Calvin's Preface to the Psalter: a Re-Appraisal Author(S): Charles Garside, Jr

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Calvin's Preface to the Psalter: A Re-Appraisal Author(s): Charles Garside, Jr. Source: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 37, No. 4 (Oct., 1951), pp. 566-577 Published by: Oxford University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/739611 Accessed: 05-01-2018 06:41 UTC

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This content downloaded from 129.74.250.206 on Fri, 05 Jan 2018 06:41:01 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms CALVIN'S PREFACE TO THE PSALTER: A RE-APPRAISAL

By CHARLES GARSIDE, JR.

(I -11 ORROR characteristic of art traits is, and of thewill Reformation remain, one in generalof the andessential of and the Calvinist Reformation in particular."' Although this remark was made more than fifty years ago, it may best represent an opinion still prevalent today regarding Calvin's attitude towards the arts. His detractors, moreover, have particularly stressed music. The classic work on the French Huguenot Psalter is a first-rate example. Douen, its author, although not only a Protestant but also a pastor, enter- tained an undisguised bias against Calvin, so that one may find sentences such as the following in his work: "The Pope of Geneva .. an enemy of all pleasure and distraction, even of the arts and of music."' In England, at virtually the same time, John Pyke Hullah delivered a course of lectures at the Royal Institute in which he stated that "Calvin, unlike Luther, seems never to have recognized music as a means of religious expression, scarcely even to have appre- ciated it as an aid to devotion".3 This is representative of opinion among scholars before the renascence of Calvin studies.4 After the revival of scholarly interest in Calvin, however, one would have supposed that music historians would revise these notions. Not so. The second edition of Adler's Handbuch der Musikgeschichte (1930) does not mention him, nor does Leichtentritt in his chapter on the Reformation in Music, History and Ideas. Friedrich Blume, in his Die Evangelische Kirchenmusik (1931) mentions Calvin only parenthetically. Not only in handbooks and general histories, however, but

1 Brunetibre, cited in E. Doumergue, Jean Calvin, Lausanne, 1910, II, 481.

2 Orentin Douen, Cldment Marot et le Psautier Huguenot, Paris, 1878-79, I, 377.

3 J. P. Hullah, The History of Modern Music, 2nd ed., London, 1875, pp. 57-58.

4 Concerning this revival, see J. T. McNeil, Thirty Years of Calvin Study, in Church History, XVII (1948), 207-4o. For an excellent brief summary of this development, see R. N. Carew Hunt, Calvin, London, I933, PP. 7-I I of the Preface. 566

This content downloaded from 129.74.250.206 on Fri, 05 Jan 2018 06:41:01 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Calvin's Preface to the Psalter: A Re-Appraisal 567 even in specialized studies one may find Calvin slurred over and carelessly treated. As recently as 1946, in an otherwise excellent article, Walter .Buszin spoke of "Calvin's indifference, or rather hostility, to music".' These are only a few instances out of many that might be cited. It is therefore not suprising that a Calvin scholar could write in 1946 that "the scientific investigation of Calvin's views on art and beauty is in its childhood".6 The following pages attempt to present Calvin's ideas on and attitudes towards music, as they are reflected in his Preface to the Genevan Psalter.7 They also attempt to place these ideas in the context of i6th-century humanism, in which Calvin is steeped. Above all, they seek to do what is little done in Calvin studies, and that is to let Calvin speak for himself.

II The Preface to the Genevan Psalter of 1542 is perhaps the most important single document for arriving at a proper understanding of Calvin's attitude towards music. Yet as far as can be ascertained, it has never been the subject of commentary, save for the extraction and quotation of random passages, usually the least significant ones.' The analysis below will therefore be as exhaustive as possible. Calvin opens the Preface with an introduction in which he under- scores first the importance of observing Sundays and other church days, and secondly that of a full understanding of the meaning of these services. In order that profit may be derived from this understanding, he has written a Preface in which three fundamental things are to be treated, preaching, prayer, and the Sacraments. He then proceeds to discuss these matters, but returns to the subject of prayer by speaking of "the prayers and praises which we

5 Walter E. Buszin, Luther on Music, in The Musical Quarterly, XXXII (1946), 8o. 6 T. H. L. Parker, A Bibliography and Survey of the British Study of Calvin Z900oo-z94o, in The Evangelical Quarterly, XVIII (1946), 130.

