Foretastes of Heaven in Lutheran Church Music Tradition

Johann Mattheson and Christoph Raupach on Music in Time and Eternity

Edited and translated by Joyce L. Irwin

In the two centuries after Martin Luther’s affirmation that music stood second only to theology, Lutheran theologians and musicians formulated a theological defense of music that validated this exalted status. Against Calvinist rivals and Pietist critics, the orthodox Lutheran position further claimed that both instrumental and vocal music were commanded by God. Joyce Irwin’s earlier work, Neither Voice nor Heart Alone: German Lutheran Theology of Music in the Age of the Baroque, traced this development in Lutheran theological thought.

In this current work, Foretastes of Heavenly Music: Johann Mattheson and Christoph Raupach on Music in Time and Eternity, Irwin provides translations and commentary for two eighteenth-century texts that illuminate the musico-theological foundation underlying the work of Lutheran composers such as Bach and Telemann. A Truth Lover’s Clear Reasonings on Which the Correct Use of Music Rests (1717) by Christoph Raupach, with an introduction by Johann Mattheson, serves as a cumulative statement of Lutheran advocacy of music. Mattheson’s Affirmation of Heavenly Music (1747) goes a step further in defending the reality of music in heaven and even the ultimate superiority of music over theology and sermons.

Irwin’s introduction traces the centrality of Mattheson’s belief in heavenly music throughout the course of his life, even while he was writing works of music theory that earned him a reputation as an Enlightenment thinker. Though influenced by Enlightenment philosophy, specifically British empiricism, he rejected the rationalist philosophies of his German contemporaries and expressed no sympathy for the emerging school of biblical criticism.

This work is ideal for music historians, Bach scholars, theologians, and researchers in the field of sacred music.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 214 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-4422-3263-1 • Hardback • January 2015 • $131.00 • (£101.00)

978-1-4422-3264-8 • eBook • January 2015 • $124.50 • (£96.00)

Series: Contextual Bach Studies

Subjects: Music / Religious / Christian, Music / Individual Composer & Musician, Music / Religious / General, Religion / Christianity / Lutheran

Foretastes of Heaven in Lutheran Church Music Tradition

Johann Mattheson and Christoph Raupach on Music in Time and Eternity

Hardback

eBook

Summary

In the two centuries after Martin Luther’s affirmation that music stood second only to theology, Lutheran theologians and musicians formulated a theological defense of music that validated this exalted status. Against Calvinist rivals and Pietist critics, the orthodox Lutheran position further claimed that both instrumental and vocal music were commanded by God. Joyce Irwin’s earlier work, Neither Voice nor Heart Alone: German Lutheran Theology of Music in the Age of the Baroque, traced this development in Lutheran theological thought.

In this current work, Foretastes of Heavenly Music: Johann Mattheson and Christoph Raupach on Music in Time and Eternity, Irwin provides translations and commentary for two eighteenth-century texts that illuminate the musico-theological foundation underlying the work of Lutheran composers such as Bach and Telemann. A Truth Lover’s Clear Reasonings on Which the Correct Use of Music Rests (1717) by Christoph Raupach, with an introduction by Johann Mattheson, serves as a cumulative statement of Lutheran advocacy of music. Mattheson’s Affirmation of Heavenly Music (1747) goes a step further in defending the reality of music in heaven and even the ultimate superiority of music over theology and sermons.

Irwin’s introduction traces the centrality of Mattheson’s belief in heavenly music throughout the course of his life, even while he was writing works of music theory that earned him a reputation as an Enlightenment thinker. Though influenced by Enlightenment philosophy, specifically British empiricism, he rejected the rationalist philosophies of his German contemporaries and expressed no sympathy for the emerging school of biblical criticism.

This work is ideal for music historians, Bach scholars, theologians, and researchers in the field of sacred music.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 214 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-4422-3263-1 • Hardback • January 2015 • $131.00 • (£101.00)

978-1-4422-3264-8 • eBook • January 2015 • $124.50 • (£96.00)

Series: Contextual Bach Studies

Subjects: Music / Religious / Christian, Music / Individual Composer & Musician, Music / Religious / General, Religion / Christianity / Lutheran

Author

Joyce Irwin is a church historian, organist and choir director living in Princeton, New Jersey. She holds a doctorate in religious studies from Yale University and has taught at the University of Georgia and at Colgate University. Her previous publications include Neither Voice nor Heart Alone: Lutheran Theology of Music in the Age of the Baroque and Sacred Sound: Music in Religious Thought and Practice as well as studies in the area of women’s religious history.

Table of Contents

List of Figures
Series Editor’s Foreword
Preface
Abbreviations
Introduction

Part I:Christoph Raupach, Deutliche Beweis-Gründe, 1717
Edited by Johann Mattheson
Preface by Johann Mattheson
Chapter 1: Concerning the Commands of God that Deal with Church Music, Vocal as well as Instrumental
Chapter 2: Of the Examples of Jews and Christians
Chapter 3: Concerning the Powerful Usefulness of the Whole of Church Music and also Concerning its Necessity
Chapter 4:Concerning the Powerful Usefulness of Music in Alleviating and Sweetening other Daily Affairs
Chapter 5: Of the Various Powerful Effects of Music on the Hearts and Minds of People.
Chapter 6: Of the Use of Music in Bodily Illness
Chapter 7: Of the Use of Church Music
Additional Comments
Part I Notes

Part II: Johann Mattheson, Behauptung der himmlischen Musik, 1747
Introductory Remarks
Section 1: Investigation of Heavenly Music According to Purified Reason
Section 2: Investigation of Heavenly Music According to Doctrines of the Church and its Teachers
Section 3: Investigation of Heavenly Music According to Holy Scripture Itself
Part II Notes:
Appendix:
Index
About the Author

Foretastes of Heaven in Lutheran Church Music Tradition

Johann Mattheson and Christoph Raupach on Music in Time and Eternity

Edited and translated by Joyce L. Irwin

Foretastes of Heaven in Lutheran Church Music Tradition

Johann Mattheson and Christoph Raupach on Music in Time and Eternity

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