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Music and Hymnody as Social Distinction in the Lutheran Funeral During the Late 17th CenturyAdan Alejandro Fernandez

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In the years following Luthers posting of his 95 Theses, the publication of Lutheran hymnals was widespread and several editions were made for the use in church, the school, and the home for the purpose of catechizing, amongst other purposes. However, as Lutheran confessionalism sharpened the differences between Lutherans and other protestant groups in the early to mid sixteenth-century, piety took root through the help of pre-Reformation mysticism in the form of meditation and devotion. There was now the inevitable transition from adherence to doctrinal statements to a focus inward toward emotion and personal experience with the help of vernacular translations and shifting community values.death and dying became ubiquitous through events such as the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), personal devotion and meditation influenced hymnody in the funeral service. Aside from theological differences, It was at this point that funeral hymnody marked a distinct inconsistency with the original confessional intent of Martin Luther with hymns such as those of Johann Crger and Paul Gerhardt serving less as didactic catechetical literature and more as agents of social distinction in their actual use.

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Early Lutheran ChoralesUsed to establish Lutheran teachingSought to establish Lutheran orthodoxyTensions with CatholicsParticular churches housed both Lutheran chorales and Catholic music by Orlando di Lasso

O Lord, look down from heaven, beholdAnd let Thy pity waken:How few are we within Thy Fold,Thy saints by men forsaken!True faith seems quenched on every hand,Men suffer not Thy Word to stand;Dark times have us o'ertaken. from Ach Gott vom Himmel

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In the years before 1525, St. Anna in Augsburg was known for cultivating the arts and music during the reign of Emperor Maximilian I (r. 1493-1519). Composers and musicians of the highest stature who performed and composed in the emperors court chapel included Heinrich Isaac, Ludwig Senfl, and the renowned organist, Paul Hofhaimer.

In 1525, the prior, Johannes Frosch, began to preach ideas of the reformation at St. Anna as a result of his friendship with Martin Luther.

As tensions rose in the city, St. Annas reputation as a center for the arts dissipated as it shifted to house a new Protestant Gymnasium in 1531.

St. Anna offered singing instruction to students who would then earned income from singing Protestant and Catholic sacred songs and chorales in front of the homes of wealthy citizens; according to surviving repertory books in 1620 at St. Anna, the cantorate sang from over 90 collections of music containing the music of Michael Praetorius, Orlando di Lasso, Hans Leo Hassler, and Gumpelzhaimer as the most prominent composers of the collections.

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Piety: DialoguesProsopopeiaSermocinatioApostropheEach device is designed the give voice for the deceased

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Toward the end of the 16th-century, a transition in hymnody could be seen in parts of Germany that seemed to contain traces of Catholic mysticism while still claiming Lutheran Orthodoxy; the melody and poetry of hymnody changed from largely scripturally-based confessional text to pietistic and individualistic rhetoric; the mystical nature of these texts is propagated in part by the ars moriendi, a movement of literature from 1450 dealing with the practice of dying well.

These texts could be identified in many ways; in Janet Tilleys study of the meditation and consolatory soul-God dialogues in seventeenth-century Lutheran Germany, she explores the consolatory dialogues known for employing rhetorical devices as apostrophe, prosopopoeia, or, sermocinatio in devotional literature inspired by ars moriendi.Prosopopeia- a speaker or writer communicates to the audience by speaking as another person or objectSermocinatio- a form of prosopopoeia in which the speaker answers his own question or remark immediatelyApostrophe- directs speech to a third party such as an opposing litigant or some other individual, sometimes absent from the scene

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Meditations and DevotionHeaded by prominent theologians:Johann Gerhardt, Johann Arndt, and Martin MllerDraw on the mysticism of Thomas a Kempis, Anselm of Canturbury, Augustine, and Bernard of ClairvauxPiety walking a thin line and, at times, crossing orthodox Lutheran doctrine

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Johann Gerhard (1582-1637), Johann Arndt (1555-1621), and Martin Mller (1547-1606) all wrote literature dealing with death in some regard; the passion narrative (Arndt), death and dying (Mller), and dialogue (Gerhardt). Arndt was particularly interested in medieval mystics and sought a personal oath to a true and living faith as expressed in his Vier Buchen von wahren Christentum.

Johann Gerhardt, however, is important for his fostering of the passion narrative, dialogue, and death in his meditations; his work expounds on the medieval mysticism of Thomas a Kempis, Anselm of Canterbury, Augustine, and Bernard of Clairvaux

Gerhardts Meditationes Sacrae (1606) gained 115 editions in twelve languages by 1700, suggesting its widespread popularity and interest.