7 The text used is that of the facsimile edition of Les Pseaumes mis en rime fran- goise par Climent Marot et The'odore de Beze. Mis en musique a quatre parties par Claude Goudimel . . . (1565), published under the auspices of La Soci&t6 des Concerts de la Cathedrale de Lausanne and edited in French by Pierre Pidoux and in German by Konrad Ameln (Kassel, 1935).

8 Cf., for instance, Marta Grau, Calvins Stellung zur Kunst, Wiirzburg, 1917, pp. 46-47, who quotes a large section and does nothing with it. Also, Bannard Yorke, Calvin as Musical Reformer, in The Monthly Musical Record, XLIX (1919), 151-52, who prints three brief passages and leaves them unexplained. Cf. also A. E. Cherbuliez, Calvins erster Psalter, in Der Organist, ZiUrich, 1934.

This content downloaded from 129.74.250.206 on Fri, 05 Jan 2018 06:41:01 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 568 The Musical Quarterly use". Since he has already dealt with this aspect of his liturgy, it seems unnecessary that he should raise the matter again. The significance of the resumption instantly becomes apparent, however, when he subdivides "public prayers" into two kinds, "the ones with the word alone; the others with singing". He thus wishes to make an important distinction, and, having done so, he devotes the last 140 words (in the original French) to a discussion of "the others with singing". Parenthetically, it is worth noting that Calvin reserves this treatment of prayers with music for the place of prominence at the end of the Preface, thereby giving it particular emphasis. As for public prayers, there are two kinds. The ones with the word alone: the others with singing. And this is not something invented a little time ago. For from the first origin of the Church, this has been so, as appears from the histories. And even St. Paul speaks not only of praying by mouth: but also of singing. And in truth we know by experience that singing has great force and vigor to move and inflame the hearts of men to invoke and praise God with a more vehement and ardent zeal. Care must always be taken that the song be neither light nor frivolous: but that it have weight and majesty (as St. Augustine says), and also, there is a great difference between the music which one makes to entertain men at table and in their houses, and the Psalms which are sung in the Church in the presence of God and His angels. But when anyone wishes to judge correctly of the form which is here presented, we hope that it will be found holy and pure, seeing that it is simply directed to the edification of which we have spoken. In this section, he at first appears to be on the defensive, for, having raised the question of music, he hastens to add: "and this is not something invented a little time ago. For from the first origin of the Church, this has been so, as it appears from the histories." With these words, he establishes a precedent and a tradition for singing in the Church, just as he had previously for the Sacraments of Christ, which Jesus "instituted from the very beginning". Calvin had earlier said: "Now there are briefly three things which our Lord commanded us to observe in our spiritual assemblies: namely, the preaching of His word, prayers public and solemn, and the admin- istration of the Sacraments." Since music is indissolubly associated with prayer in Calvin's mind, it thus becomes for him one of the three fundamental expressions of formal worship.9 Having thus determined the tradition, Calvin continues, and, speaking "from experience", describes the tremendous psychological power of choral music: "and in truth we know by experience that 9 This is possibly what Grau (op. cit., p. 24) means when she says "that the singing of Psalms should be the third principal part of the Calvinist divine service".

