Studies in

REFORMED THEOLOGY

AND

HISTORY

A#WWS P ViVCMS

Volume 2 Number 4 Fall 1994

PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

Studies in

REFORMED THEOLOGY AND HISTORY

ARDFNS r Vl VMS

EDITORIAL COUNCIL CHAIR

Thomas W. Gillespie

EDITOR

David Willis-Watkins

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE

Barbara Chaapel		Sang Lee
Ronald de Groot		Bruce McCormack
Jane Dempsey Douglass	Elsie McKee
Nancy Duff		Daniel Migliore
William Harris	John Wilson	James Moorhead
EDITORIAL COUNCIL
Edward Dowey	1995	Wilhelm Neuser
Dawn De Vries		Jung Song Rhee
Richard Gamble		Thomas Torrance
John Leith		Nicholas Wolterstorff
Brian Armstrong	1998	Heiko Oberman
Fritz Biisser		Janos Pasztor
Brian Gerrish		Leanne Van Dyk
Robert Kingdon		Nobuo Watanabe
Irena Backus	2001	Bernard Roussel
John de Gruchy		Jean-Loup Seban
John Hesselink		Willem van ’t Spijker
William Klempa	Editorial Offices	Michael Welker

Princeton Theological Seminary, P.O. Box 821, Princeton, NJ 08542-0803 fax (609) 497-7829

d Is ^

REFORMING POPULAR PIETY IN SIXTEENTH-CENTURY STRASBOURG Katharina Schiitz Zell and Her Hymnbook

REFORMING POPULAR PIETY IN SIXTEENTH-CENTURY STRASBOURG Katharina Schiitz Zell and Her Hymnbook

ELSIE ANNE MCKEE

ABDtNf r Vl VMS

PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

Studies in Reformed Theology and History is published four times annually by Princeton Theological Seminary. All correspondence should be addressed to David Willis-Watkins, Editor, Studies in Reformed Theology and History, P.O. Box 821, Princeton, NJ 08542 0803, USA. Fax (609) 497-7829.

MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSIONS

Contributions to Studies in Reformed Theology and History are invited. Copies of printed and electronic manuscript requirements are available upon request from the Editor at the above address.

COPYRIGHT AND PERMISSIONS

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means, without per- mission in writing from the publisher.

Copyright © 1994 Elsie Anne McKee.

All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America.

ISSN: 1067-4268

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Contents

Editor’s Foreword vii

Preface and Acknowledgements ix

Abbreviations xi

I Historical Context 1

Worship Reform Among Protestants 3

Liturgy and Piety 5

Katharina Schutz Zell’s Context 15

II Katharina Schutz Zell’s Hymnbook 17

The Form and the Music of the Book 17

The Preface and Its Theological Affirmations 23

The Annotations and Katharina Schutz Zell’s Catechetical Instruction 46 The Influence of Katharina Schutz Zell’s Hymnbook 59

III Conclusion 61

Appendices 65

Appendix One: Translation of Katharina Schutz Zell’s Foreword for Her Edition of the Hymnbook of the Bohemian Brethren 65

Appendix Two: Katharina Schutz Zell’s Annotations on Weisse’s Hymns 69

Bibliography

81

.

Editor’s Foreword

Professor McKee’s present study makes a valuable contribution to the growing body of literature on the interconnections between piety, hymnody, and re- form of worship. It also gives us a lively portrait of the person and influences of a figure who needs to be better known, Katharina Schiitz Zell.

Dr. McKee is the Archibald Alexander Professor of the History of Worship, Princeton Theological Seminary. She is currently working as the editor for a volume of Calvin’s manuscript sermons on 1 Corinthians, chapters one through nine, and is writing a two-volume work on Katharina Schiitz Zell.

The relation between the bibliographical data in the footnotes and those in the bibliography is indicated by footnote 150, on page 81.

David Willis-Watkins

Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library

https://archive.org/details/studiesinreforme24prin

Preface and Acknowledgements

The reform movements of the sixteenth century aimed to renew the whole of Christian faith, both teaching and practice. One of the areas of greatest in- terest and importance was the reform of worship, both the liturgy and the daily piety of ordinary Christians. Leadership for the reforms came from many different quarters; although clergy and civil authorities played the chief roles, lay members of many strata of society were involved.

The present work explores one aspect of the activity of a remarkable lay woman, Katharina Schiitz Zell of Strasbourg (1497/98-1562), that is, her effort to contribute to the renewal and enrichment of the devotional lives of her beloved fellow citizens. Liturgical reform had been carried out in Stras- bourg in the 1520s, but changes in popular piety came much more slowly. Schiitz Zell was deeply concerned about ordinary Christians, and the inade- quate resources available for their personal religious nourishment and expres- sion. To help meet these needs, she decided to publish an edition of a German hymnbook of the Bohemian Brethren which had become very meaningful to her. As her preface makes clear, Schiitz Zell conceived of this book as a “teach- ing, prayer, and praise” book for ordinary Christians, to give them Biblical knowledge of their faith, words for their personal devotional lives, and the means to praise God and edify their families and neighbors as they went about their daily business.

Following an introduction and a brief sketch of the Protestant reform of worship in Strasbourg, this study examines in detail Schiitz Zell’s hymnbook: the music, preface, and her annotations to the hymns, to show both how one remarkable woman tried to reform the popular piety of her community, and how she voiced lay concerns to the wider public. In fact, one of the most in- teresting things revealed by this study is Schiitz Zell’s firm yet generously ex- pressed commitment to Protestant theology, and her considerable apprecia- tion for the gift and beauty of music in the service of God.

This study is part of a larger work about Katharina Schiitz Zell, and I offer

IX

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KATHARINA SCHUTZ ZELL

my apologies for cross references to a book still-to-be-written. I would also like to thank Frau Dr. Ruth Jorg of Zurich, Switzerland, for kind assistance with German idioms, Mr. Ronald DeGroot for the index and assistance with computer formatting, and Professor David Willis-Watkins for generously wel- coming a slightly- too-long text into this series. However, I acknowledge hon- estly that responsibility for all errors is mine.

I would like to dedicate this story of a musical lay woman reformer to the women and choirs of the Communautes Presbyteriennes of the Church of Christ in Zaire, and of Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church, Princeton, New Jersey, and to my music-loving pastor-theologian father, Charles T. McKee.

Elsie Anne McKee Tshimunyi wa Ngulumingi

	Abbreviations
Bibliographic	Nackernagel, Philip. Bibliographic zur Geschichte des deutschen Kirchcnliedes im XVI. Jahrhundert. Hildesheim, 1961 (reprint of 1855).
BSCMHA	Bulletin de la Societe pour la Conservation des Monuments Historiques d’Alsace. Strasbourg.
DKL	Ameln, Konrad, M. Jenny and W. Lipphardt. Das Deutsche Kirchenleid. Kassal, 1975-1980.
KSZ	McKee, Elsie Anne. Katharina Schiitz Zell: The Life and Thought of a Sixteenth -Century Reformer. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerd- mans, projected for 1997 or 1998.

XI

I

Historical Context

Much has been written about the major reformers of the sixteenth century, but more recently interest has increasingly focused on the people who were “being reformed” and how they actively participated in and chose the ways they would change, the reforms they would accept- or reject. Study of the varied strands of reform has cast new light on the diversity of early modern society.

One way that this cultural diversity has been described is by contrasting “lay” or vernacular culture with “learned” or Latin culture. Over time, how- ever, scholars have become increasingly aware that the dichotomy lay-learned is too starkly drawn, and various nuances and refinements to the paradigm have been proposed. Clearly, “popular” and “elite” cultures were not tightly distinct categories; neither all of the laity nor all of the learned were identical. Social place, gender, geography, and many other factors influenced the ways that particular groups and individuals understood, received, and shaped the religious movement of the day.1

Among the early Protestant figures who diverge from modern categories and illustrate the complexity of the sixteenth-century Reformation is Katha- rina Schiitz Zell.2 As a woman, Schiitz Zell was by definition a member of the laity, but her self-identification, at least partially accepted by immediate

1 On development of distinctions between elite or Latin culture and “popular culture,” and the complexity of the notion of “popular culture,” see Burke, Popular Culture , especially chapter 2; N. Z. Davis, “From ‘Popular Religion’ to Religious Cultures” in Reformation Europe: a Guide to Research, S. Ozment, ed. (St. Louis, 1982), 321-346; Chrisman, “The Reformation of the Laity.” See also Chrisman, Lay Culture , Learned Culture, especially pp. xix-xxii, although the thrust of this work is to emphasize the differences between lay and learned, vernacular and Latin.

2 This study is part of my larger project, including a biography of Katharina Schiitz Zell and critical edition of her writings. Many of the questions touched on here will be dealt with in full in what I am tentatively calling Katharina Schiitz Zell: the Life and Thought of a Sixteenth-Century Reformer (the biographical half), abbreviated as McKee, KSZ.

1

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KATHARINA SCHUTZ ZELL

contemporaries, was fellow worker and colleague of the clerical reformers. The daughter of an artisan family, respectable but lower-ranking citizens of Stras- bourg, Schiitz Zell probably received an education in one of the city’s two vernacular schools but apparently never learned to read or write more than a few words of Latin. By marriage to a leading reformer and constant associa- tion with his colleagues, however, Schiitz Zell the writer absorbed a significant number of the characteristics which Miriam Chrisman associates with the “learned middle class.”3 Understanding herself first and foremost as a Chris- tian and reformer- the gospel knows no partiality- Schiitz Zell remained aware that she was also a woman and layperson; though she cheerfully ministered to magistrates and reformers, she made special efforts to see that the poor and the marginal, women and children, were fully included in the gospel message. In significant ways, Schiitz Zell stands on the boundary between learned and lay, clergy and congregation, and her work offers a unique window on the pro- cess of reform as it was appropriated by the “common person.”4

Although it contains the shortest of her published writings, Katharina Schiitz Zell’s creative editing of a hymnbook of the Bohemian Brethren for the ordinary Christians of Strasbourg is an interesting manifestation of her mediating role as a lay reformer.5 To understand Schiitz Zell’s hymnbook

3 Chrisman, “The Reformation of the Laity,” pp. 640fF. on learned middle class and artisan; Schiitz Zell has characteristics of both . Katharina Schiitz Zell gives a number of self-designations in her various writings. Her longest work, Ein Brief \ supplies most of them; favorites are ein kirchen muoter = “church mother” (A2v, M2r), mitarbeiterin der Kirchen zuo Strafburg = “fellow worker” with the other reformers (Flv), ein ziererin ties predigstuols und schuolen = “one who draws [forward] pulpit and school” (A2v), and the reminder that her husband called her his Heifer or “assistant minister” (G2v). For more education, Latin, and identity, see McKee, KSZ.

4 There has been considerable discussion of terminology. “Common man” is sixteenth- century language for townsmen or villagers, men below the nobility or clergy and above the low- est members of society. The “category of the common man definitely did not include male and female servants, mercenaries, beggars, and vagrants,” Blickle, Communal Reformation , p. 4. As others have pointed out, the “common man” did not include women, either; cf. Lyndal Roper, “The common man,’ ‘the common good,’ ‘common women’: Gender and Meaning in the Ger- man Reformation Commune,” Social History 12 (1987): 1-22. The language used here has several purposes. One is to indicate that those whom Schiitz Zell addressed in print were those who, like herself, were mostly literate and settled members of an urban community. The other purpose is to point to the ways Schiitz Zell’s audience goes beyond the general notion of “common man” to include women and servants. Schiitz Zell also hoped that the poorest members of the com- munity might be able to afford these hymnbooks, but she seems to focus on those who belonged to households in which at least some people could read the vernacular and thus be able to teach the hymns to the rest (cf. below at nn. 8ff).

5 For complete titles, see Appendix Two. The preface is only about four and a half pages: Alv-A3v, and thus is Schiitz Zell’s shortest extant writing (except a few letters), although the hymnbook as a whole (the four booklets together) is one of her longest publications. Counting the annotations on the hymns, which more than double the length of her original contribution

Historical Context

3

project it is first necessary to sketch the historical context: the Protestant re- form of worship and the heritage of medieval popular religious music and piety. The major portion of this presentation then describes and analyzes her hymnbook and its music, and examines in detail Katharina Schiitz Zell’s pref- ace and annotations to the hymns.

Worship Reform Among Protestants Reformation Changes

The reform of worship, both liturgy and devotional practice, was a primary concern of the Protestant Reformation, although this has sometimes been ob- scured by the arguments over theological and political aspects of the move- ment. Among the most important general characteristics of the renewal of liturgy were the emphasis on biblical preaching in the vernacular, the deter- mination to reform the sacraments and ministry according to scriptural pat- terns, and a new kind of active participation of the whole body of believers, including women, especially through congregational singing. To make these positive changes meant also to reject a number of traditional ideas and prac- tices of medieval liturgy and piety, such as a priestly Latin liturgy, the invo- cation and veneration of Mary and other saints, and a sharp distinction be- tween religious and secular Christian vocations.

Martin Luther was, of course, the central figure in the early Protestant Re- formation, and an important force in the reform of the liturgy, especially preaching and congregational singing, but Wittenberg did not dominate litur- gical and devotional reform. In this domain the diversity of leadership and ex- tent of lay participation is remarkable. The city of Strasbourg was among the most important loci of liturgical development and renewal, for its leaders were especially interested in the doctrine of the church and the shaping of its prac- tice. Strasbourg’s reform of worship, which has been extensively studied in re- cent years, was both typical of Protestant concerns to establish worship that is according to the Word of God and expresses justifying faith, and distinctive in its particularly ethical and social orientation.* * 6

to the book, this publication is the second shortest, after Den leydenden Christglaubigen weyberen

dergmein zuo Kentzigen minen mitschwertem in Christo Jesu zuo handen (Strassburg, 1524).

6 Some older major studies are Alfred Erichson, Die Calvinistische und die altstrassburgische Got- tesdienstordnung (Strassburg, 1894) and Hubert, Die StraJIburger liturgischen Ordnungen [texts]. Among more recent: G. J. van der Poll, Martin Bucer’s Liturgical Ideas (Groningen, 1954) [pio- neering but dated]; and Bornert, La rejbrme protestante du culte a Strasbourg [detailed examination of history, theology, and liturgical structure]. See Bornert, pp. 5, 32-39.

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KATHARINA SCHUTZ ZELL

Strasbourg’s Liturgical Reform

Rene Bornert has provided a magisterial treatment of Strasbourg’s reform of worship.7 As Bornert notes repeatedly, the reform of worship began with ex- tensive preaching; the leaders of the movement wanted first to change people’s hearts and minds by persuading them that Christians are justified by faith in Christ’s grace alone, not by sacred rituals or the intervention of living priests or dead saints. Only after the community had come to understand what the Bible teaches about worshiping God alone, “in spirit and in truth,” should the leaders begin altering the actual rites. The vernacular preaching of the gospel from a Lutheran perspective was begun by Matthew Zell in the later part of 1521. In 1523 Zell was joined by Martin Bucer and Wolfgang Capito, among others, and the popular support grew increasingly vociferous. Then came the time for liturgical changes.

