Hymnody and Hymnals in Basel, 1526-1606

Hymnody and Hymnals in Basel, 1526-1606Author(s): Kenneth H. MarcusSource: The Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 32, No. 3 (Autumn, 2001), pp. 723-741Published by: The Sixteenth Century JournalStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2671509 .

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Sixteen th CertnturyJourrnal XXXII/3 (2001)

Hymnody and Hymnals in Basel, 1526-1606

Kenneth H. Marcus California State Polytechnic University, Poxinona

Basel became the first Reformed city in the Swiss Confederation to allow music in church services. It was a striking departure from an otherwise strict adherence to Zwinglian doctrine, in part because reformers learned from their Lutheran colleagues the extraordinary impact that singing could have in the service. Hymnody remained an important form of religious expression in Basel, although printers in Strasbourg and later Zurich published the hymnals that the laity used.This situation changed with Basel's "second Reformation" and the subsequent adoption of one of the most common Calvinist hymnals of the era, the Lobwasser Psalter. Samuel Mare- schal (1554-1640), niinster organist and professor of music at the University of Basel, combined the Psalter with earlier hymns to create a work that integrated musical influences from Lutheranism, Calvinism, and even Catholicism. As a means of both communication and instruction, hymnody had a central role in Basel's religious reforms.

BASEL WAS AN IMPORTANT CROSSROADS of ideas as well as of commerce in early modern Europe. Except for Geneva, it was the largest city in the Swiss Confeder- ation, with a population that increased from 10,000 to 12,000 during the sixteenth century.1 Historians have traditionally studied the city republic as a center of publishing and of humanism, but have paid less attention to its music. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, several musicologists and church historians published music histories of Swiss cities, and some included Basel in their anal- ysis.2 Yet no scholar has attempted a social history of congregational singing in

Hans R. Guggisberg, Basel ill tf/e Sixteewth Centitry:Aspects (f the City Repitiblic befosre, dirinhg, au,.d after the Reform-iiation. (St. Louis, Mo.: Center for Reformation Research, 1982), 3. See also idems, "Die kulturelle Bedeutung der Stadt Basel im 16.Jahrhullldert," Basler Beitrdge zietr Geschicitsioisseischaft 157 (1989): 49-66; idem, "Das refornierte Basel als geistiger Brennipunkt Europas im 16.Jahrhulnidert," in Zitisaoioitieilsihge iin historisclher Vie~failt: HFIosiaiiisoinis, Spau~ien., Nord Ainiierika, ed. Halaos R. Goggisberg and Christian Windler, Basler Beitrdge zitr Geschichltsiisissenlsch.aft 164 (1994): 3-37.

2Christoph Johannes Riggenibach, Dee Kircheiegesauig in Basel seit der Reforiiiationi (Basel: H. Georg, 1870); Heinrich Weber, Gescluicite des Kirclhengesauigs iii der deuttscheii reforouiiertei. SchI~veiz seit dee Reforisla- tiotn (Zurich: Friedrich SchultheiB, 1876), 117; Karl Nef, "Die Musik in Basel von den Anfangen im 9. bis zur Mitte des 19.Jahrhunderts," Souiderdrnuk atis dei Saiuuim-ielbduuideui der itnteriatioualeui A/Iuisikgesellschaft 10, Heft 4 (Leipzig, 1909), 1-32; idem, "Die Musik an der UniversitRt Basel," in Festschrrft zuir Feice des 450-jdhrigergn Besteherus der Uuiiversitdt Basel, A. Heusler et al. (Basel: Helbing & Lichtenhahn, 1910), 9-11; and Arnold Geering, Die Vokahltiusik iin der Schwileiz ziir Zeit der Reform-iiation, Schweizerisches Jahrbuch ffir Musikwissenschaft, 6 (Aarau, 1933), 38-39.These scholars drew on a tradition of nusicological research that Philip Wackernagel had begun with his pioneering work, Das dewtsclhe Kirclhenlied Vo)I der ditestel. Zeit bis zinii Ariaug des XVII. Jalhrie .tderts (Leipzig: B.G.Teubner, 1864-77), on Basel, see 3:4-5. See also idemn, Bibliographie zuir Geschiclite des dewtscheiu Kirchenliedes hi-i XVI.Jalhrhiundert (Frankfurt am-i Main: Heyder & Zimmer, 1855).

723



724 Sixteenthl Centttr Jouirtal XXXII/3 (2001)

Basel to place hymnody within a wider context of religious reform, despite the fact that it was the first Reformed city in the Swiss Confederation to allow music in church services.When the laity in several different churches sang hymns in 1526,3 they did so even though the city's Protestant preachers followed Zwinglian doctrine, and Zwingli was adamant in his stance against liturgical music.4 Why would hymnody not only survive but also thrive in Basel?

Basel was not alone in its support for congregational singing, for the appeal of hymnody was strong among many religious communities in Europe and America during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Lutheran hymnals were published in Wittenberg and Strasbourg in 1524, and Calvinist hymnals with metrical psalms appeared in the 1540s, culminating in the Genevan Psalter of 1562 and the Scot- tish Psalter of 1564. Europeans continued this tradition in the New World: Huguenots brought French metrical psalms to South Carolina, Florida, and Brazil between 1562 and 1565; Sir Francis Drake brought English psalms to Indians along the California coast in 1579; and Puritans, as "psalm-singing English Sepa- ratists," arrived with their own psalters in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620.5 Even the Roman Catholic church issued hymnals for the laity (in part to rival the Protestant hymnals), complete with texts in the vernacular accompanied by simple melodies.6 We might thus point to a truly international movement of congrega-

3The reformerJohannes Oecolanipadius began a cycle of sermions on the psalms in the summlller of 1525 and elnded it in March 1527, during which time he encouraged congregations to sing hymns. Other preachers in Basel who followed his example were Marx Bertschi, Wolfgang Wissenburg, Johannes Luithart, and Thomas Girfalk. I have discussed late-medieval music and early Protestant singing in Basel (1526-29) more fully in another article, "A Veritable Break with the Past: Sacred Music in Fifteenth-Century Basel," in Mllediev2al Geriiiauiy:Associatiouis anid Delineations, ed. Nancy van Deulsen (Ottawa: Institute of Mediaeval Music, 2000), 163-72. Basel's first attempts at singing psalms by the Protestant laity are described in Ernst Staeheliln, ed., Briefe iuilAkteui ztiin Leben. ekolaniipads, QUellen und Forschunigeln zur Refornmationsgeschichte, 10, 19 (1927-34; repr., NewYork:Johnsoln Reprint, 1971), 1:481-82, no. 348; idemi, ed., Das tlicologische LeberiswierkJolialiines 0ekolaiiipads, Quellen und Forschungen zur Reformationsgeschichte, 21 (1939; repr., NewvYork:Johnson Reprilnt, 1971), 411- 19; Htildreiclh Zivbiglis Sdiutlicle T47erke [hereafter Z] (1905; repr., Zurich:TheologischerVerlag, 1982), 7:559-60, no. 466; and Basler Clirotiiken (Leipzig and Basel: S. Hirzel, 1872-), 1:411-12; see also 6:112, 8:53; Guggisberg, Basel in the Sixtcenth. Century 22ff.; and Emil Diirr and Paul Roth, eds.,Akteiisaniiuii- lung zir Gescliiclte der Basler Rcfoiration i h den Ja/ireli 1519 bisAiafaig 1534 (Basel:Werner-Riehllm, 1921-50), 2:504-45, no. 675.

4Onl Zwinlgli's approach to liturgical mIusic, see article 46 of the Scili/iflredeii (1523) in Z, 2:351; and Oskar S6h-ngen, Tlieologic der Mlbisik (Kassel:Johannes Stauda Verlag, 1967), 33-52.

5Nicholas Temiperley, T/ie Mlibsic of the Euiglis/i Paris/i Clihtrchi (Calmbridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979), esp. 1:22 ff.;Waldo Pratt, T/ie Muisic of tie Frenci Psalter of 1562 (1939; repr., New York: AMS Press, 1966), 70-71; and Paul Westermeyer, Te Deivii:Thie Chiiurchi and Miusic (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998), 246-47. See also Frank Lestringant, "Geneva and America in the Renaissance:The Dream of the Huguenot Refuge, 1555-1600,' Sixteenlt/i CentitryJoitriial 25 (1995): 285-95, esp. 294.

6Johann Leisentrit compiled a Catholic hymnal titled Geistlic/ie Lieder .,uid Psaltiei der alteni Apo- stolisc/ier rec/it ioid .vaiglaitibiger Cliristlichier Kirchien... (1567; repr., Zwickau, 1967), with subsequent editions in 1573, 1584. Other Catholic hymnnals followed, such as the C/iristlicli Cat/iolisc/ies zii St. Goar :iblic/ies Gesauigbulci (Augsburg: Simon UBchlleider, 1666), and Lieblic/i singenlde Nac/itigal:A#/? dcii Friiiing mitten inl deii H/ilter zivr Ktipplei. des Herriu juit dei zartsingeiideui EDigelein als /iiiiliisc/ie Nac/itigalti

beritiftei (Mailz: Antholio Seroheckern, 1628). I thank Father Alfonis Pyka for allowing me to see the collection of Catholic and Protestant hymnals at the Bisch6fliches Priestersem-linar in Mailnz, Germany.



