Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 2.djvu/190

178 formed part of the musical retinue of kings and princes, and one at least was commonly attached to the households of nobles and landed gentry. On Aug. 8, 1715, a lutenist's place was created in the Chapel Royal of St. James's, and John Shore was appointed to it, who held it until his death in 1752, when it was given to John Immyns, who filled it until his death in 1764. The office afterwards became a sinecure, and was eventually annexed to the Mastership of the Children as a means of increasing the stipend. It continued until the death of William Hawes in 1846, when it was abolished. [ W. H. H. ]  LUTHER,, born at Eisleben, on St. Martin's Eve, Nov. 10, 1483. For the main facts of the life of the great Reformer, the reader must consult some other work, as our space compels us to confine ourselves to his relation to music, and especially to the hymns and services of the Church. It was after his departure from the Wartburg, March 22, 1522, that he began to occupy himself with projects for the reform of the services of the Church, among which his alterations in the musical parts of the Mass led to such great results. There is ample evidence that German hymns were sung during the service before Luther's alterations; but if not the actual founder, there is no doubt that he was the establisher of congregational singing. The musical part of the Mass had grown to an inordinate length; accordingly, in his first 'Formula Missæ' (1523), Luther objects to the singing of long graduals, and recommends that the choice of certain hymns should be left to the priest. The Reformer had long cherished the idea of a German Mass, and during the latter part of the year 1524 he was occupied with arranging that service. In order to help him in the musical part of his work, he summoned to Wittenberg two able musicians, Conrad Rupf, Kapellmeister to the Elector of Saxony, and Johann Walther, Cantor at the Court of Frederick the Wise at Torgau. To the latter we are indebted for much information about Luther as a musician. He says that at this time he stayed with Luther at Wittenberg for three weeks, and that the Reformer himself set to music several Gospels and Epistles and the words of consecration, inventing the tunes on his flute, while Walther noted them down. Luther used also to discuss the eight Church Tones; giving the Epistle to the 8th Tone, and the Gospel to the 6th. 'For,' said he, 'Christ is a gentle Lord, and His words are lovely; therefore let us take the 6th Tone for the Gospel; and since St. Paul is a grave apostle, we will set the Epistle to the 8th Tone.' The result of these labours was the publication of the 'Order of the German Mass,' which contained the following alterations. Instead of the introit there was ordered to be sung a hymn or German psalm ('Ich will den Herrn loben,' or 'Meine Seele soll sich rühmen'). Then followed the Kyrie Eleison, sung three times (instead of nine). After the Collect and Epistle a German hymn ('Nun bitten wir den heil'gen Geist,' or another) was sung, and after the Gospel, instead of the Latin Patrem, the Creed in German (Wir glauben all'). The sermon then followed, and after this a paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer, and the Exhortation to Communicants. After the Consecration, was sung 'Jesaia dem Propheten,' Huss's hymn 'Jesus Christus, unser Heiland,' or 'Christe, du Lamm Gottes.' This form of service was first used on Christmas Day, 1524, in the parish church of Wittenberg, but it was not published until the following year. It is evident that while introducing a more popular element into the music of the Mass, Luther did not despise the singing of a trained choir. In the 'Vermahnung zum Gebet wider den Türken' (1541) he says: 'I rejoice to let the 79th Psalm. "O God, the heathen are come," be sung as usual, one choir after another. Accordingly, let one sweet-voiced boy step before the desk in his choir and sing alone the antiphon or sentence "Domine, ne secundum," and after him let another boy sing the other sentence, "Domine, ne memineris"; and then let the whole choir sing on their knees, "Adjuva nos, Deus," just as it was in the Popish Fasts, for it sounds and looks very devotional.' At the same time that he was engaged in arranging the German Mass, Luther was turning his attention to writing and adapting hymns to be sung during the service. In 1524 he wrote to his friend, George Spalatin, 'I wish, after the example of the Prophets and ancient Fathers of the Church, to make German psalms for the people, that is to say, sacred hymns, so that the word of God may dwell among the people by means of song also.' In the same year (1524) the first Protestant hymn-book appeared: 'Etlich christliche Lyeder Lobgesang und Psalm dem reinen Wort Gottes gemess auss der h. gschrifft durch mancherlay Hochgelerter gemacht, in der Kirchen zu singen, wie es den zum tail bereyt zu Wittenburg in yebung ist. Witenburg, 1524.' It is not certain whether Luther actually arranged this book; it contains only eight hymns (four of which are by him), and five tunes. During the same year several other collections appeared, and their number increased so rapidly that space forbids the insertion of a list of even those that were published during Luther's lifetime. Scattered through these different collections, there is great difficulty in deciding what hymns are really Luther's, and what are merely adaptations; the lists given at the end of this article have been compiled from the latest authorities, especially from Herr Koch, in his great work, 'Geschichte des Kirchenlieds, etc.' (Stuttgart, 1866–77). The immediate popularity which these early Protestant hymns attained was immense: they were taught in the schools, and carried through the country by wandering scholars, until his enemies declared that Luther had destroyed more souls by his hymns than by his writings and speeches. Noble words, closely wedded to noble music, severely simple, yet never trivial, these hymns seem an echo of the Reformer's own great spirit, and sound even now as true and grand as when they first stirred Germany to its very soul. On June 11, 1525, Luther was married to