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Meditation and Devotion: Lectio DivinaReading of scriptureReflectionPrayerResponse to what the holy spirit has revealedoratio, meditatio, andtentatio

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Oratio- prayer for the gift of the Holy SpiritMeditatio- meditation on Gods WordTentatio- the struggle of Life and response

Although Gerhardts Meditationes Sacrae expands on Luthers comments in 1539 regarding the study of theology through oratio, meditatio, and tentatio, it changed by focusing on non-scriptural text. The result is a meditation or devotional that allows the individual to engage non-scriptural text in a dialogue with Christ.

At this point, we are walking the line of not aligning with confessional Lutheran doctrine by implying that one must feel an emotional response and reflection. It is not something they are outright saying since they know Luthers doctrine of justification pretty well. It borders on pelagianism.

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Meditation and Devotion: The Passion NarrativeMay the dew of your grace and vivifying consolation be instilled into my withering soul. My spirit is drying up, but I will soon spring back to life in you. My flesh is weak and limp, but you will make it sprout back to life in you. My flesh is weak and limp, but you will make it sprout very soon. I must perish, but you will free me from decay as you have freed me from all other evils. You created me, so in what was can such a work of your hands be destroyed?Johann Gerhardt

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Meditation and Devotion: Ars MoriendiPassion narrative becomes part of pietyPreparation for deathTheology of piety is concerned with the edification of souls, it focuses on themes such as penance, the ways in which individuals may benefit from the Passion of Christ, the help which may be received from Mary and the saints, the art of dying, baptism, the Eucharist, the various virtues, the different types of sins and the temptations of the devil.Scruples 1. Be prepared to receive sacraments2. Whether or not one has reached a state of grace3. Predestination

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Along with lectio divina, another precedent for the widespread devotional meditation were the prayers of Anselm of Canterbury; in these prayers, he laments that he was not present at the actual Passion and Crucifixion and yearned to become an actor in the original events through meditative contemplation so that he can behold both the bitter suffering of the Savior and the deep compassion of the Virgin Mary, which he seeks to share and imitate. The empathetic suffering of the individual to Christ, as a result, brought him or her closer to Christ while evoking spiritual growth.

While the Passion narrative functioned as an agent of spiritual growth and emotionally-based piety, these handbooks which taught laypersons how to provide pastoral care to the dying became increasingly important and became known as the ars moriendi. It is this fixation on death and dying well that becomes an important agent of piety in the seventeenth-century. According to Austra Reinis, the ritual of preparing for death was one of the focal points of late medieval death culture. While early Christians appear to have approached death joyfully, with confidence in their eternal salvation, over time this attitude was replaced with one of penitence and fear in anticipation of divine judgment. It was believed that ones eternal fate was decided at the moment of death by ones victory over or defeat by the deathbed demons. All of life came to be seen as preparation for this final struggle.

The importance that death plays in the changing theology of Lutherans lies in the fact that death became an impetus for the individual narrative and, therefore, self-worth. Music and hymnody will continue to indicate the changing theology until it is distinctly Pelagian, or works based, and a marker of social distinction in both text and commission; this is, of course, exactly what Luther originally protested against.

In preparation for this struggle in the deathbed, individuals sought piety throughout their lives through devotionals. In fact, because the theology of piety is concerned with the edification of souls, it focuses on themes such as penance, the ways in which individuals may benefit from the passion of Christ, the help which may be received from Mary and the saints, the art of dying, baptism, the Eucharist, the various virtues, the different types of sins and the temptations of the devil. Important works in ars moriendi include the Sancti Anselmi Admonitio, Jean Gersons Opus tripartitum and the illustrated Ars moriendi. Gersons work, in particular, discusses scruples, expressions of doubt, and their relevance to dying well. These scruples regard: (1) being sufficiently prepared to receive the grace offered by the sacraments (2) whether or not one has reached a state of grace and (3) predestination.

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What does this mean for music?????

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Funeral Song: ProsopopoeiaWeep not, my beloved,Weep not, there is no suffering,Do you wish to grieve so?Alas, I am not really dead,So do not act so piteously,I live for ever and ever,On what I now rest,Is not a corpses bier.Johann Sand, 17th-century

What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered, Was all for sinners gain;Mine, mine was the transgression,But Thine the deadly pain. Lo, here I fall, my Savior!Tis I deserve Thy place;Look on me with Thy favor,Vouchsafe to me Thy grace.Paul Gerhardt, 17th- century

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In the funeral, the presiding pastor would speak these words as if to come from the deceased while the congregation would respond favorably to the pastor as if to have received a lesson in salvation and preparation for their own deaths. In these consolatory verses, one will observe language alluding to the Passion narrative discussed earlier.

