Introduction to the Renaissance Ethics of Music

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INTRODUCTION: SINGING, CONTEMPLATION AND THE RENAISSANCE PHILOSOPHY

OF MUSIC

Th e human was originated in order to contemplate and imitate the cosmos; he is in no way perfect, but is some part of the perfect.1

Th is book explores the ethics of music , which underlies the Reformation the-ology and practice of singing , with a focus on the classical notion of musica humana.2 Readers may wonder what the ethics of music is about, because it is not an area which plays any signifi cant part in the existing curricula of musicological and philosophical studies. While there have been numerous studies on the phi-losophy of music for the last several decades, our understanding of the ethics of music is very limited.3 When considered from a philosophical perspective, music is invariably of signifi cance as a subject of aesthetics rather than that of ethics.4 Due to this lack of understanding of music as an ethical entity, it is necessary to explain briefl y what is meant by the ethics of music and in what context I use the term in this book. First of all, by the ethics of music I mean the moral philosophy of music which is at the core of the classical musical discourses revived by Renais-sance humanists.5 More specifi cally, my interest lies in the Platonic humanist tradition of moral philosophy which, I would argue, served as a major intellec-tual basis for developing the practice of singing as the ‘contemplation’, viz. an intensive intellectual and spiritual exercise associated with the moral state of human beings.6 In the light of Platonic musical thought retrieved by the humanists, this book thus attempts to elucidate the ethics of music underlying the practice of contemplative singing that played a vital role in shaping the morality and spiritu-ality of the Reformation both individually and congregationally.

Singing as Contemplation While the ancient moral philosophy of music has received little attention from modern scholars, it is of prime importance in relation to Renaissance musical thought. Th e ancient ethical ideas of music were well known to the medieval

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2 Th e Renaissance Ethics of Music: Singing, Contemplation and Musica Humana

scholars through Anicius M. Boethius (c. 480–524), whose De Institutione musica was the most infl uential textbook of music in Western Europe until the nineteenth century.7 Generally, however, music was not a serious question treated in relation to morality until the early modern period when the ancient ethical ideas of music became ‘the real driving force behind the theory and prac-tice of the more enthusiastic class of humanist’.8 As will be demonstrated by this book, the notion of singing as contemplation was grounded in the ancient ethics of music that lay at the heart of humanist musical reform, which kept abreast with the moral reforms of both the Church and society.9 Inspired by the classical writings on music , the humanists raise the fundamental questions as to music , that is, what music is, what it is for, and why it is important not only on the individual level but also on the societal. In his Apologia musices (1588), one of the most brilliant Renaissance accounts of music , for example, John Case (d. 1600) discusses the place of music in both religious and civil life from an ethical perspective under the following topics: the origin of music and its multi-fac-eted characteristics; why music is useful for every kind of life; whether the inner forces and powers of the soul are more aff ected by vocal and instrumental music than by the objects of the other senses; whether the theoretical and contempla-tive life stands more in need of the art of music than the active and practical life; the wonderful and eff ective power of instrumental music in the contemplation of things divine; and fi nally, the use of music in political life.10 Such an ethically-oriented musical discourse may not be so congenial to the musical enterprises and thoughts that are popular in our time; but modern readers are liable to inter-pret them through the lens of the aesthetics and norms that are dominant in our contemporary secular culture rather than through the ideas of music that preoc-cupied the minds of Renaissance thinkers and theorists.

Th is inclination is true of how we generally understand singing , one of the many ways of ‘doing music’. Among various musical activities, singing is oft en seen as most basic and ordinary. Supposedly, everyone who has breath can sing, if not excellently, without instructions on how to play the musical instrument – the body. By contrast, playing a musical instrument appears more demand-ing than singing ; making a melody, even producing a simple sound, can be a daunting task for a novice and requires laborious practice of many years. On a professional level, singing too requires much discipline just as other forms of musical training, perhaps even more so, given the sensitivity of the body as a musical instrument that is prone to changes in its physical surroundings and emotional conditions more than any other musical instrument made from natu-ral resources. In order to be a singer, fi rst of all, one thus has to make one’s body a musical instrument, which cannot be purchased at a shop, unlike other musi-cal instruments. In this regard, the human body as a musical instrument is the most diffi cult and tricky to play, because a future singer does not even yet have a musical instrument, even if the voice/body has great potentials as a musical


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Introduction 3

instrument. Generally, however, most people tend simply to sing without taking seriously their bodies as musical instruments.

