Page:Pratt - The history of music (1907).djvu/134

 CHAPTER VIII

CHURCH MUSIC IN NORTHERN AND WESTERN EUROPE

61. In General.—The story of music in northern Europe at this time gathers about three centres, Austria, the seat of the Hapsburg line of emperors, Bavaria, more or less associated with it, and Saxony, the headquarters of the Protestant Reformation. The first two were intimately affiliated with Italy and shared in all Italian tendencies, while the last tended to strike out into new paths in sacred music. It is convenient and valid to consider them somewhat apart. Chronologically it would be better to begin with Austria, but topically it is more useful to turn at once to the rise of Reformation music in Saxony. This will lead on, finally, to a survey of musical progress in France, the Low Countries and England, all of which were affected by the Reformation.

62. The Lutheran Reformation.—Lutheran Protestantism began in Saxony and took its name from Martin Luther, a highly educated Augustinian monk, well versed in music, who at Wittenberg, in 1517, publicly protested against the sale of indulgences and other abuses in the papal system as then administered, and who by 1520 had become so outspoken as to be excommunicated. His action was a symptom of a widespread feeling that was waiting for organization. Luther at once attracted able coadjutors, and under their leadership a complex revolution of thought swept over northern Germany, winning support from all classes.

The issue between the Protestant and the Catholic parties was fully defined by 1520 (the Diet of Augsburg), but was not held to be irreconcilable till about 1550. The progress of the movement during its first century, owing to the extreme partition of Germany into many petty states, all overshadowed by the Empire, was involved in complicated political entanglements, by which its character was often distorted, its well-wishers split into hostile factions, and its advance checked. In consequence, its features escape succinct statement.