Marcus / Hynntivody & Hymntivals if Basel, 1526-1606 725

tional singing, and the example of the Swiss city republic represents a case study in which the influences of other cultures and traditions utterly changed the church music that the Basel laity heard and sang.

Recent research on the Reformation in Germany and Switzerland has brought new ways of understanding the transmission and reception of religious ideas, and several scholars have considered the role of music.7 By discussing the purpose of hymns during the Reformation, we have a different way of crossing confessional boundaries and comparing religious reforms, particularly Lutheran- ism, Zwinglianism, and Calvinism. The purpose of this article is to examine ways in which Basel's reformers, laity, and university supported the expression of religious belief through song. I suggest that preachers and professors chose to use hymns in the service because they felt that with this medium they could effectively communicate religious ideas and reforms. I will first consider some general aspects about Protestant hymnody before focusing on the hymnals that the Basel laity used during the period from 1526 to 1606, and offering some reasons for the continued appeal of congregational singing in the city republic.

* * *

Protestant hymnody was ideally suited for the laity, for several reasons. First, the text of each hymn was written in a manner that common people could understand: basic vernacular with few frills. Second, the text of the hymns rihymed, quite unlike the plainsong the laity would have heard before the Reformation.8 Third, the tunes themselves had little variance in melody, rarely extending beyond the octave. Single-voiced psalms predominated, in which men and women (soprano, alto, tenor and bass) all sang the same tune.Thus congregational singing required neither literacy nor even musical talent, for the hymns in every respect were simple.

As examples, let us consider some verses of three popular hymns during the sixteenth century. The hymns were originally Lutheran and based on the psalms; psalmody provided the foundation for congregational singing in both Lutheran and Reformed territories. Luther based one hymn, "Ein veste burg ist unser

7Kyle Sessions, "Lother in Music and Verse," in Pietas et Societas: Neo 7reuids ii. Reforinatiou Social History: Essays iii Mleivory (f Haroldj. Grinirti, ed. Kyle Sessions and Phillip Bebb, Sixteenth Century Essays & Stodies, 4 (Kirksville, Mo.: Sixteenth CenturyJournal Publishers, 1985), 123-39; Ilge Mager, "Lied ond Reformiation: Beobachtrn-gen zor reforniatorischen Singbewegung in- norddeutschen Stid- ten,"in Dasprotestatitisclie Kirclienlied iiho 16. iuud 17.Jahsrliudert, ed.Alfred Diirr and Nalther KillyWol- fenbtitteler Forschungen, 31 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1986), 25-38; Hans-Christoph R-ublack, "The Song of Contz Anahans: Communication and Revolt in Ndrdlinigeni, 1525," in The Geriiau. People aud tlie Reforivatiou, ed. R. Po-chia Hsia (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1988), 102-20; PatriceVeit, "Le Chant, la Reforme et la Bible," in Le Teinps des Refornves et la Bible, ed. Guy Bedouelle and Bernard Roussel (Paris: Beauchesne, 1988), 659-8 1; idem, "Die Musik und der religiose Gesang," in Die Zeit (ler Koufessionlen, trans. and ed. Heribert Smolinsky, vol. 8 of Die Geseluicllte des Cliristeutouos, ed. Marc Venard (Freiburg and Basel: Herder, 1992), 1223-45; and Gerald Chaix and PatriceVeit, "Les cantiques dans I'Allel-nagnle do XVIe siecle: Choisir son chant," Aruiales de Bretagiue et des Pays (he IOiiest 98, no. 2 (1991): 231-46.

8Peter Rotach, "Das M6iinster als refornmiertes Gotteshaus," in Das Basler Miluister, ed. Peter Heman (Basel: Peter Heman, 1982), 20.



726 Sixteenth CentuiryJortrnal XXXII/3 (2001)

Gott," on Psalm 46.9 The first verse proudly rings out a sense of solidarity against a common enemy:

Ein veste burg ist vnser Gott em guete weer vnd waaffen: Er hilfft vnns fry vB aller not die vnns yetz hat betroffen.

("A mighty fortress is our God, / a good defense and weapon / He frees us from all despair / with which we are now confronted.")

It closes with an affirmative sense of the role of faith, while establishing a common destiny among members of the congregation:

Nemend sy den lyb, gut, eer, kind vnnd wyb LaB faren dahin; sy habend deB kein gwtin das rych muB vns doch blyben.

("[Ifl they take the body, possessions, honor, child and wife, / let them do so; / they achieve nothing by it. / The empire [of God] must remain with us.")

It is perhaps Luther's most famous hymn, and it still appears in both Lutheran and Reformed hymnals.

Another common hymn of the time was "Es woell vns Gott genaedig syn," based on Psalm 67.10 The first verse emphasizes God's mercy:

Es woell vns Gott genaedig syn vnd sinen segen gaeben Sin antlit vns mit haellem schyn erlvicht ins ewig laeben.

("May God be merciful on us / And give [us] his blessing / His face shines brightly / to show the way to eternal life.")

The psalm maintains a striking imagery in few words. A third example is the hymn, "VB tieffer not schry ich zu dir," which draws

on Psalm 130.11 We find a simple text that nonetheless retains a dramatic intensity:

9Nrihvgsangblecdde von vil sciioeuen Psatlien ',id geistliclien. liedern / d,.,rclh ettliclic diener der kirclicu zito Costeultz m1d anderstwo mnerkliclien genleert / gebessert v'ld inl gschickte ordYitlg zesanieui gstellt / zitio ltbitug V1)1nd bricli jrer outch andercr Cl-iristliclen kirclien (1540; repr., Zurich: Zwingli Verlag, 1946), 45-46, referred to here as the Constance Hyimnal.

loConstance Hymnal, 41-42; Ordmnzug des Herrcn Nacitnial (Strasbourg, 1525), 15-16; Eyn gesang Biclicyn. / vwe/lcc nian,. yetz Imid yun. Kirchen. gebraiclien ist (1525; repr., Zwickau: Johannes Herrmann, 1935), 5-7.

1 lConstance Hyimnal, 100-101. See also Ordming des Herren Naclitmnal, 7; and Eyp gesang Bilicyel, 14-15.



Marcus / Hymnody & Hyninals in. Basel, 1526-1606 727

VB tieffer not schry ich zu dir Herr Gott, erhoer mnm rueffen. Din gnaedig oren keer zu mir vnnd meiner bitt sey offen.

("In great despair I cry out to you / Lord God, hear my call / Turn your blessed ears to me / and be open to my plea.")

The examples taken from these hymns emphasize some common themes. They maintain a bold and poweiful imagery, in terms which are simple and direct. In each case, words are rarely more than two syllables (certainly a remarkable achievement in the German language) and they speak directly to the listener: the power of faith, the danger of a common foe, the beauty of grace. The laity fre- quently memorized these hymns, and sang them throughout the church service, particularly during communion.12 Hymns thus had a central role in the service.13

The form of these hymns was similar to that of popular songs. The three examples given above begin with a repeated melody, followed by several short melodic lines of one or two bars. The musical form for "Ein veste burg ist vnser Gott" is AB AB C D E F B'; for "Es woell vns Gott genaedig syn," it is AB CC' DE B', and so on. The meter is almost invariably of an even, rhythmic quality, exactly matched to the syllables of each word; the hymns are thus homorhythmic. In counting the number of syllables per couplet in the first verse of"Ein veste burg ist vnser Gott," we have: 8:7:8:7:5:5:5:6:7; in "Es woell vns Gott genaedig syn," it is 8:7:8:7:8:7:8:7:7. These kinds of hymns are a far cry from the elaborate masses and motets of Renaissance composers Josquin Desprez and Orlande Lassus. They tend instead to be the products of songwriters such as Hans Sachs and Ludwig Oeler, as well as several reformers themselves, such as Martin Luther and Johannes Zwick.14 The melodies thus provide us with one of the few written indications of what contemporary popular music may have sounded like. In each hymn, to reach the widest audience possible, the emphasis was on textual and musical simplicity.

However, we have a problem in considering the very existence of hymnody in Basel, a city that implemented Zwinglian reforms, because Zwingli wrote expressly against church music. The reformer banned music from the liturgy

12 On the relation between memory and music, see Vernon Gregg, Inltrodiuctiosi to Htoiau AllMeuiiory (London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986), 89-90. On the memorization of Protestant hymns, see Markos Jenny, "Zur Geschichte des evangelischen Gesangboches in Basel im-i 16. nod 17. Jahrhtindert," in 'NaJ[is stiultifera': Ztiti 70. Gebtirtstag wol. Dr. Eiiiaoetcl Stickelbecger, Mitteilungsblatt der schweizerischen Bibliophilen-Geseilschaft, 11 (1954): 3 1-38.

