I read this many years ago and decided to find it again. The entire lecture was very interesting. While Luther was talking about a specific musical form, I believed the first time and I believe now that he was correct about any musical form in any time and any place. This is from a lecture by Kurt J. Eggert: “Luther lived in the golden age of unaccompanied choral music. The Netherlands school of composers had brought the art of multi-voiced choral singing to a high point. Luther greatly admired these vocal motets which were based on Gregorian chant melodies and elaborately embellished by the various voices. We might expect that he who marveled at the song of the finch, the gift of speech, the ability to express thoughts and emotions of the heart in a song, would certainly wax eloquent at hearing the choral church music of his day. And so he does”: “This precious gift [music] has been bestowed on men alone to remind them that they are created to praise and magnify the Lord. But when natural music is sharpened and polished by art, then one begins to see with amazement the great and perfect wisdom of God in his wonderful work of music, where one voice takes a simple part and around it sing three, four, or five other voices, leaping, springing round about, marvelously gracing the simple part, like a folk dance in heaven with friendly bows, embracing, and hearty swinging of partners. He who does not find this an inexpressible miracle of the Lord is truly a clod.” - Martin Luther
Posted on: Sun, 06 Oct 2013 02:21:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015