Bornert divides the reform of liturgy in Strasbourg into three major time periods, 1524-1530, 1530-1550, and 1550-1598, of which only the first two are of importance here. The first of these three periods was a time of “taking apart and restructuring”8 the liturgy, and the early months, February 1524 to May 1525, were the period of most intense change. First came the trans- lation of the liturgies, then more and more changes of form and content. On 3 December 1523, at their nuptial Mass, Matthew and Katharina Zell received communion in both kinds. Late in January 1524 Matthew Zell began to per- form baptisms in German, and then, on 16 February 1524, his assistant, Dio- bold (Thiebald) Schwartz performed the first German Mass. Over the next months the German Mass was further revised; not only was the whole service in German, with a regular Biblical expository sermon and congregational sing- ing, but further theological modifications were also made. The German Mass became the Lord’s Supper, not a sacrifice at an altar, but a sacrament celebrated at a wooden table, with communion in both kinds for all the congregation.

By May 1525 the new Lord’s Supper service was essentially in place, the public practice of the traditional Latin Mass was restricted to four churches, and the traditional sacramental system was reformed (in the case of baptism) or dismantled (e.g., penance). The liturgical year had also been abolished, and the only holy days were Sundays, and the major Christological celebrations which fall on Sunday, Easter and Pentecost. A full series of daily prayer and preaching services had been instituted as well. Congregational singing was strongly encouraged at both Sunday and daily services, but at first not many

7 Bornert, La reforme protestante , p. 32; general sketch of 1524-1530, 1530-1549 in chapters 3-4.

8 Ibid. cf. the title of chapter three.

Historical Context

5

approved German songs were available. Following sermons against the vener- ation of the saints and the resulting iconoclastic disturbances in 1524 and 1525, the city government had begun systematically removing the most im- portant images of Mary and the saints. In 1529 the Mass was completely abolished, and the next year the final decree against images was published. Strasbourg’s new liturgical patterns were in place.

The second phase of the liturgical reform process, 1530-1550, was marked by a stronger emphasis on establishing forms of liturgy and institutions of ec- clesiastical life. The earliest reform, in reacting against rites understood as salvific acts, had devalued all externals in favor of spiritual and inward worship. In the second phase of reform, there was a new appreciation for the need for external forms and institutions, still understood as subordinate to faith but valued as important for human life. One manifestation of the new balance be- tween inner and outer, spirit and form, was the re-introduction of a modified form of the church year with the re-establishment of Christmas in 1537, fol- lowed later by other Christological holy days such as Epiphany, Passiontide, and Ascension. These changes were reflected in the publication of special hymns for these celebrations in the official liturgies of the city.9

Liturgy and Piety

Between Liturgy and Piety

Bornert shows clearly that the reform of Strasbourg worship must be situated in the context of the changing religious culture of the early sixteenth century. After emphasizing the concern of the major reformers to preach and persuade before making external changes, he points out that religious habits were much more difficult to alter than liturgical rites. Although some new devotional prac- tices (e.g., the special weekly prayer days begun in the 1530s) seem to have taken root and endured, Bornert notes some aspects of popular resistance to changes in worship. One in particular which is significant for the present study was the resurgent (and eventually successful) demand for the celebration of the liturgical year. Bornert does hint at some links between the reforms of lit- urgy and piety, but for the most part he concentrates exclusively on liturgy. 10

9 For week and liturgical year, see Bornert, La reforme protestante , pp. 136, 489-495. The final major phase of Strasbourg’s lituigical reform, after 1550, was shaped by the ever stronger orien- tation of Strasbourg’s clergy toward the Lutheran confession and liturgy. An increasing emphasis was given to form, and Strasbourg’s liturgical system, while retaining some of its earlier charac- teristics, was reshaped into Lutheran orthodoxy.

10 Bornert, La reforme protestante , pp. 34, 39, 85ff., 125, 157ff., 185f. For the role of Kath- arina Schiitz Zell and her hymnbook in the popular demand for celebrating the church year, see below at nn. 78-79.

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The reform of liturgy and the reform of popular piety are nonetheless a kind of continuum, and it is on this vague frontier that Katharina Schiitz Zell’s hymnbook is to be found. A continuum is notoriously hard to pin down, and the connection between liturgy and piety has not received as much schol- arly attention as either aspect alone. To complicate the question further, it should be noted that some texts functioned as liturgy in one place and de- votional material in another. For example, the official songbooks of one church were often republished as devotional texts in another community; the hymnbook of the Bohemian Brethren edited by Katharina Schiitz Zell, like Lutheran hymnals published in Strasbourg, existed on the boundary between public and private.

The present outline is only a beginning, but in order to understand the context in which Katharina Schiitz Zell worked and what she was trying to do, it is necessary to sketch the most important aspects of the liturgy-piety continuum, especially the elements common to both. Two of these are obvious -music and prayer- and the third, catechesis or religious education, though less apparent to a modern audience, is also quite logical.

The Reform of Liturgical Music

Medieval liturgical music was fundamentally a clerical preserve, and singing the liturgy, whether the Mass or the daily monastic offices, occupied much of the clergy’s time. (Laity had no official voice in the liturgy, though on some occasions in some places vernacular hymns were sung by the congregation at intervals in the sequences of the Mass.) The elaborate polyphonic settings of the Latin texts were beautiful if well sung (which was not always the case!), but they usually obscured the words even for those who knew Latin. Some Catholic reformers recognized that there were problems with the music or its performance, though few went as far as the humanist Desiderius Erasmus, who condemned the practice of liturgical music as unintelligible and a waste of time and resources which could be better employed in charity.11 Protes-

11 For congregational singing in liturgy, see Jenny, Luther, Zwingli, Calvin , p. 287; Chrisman, Lay Culture, Learned Culture , p. 91. See Erasmus’ comments on I Cor. 14:19 in his annotations to the Greek New Testament: “They chant nowadays in our churches in what is an unknown tongue and nothing else, while you will not hear a sermon once in six months telling people to amend their lives. Modern church music is so constructed that the congregation cannot hear one distinct word. The choristers themselves do not understand what they are singing, yet according to priests and monks it constitutes the whole of religion. . . . Money must be raised to buy organs and train boys to squeal, and to learn no other thing that is good for them. The laity are burdened to support miserable, poisonous corybantes, when poor, starving creatures might be fed at the cost of them. They have so much of it in England that the monks attend to nothing else. A set of creatures who ought to be lamenting their sins fancy they can please

Historical Context

7

tant reformers shared the views of Christian humanists like Erasmus, but in addition to questions of intelligibility and ethics, they had certain objections to the content of what was sung and to the exclusion of the laity.

Thus a major contribution of Protestants was the introduction of vernac- ular congregational singing, and its principles and practice, texts and tunes, have been extensively studied. Luther is often regarded as the father of con- gregational singing and the founder of the “Psalmenlied,”12 but he must be seen in the context of the historical development of vernacular religious sing- ing in western Christianity. In addition to the occasional limited lay singing during the Mass, the Bohemian Brethren, a “heretical” community, did in fact develop a full hymnal and congregational singing, but before the coming of Protestantism this group had little influence on the wider Christian world.13

The canons of Protestant liturgical music are well known; besides the in- sistence on participation by the whole community, biblical theology and in- telligibility were among the most important. Intelligibility applied to both texts and melodies. Protestants sang in the vernacular, except where Latin was spoken regularly, as in a Latin school or university. Intelligibility in terms of melody meant fitting notes to text in a more-or-less even ratio: no melismatic decoration was allowed to confuse the message. For regular congregational singing, intelligibility usually meant also a single line of music. Though some Lutheran choirs were accustomed to multi-part harmony, unison singing was common for congregations, and it became normative for the Reformed tradition.

Biblical faithfulness and theological appropriateness were the most impor- tant criteria for texts, although what was considered faithful or appropriate varied somewhat from group to group. From the beginning, Lutherans sang songs from a wide range of sources: Psalms, biblical canticles, and poetic texts of different kinds. Reformed practice varied, from that of Johannes Zwick of Constance who included hymns of human inspiration in his liturgy, to those like Ulrich Zwingli who did not use music at all in public worship.14 The

God by gurgling in their throats. Boys are kept in the English Benedictine colleges solely and simply to sing morning hymns to the Virgin. If they want music, let them sing Psalms like rational beings, and not too many of those.” Quoted in J. A. Fourde, Life and Letters of Erasmus (New York, 1894), 122-123.

12 Jenny, Luther, Zwingli, Cabin , p. 18, and Leaver, Goostly Psalmes and Spirituall Songs , p. 3.

13 See Jenny, Luther, Zwingli, Calvin , pp. 18, 36, 38. For fuller study of Brethren music, see Walther Blankenburg, “Bohemische B ruder,” Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart (Kassel, 1952), vol. 2, col. 36-43, and other writings.

14 See Jenny, Luther, Zwingli, Calvin , pp. 17-29; 175-177, 217-230. Johann Zwick’s preface to his 1533/34 [?] hymnbook gives an extended and sophisticated defense of Christians singing and what they should sing. The text deals anonymously with arguments posed primarily by re-

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singing of Psalms came to be characteristic of the Calvinist Reformed who had their roots in Strasbourg and Geneva.15 In the early years of the Strasbourg reform, the primary content of singing in public worship was Psalms, along with a combination of translations of such liturgical songs as the Kyrie , and some “spiritual songs.” At first there were relatively few musical pieces available for congregational singing, although gradually more and more Psalms were translated, until a full German Psalter with music was published in 1538. 16

One reason for the limited repertoire of Strasbourg liturgical music was the reformers’ strong distrust of singing human creations, as Wolfgang Kopffel’s preface to the 1530/33 edition of the Strasbourg Psalmengebett und Kirch enii- bun0 makes very clear. Changes in attitudes toward the texts to be sung in pub- lic worship occurred in the mid-1530s, parallel with the reestablishment of a moderate form of the church year, as Kopffel’s modified preface of 1537 in- dicates.17 Psalms continued to be a major part of public worship, but from

formers in Zurich, especially “Anabaptists” such as Conrad Grebel, but it also takes on the ques- tions of those who approve singing but say that one should sing only biblical texts. These and other questions are argued intensely but carefully. Zwick’s 1537 preface is found in Wackernagel, Bibliographie , pp. 555-558. [Hereafter only author and pages will be given for Wackernagel.] (Ac- cording to Leaver, Goostly Psalmes and Spirituall Songs , pp. 38-39, Zwick’s songbook was probably first published in 1533 or 1534, though this edition is no longer extant; a partial copy, including preface, of the 1537 edition exists, the full text only from 1540.) Zwingli’s decision not to sing in public worship is usually read as a rejection of all singing, though in fact he allows that others may rightly practice congregational singing; see his Action oder Brauch des Herren Nachtmahl (1525), Huldreich Zwinglis Sdmtliche Werke (Leipzig, 1927), 4:14. Full discussion in Charles Gar- side, Zwingli and the Arts (New Haven, 1966), chapter 3.

15 An important focus of study in Reformed worship has been the (Calvinist) Psalter, which had its beginnings in Strasbourg. See especially O. Douen, Clement Marot et le psautier huguenot (Paris, 1878-1879); Felix Bovet, Histoire du psautier des eglises reformees (Neuchatel, 1872); Pierre Pidoux, Le psautier huguenot du XVIe siecle (Basel, 1962); Charles Garside, The Origins of Calvin’s Theology of Music: 1536-1543 (Philadelphia, 1979); Jenny, Luther, Zwingli, Calvin.

16 Bornert, La reforme protestante , pp. 179-182, 473-476. Schwartz’s manuscript Mass in- cluded translations of the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei, which were kept or corrected or given substitutes in the printed versions. (One substitute was using the shorter Apostles’ Creed in place of the Nicene.) Later translations of the Te Deum and Veni Sancte Spiritus and other medieval hymns and sequences were added. Local hymnwriters contributed, and hymns by Luther and others were added. The 1525 Ordnung for the Lord’s Supper includes Ps. 12 for entrance, Ps. 130 between epistle and gospel, Ps. 3 to sing at Communion, and Ps. 67 to conclude.

17 Hubert, Strafi burger liturgischen, Ordnungen , pp. 141-143; (1530/33) p. 142: “Wiewol aber sunst geystliche lieder von achtbaren und geystreichen gmacht hab ich derselbigen nit vil mitgetruckt , uff das die gmein gottes nit wider uff die menschen gefuert und zuo menschen gedicht bewegt werde . . .” See the cautious changes in Kopffel’s preface in 1537, Hubert, p. 142: “Und weil der h. Paulus nit allein zun psalmen, sonder auch zuo anderen geistlichen liedern ermanet, welchen brauch der kirchen auch der heilig martyr Tertullianus meldet, habe ich solicher geist- licher lieder auch etliche, alte und neuwe inn dis gesangbiiechlin trucken wollen, doch nur die

Historical Context

9

1537 onwards hymns for special days began to be added, and these and other spiritual songs {geistliche lieder) increased in number later. 18

Popular Music and Religious Reform

Although medieval lay people were generally excluded from liturgical singing, music and song were an important part of popular piety as well as vernacular culture generally, and efforts at grassroots reform required attention not only to the liturgy but also to the rest of the musical culture, which was quite di- verse. The range of late medieval vernacular musical styles was wide: from ver- sions of liturgical hymns and religious songs, to secular love songs, alehouse ditties, and more. The boundaries between genres were not neat, and many permutations were possible, both in melodies and in texts. A secular tune might be appropriated for a religious song or vice versa, a text might be recast to convey a different message, or other alterations might easily blur any sacred-profane or ecclesiastical-popular distinctions,19 especially in a pre- printing culture.

The printing of songs, with or (more often) without musical notes, was increasingly common by the early sixteenth century. Frequendy these were small pamphlets containing only one or a few songs, and often they were pub- lished without notes but with the indication: “to be sung to [name of a known song] .” Chrisman indicates that although few religious songs destined for lay people appeared in the Strasbourg press between 1480 and 1500, dur- ing the next twenty years a small but significant number of hymns were printed for the laity. Themes included such topics as the Eucharist or death,

bewareten und die nit allein den reinen schrifftlichen [biblischen] sinn inn sich halten, sonder auch die art und krafft des h. geistes etwas gewaltiger beweisen.”

18 For changes in church year, see Bornert, La reftmne protestante, pp. 337-338, 474— 476, 491—493. In 1537, Christmas was again celebrated. In the liturgy-songbooks of 1537 and 1538, there were hymns for Christmas, New Year’s or Circumcision, Passion, Easter, and Ascension. In time, other days were added, though Sunday retained its primacy. Bornert quotes church articles of 1539 that prescribe the remembering of “‘the mighty acts of God accomplished in former times, in His Son or in the persons of the apostles and martyrs, on condition that these acts were guaranteed by scripture, either on the day when the feasts used to be celebrated, or on the following Sunday,”’ p. 492. After 1542 some Marian feasts, e.g., the purification, annun- ciation, visitation, received notice.

