The purpose of this essay is to assist in preserving and fostering for the Christian congregation the music most serviceable for its spiritual and aesthetic needs. There is no intention of placing into an historical strait jacket the music employed in the divine service.

During the time when the Israelites sojourned in the wilderness, their house of worship was a collapsible tabernacle. This was the best they could provide for this purpose, and the Lord was pleased to accept it. When the Israelites had permanently established themselves, however, King David conceived the thought that God’s honor deserved something better than the old Tabernacle. David said: “See now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the Ark of God dwelleth within curtains” (2 Sam. 7:2). David resolved that the house he would build for the Lord “must be exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory throughout all countries” (1 Chron. 22:5). Although David was not permitted to build this house, God was pleased with the elaborate and artistic concept of the proposed Temple, for He said to David: “It was well that it was in thine heart” (l Kings 8:18).

The artistic construction of the Temple, the materials used in the building of the Tabernacle, and the music in the time of David are more than suggestive of the fact that we should honor the Lord with our substance (cf. Prov. 3:9).

The Hymn in the Divine Service

Of all the music performed in the church service the hymn for the congregation is the most important. The church can exist and prosper without organ and choir music. (It can exist and prosper also without Bach!) History shows that the Lutheran Church grew strong when there were few large organs and relatively few choirs. It was during this era, before the advent of the first English hymnal, when the musical equipment of the Church consisted of the German Gesangbuch without notes, that the Lutheran Church gained for itself the name “the Singing Church.”

If a recent poll on favorite hymns has any meaning, it indicates that the Missouri Synod has disowned and repudiated the chorale. Officially, at least in print, we have acknowledged the chorale to be the highest type of hymn, combining excellence of music with genuine orthodoxy of text. Our practice has frequently not been consistent with our vaunted claims in this respect. We wonder whether there is a similar parting of ways between our Lutheran Confessions and church practice!

Some say that people like the lighter Gospel hymns. Do we function according to the principle of giving people what they want? Jeremiah evidently did not give the people what they most desired, or he would not have found himself standing in the mire of a dungeon as a reward for his preaching. If the music frequently requested at weddings is a criterion, then we must conclude that popular taste for church music at the present time is a very poor guide for the Church to follow.

Others say that the chorale is too difficult for the present-day congregations to sing. A glimpse into the history of the Lutheran Church in America will challenge this objection. The writer of this essay spent his boyhood in a small country parish of the Western plains where buffaloes roamed and coyotes howled. Not much opportunity for a musical education there! The pastor of the congregation also taught the parish school four days a week. He played the tunes of the German Gesangbuch with one finger on the reed organ. The organist for the Sunday services was a farmer who also served the community as blacksmith. On Sunday morning, after milking a dozen cows, he would dash off to church and with gnarled fingers lustily intone the melodies of the Gesangbuch on an asthmatic reed organ. Young and old in the congregation, without notes and without knowledge of notes, sang Luther’s “Grosser Glaube,” “Aus tiefer Not,” and many other great chorales which have become “too difficult” for our cushioned age. If congregations today utilized some of the energies often expended on social functions of doubtful value, for learning to sing more of the great hymns of the Church, they would regain much of the spiritual strength common to the pioneers.

Still others say that if a hymn or composition contains the Word of God, we should be satisfied regardless of the accompanying music. No pastor would deliver his sermon in kindergarten jingle and defend his action on the premise that the sermon contained the Word of God. We do not rightly honor the Lord with a tabernacle of curtains when we should build Him a temple of cedar!

Surely a pastor will endeavor to deliver his sermon in language which is at least on a high school level. Have we perhaps failed to realize that there also exists today a musical standard of high school level? It is very probable that there are today many high school and college students who have a finer musical training than have many pastors and some organists. A growing number of worshipers today are able to distinguish between the good and the inferior in church music. If a pastor or an organist cannot distinguish between the good and the inferior, he might in all humility be guided by those who have a knowledge of the matter and by the testimony of the centuries. Inferior church music offends some; good church music offends no one. God’s honor deserves the finest and noblest in music.

It may well seem strange to us that although the use of great art in our church architecture and in the various appointments in our houses of worship is usually met with general approval, the use of great art in our church music is often met with gross lethargy, even sanctimonious opposition. Luther probably has the answer to this situation when he says that the devil does not at all object to our building large and beautiful churches as long as the Word of God is not proclaimed there. Similarly it seems that the devil and the world do not object to great art in the church except when it concerns church music, which is a conveyor of the eternal Word. Good church music, like the Gospel, is apt to meet with opposition.

Doctrinally also the chorale seemed to be quite adequate for the needs of the fathers during the first seven or eight decades of our Synod’s existence. It is something of a mystery when today we hear the same sermon in consecutive German and English services only to discover that a totally different set of hymns is used for the English service. Certainly we have the freedom to use a different set. We wonder, however, how the fathers were able to build so strong a church with the chorale as their only musical equipment! A strong and virile Christianity expresses itself in strong and rugged hymns. There can be no strong musical expression with weak materials.

“Remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set” (Prov. 22:28).

