The church of the 20th century has felt the energizing power of three great movements which have arisen from within the life of the church itself and have had a pervasive effect upon its structure and proclamation. Even in a time when many proclaim the uselessness and irrelevancy of the church and the death of God, the Holy Spirit has given new life and vigor to the church! This new life may be seen in the movement of modern Biblical study and Biblical theology, the movement for liturgical renewal, and (most dramatically) the ecumenical movement.

Though each of these forces of new life has addressed itself to a particular aspect of the church’s life and ministry, they are in fact inseparable. Each has contributed to the others.

Every facet of the church’s structure and ministry has been in some way affected and changed by the movements of modern Biblical study, liturgical renewal, and ecumenicity. The arts, always most sensitive to the tenor of the times, have given dramatic testimony to the pervasive power of these forces in today’s church. The music of the church, of particular concern to us here, is literally “a new song” as a result of the influence of these forces of new concern.

The relationship of contemporary developments in church music to the movement for liturgical renewal is obvious: they are in fact the product of the concern of the church today to make worship “a living reality.” Renewal in church music is but one aspect of liturgical renewal. The interrelationship of contemporary church music developments and the movement of modern Biblical theology is likewise apparent. Just as Biblical theology seeks to comprehend and communicate the meaning of Scriptural revelation with maximum literalness and clarity, the sensitive composers of today’s church music have eschewed the tonal pleasantries of the 19th century to provide settings which will proclaim the Biblical text with truth and power.

The relationship of the ecumenical movement to contemporary church music is less evident, but church music has been affected by the ecumenical spirit and has contributed markedly to it. That “music is a universal language” is a time-worn cliché. Yet it contains the grain of truth if one properly understands the use of the term “language.” The language of music is not the language of literalness, of concise meaning; but it is a language of suggestibility, of spirit and human emotion. This very ambiguity is the greatest strength of music and of all art. Thus the language of music is a language of infinite potential, transcending the barriers of precise languages and divergent cultures.

Music has been the favored art of the church throughout the centuries not only because it is the perfect expressive medium of celebration but also because of its ability to create a bond of unity. The corporeity of corporate worship is expressed best in the singing of the congregational hymns and liturgy. Likewise the great music of the church can be experienced and appreciated by all Christians everywhere. The music of Bach is not solely the heritage of German culture and the German church but is universal in its appeal.

The spirit of Luther and of the Reformation church toward music in the church was unquestionably an ecumenical one. While concentrating upon the production of liturgy and hymnody which would be most accessible to the laity, Luther continued to hold both plainsong and the art music of Josquin and his contemporaries in highest regard, and commended the continuance of their use within the Evangelical church. Gustave Reese has stated that “during the years of Luther’s revolutionary activity, and for a whole generation after his death, his radical alterations in the liturgy and the kind of music used in it produced little that may be regarded as constituting a specifically Protestant musical style. That was still to come.”[1] The church composers of the 16th century, both Protestant and Catholic, continued to reflect this spirit of ecumenicity toward their art by composing music of all types for church use: Protestants continuing to compose masses and Latin motets, and Catholics arranging the new chorale melodies.

Because of the decrees of the Council of Trent (1545–63) and the bloody excesses of the Thirty Year’s War (1618–48), any remaining vestiges of an ecumenical spirit in any area of the church’s life were thoroughly annihilated. Church music then became sectarian and remained so until the 20th century and the aggiornamento of John XXIII. Even so, a yearning for a truly ecumenical spirit in church music was expressed by many composers in the centuries following. Bach’s great Mass in B-Minor is a supreme expression of such a spirit.

Now, within our present generation, we have witnessed the dramatic revival of the spirit of ecumenicity. The una sancta catholica et apostolica ecclesia is indeed struggling to throw off the shackles of separateness and sectarianism.

Evidences of the power and vigor of the ecumenical movement may be seen most clearly in the worship (and music) of today’s church. Obviously the ecumenical spirit has expressed itself most dramatically within the Roman Catholic Church. The Introduction to the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, adopted by the Second Vatican Council, states that a primary goal of liturgical renewal and revision shall be “to foster whatever can promote union among all who believe in Christ.”[2] This principle has been given practical implementation in a rich variety of ways, but chiefly in the effort to strengthen and cultivate congregational participation in worship: a principle commonly held by all bodies of Christ’s church. Roman Catholic congregations are now encouraged to unite in singing the Ordinary and congregational hymns, the majority of the latter being freely appropriated from Evangelical origins, and all sung in the vernacular.