In philosophical terms, the human body was oft en regarded as a musical instrument of the human soul , distinguished from the rest of musical instruments, throughout the classical and medieval periods. Bruce W. Holsinger argues con-vincingly that medieval music was quintessentially a practice of the fl esh; music played a major imaginative and ideological role in medieval representations of the human body.11 In this context, the practice of singing became an integral part of the material cultures of the Middle Ages, although it was a signifi cant factor in meditation practices of some religious communities.12 As will be demonstrated by the present book, however, for Renaissance humanists, singing was essentially a spiritual and intellectual exercise that had signifi cant moral consequences. Th e spirituality of music , particularly the spiritual force of singing , was considered to be crucial in educating the laity, as illustrated by the Reformation writings on the contemplative nature of sacred songs used in both public worship and pri-vate devotion. Th e practice of singing engages the physicality of the human body; what animates the body as a musical instrument of the soul is the spiritus, which is of divine origin and connects the mortal body to the immortal soul . Th us by singing the body is meant to be able to transcend corporeal pleasure or pain such as sexual desire and physical torture. Th us, the social, philosophical and theologi-cal implications of singing in Renaissance humanism and the Reformation were rather diff erent from those of singing in the Middle Ages and in our time.

Most of all, Renaissance humanists oft en defi ne music as the ‘art of singing’. Th is defi nition of music itself is interesting, when compared to the modern gen-eral view of singing as a part of music rather than the whole of it. Th e famous musical treatise of Sebald Heyden (1499–1561), De Arte Canendi (1540) begins with this very defi nition of music .13 Likewise, Johannes Th omas Freig (1543–83) refers to music as ‘the art of singing well’ in his Paedagogus (1582), an introduc-tion to various academic disciplines.14 According to the Renaissance educators, musical sound is produced via three media: the human voice, wind instruments (fi stulae) and string instruments. Th e voice creates sound by moving the tongue, wind instruments by blowing, and string instruments by striking. Supreme among these are the human organs – the larynx and uvula, and what is in them, and the nose – the ‘natural instruments’. Girolamo Mei (1519–94), an Italian humanist who made a major contribution to the revival of ancient Greek music /drama, fol-lows the classical arguments in the Problemata on the human voice, distinguished from the voice of animals by ‘its meaningful speech’, capable of expressing the soul’s motions and pressing them on the audience.15 Th e superiority of the human voice over musical instruments is articulated in earlier musical treatises; but more than any other time, in both theory and practice, the Renaissance was dominated by music of the human voice – the living musical instrument.


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Although instrumental music was popular on various occasions, the human-ists treated it with great care, especially in relation to church music . Th ey were oft en critical of the existing practice of church music heavily laden as it was with polyphony and instrumental music . On what basis did the humanists develop such polemics against instrumental music used in the churches? Th e Bible – the norm for the ‘humanistic theologizing’ – has no indication of this antagonism towards musical instruments.16 In the Old Testament, 1 Chronicles 16:4–6; 16:37–42; and 28:19 describe temple worship accompanied by instrumental music , which are the most frequently quoted biblical passages in modern apologetics for the use of music instruments in Christian worship . Th e New Testament has no direct statement against instrumental music , although it is generally assumed that primitive Christianity did not admit the use of musical instruments.17 Th e most vehement criticism of instrumental music in the Christian tradition is found in patristic writings, and the church fathers were indeed one in this regard.18