The Chorale and the Organ

The best efforts of a well-trained and conscientious organist can be frustrated by the choice of inferior or inappropriate hymns, particularly by an ill-chosen opening hymn for the service. Good organ music and hearty congregational singing is something everyone desires and accepts willingly. Fortunately or unfortunately, the average worshiper cannot analyze the factors that contribute to an inspiring service. A craftsman, in order to build a good product, must have certain materials. The church musician, in order to build an inspiring service, must also have the proper materials. Foremost among these materials are the hymns chosen for the service. These may be either good or inferior. It is the task of the organist to lead into the first hymn by playing an effective prelude. This prelude should be more than “a pretty piece” which is in the same key and perhaps in the same meter as the hymn which follows. If a standard chorale has been chosen, the task is usually quite simple. The organist has merely to turn to the vast treasury of chorale preludes now available. If the opening hymn is ill chosen, the organist is frequently at a loss to find suitable material with which to prelude the hymn and thus to key up the congregation for the service. This situation accounts for much of the insipid organ music frequently inflicted upon the innocent worshiper.

Happy and fortunate the congregation and organist with a pastor who chooses strong hymns in text and music; who will, especially on festival days, be so considerate as to give the organist a choice of several opening hymns so that he may build up the service in the best possible musical way. It may be truly said that, to a great extent, it is the pastor who determines the organ music by his choice of hymns.

In those congregations where the chorale is sung only infrequently, the organ literature based on the chorale has lost much of its value and significance. No doubt there are congregations where the organist could, with sober mien, play a prelude on “From Heav’n Above” on Easter Sunday, or introduce “Joy to the World” with “Christ lag in Todesbanden,” and no one would know the difference. Such a situation could well exist where the best in hymnody has been withheld from the congregation. We do not eliminate great paintings from our houses of worship because some people are colorblind. Let us not eliminate great hymns because some people lack musical sense and appreciation.

There was a time in Lutheran history when theologians were musicians and musicians were theologians. Today this combination is much too rare. Some theological circles apparently admit any song so long as at least one line of the poetry contains a reference to God, even though it be in the third person. It would be well if organists, in private study and in conferences, gave more attention to theology and if pastors widened their musical horizon by a more extensive survey of the fundamentals of church music.

The Chorale and the Church Choir

The foremost function of a choir is to assist and lead the congregation in singing the hymns of the divine service. This duty of the choir is especially important when unfamiliar melodies are used during the service. It is ill-advised to fling unfamiliar melodies at a congregation unless some group has previously studied them and can assume leadership. The choir (or any other group) can, in this capacity, become the medium for introducing the best in hymnody to any congregation.

The material for the regular choir selections might be drawn heavily from chorale literature (1) because this material contains the finest in text and music, and (2) because worshipers love to hear familiar music. As we are happy to meet an acquaintance, so an audience is delighted to hear music with which it is familiar. Bach and his companions well knew this bit of psychology and applied it in their music. In the great cantatas, after the elaborate choruses, arias, and recitatives have been heard, it is the concluding chorale which grips performers and audience alike, because of its simplicity, familiarity, and power.

Opportunities for the Lutheran Instrumentalist

The present system of teaching music in our high schools has produced thousands of well-trained Lutheran instrumentalists. The Church can certainly make use of these musicians. We are not thinking of Lutheran symphony orchestras. It makes little difference to the Church whether a Beethoven symphony is performed by a group of Lutherans or by a group of Mormons. The marvel of God’s grace is that two hundred years ago the Lord gave to the Lutheran Church a literature which our musically trained youth might well employ in worshiping the Savior. The chorale literature contains much of great value to the instrumentalist as well as to the organist, the vocalist, and the choir. Let us not, however, have instrumentalists play in the service for the mere sake of giving them something to do. This practice might result in an abomination. The purpose must be to proclaim the Word.

Nor should we overlook the cultural value of having our youth come into contact with art expressions of the 16th and 17th centuries. There is indeed a pathetic contrast between the contribution made to the Church by the instrumentalists of the early Lutheran Church and the contribution made by our instrumentalists today, many of whom have gained “distinction” by organizing dance bands. Since there is little said or written about this situation, we must assume that the condition is quite acceptable to the Church. Let us not, however, place too much blame on our young people if some of them stray into musical bypaths if we, as custodians, withhold from them their musical birthright. Experience has shown that many of our accomplished musicians respect Lutheran church music. What is more, they love it.

The Chorale and the Children of the Parish

No church denomination has greater musical possibilities than the Lutheran Church with its system of parochial schools. Our Church trains most of its organists at its own synodical institutions. These men, in turn, train the children in the parishes where they serve as teachers, organists, and choirmasters. In addition, we have the noblest musical literature. Good organization within the church, however, means nothing unless the results of this organization are employed for the highest purpose.

In recent years we have heard much about children’s choirs. These organizations are fine, but let us keep them secondary to a higher objective. This higher objective finds its fulfillment in teaching the children of the parish, all of them, the great confessional music of our Church, which finds its expression in the chorale and related literature. It does indeed mean something to an individual to have sung in a fine children’s choir, but it means a great deal more to a congregation if old and young have in heart and mind the faith and doctrine expressed in the chorale. The universal priesthood here, too, must find expression in training all the youth to participate in the singing of great hymnody.

The motivation for all our work must be the love for Christ. There will be thousands in heaven who have never sung a chorale or confessed their faith in the Apostles’ Creed. To the glory of God, let us employ the finest and noblest in church art and church music as it has been and will be created with the passing of time.

From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume IV (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1954). Copyright Concordia Publishing House. Printed by permission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Concordia Publishing House.