Luther wrote 37 hymns which survive today, though he perhaps wrote additional texts which were passed around informally. The earliest Lutheran hymnal was the Achtliederbuch or First Lutheran hymnal of 1524, with eight hymns by Luther and by Paul Speratus. We must teach music in schools a schoolmaster ought to have skill in music, or I would not regard him neither should we ordain young men as preachers, unless they have been well exercised in music. I always loved music whoso has skill in this art, is of a good temperament, fitted for all things. Luther strongly supported worship music and emphasized its importance in the church, and was once witnessed remarking: Luther would make use of his musical skills to become a tool for promoting the teaching reforms of the Reformation. Being a friar, Luther's life was steeped in the musical traditions of Roman chant and he had a deep love for music as a singer, lutenist, and composer. The most notable follower of the normative principle was Martin Luther. Ĭhoir of Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune Protestant Church, Strasbourg Normative principlists often incorporated organ and other instruments into church music, and were not as stringent as regulative principlists on restricting the combination of various mediums of worship. The normative principle provides an elastic interpretation to the Bible and God's intention about worship music, claiming: “What the Scripture forbids not, it allows and what it allows is not unlawful and what is not unlawful may lawfully be done." This doctrine gave its followers great artistic and creative freedom in organizing worship services and composing hymns. Emergence of Protestant church music Normative principle of worship, and Martin Luther The dissension between these two groups led to stark contrasts in worship practices. Protestant reformers, however, sought to change Catholicism's perceived "dangers of overly theatrical performances, the unwarranted expense of elaborate ceremonies and enormous pipe organs and the uselessness of text unintelligible to the common man." The urge for reform in these areas created two main schools of thought: One which adhered to the regulative principle of worship music, and one which followed the normative principle, with the latter becoming far more prevalent as time progressed. Before and during the Reformation, much of Catholic worship music consisted of highly florid choral works, Gregorian plainchant, and responsive songs in praise of God and in honor of the Virgin Mary. One of the most noticeable changes to take place was the way in which Christians worshiped through music. A call for reform and a subsequent break from the Roman Church by Martin Luther and his followers in 1521 following the Diet of Worms created an irreversible schism in the Church, and while this divide was more immediately noticeable politically, the Protestant movement changed many aspects of Europeans' daily lives through the reformed doctrine and practices of the new churches. The Protestant Reformation, which rapidly spread throughout Europe in the sixteenth century, created sweeping changes in many facets of society. "Luther hammers his 95 theses to the door" at the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany
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