In our preceding article we embarked upon a survey of the musical situation in the Church at the time of the Reformation. Our first point was that the music in the Protestant worship service, like the preaching, had to be in the vernacular. This departure from the Latin called for the establishment of a whole […]

When faced with making decisions on church music, a nonmusical theologian will undoubtedly concern himself primarily with the content of the music, i.e., the words actually used by the congregation or the choir in the songs which they sing. A non-theological musician will, on the other hand, be more concerned with the beauty of musical […]

In our last article we discussed in a general way some of the problems which have arisen in the field of Church music with the transplanting of the Reformed Church from Europe to America. We mentioned something of the strength of the music which the Dutch churches have incorporated into their worship services, carrying on the great […]

Reformed theologians and musicians alike are often placed in an embarrassing position when they are asked to describe the music of their church. Their embarrassment may, in some cases, be caused by the poor performance of the church music by mediocre talent in their local congregation. However, even in those churches which possess fine musical […]