In seeking to foster meaningful congregational participation in worship, Roman Catholic liturgical leaders and musicians have not been at all reluctant to incorporate practices and materials developed by the Protestant churches. A Manual for Church Musicians, prepared by The Liturgical Conference, frankly affirms that “The communions of the Reformation claim the restoration of the Mass to the people and have offered possible solutions in their liturgies to the problem of how the present-day musician can work to achieve a beautiful and popular liturgy.”[3] The Manual also commends The Hymnal 1940 and the Service Book and Hymnal as representative examples of worthy collections for congregational use. Likewise a spirit of friendly interchange among Catholic and Protestant liturgists and musicians has developed within the past decade and continues to grow.

It must be frankly said that Lutherans have not been notably ecumenical-minded, at least in the wider sphere, although there are numerous evidences that the traditional aloofness implanted by l6th-century Orthodoxy (not by Luther!) is decidedly on the wane. The first task, ecumenically, among Lutherans throughout the world has been that of binding up the divisions within their own ranks. This undertaking has been dramatically advanced by the ecumenical spirit within the contemporary church.

The movement of intra-Lutheran ecumenicity has expressed itself notably in recent developments in liturgy and church music, all of which have striven for a greater unity in worship forms and practices among the Lutheran bodies. A development of signal importance among the German Lutheran churches was the preparation of the Evangelisches Kirchengesangbuch, completed in the mid-fifties, which is now used by 26 Lutheran church bodies. This is the first effort among German Lutherans to produce a common liturgy and hymnal. Free societies of Lutheran church choirs and church musicians have also been developed to facilitate the interchange of new materials and concepts.

The achievements of American intra-Lutheran ecumenical efforts in liturgy and church music need little rehearsal here. But for the sake of the record, these have brought forth The Common Service of 1888 (the first attempt to create a common liturgy in English for use by Lutherans in America), the Common Service Book of 1918, The Lutheran Hymnal of 1942 [sic] (the first uniform liturgy and hymnal produced by the churches of the Synodical Conference), and the Service Book and Hymnal of 1958. The formation of the new Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship, initiated by the invitation of The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, has brought together representatives of nearly all Lutheran bodies in North America to seek to produce liturgical and hymnological materials which may be used in common by all Lutherans in the United States and Canada. While it is premature to predict what may be accomplished by this commission, the fact that such a major project has been undertaken represents a new milestone in intra-Lutheran endeavors. The work of the ILCW may well have vast consequences for the future of Lutheran church music in America. It is also notable that the ILCW (both officially and unofficially) has established liaison with Roman Catholic and other Protestant groups (e.g., COCU) who are also engaged in the production of contemporary worship forms and materials. One can only hope that this aspect of the commission’s work will be strengthened and broadened!

Of equal importance ecumenically is the establishment of the Lutheran Society for Worship, Music and the Arts. As a free society bringing together liturgical leaders, musicians, artists, authors, pastors, and laymen interested in worship in all its aspects in today’s church, the LSWMA has made possible a free interchange of ideas and information which has naturally resulted in a greater creative unity among Lutherans in America. It may even be said that the LSWMA and its work has done much to pave the way for the establishment of the ILCW. Many non-Lutherans also participate freely in the membership and activities of the LSWMA: a factor of considerable ecumenical potential.

The time is indeed ripe for a closer liaison with other Protestant bodies in America in the concerns of worship and church music. Other denominations have developed societies similar in nature to the LSWMA. Musicians of the Methodist Church have organized the National Fellowship of Methodist Musicians (NaFOMM)—a strong organization which is making a valuable contribution toward the raising of standards in music and worship within the Methodist Church. The Disciples of Christ have established an annual conference at Butler University of high caliber dealing with the concerns of church music. There have been similar efforts in other Protestant circles. In virtually all of these, Lutheran musicians and liturgical experts have frequently been invited to deliver papers and share information. A joint meeting of the LSWMA with similar societies of non-Lutheran churches (including The Liturgical Conference of the Roman Catholic Church) would make possible a significant ecumenical dialog. This would be an invaluable contribution which the free societies of the various churches could make.

