Music History I - Martin Luther, the German Reformation, and their impact on sacred music. Martin Luther Martin Luther, leader of the German Reformation, was a gifted tenor, flutist, lutenist, poet, and composer (Schalk, 19 – 20).
He admired and extensively used polyphonic music from the Netherlands, particularly that of Josquin des Pres (Bainton, 268) (Grout, 214). Luther personally composed and arranged at least 10 chorales (Bainton, 266-267). When singing with friends, he would find errors in the counterpoint, which he would correct (Nettl, 61). Music had a tremendous personal impact in his life. English Reformation. The English Reformation was a series of events in 16th century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Catholic Church.
These events were, in part, associated with the wider process of the European Protestant Reformation, a religious and political movement that affected the practice of Christianity across most of Europe during this period. Many factors contributed to the process: the decline of feudalism and the rise of nationalism, the rise of the common law, the invention of the printing press and increased circulation of the Bible, the transmission of new knowledge and ideas among scholars, the upper and middle classes and readers in general.
However, the various phases of the English Reformation, which also covered Wales and Ireland, were largely driven by changes in government policy, to which public opinion gradually accommodated itself. Protestant Reformation. Although the core motivation behind these changes was theological, many other factors played a part, including the rise of nationalism, the Western Schism which eroded people's faith in the Papacy, the corruption of the Curia, and the new learning of the Renaissance which questioned much traditional thought.
On a technological level the invention of the printing press proved extremely significant in that it provided the means for the rapid dissemination of new ideas. The Roman Catholic Church responded with a Counter-Reformation initiated by the Council of Trent and spearheaded by the new order of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) specifically organized to counter the Protestant movement. In general, Northern Europe, with the exception of most of Ireland, turned Protestant.