page_title: Hymnody of continental Europe
section_title: Reformed Church
hierarchical_section_title: Hymnody of continental Europe / Reformation / Reformed Church
caption_attribution_description: English: Calvins Psautier Huguenot (ed. 1539) - Title page
context_page_description: Hymnody in continental Europe developed from early liturgical music, especially Gregorian chant. Music became more complicated as embellishments and variations were added, along with influences from secular music. Although vernacular leisen and vernacular or mixed-language Carol were sung in the Middle Ages, more vernacular hymnody emerged during the Protestant Reformation, although ecclesiastical Latin continued to be used after the Reformation. Since then, developments have shifted between isorhythmic, homorhythmic, and more rounded musical forms with some lilting. Theological underpinnings influenced the narrative point of view used, with Pietism especially encouraging the use of the first person singular. In the last several centuries, many songs from Evangelicalism have been translated from English into German.
context_section_description: John Calvin rejected all traditions that he did not see justified in the Bible. Unlike Luther, he was initially dismissive of church music. In Calvinist liturgies, the spoken word had priority.
  Although being very musical, Zwingli rejected music in worship for a long time. In the Reformed communities of Zurich, there were no songs in his time. Instrumental music was also excluded.
  Calvin, who took over the leadership of the Reformed Church after Zwingli's death, had encountered psalm singing in Strasbourg. He put communal singing again under strict musical and lyrical conditions, now called exclusive psalmody:
  Only psalm texts were allowed to be sung. Versified psalms had to lean closely on the biblical text.
  The singing had to be unanimous.
  The tunes were not allowed to exceed the size of an octave.
  Melismas were not allowed.
  Only two basic values were allowed for the rhythm (one beat and two beats, quarter note and half note in today's notation). Rhythmic reassurance at the end of lines was desired.
  Every line had to be paused.
  In this framework, a series of psalm songs emerged, with simple melodies that usually avoided jumps (example: get up in your power, God ). The central hymnbook of the Reformed Church was the Genevan Psalter, whose final (French) edition appeared in 1562. After Calvin's death, the four-part ballad was allowed, and with the simple four-part choral movements by Claude Goudimel, the Geneva Psalter reached a wide spread in the Reformed churches. Sigmund Hemmel set to music in the Württemberg Reformation, first around 1560 the entire Psalter for four voices in German psalm seals of various authors. The translation of Ambrosius Lobwasser soon became for over two hundred years the authoritative hymnbook of the Reformed communities in Germany.
  Hymn boards were used to help people keep track of which page to use in the hymnal, with the earliest documentation of them coming from 1550 in Geneva.
caption: Title page of the 1539 Psalter, published in Strasburg when Calvin was a minister there. Calvin's psalters were called "Genevan" due to later editions after Calvin moved to Geneva.
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