This content downloaded from 129.74.250.206 on Fri, 05 Jan 2018 06:41:01 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Calvin's Preface to the Psalter: A Re-Appraisal 569 singing has great force and vigor to move and inflame the hearts of men." A vital distinction now becomes apparent. Calvin is speaking, not of choral music in general, but of choral music in a specifically religious context, for he continues by saying that music can "move and inflame the hearts of men to invoke and praise God with a more vehement and ardent zeal". It is a dangerous ally, however, and he immediately warns that "care must always be taken that the song be neither light nor frivolous, but that it have weight and majesty (as St. Augustine says)". Finally, the important idea that he is here dealing primarily with the relationship between music and liturgy becomes apparent when he states that there is "a great difference between the music which one makes to entertain men at table and in their houses, and the Psalms which are sung in the Church in the presence of God and His angels". Close analysis of this last sentence reveals much of great significance. It has been suggested that Calvin has hitherto been discussing religious music, and this is clearly proved by the distinction he has drawn between music made "at table" and music in the Church. What is far more important, however, is the fact that he does not write "music in the church", but "the Psalms which are sung in the church", thus clearly defining the vocal music of which he has been speaking as the Psalms of David. Finally, when he speaks of music in general, and then of its specific use in the church, he speaks of singing, first in implicit association with prayer, and then as being explicitly the singing of Psalms. There is thus implied a dual conception of music, as consisting of both a melody and its text, the latter being in this instance the Psalms of David. No more than this can legitimately be derived from these 140 words on music with which the Preface closes, and such was the text as it appeared in the Genevan Psalter of 1542.

III

A year later, on the loth of June, 1543, Calvin completed an additional passage of 917 words. These two'o pages were added to the original 1305 words of the Preface in the 1545 edition of the Psalter, to form an unbroken unit of 2222 words. In subsequent editions this practice was continued, thereby almost completely obliterating the fact that these last 917l words actually are an addition. As a general rule, the sole indication given

o10 Doumergue, op. cit., IV, 337-

This content downloaded from 129.74.250.206 on Fri, 05 Jan 2018 06:41:01 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 570 The Musical Quarterly that there was a break in this continuity is a footnote at the last word of the 1542 text.1" Doumergue alone of all the Calvin scholars has to a certain degree stressed the addition.12 Yet the fact that Calvin enlarged this Preface is of fundamental importance in a detailed study of his attitude towards music. A translation of the two pages of 1543 follows:

And yet the practice of singing may extend more widely; it is even in the homes and in the fields an incentive for us, and, as it were, an organ of praise to God, and to lift up our hearts to Him, to console us by meditating upon His virtue, goodness, wisdom, and justice: that which is more necessary than one can say. In the first place, it is not without cause that the Holy Spirit exhorts us so carefully through the Holy Scriptures to rejoice in God and that all our joy is there reduced to its true end, because He knows how much we are inclined to rejoice in vanity. As thus then our nature draws us and induces us to seek all means of foolish and vicious rejoicing; so, to the contrary, our Lord, to distract us and withdraw us from the temptations of the flesh and of the world, presents us all possible means in order to occupy us in that spiritual joy which He recommends to us so much. Now among the other things which are proper for recreating man and giving him pleasure, Music is either the first, or one of the principal; and it is necessary for us to think that it is a gift of God deputed for that use. Moreover, because of this, we ought to be the more careful not to abuse it, for fear of soiling and contaminating it, converting it to our condemnation, where it was dedicated to our profit and use. If there were no other consideration than this alone, it ought indeed to move us to moderate the use of music, to make it serve all honest things; and that it should not give occasion for our giving free rein to dissoluteness, or making ourselves effeminate in dis- ordered delights, and that it should not become the instrument of lasciviousness nor of any shamelessness. But still there is more: there is scarcely in the world anything which is more able to turn or bend this way and that the morals of men, as Plato prudently considered it. And in fact, we find by experience that it has a secret and almost incredible power to move hearts in one way or another. Therefore we ought to be even more diligent in regulating it in such a way that it shall be useful to us and in no way pernicious. For this reason the ancient doctors of the Church complain frequently of this, that the people of their times were addicted to dishonest and shameless songs, which not without cause they referred to and called mortal and Satanic poison for corrupting the world. More- over, in speaking now of music, I understand two parts: namely the letter, or subject and matter; secondly, the song, or the melody. It is true that every bad word (as St. Paul has said) perverts good manners, but when the melody is with it, it pierces the heart much more strongly, and enters into it; in a like manner x1 Cf. the Opera Calvini, edited by Baum, Cunitz, and Reuss; Brunswick, 1867, VI, 170.