19 The question of boundaries in both music and texts, and various kinds of transforma- tions, continued in the sixteenth century. Jenny, Luther, Zwingli, Calvin , p. 27 points out Luther’s contrafactum altering of a secular melody for a sacred text and a religious melody for a song ridiculing an opponent. He also discusses Calvin’s determination to make a suitable religious music different from the secular, pp. 228-230. See below, discussion of hymn “Maria zart” for example of transformation of words at n. 126.

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but Marian prayers and songs to the saints (e.g., Anne, Bridget, Ursula, and others) were especially popular.20

Not all the lyric publications were to the liking of various authorities, civil or ecclesiastical. For civil rulers, the problem presented by vernacular songs was fear of the political consequences of tolerating libelous verses, and the so- lution was censorship. Strasbourg’s earliest instances of censorship included cases in 1504 and 1515/1516 involving various kinds of scandalous songs or verses which might offend neighboring political powers.21

For religious or educational leaders, the problem with bad songs was likely to be moral or theological, and the solution was to publish good songs to sub- stitute for the bad. In addition to the fact that education is normally directed at the young or others regarded as minors, singing was a common school sub- ject, and orphans and students often earned alms by singing in front of townspeople’s homes. In sixteenth-century Strasbourg’s Latin schools, as much as an hour per day of a boy’s time was spent in singing class, and the school boys’ choir served to lead the congregational singing in Protestant wor- ship. Thus, efforts to reform singing usually had both moral and educational aspects, and reformers most often aimed to instruct parents or schoolmasters in what they should teach the young, or others -such as women— who were also considered minors.22

Late medieval and Renaissance Catholic and Protestant reformers alike shared the concern to substitute good songs for bad, and they could generally agree on matters of moral content, but they differed on what was theologically acceptable. In a Protestant city, civil rulers as well as the clergy might well take a role in theological enforcement. For example, on 5 February 1528, the Stras- bourg authorities rebuked the orphans (and those responsible for them) “a

20 See Kyle Sessions, “Song Pamphlets: Media Changeover in Sixteenth-Century Publica- tion” in Print and Culture in the Renaissance , G. P. Tyson and S. S. Wagonheim, eds. (Newark/ London & Toronto, 1986), 110-119. Chrisman, Lay Culture, Learned Culture , p. 91. See Wack- ernagel, pp. 1-34 (1470-1517) for other examples, especially hymns to Mary, Ursula, et al. Lists in Ameln et al ., DKL , 1:1, pp. 1-3, include the “Rosenkranz,” and “Sant Ursulen Schiffelin,” to which Brunfels explicitly (cf. n. 27).

21 Chrisman, Lay Culture, Learned Culture , pp. 27, 268 n. 35. See various excerpts from Stras- bourg council orders in BSCMHA , vol. 15, (1892), #3351, 3418, 3423.

22 See Young, “School Music,” pp. 129, 133. Wackernagel, p. 539, gives a preface of a mu- sical book published in Heidelberg in 1494. “Nutz wer es und dienet vast zu gottes lobe, das die rychen lewde. die do almusen geben. die schuler darzu hielten. das sie soliche ymnos und gesange. vor iren hewsern ubeten und siingen in ainem biichlin. brief oder ufiwendig. uff das difie niitz materi. auch in gewonheit der leyen kerne, damit sie also, von jungen geubet. und darnach. fur ander schampere oder weltliche lider gesungen wiirden . . . Item ob man difie materi nit wolte lassen offenlich singen uff der gassen oder sunst, so magstu doch dyn gesinne das do heimen leren und sonderlich die klosterfrawen und ander geistlich swestern . . .” See also various other refer- ences to schoolmasters and parents, at nn. 44, 86-89.

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11

third time” for singing theologically unacceptable songs, including prayers addressed to the Virgin Mary, and they instructed the children to honor the mother of the Lord rightly (i.e., not as they were doing but in proper Protestant fashion).23 Katharina Schiitz Zell shared the reforming concern to replace bad songs with good, and she probably had situations like the deficient choral repertoire of the Strasbourg orphans in mind when she pub- lished her hymnbook.

The Reform of Prayer, Liturgical and Popular

Prayer, like music, is an aspect of both public worship and private devotion, and one which sixteenth-century reformers believed especially needed to be reformed. From the Protestant viewpoint, there were several problems in the way people prayed. The problems of content and language, although difficult to change, were fairly easy to describe: petitions were addressed to saints as often as to God, and most prayers were memorized in Latin. More compli- cated was the third problem, the separation of clerical and lay, or liturgical and private realms. Although liturgical prayers were all in Latin and some were spoken too softly for the congregation to hear, devout medieval people cer- tainly knew the general import of what the priest was saying.

Most of the laity’s personal prayer-life, however, ran on a different track, largely separate from the official prayers of the Mass or monastic daily office. Usually prayers were recited or read aloud; for most people, silent or “mental” prayer was uncommon, though it was spreading along with vernacular literacy in the fourteenth and fifteen centuries. Especially when people began taking individual prayerbooks to Mass and reading them silently, it was possible for clergy and people to be praying entirely different prayers even during the Mass, as well as in private.24

Protestant reformers gave primary attention to prayer in the public liturgy,

23 BSCMHA , vol. 19 (1899), #4716: “Item dafi die Waisenkinder noch singen: ‘Stiiren, das iich Gott vergelt;’ und ‘Unsere liebe Frau.’ Porro: Wider erinnert zum dritten mal solchs zu under- lassen, und sonst sie uff die recht vererung der Mutter des Herrn, und die Heiligen zu weisen.”

24 Paul Saenger, “Prier de bouche et prier de coeur” in Les usages de I’imprime , R. Chartier, ed. (Paris, 1987), especially pp. 192f., 200ff., 210f. Normally lay people would know the Lord’s Prayer and the Hail Mary, along with some other prayers, such as petitions to Mary or particular saints for aid in distress; usually all the prayers were in Latin, though some might be in the ver- nacular. The famous books of hours, with their Marian devotions and other prayers, were very popular with those who could afford to own them, and expanded the number of prayers available. Cf. Roger Wieck, Time Sanctified: The Book of Hours in Medieval Art and Life (New York, 1988), 163-166, for examples of some popular prayers. Virginia Reinberg, “Prayer and the Book of Hours,” in Wieck, pp. 39-44, on appeal to saints and role of pictures. Bornert, La reforme pw- testante , pp. 25f., and Chrisman, Lay Culture, Learned Culture , pp. 88f., on books of piety in late medieval Strasbourg.

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emphasizing the corporate character of worship. One of the first aims of Prot- estants was, therefore, to make the prayer of the liturgy common to all: every- thing was to be spoken aloud, in the vernacular. Usually the preacher voiced the words which all could hear and understand, though occasionally all joined in unison. The content of the prayers was also changed, as theological criteria were applied to eliminate such things as references to the sacrifice of the Mass and the invocation of the saints.

Alongside the concern for liturgical prayer, and usually taking a secondary place, was the desire to reform popular prayer according to the same theolog- ical criteria as public worship. Vernacular expositions of the Lord’s Prayer were among the first Protestant devotional materials to be published; one example is Luther’s Betbiichlein , 1519, which continued to be published with various additions. For example, in 1522 Luther’s introduction made explicit both what he was combatting and what he was substituting; the “Bridget prayers” and others that deceived simple people with the promise of indulgences for reciting these petitions to the saints should be replaced by the Lord’s Prayer.25 Apart from the Lord’s Prayer and various kinds of biblical prayers (either directly from scripture or loosely paraphrased), a few other prayer texts were published. However, in the early decades of the movement Protestant leaders, occupied with the public liturgy, and assuming both the primary im- portance of corporate worship and a kind of automatic carryover from liturgy to personal piety, did not write many prayers for private devotional life.26

Probably the most significant early prayerbook for the laity to originate in Strasbourg was Otto Brunfels’ Biblisch Bettbouchlin , published in 1528. In his preface, Brunfels, who by the following year was serving as music master at the Latin school, speaks with approval of the rejection of the old, useless, in- appropriate prayers: responses, antiphons, collects, sequences, hymns, etc.

25 Luther, “Personal Prayer Book,” 1522, Luther’s Works (Philadelphia, 1968), vol. 43, pp. 11-46. “Among the many harmful books and doctrines which are misleading and deceiving Chris- tians and give rise to countless false beliefs, I regard the personal prayer books as by no means the least objectionable. They drub into the minds of simple people such a wretched counting up of sins and going to confession, such un-Christian tomfoolery about prayers to God and his saints! Moreover, these books are puffed up with promises of indulgences ... I urge everyone to break away from using the Bridget prayers and any others which are ornamented with indul- gences or rewards and urge all to get accustomed to praying this plain, ordinary Christian prayer [i.e., the Lord’s Prayer],” pp. 11-13.

26 See M. U. Chrisman, Bibliography of Strasbourg Imprints, 1480-1599 (New Haven, 1982), 341-344 for some publications. Althaus, Forsch ungen zur Evangelise hen Gebetsliteratur , surveys Ger- man Protestant prayerbooks; cf. p. llff. on biblical prayer books. In the early decades, it was pri- marily Caspar Schwenckfeld and his associates who wrote books of prayers specifically for private use (Althaus, pp. 21ff.). This is not surprising, given the emphasis of these spiritualists on the inward and their general detachment from formal ecclesiastical structures (cf. at n. 53).

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He complains, however, that nothing new has been put in their place. Brun- fels insists that he has no intention of creating a “new monkery, a new Garden of the Soul , rosary, Bridget prayers, crown prayers, St. Ursula ships”; implied is a rejection of prayer formulae based on so many “Our Fathers,” so many “Hail Marys,” and so forth, recited mechanically, perhaps for various indul- gences. Instead he wants to provide good, biblical forms of prayer because many people do not have time to read through the whole Bible daily.27 It is notable that, although he himself supplies only texts to be read, the devo- tional materials that Brunfels wished to replace included both spoken and sung texts. Prayer and song were perceived as one category, or at least a kind of continuum.

The Reform of Catechesis

Catechesis or religious education is the third aspect of the sixteenth-century reform projects that lies on the boundary between liturgy and popular piety.28 Until the end of the middle ages, a child’s godparents and parents were the ones responsible for teaching the fundamentals of the faith; gener- ally, a rote recitation of the words was considered sufficient. The basic texts, which were memorized in Latin, were primarily prayers, including the Lord’s prayer and the Ave Maria. The creed was also commonly taught, along with the laws of God and the church, such as the decalog, the seven acts of corporal and spiritual mercy, the seven deadly sins, etc. The clergy’s primary role was to examine the faith of the people. The manuals of confession in late medieval Strasbourg, for example, required priests not to give absolution unless the penitent could recite the Lord’s prayer and the creed. Clergy were expected to assist in the teaching process by reciting and explaining the various catechet-

27 For Brunfels’ teaching work, see C. W. Young, “School Music,” p. 129. Otho Brunfels, Bib- lisch Bettbouchlin, pp. Aa7r-Aa8r, quotation p. Aa7v: “neiiwe Miincherey/ newe Hortulos/ Rosen- krentz/ Brigjtten gebett/ Crongebett/ sanct Urseln schiffelin.” The Hortulus animae was a popular devotional book; cf. Bornert, La reforme protestante, pp. 25f. “Kronen” or Crongebett were a series of “Pater Noster, Ave Maria, Gloria Patri, etc.” recited on a string of beads, like the better known rosary; cf. “Krone,” Welzer and Welte’s Kirch enlexikon, 2nd ed. (Freiburg i.B., 1882-1903), vol. 7, col. 1228. “St. Ursula schiffelin” were religious societies devoted to this popular German saint (see Kirchenlexikon , vol. 12, col. 495), and the name was also used for their special prayers. More on Brunfels’ book at nn. 109fF.

28 For the summary of the medieval developments, see Nicole Lemaitre, “Le catechisme avant les catechismes,” pp. 28-41. On the central catechetical role of the Lord’s prayer before formal catechisms, and the conflict between traditional recitation and humanist-oriented under- standing, see Adriano Prosperi, “Les commentaires du Pater Noster,” pp. 87-105. Reciting the Lord’s prayer remained the fundamental requirement for admission to communion even in the sixteenth century (p. 87). Both articles in Aux origines du catechisme en France (Tounai, Belgium, 1989).

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ical pieces at the vernacular preaching services, but many priests were them- selves very ignorant.

Religious education was changing in several ways by the sixteenth century. Influenced by the humanist concern for education, many reformers had be- gun to reject the idea that prayers have a value simply by being said, or that faith is adequately confessed when the formula can be recited; instead, people must be taught to understand their faith. There were yet other changes in sixteenth-century catechesis. One was a shift away from sole reliance on god- parents and family toward combining this with an institutional, ecclesiastical basis for instruction in the faith. Although a continuation of an earlier trend, this relocating of catechetical responsibility took root first among Protestants, and then among Catholic reformers. The changes were gradual; most reform- ers still expected parents to teach their households, but formal catechetical training was also done by the clergy. A second change was that catechesis, the process, evolved into catechisms, texts, and the question-and-answer forms developed by Protestants were soon generally adopted.

For Protestants the contents of catechesis altered slightly. The Lord’s prayer became even more important (as many traditional prayers were rejected), and the decalog received more weight (the lists of ecclesiastical rules were dropped) . Protestants were supposed to memorize the decalog, the apostles’ creed, and the Lord’s prayer in the vernacular, and their catechisms explained these texts, and the sacraments (the Lord’s Supper and baptism) . Even before the formal catechisms, vernacular versions of the Lord’s prayer, the creed, and the deca- log had been set to music, and appeared in pamphlets as well as published liturgies, prayerbooks, and songbooks.29

Protestant reformers were enthusiastic teachers, and the Strasbourg reform- ers, with their social and ethical concerns, entered into this activity vigorously. Matthew Zell was much interested in educating the young, contributing to the Strasbourg catechetical materials several of his own works during exacdy the same years that his wife was producing her hymnbook. In her funeral me- morial of her husband, Schiitz Zell exhorted his former students to remember

29 For a brief overview of Protestant catechesis, see H . O. Old, The Shaping of the Reformed Baptismal Rite in the Sixteenth Century (Grand Rapids, 1992), chapter 7. In Strasbourg the cate- chetical pieces (plus the Ave Maria) first appeared as pamphlets, 1524-1525, before being incor- porated into the second part of the Teiitsch kirchen ampt in 1525; cf. DKL , 1:1, pp. 6, 8 (1525/02, 1525/03, 1525/18). Weisse and Katharina Schiitz Zell omitted the Ave Maria, but the Lord’s Prayer was the first song in the prayer section, the long form of the Decalog was the second song in the teaching section (after one about the giving of the law), and the creed the first song in the praise section. All three, plus the beatitudes, were cross referenced at the end of the sec- tion of songs for children, and a short form of the decalog was also provided for children. See Appendix Two.