13A leather-bound manuscript I have found, dated between 1529 and 1537, is Das Ageuld-Butcll: Oder Kyrclieui-breiicli, ss'ie sie zut Basel bey Eytuseguivoig der ceicIiteul, bcyiii H. Tatiff. 1.lid def H. N\oaclitlial gehaltess wverdeui, which presents the entire Protestant liturgy. Used at the St. Leonhard church in Basel, it indicates psalms for communion as well as for other occasions, such as visiting the sick or ailing. "Es woell uns Gott genedig sin" is given as one hymn (p. 56); also given are Psalm 85 (p. 76) and Psalmn 50 (p. 78). Staatsarchiv Basel Stadt [hereafter StAB], Kirchenarchiv E5, Agende.

14Sessions, "Luther in Music and Verse," 126-30; and Friedrich Blume, Gesciiclite d ie eoatgelisclieti Kirclienooinisik, 2d ed. (Kassel and Basel: Birenreiter, 1965), 16-18, 346.



728 Sixteenth CentriryJoutrnal XXXII/3 (2001)

(along with the mass) in Zurich in 1525 and offered two main reasons for doing so.15 First, he felt that believers should privately recite the psalms, which represent a highly personal form of prayer. He based this conclusion on his understanding of Matt. 6.6: "when you pray, go into a room by yourself, shut the door, and pray to your Father who is there in the secret place; and your Father who sees what is secret will reward you."This citation "was one of Zwingli's principal prooftexts for

~16 S a liturgy without music. Similarly, in Paul's letter to the Ephesians in 5.19, Paul urges believers to "speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and songs; sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord" (emphasis mine). Thus any singing in Zwingli's view should be in the heart, or silent.17

A second reason involved the very existence of church choirs. Zwingli frankly viewed them as ostentatious, hypocritical, and distracting, and as a result choral music was one of the first elements of the traditional liturgy that he eliminated.18 Like the reformer Andreas Karlstadt, who strongly influenced him on this issue, Zwingli believed that church music had become far too flamboyant and complex, to the detriment of the words.19 Nor were Protestants alone in this conviction; one reform of the Council of Trent was a demand for cleaner lines in polyphonic music, which would bring the words out.20

It is in some ways curious that Zwingli objected to church music at all. He was an uncommonly gifted musician, reputedly able to play over ten instruments, sing, and compose.21 As a biblical scholar, he knew that music is mentioned fre- quently in scripture: in Exodus, the Song of Songs, Isaiah, the Gospels of Mat- thew, Mark, and Luke, Acts, Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians, James, and Revelation.22 King David played the harp, and sang praises to God.23 Christ

15S6Iomgen, Thleologie der Mi-isik, 33ff.; Markus Jenny, Li-ither, Ziviubgli, Calvin. ini illrell Liederi. (Zurich:TheologischerVerlag, 1983), 175; and Marcus, "AVeritable Break with the Past," 167-69.

16Cai,13 :Jenny, Lither, Ziviugli, Calviii, 13. Markus Jenny, "Zwinglis Stellung zur Musik im Gottesdielnst," Schrfieuteweie des Arbeitskreisesfiir

cvanigelisclie Kirchenn-iii-sik 3 (1966): 36-39; and Charles Garside,Jr., "The Origins of Calvin'sTheology of Music: 1536-1543," T7i'asactioiis of the Ariericant Philosophical Society 69, part 4 (1979): 11.

18Charles Garside, Jr., Zwviugli ad /i the Arts (New Haven:Yale University Press, 1966), 44. Oi Zwingli's rejection of church music, see ibid., 43-46.

Onl Andreas Karlstadt's criticism of church music, see Leslie Korrick, "Instrumental Music in the Early 16th Century Mass: New Evidence," Early Mlllisic 18, no. 3 (1990): 360-64; and Garside, Ziiivigli anid theArts, 28-33.

20The composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594) sought to write music that would conformi to Tridentine demands for clarity of text, such as Allissa Aeterija Christi nivivera, and the motets Sictit cervius desideat, Super fli-iiiina Babylotis, and 0 bonteJesit.

21Garside, Zwviuigli anid the Arts, 15-22; and Steven Oznient, Protestanits: The Birth of a Revoli-itio (NewYork: Doubleday, 1992), 26-27.

2 2Exod. 15; Song of Sol. 1; Isa. 30.29; Matt. 26.30; Mark 14.26; Luke 20.42, 24.44; Acts 1.20, 16.25; 1 Cor. 14.15; Eph. 5.19; Col. 3.16; James 5.14; Rev. 5.9-10, 15.3-4. All citations are fromn the New English Bible [hereafter NEB]. See J. A. Smith, "First-Century Christian Singing and Its Relationship to Contemporary Jewish Religious Song," Muisic anid Letters 75, no. 1 (1994): 1 n. 1, 7. For further scriptural citation of music, see 1 Sam. 18.6-7, 10; 1 Chron. 23.5-6 NEB.

23See 2 Sam. 22; 1 Chron. 16 NEB.



Marcus / Hyititnodyl & H)tyiri-als ill Basel, 1526-1606 729

ended the Last Supper with a final sermon and a song of praise.24 Paul stated that one could "instruct and admonish each other... with psalms and hymns and spiri- tual songs."25 Further, the word "psalm" comes from the Greek word "psalmos," meaning a sorig to the accompaniment of plucked strings. Martin Bucer, who had considerable influence on southwest German and Swiss reformers, thus asked his colleagues: "Why, then, should we not also sing to Him as all the saints of the Old and New Testaments have done?"26

We should also not overstate the case regarding Zwingli's objections to music in religious services. He specifically expressed these opinions in his sermons mainly until 1523. After he banned the mass in 1525, the only other occasion on which it is known that he condemned sacred music occurred in 1528 in a sermon on Isaiah 30.29. He noted that because the psalms were Jewish, "that is why these songs are not needed in the church" ("es braucht deshalb diese Gesdinge in der Kirche nicht").27 In part he was correct: the psalms are Jewish. However, they were also almost certainly a part of early Christian services.28 If the goal of the reformers was to return the church to its original state, then to rule out hymnody would have been to go against this goal.29 Zwingli knew of the "transgression" of reformer Johannes Oecolampadius in allowing hymnody in Basel, and there is no record that he wrote against it. In fact, Zwingli did not write specifically against e1)angelical singing at all, but rather focused his attacks on instrumental (especially organ) and choral music in the Roman Catholic liturgy. Only following his death in 1531 did his successor, Heinrich Bullinger, maintain as doctrine Zwingli's pro- hibition of sacred music.30

24Matt. 26.30; Mark 14.26 NEB.Jesus and his apostles m-nay have sung the songs of Hallel (Pss. 113 and 118) that concluded the Paschal meal. Lucien Deiss, The A'iass (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1992), 14; and Smith, "First-Celntury Christian Singing," 7.

25Col. 3.16 NEB. Paul made a silmnilar statemnent in Eph. 5.19 and 1 Cor. 14.15-26 NEB. Luther cites 1 Cor. 2 and 14; Exod. 15 in his introduction to Das Klhig'lhie Gcsaiigbiichi (1533), as well as the Wittenberg Gesaiigbfichlciui (1544).Ain edition of the latter hymnal is in the Universitltsbibliothek Basel, kk.IV.23.

26 Martii1 Bucer, Frilhschriftcsi 1520-24, ed. Robert Stupperich, vol. 1 of MlIartili BlIcers Decltsche Schsrifteu (Giitersloh: GiitersloherVerlagshatss, 1960), 275-76; also quoted in Garside, "Calvin's Theology of Music," 11-12. Regarding Bucer's influence on other reforlmners, Calvin wrote a letter to Guillaumne Farel in 1543, describing the reforms "that [Martin] Bucer has assigned to us."The Houghton Library, Harvard University, MS Latin 350 (10 November 1543).

27Oskar Sohlngen, "Zwinglis Stellunog zur Musik imn Gottesdielnst," in Theollogie ib Gcschuichte .iiud Kiutust: HT/alter Elliger 1t1u1 65. Gebutirtstag, ed. Siegfried Herrmann and Oskar S6lmgen (Witten: Luther Verlag, 1968), 182.

8 See Smith, "First-Century Christian Singing," 1-15; and Bard Thompson, ed., Litutigics of the H11cstceri Chuiirchu (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1961), 4.

29Markus Jenny, "Reformierte Kirchenniusik? Zwingli, Bullinger und die Folgen," in Rct bruuicrtcs Erbe: Festschriftflir Gottfrieid WLochcr zit sciciucu 80. Gebutirtstag, ed. Heiko Oberman et al. (Zurich: Theo- logischerVerlag, 1992-93), 1:187-205, esp. 190; and S6h1ngeln, "Zwinglis Stellung zur Musik im Got- tesdienst,"' 182.

30See Jenny, "Zwnllglis Stellung zur Musik," 12-13, 18. Music was prohibited in Zurich's churches until 1598, and organ music was only permitted in 1839 in the Neumrilnster, 1855 in the Fraumilinster, and 1876 in the Grossmiiinster. S61lmgen, "Zwinglis Stellung zur Musik im Gottesdienst," 176.



