THE GENIUS OF LUTHER’S AND CALVIN’S MUSICAL REFORMATION
by Janet Henshaw Danielson
(The Regent World Dec 07, 2017)
Some myths just won’t die. Myths about music are particularly resistant to evidence or rational persuasion, perhaps because for many people the main feature of music is its style, and style is a matter of personal taste and cultural influence. Myths about the Reformation and music centre around themes of emancipation and development. [...] Little of this narrative stands up to scrutiny. [...] The dynamic new musical syntax forged by the Reformers laid the foundations for the great developments in European art music in subsequent centuries: opera, oratorio, sonata, symphony.
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