An example of this can be found in the funeral music for Sigismund Heinrich, Baron of Bibran and Modlau, in 1693; the following verses evoke Christs suffering:I die now, it is true; nevertheless I shall not perish,Not I; my despair dies, my misery, fear and sorrow,Through dying dies my death. Therefore I am happy to die,For whoever dies in Jesus, dies without death.

Paul Gerhardts hymn O Sacred Head, Now Wounded evokes a similar affect of the consolatory verses above. Below is a translation by James W. Alexander of the second verse as it appeared in Christ in Song: Hymns of Immanuel by Philip Schaff, Vol. 1, page 178:9

Funeral Song: The Use of I and Imposition of SelfPsalms and hymns focused on the first personWhat Thou, my Lord, hast suffered,Was all for sinners gain;Mine, mine was the transgression,But Thine the deadly pain.Lo, here I fall, my Saviour!Tis I deserve Thy place;Look on me with Thy favor, Vouchsafe to me Thy grace.Paul Gerhardt

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At the FuneralBody was placed between the pastor and the congregationSome people wrote their own funeral sermonsPersonified dialogue on behalf of the deadBells used to solemnize funeral processions

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At the Funeral: Schtz and ScheinJohann Hermann Schein requested that Schtz write a motet for his funeralChristoph Berhard composed a funeral motet for Schtz

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The choral music in Lutheran funerals of the early seventeenth-century continues to reflect the culmination of ones piety throughout his or her life. It adapts the devotionals language of Christs passion, individualism, and emotion. An example of this is the funeral motet, Das ist je gewilich wahr, by Heinrich Schtz at the request of Johann Hermann Schein. The motet is based on 1 Timothy 1: 15 which reads in a translation from the New International Version Bible:Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersof whom I am the worst.

This verse is exemplary of the humility sought after throughout ones life in the early seventeenth-century. Christoph Bernhard, at the request of his former teacher Heinrich Schtz, composed a five-part motet on the text Cantabiles mihi errant justificationes tuae from Psalm 119:54. Translated from the NIV Bible, it reads Your decrees are the theme of my song wherever I lodge.

Again, the text is exemplary of the overarching piety of ones life in preparation for death. The decrees of the psalm follow wherever the individual, Schtz in this case, will go throughout his life all the way to his death. The Lutheran funeral service, as a result of personalized music designed after pietistic rhetoric and meditation, became a display of the recanting of ones life through the aid of choral music like that of Schtz.

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At the Funeral: The LebenslaufDisplay of piety for the veiwing congregationOnes story

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Musical Transformation: Aus Tiefer Not

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A distinguishing aspect of Luthers tune Aus Tiefer Not is its conjunct motion outlining the Phrygian mode. There is a change, however, between Crgers edition in 1649 and the one by Luther. Erik Routley tries to make sense of the reason, from ecstatic and disjointed melody to shapely and organized melody; from modality to tonality- that is the general direction of travel. The modifying agent throughout is counterpoint and harmony. Erik Routley, Hymns and Human Life. (Michigan: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1959), 75.

In Crgers edition (Figure 2), the pull toward the tonic A is strong, despite the interchanging between major and minor. The counterpoint between the voices is complex, conjunct, and moves in contrary motion in homophonic fashion; the intervals are consonant with only one dissonant passing tone in the tenor. Crgers approach to this hymn also attests to the hymns popularity at the time to have been harmonized and utilized over a century later; according to Routley, the qualities we have specially observed in the Crger school of chorales-strong, syllabic melody, and firm metrical rhythm, while they make up a noble and catholic hymnodic diction, both lyrical and strong, represent a reaction against certain tendencies whose beginning we have already encountered.

Considering that the Thirty Years War ended in 1648 and Crgers Geistlich Kirchen-Melodien was published in 1649, the reaction Routley refers to likely has to do with the war and the subsequent shift from the ecstatic rhythms of early Lutheran chorales to the pulsed hymnody of the earlier Genevan style. This is certainly true as Crgers edition has changed the values of the notes in Luthers tune from minims and semibreves to breves to match this earlier Genevan pulse.

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Buxtehude

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The social implications of private devotion amongst pietists has already been discussed earlier with Schtz and Schein. However, Johann Scheins Auf meinen lieben Gott published in his Cantional in 1627 allowed for a funeral private devotion as well as display of piety through the keyboard adaptation by Dietrich Buxtehude in his Chorale Partita Auf meinen lieben Gott (BuxWV 179).