730 Sixteenth CerturyJoirirnal XXXII/3 (2001)

This brief exegesis of Zwingli's position on music is important because it represents one of the few differences in church reform between Basel's preachers and Zwingli. One observer in 1528 commented on precisely this difference: "Hus- schin [Oecolampadius] upholds the singing of psalms, but Zwingli ... cannot toler- ate psalms" ("HusBchin haltet das gesang der psalmen; aber Zwinglein ... mag keine psalmen erleyden"').31 In Basel, singing became an integral part of the Eucharist-the very ritual that caused such dissension between Zwingli and Luther-and served to unite the laity in their common worship of God.32 To sing in church thus marked a distinct difference between the Reformation in Basel and that in other Swiss communities that adhered more closely to Zwinglian doctrine.

Why would Basel's preachers support hymnody? Similar to other reformers across Europe, they came to realize that song was an effective form of communication, for in a culture that was far more oral than literate, congregational singing proved to be an ideal way of reaching the common people.We know that the spoken word had power during the Reformation, for as R.W Scribner argued, it was a movement of sermons and preachers.33 If the spoken word had power, so too did the sting word.The singing and memorization of hymns became a significant way of ingraining religious ideas. Johann Hus in fifteenth-century Prague and the radical reformerThomas Miintzer in Saxony published collections of psalms in the vernacular for the common people. Drawing in part on the example of Hus, Martin Luther published broadsheets and then hymnals in the vernacular with extraordinary results; one Jesuit commentator ruefully noted later that Luther's songs "killed more souls than his works and sermons."34 Even John Calvin, who had witnessed firsthand the singing of hymns in Strasbourg, wrote that it "will be good to introduce ecclesiastical songs, the better to incite the people to pray to and praise God."35 In effect, hymns represented the power of oral communication of the Word through melody.

31Johannes Buchstab, "Eigentlichen und griindlichen Kundschaft" written in April 1528. Briefe id Akteri zin)i Lebeii Oekolariipads, 173-74, no. 569.

32See, for example, Luther's tract, 1/obin Abeiiduial Christi (Wittenberg, 1528), fols. 2v-3v. 33R.W. Scribner, "Oral Culture and the Diffiutsion of Reformation Ideas," in Poptilar C/dthire aind

Popular Movemencts itn Reforiiiationi Gerrmianiy (London: Hambledon Press, 1987), 49-69, esp. 49-54; ideni, The Germiain Rcbri1iiatiorI (Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Hurmanities Press International, 1986), chap. 3, esp. 20, 22; idem, For tie Sake (f Siniple Folk: Poptl ar Propagaiidaf/r the Gerimiain Refortiiation. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), 2-3. For a discussion of preaching in Zurich, see Arnold Snyder, "Word and Power in Reformation Zurich,"Archiivifr Reforuiiatiomsgeschlichlte 81 (1990): 263-84.

34 Luther included a hy111I titled "Das lied Sanct Johannes Hus. Gebessert" in Eyn. gesang Btchle)yn., 21-24. See Konrad Ameln, Markus Jenny, and Walther Lipphardt, eds., Das Deu-tsche KirchIeilicd, Repe- rtoire International des Sources Musicales [hereafter RISM] (Kassel and Basel: Birenreiter, 1975), 1: 3- 4.The Jesuit Adam Colntzius (1571-1635) made his comment in Politicoritui libri deceni~... (Mainz,

[1620)RI 1.2, c.19; see Blume, Kirchlettiiisik, 27; and Mager, "Lied und Reformation," 25 n. 5. See his Ecclesiastical Ordintanices (1537) in Corpus Reforniatoruimi: Ioanuitis Calvii.'s Opera q(iae super-

stlrtt oniniia [hereafter OC] (1863; repr., NewYork:Johnson Reprint, 1964), 10:26; also quoted in Garside, "Calvin's Theology of Music," 16. On Calvin's interest in hynmnody, see Pratt, MAisic (f t/e FrYOIch Psalter, esp. chap. 2; and Westermeyer, Te Detimi, 154-58. On the impact of hymnody in Calvinist communities, see Pierre Pidoux, Les origiries des Melodies des psattives hugi-teniots (Monthey: Cantate Dolmino, 1979), 2-3; and Calviniismn ini Eutrope, 1540-1610:A Collection of Doculiienits; ed.Alastair Dukeet al. (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1992), 48-49, 50 n. 3, 77, 183.



Marcus / Hymntody & Hymiinals in Basel, 1526-1606 731

* * *

How did the laity have access to the hymns? Although psalms with melodies were first printed singly on broadsheets, congregations soon sang from collections of hymns and psalms that publishers printed specifically for the purpose of religious worship.The earliest known Protestant hymnals in Basel came from Strasbourg, which had close relations with Basel during the Reformation.36 Martin Bucer, like Luther, strongly encouraged the use of music in the liturgy, and during the period 1524 to 1525, Strasbourg printers Wolfgang K6pfel, Johann Knoblouch, and Johann Schwan all began to publish collections of hymns with musical notation.7 One example is the Ordinvig des Herreni Nachtmali, which Johann Schwan published in 1525. It contains several Lutheran hymns, with melodies by two composers from Strasbourg, Matthias Greiter and Ludwig Dachstein.38 Hymnals such as this one were considerably different from Catholic collections of hymns and prayers, such as the Books of Hours, which appeared before the Reformation. The Protestant hymnals tended to be simple in appearance, printed in black and white, and with a rudimentary notation that was common to texts with music published during the 1520s.39

Within a decade of the first attempts at congregational singing in Basel, Swiss printers began issuing their own songbooks. One of these was the "New Hymnal" (Niiivgsanigbuiechle), which Basel's churches subsequently adopted.40 Musicologists

36Je y, "Zur Geschichte," 31; idem, Luthler, Ziviiigli, Caliviii, 30-31. See also Rotach, "Das MeyIn- ster," 20; and Thomnas Wilhellm-i, "Das Basler Gesalngbuch im 18. und 19.Jahrhulndert," Basler Zcitsclirft ftr Geschichte iridAlterti-tivskiiuide 91 (1991): 231. Close relations between the two cities preceded the Reforlmnation; in 1474, Basel, Strasbourg, and Colmar bound together in the "Lower Union" for reasons of defense as well as commerce. Tholmnas Brady, Jr., Turnibig Siiwiss: Cities aild Emnpire, 1450-1550 (Camnbridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 50; Hans R. Guggisberg, "Strasbourg et Bile dalns la Reforme," in Zitsa cnrihi:mldilge iili historischler Vielfalt: Hiioiiaiiismits, Spaiiiei, Nord Aeiicrika, ed. Hans R. Guggisberg and Christian Windler, Basler Beitrdge zitr Gesclhichtswivisseuischlaft 164 (1994): 67-75.Written exchanges between preachers in Strasbourg and Basel between 1530 and 1546 may be found in StAB, Kirchenakten A4, fols. 8-13, 88-89,101-5,115-20,162,165,171, 181, 201-3, and 210-12.

37Examples are Tefitsch Kirchleri ariipt / )1it lobgeseilgei. / iv)ud goetliclieit psalivei. / viie es die geiiieiin zilo Stra/Jburg siingt vrld lialt / garltz Christlich (Strasbourg:Wolfgang K6pfel, [1524]); Der Glauibe Deiitschl ztlo silgeli ini eliter sclioeteii~e uelodey (Strasbourg:Johann Knoblouch, [1524/25]); Ordintrig des Herrei. Naclit- niial: So iiiani die riiessz rnoeiiet, sanipt derTaiiffvudJulsegiqgl der Ee, WIie yetzt die dieruer des iviortgots zito Stra/3- burig, Eriiefhiwert, vnlud niach goetlicher gsclirifft gebessert liabeii ifJ vrsach jn niacligeuder Epistel geiieldet ([Strasbourg:Johalnn Schwan, 1525]). See RISM, 1: 5-6,8; and Riggenbach, Kirclietgesailg, 7-8.

38On Greiter and Dachstein's single-voiced melodies: Relna Bornert, Li refornie protest(vnte dri cilte 1 Strasbortg at XVIe siecle (1523-1598), Studies in Medieval and Reformation Thought, 28 (Leiden: Brill, 1981), 118. Martin Luther's first hymlnal was Etlich Cristlicli lider Lobgesaiig imtrd Psalm (Wittelnberg [Nuremberg], 1524); the Saxon Kapeimeister Johann Walther wrote the melodies or adapted earlier, Catholic melodies for the hymns. RISM, 1:5; Riggenbach, Kircherugesarig, 4; and Blume, Kirchiemiiimsik, 11ff.

39On religious music published in Strasbourg during the Reformation, see Miriam Usher Chrisman, Lay Cuilture, Learnied Ctulti-ire: Books (vid Social Chiartge in. Strasbourg, 1480-1599 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982), 166-67.

40PNiil)gsaugbuXechle Vo)I. iil schoeuiei. Psalrieni vid geistlichei liederi. / diurchi ettliche dieer der kirchen zu-to Costeiitz v)ld aridersmtvo niierklicheni geiveert / gebessert viul inl gschlickte ordru-tug Zesaiiien. gstellt / zi() ucbulug V)1uiid bruchi jrer oich, aluderer Cliristliclenm kirchen. (Zurich: Christoph Froschauer, 1540).



