Martin Luther on Music

My favorite excerpt from this writing of Martin Luther is this:

“A person who gives this some thought and yet does not regard music as a marvelous creation of God, must be a clodhopper indeed and does not deserve to be called a human being; he should be permitted to hear nothing but the braying of asses and the grunting of hogs.” – Martin Luther

As quoted by Carl F. Schalk in “Luther on Music”. More thoughts on Martin Luther’s views on music and the quoted text in context follows:

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Martin Luther to the Christian Reader – 1545

Martin Luther’s letter “To The Christian Reader” was written in 1545, a year before he died. It has a tenor of reconciliation. He asks readers to cut him a little slack for at one time being a monk and upholding the Pope’s theology to the point that he would have “committed murder” to keep it in force.

A simple quick read overview might be this excerpt:

“Therefore, Christian reader, thou wilt find in my earliest books and writings how many points of faith I then, with all humility, yielded and conceded to the pope, which since then I have held and condemned for the most horrible blasphemy and abomination, and which I would have to be so held and so condemned forever. Amen.”

Here is the letter in it’s original context, translated into English:

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