In an article by Marcus Rathey, Rathey cites the importance and popularity of the Auf meinen lieben Gott hymn as it was frequently used in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries for services or repentance and for funerals. The transcription of the hymn into a dance suite is indeed peculiar as the diary of a theological student visiting Lbeck discusses with other theologians:Whether it is pleasing to God and at the same time useful to the pious soul if the organist expounds sacred hymns for morning, evening, prayer, penitence, lamenting and comfort, praise and thanksgiving, songs of life, death, and heaven in a dance-like manner, so that an upright Christian person becomes confused by such variations, wondering whether he is sitting in a house of God or in a dance hall.

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So now what

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The music of the Lutheran funeral was incompatible with Martin Luthers original intention of catechetical and didactic music. These hymns and pieces followed the tradition of mystical devotional literature such as that of Johann Gerhardt, often times personifying the dead to facilitate a dialogue with the mourner. Rathey asserts, the theology of the seventeenth century, influenced by the rediscovery in the early part of the century of mystical pietyand by the devastating experience of death and suffering during the Thirty Years War, inspired a growing emphasis on the memento mori and demanded an increasingly refined theology of death and a multitude of texts teaching the ars moriendi.

The memento mori is the conscious acknowledgement of ones mortality, that which the worshipper would have identified with Christ through the Passion narrative. Johann Crger and his Gesitliche Kirchen-Melodien and the hymns of Paul Gerhardt came to represent this confluence of pre-Reformation mysticism and Lutheran ars moriendi for use in the Lutheran funeral service; their hymns, along with the hymns of other composers and writers, came to function as individual display of piety and social distinction outside of the original intention of Martin Luther in the early days of the Reformation. From the vernacular priesthood of all believers mentality of early Lutheran hymnody to a theology that stresses piety as a sign of Christianity and salvation, funeral music came to incorporate early Catholic mysticism while claiming Lutheran orthodoxy.

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Thank you!

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BibliographyBrown Hewitt, Theodore. Paul Gerhardt as a Hymn Writer and his Influence on English Hymnody. MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1976.Crger, Johann. Geistliche Kirchen-Melodien (1649). Edited by Burkard Rosenberger. Mnster: Monsenstein und Vannerdat, 2014.Fischer, Alexander. Music and Religious Identity in Counter-Reformation Augsburg 1580-1630. Vermont: Ashgate Publishing, 2004.

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Fisher, Alexander J. Music, Piety, and Propaganda: The Soundscapes of Counter-Reformation Bavaria. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. Gerhardt, Johann. Meditationes Sacrae. In Seventeenth-Century Lutheran Meditations and Hymns, Ed. by Eric Lund. New York: Paulist Press, 2011.Gerhardt, Paul. Praxis Pietatis Melica. In Seventeenth-Century Lutheran Meditations and Hymns, Ed. by Eric Lund. New York: Paulist Press, 2011.Johnston, Gregory. Rhetorical Personification of the Dead in the 17th-Century German Funeral Music: Heinrich Schutzs Musikalische Exequien (1636) and Three Works by Michael Wiedemann (1693). The Journal of Musicology 9 (1991): 186-213Koslofsky, Craig M. The Reformation of the Dead: Death and Ritual in Early Modern Germany, 1450-1700. New York: Palgrave, 2000.

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Leaver, Robin A. Luthers Liturgical Music: Principles and Implications. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company: Michigan, 2007.Luther, Martin. Mitten wir im Leben sind mit dem Tod umfangen. In Geistliche Gesangbuch von 1524. Berlin: Publikation lterer praktischer und theoretischer Musik-Werke, 1878.Oswald, Hilton C. Studies in Lutheran Chorales. Minnesota: Dr. Martin Luther College, 1981.Rathey, Marcus. Buxtehude and the Dance of Death: The Chorale Partita Auf Meinen Lieben Gott (BuxWV 179) and the Ars Moriendi in the Seventeenth-Century. Early Music History 29 (2010): 161-88.Reinis, Austra. Reforming the Art of Dying: The ars moriendi in the German Reformation (1519-1528). Vermont: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2007.

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Reed, Luther D. The Lutheran Liturgy. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1947.Rittgers, Ronald. The Reformation of Suffering: Pastoral Theology and Lay Piety in Late Medieval and Early Modern Germany. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.Routley, Erik. Hymns and Human Life. Michigan: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1959.Tilley, Janette. Meditation and Consolatory Soul-God Dialogues in Seventeenth-Century Lutheran Germany. Music & Letters 88 (2007): 436-457.

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