732 Sixteenti Ceiztiiry Jouiriia1 XXXII/3 (2001)

and historians have often referred to it as the "Constance Hymnal" (Kouistauzer Gesaugbtichl), since it was edited in Constance by the reformer Johannes Zwick.41 However, it was actually published in Zurich by the printer Christoph Froschauer; it is ironic that while Zurich did not permit congregational singing in its churches until 1598, the city council happily permitted the printing of hymnals for other Swiss cities to use. The Constance Hymnal has some similarities with earlier songbooks from Strasbourg; for example, twelve hymns have melodies which Greiter and Dachstein had comnposed.What makes it "Swiss" is not just the place of publication but also its content and style; some hymns are by Swiss preachers such as Zwingli and Zwick, and it is printed in the northern Swiss dialect, a hymnal truly for the coilmmon man.42 Published in 1536 and again in 1540, it contains 150 songs printed in a very clear, legible type for both text and music, which was far from commonplace for the era. One musicologist has referred to it as the most important hymnal of the sixteenth century for the German-speaking Swiss.43

The work that soon replaced the Constance Hymnal in Basel was the "Chris- tian Hymnal" (Cliristetdlich Gsangbitech), which Christoph Froschauer published in 1559.44 Here we find more of a local product, since it was edited by Conrad Wolffhart (also called "Lycosthenes"), a professor of theology at the University of Basel, a preacher at St. Leonhard's church, and a nephew of one of Basel's early reformers, Conrad Pellican.Wolffhart's chief contribution was to expand on the Constance edition by collecting together as many Protestant hymns as possible, thereby creating "the first attempt at a handbook of evangelical church songs" in Switzerland.45 It contains 235 hymns, making it one of the largest collections of hymns printed in Europe up to that time, and consists of two parts.The first section contains all 150 psalms; the second section has 85 hymns by a variety of songwriters, such as Hans Sachs, Lazarus Spengler, and Johannes Oeler. Two hundred of the hymns have their own melodies; the rest refer the singer to melodies from

41After Constance was forced to convert to Catholicism during the Interim-n of 1548, Froschauer changed the title of the Constance Hymnnal of 1540 to Eiii guveii gsaugbihiecli/e vooi vii cvr cvud jetz uiicge diclitci Psalms/eii / Hymiiueii vod geist/icieu. /iedcr / zrwsamici gestellt durcli ct/ici Cttsgel/certe eiacuucr / z-i dicost audci branch cvud uebi-iug jfciiii cvud a//en C/iristeu/icliem giueiudeii (Zurich, 1552). Markus Jenny, Geschichte des deiitsclisclhiccizeriscuicl evaiige/isclieii GesaugImc/ies i1 16. Ja1/air/lidert (Basel: Birenreiter, 1962), 17-18, 77-127; and Edwin Nievergelt, Die Touistzc dee der setfshscllsclmeizerisclicii refairiiicrte i Kirn heui- gesan)ghbicher i)O1 XVII.Ja/hriuiudcert (Zurich: ZwingliVerlag, 1944), 10.

420n the use of the Swiss Germ-nan dialect in the printed text, see Werner Besch et al., eds., Spusicli- gescliichte: Eiu Hauidbiuici Zur Gesccticlite der detisclie/e Sprac/te iiiid ilirer Erefbsc/luig (Berlin and NewYork: Walter de Gruyter, 1984-85), 2: 1419-29. I would like to thank Christine Ersig Marcus for bringing this reference to mny attention. Examples of hymns by Zwick are "O Gott vi-und vatter gnaden vol"; "Ach triiwer Gott du lhast vffgricht"; and "Jetzt ist aber ein Tag dahin." By Zwingli are "Hilff Herr Gott hilff in diser not" and "Herr nun heb den wagen selb."Jenny, Gesc/iieite des Gesaii g/suclies, 32, 52.

43 4 Jenny, Gesc/iichte des Gesugigl)uleies, 77. 44The complete title is C/iristeidsicli Gsarigbimeei / Darimii dergaiit Psalter Davids / iii uiaii/cier/ey iivey//

gestelt / saiuiipt al/er Psa/inet ihirihialt / begriffeu iiirt. Auj/i a//eui Psa/iiieiibiuiecl/ieeei ziuo iiiitz dee Kircl/ie C/iristi / z-ifosaieli ge/aeseui / corrigiert f iid geriieret:Jctz uiei~iilic/i dirci/ Cauradmu ['1s bffllhart / dicuer der Kirhcien .zilo Basel / iii T1ick gebeii (Zurich: Christoph Froschauer, 1559). Riggenbach, Kirc/ieuigesaig, 25; Nievergelt, Toii-sOtze, 10; and Wilhelmni, "Das Basler Gesangbuch," 231-32.

45Jenny, "Zur Geschichte," 34.



Marcus / Hyrinody & Hynmals is-l Basel, 1526-1606 733

other hymns, a common feature of such texts.Yet there is something decidedly odd about these hymnals: none was actually published in Basel. This is difficult to explain, given the fact that Basel was one of Europe's foremost publishing centers. It seems, however, that the city council was satisfied with hymnals from outside Basel, especially those printed by Christoph Froschauer, who had been the first publisher to issue Protestant hymnals in Switzerland in 1534. In addition, facilities for printing music were better in Zurich, Strasbourg, and Bern than in Basel.46

Two events changed this situation entirely: Basel's "second Reformation" and the arrival of a musician from Flanders.While the Reformation of 1529 was certainly Zwinglian, the Basel church evolved considerably by the end of the sixteenth century, a development that was far from assured.47 The city council adopted the Confession of Basel in 1534, written by Basel's first reformer, Johannes Oecolampadius, and his successor, Oswald Myconius. Myconius, who after Oecolampadius's death served as head preacher (Antistes) from 1531 to 1552, left little mark during his tenure; Erasmus once referred to him as "a simple- minded man and a frosty schoolmaster."48 However, the career of his successor Simon Sulzer, who served from 1552 to 1585, was a different matter altogether. He had close relations with the Lutherans Jacob Andreae in Ttibingen and Johann Marbach in Strasbourg, and sought to orient the Basel church more along Luthe- ran lines. Changes in church music were part of these efforts, which included allowing organ music again in the Minster, something unheard of since the Refor- mation. To make matters even more shocking, the organist whom he hired, Gregor Meyer, was Catholic.49

46The earliest knoxvn Swiss hymnnal is Bibel oder /ieiige gesc/sifft gsaiigsvceif iii drfi lieder iffs kiirtzest zusaiieis iveerfasset v',d gestellt dsrcli lierrJoachiiuieii Aberliti (Zurich: Christoph Froschauer, 1534), comnpiled by Joachim Aberlin; later editions appeared in 1551 and 1616. Nievergelt, Tousdtze, 10. One brief hylmnnal published in Basel did appear in 1581, appropriately titled the "Small Hymnnal" (Gesaigqbiciileils), although there is no indication that the city's churches officially adopted it. The city council gave a contract to publish the work to a local printer, Samuel Apiarius, but it probably did so out of pity, since he eked out only the barest living at his profession. However, it seems that Apiarius's hylmnnal was not printed within the city's borders but at his father's printing shop in Bern, since his father had long possessed printing materials for musical notation. The hylmnnal consists of 119 hymns, the imajority of which are psalms. While small in size and thus easy to use, it is hardly an improvement on earlier editions; not only does it contain fewer hymrns but the quality of the print is poorer. Nievergelt, Tonl- sdtze, 11; Peter Ochs, Gescliclite der Stadt irid Liudsciaft Basel (Berlin, Leipzig, and Basel: Decker, 1786- 1822), 5:442;Jenny, Gesciichte des Gesauigibches, 145-50; and idem, "Zur Geschichte," 33.

47On the shift to Calvinism: Guggisberg, "Das reformierte Basel," 15-18; and idem, "Die kulturelle Bedeutung," 64.

48Hans R. Guggisberg, "Erasmus und Basel," in Zi-isatiiimtieubhduge iii historischer Viefalt: HIu11ulauisisiis,

Spaniieci, Nord Ainerika, ed. Hans R. Guggisberg and Christian Windler, Basler Beitrdge zur Gcschic1ltsivis- sciiscliaft 164 (1994): 48.

49Rotach, "Das Mtinster," 23. Despite the controversy around Sulzer, the city council did not dism-niss him. Near the end of his life, he had to petition the city council to release him fiomn service, due to illness: StAB, Kirchenakten G2, fol. 1 (14 March 1585). On Oswald Myconius, see Basler Ciroiiiken 8:32-47. Political, economic, and religious ties between Basel andWiirttemberg have a long history; see Kenneth H. Marcus, Tie Politics of Powver: Elites of aii. Early Mlodcrn. State in Geriuia.)iyVer6ffentlichuligen des Instituts ftir Europaische Geschichte Mainz, 177 (Mainz: von Zabern, 2000), 8, 50-51, 60, 79, 160.