I will not comment on the current ecumenical situation in church music on the international scene since this topic will be treated with far greater competence by Dr. Mudde, who has himself been a leading participant and prime mover for more expanded international dialog. Yet I would be remiss to fail to mention the invaluable contribution which has been made for more than 20 years by the Valparaiso Church Music Seminar to the cause of greater knowledge and better understanding of church music developments in America, Germany, and Scandinavia. All of us owe a profound debt of gratitude to Dr. Theodore Hoelty-Nickel for his vision and tireless efforts in bringing the Valparaiso Church Music Seminar into being and in assuring its high caliber and great value. May the example of all that has been accomplished here motivate other schools, societies, and church bodies to establish more opportunities for significant exchange among church musicians internationally!

Our “turbulent Reformation heritage” in church music, rightly understood, should spur us on to greater and greater ecumenical endeavor. It is a heritage which we as Lutherans may offer as a unique contribution to the current ecumenical dialog in church music. It is a heritage which insists on music of highest quality. Luther had little patience for the hack composers of his time, but rightly recognized the artistic stature of such a musical titan as Josquin. Artistic integrity, therefore, is not to be sacrificed for any other consideration.

Herein lies a subtle danger for church music (and all art within the church) in an era of fervid ecumenicity. Well-meaning but misguided church leaders have on occasion willingly sacrificed standards of artistic merit in the effort to achieve the lowest levels of maximum mass appreciation. We are painfully familiar with this principle as it has been ruthlessly applied in the world of TV! If such a spirit were permitted to run unchecked, the church and its worship would soon become a cultural wasteland via the route of reductio ad absurdum. We have likewise known of denominational hymnals which have been formulated first as vehicles to hasten church union and secondly as worthy collections of congregational hymnody. Compromises of quality have frequently been made to placate dissenting groups who inevitably are culturally least sophisticated. It is by this devious process, I am certain, that certain trite and unevangelical “gospel (sic) songs” have been perpetuated in otherwise commendable hymnals.

A modern threat stems from those who advocate a so-called “disposable hymnody” for our time. It is argued that such a casual-type hymnody is needed to reach and appeal to certain social groups who would be unmoved by hymns of genuine artistic merit and profundity. While the pastoral concern involved is commendable, it does not justify the complete exclusion of artistic integrity. Such a hymnody would inevitably be dishonest and patronizing. We see much of this casual-type hymnody in the paperback collections being produced for use in Roman Catholic parishes. In commenting on it, Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan, a foremost leader in liturgical renewal in the American Catholic Church, asserts that “Renovation of the ways of Christian worship demands music worthy of the praying, participating people of God” in contrast to “the bad music of banality.”[4] This is the same principle for which Luther stood.

The Reformation heritage in church music is a heritage of catholicity. The musical culture of the Reformation church did not hold itself in sectarian isolation. Rather, it was characterized by a receptivity to the contemporary spirit in secular art. Luther was culturally no traditionalist. He was well aware that the church is indeed in the world and must be attentive to the world and to the ongoing process of cultural change. This is in direct contrast to the restrictive spirit of the Council of Trent, which sanctified the Renaissance polyphony of Kerle as representing the standard for Roman church music.

The moral here is clear to us. In an ecumenical age we must shun the myopic infatuation and narrow appreciation of our own “Lutheran” musical heritage which would exclude a greater catholicity of musical interest, which was the Reformation stance. As church musicians in an ecumenical age, we are required to partake fully in the renewal in church music which is occurring in varied ways throughout all of Christ’s church, and at the same time to be informed and instructed in our churchly art by the contemporary spirit in secular art. In so doing, we will realize in our own generation the dynamic heritage of the Reformation in church music.

Cited References

1. 1 Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance (New York: W. W. Norton Co., rev. ed., 1959), p. 673.
2. 2 The Liturgical Conference, A Manual for Church Musicians (Washington: The Liturgical Conference, 1964), p. 21.
3. 3 Ibid., pp. 21f.
4. 4 Ibid., p. 7.

From The Musical Heritage of the Church, Volume VII (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1970). 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.