Th e negative views of the church fathers on musical instruments served as a major source for the humanist polemic against instrumental music used in the Church. Notably, Jerome (c. 347–420) advises Roman Christian parents that a well- educated Christian girl should be deaf to the musical instruments, even the lyre, and should not know for what purpose they are made.19 Following his favourite father Jerome , Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466–1536) makes the same point in his polemics against existing practice of instrumental music and dance – the frenetic and noisy musical sound to which young girls dance; Erasmus laments that his contemporaries do not see any moral danger in this custom.20 Th is patristic and humanist polemics against instrumental music is fundamentally ethical. Closely associated with instrumental music is dance, an art which has been absent in the traditional liturgies of Christianity. But their ethical approach to church music practice is not, in essence, Christian. As will be discussed, the underlying ethics is rooted in the ‘ancient theology’ (prisca theolo-gia) which culminated in Plato and his successors and of which Christianity is a continuation, alongside Judaism and Islam.21

Platonic metaphysics and ethics became a major intellectual basis for so- called ‘spiritual rationalism’ pursued by the pagan philosophers and the church fathers alike, and later by their early-modern successors. Spiritual rationalism may sound unfamiliar to modern readers; in current philosophical studies, spiritual-ity and rationality are oft en seen as at odds, under the premise that spirituality, along with religion, is essentially irrational. In the context of such a discourse, spirituality is primarily associated with feelings and emotions, whereas rational-ity goes with intellect and reason. Th is separation of spirituality and rationality in the modern academic discourse hinders our understanding of the ancient and early modern thought on religion and music (especially singing ), the ideas of which were framed by the integration of emotion and reason in balance. From


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Introduction 5

the Platonic and humanist perspectives, music is fundamentally an ethical entity, for it is essentially mathematical and poetical, engaging in both spirituality and rationality. Th us in the Platonic tradition spiritualism (or what may be called mysticism) is not divorced from rationalism. Rather, the two were intertwined to serve an ultimate ethical goal, that is, virtue , or moral excellence. Likewise, as will be argued, for the humanists committed to the reform of the Church and society, such spiritual rationalism was the quintessence of their endeavours for the resto-ration of the dignity of the human as a moral being, created in the image of God.

To what extent and in what manner did Platonism impact on the musical thought and practice of Renaissance humanism?22 It had been believed for many decades that the Renaissance was an age of Plato , whilst the Middle Ages had been an age of Aristotle . With regard to this polarity, Paul O. Kristeller asserts that ‘Renaissance Platonism which many historians have been inclined to oppose to medieval Aristotelianism was not as persistently anti-Aristotelian as we might expect’.23 More recent studies have eff ectively demonstrated the diversity within the humanist movement in terms of philosophical, political and religious ideas.24 In so far as the humanist interest in music is concerned, though, persistent in the Renaissance humanist philosophy is the Platonic musical tradition that centres on the integral relationship between music , morality and spirituality, coupled with a polemics against instrumental music , especially percussion. Aristotelian-minded humanists too view music as fundamentally ethical, but they did not reject instrumental music to the extent that the Platonists did. Rather, as will be discussed, they defend eloquently the place of instrumental music in religious and civil life, arguing that music originates from God, and music – both vocal and instrumental – is necessary for the contemplation of God, since it is a most divine science of the mind, under the belief that the mind is more thoroughly stirred up by the impulse of voices and instruments than by the objects of other senses.25

It was thus Platonists within the humanist circles who cultivated most vigor-ously the art of singing as a way of the contemplation which was directed toward the divine knowledge and mystery, with supreme ethical goals. Th e Platonic practice of contemplative singing was grounded in a serious academic enquiry into the relationships between the human body, soul and spirit – an enquiry which eventually led to a fundamental shift of perspective on the question of music-ethos. Th e founder and leader of the Platonic academy in Florence, Mar-silio Ficino (1433–99) is a precursor in reviving this practice of singing as the soul’s contemplation .26 Th e Platonic doctrine of soul had a profound impact on all subsequent philosophers and theologians including Ficino. By giving the soul a central place in his Th eologia Platonica, Ficino argues that the soul’s ‘contem-plation of the divine’ (contemplatio divinorum) is uniquely human, compared to other creatures.27 For Ficino, as for the ancient Platonists, the practice of singing is an activity which harmonizes the body with the soul , viz. musica humana,


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through the physical sensation and two media, the spirit and the air. In more Christian terms, though fundamentally Platonic, Erasmus stresses the ultimate goal of singing as prayer and as spiritual sacrifi ce to lead the ‘confessors’ to the immortality of the soul .