12 Doumergue, op. cit., p. 337: "These two pages were, in effect, the most remark- able in the Preface, and they constitute a praise of singing and music about which one can only say: Luther himself never surpassed them."

This content downloaded from 129.74.250.206 on Fri, 05 Jan 2018 06:41:01 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Calvin's Preface to the Psalter: A. Re-Appraisal 571 as through a funnel, the wine is poured into the vessel; so also the venom and the corruption is distilled to the depths of the heart by the melody. What is there now to do? It is to have songs not only honest, but also holy, which will be like spurs to incite us to pray to and praise God, and to meditate upon His works in order to love, fear, honor, and glorify Him. Moreover that which St. Augustine has said is true, that no one is able to sing things worthy of God except that which he has received from Him. Therefore, when we have looked thoroughly, and searched here and there, we shall not find better songs nor more fitting for the purpose, than the Psalms of David, which the Holy Spirit spoke and made through him. And moreover, when we sing them, we are certain that God puts in our mouths these, as if He himself were singing in us to exalt His glory. Wherefore Chrysostom exhorts, as well as the men, the women and little children to accustom themselves to singing them, in order that this may be a sort of meditation to associate themselves with the company of the angels. As for the rest, it is necessary to remember that which St. Paul has said, the spiritual songs cannot be well sung save from the heart. But the heart requires the intelligence. And in that (says St. Augustine) lies the difference between the singing of men and that of the birds. For a linnet, a nightingale, a parrot may sing well; but it will be without understanding. But the unique gift of man is to sing knowing that which he sings. After the intelligence must follow the heart and the affection, a thing which is unable to be except if we have the hymn imprinted on our memory, in order never to cease from singing. For these reasons this present book, even for this cause, besides the rest which has been said, ought to be singular recommendation to each one who desires to enjoy himself honestly and according to God, for his own welfare and the profit of his neighbors: and so there is need of all of it being much recommended by me: seeing that it carries its value and its praise. But that the world may be so well advised, that in place of songs in part vain and frivolous, in part stupid and dull, in part foul and vile, and in consequence evil and harmful which it has used up to now, it may accustom itself hereafter to the singing of these divine and celestial hymns with the good king David. Touching the melody, it has seemed best that it be moderated in the manner we have adopted to carry the weight and majesty appropriate to the subject, and even to be proper for singing in the Church, according to that which has been said. From Geneva, this lioth of June, 1543- In the opening words-"And yet the practice of singing may extend more widely"-lies a possible explanation for this addition, an explanation offered solely because Calvin scholars and musicolo- gists have hitherto neither posed nor answered the question of why the original Preface was enlarged. In the 1542 text, "singing" appeared to have been restricted to the Church, but now Calvin expressly states that "it is even in the homes and in the fields an incentive for us, and, as it were, an organ to praise God, and to lift up our hearts to Him".'3 Clearly then, within the year, Calvin's 13 Cf. a portion of the dedication of the 1543 Edition of the Psalter by Clement Marot:

This content downloaded from 129.74.250.206 on Fri, 05 Jan 2018 06:41:01 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 572 The Musical Quarterly attitude towards the area in which singing may be permitted under- went considerable change. His fundamental conception of the uses of music, however, remained the same. In 1542, it had "great force and vigor to move and inflame the hearts of men to invoke and praise God with a more vehement and ardent zeal". Now, in 1543, it is still "an incentive for us, and as it were, an organ to praise God, and to lift up our hearts to Him, to console us by meditating upon His virtue, goodness, wisdom, and justice". Calvin makes the context of music more significant than he had in the preceding year, however, by adding that this activity of prayer, praise, and meditation through music "is more necessary than one can say". Then follows a discussion of the reasons for, and the origins of, music. Man has been enjoined by the Holy Spirit to rejoice in God, because, as Calvin had said in 1542, all his "joy is there reduced to its true end". His nature is such, however, that he rejoices rather in vanity. God, therefore, in His wisdom gave man "all possible means in order to occupy us in that spiritual joy which He recommends to us so much". Among these "means", Calvin counts music as "either the first, or one of the principal; and it is necessary for us to think that it is a gift of God deputed for that use". This statement is not the extravagant enthusiasm of a musician praising his beloved art,