734 Sixteenth Ceratury Journal XXXII/3 (2001)

As a result, Basel remained relatively independent from other Reformed churches for much of the century. It did not join the First Helvetic Confession of 1536 (also called the Second Confession of Basel), nor the Consensus Tigturinils between Geneva and Zurich in 1549, nor even the Second Helvetic Confession of 1566 (until the seventeenth century).Yet the eventual shift towards Calvinism became clear with the appointment in 1575 ofJohann Jacob Grynaeus as Professor of Theology at the University of Basel. Thoroughly Reformed in his writings, he eventually succeeded Sulzer after that preacher's death in 1585.50 What remained constant through all of these changes was that each leader of the Basel church supported hymnody, which did not change with the shift in the city's confession. Concurrent to these developments was the immigration of Huguenot refugees to Basel, which accelerated after the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 1572.This immigration not only came to have a permanent influence on the city's politics, culture and economy, but contributed further to the need for a local, Huguenot hymnal.51

Partly in response to this need, a musician from Flanders ultimately had an extraordinary impact on the city's sacred music: the organist and composer Samuel Mareschal (1554-1640).52 Flanders had been a center of music and musicians since the early Renaissance, and had produced many composers and court musicians, most notably Orlande Lassus. Mareschal's training served him well. He arrived in Basel the year following Grynaeus's appointment, and became music teacher at the city's Latin school, as well as head organist of the Basel Minster, replacing Gregor Meyer. In the same year as Mareschal's arrival, the regents of the University of Basel created the position of Professor of Music, and he received that appointment as well (his reference papers must have been remarkable). Thus not only did he teach children sacred hymns and play organ at church services in the Minster, but he also taught music to university students. In other words, he became the most prominent musician in the city. Fortunately, Mareschal enjoyed the complete support of the university regents. When he sought funds for another organist to aid him in his teaching duties, the regents granted the request in less

50Guggisberg, "Das reformierte Basel," 16-18. Two publications that exemplify Grynaeus's Calvinist thought are Gribidtlicher 10ud besteiidiger bericht IO)I der 1vaarhafftiyge gemeiuschaft deJ3 leibes .ivd bliftesJesti Christi tonsers Herreri ivelcher iiuni heiligeii Nachtmnal die ivaareii Gletibigeii geniessen ([Basel, 1563?]); idern, Ei7 Trost Bfichlein darirnien. rinzzeigt ivirt ai5isz vas wrsacheri Goft der Herr als eiri gerechter Vatter ,,iit Pesti- leruz iftid ainder iioth iifl3 seine Kinider heimiistiche... ([Basel], 1582). A handwritten sermon is in StAB, Kir- chenakten D 1, fol. 1 (2 Julne 1586).

5 lLarge-scale immigration of religious refugees to Basel began in 1540; see Guggisberg, "Die kulturelle Bedeutung," 58-59; idem, "Das reformierte Basel," 8-12.

52OOn Mareschal and his music, see Jean-Marc Bonh6te, ed., Saiiiiuel Maresclial: Selected Wlorks, Corpus of Early Keyboard Music, 27 (1967); idem, Satiiifel Mfareschal (1554-1640): Mlelodiae SIIaves et Coriciuniae Psalinoritiio aliqitot atque Hytiiiiortrii Spiritiualii-i, wissenschaftliche Abhandlungen, 25 (Brooklyn: Institute of Medieval Music, 1971); and Raymond Kendall, "The Life and Works of Salmnuel Mareschall (1554-1640)," AMiusical Qitarterly 30 (1944): 37-49.Writteln sources by Mareschal consist of a theoretical treatise on teaching music, Porta. Alusices: Das ist Eyqfi'ilri.mg zii der Edleii kitost niui{sica... (Basel: Sebastian Henricpetri, 1589), Universititsbibliothek Basel, kk.3.57; and a letter to the city council, in which he describes his career and requests a greater salary, in StAB, KirchenaktelnJ3, fol. 1 ([1622?]).



Marcus / Hymnody & Hymnitials in Basel, 1526-1606 735

than a week; they wrote that the learning of music "is an old and useful tradition in all well-ordered universities."53

After thirty years of teaching music to students and leading congregations in song, Mareschal decided that he needed a new hymnal that could serve his purposes best. It must be one that the laity could use in church and at home, but also be useful as a means of instruction in school. The question was: which hymnal? Hundreds of songbooks existed at the time, but aside from the Genevan Psalter, few were appropriate for Reformed communities, let alone in the German language. That situation changed with the publication of the Lobwasser Psalter. Mareschal could scarcely have known that by choosing this work, he helped estab- lish it as the leading hymnal in Basel for the next two centuries.

* * *

The Lobwasser Psalter has a decidedly unusual and complex history, with roots in at least three different countries.54 We can trace its origins to France; Clement Marot, a court poet of King Francis I and valet de chambre of the king's sister Mar- guerite of Navarre, adapted several psalms to verse form during the period 1533 to 1536.55 They became immediately popular at the French court, particularly among followers of Marguerite of Navarre. However, to his undoubted surprise, Marot found that his psalms were also being used without his permission for a Huguenot psalter in Geneva. Calvin sought to compile a hymnal for the laity; he appears to have found Marot's psalms ideally suited in language and meter.To Calvin's great fortune, Marot fled to Geneva in 1542, following his conversion to the Reformed faith. On Calvin's suggestion, Marot continued his efforts to put psalms in prose form. The result was a psalter containing fifty psalms, published in 1543.56 Unfortunately, due to his apparent disagreements with Calvin and to the fact that he died shortly after its publication, Marot was unable to write verses for all 150 psalms. This task went to Calvin's successor, Theodore Beza, who com- pleted Marot's work; the culmination of these efforts resulted in the Genevan Psalter of 1562.57

This hymnal went through several editions. The most popular by far was the "Jaqui edition," which the Genevan publisher Francois Jaqui first published in

53"ein alter loblicher unnd nutzlicher bruch in allen wolgeordneten Universiteten." StAB, Erzie- hungsakten B 35, fol. 1 (4 February 1577). Regarding payment of the organist: fol. 2 (11 February 1577).

54On the Lobwasser Psalter, see Nievergelt, T7wsitze, 23-44; and Riggenbach, Kircheiigesmig., 50- 59, 84-85.

55Riggenbach, Kircheiigesauig, 30-49. On Marot, see M.A. Screech, Cletiieit Mllarot:A Reiaissaice Poet Discoivers fhe Gospel, Studies in Medieval and Reformation Thought, 54 (Leiden: Brill, 1994); and Ehsan Ahmed, "Cleniont Marot's parallel conversion: A Reading of the 1543 Pseaumes," Tlhejotirial of AMedieial aid Reiiaissaice Studies 20, no. 1 (1990): 137.

56 Ciiqiiaiite psaivmes eiifiaii~ais par Clerieit Alarot (Geneva, 1543). 57Pratt, Mulsic of the Freiich Psalter; esp. chaps. 3 and 8; Riggenbach, Kircheiigesaiig, 48-60; and Necle

Deuftsche Biographie [hereafter NDB] (Berlin: Duncker & Humboldt, 1990), 16:151.



736 Sixteenth CentturyJoturnal XXXII/3 (2001)

1565. It became an immediate best-seller, and Jaqui reprinted it numerous times.58 One of the features that make this hymnal unique for its time was the arrangement of the hymns forfour voices. Monophonic or single-voiced hymns had been characteristic of most hymnals up to that time, but the polyphony in Jacqui's edition was not as complex as it might appear, since all of the parts (soprano, alto, tenor, and bass) were homorhythnic, or sung in rhythmic unison. Huguenot composers Louis Bourgeois and Guillaume Franc wrote most of the 124 melodies for the psalter, and the prominent composer Claude Goudimel, who later lost his life in the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre, arranged the melodies for four voices.59

Ambrosius Lobwasser, a Prussian lawyer, came across the Jaqui edition of the Genevan Psalter during a trip to France and decided to translate it into German. Why a Prussian citizen from a strictly Lutheran region decided to translate a Huguenot psalter is not clear. Lobwasser himself explained that he delighted in the form of the verses and sought to fill a niche: a hymnal in German with truly beau- tiful lyrics.60 Whether or not he had other motives is still debatable. Nonetheless, the result of his endeavors is nothing less than extraordinary; the Lobwasser Psalter eventually appeared in over one hundred editions over a period of two hundred years, and it continued to be published in Europe through the middle of the nineteenth century. From 1573, when the Lobwasser Psalter first appeared, to 1800, there were only five years when the hymnal was not published (all during the ThirtyYears' War): 1624, 1628, 1630, 1632, and 1642. It became by far the single most common Protestant hymnal of the early modern period.61

The text of the Lobwasser Psalter has qualities similar to earlier hymnals, above all its simplicity. For example, the first verse of Psalm 1 in the original French version by Marot is as follows:

Qui au conseil des malins n'a este Qui n'est au trac des pecheurs arreste, Qui des moqueurs au banc place n'a prise Mais nuict et iour la Loy contemple et prise. De l'Eternel, et en est desireux: Certainment ceslui-la est heureux.

