CHAPTER 1 | CALVINIST MUSIC IN COLONIAL NORTH AMERICA 25
CALVINIST MUSIC IN COLONIAL
NORTH AMERICAIf the American Southwest and California refl ect the northern reach of New
Spain, place names such as Detroit, St. Louis, and New Orleans serve as a
reminder of New France’s reach southward from Canada. But as important as
both of these Roman Catholic realms were to the history of American develop-
ment, the fi rst Old World settlers to populate what is now the eastern United
States were Protestants.
The Protestant Reformation of the early sixteenth century changed the
religious, political, and economic face of Europe, leading to confl icts in which
all sides remained convinced of their moral superiority. Sacred music seldom
plays more than a small role in any such confl ict, but as a part of public wor-
ship it does refl ect fundamental ideas of the religious outlook it represents. In
breaking with the Roman Catholic Church, Protestants took issue with some of
the main premises of Roman worship.
Protestants challenged two key Catholic beliefs: (1) prescribed rituals
foster true piety, and (2) God is best praised through sacred expression that
pleases the senses. Reformers actually split on the role of ritual. German-
speaking Protestants, under Martin Luther’s leadership, and many in En-
gland who joined the Anglican Church (or Church of England) after King
Henry VIII broke with Rome, maintained parts of the Catholic liturgy in
translated form. Elsewhere in Europe, however, especially under the leader-
ship of John Calv in, reform went f urther. Fired by the idea of “the priesthood
of all believers,” Calvinist groups in Switzerland, France, and the Nether-
lands wanted individuals and congregations to decide on liturgy for them-
selves. In the same spirit, they pledged their allegiance to the Holy Bible, not
to church tradition. Protestants may have helped advance the cause of liter-
acy by shifting the right to read and interpret the Scripture from the church
to its members. According to the Calvinist vision, no human power should
stand between God and the individual believer.
Calvinists scorned the notion that charming the senses in the name of reli-
gion could please God. Rejecting the idea that musical skill was worth cultivating
in God’s service, Calvin and his followers assigned music making to the con-
gregation itself. And they found a style of singing suited to the abilities of most
members. In comparison with the Catholic practice that it countered, Calvinist
sacred music was simple and spare: no part singing, no instrumental accompa-
niment, and no singing of texts outside the psalms, a book of sacred songs in the
Hebrew Scripture (Old Testament). Their practice of singing psalms in worship
is called psalmody.
The Calvinist ideal opposed musical professionalism—a stance that Catholics
and “liturgical” Protestants, with their priests, choirs, organs, and fondness for
elaboration, never took. In England, one Protestant group, the Puritans, hoped
to reform the dominant Anglican Church by adopting a theology strongly infl u-
enced by Calvinist principles. Of the Puritans who settled in North America, one
subgroup, the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony, were driven to emigrate at least in
part by a desire to worship in an environment where no state church existed.
And that helps explain why the favored music of both Puritans and Pilgrims, in
contrast to Anglican and Catholic music, was so plain.psalmody172028_01_018-043_r2_mr.indd 25 23/01/13 9:50 AM