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18 The National Music of America.
Luther, an ardent musician, who desired to approach the beauty of the Catholic ritual in the music of the Protestant Church; at the other extreme we find John Calvin, a bitter opponent of the fine arts, a man who desired that the music of the Church might attract no attention to itself, but merely become a peg whereon to hang the rhythmic recitation of the psalms.
Luther caused hymn-books with tunes to be published, his earliest collection being the "Enchiridion," printed at Erfurt in 1524. The last remaining copy of this work, preserved in the city library of Strasburg, was destroyed during the German bombardment of that city in the Franco-Prussian war. A Catholic hymnal with tunes, dated seven years earlier than the "Enchiridion" (the first Protestant hymn-book), still exists.
It is a popular error to imagine that the psalms of the Pilgrims were influenced by the music of Luther. A church choir would |
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