Reforming Music: Music and the Religious Reformations of the Sixteenth Century

by Chiara Bertoglio

Five hundred years ago a monk nailed his theses to a church gate in Wittenberg. The sound of Luther's mythical hammer, however, was by no means the only aural manifestation of the religious Reformations.
This book describes the birth of Lutheran Chorales and Calvinist Psalmody; of how music was practised by Catholic nuns, Lutheran schoolchildren, battling Huguenots, missionaries and martyrs, cardinals at Trent and heretics in hiding, at a time when Palestrina, Lasso and Tallis were composing their masterpieces, and forbidden songs were concealed, smuggled and sung in taverns and princely courts alike.
Music expressed faith in the Evangelicals' emerging worships and in the Catholics' ancient rites; through it new beliefs were spread and heresy countered; analysed by humanist theorists, it comforted and consoled miners, housewives and persecuted preachers; it was both the symbol of new, conflicting identities and the only surviving trace of a lost unity of faith.
The music of the Reformations, thus, was music reformed, music reforming and the reform of music: this book shows what the Reformations sounded like, and how music became one of the protagonists in the religious conflicts of the sixteenth century.

Genres: Nonfiction, Music

689 pages, Hardcover

Published March 6, 2017

Reviews

[Zachary · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's kind of hard to summarize the 800+ page tome that is Bertoglio's Reforming Music. In short, she takes a deep dive into the musical landscape of the sixteenth century. But that doesn't quite do justice to what she accomplishes in the 12 Chapters of her book. What is so significant is how she works from the religious reformations to their musical ramifications (which often includes societal, political, and even cultural shifts). She does not merely address Luther and Calvin's works regarding music and the practices fostered under their care, but also addresses many other theological figures. But the eye-opening part, at least for me, was how she managed to also draw in political and societal shifts, specifically the rise of humanism, into how she traced musical developments and practices.

This book will not be casual reading for most people. While her writing is engaging, there are times it gets monotonous as she works through various composers and works. But I think she (and her publisher) realized the scope of what she was doing and the book has a very thorough table to contents. For anyone doing research in and/or writing about the sixteenth century, this book is a treasure trove of notes and sources for future research. You want to dig into how Luther and Calvin conceived of music? There's a chapter on that. Then there are individual chapters on what music looked like and how it was practiced under Calvin, Luther, and the Church of England.

She dedicated one entire chapter to considering what the Council of Trent wrote (and why) about music and worship practice in the local church. Then the next chapter traces the outflow of those themes and vague guidelines as they were implemented in various places. The Council of Trent was significant, and she is able to really dig into why. These chapters alone should be required reading for any church music history class, in my opinion.

Two more chapters on confessionalism explore the impact of the emerging different confessions of faith upon musicians and composers, in both internally reinforcing and cross-confessional ways. And her final chapter on women and the music of the sixteenth century summarizes a lot of current research and knowledge (which is quite limited) in regards to what is known about that era. The chapter is not a nod towards feminism, per se, but rather an intentional recognition and exploration of the contribution of women to the music of that day and age. It also draws out more implications of the Council of Trent, and also emphasizes some of the cultural roles and contributions women made musically.

In the end, I do recommend the book, but with the caveat that it is a tough, long read (if you're going from the front to the back....). On the other hand, I think it is an invaluable resource for academics and scholars.

[Nina]

Marking a 827 page book as read just for the heck of it. For full disclosure probably read like 80 pages of it. Will I read more? Probably not. But it *was* a part of my 2023 reading year so yeah keep moving