Music During the Reformation: Changing Times and Changing Minds

As music developed throughout the early centuries its function changed according to the philosophies and principles governing the culture to which it belonged. This is readily apparent in the church, as one can trace the development of music in the worship service from the Medieval times to the Reformation and beyond. During the Protestant Reformation music’s role in the church changed. My presentation seeks to discover how music was used in the different branches of Protestantism of the time and how its usage compared with other sects; specifically I compared and contrasted what worship would have looked like in the churches of Luther, Calvin, Zwingli and the English monarchies. Building upon this, I then discussed how these reformer’s views influenced the music of the surrounding secular culture and the schools, either hindering music’s development in his respective country or allowing it to flourish and thrive. I next introduce how Luther in particular affected composers after him, specifically using examples from Bach’s works and comparing both of these men’s theological views. The presentation then concludes by asserting that music’s role in worship changed drastically from earlier Medieval times, and the views of the leading reformers changed the way people in the surrounding culture viewed music, influencing both the educational system and many later composers of the Baroque period