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and follow Matthew’s teaching- and then, for good measure, went on herself to explain the Lord’s prayer. Schutz Zell was obviously not content with the tradition of rote memorization; once, in a defense of her own intelligent ex- pression of faith, she refers negatively to a child reciting the Lord’s prayer after its mother, without understanding. She was, however, eager to encourage par- ents to instruct their children, and her hymnbook edition is one important manifestation of Schiitz Zell’s determination to assist in this project.30

Katharina Schutz Zell’s Context

The reform of the liturgy in Strasbourg had made good progress by the early 1530s; the reform of popular piety was by nature much slower. After the early years of preaching to convert people to the new understanding of faith, clergy gave less attention to popular devotional life than to liturgical and institutional structures, and the laity felt the lack. Of the textual apparatus of reform, prayers and religious songs were the vehicles of the new “gospel” which mattered most deeply to lay people, and the limited number of ap- proved texts was a trial for ordinary Christians. A key interest of most clergy in these years was catechesis, something naturally less appealing to the laity.

Schutz Zell was sensitive to both lay needs and clerical educational pro- grams. Her hymnbook, which she considered a “teaching, prayer, and praise” book more than a song book,31 can fittingly be interpreted as the work of a lay reformer. It is an effort (like that of the clergy) to teach the gospel, yet it also supplies prayers and praises to supplement what lay people found lacking in the learned program; it is a thoughtful and creative effort to carry the reform of worship from Sunday into the weekday world.

30 Bornert, La reforme protestante , p. 5, 60, 127 501f. For Matthew Zell’s catechisms, see J. M. Reu, Quellen zur Geschichte des kirch lichen Unterrichts in da ' evangelischen Kirche Deutschlands zwischen 1530 und 1600 (Giitersloh, 1904; facsimile reprint Hildesheim/N.Y., 1976). Part 1, vol. 1 includes South Germany; pp. 105-141 give Matthew Zell’s “Frag and Antwort/ uff die artikel des Christlichen glaubens” [1536], and “Gekiirtzt Fragbiichlin auff die Zehen gebott/ und uff das Vatter unser” [1535 & 1537], For funeral memorial, cf. Katharina Schutz Zell, Klag Red und Ermahnung , 9v; 6v; lOr, llr-v; reference to child reciting Lord’s prayer after mother, Kath- arina Schutz Zell ms. letter 19 October 1553, f8r.

31 See below at n. 58 et passim.

.

II

Katharina Schiitz Zell’s Hymnbook

The Form and the Music of the Book

The Origin and the Format of the Book

In the mid-1530s, Katharina Schiitz Zell edited for a Strasbourg audience a hymnbook of the Bohemian Brethren produced by Michael Weisse in 1531. Weisse was an elder of the Brethren from Silesia; the book was the first hymn- book of the Brethren to be published in German. German-speaking Walden- sians had joined the Brethren and wanted to sing hymns as did the churches in Bohemia and Moravia, so they appealed to Weisse to translate the Brethren’s hymns into German. Schiitz Zell’s publication was the first reedition of Weisse’s book, and the only one to appear in Strasbourg, though four re- printings of Weisse’s original text (without Schiitz Zell’s editorial additions) came out in Ulm between 1538 and 1540, and later Brethren continued to edit and alter the hymns.32

32 For biographical sketch of Weisse and description/printing history of his text, see “Geleit- wort” by K. Ameln in 1957 facsimile of Weisse’s Gcsangbuch , pp. 2-7. Weisse’s preface explains why he published the text, Aiir-v: “Nach dem yhr ewer Eltisten und seel sorgpr offtmal mit beth ersucht/ und sie da durch/ auch euch deutschen (wie die behmischen briieder) mit geistlichen gesengen zu versorgen/ verursacht habt/ Unnd nu solche arbeit mihr aufgelegt/ hab ich auch nach vermiiegen all meynen fleis angewandt/ ewer alt sampt der behmischen briieder Cancional vor mich genommen/ und den selben sihn/ nach gewisser heiligenn schriefft/ inn deutsche reym bracht/ die sillaben wort und gesetz also gestellt/ dz sich ein jeglichs under seinen zugpschrie- benen thon fein singen lest. Nu seind auch dise geseng nach fleissigem uberlesen corrigieren und bessern von den eltesten briiedern/ auf ewere beth/ inn druck gegeben / Got dem almechtigen und seiner warheit zu lob und preis/ euch zu trost und gemeiner christenheit zur leer/ Das men- iglich erkenne/ das es anders/ denn unser widersacher flier gebenn/ bey uns gewesen und nach sey / Wer uber dz wissen wiel woraus und wie unser einikeit erstanden sey / der mag lesen unser unterricht/ welchs wir inn der Churfiierstlichen stadt Zwickaw inn druck haben lassen ausgehn. So macht euch nu lieben briieder diss biiechlen niietz/und bietet gpt/ das er seine gebenedeiung driieber geben wolt.”

17

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In the preface and concluding poem of his book, Weisse made it clear that this text belonged to a community and not to any individual, and thus he insisted that the words be preserved without change, though the music might be altered as seemed fit to the users.33 Schiitz Zell carefully honored Weisse’s instructions and also took advantage of his permission. She did not change any part of any hymn, except to have the orthography recast in a German closer to Strasbourg speech. While keeping all of Weisse’s 157 hymns, Schiitz Zell also added two others, a vernacular translation of a medieval hymn taken from a Lutheran hymnbook, and a German version of Ps. 133. Schiitz Zell also retained Weisse’s division of the hymns into eighteen headings: incarna- tion, birth, circumcision, epiphany, ministry and suffering, resurrection and ascension of Christ, the Holy Spirit, praise hymns, prayer hymns, teaching hymns, hymns for various times of the day, for children, for the fallen or sin- ners, hymns for the burial of the dead, and for the last judgment, hymns about the right honoring of the saints, and about the Lord’s Testament (Sup- per). The order of the hymns in each section, except the first, is the same as that of Weisse.34

However, rather than publish a single large book, Schiitz Zell broke up Weisse’s hymnal into four smaller publications of unequal size. The object was to make the booklets inexpensive: two, three, or four pennies each, which would allow even the poorest person to buy the texts. The four parts were numbered consecutively, however, so that they could be easily bound to- gether, and a table of contents -the eighteen subheadings, not a separate listing of individual hymns such as Weisse gave -was included in the first booklet.35

The four booklets were published in Strasbourg by Jacques Frolich: Book One (sections 1-3) is dated 1534 (though printing was completed in 1535);

33 Ameln/ Weisse, Gesangbuch , Nllv-N12r: “Wo ein thon oben an gestelt Einem vorsinger nicht gefelt Der ticht einn bessern so er kan Den nehm ich mit allem danck an Er seh nur mit allem fleifi zu Das er dem text keinn schaden thu Weder sihn/ sillaben noch wort Verriieck an irgent einem ort Denn die sach ist nicht mein allein Sonder einer christlichen gemein Welch inn Behmen und Mehrern lange zeit Erleidet manchen widerstreit Da bey den sihn wol versucht Und beweret hat inn seiner frucht Veriest ihn nu nicht es sey denn Das sie was bewerters erkenn Der almechtige got verley Das diss biiechlen zu frucht gedey.”

34 All the hymns in Schiitz Zell’s follow same order as in Weisse’s, except in section one, where Weisse’s 1-7 become 1, 6-7, 2-5 in Katharina Schiitz Zell.

35 Weisse gives index divisions (A2v-3r), an alphabetical listing of hymns (A3r-6v) and of tunes (A6r-7v) and songs that can be sung to one tune (A7v), followed by an exhortation to the reader (A8r-v). Schiitz Zell keeps the list of index divisions (A3v-4r), but she drops out all the rest and substitutes her foreword for Weisse’s. Schiitz Zel 1 makes one minor addition to one of Weisse’s headings; “Fiir die gefallenen/ oder sunder. ” See Appendix Two for outline.

Hymnbook

19

Book Two (sections 4-6 plus the medieval-Lutheran hymn) came out in 1535; and Book Three (sections 7-8 with Ps. 133) and Book Four (sections 9-18) both appeared in 1536. The last book is the longest and most diverse. Of the 159 songs, eighty-five are provided with notes, while the rest have in- dications of tunes, and sometimes both notes and a named tune are sup- plied.36 Although published in four fascicles, the hymnbook was conceived as a whole and will hereafter be treated as such.

The Music of Katharina Schiitz Zell’s Book

The most important changes that Schiitz Zell made in the hymnbook were, as Weisse had allowed, in the music. A musicologist, Anne Wolff, has made a detailed study of the music in the hymnbook, which she regards as the most creative aspect of the publication. (Wolff appears, however, to have missed one of the intriguing features of the musical changes, i.e., the possibility that Schiitz Zell might have drawn on tunes from the Schwenkfeldian circle in Strasbourg.)37 A summary of the most important of Wolffs findings is ade- quate for present purposes, but specialists in music history are referred to the original thesis for a fuller exposition.

First, it should be noted that it is quite possible that Katharina Schiitz Zell relied on someone else for the actual musical adaptation, although no assistant is mentioned and Katharina Schiitz Zell is normally conscientious about cit- ing her sources. At the least, the perspective from which the music and its role were viewed is certainly that of the lay woman who initiated and carried through the project. For practical purposes, therefore, this article will regard Katharina Schiitz Zell as the editor of both music and texts, although the dis- cussion of Weisse’s final liturgical section will provide occasion to consider an- other suggestion for Katharina Schiitz Zell’s musical sources.38

Changes in the Music

Katharina Schiitz Zell’s hymnbook adopted the majority of Weisse’s melodies, but she -or her musical assistant- changed a significant number of tunes in a variety of creative ways. Before noting the changes, it is useful to sketch the

36 For Frolich, see Chrisman, Lay Culture, Learned Culture , pp. 4, 6, 34f. See Appendix Two for full titles of booklets; for a description of their format, see Marc Lienard, “Catherine Zell, nee Schiitz,” Bibliotheca Dissidentium , A. Seguenny, ed., tome 1 (Baden-Baden, 1980) 111-115.

37 Wolff, Le recueil , pp. 8, 195. The thesis is two volumes; vol. 1 is text, vol. 2 appendices and notes; references are to volume 1 unless otherwise specified.

38 Ibid., p. 50, discusses who might have helped Schiitz Zell, since she is not known to have had musical gifts herself. After considering Wolfgang Dachstein, Wolff suggests Symphorian Pol- lio as the most likely candidate. For Schiitz Zell’s habit of citing her sources, see McKee, KSZ. For Schwenkfeldian possibility, see below, n. 142.

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general picture of the music in Schiitz Zell’s hymnal. All of the melodies, with one exception, were religious in origin. The single exception was a profane tune which had already in the fifteenth century been used for a hymn to the Virgin Mary, and Schiitz Zell names it by that title, so one may suppose that in sixteenth-century Strasbourg this melody had a religious connotation rather than, or as much as, a secular one.39

If all of Schiitz Zell’s melodies were associated with religious texts, how- ever, they had come from a wide range of sources.40 Some were liturgical in origin: the Te Deum , some hymns, antiphons, sequences, and tropes of the Latin Mass. Some melodies were from the paraliturgical music of the later mid- dle ages, often originally Latin songs which had already been translated into the vernacular. Some of these might occasionally have been sung during the liturgy, e.g., during a sequence, but most often these songs were used for pri- vate devotion. Hymn tunes of the Bohemian Brethren provided a third source of melodies. These tunes were themselves of varied styles, since the Brethren did not sharply distinguish compositions appropriate for the liturgy from those used in private devotion. The Lutheran translation of a medieval hymn added to the end of book two was adopted with its melody; both had been known in Strasbourg since 1525. The fifth source of melodies in Schiitz Zell’s book is the most mysterious, and represents the most important changes in the music of the hymnal, because most of these tunes were, in fact, previously unknown.

Schiitz Zell’s hymnbook made changes in fifty of the melodies proposed by Weisse- nearly one- third of the total. In some cases these changes were fairly straightforward: assigning a different melody to a particular hymn, often a tune used elsewhere in Schiitz Zell’s own book, or dropping the printed music and substituting the name of a melody known to Strasbourgers from another of their own songbooks. Sometimes Weisse’s melodies were used but modified in various ways, especially rhythmically. The tune that Schiitz Zell adapted for Ps. 133 was of humanist origin and classical form, and thus dis- tinct in style from the rest of the collection, but it was widely popular in Germany. Some of the melodies in Schiitz Zell’s book, which Wolff calls the “Strasbourg melodies,” seem to have appeared for the first (and sometimes last) time in her hymnbook. Quite diverse, they do not seem to have come from any single source.41

39 Wolff, Le recueil , pp. 39-40; exception is “Gott sah zu seiner zeit” (E3r) with tune Ave rubens rosa virgo (secular song = “Mein Freud mocht sich wohl mehren”).

40 Ibid., especially pp. 51-70; cf. pp. 40-51 on Weisse.

41 Ibid., pp. 43, 51-70, 199-200; pp. 64-70 deal specifically with the “Strasbourg melodies.”

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Characteristics of the Music

One of the most striking things about the music in Schiitz Zell’s hymnbook is its sheer diversity, not only in origin but also in form. Particularly the “Stras- bourg melodies” of unknown origin include a remarkable structural variety; these eleven tunes are made up of different musical phrases for each line of text, and thus were apparendy composed for these hymns. Even among the rest of the hymns, which have tunes with repeated phrases for several lines of text, no two melodies are identical.42 The person singing these hymns would never be musically bored!

For Schiitz Zell, the rich musical variety was not an end in itself, nor was it intended to complicate things for the users -on the contrary. Wolff names and discusses several criteria which guided the reformer in editing the music of her hymnbook.43 Besides variety, Schiitz Zell was concerned with beauty, and most importantly, with intelligibility. Although she does not talk about the art and attraction of music as do some hymnbook editors, Schiitz Zell ap- parendy followed Luther in believing that, when rightly used, beautiful music was God’s good gift. In her preface, she says that she wants people to sing “en- thusiastically and with clear voices” ( mit lustiger weifl und hellen stymmeri) and speaks of the hymns she offers as “attractive/ pretty songs” (hibscher gsang)

In examining Schiitz Zell’s music to see what she might have considered a beautiful melody, Wolff indicates that this hymnbook was published at the point in musical history when the modal music of the middle ages was grad- ually shifting toward the tonic patterns of the modern period.45 A higher proportion of the music in Schiitz Zell’s book than in Weisse’s are tonic rather

42 Ibid., pp. 70-88 on form, especially summary pp. 87-88. See Appendix Two, especially reference in n. 149.

43 Ibid., chapter 2 on variety, chapter 3 on intelligibility, chapter 4 on “belles melodies.”

44 Luther’s Preface to the Wittenberg Hymnal (1524) is well known: “And these songs were ar- ranged in four parts to give the young-who should at any rate be trained in music and other fine arts -something to wean them away from love ballads and carnal songs and to teach them something of value in their place, thus combining the good with the pleasing, as is proper for youth. Nor am I of the opinion that the gospel should destroy and blight all the arts, as some of the pseudo-religious claim. But I would like to see all the arts, especially music, used in the service of Him who gave and made them. ... As it is, the world is too lax and indifferent about teaching and training the young for us to abet this trend,” p. 316. Among other prefaces, which praise the value of music: Augsbuig 1530, Zwick, Bucer, John Calvin; cf. Wackernagel, pp. 548- 549, 556-557; Hubert, Strafiburger liturgischen Ordnungen , p. 145; Calvin, Opera Selecta (Mona- chii in Aedibus, 1952), vol. 2, pp. 15-18. For Schiitz Zell see at nn. 62, 78.

