcher alle andereGesenge, Klang vnd Laut gar nicht zu rechnen sind, denn dieselbigen hat Gottmit einer solchen Musica begnadet [die ] nicht kan noch mag verstanden

werden.99 Herbenus (1957), 22: De natura cantus ac miraculis vocis; Descriptiones

vocis secundum antiquos.


! 30

scholars agreed that the place of formation of sounds [locusformationis eius] was deep in the chest, for others in the upperregions of the throat, for some between closed teeth, for others

by the movement of the tongue against the palate.

100

Again,Luthers comments appear to have been inspired by Herbenus:philosophers and learned folk had not yet been able to fathomthe mysterious art [mirabile artificium, wunderbarlich Werck] of howwords, sounds, song and noise, endowed with force [gewaltig]could be created by the mere flow of air and the smallestmovement of the tongue and the even smaller movement ofthroat and windpipe directed and steered by the mind.101

Where Herbenus devoted an entire chapter on thedifferent forms of the human voice, constrained by the overallbrevity of his Preface, Luther restricted his comments on thesubject to a few lines.102 Both marvel at the different expressionsof each voice: voices not only differ specifically and individually,but also from person to person, and individual to individual,Herbenus knew: each human voice is different according to amanifold variety of factors: age, condition and status.103 Luthershared this view: one cannot find two human beings with exactlythe same voice, speech and pronunciation; even if one of them

!100 Herbenus (1957), 22: Quidam in imo pectore eam formari arbitrati sunt,quidam in suprema gutturis regione, nonulli intra complexum dentium, aliiobiectu linguae ad palatum.101 WA 50: 370, 18: Philosophi vnd gelerten Leut; 370, 24: Gewaltig Wort,

Laut, Gesang vnd Klang; 370, 2-4: quo modo tam leui motu linguaeleuiorique adhuc motu gutturis pulsus aer funderet illam infinitam varietatem etarticulationem vocis et verborum; 370, 20-23: Das die Lufft durch eine solchekleine vnd geringe bewegung der Zungen, vnd darnach auch noch durch einegeringere bewegung der kelen oder des halses durch das gemt geregieret

vnd gelenckt wird.102 Herbenus (1957), 29-30: Quae appellations singulis vocibus acciderepossint; WA 50: 372, 5-10; 372, 21-29.103 Herbenus (1957), 29: Non solum sunt voces discrepantes specifice acindividualiter, immo etiam singillatim ac suppositaliter; Vox in eodem hominepro diversitate aetatum, conditionum ac statuum multipliciter mutatur!


16/26

ANDREAS LOEWE

! 31

assiduously seeks to follow the other exactly and seeks to ape allthe other does.104 Furthermore, Herbenus had explained that, inthe exercise of their calling and standing, each voice adapts to the

office and work of the speaker: [the voice] of the shepherdherding his flock turns rustic, that of the soldier militaristic andthat of a duke for instance is aristocratic, while the emperors isentirely imperious.105 Again Luther shared Herbenus view thathuman voices reflect each individuals standing and call: thedifference in voice, pronunciation and discourse reflects how onecan be far superior to the other.106

More impressive even than the generation of intelligentspeech, or the immense variety of human voices and their usesfor differing purposes, was the subject of the human emotions,Luther believed. Early modern philosophers of music genuinelyappear to have been at a loss to explain the generation of tearsbeyond stating the obvious: that sadness can lead to tears and thatoften music gladdens the sad.107 Even Herbenus, who devotedtwo chapters of his second book On the Miracle of the Effectsof the Voice, restricted his observations to noting that tearscould be turned to laughter through the power of song.108 Lutheris therefore right in stating that as yet no one has shown up whocould explain and show where human laughter (for I do not even

!104 WA 50: 372, 25-28: Das man nicht zween Menschen knne finden, welchegantz gleiche stimme, sprach vnd ausrede haben mchten, Vnd ob gleich einer

sich auf des andern weise mit hohem vleis gibet, vnd jm gleich sein vnd wieder Aff alles nach thun wil.105 Herbenus (1957), 29: Pastor gregum efectus, pastoralis fuisset. Sin in aliquainsigni urbe editus, vox penitus foret urbana; miles factus, militaris; ducis enimducalis est. Nam Imperatoris tota imperialis est.106 WA 50: 372, 7-8: Vt alius alium mirabiliter excellat; 372, 25: Einer demanderen also weit vberlegen ist.107 For instance Adam von Fulda, Musica pars prima, GS 3: 333: Musicalaetificat tristes and Johannes Tinctoris, Complexus effectuum musices (c. 1474-5),GS 4: 194, Musica tristitiam depellit.108 Herbenus (1957), 48-49.


