In 1517, Martin Luther posted his ninety-five theses and began a religious revolution that would later be known as the Protestant Reformation. It was a fundamental reorganization of Christian practice, extending beyond church services to include education, family life, and even music. Instrumental music, which had previously played a prominent role in festivals and church services, virtually disappeared from the Protestant church; in the decades leading up to the Protestant Reformation, instrumental music had become increasingly associated with worldly values. Johann Walter (1496-1570) was at the forefront of early Lutheran musical reforms. His Geystliches Gesangk-Buchleyn (1524), with its simple, tuneful polyphonic chorales, served as the foundation of Lutheran church music for over a hundred years. Walter was also a leader in German educational reform during his time as a teacher at the Torgau Latin school. In spite of the arguments against instrumental music and its disappearance from church services, in 1546 Walter wrote his 26 Fugae, a collection of pieces for instruments of equal range.
In this thesis, I examine the place of Walter’s fugues in the context of instrumental music in the early Lutheran church and in comparison to other German pedagogical fugues of the same time period. Although instrumental music was not commonly used in early Lutheran services, performing instrumental music continued to be a popular pastime during the Reformation. Walter’s fugues, in addition to being clearly pedagogical in intent, are modally ordered, creating an association with the sacred through the use of the eight church modes. Just as Walter’s Gesangk-Buchleyn was intended to be a wholesome alternative to secular songs, I argue that the 26 Fugae are an educational and edificatory alternative to secular instrumental music of the time.