Th is Platonic philosophy and theology of music that views the practice of sing-ing as contemplation infl uenced profoundly the so-called ‘Christian humanists’, many of whom turned into the major Reformers and contributed to the reform of church music .28 Seldom, however, do the existing studies of Reformation musical history discuss the philosophical and theological basis for the reforming pro-grammes of sacred music . Th is is fundamentally because of the gap between the early modern and our time in understanding the relationship between music and languages. For the Christian humanists and reformers, as for the ancient philoso-phers (notably for the Platonists), music is inseparable from languages in a serious sense, and it is thus an integral part of rhetoric , grammar, poetry, moral philoso-phy and religious rituals. Th e rationality and spirituality of music governed by reason (ratio) underlying sound is more important than the physicality of music . Th e musical ratio, in the best form, is manifested in the basic, regulated rhythmic structure of verse – metres . By contrast, within the context of modern academia that is so fragmented and compartmentalized in the name of specialisms, music and languages are two diff erent entities, if related in some way.

In his famous book on music , for instance, Daniel J. Levitin attempts a neu-ropsychological investigation of sound and music in relation to the brain, mind and thought.29 Levitin’s approach is typical of contemporary scientifi c studies of music which discuss music in terms of ‘sound’ and acoustics, without consider-ing linguistic aspects of music (or musical aspects of languages) that are central to the ancient and Renaissance discourse on music .30 Such a modern scientifi c study of music has its own merits, but it is not always helpful for studying the musical tradition of antiquity and the Renaissance , particularly the practices of liturgical chants or songs built on the union of music and languages. Rather, it can be an obstacle to our understanding of the ancient musical traditions in which the human voice conveying both tones and words played a central role. More signifi cantly, it was words which had top priority in the ancient musi-cal traditions, because languages, in the classical context of rhetoric , grammar and poetry, were quintessentially musical properties, as evidenced by the highly sophisticated accentuation systems of the ancient languages. Accentuations in the three classical languages – Greek, Latin and Hebrew – infl uenced heavily the humanist rhetoric and poetry of which music was integral part, with signifi cant ethical objectives.31 An excellent example to illustrate such comprehensive aspect and eff ects of music linked inextricably to languages is the practice of metrical psalmody established by the humanists and the reformers. As will be discussed later, the Platonic-humanist ideas of music underlying the Reformation practice


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Introduction 7

of singing developed within a holistic framework of learning, moral philosophy and religious culture that centred on intellectual, moral and spiritual cultivation in both private and public life. In the following section, we shall consider the place Renaissance humanism occupies in the history of music and its relevance to Reformation musical history in broader terms.32

Th e Renaissance Philosophy of Music: Th e Platonic-Humanist Approach

Renaissance humanism is not a major research topic in musicological studies, although its importance has already been addressed by distinguished scholars in the fi eld such as Paul O. Kristeller in the mid-twentieth century.33 Th is is not to say that existing musicologists are unaware of the impact that the ancient learn-ing, rediscovered by humanist scholarship, had on musical theory and practice. Some scholars have attempted to explain the way the Renaissance composers and musicians used the remnants of ancient musical theory and practice at their disposal. As noted generally, Renaissance music as a whole was conceived, writ-ten and performed under the inspiration of musical antiquity.