45 Wolff, Le recueil, especially pp. 148-149, 159-164. Wolff points out that one of the lim- itations of medieval popular songs was their narrow range of notes, and gives evidence that Schiitz Zell extended the range of her music so that some melodies span more than an octave; cf. pp. 156, 170.

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than modal melodies, which means that overall her book is less weighted in the direction of the traditional ecclesiastical musical style. In this domain as in the choice of sources, however, Schiitz Zell seems to have been somewhat eclec- tic. Although a considerable number of Weisse’s modal melodies are replaced by melodies in the newer tonic style, many others are replaced by other modal melodies, ones which would be familiar to a Strasbourg audience. Evidently, in addition to sound, familiarity was an important criterion of beauty.46

The concern that music be familiar is also expressed in other ways. For ex- ample, unlike Weisse, Schiitz Zell often gives multiple musical possibilities for a single hymn, usually offering as alternatives a more traditional melody and a more recent one. Wolff notes that this aesthetic is often called “functional,” and is characteristic of the Protestant Reformation.47 In other words, al- though beauty in music is very important, and Schiitz Zell went to consid- erable lengths to provide variety and a richer sound, beauty is subordinated to intelligibility.

A number of different features, both of music and of printing, indicate Schiitz Zell’s concern that her hymns should be readily understood and ac- cessible. In common Protestant fashion, she made a concerted effort to fit one word to one note (or tied notes), and also to have the music and texts printed as clearly as possible. Unlike Weisse, who usually prints the music first, Schiitz Zell always has the first stanza of the text printed with each word under the appropriate note. She also marks the beginning of each new stanza by making it a new paragraph, whereas Weisse normally runs several stanzas together, dis- tinguishing them only by an initial capital on the first word of the first line. Schiitz Zell’s printer also took care to print the music as legibly as possible, though he used the older gothic notation most of the time.48 Abbreviations are used in the texts, which might seem to make the reading more difficult, but these were common in early sixteenth-century printing and literate people were accustomed to them.

Wolff also analyzes this lay reformer’s use of rhythm and her concern to fit music and text together as well as possible. Both Weisse and Schiitz Zell were working with translations, which always increases the difficulties of mak- ing the accents of words and music coincide. Schiitz Zell’s hymns were less successful in this effort than contemporary Strasbourg hymns (written in Ger- man, not translated into it), but the coincidence of verbal and musical accent

46 Ibid., pp. 164-165, 170-173 (plus various tables in the intervening pages).

47 Ibid., pp. 179-180. Wolff goes on (pp. 180-194) to talk about music as the “shape of an idea,” i.e., how the text and the curve of the melody fit together in Schiitz Zell’s hymns.

48 Strasbourg 1545 “improvement list” at n. 144; cf. Wolff, Le recueil, pp. 94-101 on music notation.

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in her book is usually more felicitous than in Weisse’s. The canons for rhythm and accent in music were still evolving at this time, and though Schiitz Zell’s results left something to be desired aesthetically, this did not seriously detract from the primary purpose, since occasional jarring musical accents did not pre- vent the clear understanding of the text.49

The music and its presentation, while very important, are only one aspect of Schiitz Zell’s hymnbook when the latter is viewed as a means of reforming piety. The preface and annotations of the hymns make more explicit the theological views of this lay reformer, and the role she envisioned for her book.

The Preface and Its Theological Affirmations

The preface in Schiitz Zell’s book serves the traditional purpose of introducing her text, explaining why she published it and for whom, and what functions she expected it to fill for the readers. Like most early Protestant publications, Schiitz Zell’s text was part of a concerted effort to persuade people to reform. Quite naturally, therefore, her writing reveals much about her own theological and moral, social and cultural convictions.

To see clearly the distinctive character of Schiitz Zell’s work, as well as its historical context, it is helpful to compare her foreword with those of a num- ber of contemporary hymnbook prefaces, particularly but not exclusively German-language ones which she probably or certainly knew.50 In addition, because of the close connection among the different kinds of literature of piety mentioned above, it will be appropriate to refer from time to time to other texts, though in a study such as this the wider canvas can only be sketched very generally.

The Source of the Hymnbook and Its Authority

Katharina Schiitz Zell begins by recounting the way she came to know of this text and why she is publishing it.

Out of special love and friendship a songbook was given to me to read.

It was printed in Bohemia and sent to good people in Landskron and Fullneck by a godfearing man, indeed, a man who knows God. His name is Michael Weisse. I do not know him personally, but as the Lord

49 Wolff, Le recueil , pp. 101-117 on rhythm; 117-147 on accent; p. 147 assessment; pp. 118-119 discusses canons, indicates that Strasbourg songs were more successful than the early Luther.

50 Wackernagel includes a large collection of prefaces, pp. 539-714 (1484-1592); Hubert, StmJZburger liturgischen Ordnurgen , gives those for Strasbourg in a clearer format.

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says: “By their fruits you shall know them.” ... I found such an under- standing of the works of God in this songbook that I want all people to understand it.51

Note the personal tone of the story, the strong emphasis on human commu- nity: a friend has shared this book with her; Schiitz Zell wants to share it also with others. In itself this familiar tone is not too unusual, though it is not typical of this genre of book. There is, however, a warmth in Schiitz Zell’s printed voice that is characteristic of her enthusiasm both for her friends and for the opportunity of sharing whatever she found helpful.52

It is not known who exactly was the friend who gave Schiitz Zell Weisse’s book, though her discretion in leaving him anonymous suggests that he may have been someone not currently welcome in Strasbourg. Katharina Schiitz Zell is usually very conscientious about naming her sources and praising others when praise is due, so her reticence here is notable. Several possible do- nors, people with ties to the Bohemian Brethren, have been proposed, espe- cially Clement Ziegler and Caspar Schwenckfeld. The latter seems more plausible, since Schiitz Zell’s words here describe well her friendship with Schwenckfeld, and her ties with Ziegler were apparendy much less important. It has been suggested that Schwenckfeld may also have been influential in the later publications of Weisse’s book in Ulm, and thus linked to its spread more generally.53

51 Quotations from Schiitz Zell’s preface will hereafter be given only as “preface + page num- ber.” Preface Alv: “Mir ist ein Gsangbuoch aufi sunder lieb und freundtschafft gegeben worden: ich soli es lesen: welches inn Behem getruckt: und frommen liiten zur Landskron und Fiillneck zu gschickt ist: von einem gottsfbrchtigen: ja gottsbekanten mann: sein namm Michel wifi: welchen ich leiblicher person halb nit kenn: wie aber der Herr sagt: aufi jren friichten werden jr sye erkennen. . . . Ich hab solchen verstandt der werck Gottes inn disem Gsangbuoch funden: das ich winsch: das es alle menschen verstyenden.”

52 Perhaps the closest parallels are the prefaces written by women as translators of religious texts or writers of devotional literature, since these were among the relatively few acceptable lit- erary activities for women in sixteenth-century society. Cf. R. H. Bainton, “Learned Women in the Europe of the Sixteenth Century,” in Beyond Their Sex: Learned Women of the European Past , P. H. Labalme, ed. (New York/London, 1985), especially pp. 118-119; M. P. Hannay, “Intro- duction” in Silent But for the Word , M. P. Hannay, ed. (Kent, Ohio, 1985) especially pp. 7ff. For Schiitz Zell’s capacity for friendship and delight in sharing, see McKee, KSZ.

53 Wolff, Le recueil , pp. 35-37, discusses possible donors. For Schiitz Zell’s friendship with Schwenckfeld, see McKee, “Defense of Zwingli, Schwenckfeld, and the Baptists.” Though she undoubtedly knew him, Schiitz Zell does not mention Ziegler by name in any of her writings. For Schwenckfeld and the publication of Weisse’s text elsewhere, see Rodolphe Peter, “Les groupes informels au temps de la Reforme: types rhenans,” Les groupes infonnels dans I’eglise , Hommes et Eglise 2 (Strasbourg, 1971), 207. Peter indicates that the Schwenckfeldian groups preferred the Mora- vian hymns to those of the established churches, and in all the cities where Schwenckfeld stopped, editions of these hymns expressing “a more individualist piety” were published.

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An editor’s praise for the character of the writer of a text is not unusual, but again Schiitz Zell’s foreword gives this common tribute a certain personal accent. Although she acknowledges that she never met Weisse in person, she indicates clearly that his hymnbook tells her all she needs to know about his character: she recognizes him by his fruits (Matt. 12:33). This is indeed high praise, but Schiitz Zell goes on to use other biblical language to emphasize Weisse’s religious authority.

When I read this book, I had to conclude that, so far as I understand the Scriptures, this man [Weisse] has the whole Bible wide open in his heart. Indeed, he has the same knowledge and experience as the two dear men Joshua and Caleb had of the promised land, when they had faithfully visited and walked through it by the command of the Lord given through Moses.54

Schiitz Zell compares Weisse’s knowledge and experience of the Bible to Joshua’s and Caleb’s personal knowledge of the promised land when they explored it according to God’s commandment. For Schiitz Zell as for other Protestant reformers, particularly lay people, to ascribe knowledge and experience of the Bible to someone is the highest possible praise. Elsewhere Schiitz Zell uses the story of Joshua and Caleb to emphasize the problems of God’s faithful mes- sengers in trying to lead the rebellious people of Israel into the promised land.55 Here the accent falls on the obedience and especially the faithfulness and knowledge of the leaders. The purpose is to assure the people that they can trust this guide to the Bible as Israel ought to have trusted Joshua and Caleb.

Knowledge and experience of the scriptures or the promised land -a kind of existential knowledge of God -is not confined to Joshua, Caleb, and

54 Preface Alv: “Also da ich dift Buoch gelesen: hab ich myessen urtheylen (so vil ich der gschrifft verstandt hab) das diser mann die gantz Bibel offen inn seim hertzen habe: ja der selben ein kundtschafft unnd erfarnufi: wie die lieben zween menner: Josua und Caleph des gelobten Lands: da sye es trewlich besuocht und durch wandelt hetten: aufi befelch des Herren durch Moi- sen.” Praise of Luther is not uncommon in some hymnbook prefaces, cf. especially Michael Styfel’s 1522 foreword for a song in praise of Luther’s teaching, in which Styfel describes Luther as an angel who has been sent by God to teach the holy scriptures (Revel. 14:6-7), Wackernagel, pp. 540-541. Elsewhere, in speaking of her conversion, Katharina Schiitz Zell also describes Luther as a kind of angel sent from God to teach herself and others; cf. letter of 19 October 1553, 9v.

55 Katharina Schiitzinn, Entschuldigung . . . far M. Matthes Zellen, A5v-6r. Chrisman, “The Reformation of the Laity,” pp. 632f. , points out that the outstanding characteristic and funda- mental form of argument in pamphlets by artisans is the appeal to scripture. Katharina Schiitz Zell herself generally argues predominantly from scripture, though in addition she uses more other arguments than most artisans; to some extent her choice depends on her audience. Cf. McKee, KSZ.

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Weisse, however. Later in her preface, Schiitz Zell describes faithful users of the text as those who have faith and knowledge of Christ, thus linking to- gether biblical figures, Weisse, and those who are invited to use these hymns.56 More immediately, Schiitz Zell here likens herself to Weisse -and other reformers -when she refers to her own discernment of Weisse’s knowl- edge of the Bible; her appreciation for his book is based on her own under- standing of scripture, by which she is able to judge that Weisse knows the Bible well.

The general principle is that scripture is the authority, but Christians should know by their own study and experience of the Bible who is a good and trustworthy interpreter. Schiitz Zell believes that she can discern the value of Weisse’s work, not by a voice from heaven, but by her own intelligent and educated, as well as existential acquaintance with the Word of God! The em- phasis on learning is not insignificant in view of her own theology and her catechetical purpose in this publication. Though expressed as an aside, Schiitz Zell’s claim is rather audacious, but it is consistent with her self-understanding in other writings.57 In the present context, her words explain the confident tone and air of authority that pervade the preface and also find expression in the annotations.

Having sketched the biblical knowledge and experience of the author that undergird the hymnbook, Schiitz Zell devotes the rest of her preface to more specific questions. She defends the rightness of Christians singing; discusses the biblical guidance for the content and purpose of song (and what is ruled out); and explains who should sing, and when and how (in what spirit), con- cluding with a reference to the eschatological fruit of the right praise of God.

Should Christians Sing?

A biblical defense of the rightness of Christians singing was a common theme in hymnbook forewords because the issue of singing in worship was contro- versial in the early sixteenth century. Schiitz Zell seems to find it fairly easy to defend the act of singing.

Indeed, I ought much rather to call it a teaching, prayer, and praise book

than a songbook, although the little word “song” is well and properly

56 Cf. below at n. 98.

57 For Schiitz Zell’s understanding of authority, see McKee, KSZ. Briefly, it can be said that Schiitz Zell bases her authority to speak primarily on her existential knowledge of the Bible; one of her favorite self-images for this wisdom is the prophetess Anna (Lk. 2:36-38). Schiitz Zell usually appeals to inspiration only in polemical situations, and then the purpose of inspiration is not to add information but to gain a hearing for the biblical message.

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spoken, for the greatest praise of God is expressed in song, as when Moses sang a glorious song of praise to God when the Lord brought him and his people through the sea, Exod. 15 [: 1-18]. And the holy Anna the same way sang thanks and praise to God the Lord when He had given her Samuel, I Kings 2 [I Sam. 2:1-10]. As also David made so many glorious Psalm songs, and used often the expression: We should sing to the Lord, and the like [cf. e.g., Ps. 98:1]. Thence have also come all the songs of the church, where they have been kept in the right way and with the right heart, as they were by the first singers.58

One of the critical affirmations of this passage, the insistence that this collec- tion of hymns is more a teaching, prayer, and praise book than a songbook, will be a recurrent and important theme throughout the preface. Before con- tinuing to develop this major affirmation, however, Schiitz Zell deals with the lesser one of the validity of singing and songbooks.