! 32

want to address the subject of tears) comes from.109Unfortunately, Luther did not venture an explanation of thegeneration of the human emotions, either (although he did

consider the effects of music on the human emotions [affectus] inhis reflections on musica caelestis). He merely noted that thephilosophers had not been able to research it fully [knnens nichterforschen] and therefore, marvelled, but did not comprehend.110

Although they had been unable to offer a comprehensiveanswer to the subject of the voice, its generation and its place anduse in creation, philosophers of music explored the subject in fargreater detail than Luther. Where Herbenus had devoted twovolumes to the study of the voice, Luther condensed hisargument to two paragraphs, one as part of his consideration ofmusica humana [WA 370, 1-9; 370, 18-25], another as part of hisreflection on musica caelestis[WA 50: 372, 5-10; 372, 21-28]. Sincethe reformers intended audience would have consisted primarilyof singers and music enthusiasts and not, as in Herbenus case,rhetoricians and philosophers of music, it was sufficient toprovide a brief overview of the complex nature and immense giftof the human voice, Luther felt: I merely wanted to raise thesubject briefly.111 He summed up his reflection by inviting othersto research the subject further: other scholars, with more time ontheir hands than we do, would do well to consider [bedencken] thecomplexity of the human voice.112 He concluded his discussionon musica humana by pointing his readers once again to themysterious nature of the human voice. As at the end of his

reflection on musica mundana, ultimately, the sound of the human!109 WA 50: 370, 27-29: Ja, es ist auch noch keiner nicht komen, welcher hetteknnen sagen vnd anzeigen, wo von das Lachen des Menschen (denn vom

Weinen wil ich nichts sagen) kome; Herbenus (1957), 48-49.110 WA 50: 370, 10: Mirantur, sed non complectuntur; 370, 30: Des

verwundern sie sich, darbey bleibts auch, vnd knnens nicht erforschen.111 WA 50: 370, 32-33: Den, so mehr zeit, denn wir haben, zu bedenckenbefehlen, ich habs allein krztlich wollen anzeigen.112 WA 50: 370, 32: So mehr zeit, denn wir haben.


17/26

ANDREAS LOEWE

! 33

voice was not only reason for great wonder [verwunderlich], but forgratitude to God for this unique creation bestowed onhumankind by Gods immeasurable wisdom.113

4.2.3. Musica caelestis:

For Luther, the final category of natural music was the music ofheaven, musica caelestis. Heavenly music offered humankind aglimpse of heaven in the world around them. It communicatedsomething of God and, just as Gods Word was able to direct thehuman will, so musica caelestis also had the capacity to influencepeople profoundly. For that reason, music, next to the Word ofGod, deserves the highest praise, Luther famously held.114 Earliercommentators, such as Petrus dictus Palma, whose Compendium deDiscantu Mensurabili (c. 1336) was well-known at Erfurt where a

copy remains extant in the Universitys Bibliotheca Amploniana,had already argued that measured music [musica mensurabilis] hadthe capacity to determine the way in which musicians performed:directing the voices of all musicians, watching over them,mastering and governing them.115

!113 WA 50: 370, 11: Vna Creatura; 370, 31: Einig en Creatur; 370, 11: Infinitasapientia Dei; 370, 31: vnmesslichen weisheit Gottes.114 WA 50: 371, 1-2: Musicam esse vnam, quae post verbum Dei meritocelebrari debeat; 370, 36-38: Das nach dem heiligen wort Gottes nichts nichtso billich vnd so hoch zu rhmen vnd zu loben, als eben diese Musica.115

