Who Said That?

"The whole plan of singing should be constituted not to give empty pleasure to the ear, but in such a way that the words be clearly understood by all.  And thus the hearts of listeners be drawn to desire of heavenly harmonies in the contemplation of the joys of the Blessed.  They shall also banish from church all music that contains whether in the singing or in the organ playing things that are lascivious or impure."

You know the drill . . .  Leave your guess in the comments section below.  Please no google searches, or cheating.

Update on Saturday, October 11, 2008 at 04:02PM by Kim Riddlebarger

This comes from the Council of Trent (1545-1563), specifically the Canon on Music to be used for the Mass.

Comments

[DSY]

Billy Gothard

[Aaron]

Zwingli

["lee n. field"]

Doesn't sound either ancient or modern. And somebody from an era and provenance when organs would be found used in church.

One of the Wesleys, would be my guess.

[C T Hall]

J S Bach

[KyleinWI]

Luther?

[TAG]

I would also guess Bach

[Coyle]

Michael W. Smith? :)

Okay, a real guess: Calvin.

[Mike Leake]

My guess is Martin Luther.

[Matt]

John Wesley

[Bill B]

Spurgeon

[Jason]

Until I read the last sentence I was thinking Lemmy from Motorhead :-)

What...you don't think he would use the word "constituted"?

[John Yeazel]

Sounds like what goes on at Willow Creek in the Chicago area. I am being sarcastic. When you go to the seeker sensitive Sunday morning worship service you are greeted either by an up-tempo jazz band or some other toe-tapping music. Church should be fun- you don't want to think too deeply about the dire situation of your lives before a Holy God and then hear how God remedied the situation by the good news of the Gospel.

The words lascivious and impure would make me guess one of the Wesley brothers.

[Alice S]

I enjoy your blog tremendously. Thanks so much! My guiess is that this comes from the Council of Trent. If I remember my music history correctly, one of the things the RC chuch addressed during this council was the habit of many composers of that day to write music in such a way that the text was unintelligible. If memory serves correctly, I believe the style of Palestrina was pretty much endorsed.

[Chris Sherman]

Definitely not Martin Luther. -

"How strange and wonderful it is that one voice sings a simple unpretentious tune while three, four, or five other voices are also sung; these voices play and sway in joyful exuberance around the tune...He must be a course clod and not worthy of hearing such charming music, who does not delight in this, and is not moved by such a marvel. He should rather listen to the donkey braying of the [Gregorian] chorale, or the barking of dogs and pigs, than to such music."

[George]

I also doubt that it was Bach:

"...I maintain that if some of the composers - like Bach, and, to some degree, Mozart - if they were alive today, would be fine jazz musicians. I say that about Bach, in particular, because, if we look at his background, and his biography... he had two wives, twenty kids... he was kicked out of churches for being too harmonically radical... he was not only a devout Lutheran, but he was also a beer-drinking German. If they're not the characteristics of a jazz musician, you tell me... "

George Shearing in a 1995 interview with Steve Capra

[Mark]

Luther

[John Yeazel]

To be a bit more gracious to Willow Creek they probably were reacting in their style of worship to comments like this. It kind of smacks of a holier than thou type attitude and perhaps some sentimentality which can easily infect our thinking. That is why I guessed the Wesley brothers rather than a reformed or Lutheran type. Although you never know these days.

I didn't realize that JS Bach had two wives, twenty kids and loved his German beer. His musical genius, calling and pointing everyone towards Christ rather than himself makes people more forgiving towards his haphazard personal life. I guess we all can relate to that.

Isn't that what the Church's style of worship should point us towards?

[John Yeazel]

Bach was probably busy composing his music and letting his wife take care of the kids- that would make a marriage difficult although it seems to have been much more acceptable back then. Conflicts and contradictions in our lives make the Gospel much sweeter. Bach with the jazz musician lifestyle and Luther with his simple beer ballad tunes. Are conflicts and contradictions part of the normal Christian life?

[shirohniichan]

My guess is Calvin. He didn't appreciate church music when the words couldn't be clearly understood by the listeners.

[Alice S]

John,
While Bach certainly was a sinner as we all are, his life wasn't quite as "haphazard" as George Shearing might have you believe. His first wife died after having borne him seven children. About a year later, Bach remarried, and his second wife bore him the other thirteen. I'm not sure how many of them reached adulthood. But he was very active in the education of his children. Many of them went on to musical carreers of their own.