Essentially, the point is that the Bible teaches us that singing is proper. Sev- eral of the biblical examples and advocates of singing whom Schiitz Zell cites, especially Moses and David, are fairly common in hymnbook prefaces, but the mention of Hannah is somewhat unusual; Schiitz Zell often appeals to examples of biblical women who are passed over by male writers.59 Even more distinctive is the fact that Schiitz Zell bases her arguments for singing solely on Old Testament texts; she reserves the commonly cited New Testament texts

58 Preface Alv-2r: “ja ich muofi es vil mehr ein Leer: Gebett und danckbuoch (dann ein gsangbuoch) heyssen: wiewol das wortlin gsang recht und wol geredt ist: Dann das grost lob Gottes inn gsang aufigesprochn ist worden: als da Moises Gott ein herrlich lob sang: da jn der Herr mit seim volck durchs Mor bracht: Exod. xv. Des gleichen die heylig Anna: sang danck und lob Gott dem Herren: da er jr den Samuel geben hett j Reg. ij. wie auch David so vil herrlicher gsang Psalmen gemacht hat: unnd das wort nur vil braucht: wir wollent dem Herren singen: und dergleichen: dahar auch alle gsang der Kirchen kommen seind: wo sye mit rechter weifi und hert- zen gehalten werent worden: wie von den ersten sengernn.” Schiitz Zell’s attitude toward the rightness of Christians singing resembles Luther’s; there is none of the tension found in Zwick’s preface; cf. nn. 44, 14, 59, 102.

59 Among early hymnbook editors, a few who mention Moses are Luther (1524), Johann Speratus (1526), and Zwick (1533/4[?]); Zwick specifically likens his own situation to that of Israel coming out of Egypt, only his own is worse! Luther, Preface to the Wittenberg Hymnal, p. 316; for Speratus and Zwick, cf. Wackernagel, pp. 545-546, 555-556. The references to David or Psalm singing are more frequent, though often less specific; see the example of Luther, n. 60. Only someone like Zwick, facing those who separated the Old and New Testaments and rejected the authority of the Old for church order, had to argue the case for David. Zwick insists that though the Bible does not command singing, it also does not forbid it, and in addition gives good examples of people who sang. Wackernagel, pp. 555-556. One preface, by Joachim Aberlin, 1534, mentions 1 Sam. 2:1 (“My mouth derides my enemies”), but the point is not to cite Han- nah as an example of approved singing, but only to show that singing can lead to fighting! Cf. Wackernagel, p. 551; quoted in n. 62. For Schiitz Zell’s feminine imagery and interest see below at nn. 90, 93, 97-98, and discussion in McKee, KSZ.

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for her discussion of the content of songs.60 Lest her words be misinterpreted as a blanket approval for singing by rote, though, Schiitz Zell indicates that the spirit or heart is critical. People today, like the first singers, should sing the right way, with the right heart. What this means is made more explicit later in the preface.61

What Should Christians Sing?

One of the most complex arguments which Schiitz Zell addresses is the sec- ond, more controversial aspect of the singing controversy: what should Chris- tians sing? In the course of the discussion, she deals with topics often found in hymnbook prefaces, but also contributes some distinctive and fascinating nuances of her own. For example, the organization of Schiitz Zell’s response is partly shaped by her desire to answer several practical questions evidently posed by contemporary lay people, and her sensitivity to lay concerns and the importance of lay ministry is a vital and perhaps unique thread woven through the whole.

No More “Bad” Songs

First Schiitz Zell, like many other reformers, reminds the reader of the reprehensible song situation of the day, and proposes to do something about it.

Since, however, now so many scandalous songs are sung by men and women and also by children throughout the world, songs in which all slander, coquetry, and other scandalous things are spread through the world by young and old -and the world likes to have such things sung!

So it seemed to me a very good and useful thing to do as this man has done, that is, to convey the whole business of Christ and our salvation in song, so that people may thus, enthusiastically and with clear voices, be exhorted regarding their salvation, and the devil with his songs may not have any place in them. Also so that good parents may say to their

60 See Luther, one of the most important models for Schiitz Zell and others. “That it is good and God pleasing to sing hymns is, I think, known to every Christian; for everyone is aware not only of the example of the prophets and kings in the Old Testament who praised God with song and sound, with poetry and psaltery, but also of the common and ancient custom of the Christian church to sing Psalms. St. Paul himself instituted this in I Corinthians 14[:15] and ex- horted the Colossians [3:16] to sing spiritual songs and Psalms heartily unto the Lord so that God’s Word and Christian teaching might be instilled and implanted in many ways,” Luther, Pref- ace to Wittenberg Hymnal , pp. 315-316.

61 See below at nn. 93, 98, 102, 103.

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children: “Up till now we have all sung bad songs, to the scandal (vex- ation) of our souls and our neighbors’ souls.”62

Later in the text Schiitz Zell will give some examples of bad songs, but here she categorizes them briefly as “songs of the devil,” which she contrasts with songs about the work of Christ and our salvation. Practically everyone is sing- ing these dreadful devil’s songs, and thus the need for hymns that sing the gospel is more apparent; on the other hand, if good hymns are sung, there will be no place for the devil’s bad ones.

Particularly noteworthy is Schiitz Zell’s conviction that, by singing enthu- siastically and with clear voices ( mit lustier wcifi und hellen stymmen) , ordinary people are proclaiming the gospel, to themselves and to anyone who hears them. Implicit but significant here is the conviction that singing is a form of lay preaching, a ministry of the priesthood of believers, a theme that is further de- veloped later in the preface and annotations. It also becomes clear why Schiitz Zell tried to choose singable music and “pretty songs” {hibschergsang) - to make the presentation of the message easier to learn and more attractive to hear.63

62 Preface A2r: “Dieweil dann nun so vil schandtlicher Lieder: von mann und frawen: auch den kinden gesungen werden: inn der gantzen welt: inn welchen alle laster: buolerey und anderer schandtlicher ding: den alten und jungen furtragen wirt: und die welt ye gsungen will haben: dunckt es mich ein seer guot unnd nutz ding sein: wie diser mann gethon hat: die gantz handlung Christi und unsers heyls inn gsang zubringen: ob doch die leut also: mit lustiger weifi und hellen stymmen jrs heyls ermanet mochten werden: und der teuffel mit seinem gsang nit also bey jnen statt hette: Damit auch fromme elternn zu yren kinden mochten sagen: wir habend alle bift her bose Lieder gsungen zu ergerung unser und des nechsten seelen See other examples of objec- tions to “bad songs ,” normally with the explicit or implicit proposal to replace them with the hymns offered in the editor’s book. See Erasmus (n. 11), Luther 1524 (n. 44); Thomas Muntzer 1524 (n. 66), Erfurt 1524, Niirnberg 1525, Borchardt Waldis (parable of prodigal son) 1527, Joachim Aberlin 1534, Zwick 1533/4[?] (Wackernagel, pp. 541-543, 545-547, 551, 557); Bucer 1541 (Hubert, Stmfiburger liturgischen Ordnungen , pp. 146, 149). The late medieval text of 1494 cited in n. 22, indicated that the problem was immoral or worldly songs, and this continued to be one part of “bad songs” for Protestants as well, but for many of them there was now also a second category, those which were theologically wrong. Zwick gives this idea the clearest expres- sion: “Und als voll das Bapstum ist falschgeistlicher, abgottischer, eygenniitziger unnd unversten- diger gsang, als voll ist ouch die wait geistloser, lychtfertiger, unreiner und schadlicher lieder, in denen Gott und der nachst geschendet wirt” (Wackernagel, p. 557). Aberlin, unlike the others, gives an actual list of some “bad songs”: “Dann ob ainer schon die summ des alten und newen Testaments fur sich neme zuo singen, so ist sy nit allain nutzlicher und weger, sonder auch wol als kurtz und ring zuolernen als der Berner, Ecken auftfart, Hertzog ernst, der hiirne Sewfrid, auch andere unniitze, langwirige und haillofie lieder und maistergesang (der schandparen, ehrlo- sen und unchristlichen, so ainer oberkait zuoverbieten wol anstiiend, geschwigen) damit man nit allain die zeyt libel angelegt, sonder auch offt und dick bifi zuo den bluotigen kopffen widereinander gesungen hat. Lege pellicanum in Deut. cap. 31 versu 19, et 1 Reg. 2 versu 1. Item 2 Reg. 1. versu 27 et cap. 6 versu. 14,” (Wackernagel, p. 551). Cf. Speratus, n. 85.

63 The contrast of Christ and devil recurs at the end of the preface, in an eschatological con-

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It is also significant that Schiitz Zell expects good parents to recognize both their share in the common responsibility for bad songs, and the social as well as personal consequences. What they have been doing in singing bad songs endangers their own and their neighbors’ salvation, something Schiitz Zell clearly expects her audience will agree that no one would wish to do. If one follows this logic and accepts the premise that bad songs lead to damnation, Schiitz Zell has both cleverly strengthened her argument for replacing bad songs with good, and (she hopes) enlisted her readers’ participation in making such a change, by appealing to a sense of guilt and the strong communal re- sponsibility that was especially characteristic of lay reformers. This corporate ethical perspective, which pervades Schiitz Zell’s thought and marks the Stras- bourg reform of worship more generally, recurs late in the preface.64

The First Lay Objection: No More Songs?

One of the unique things in Schiitz Zell’s argument about the content of sing- ing is the way she envisions the process from the viewpoint of the laity. As noted above, Strasbourg reformers, like others, attempted to suppress liturgical and popular religious songs that were morally or theologically unaccept- able.65 Changes are upsetting to most people, and the citizens of Strasbourg were no exception to this rule.

Schiitz Zell gives expression to the lay objection to the clerical banning of familiar religious songs. Essentially the argument goes something like this: “You say that singing is allowable or good, but you have taken away the old ‘bad songs’ and given us nothing in their place. Isn’t that like saying that we should not sing at all?”

But so that you may not complain: “So may we never sing? Must we become like sticks and stones?” Therefore now sing these songs, which express so admirably God’s love towards us, and exhort us so faithfully not to neglect the salvation offered to us.66

text, below at n. 104; examples of bad songs, at n. 81; on importance of beauty in music, above at nn. 44ff; for lay ministry and preaching, before n. 85, at n. 98.

64 For concern about gemein nutz or “common welfare,” see Chrisman, “The Reformation of the Laity,” pp. 643ff.; Blickle, Communal Reformation, especially pp. 98-101, 181-182. For Strasbourg’s social, ethical orientation, see Bornert, La reforme protestante , p. 5. For Katharina Schiitz Zell, see below at nn. 81, 98 et passim.

65 Cf. above at nn. 17, 21, 23, 27.

66 Preface A2r: “Damit jr euch aber nit zuklagen habendt: dorffen wir auch nymme singen [?] : sollen wir gar holtz und steyn werden [?] : so singen yetzt dise Lieder: welche so trefflich aufl- sprechen: die liebe Gottes gegen uns: und uns so trewlich ermanen: unser angebotten heyl nit zuversumen.” Cf. Zwick’s long argument with Zurich reformers, nn. 14, 59, 62, 102. Miintzer

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Essentially, Schiitz Zell disarms the lay critique by acknowledging its basic jus- tice and providing an appropriate response. It should be remembered that a limited number of approved religious songs were available in Strasbourg when Schiitz Zell published her hymnbook, and most of these were associated with the liturgy and not explicitly adapted for private devotion, so the force of the lay complaint was the greater.67 As usual, she was attentive to the voices of ordinary people and eager to commend the gospel and reform to them, so she offers her book as a substitute for the bad songs which lead to damnation.

Schiitz Zell emphasizes that her songs, by contrast to the earlier ones, will lead to salvation. Having previously summarized the gospel which they are invited to sing as the “whole work of Christ and our salvation,” she adds here that these hymns tell us of the love of God toward us, and exhort us not to lose or neglect the salvation offered to us in Christ. In a sense, the songs are both text and sermon, instruction and exhortation.

The Biblical Content of Christian Song

Schiitz Zell turns to the biblical content of Christian song, and begins by cit- ing scripture to justify the substitution of good songs for bad.

Wherefore also St. Paul teaches us such, in Eph. 5[:3, 4, 18-19] and Col. 3[:16], that we should not allow anyone to hear from us avaricious, insulting words, raillery, or foolish things, and we should not be full of wine but full of the Spirit, and we should exhort one another with Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.68

References to Eph. 5:19 and Col. 3:16 abound in the texts that defend litur- gical singing, or the singing of hymns (though these verses can occasionally be used for the opposite purpose!). To weave the cautions against shameful, foolish language, drunkenness, etc., found in Eph. 5:3-4, 18, into the argu-

uses a phrase similar to the one Schiitz Zell quotes but with a much less complimentary tone. He defends vernacular singing as a way to educate “blockish” peasants out of old superstitions: “ja auch darumb das durch solch gesenge und psalmen die gewissen von larven der kyrchen ab gerissen, und zum wort gottis in der Biblien vorfasset gezeogen werden, und nit so grob und unverstendig wie ein hacke bloch bleyben ” Wackernagel, p. 542; cf. n. 92.

67 It was common for early Protestants to appropriate the resources of public worship for pri- vate devotion, especially since the communal emphasis was understood to permeate both; in fact, the hymnbook Schiitz Zell is proposing for private use was the public liturgy of the Bohemian Brethren. See above at nn. 16-17 for limited Strasbourg repertoire.

68 Preface A2r: “Darumb uns auch solches der heylig Paulus leert: zun Epheser. am v. und Coloss, am iij. Das wir nit sollen von uns lassen horen: geytz: schampere wort: schertz und nar- rende ding: &c. unnd uns nit voll weinfi sauffen: sonder voll geysts werden: und einander er- manen: mit Psalmen und lobgsengen: und gpystlichen Liedernn.”

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ment as Schiitz Zell does is somewhat unusual, although she may be follow- ing Johannes Zwick.69 Combining Eph. 5:19 with the earlier verses from the same chapter, however, obviously makes clear the biblical grounds for substi- tuting good songs for bad, and was the best argument to persuade a lay audi- ence for whom scripture was the authority.

The New Testament passages that Schiitz Zell cites develop the idea of ap- propriate content for Christian songs. The Pauline quotation about “exhort- ing each other with Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” is followed by one from James 5:13, which Schiitz Zell links with the arrangement of hymns in Weisse’s (and her) book.