Petrus dictus Palma, Compendium de Discantu Mensurabili, Erfurt, BibliothecaAmploniana, MS 94, in: Johannes Wolf, ed. Ein Beitrag zur Diskantlehre des14. Jahrhunderts, Sammelbnde der Internationalen Musikgesellschaft 15.3 (1914),504-534, 507: Musica mensurabilis est omnium musicantium vocumspeculatrix, gubernatrix et magistra; see also: J. W. Herlinger, A Fifteenth-Century Italian Compilation of Music Theory, Acta Musicologica, 53.1 (1981),90-105, 97: Musica mensurabilis est vere perfecta quod [read perfecteque]cantandi scientia omnium musicalium vocum imperatrix, magistra, etgubernatrix [Measured music is the true and perfect science of singing; theempress, mistress and governor of the voices of al l musicians]. Palma contraststhe ordered singing of measured music with the freer flow of plainchant.


! 34

Matthus Herbenus extended this concept significantly,suggesting that heavenly music had the capacity to direct andcontrol not only the manner in which humans performed music,

but also the ability to influence the human will. The music of theministers of God [Dei ministerii] in heaven could faithfully expressthe will of God within us and to open a way to guide the goodon the path of virtue, direct the evildoers towards the way ofrighteousness, console the sad, and assist the afflicted. 116 Yeteven here on earth [terrena nostra corpora], by agency of this divineart [divina arte] humans were still able to experience the support,guidance and governance of the divine mind.117 The music ofheaven was there to enable humans to admire and honour thedivine goodness and eternal majesty of God in harmony, inheaven as on earth.118

Luther shared Herbenus belief that music could governthe human will. In his Preface, he emphasised that musicdominates and governs human emotions in the same way asthey are governed and often mastered by their Lords.119 Theability to influence the human heart was in itself sufficient praisefor Luther: no greater commendation of music than this can befound (at least not by us).120 Luthers followers, most notablyHermann Finck in his Practica Musica(1556), readily adopted thisinsight: next to the praise of God the principal use of music was

!116 Herbenus (1957), 33: Divinam voluntatem fidelissime nobis enuntiant et insinuant, bono in via virtutum custodientes, malos ad iter rectitudinis

dirigentes, tristes consolantes, afflictis assistentes.117 Herbenus (1957), 41: Divina mente nostra ferri, dirigi, gubernari.118 Herbenus (1957), 41: Divinam bonitatem atque maiestatem sempiternisconcentibus possimus admirari et honorare.119 WA 50: 371, 2-4: Domina et gubernatrix affectuum humanorum quibustamen ipsi hominess, ceu a suis dominis, gubernantur et saepius rapiuntur;371, 16-18: Ein Regiererin, je mechtig vnd gewaltig ist, durch welche dochoftmals die Menschen, gleich als von jrem Herren [note the singular in theGerman draft], regiert vnd vberwunden werden.120 WA 50: 371, 4-5: Hac laude Musicae nulla maior potest (a nobis quidem)concipi.


18/26

ANDREAS LOEWE

! 35

that of being the governor of the emotions.121 Closely followingAquinas, who held that sung music had great power to move thesouls of its hearers: whether it lightly touches the ears, or steels

wills, incites warriors to battle, recalls the lapsed and desperate,disarms mercenaries, soothes the irate, gladdens the sad andanxious, pacifies those who quarrel, drives away vain thoughts, ortempers frenzied rage, Luther elaborated on his theme:122

For whether one wishes to comfort the sad, to terrify the happy, toencourage the despairing, to humble the proud, to calm thepassionate, or to appease those full of hate (and who could numberall these masters of the human heart, that is: the emotions,inclinations and affections that move people to do evil or good); whatmore effective means than music could one find?123

The music of heaven not only was an effective control

[inuenias efficatius] of human emotions but fulfilled two furtherimportant functions: it was able to convey the gifts of the HolySpirit, and able to drive away evil. Following Herbenus and Adamvon Fulda, Luther cited the example of the prophet Elisha in thesecond book of Kings who called for a musician to enable him toprophesy and found that while the musician was playing, the

