BACH, LUTHER, PACHELBEL, RATTLE AND HUM

As Lutherans are want to tell everyone, Johann Sebastian Bach was a Lutheran and many of his compositions were written specifically for Lutheran worship.  There is even a belief among the more

stalwart Lutherans that even Bach's more worldly works were actually written in some lost musical code in which Luther's catechisms and sermons were translated into musical notation.  So great was Bach's contributions to Western civilization that Lutherans felt comfortable to rest on their laurels for a few hundred years.

That is with the exception of Johann Pachelbel who in the seventeenth century composed hundreds of chorales, fugues, chaconnes, and toccatas which were all popular in his time.  But poor Pachelbel laid in obscurity until 1980 when his Canon in D major was used in the soundtrack for the popular film Ordinary People.  Since then in recent years it has become extremely popular for use in weddings, rivaling if not surpassing that of Wagner's Bridal Chorus.  One could suppose Johann should be grateful he has had such an impact on contemporary culture three hundred years after his passing; but his Canon is so prevalent that even classical music lovers start to gag from its overexposure every time a blushing bride heads down to the altar.  Besides, after a lifetime of work turning out so much music, who would want to go through the rest of eternity being thought of as a "one note Johnny"?

Luther himself composes a few hundred hymns--an over representation sure to find their way into Lutheran hymnals over these four centuries.  The most important Luther hymn is A Mighty Fortress Is Our God--said to be something on the order of the Lutheran "National Anthem".   A Mighty Fortress Is Our God is near and dear to Lutherans' hearts and is a mainstay on important high holidays--invariably Lutherans choose to have it sung at their funerals.  Other Protestants often will use A Mighty Fortress Is Our God in their churches as well; but they almost always make a critical mistake.  A Mighty Fortress Is Our God spans across four tightly written verses.  Other Protestants, not having the patience required, will habitually sing only the first verse--failing to notice that at the end of the that stanza the Devil wins.

Martin Luther knew that it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it was for Northern European types to express themselves.  If he wanted the Gospel to be spread to the four corners of the earth, he was going to have to invent an alternate verbal way of passing on Lutheran teachings and traditions.  So all of Luther's hymn compositions were written for four parts reflecting the Lutheran ideal of blending diverse sources into one harmonious whole.  He knew as well that if Lutherans spent their time singing there would be no time to use e's oice for arguing.  What, indeed, was there to argue about anyway?  Luther had answered all the tough questions thus freeing up all the generations of Lutherans to follow so all they had to do was keep to themselves, follow his teachings, and enjoy the sensible Lutheran lifestyle all the while "bringing in the sheaves".

Luther never wrote music for the standard four piece rock band.  No guitars and drums!  Something enthusiasts for contemporary Christian worship think was surely an accidental oversight on his part.  More traditional types are equally certain that this was no mistake.  Without doubt Luther would not countenance four greasy longhaired teenage boys slinging away on these noisemakers with some hippy chick who didn't shave her armpits banging away a tambourine on her hips for worship!  With no clear resolution of the question, each side continue to press their well considered, reasoned determination of how the great reformer would have come down on the issue.  "Luther said the Devil shouldn't have all the good tunes." contemporary enthusiasts will proudly trump.  "Yes, but who said these were good tunes?" traditionalists will retort.  Thus setting up the famous sixty year "worship wars" in Lutheran parishes across the fruited plain.  Which is kind of funny when you consider that what passes for "contemporary worship" sounds nothing like Led Zeppelin