And St. James says, in the fifth chapter [verse 13], whoever is anxious should pray, and whoever is in good spirits should sing Psalms, that is, all kinds of praise of God. As also this man of God has divided up the songs in his book into eighteen groups of songs about the works of God.70

Schiitz Zell explains the New Testament texts not as justification for singing per se but as evidence for the specific kinds of situations that people face for which they need words, which these hymns can supply. Whether or not Weisse thought of Jas. 5:13 as evidence for his eighteen divisions, Schiitz Zell seems to infer this, or at least uses the idea to explain the organization of the book. Jas. 5:13 speaks of prayer and praise, two of the categories into which Weisse’s hymns are divided, and Schiitz Zell apparently reasons from this par- ticular instance to a general view of the way he arrived at his index.71 What- ever logic lies behind the linking of Jas. 5:13 and the index, it is certain that

69 Almost everyone uses at least one of the two (Eph. 5:19, Col. 3:16; cf. Luther quotation, n. 60); equally popular is I Cor. 14:15 or 16, though this is often intended to support vernacular singing (and liturgy) rather than singing as such. Conrad Grebel and friends used Eph. 5:19 and Col. 3:16 to forbid singing aloud; cf. “Letters to Thomas Miintzer,” Spiritual and Anabaptist Writ- ers, G. H. Williams and A. Mergal, eds. (Philadelphia, 1957), 75. Zwick answers this along with other objections; his preface also uses Eph. 5:4 to argue a similar substitution of biblical songs for bad ones (Wackernagel, pp. 555-558). If the preface was the same in 1533/4 and the extant 1537 version, Schiitz Zell may have known and been influenced by Zwick’s use of Eph. 5:4. Bucer also seems to follow this use of Ephesians in 1541, Hubert, Stmfiburger liturgischen Ordnungen , p. 149. Schiitz Zell seems to use primarily Eph. 5; only the “mutual exhortation” comes from Col 3:16.

70 Preface A2r: “und Sant Jacob sagt am v. cap. Wer anfechtung hab soli betten: und wer guts muts sey: soli Psalmen singen: das ist allerley lob Gotts &c. Wie auch diser Gotts mann sein Buoch inn seinen gsengen getheylt hat: inn achtzehenerley gseng: der werck Gottes.” Zwick also uses James 5:13 but he uses it to argue for the rightness of singing publicly, not for categories of songs (Wackernagel, p. 556).

71 There may be some precedent for this kind of argument in the Constance hymnbook, if the lost 1533/34 version was organized in the same way as the 1540 text. The latter is divided into three sections: Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, corresponding to the three categories of Eph. 5:19. See Leaver, Goostly Psalmes and Spirituall Songs, pp. 39.

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these and other biblical arguments are intended to help substantiate Schiitz Zell’s earlier claim (similar to Weisse’s thought) that this hymnbook is more than just a songbook; it is a book of teaching, prayer, and praise.72

One of the controversial issues regarding the content of Christian singing, whether to use only biblical words (Psalms and canticles) or also additional texts, is more nearly explicit here than anywhere else in Schiitz Zell’s preface, and thus it is useful to digress briefly to explain her justification for publishing something more than the straight biblical words. It should be remembered that in 1533, just the year before Schiitz Zell’s preface was written, Wolfgang Kopflel printed a new edition of the official Strasbourg liturgical books, with a foreword strongly cautioning against the use of “human-made” hymns.73 These official texts provided few songs, however, and Schiitz Zell knew that lay people in Strasbourg felt deprived and were hungry for more to sing. So what should she do?

Schiitz Zell agreed absolutely with the insistence that what Christians sing should be biblical, but she did not insist that the words be taken from the Bible directly; it is sufficient if they express biblical content. Toward the end of her preface, Schiitz Zell refers to Christians singing “Psalms or other things like them.”74 Throughout the preface, she insists on the biblical substance of the hymns she is publishing: Weisse had all the Bible in his heart, New Testa- ment texts demonstrate the variety of different kinds of singing that are ap- propriate to offer to God in various circumstances, the hymns in this book are not just songs but are teaching, prayer, and praise texts. Schiitz Zell never directly addresses the question of singing non-biblical texts, but implicitly she makes it clear that the test is scriptural content, not literalism.75

Having clarified the biblical basis for the content and organization of the hymnbook, Schiitz Zell inserts a pastoral note to explain why she has chosen this particular format for her book.

This book was a concern to me: there were too many songs to be printed

all together; that would be too expensive for people to buy. So I took

the book in hand, for the use and service of children and the poor, and

divided it into several small booklets costing two, three, and four

72 Cf. n. 32 and conclusion: “Got allein zu lob und ehr Und seinn auserwelten zur leer 1st diss biiechlen wol bedacht Aus grund der schrieft: zusammen bracht Siiecht imant der schrieft verstant Der mach sich darinnen bekant Es zeiget ihm christum wol Und wie er sein gemissen sol Verstehts aber einer nicht Der frag / so wirt er unterricht,” Ameln/Weisse, Gesangbuch , Nllr-v.

73 Cf. above at n. 17.

74 Preface A3r; quoted below at n. 98.

75 See Zwick’s explicit and careful defense of biblical content and meaning/spirit against a sim- ple biblical literalism (Wackernagel, p. 557). Note that Kopffel expresses something similar, in a rather hesitant way, in the revised preface of 1537 (n. 17).

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pennies. However, in the first booklet I put a little index of the order and titles of all the songs of the whole book [i.e., titles of the eighteen subheadings], and in the next booklet I indicated what follows in the other.76

This expression of a concern to make a hymnbook affordable for children and the poor is rare, and again the perspective of the lay reformer comes to the fore.77

The Second Lay Objection: Forget the Holy Feasts?

Following this digression about format, Schiitz Zell returns to the issue of the content of Christian singing, and here the second lay objection and Schiitz Zell’s immediate historical context come into clear focus. Essentially the ar- gument is that since the feast days of Christ and the saints are no longer cel- ebrated, these holy times will be forgotten. (It should be remembered that when she published her hymnbook, Sundays were the only holy days; the official hymnbooks did not include special music for feast days until 1537, the year after her fourth and last fascicle appeared.) Schiitz Zell recognized and may have sympathized with the distress of ordinary Strasbourgers over the ab- olition of the church year, so she explains that her hymnbook includes hymns for (certain) feast days.

For there are to be found here many attractive songs about the feast days: the coming and the work of Christ, such as the angelic salutation, Christ- mas, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, and so on, and the true dear saints.

So that many good people may not complain: “the holy remembrances themselves will all be forgotten, if no one ever celebrates the feasts of Christ and the saints.”78

76 Preface A2r-v: “welches Buoch Ich besorgt hab: zu vil sein mit einander zutrucken: den leuten beschwerlich zukauffen am gelt: Darumb hab ich mich (zu dienst und nutz den kinden und armen) gewalts inn disem Buoch gebraucht: und das zertheylt inn etlich kleyne Biiechlein umb ij. iij. iiij. pfenning. Und aber inn disem Ersten ein registerlin hie zugesetzt: die ordnung und Tittel aller Lieder des gantzen Buochs: und ye inn dem nechsten angezeygt: was inn dem Andern folge.”

77 Later parallel in Bucer’s preface 1545, cf. Hubert, Stmftburger liturgischen Ordnungen , p. 147.

78 Preface A2v: “Dann seer vil hibscher gsang von den Festen: der zukunfft unnd handlung Christi: Als vom Engelischenn gruoft: Weinachttag: Ostertag: Hymmelfart: Pfingstag: &c. Und den rechten lieben heyligen hie funden werden: Damit sich auch vil gutter leut nit beklagen mogen: die selben heyligen gedechtnissen: werden all vergessen: so man die tag der Fest Christi und der heyligen nymmen feyre.” One reason people may have missed the holy day songs was that these were a staple of the school repertoire for children or students singing for alms; cf. Niirnberg 1525, n. 87.

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Schiitz Zell’s answer to the second lay objection is that even though the hol- idays are no longer celebrated, the holy occasions are remembered in these attractive hymns (hibscher gsang) . Note, however, that all the holy days for which Schiitz Zell provides hymns, except the last, are Christological feasts, and the final single reference to the saints is clearly reformist in tone: “the true dear saints.” In a sense, this aspect of her work illustrates Schiitz Zell’s me- diating position between clerical reformers and lay Christians. She was per- fectly ready to meet what she regarded as reasonable demands of lay Chris- tians, but she was herself determined to reform traditions that she believed to be theologically wrong, such as any veneration of the saints that might usurp the role of Christ as the sole mediator.79

Proclaiming the Gospel and Bight Honor for the Saints

The right theological understanding of the saints is considerably filled out in the annotations to individual hymns,80 but it also receives some attention in Schiitz Zell’s next comment. At the same time, she gives several examples of the “bad songs” she plans to replace.

Therefore, dear Christian, whoever you are, since until now you have allowed your children and relatives to sing false, scandalous songs at the country dances and elsewhere, and, even much more, on the feasts of Christ and the saints! As on St. John the Baptist’s day, when it would be more fitting for all Christians to be sorrowful that things were in such bad shape in the world then -and are still so, that one who spoke and taught the truth [John the Baptist] had to die for doing so. So now (in response to this clear call which God makes to the world), encourage them [your children and relatives] to sing godly songs in which they are exhorted to seek the knowledge of their salvation.81

Note that the problem of bad songs is both moral and theological. The moral aspect would be more obvious to Schiitz Zell’s contemporaries. No one was likely to be ignorant of the scandalous songs that were popular at dances and

79 Cf. n. 23 on Strasbourg orphans singing to Virgin Mary. Christ as the sole mediator was the “chief point” of the gospel for Schiitz Zell and her husband, and the focal point of Schiitz Zell’s theology; cf. McKee, “Defense of Zwingli, Schwenckfeld, and the Baptists,” pp. 257ff.

80 Cf. below after n. 137.

81 Preface A2v: “Darumb lieber Christ wer du seyest: dieweil du doch dein kind unnd gsind: bifiher wyeste schandtliche lieder (an den reyendentzen und sunst) hast lassen singen: und eben vil mehr auff die Fest Christi und der heyligen: Wie auch auff Sanct Johanns des Teuffers tag: da billich alle Christen mehr trauren solten: das es so iibel inn der welt gestanden: und noch: Das der so die warheyt geredt unnd geleert: hat myessen darumb sterben: So lafi sye doch nun (bey diser hellen Beryeffung: so Gott der welt thut) gottliche Lieder singen: darinn sye ermanet werden: erkantnuB irs heyls zusuochen.”

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other frequently carnivalesque occasions, so Schiitz Zell simply refers to these in passing.

Celebrations of holy days, especially saints’ days and seasonal feasts such as Christmas, New Year’s, Carnival, May, and Midsummer, were often asso- ciated with relaxed enjoyment and games. In Strasbourg as elsewhere in the middle ages, the celebration of John the Baptist’s Eve, which fell on June 24 (more-or-less the summer solstice), was a very lively and sometimes rowdy oc- casion. Various kinds of merry-making, especially the famous “St. John’s Fires,” were traditional. Reformation Strasbourg abolished saints’ days, and tried to stop the practice of lighting “St. John’s Fire” at the mid-summer cel- ebrations, but changing these customs was not easy.82 Thus it is not surpris- ing that Schiitz Zell (who was no more happy than most of the other reform- ers with dancing, fancy clothes, and frivolity83) names the festivities and songs on John the Baptist’s day as a particular example of inappropriate or im- moral behavior.

The theological problem presented by many songs and celebrations for saints’ days would probably be less apparent to Strasbourg laity than the moral issues, so Schiitz Zell treats this point at somewhat greater length. The view of the saints that she rejects is not made explicit here, though it is evident in the annotations to the hymns that the key problem is prayer to the saints rather than only to the trinity.84 In the preface, the point is that true holi- ness, the reason for which saints ought to be remembered and revered, is re- lated to their proclamation of the gospel. Looking at the saints, Christians should be saddened that those who preach the truth must often die for it, because the world rejects the gospel. The text is somewhat condensed, as Schiitz Zell moves quickly from an allusion to the truth for which John the

82 For the list of major festivals and the importance and character of celebrations of St. John’s feast, see Burke, Popular Culture, pp. 24, 180-181, 195, including a quotation from a Lutheran pastor in sixteenth-century Estonia, that St. John’s Eve included “flames of joy over the whole country. Around these bonfires people danced, sang and leapt with great pleasure, and did not spare the big bagpipes . . . many loads of beer were brought . . . what disorder, whoring, fighting and killing and dreadful idolatry took place there,”’ p. 195. For Strasbourg’s difficulties in curtail- ing the celebrations, see BSCMHA , vol. 15 (1892), #3609 for 19 June 1542: “Zu viirsehen dass kein S. Johannsfeiir gemacht werde.”

83 Cf. McKee, KSZ. Two examples from Ein Brieff, A2v, Hlv-H2r.

84 Cf. below at nn. 126ff. It may be noted that Schiitz Zell specifically corrects the adoration of Mary (n. 127) and says nothing about the female saints who were so popular in the later middle ages (nn. 20, 25, 27). She does, however, frequently cite female biblical figures such as Hannah (n. 58) and ordinary Christian women (nn. 90, 93). Her Protestant convictions were apparently stronger than any attachment to female intercessors, but her determination to see women included in the priesthood of believers was equally firm. For more on female imagery, see McKee, KSZ.

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Baptist died, to the new proclamation of the gospel in her own day, the voice of God which has now gone out into all the world. Basically, her point is that good parents who have allowed bad songs in the past should now encourage their children and relatives to sing godly songs which warn or exhort them to seek the knowledge of their salvation in Christ alone.

The unusual thing about this passage is not its Christocentrism, but the fact that Schiitz Zell seems to liken ordinary lay people who sing these songs to the saints who witnessed and died for the same gospel. She certainly obscures the differences between saints and ordinary Christians by emphasizing the gos- pel and salvation they have in common, but there is also a sense that singing gospel songs is proclaiming the gospel, whoever does it, whether high or low. Some other hymnbook prefaces also emphasize the renewed proclamation of the gospel in the sixteenth century, but the preachers they seem to have in mind are the (clerical) reformers who began the renewal of the gospel, or the writers of the hymns. Identifying the right honoring of the saints with appre- ciation for their proclamation of the gospel, and especially with the witnessing (preaching) communion of saints which includes her immediate audience, is Schiitz Zell’s particular contribution. The central focus on the proclamation of the Word as the task of the saints is picked up again in the annotations to the hymns, and Schiitz Zell’s affirmation of the lay Christian witness reappears in this and other writings.85

Who Should Sing, and When and How ?

Schiitz Zell had a rather clear idea of the “singing lay preachers” whom she expected to use her hymnbook, and she did not hesitate to make plain to them their responsibility for proclaiming the gospel, with their hearts and voices, throughout their lives.

Katharina Schiitz Zell’s Audience

Schiitz Zell’s intended audience, those who are to preach by singing these hymns, can be described more-or-less as two concentric circles: literate people who are responsible for households, and all lay Christians who should be able to declare their faith. Repeatedly, Schiitz Zell directly addresses parents or

85 A number of other prefaces express approval for the renewal of biblical teaching/preaching; cf. Luther, Preface to the Wittenberg Hymnal, p. 316, and Styfel’s praise of Luther (n. 54). Preaching and singing were linked in various ways; Paul Speratus published a song warning the emperor and princes against being led astray by the bishops (cf. DKL 1:1, p. 14, 1530/04), and then had to defend this gospel proclamation from the accusation of arousing Germany to a bloodbath (Wackernagel, p. 548). For apostolic preaching, see after n. 137; for lay ministry, see also at nn. 62f., 90, and McKee, KSZ.