Le Laboureur a sa charrue Le Charratier parmy la rue Et l'Artisan en sa boutique, Auecques un Pseaume ou Cantique En son labour se soulager ....

quoted in Rev. Neil Livingston, The Scottish Metrical Psalter of A.D. 1635; The Addi- tional Matter and Various Readings found in the Editions of 1535, etc. (Glasgow, 1864), Notes to Dissertation II, p. 62. Livingston compares this with the following passage from the Preface to the Goostly Psalms of Bishop Coverdale (1539): "Would God that our minstrels had none other thing to play upon, neither our ploughmen other things to whistle upon save psalms, hymns and such like godly songs . .. and if women at the rocks [distaff] and spinning at the wheels had none other songs to pass their time withal than such as Moses' sister sang before them, they should be better occupied than with 'Hey Nonny Nonny', 'Hey Trolley lolly', and such like fantasies." He then goes on to say that this is not a sentiment peculiar to the Reformation attitude towards music, but is to be found in many of the Church Fathers, notably St. Jerome. T. R. Glover (The Challenge of the Greek and other Essays, Cambridge, 1942, p. 234) believes that just such sentiments in Clement of Alexandria (Protrepticus, 100) influenced Erasmus: "I wish that the husbandman would sing bits of them [the Psalms] at his plough; that the weaver may hum them to the tune of his shuttle; that the wayfarer may with their narratives beguile the weariness of the way."

This content downloaded from 129.74.250.206 on Fri, 05 Jan 2018 06:41:01 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Calvin's Preface to the Psalter: A Re-Appraisal 573 as Luther did so often, but the carefully reasoned and dispassionate statement of a man who was primarily a lawyer, theologian, and philosopher. In other words, Calvin, although by no means as musical as Luther, not only did not object to music, but rather regarded it as if not "the first", surely one of "the principal" gifts of God to man. One other point too must not be neglected. In 1542, his defense of music had rested on historical and institutional grounds. Music had existed "from the first origin of the Church . .. as appears from the histories". Now, however, the tone of defense has disappeared, and the origins of music rest on a metahistorical basis. Music having now been defined as "a gift of God", man must take care not to abuse it, "for fear of soiling and contaminating it, converting it to our condemnation". Note that there is here no expression of rejection. The thought is rather one of the highest respect, tempered by fear of immoderate use, for "it was dedicated to our profit and use". Man must therefore "moderate the use of music, to make it serve all honest things". Here Calvin's informing principle of moderation is applied to music, and to emphasize this principle, he adduces examples of the excesses into which music, if abused, may lead men. Having enumerated a variety of these, Calvin continues with a passage amplifying his sentence in 1542 that "we know by experience that singing has great force and vigor to move and inflame the hearts of men". Now Plato is quoted, and the passage becomes: "there is scarcely in the world anything which is more able to turn or bend this way and that the morals of men, as Plato prudently considered it. And in fact, we find by experience that it has a secret and almost incredible power to move hearts in one way or another." Therefore, he concludes, "we ought to be even more diligent in regulating" music. After these general remarks, Calvin proceeds to a specific defi- nition of his subject: "Moreover, in speaking now of music, I understand two parts: namely the letter, or subject and matter; secondly, the song, or the melody." With this statement, the dual conception of music implied in 1542 has become explicit, and of the two ele- ments, Calvin immediately tackles the first, by referring to St. Paul's remarks on the corrupting power of the word. Then he goes on to say that "when the melody is with it" this corrupting power is doubled. From the simile he employs of wine being poured into a casket through a funnel, the melody being the funnel for the corrupting text, which is being poured in "to the depths of the heart",

