Lutheran hymn
Martin Luther was a great enthusiast for music, and this is why it forms a large part of Lutheran services; in particular, Luther admired the composers Josquin des Prez and Ludwig Senfl and wanted singing in the church to move away from the "ars perfecta" (Catholic Sacred Music of the late Renaissance) and towards singing as a "Gemeinschaft" (community). Lutheran hymns are sometimes known as chorales. Lutheran hymnody is well known for its doctrinal, didactic, and musical richness. Most Lutheran churches are active musically with choirs, handbell choirs, children's choirs, and occasionally change ringing groups that ring  bells in a bell tower. Johann Sebastian Bach, a devout Lutheran, composed music for the Lutheran church: more than half of his over 1000 compositions are or contain Lutheran hymns. History. Lutheran hymnals include: Characteristics. When Johannes Zahn catalogued the tunes of over 8800 Evangelical hymns in the late 19th century, he used the verse characteristics of the lyrics as basis of his classification system. Hymnodists. Lutheran hymnodists or hymn-writers: Hymnologists. Hymnologists who published on Lutheran hymns: