“I have no use for cranks who despise music because it is a gift of God. Music drives away the devil, it makes people gay. They forget thereby all wrath, unchastity, arrogance and the like. Next after theology, I give music the highest place and greatest honor. I would not exchange what little I know of music for something great. Experience proves that, next to the Word of God, only music deserves to be extolled as the mistress and governess of the feeling of the human heart. We know that to the devil music is distasteful and insufferable. My heart bubbles up and overflows in response to music which so often refreshed me and delivered me from dire plagues.”
Stay tuned for the long-awaited, much-anticipated Mbird June/July playlist….
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2 responses to “Luther on Music”
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i just finished a book by James Gaines called “Evening in the Palace of Reason” about the classing theologies and musical views of Bach and Fredrick the Great. Great summary of Luther’s view of music and a quote of Luther’s to follow:
“Music had had a somewhat ambiguous history in the church before the Reformation; some of the early church fathers, even Saint Augustne, were suspicious of its emotional power, but Luther put an end to that… ‘You will find that from the beginning of the world [music] has been instilled and implanted in all creatures, individually and collectively. For nothing is without sound or harmony… Music is a gift and largesse of God, not a human gift. Praise through word and music is a sermon in sound.”
I think that other great (sic) German, Friedrich Nietzsche, said something similar in his book about Wagner.