This content downloaded from 129.74.250.206 on Fri, 05 Jan 2018 06:41:01 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 574 The Musical Quarterly one may gather that Calvin regarded music as a concentrator of its text. This being the case, "what is there now to do?" The songs must be "not only honest, but also holy, which will be like spurs to incite us to pray to and praise God, and to meditate upon His works in order to live, fear, honor, and glorify Him". Although Calvin employs the word "songs", from the preceding context he clearly means their texts, as is proved by the sentences that follow, for if we are to glorify God, as St. Augustine has said, "no one is able to sing things worthy of God except that which he has received from Him". These texts, or gifts of God, are, of course, as they were in 1542, the Psalms of David. Calvin next discusses the attitude of those who are to sing these Psalms, his fundamental notion being that adumbrated in the Com- mentaries: they must come from the heart, and be sung with intelligence. His Psalter has been published in order that the world may eventually substitute these Psalms for its own songs, which represent all those extremes against which Calvin so frequently inveighed, such as vanity, foulness, frivolity, stupidity, and so forth. Between these various extremes of vocal music, the mean of the Psalms must move, and just as its text is a mean, so must its melody be, for Calvin at last refers to music proper and says: "Touching the melody, it has seemed best that it be moderated in the manner we have adopted to carry the weight and majesty appropriate to the subject." Here, even at the last, music must be subservient to its text, and it must also have that Augustinian weight and majesty of which Calvin had spoken in 1542. This is assured by the end of the concluding sentence, which refers to "that which has been said". Finally, one's opinion that this whole 1543 text has been devoted to the problem of music outside the liturgy is confirmed by the statement that the melody must "be proper for singing in the Church". Thus, it would seem legitimate to claim a very real development in Calvin's musical thinking during the year 1542-1543, a development that as far as can be ascertained has hitherto gone unnoticed. Furthermore, the principle of development observable in The Insti- tutes of the Christian Religion may be seen operating here also, albeit on a relatively tiny scale. Just as, in essence, the 6 chapters of the 1536 edition of the Institutes simply grew into the 8o of the last, so also does Calvin here simply develop, refine, and clarify the 140-word passage on music of 1542 into the 917 words of 1543. This

L6on Wencelius, at one point in his pioneer study of Calvin's esthetic, makes the following statement: "Calvin's Preface, which contains the Reformer's most important ideas regarding music, is justly regarded as the summary of the musical esthetic of the Re- formation, as its program."''4 He would seem to imply thereby that it is an exclusively Reformation document. This is not so, for Cal- vin's Preface, far from being at odds with the Italian and French Renaissance, is actually a formulation of musical thought quite con- sonant with certain of the musical ideas of the humanists. It must not be forgotten that "Calvin began his career as a humanist and he never ceased to be one. He never repudiated the classical studies of his early years".'5 In the Preface, Calvin, as we have seen, drew on the authority of St. Paul, St. Augustine, St. Chrysostom, and Plato. It does not seem unusual for him to cite Fathers of the Church, but these men were also "revived" by the Italian humanists, and of the Eastern ones, St. Chrysostom was one of the most prominent. Augustine too was "considered as a part of the rediscovered ancient literature itself",'6 and in precisely this way did Calvin as humanist come to know St. Augustine. The bishop of Hippo was merely one part of the vast "rediscovery" of the ancient world, however, and among the other things the 16th-century humanists wished to revive was the music of that world as they con- ceived it. For the purpose of the present study, the most important of their theories was the belief that in ancient times music and text were inseparable. One of the most weighty of the classical authori- ties for this view was Plato, and, relying on him, the great theore- tician Zarlino spoke for all when he stated that in antiquity "Music was not separated from poetry, nor poetry from music". Given this

14 Lon Wencelius, L'Esthdtique de Calvin, Paris, 1938, 281.

15 A. Mitchell Hunter, The Erudition of John Calvin, in The Evangelical Quarterly, XVIII (1946), 200. 16 Paul Oskar Kristeller, Augustine and the Early Italian Renaissance, in The Re- view of Religion, VIII (194~3-44), 347. 17 Zarlino, Istitutioni Harmoniche (Venice, 1558), p. 8o, quoted by D. P. Walker, Musical Humanism in the i6th and early 17th Centuries, in The Music Review, II, (194i), No. 4, p. 6.