Regarding this impact of the ancient musical theory and practice on the Renaissance , existing studies have primarily focused on acoustic or linguistic issues. Claude V. Palisca , a leading musicologist, for instance, envisages fundamen-tal changes in music theory in the Renaissance as follows: 1) the octave species and modes; 2) the defi nition of consonance and dissonance; and 3) the theoreti-cal basis for practical tuning.34 Highlighting the humanist preoccupation with the study of Greek and Latin, Don Harrán stresses the relevance of rhetoric and poetry to music and its infl uence on modern musical styles.35 Although their stud-ies have discussed music in relation to some aspects of Renaissance humanism, they are mainly concerned with technical issues of music rather than with philo-sophical ones in understanding music as an aural art, verbal or non-verbal. Besides, music historians, who are interested in humanism, have mainly focused on secular music , based on the traditional Burckhardtian interpretation of the Renaissance , which views humanism as a new philosophy of the Renaissance that is essentially secular in culture and spirit .36 Since modern discourse on (Renaissance ) human-ism is associated with secularism, few studies have thus considered sacred music in the light of the humanism. As I have demonstrated elsewhere, however, Renais-sance humanism infl uenced directly the existing practice of sacred music , which is most evident in the liturgical chant practices of the Reformation in both Latin and vernacular languages. An understanding of Renaissance humanism is there-fore essential for studying the early-modern reforms of sacred music .37

In order to explain this further, let us consider Paul O. Kristeller’s interpreta-tion which has been most infl uential for the last half century. More recent studies


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have oft en criticized Kristeller’s defi nition of the humanism as ‘a narrowly phil-ological enterprise’.38 Still, Kristeller’s approach is helpful for observing wider impacts of humanism on music not only in terms of musical forms and styles but also in terms of the classical ideas underlying them. According to Kristeller, although Renaissance humanism had important philosophical implications and consequences, it was not a philosophy but a cultural and educational movement; it pursued the improvement of society by reasserting the value of the studia humanitatis, a cluster of fi ve subjects – grammar, rhetoric , history, poetry and moral philosophy .39 Kristeller thus stresses the multi-faceted characteristic of the religious, philosophical, and political ideas of the humanists, that is, no single idea dominated the movement, and he claims:

Renaissance humanism as a whole cannot be identifi ed with a particular set of opinions or convictions, but is rather characterised by a cultural ideal and a range of scholarly, literary, and intellectual interests that the individual humanist was able to combine with a variety of professional, philosophical, or theological conviction.40

Most important of all, Renaissance humanism, argues Kristeller, was essentially a rhetorical movement, concerned the promotion of eloquence in its various forms.41 As Alister E. McGrath put it succinctly, the core of Kristeller’s defi ni-tion thus lies in the fact that ‘the diversity of ideas which is so characteristic of Renaissance humanism is based upon a general consensus concerning how to derive and express those ideas.’42

Kristeller’s claims have been illustrated by numerous studies that examine the rhetorical characteristics of the Reformation , Protestant or Catholic, in terms of the ways in which the reformers propagated and promoted their new reli-gious ideas. Th is is evident not only in relation to sacred oratory – preaching – but also in relation to sacred music , both of which relied heavily on the rules of classical rhetoric for the sake of the intelligibility of text in the revised liturgico-musical performance. Kristeller’s philological approach enables us to recognize the common intellectual method which centred on rhetoric and was thoroughly used by the humanists regardless of their theological, political and philosophi-cal inclinations. But nonetheless it tends to diminish the roles of the humanism and humanists as the main vehicle of the ancient philosophical traditions. Th e humanists were not just as translators of the ancient literatures. Th ey functioned as interpreters of the classical ideas they encountered and studied. It was their perceptions and interpretations through which remote musical antiquity was vivifi ed and served as the models for new musical forms, techniques and termi-nologies in the early modern period. A cappella, metrical psalmody , monody, oratorios, operas, etc. emerged under this inspiration of the ancient theory and practice of music , in which music was an integral part of education, literature, spirituality and religion, with a strong moral emphasis.


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Introduction 9

Th is philosophical and ethical aspect of music , which appealed profoundly to Renaissance humanists, has not received the attention it deserves. It is, there-fore, my intention to consider the philosophical signifi cance of Renaissance humanism in the history of musical thought above all. But this consideration does not proceed from the traditional interpretation of humanism as the secular philosophy of the Renaissance . Rather, my chief interest lies in humanism as the moral philosophy of the Renaissance which is inseparable from the current religious and musical concerns. Th rough examination of the humanists’ contri-bution to the development of musical ethics, I shall observe the way in which humanist moralism led to a fundamental shift of perspective on the question of word-tone relationships which lay at the core of studies of Western musical theory and practice. My primary focus is on the Platonic-humanist musical dis-course in which the ancient ethics of music is most intensely presented in terms of the harmonia (harmony) and decorum (the appropriateness of emotions). I demonstrate that the ideal of Platonic-humanist moralism were thoroughly applied to contemporary musical practice, especially to the new musical enter-prises of the Reformation . Furthermore, I argue that the ideal of ‘temperance’ (temperantia) became of prime importance in relation to humanist musical education and reform of church music and, more decisively, to their polemics against instrumental music and musicians.43

Objectives and Structure Since the Reformation as a whole is oft en seen as one of the major forces behind the destruction of medieval sources of sacred music , musicologists are gener-ally not so sympathetic to the musical ideas of the Reformation .44 It is, however, undeniable that the ideas which resulted in the loss of older musical sources paved the way for new musical life in Western Europe in both intellectual and spiritual terms. What are these ideas and on what basis were they applied to the practice of sacred music by the course of the Reformation ? One may fi nd some answer to these questions in existing studies of Reformation musical history that have examined the musical ideas of the mainstream reformers like Martin Luther (1483–1546) and John Calvin (1509–64). Although these studies scrutinize the reforms of liturgy and liturgical music , they have hardly called into question issues surrounding the concepts of music associated with the musical practice of the Reformation . I have therefore explored some of the ideas of music that are well known but taken for granted or hardly considered of any signifi cance by existing studies of music . One of the chief components of the ideas I have attempted to interpret is musica humana, which is a phrase only mentioned in passing at music history classes and is the most ambiguous among the three cat-egories of music discussed by the ancient philosophers.


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Th e principal aim of this book is thus to elucidate the notion of musica humana , which lies at the heart of the classical and Renaissance ethics of music and yet is hitherto left unexplained. In the light of Renaissance humanism and Platonism , this book examines the way in which musica humana was interpreted and practised by key early-modern thinkers and theorists of religion, education, and music .45 In doing so it highlights the socio-ethical capacity of music /singing to embody the union of divinity and humanity within the context of Renais-sance and Reformation thought. My chief argument is that the musica humana , whose ultimate goal lies in moderation, or temperance (temperantia), did not serve just as a literary metaphor but was embodied in the Platonic-humanist practice of ‘poetic music’, especially in the Reformation practice of congrega-tional psalmody . More specifi cally, I demonstrate that the Platonic ideal of music as the contemplation of the divine, reclaimed by Ficino and disseminated by Franchinus Gaff urius , underlay the Erasmian theology of music that was practised by the Reformed theologians, notably by John Calvin and Huldrich Zwingli. Although they have diff erent views over religious and doctrinal mat-ters, they are one in the pursuit of musica humana .

In the introduction thus far I have explained what is meant by the Renais-sance ethics of music and its fundamental signifi cance in relation to the revival of musica humana in the Reformation spirituality and theology of music which was embodied in the practice of congregational singing . As a starting point to explore the philosophical backdrops to this revival of musica humana in the early modern period, Chapter 1 attempts to interpret a classical notion of music , musica humana (the harmony of body and soul ), as discussed by Boethius . It explains the three categories of music (musica mundana ; musica humana ; and musica instrumentalis constituta ) in relation to the practice of contemplative singing advocated by the Platonic humanists in the pursuit of the spiritual rationalism. It discusses the integral relationship between the cosmos, the human body, and the soul – the relationship which is vital for understanding Renais-sance Platonic humanist discourse on music and musicians that underlies the Reformation theology of music and singing .