58Pierre Pidoux and Konard Ameln, eds., Les pseatsuies isiis eii riiuiefiraiioise par Clisieiit Marot et Tlieodore de Beae, usis eni tiusiqiie d qliatre parties par Claude Gotidiniel (1565; repr., Kassel: Blrenreiter, 1935).The musicologist Friedrich Blurme claimis that even later editions of the Huguenot psalter never achieved the success of those with Goudimel's arrangements; Kirclietiuinisik, 91. On the popularity of the Jaqui psalter: ibid., 360, 362.

O9n Goudimel, who at one time was the head of a school of music in Rome where Palestrilua studied, see Weber, Geschiclite des Kirclieiigesatgs, 102ff. On the Huguenot psalter for which Goudimel arranged the melodies, see Nievergelt, Tousitze, 18-22; and Herbert Schneider, Die Frariszsisclie Kois)ipo- sitionslelire iti der ersteii Hiffie des 17.Jahrliiiiiderts (Tutzing: Hans Schneider, 1972), 44, 228.

60Weber, Gescliieite des Kirclieuigesatigs, 102-10; and NDB, 16:151. 61RISM, 1:77ff.; and NDB, 14:740-41.



Marcus / Hywinrody & Hymn)tals inl Basel, 1526-1606 737

("He who does not take counsel with the evil / Who is not stopped in the trail of the sinners, /VWho does not take a seat on the bench of scorners / But night and day considers and accepts the Law. / For he who desires eternity: / This one is surely happy.")

The message is clear and direct: do not sin, and think of God's law. The meter is also clear; in counting the syllables per line, we have 10:10:9:10:10:9. Marot employs a basic vocabulary, for almost all the words consist of one to two syllables; out of thirty-two words, only four have three syllables.

Lobwasser retains this economy of words in his own translation:

Wer nicht mit den gotlosen geht zu raht Und nicht tritt in saindlicher leut fuBpfat Der auch nit mit sitzt auff der sp6tter bencken Sonder auff Gotts gesetz mlit fleil3 thut dencken Und sich defl tag und nacht nimt hertzlich an Firwar das ist vor Gott ein selig mann.

("He who does not take counsel with the godless / And does not walk in the footsteps of the sinful / Nor sits on the scorners' bench / But thinks diligently of God's law / And day and night takes it to [his] heart / He is certainly a blessed man before God.")

In counting the syllables we have 10:10:11:11:10:10, and out of forty-nine words, only two have three syllables.The simplicity of meter and verse made them easy to sing, and hence easy to remember.

It is precisely for these reasons that Mareschal chose the hymnal for the Basel laity. He compiled a work that consists of two separate parts, similar to the "Chris- tian Hymnal" of 1559.The first part has all 150 psalms, based on the latest edition of the Lobwasser Psalter; the second part consists mainly of Lutheran hymns, almost all of which had already appeared in earlier hymnals the Basel laity had used. Although titled and paginated separately, the two parts were bound together, and published by the printer Ludwig K6nig. Mareschal gave it the rather unwieldy title of Der gan tz Psalter voni Herr;i Awlmbrosio Lobivasser D. Hiebevor ailj der Fratitzosi- scliera Conipositiori. miitgleiclher Al/Ielodey tirid zalil der Syllaben. in1 Tetitsclie Reymreni zierlicl 1iid lieblicli gebraclt; we will refer to it here simply as the "Complete Hymnal."62

With this text, Mareschal established several features that were new to hymnody in Basel. One change was the introduction of four-part singing. As with the Jaqui edition of the Genevan Psalter, the Complete Hymnal contains solely homorhythmic hymns, with all voices singing together on the same syllables. For the first part of the hymnal, Mareschal adopted Claude Goudimel's arrangements,

62The second part is titled Psalmeii Daivids / Kirciheci Gcsaenge vumd geistliclhe Licder / 'nl D. Martin Luither vnd anderit gottsgelelhrtci A/lacveriris gestelct... (Basel: Ludwig Kbniig, 1606). I would like to thank Dr. Martin Steinmann at the Universitdtsbibliothek Basel for allowing me to view the hymnial.



738 Sixteen th Centuray Journial XXXII/3 (2001)

making changes where he felt the harmonic structure needed improvement, and he also wrote arrangements for four voices of the melodies in the second part of the hymnal. These efforts brought Basel closer to the Lutheran tradition of four- part hymnody.63 There is no indication that congregations sang all four voices; as any choral director will attest, four-part singing by untrained voices is a recipe for chaos. Rather, they accompanied a children's choir, which was under the tutelage of Mareschal himself.

How could it be possible for those with little or no musical knowledge to accompany a choir? This brings us to the second point of Mareschal's changes: placing the melody in the highest voice, the soprano. In the Jaqui edition, the melody (cai'iusfiraces) is in the tenor, which was in keeping with traditional medieval musical practice.64 Mareschal found this approach less than satisfactory, and instead placed the melody in the soprano; the goal was for the melody to ring out clearly to the entire congregation. He noted that the medieval style seemed "less effective. For among those who are not learned in music, which is the largest part of the congregation, it brings misunderstanding," since they could not hear the melody.65 Placing the melody in the highest voice helped solve this problem, since the congregation could more readily hear the tune of each hymn and thus be able to sing along. This practice was not in itself new; Lucas Osiander (1534-1604), the head preacher at the court ofWtirttemberg and also a musician, was reputedly the first one to implement this "soprano style" in his Lutheran hymnal of 1586.66 Mareschal, however, was the first to introduce the practice in Basel or indeed in any Swiss territory.67

63See Ulrich Asper,Aspekte zilua 14Verderi der detitschuei Liedsdtze iiiJolhaiiii Halthers 'Geistliclhe Gesan)g- bfclclcit' (1524-1551), Samnl-ung Musikwisselnschaftlicher Abhalndlulngeln, 72 (Baden-Baden: K6rnler, 1985), 51.

64Blume, Kirchenini~iisik, 42-63, esp. 43; and Pidoux and Amelli, Les pseal.iines tifis eni riicefraiioise, 7. See also Louise E. Cuyler, "The Imperial Motet: Barometer of Relations between Church and State," in The Pitirstit of Holirtess ini Late AIcdiecval and Reniaissace Religioni, ed. Charles Trilnkhaus, Studies in Medieval and Reformation Thought, 10 (Leiden: Brill, 1974), 483-88.

65Mareschal, introductions of parts 1 and 2, Complete Hymnal. 66Lucas Osialnder, Ftiqffzig Geistliclie Lieder .ittd Psalitme: Allit i)ier Stinincit aqlff Coltraplillctsliveise (ftir

die Schitileni lv)d KirchiemI hiblliclieCi Ffirstentlhiiiiib PViirtenberg), also gesetzt das ciii gaitze Cliristliclie Geiueiii dii rchaii/3 tiitsiugeii kai (Nuremberg, 1586). A copy of the text is in Das erste elv)igelisclie Clioralbi-icli, ed. F. Zelle (Berlin, 1903). On Osialnder's hymnal, see Gertraud Zull, "Musik, Musikinstrumente, Musi- kalnten," in Die Reiiaissatice hii deiwtsclien Siidwlesteii zii'isclhe. Reforniiatioii iiiid Dreissigjihrigeuii Krieg (Karls- ruhe: Badisches Landesnmiuseum, 1986), 2:887; Martin Brecht and Hermann Ehlmler, Siidii'estdeiitsclhe RcforiniiatioiisgescIiicilite ziir Eiifiihnritig der Refortiiatiort i-ii Herzogtuiu- Wfiirtteiiibetg, 1534 (Stuttgart: Calver Verlag, 1984), 347; and Kenneth H. Marcus, "Music Patronage of the Wtirttemberg Hofkapelle, c. 1500-1650," Gertiait History 13, no. 2 (1995): 160. Other German composers to adopt this innovation were Michael Praetorius, Hans Leo Hassler (an organist in Augsburg), and Seth Calvisius, cantor of the Thomas church in Leipzig.Weber, Gesciiiclite des Kirclherigesanigs, 111.

67See Bolnh6te, introduction to Selected Works; NDB, 16:151; Hans Peter Schalnzlin, "Samuel Mareschall," in Der Reforimtatiot vcrpfliclitet: Gestalten uiiiid Gestalter ini Stadt iirid Latidscliaft Basel aiis fuiif Jahlirltvimderteti, ed. Dorothea Christ et al. (Basel: Christoph Meriali, 1979), 59-62; and Blume, Kirclhei- tin isik, 375-76.



Marcus / Hymnovdy & Hymtinals i1i Basel, 1526-1606 739

A third change was the use of High German.68 Previously, the Basel laity used hymnals that tended to be printed in Swiss dialect. For example, in the first verse of"Hilff Gott wie gadt es ymmer zuo" in the Constance Hymnal,69 we have:

Hilff Gott wie gadt es ymmer zuo das alles volck so grimmet: Ftirsten vnd ktinig all gemein mit emn sind sy gesinnet: Wider zestraeben deiner hand vnd Christe den du hast gesandt der gantzen welt zuo helffen.