This content downloaded from 129.74.250.206 on Fri, 05 Jan 2018 06:41:01 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 576 The Musical Quarterly relationship, then, the fundamental purpose of the revival of this word-text ideal was to reproduce what the Italians called the mara- vigliosi effetti's of ancient music. The problem was how this should be accomplished, and all agreed that the best way to do so was to emphasize the text rather than the music.'9 Although the French and the Italians were the most proficient in realizing such a sub- ordination, the idea was actually first suggested by the German humanist Conrad Celtes (1459-1508) shortly before 1500.20 It has been demonstrated previously that throughout the Preface to the Psalter, Calvin regarded the music as being definitely sub- ordinate to the sacred text, which had to be heard and understood above all else. His point of view was most succinctly expressed in the concluding sentence from the 1543 addition: "Touching the melody, it has seemed best that it be moderated in the manner we have adopted to carry the weight and majesty appropriate to the subject." This is definitely a humanistic notion, and was extremely popular in France, where it was most clearly articulated by Pontus de Tyard in his Solitaire Second ou Prose de la Musique (Lyon, 1555). "The intention of music", he wrote, "seems to be to give such a melody to the text, that all hearing it will feel themselves moved, and let themselves be drawn to the affection of the poet."21 This was the humanist formulation, and the quotation from Calvin best ex- presses that of the Reformation.22 Both agree that the text should dominate, in order that its full meaning may be conveyed to the listener. The music must primarily aid in the accomplishment of this process.

So much, then, for the content and milieu of this great document. The notion that Calvin had nothing laudatory to say about music is obviously erroneous. The Preface proves beyond doubt that

8is Walker, op. cit., p. 115.

19 Walker, op. cit., p. 226.

20 Curt Sachs, Our Musical Heritage, New York, 1949, p. 151.

21 Quoted in Walker, op. cit., p. 289, fn. I23; cf. further, esp. on the Solitaire Second, F. A. Yates, The French Academies of the Sixteenth Century, London, 1947, PP. 77-87.

22 Further concerning the Reformation and Counter-Reformation insistence on audibility of text, and its priority over the melody, see F. Blume, Die Evangelische Kirchenmusik, Potsdam, 1931, pp. 43-44; 56-57; 74-75.

This content downloaded from 129.74.250.206 on Fri, 05 Jan 2018 06:41:01 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Calvin's Preface to the Psalter: A Re-Appraisal 577 Calvin had a definite theory of music, namely a dual one of a text and a melody. The melody is extremely important because it can immeasurably enhance the text, and it must therefore be neither light nor frivolous, but have a weight and majesty appropriate to the text. There is only one text appropriate for truly religious usage, namely the Psalms of David, for no one is able to sing things worthy of God except that which he has received from Him, and these Psalms were divinely inspired when God put forth His hand to aid man. Above all, music must play a capital role in the liturgy of the Church. It is inextricably linked with prayer, and these together with preaching and the Sacraments form the three indispensable aspects of liturgical observance. To be quite precise, music in the Church is "more necessary than one can say". Finally, as Ortega has pointed out, "it is amazing how compact a unity every historical epoch presents throughout its various mani- festations".'3 Calvin's Preface ideally illustrates what Ortega means. It reveals itself as a document written certainly by a great religious Reformer. .Nevertheless, it is in complete accord with one of the leading humanistic musical trends of the 16th century.

23 JOS& Ortega y Gasset, The Dehumanization of Art and Notes on the Novel, transl. by H. Weyl, Princeton, 1948, p. 4.

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