!121 Hermann Finck, Practica musica Hermanni Finckii, exempla variorum signorum,proportionum et canonum, iudicium de tonis, ac quaedam de arte suaviter et artificiosecantandi continens (Wittenberg: Georg Rhau, 1556), A 3r: Gubernatrixaffectuum.122

Thomas Aquinas, Ars musice, ed. Mario di Martino (Napoli: Eugenio diSimone), 23-39, 27: Quam magnam vim commovendi animos auditorumcantus musyce habet: Si quidem aures mulcet, mentes erigit, proeliatores adbellum incitat, lapsos et desperantes revocat, latrones exarmat, iracundosmitigat, tristes et anxios letificat, discordes pacificat, vanas cogitationeseliminat, freneticorum rabiem temperat.123 WA 50: 371, 5-9: Siue enim velis tristes erigere, siue lactos terrere,desperantes animare, superbos frangere, amantes sedare, odientes mitigare, etquis omnes illos numeret dominos cordis humani, scilicet affectus et impetusseu spiritus, imulsores omnium vel vertitutum vel vitiorum? Quid inueniasefficatius quam ipsam Musicam?


! 36

power of the Lord came on him (2 Ki 3.15).124 Like hispredecessors, Luther interpreted the passage to suggest that thegifts of the Spirit were conveyed through music to prophets (a

term that included psalmists and musicians):

125

theencouragement and promotion of all kinds of graces and goodworks is conveyed through music to the prophets.126 Heavenlymusic had the ability to communicate heavenly gifts because theHoly Spirit himself praises and honours this fine art as the properinstrument of his office, Luther explained.127

For his suggestion that the music of heaven had thecapacity to drive away evil, Luther again drew on the historicalwritings of the Old Testament. Like de Muris and his numerousfollowers, including Nicolaus Wollick, Adam von Fulda andJohannes Tinctoris, he cited the famous example of Davidplaying the harp before Saul in 1 Sam 16.23.128 However, wherehis predecessors had interpreted the episode in terms of thepower of music to soothe the human temperament, and recallSaul from his demented fury, he regarded it in much more

!124 Herbenus (1957), 71, Adam von Fulda,Musica Pars Prima, GS 3: 334: By thebeat of the psaltery Elisha is attended by the Spirit of prophecy [Ad tactumpsalterii Elisaeus prophetiae spiritum consecutus est].125 WA 50: 317, 25-31; Luther first explored this concept in his Dictata superPsalterium, 1513-16, in considering Psalm 4.1, WA 3: 40, 15-17: It is thefunction of music to arouse the sad, sluggish and dull spirit. Thus Elishasummoned a psaltery player so that he might be stirred up to prophesy [Habetenim natura Musice, excitare tristem, pigrum et stupidum animum. Sic

Heliezeus vocavit psalten, ut excitaretur ad prophetiam].126 WA 50: 371, 26-27: Das seine Gaben, das ist, die bewegung vnd anreitzungzu allerley tugend vnd guten wercken, durch die Musica den Prophetengegeben werden.127 WA 50: 371, 25-26: Ja der heilige Geist lobet vnd ehret selbs diese edleKunst als seines eigenen ampts Werckzeug.128 De Muris, GS 3: 195-6; Wollick (1955), 3; Adam von Fulda, GS 3: 334;

Johannes Tinctoris, Complexus viginti effectuum nobilis artis musices, in: Edmond deCoussemaker, ed., Scriptorum de musica medii aevi nova series a Gerbertina altera, 4

vols. (Paris: Durand, 1864-76; reprint Hildesheim: Olms, 1963), 4:195-200,195-197.