If we compare this German usage with the same psalm in the second part of the Complete Hymnal,70 we find a significant difference:

Hilff Gott wie geht es immer zu Dass alles volck so grimmet Ftirsten und konig all gemein Mit ein sind sie gesinnet Wider zu streben deiner hand Und Christo den du hast gesandt Der gantzenWelt zu helfen.

The intent was to bring the language of the Lutheran hymns more into line with the fine usage of the Lobwasser Psalter. This change in spelling meant that congregations sang, and heard, a more standardized form of German, with less and less use of printed dialect. High German remained characteristic of hymnals subsequently published in Basel.

The use of High German complemented one of Mareschal's final aims: using the hymnal as a tool in instructing young people.71 This goal was in keeping with the city's tradition of congregational singing, because an early interest of reformers during the Reformation was to teach children how to sing the psalms. Oecolam- padius had supported such efforts, as did Martin Bucer in Strasbourg. Similarly, John Calvin felt that children should learn to sing hymns; in writing on such a program in Geneva, he states: "For a beginning the little children are to be taught;

68S1, the use of High German in the printed text, see Adolf Bach, Geschliclhte der dcutschcii Sprachie (Heidelberg: Quelle und Meyer, 1965), 246-69; and Besch et al., Spraclhgescliclte, 2:1415-47, esp. 1425-29.

69Constance Hymnal, 2-4. 70Complete Hymnal, pt. 2, pp. 9-13. 71Mareschal states in the introduction to part 1 of the Complete Hymnal that he wishes to draw

people, especially the youth, away from the evil influences of popular songs. He is echoing sentiments going back at least to Martin Luther; in the introduction to each edition of his hymnals, such as the Gesaiigbichleiu (1544), Luther states that he sought to influence the youth away from lascivious, worldly songs: "ich gerl wolte die jugelt die doch solst sol vnd mus il der Musica vld alderl rechteln kiilsten erzogen werden etwas hette damnit sie der BulLieder vnd fleiscblichen Gesenge los wiirde."



740 Sixteenthd Ceitilryjotirnal XXXII/3 (2001)

then with time all the church will be able to follow." Children were even taught hymnody in Zurich, once the city council permitted congregational singing.72 Hymnody in Basel thus became a regular part of the education of children, and we find archival evidence of community support for such efforts through the eighteenth century.73 In these ways, the impact of the hymnal that Mareschal intro- duced in Basel continued long after its initial publication.

* * *

From the example of Basel we can draw several conclusions. First, hymnody had an important role in Basel's liturgy.The laity began a tradition of congregational singing as early as 1526, three years before the city's official Reformation, when Oeco- lampadius and four of his fellow preachers in Basel encouraged their congregations to sing the psalms in the vernacular. They based their actions on the Lutheran model of congregational singing that flourished in both Wittenberg and Strasboulrg, and Basel thus became the first city in the Swiss Confederation in which Protestant congregations sang hymns in church. Swiss cities that later followed Basel's example were St. Gallen and Winterthur in 1527 and Bern in 1558, while most Zwinglian communities merely recited hymns in unison.74 Even with Basel's shift to Calvin- ism in the second half of the sixteenth century, hymnody remained an important aspect of the service, in part because Calvin himself supported its use. As Luther before him, Calvin gave scriptural citation in his support of hymnody, but he also noted the joy that congregations had in singing the psalms.75

Second, Basel's churches used a variety of hymnals, almost all of them printed elsewhere until the early seventeenth century. The first Protestant hymnals came from Strasbourg, which had close ties with the city republic until the Schmalkaldic War of 1547-48. Letters between the cities' preachers are well documented, and a strong bond existed that was not merely religious but also economic. After 1536,

720n Martin Bucer: Garside, "Calvin's Theology of Music," 10-14, 25-26. OIl hylmnl1ody for children in Geneva: OC, 10:26; also quoted in Garside, "Calvin's Theology of Music," 16. On Zurich: Heinrich Weber, Der Kirclheugesaisg Zfirichs, seiis P14eseul, seinle Gescdiclhte, sciue FRirdermiig (Zurich:J. Herzog, 1866), 29ff.. See also Jenny, Luthler, Zwioiiigli, Calvinl, 25-26, 35, 40.

73As Mareschal notes in the introduction to part 1 of the hymniial, amionog the goals of hymniiody are: "zu reicherem-nVerstand der Psalmen / und zu miehrer Christlicher ubuniog / damit sie neben der H. Bibel Altes und Newes Testaments / nicht nlur offentlich in der Kirchen / sondern auch daheimrien taeg- lich sampt ihren Kindern und HauBvoelcklin sich uben / und daamit Gottseliglich erlustigen und troe- sten koelnten." Basel Aittistes Hans Rudolf Merian repeated this same view over a century later: "daPB man sich deren nicht nur in den Kircheni, solnderen auch zu hauf3, nmit heilemn Nutz und Erbauuln, wird bedielnen k6lnneni." StAB, Kircheniakteni D8, fol. 1 (16 October 1742). Concerning hymnlody for children: StAB, Erziehungsakten B35, fol. 1 (4 February 1577). On "choral schools" (SiingscIlclni) for boys and girls during the eighteenth century: StAB, Erziehulngsakten B35, fol. 5 (22 May 1773). See also Nef, "Die Musik in Basel," 20.

74Hannes Reim-nannii, Die Einffihinmiig des Kirclheugesangs ii. der Zibrclher Kirclhe iiach der Reformationl (Zurich: Zwingli Verlag, 1959), 18-21, 69; and S6h1ngen, "Zwinglis Stellung zur Musik im Gottes- dienst," 176. Steven Ozi-nent noted that the "only harm-nony perm-nitted the congregation [was] the repetition of psalms in unison," thus without singing, in Protesta,,ts, 27.

75Bornert, La reformne protestante, 181; and Garside, "Calvin's Theology of Music," 26.



Marcus / Hyininody & Hyntintals in Basel, 1526-1606 741

hymnals came from Zurich, despite the city's ban on congregational singing that lasted until 1598.While Professor ConradWolffhart from the University of Basel edited the "Christian Hymnal" of 1559, it is only with the Complete Hymnal of 1606 that a Basel printer actually published a Protestant songbook in Basel. The key element of this hymnal was the Lobwasser Psalter, and it subsequently went through five different editions by the same printing shop in 1636, 1690, 1699, 1708, and 1717. Other Basel printers brought out over twenty further editions of the Lobwasser Psalter by 1806.76

Third, an outsider, Samuel Mareschal, came to have a significant impact on congregational and choral singing in Basel. Over a period of almost sixty-five years, he not only served in the capacity of head organist at the Minster but also as professor of music at the University of Basel and at the Latin school. He thus had ample opportunity to make his mark on the city's religious music, and his crown- ing achievement was adopting the Lobwasser Psalter for Basel and uniting it with the Lutheran hymns to produce the Complete Hymnal. There is no indication that the congregation actually sang in four different voices; rather, Mareschal intended the hymnal for church choirs, such as those in the Minster, and for instructional purposes at school and at home.With the melody in the highest voice, the entire congregation could hear the tune and join in the singing even if they had little or no musical ability, a decidedly Lutheran practice in an avowedly Reformed city.

We thus see a series of influences from outside the city republic: from Stras- bourg,Wittenberg, Paris, Geneva, Zurich, and Flanders, that came together during the sixteenth century to revolutionize the kind of music the Basel laity heard and sang. The acceptance of these influences from far outside Basel's own borders supports the thesis that the city republic enjoyed a relatively tolerant envi- ronment, both politically and religiously, during this period.77 Such influences, however, were not unique to Basel; the Protestant hymnals that communities used in Europe and in the Americas tended to draw on a variety of sources: Lutheran, Reformed, and even Catholic, both in terms of the text and melody. What is unique to Basel is its early and consistent emphasis on music in spite of its Reformed confession. Through hymns, reformers could communicate often complex religious ideas in simple words and phrases, which the laity could then receive through the act of singing. Hymnody thus had a central role in Basel as a means of transmitting, and reinforcing, religious belief.

76TThe Kbniig printing shop first published the psalter in 1606 and 1636 (under Ludwig K61nig). Johann Ludwig Kbniig continued this tradition in 1690 and 1699, as did Johann Georg Kbnoig in 1708 and 1717. Other Basel printers who published the Lobwasser Psalter were Johann Schroter (1613), Theodor Falckeisen (1659),Jac.Werenfels (1659, 1674, 1685, 1688),Johalnln Brandnaiiller (1676, 1697), Johann Ludwig Brandminiler (1704, 1717),Johann Conrad von Mechel (1713, 1717, 1730, 1745, 1746),Johann Heinrich Decker (1730, 1740, 1747, 1763, 1790),J.J. Genath (1716, 1721), Gebriider von Mechel (1778), and Jac. Decker (1797, 1798, 1806).These editions are all in the Rare Books and Manuscripts Collection at the Universitatsbibliothek Basel.

77Guggisberg, "Das refornmierte Basel," 4-5, 11-15.



Documents

Hymnody and Hymnals in Basel, 1526-1606