A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
As part of his efforts at reform, after Martin Luther prepared a version of the Mass in Latin, he prepared a version in German, adapting parts of the liturgical texts of the Mass as chorales in the vernacular which could be sung and understood by the congregation. Luther arranged the music for some of these by adapting the music of existing plainsong melodies; he set other texts to newly composed tunes composed by others, or by himself. An example of the latter is the tune he composed for his German paraphrase of Psalm 46, "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" ("A Mighty Fortress Is Our God"). Nicholas Temperley wrote in "The Hymn Tune Index" that Luther "wished his congregations to take part in the singing, but