19/26

ANDREAS LOEWE

! 37

fundamental terms. Luthers use of the story of David soothingSauls spirit as evidence for the ability of music to drive away evilmarks a sea change in humanist interpretation:129 the episode

demonstrated [angezeiget] that music was even able to drive awaySatan, who tempts people to all kinds of sins and vices.130 Whileprevious interpreters, like de Muris and Adam von Fulda hadboth identified Sauls evil spirit as demonic, neither interpretedthe story in terms of music driving away Satan. 131 Both Luthersinterpretation of the ability of music to drive away evil and hisidentification of Sauls spirit as Satanic is adopted by Lutheransuccessors like Johannes Lippius who, in his Synopsis Musicae(1612), asserted that Satan is the enemy of Gods beautiful andmost delightful gift of music.132

For Luther, celestial music was able to accomplish threefundamental things: it conveyed the gifts of the Spirit, encouragedthe fostering of a habit of goodness in hearers and performers,and prevented evil and vice. In combination with the Word ofGod, it was ideally suited to move human hearts [die hertzen derMenschen bewegen].133 Here Luther once more follows the humanist

!129 Wollick (1955), 3: Saul a furore dementiae refocillabatur.130 WA 50: 371, 12: Per eandem [musicam] expelli Satanam, id est omnium

vitiorum imopulsorum; 371, 31-33: Das durch die Musica der Sathan, welcherdie Leute zu aller vntugend vnd laster treibet, vertrieben wurde, followingChrysostom, in: Jacques Paul Migne, ed., Patrologiae Cursus Completus, SeriesGraeca [PG] (Paris: Imprimerie Catholique, 1857-88), PG 55: 157, who heldthat the singing of psalms was a safeguard against evil habits inspired by Satan,

such as convivial drinking [ta polla en symposiois o diabolos ephedreuei] and,162, an antidote to demons [daimones] and powers of evil [dunameis].131 Adam von Fulda, GS 3: 334; De Muris, GS 3: 195: The obsessed King Saul

was released from a demon of demons [Saule rege obsesso a daemonedaemonium effugasse].132 Johannes Lippius, Synopsis musicae novae omnino verae atque methodicae universae,in omnis sophiae praegustum [Parergos] inventae disputatae et propositae omnibusphilomusis (Argentorati [at Strassburg]: Paulus Ledertz, typis Carolus Kieffer,1612), 17 r: Der schnen und herrlichsten Gaben Gottes ist die Musica, der istder Satan sehr feindt.133 WA 50: 371, 39.


! 38

rhetorical tradition. Matthus Herbenus work was devoted toexploring the relationship between rhetoric and song, thecombination of message and music. He knew that the human

voice has great power, that the word has great power, and lastlythat great and incredible power lies in the mystery of song.134Luther shared his opinion. The capacity to combine Scripturewith music [sermo et vox], to draw on heavenly music and heavenlywords, was what ultimately distinguished human beings fromanimals: after all, word in combination with music was giftedonly to human beings, to enable them to praise God with bothword and music.135 It was this insight that had led Luther toemploy music as an effective practical instrument to further hisreforms and that, in turn, led to the establishment of a distinctiveLutheran choral tradition where musicians and theologianscollaborated in creating musical art works in order to allow their

communities to share in singing and preaching the good news.136

4.3. Musica artificialis:

A final part of Luthers Preface to the Symphoniae Iucundaeexploresthe concept of artificial music, the music of artists. Composedmusic had the ability to amplify and shape [gescherfft vnd poliert]natural music, Luther held. By employing their God-given gifts ofcomposition, writers of music were able to correct, shape andexpound natural music and to create a piece of art that wasgreater than its component voices or parts.137 In his Book of the!134 Herbenus (1957), 61: Magna igitur in voce humana vis inest, magna insermone potestas, magnum denique et incredibile pene in cantu mysterium.135 WA 50: 372, 2-4: Denique homini soli prae caeteris sermo voci copulatusdonatus est, vt sciret, se Deum laudare oportere verbo et Musica; 372, 16-18:Dem Menschen aber ist allein vor allen Creaturen die stimme mit der redegegeben, das er solt knnen vnd wissen, Gott mit gesengen vnd wortenzugleich zu loben.136 WA 50: 372, 4: Sonora praedicatione.137 WA 50: 372, 10-11: Musica artificialis, quae naturalem corrigat, excolcat etexplicet.


