This space is devoted to the music of the Lutheran Church, the true evangelical pearl of great price to be found in the field of Christendom.
It is my opinion that Lutherans, especially those in my home country of America, have forgotten the great inheritance bequeathed to them by our fathers in the faith, but most especially the German chorales, a veritable treasure chest filled with precious stones of every kind.
Why has this happened? Certainly we must attribute the root cause to our fallen nature. We have short memories, and even more do we seek novelty for its own sake. We are prone to wander (to ironically borrow a phrase from a certain hymn) from our home, like the prodigal son. We, like Esau, traded our birthright for pottage. The savor of it was pleasing at first, but it left us with nothing but an empty feeling. The cost meanwhile was too great. Our gold, silver, and precious stones have been replaced with wood, hay, and stubble. Our stately, noble, virile hymns are an endangered species, threatened by the influx of denominational ditties and sectarian songs into our hymnals.
Many specific factors have contributed to this, some of which may well be the subjects for essays here down the road. But it is not my purpose now to enumerate them.
I have long been an advocate for the Lutheran chorale among Lutherans. But only lately have I taken action to spread the word about them, so to speak. I started The Lutheran Kantor Project on YouTube last month and started posting recordings of hymns that I believe are particularly little-known among American Lutherans. Today I continue that project here, by writing about these hymns, and Lutheran
music in general. I intend to continue this project for as long as it takes until these gems are restored to their proper setting in both church and home. There is certainly no lack of hymns to record; there are many thousands of texts and tunes written by Lutherans in the first few centuries of the Reformation, and more are being translated into English every day.
Today is the anniversary of the great Lutheran composer Heinrich Schütz’s death in 1672. Though lesser known today, he was the Lutheran composer par excellence in his day, before the era of J. S. Bach (1685–1750). Chorales were frequently featured in his work.1 He has been a great source of inspiration to me in thinking about and pondering Lutheran church music, and in starting my project. In fact, the first video posted to The Lutheran Kantor Project’s YouTube channel was on the anniversary of Schütz’s birthday in 1585, October 8th.
It is my prayer that, God willing, we return to our own well and drink deeply. The inheritance of our fathers is not something to be cast aside. It is necessary that we listen to them in matters of faith and doctrine, since they were such keen students of the Word of God and have passed down to us that splendid testimony to their teachings that is the Christian Book of Concord; likewise also, are we not to imitate them in their worship and the praises of God that were ever in their mouths?
Lutherans must sing Lutheran hymns. Here I stand.
In his surviving choral music, to be sure; his organ music is sadly completely lost to us.