Chapter 2 focusses on the medical and theurgic use of music in the Pythag-orean-Platonic traditions retrieved by the leading fi gures of Renaissance Neo-Platonism , notably by Marsilio Ficino . It begins by discussing the use of music for the purifi cation of the soul in the Pythagorean tradition of musical healing, in terms of the Platonic cosmology and its ethical dimensions. With an emphasis on the ancient medical theory of the human body, ‘humourism’, this chapter examines Ficino’s understanding of the relationship between music and the spiritus which is regarded as the bond of body and soul , and it explains the function of singing as a spiritual medium in the pursuit of musica humana .


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Chapter 3 will discuss the ancient discourse on the ties between music , morality and education, in the light of the Platonic attitude to music , an approach which directly infl uenced the Renaissance reform of education, liturgy and music . It observes the Platonic humanist approach to music in relation to temperance and then moves on to discuss the role of the musician as a pedagogus in Quintilian terms. A particular focus is on the Dorian mode, whose ethical implications and values are most highly appreciated by the classical and Renais-sance scholars alike. Many of musical compositions discussed in the light of the Platonic ethics of music and the Dorian are illustrated from the English musical practices including Th omas Tallis’s and Th omas Campion’s, which refl ect most strongly the Platonic humanist approach to music and poetry.46

Chapter 4 attempts to defi ne the notion of ‘divine music’ (musica divina) within the context of the Platonic-humanist theology which characterizes the musical ideas of Ficino, Erasmus and Gaff urius. Highlighting the distinction between the Apollonian music and the Dionysian music made by Erasmus, it observes the way in which the Pythagorean-Platonic ideal of music was adopted by the ancient Christian thinkers and later by the humanist reformers for rede-fi ning the practice of sacred music and, moreover, elucidates why they banned the use of instrumental and polyphonic music in the worship, in terms of the Renaissance Platonic notion of God.

Chapter 5 will deal with the practices of singing and silence which Reformed theologians identify as contemplative ‘prayer’ and ‘spiritual sacrifi ce’.47 It argues that this identifi cation of singing and silence as prayer and sacrifi ce, which is so characteristic of the Reformed theology of music , takes its root in the Neo-Platonic notion of ‘philosophical prayer .’ Th e chapter elucidates how this Neo-Platonic view of music , mediated through the patristic and Renaissance humanist scholars whose musical ideas echo the Neo-Platonic ideas, was adopted by the Reformed theologians including Calvin and Zwingli.

Chapter 6 seeks to reinterpret the Reformation practice of psalmody in the light of the patristic understanding of the Psalms as a Christian embodi-ment of musica humana. It explains the ethical meanings of ‘psallere’ and moves on to expound the link between the Platonic musical tradition (that is, choric songs ) and Christian psalmody in terms of the ‘modulated recitation’ (modu-lata recitatio ), the ancient manner of chanting or singing stressed by Erasmus. It demonstrates that this platonically-inspired metrical psalmody was adopted by the reformers in the pursuit of musica humana. It then concludes that the Reformation practice of congregational singing was not merely a move from the fl orid polyphony to more simplistic musical forms. Rather, it is based on a fun-damental change in understanding both humanity and music , with a profound ethical goal pursued as essential for enhancing the spirituality of the Church on both individual and congregational levels.


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Although this book is mainly focused on the ideas that underlie the Chris-tian practice of singing in the early modern period, the themes in question are equally important for studying some of the key factors of ‘sacred music’ in a broader sense. From my own studies of music as part of cultural-religious and intellectual traditions, most musical forms in the non-Western traditions which are categorized as sacred or religious music share roughly the same goal as musica humana . Music, aft er all, is one of the most universal experiences of human life – an art which expresses the emotions and thoughts of individuals and commu-nities across the civilizations.

I hope that this book will clarify some of the key ideas of music that are of importance for retrieving the universal all-embracing capacity of music from its own false bid for autonomy, particularly the relationship between music , religion and education, an interdisciplinary relationship which was taken very seriously by the religious thinkers and music theorists of early modern Europe. Last but not the least, this book has not been written for the specialists of early modern music exclusively. It is my wish to share the ideas of music , classical or early modern, with those who appreciate the importance of music as an integral part of intellectual and spiritual disciplines or exercises.


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Introduction to the Renaissance Ethics of Music