20/26

ANDREAS LOEWE

! 39

Nature of Singing and the Miracle of the Voice, Herbenus hadexpressed the strong belief that humans were given a mind inorder to join their voices artfully so that they can honour their

Creator by singing, and in artistic partnership with their fellowhuman beings.138

Luther shared Herbenus belief: the two principalpurposes of artificial music were, firstly, to provide a bridgebetween the music of heaven and the music of humans byenabling many voices to share in singing Gods praises, andsecondly, to point beyond itself to God the creator and giver ofmusic. Whenever human beings used their voice to sing Godspraises, musica humana and musica caelestis were conjoined. Incombination, the music of humans and heaven made knownGods goodness and grace by beautiful words and lovely songs atone and the same time.139 This principle held true regardless ofwhether one or many voices joined in singing Gods praises, orwhether that praise was sung in unison or multiple musical parts.The skill of composers merely shaped the singing of Gods praise,making it possible for more than one part to share in singing orplaying to Gods glory.

When he praised the combination of word and music,Luther clearly thought of multiple voices in multiple parts singingGods praises. Like Herbenus, who posed the rhetorical questionwhat if all the voices before [the throne of] God were single, andwere emitted entirely in silence? How much more do we believethem to be in a well-arranged concert of voices by which the

heavens resound with praise,140 Luther also envisaged many!138 Herbenus (1957), 36: Voces suas artificialiter coniungere possent cantando quoque cum naturae suae consortibus artificialiter Creatorem suumhonorare possit.139 WA 50: 372, 19-20: Gottes gte vnd gnade, darinnen schne wort vndlieblicher klang zugleich wrde gehret.140 Herbenus (1957), 45: Quodsi tanti sunt apud Deum voces singulorum etfere in silentio emissae, quanti tandem credimus eas esse quae in benedisposito concinentium choro caelos conscendunt cum iubilo?


! 40

singers joining voices in the clear, sonorous preaching and praiseof Gods goodness and mercy, when beautiful words anddelightful music are heard in harmony.141 Such concerted

singing required the skill of composers. Only where musica humanaand musica caelestiswere shaped bymusica artificialiswas it possiblefor three, four or five separate parts together with the melodyor tenor, to share on earth in the worship of heaven, Lutherheld:142

Where natural music is tempered and polished through artisticendeavour, one is able to see and perceive in part (for one cannotever comprehend or understand it fully) with great wonder theimmense and complete wisdom of God in his wonderful work ofmusic.143

Just as Herbenus had foreseen the music of heaven as full

of unity and perfection where all voices resound together, sungby all, most melodiously without any mistake at all, so Lutheralso envisaged a heavenly harmony.144 In heaven there was aperfect polyphony of voices, singing adorned by many voicesthat, through the art of composition and the skill of artists, led asit were a heavenly dance in music, as each part plays and movesin sundry ways and tones the same tune is wonderfullyornamented and decorated, Luther explained.145 Polyphonic!141 WA 50: 372, 18-20: Mit dem hellen, klingenden predigen vnd rhmen vonGottes gte vnd gnade, darinnen schne wort vnd lieblicher klang zugleich

wrde gehrt, cf. WA 50: 373, 1-3.142

WA 50, 372, 34-35: Drey, vier oder fnff andere stimmen vmb solcheschlechte [i.e. common] weise oder Tenor.143 WA 50: 372, 29-32: Wo aber die natrliche Musica durch die Kunstgescherfft vnd polirt wird, da sihet vnd erkennet man erst zum teil (dengentzlich kans nicht begrieffen noch verstanden warden) mit grosser

verwunderung die grosse vnd volkomene weisheit Gottes in seinemwunderbarlichem werck der Musica.144 Herbenus (1957), 33: Summa unitate atque perfectione, ubi omnium vocescommunes omnibus sine ulla discrepantia melodissime consonant145 WA 50: 373, 13: Gesang mit viel stimmen geschmckt; 372, 38: EinenHimlischen Tantzreigen fren; 372, 36-38: Spielen vnd springen vnd mit


21/26

ANDREAS LOEWE

! 41

music co

Luther Music Theory Final Draft 231011 Online

Documents