Description
Book SynopsisGeistliche Lieder und Psalmen, 1567, was compiled and published by Johann Leisentrit, a Roman Catholic priest who from 1559 to the time of his death in 1586, was Dean at the Cathedral of St. Peter’s in Bautzen, a town in southeastern Germany. His hymnbook appeared in three complete editions (1567, 1573, 1584), and in abridged editions in 1575, 1576, and 1589. By adapting the vernacular hymn, a genre created by Protestant reformers, Leisentrit hoped to bring back to the “true church” (wahrglaubiger Christlicher Kirchen) those who had defected to Lutheranism. This was a formidable ambition because his diocese was located adjacent to the Moravian-Bohemian regions where the Protestant movement was born and remained vital. Containing approximately 260 texts set to 175 notated melodies, many borrowed from Protestant sources and adapted to serve Roman Catholic objectives, Leisentrit’s book was the second Catholic hymnbook to be published in the sixteenth century. It surpassed its Protestant and Catholic precursors in scope and provided a model for the profusion of hymnbooks of numerous confessions that appeared in Germany in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries . Wetzel and Heitmeyer present their study in two parts: The first comprises six contextual chapters that survey earlier German achievements in hymnody, provide analyses of the texts and music in Leisentrit’s book, and assess his achievement within the volatile environment of the Counter Reformation. The second gives the melodies in modern notation along with the first stanzas of the texts; provides detailed concordances and references to sources that identify textual and musical provenances; and concludes with six appendixes to facilitate scholarly cross-references. Fourteen of the seventy wood engravings from Leisentrit’s book, many of which are visual representations of the prevailing confessional conflicts, are given in enlarged reproductions. The authors provide the only comprehensive study in English of a unique religious figure and his efforts to achieve confessional reconciliation in the decades following the Council of Trent. They add to a more accurate interpretation of the relationship between Lutherans and Catholics in the sixteenth century and support the hypothesis that some Lutherans remained more liturgically formal than their Catholic contemporaries.
Trade ReviewInformed, informative, enhanced with six appendices, an extensive bibliography, and a comprehensive index, “Johann Leisentrit’s Geistliche Lider und Psalman, 1567: Hymnody of the Counter reformation in Germany” is a critically significant and highly recommended addition to academic library musicology, Renaissance Music History, Catholic History, and 16th Century European Reformation History reference collections and supplemental reading lists. * The Midwest Quarterly *
Wetzel and Heitmeyer’s book will be essential reading for a thorough understanding of sixteenth-century hymnody. It should encourage further and much-needed exploration of how the Catholic Church in German-speaking lands deployed song—both Latin and vernacular—to reinforce a distinctively Catholic identity in the decades leading up to the Thirty Years’ War. * The Catholic Historical Review *
Table of ContentsContents Preface Part 1 Context, Format and Style Chapter 1 Johann Leisentrit and the Council of Trent Decades Chapter 2 Early Sixteenth Century Hymnbooks The Protestants Johann Walter, Geistliche Gesang BÙchleyn, 1524, 1525 Michael Weisse, Ein New Gesengbuchlen, 1531 Joseph Klug, Geistliche lieder, 1533, 1535 Valentin Babst, Das Babstsche Gesangbuch, 1545 Lucas Lossius Psalmodia hoc est Cantica sacraƒ, 1553 Nikolaus Herman Sonntagsevangelia, 1561 The Catholic Pioneers Michael Vehe, Ein new GesangbÙchlin Geystlicher Lieder, 1537 Georg Witzel, Psaltes Ecclesiasticusƒ, 1550 The Printers Georg Rhau The Wolrabs Chapter 3 The Texts of Geistliche Lieder und Psalmen, 1567 Commendations and Endorsements Instructional Texts Hymn Texts and Sources Latin Texts and Melody Titles German Texts and Sources Leisentrit’s Process of Adaptation Chapter 4 The Melodies of Geistliche Lieder und Psalmen, 1567 Printing, Notation, and Transcription Issues Melody Sources Mode and Style Chapter 5 Illustrations, Borders and Symbols Plates Title Page to Das erste Theil Leisentrit in Prayer Leisentrit’s Coat of Arms Dedication to the Holy Roman Emperor Symbols of the Struggles of the Church with Heretics Symbols of the Struggle for Correct Interpretation of Scripture Celebrating the Eucharist with Cup and Loaf Symbols of the Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Eucharist The Murder of Abel by Cain The Temptation of Christ Administering Extreme Unction Christ and the Seven Sacraments A Pastor Teaching Symbolic Portrayal of Simultaneous Lutheran Preaching and Catholic Celebration of the Eucharist Chapter 6 Epilogue Part 2 The Melodies and First Stanzas of Geistliche Lieder und Psalmen, 1567, Transcribed. Sources and Concordances Appendix 1Melody Titles and Text Incipits in Order of Appearance in Geistliche Lieder und Psalmen, 1567 Appendix 2Alphabetical Index of Melody Titles with Text Titles or First Line Incipits Appendix 3Alphabetical Index of First Lines Appendix 4 Table of Modal Characteristics of the Melodies Appendix 5Table of Wood Engravings and Subjects Appendix 6 Latin Hymns and their Adaptations Bibliography General Index