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those in charge of household groups. First she reminds “pious parents” that they have previously taught those in their care bad songs, and now should teach them properly, and then she illustrates the cases of good parents/house- holders and irresponsible ones.86 Writers of hymnbook prefaces commonly sought to influence schoolmasters and parents, but Schiitz Zell’s text focuses on the family and the educational duties of Christians for their relatives. This is somewhat unusual for hymnbook forewords, but it is typical of catechisms and other devotional literature intended for home or private use, since there continued to be a strong tradition of family instruction in the faith, and paren- tal responsibility was emphasized by many reformers, even while they also es- tablished institutional frameworks of catechesis.87

It was common for sixteenth-century people to think in terms of house- holds or kinship groups rather than nuclear families, and Protestant reformers were particularly conscious of the obligations of the heads of households toward the whole “little church” with which each was charged.88 Elsewhere

86 The form of address is significant. The first time is the more neutral situation: “fromme elternn zu yren kinden mochten sagen: wir habend alle bifi her bose Lieder gsungen zu ergerung unser und des nechsten seelen” with the implication that now they will do better by adopting Katharina Schiitz Zell’s hymns (Preface A2r). The second time the parents/responsible people are addressed in the second person (you, yours) when Schiitz Zell exhorts her readers with the ex- pectation of their positive response of teaching “dein kind und gsind” rightly (A2v-3r). Then, when she describes those who reject her counsel and continue to teach bad songs, the address is in the third person: “ir kind und gsind” and the conclusion is eternal damnation (A3r-v). See similar language in Bucer, 1541: “weh alien, die jren kindern, gesinde und wem sie es zuo wehren haben, hierinn zuosehen und -losen!” But Bucer is essentially addressing clergy and parents (and presumably teachers), the whole community, not just parents (Hubert, Stmfiburger liturgischen Ordnungen , pp. 146, 148f).

87 Prefaces that express concern for children’s education: Heidelberg 1494 (n. 22), Luther (n. 44); Erfurt 1524, Paul Rebhun 1536 (Wackernagel, pp. 543, 555). Others combine this with an admonition to schoolmasters (and sometimes parents); the foreword to the Niirnberg 1525 songbook is full and explicit: “Es haben sich bifi hie her die teiitschen schulmaister die kinder auff die Creiitzwochen zum hochsten beflissen, lose lieder und heyligen gesang zuleren, in welchen das wolgefallen der eltern, und zeytliches lob und aygner nutz mer gesucht ist worden, dann gottes eer und besserung der jugent, . . . Dann wo gottes eer und liebe des nechsten ver- gessen wirdt, volgt alfibald der schendtlich aygen nutz, der dann in verderbnufi fliert jung unnd alt. . . . Darumb bitten wir trewlich, eltern und Schulmayster, das sie hierinnen ires beruffs trewlich und emsig warten wollen, und ein stetigs einsehen haben, dann Got wirdt warlich von in rechen- schafft fordern. Und teglich, im lesen, schreyben, und singen, dise nachfolgende Psalmen, geyst- lich lieder, fur halten, und sie darinnen iieben, und alfidan sie in die kirchen fiieren und da mit einer gantzen gemain Got loben, und bitten . . .,” Wackernagel, p. 545. As Bucer indicates in the 1541 preface to the Strasbourg liturgy-songbook, this text was intended to advance “das got- selig gesang inn den christlichen versamlungen, schuolen und lerheusern” (Hubert, Stmfiburger liturgischen Ordnungen , p. 147) . For devotional literature, see Althaus, Forschungen zur Evange- lischen Gebetslitemtur , part 1.

88 For example, in Luther’s Small Catechism (1529), the first section is headed “The ten com-

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Schiitz Zell calls herself a “church mother” and means this to apply more widely than her own household; her conscious intent in preparing this hymn- book was also clearly communal. Nonetheless, her frequent language about parents teaching “children and relatives” may have carried a specifically maternal, autobiographical note. Schiitz Zell’s own two children were almost certainly dead when she wrote this preface, the second one probably quite re- cendy; her heart was particularly drawn toward mothers’ concern for their own children, even as her own parental care was increasingly being extended beyond her household.89

The Priesthood of Believers and Women’s Vocations

Families and the poor might be her special concern, but the scope of Schiitz Zell’s interest was not restricted to any one group. In essence, this lay woman reformer intended her hymnbook for the whole priesthood of believers, espe- cially those normally designated “laity.” In particular, Schiitz Zell wanted these lay Christians to know that their daily lives were religious vocations, and this conception of vocation was something they should teach to others.

And teach your children and relatives to know that they do not serve human beings but God when they faithfully (in the faith) keep house, obey, cook, wash dishes, wipe up and tend children, and such like work which serves human life, and also (while doing that very work) they can turn to God with the voice of song.90

mandments, in the plain form in which the head of the family should teach them to his house- hold,” and a similar formula introduces every other section except one (on confession); cf. Janz, Three Reformation Catechisms , pp. 189, 193, 196, 200, 205, 207, 209. In analyzing the urban Ref- ormation as a theology of gender, Lyndal Roper, The Holy Household: Women and Morals in Ref- ormation Augsburg (Cambridge, 1989), gives particular attention to the way ideas of the craftshop shaped the Protestant understanding of family/household/gender (see especially pp. 1-4). For defining “household,” “kinship,” and “family,” see J.-L. Flandrin, Families in Former Times (Cam- bridge, 1979), 4-10.

89 Example of “church mother” and “one who draws forward/supports schools” in n. 3 above. One of Schiitz Zell’s two children died in early February 1527; the date of the death of the other is much less clear, but it appears from her letter to Ambrose Blaurer 30 September 1534 that Schiitz Zell is mourning the loss of her own children as she sympathizes with the Blaurers’ hopes for a baby. However, loss of her own children did not mean an empty nest; Schiitz Zell not only took in temporary refugees and guests all her life, but in later life she seems to have in- formally adopted the children of relatives and other poor orphans. Her work in the parish was in part an extension of this household concern. For more development of Schiitz Zell’s self- understanding, household, etc., see McKee, KSZ.

90 Preface A2v-3r: “unnd leer dein kind und gsind: das sye wissen: das sye nit den men- schen: sunder Gott dienen: So sye trewlich (im glauben) haufihalten: gehorsamen: kochen: schiisseln weschen: kinder wischen unnd warten: unnd der gleichen werck: so zum menschen leben dienen: und sich inn den selben wercken mogen zu Gott keren: auch mit der stymm: des gsangs.”

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All of the ordinary unglamorous work of a home which serves daily life can be a service to God, and in the midst of that busyness the Christian can still turn to God in song. Note that these examples are drawn from the household work normally done by women and children and that, while most reformers who address households usually name fathers or other male leaders, Schiitz Zell never gives priority to the male parent. The emphasis here is primarily on the variety of mundane tasks in a single calling; in a later example the focus seems to be on the different callings.91 A concern for the laity is not uncom- mon in hymnbook prefaces, and some also speak of the importance of their being able to sing scripture about their ordinary business, but many do not treat the common people with the respect and understanding that Schiitz Zell accords them, and none give women and their work such full or sympathetic attention.92

Schiitz Zell elevates the value of the lay vocation in a sharply worded but humorous attack on the daily prayer offices of monasticism, the traditional religious vocation.

Aiid teach them that in doing this, they please God much better than any priest, monk, or nun in their incomprehensible choir song, as they lifted up some foolish devotion of useless lullaby to the organ. A poor mother would so gladly sleep, but at midnight she must rock the wailing baby, and sing it a song about godly things. That is called, and it is, the right lullaby (provided it is done in the faith) that pleases God, and not the organ or the organist. He is no child, and you may not silence Him with piping and singing! But silence yourself; He requires something else.93

Again, the key images are feminine; the exemplary lay vocation Schiitz Zell names is a weary mother singing to her wailing child at midnight. There is a not-so-subtle note of religious polemic expressed in the tart reminder that

91 See at n. 98. See McKee, KSZ, for further development of feminine imagery and language.

92 Concern for ordinary people in Erfurt 1524, Speratus 1526, Borchardt Waldis 1527 (par- able of prodigal son: n. 98), Leipzig 1537 (Wackernagel, pp. 543, 546, 550, 559). Miintzer is an example of discourtesy to the laity he was trying to serve: “dann man die arme grobe Chris- tenheyt nicht so bald auffrichten kan wo man nicht das grobe unvorstendige volck seiner heuchley mit deutschen lobsengen entgrobet .” Aberlin in 1534 describes the knowledge of the Psalms among ordinary artisans “more than 400 [600] years ago” but does not seem to have quite such high hopes for his own day. (Wackernagel, p. 542, 550).

93 Preface A3r: “Das sye darinnen vil bafi Gott gfallen: dann keyn PfafF: Miinch: oder Clos- terfraw inn jrem unverstendigpn Chorgsang: wie man auch etwan thorechte andacht gehebt hat: des unniitzen kindelwagpns auff der orgel: Ein arme muoter so gern schlieff: unnd aber zu mit- temacht muofi das weynent kindel wagen : jm also ein Lied von gotlichen dingen singt: Das heys- set und ist das recht kindel wagen (so es geschicht im glauben) das gfellt Gott: und nicht die orgel oder der orgler: er ist keyn kindt: darfFest jn nicht geschweygen mit pfeiffen und singen: sonder dich selbs: er erfordert ein anders.”

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God is not a child to be hushed with pipes and singing- it is the clerical singers who should be silent instead; God requires something other than these or- gans, organists, pipes, and songs.

Attacks on the monastic daily office and especially its incomprehensible lan- guage are generally common, and often found also in hymnbook prefaces.94 Schiitz Zell’s use of the word unverstendigen (incomprehensible) is somewhat ambiguous. She certainly means that the laity do not understand what is sung, and since throughout the preface she repeatedly makes a point of the value of singing to edify others, this would be a serious charge. In addition, Schiitz Zell may well mean (as others said) that the singers themselves do not (all) comprehend their own prayers, an equally serious indictment, since reformers generally agreed that Christians should not parrot words but undertand what they are saying in prayer.95

This is the only point at which the issue of the language of worship is made explicit. Schiitz Zell seems to take for granted the appropriateness of vernac- ular hymns; fundamental to Protestantism was the demand for intelligibility in worship, and as a lay person who probably knew very little Latin, Schiitz Zell would have been particularly glad to have hymns in the language of the laity. It is significant, however, that she points out the incomprehensibility of the language of the daily office, which monks and nuns as well as priests sang. One reason for this is no doubt the fact that she is concerned about in- telligent piety.

However, there is also almost certainly a feminist undercurrent, since a monastic vocation was the only “religious” calling previously open to women, and one of which Schiitz Zell as a woman was very conscious. As a number of scholars have recendy pointed out, nuns were often far more loyal to their religious orders than were monks, and throughout Schiitz Zell’s lifetime Stras- bourg continued to have several strong convents.96 Yet, Schiitz Zell herself held a markedly negative view of the women religious whom she knew, and

94 Examples: Miintzer 1524 (n. 92), Erfurt 1524 (Wackernagel, p. 541, 542). Erfurt 1524 is one of the most virulent: “Undter vilen mifibreuchen bifi her durch vill hochgelarte und erfarner der heyligen geschrifft angetzeiget, yst ffeylich ym grundt der warheyt, dyser nicht der geringesten eyner, welchen unser Tempel knecht, und des teuffels Corales, fur Gottes dynst hoch auffgeputzt haben. Als nemlich, das sye allein den gantzen tag ym chor gestanden seyn, unnd nach artt der Priester Baal mit undeutlichem geschrey gebrullet haben, unnd noch yn Stifft kirchen und klostern brullen, wie die Walt esel, zu eynem tauben Gott. Nicht alleyn zu nachteyl yhr selbert, dyweil sie auch selbert oft nit verstehen, was sye syngen oder lesen, sonder auch der gantzen Christlichen gemeyn.” Schiitz Zell is moderate by comparison!

95 Concern for edifying others in language of exhortation and teaching, at n. 62, and for the good of neighbors, at n. 98. See Erfurt 1524, n. 94 (clergy did not understand) ; Miintzer, n. 92 (laity). Zwick, n. 62, uses word “unverstendigen” in a similar ambiguous fashion as Schiitz Zell.

96 For discussion of the continuing strength of women monastics, see Merry E. Wiesner,

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distanced herself from them. One of her earliest publications, shortly after her own marriage to Matthew Zell, was a defense of clerical marriage, and the Zells demonstrated a partnership of ministerial vocation which clearly stood near the center of Schiitz Zell’s own self-understanding. Thus it is not surprising that Schiitz Zell explicitly elevates the role of a lay Christian mother above that of a nun (as well as male clergy), thus emphasizing that a religious vo- cation is within the reach of every woman. She knew that her readers still had other models available, and she threw the weight of her own convictions into her teaching, though (as she makes evident later in the preface) even here she maintains a balance.97

When Should Christians Sing?

After rejecting the monastic daily office, Schiitz Zell turns to that “other” which God requires. It appears that she does not reject the idea of some kind of “daily office,” but in Protestant fashion she transfers it to the ordinary Chris- tian and loosens the timeframe.

[God requires something else.] But the seven holy times, Mass, vespers, and Matins, will be sung thus: the artisan at his work, the maidservant at her dishwashing, the farmer and the vinedresser on the farm, and the mother with the wailing child in the cradle -they use such praise, prayer, and teaching songs, Psalms or other things like them, provided it is all done in the faith and knowledge of Christ, and they devoudy order their whole lives with all faithfulness and patience toward everyone.98

“Ideology Meets the Empire: Reformed Convents and the Reformation” in Germania Illustrata: Essays on Early Modem Germany Presented to Gerald Strauss , A. C. Fix and S. C. Karant-Nunn, eds. (Sixteenth Century Essays and Studies, 1992, vol. 18), 181-195. For Strasbourg, see Abray, People’s Reformation, pp. 42, 118-119, 125. Chrisman, “The Reformation of the Laity,” pp. 638- 640, gives examples of both sides: women (and men) arguing for relatives to leave their monastic orders, and answers, especially from women, defending their monastic vocations. Cf. Roper, n. 88, for family model developed as Protestant alternative to convents.

97 Schiitz Zell expresses a negative opinion of women monastics in Ein Brief, F2v. Her de- fense of clerical marriage and her own in particular, Entschuldigung . . . fiir M. Matthes Zellen , was written early in 1524 and published in the autumn of that year. Throughout her writings, especially in Ein Brief, Schiitz Zell talks of her marriage and the importance of that partnership vocation. See McKee, KSZ, for discussion of Schiitz Zell on women’s religious vocations, her self- understanding in partnership marriage, and feminism. See below at n. 103.

98 Preface A3r: “der seligen syben gezeyt: Messz: Vesper und Mettin: so also gsungen werden: Der handtwercks gsell ob seiner arbeyt: Die dienstmagt ob jrem schisselweschen: Der acker und rebmann uff seinem acker: und die muoter dem weinenden kind inn der wiegen: sollich Lob: Gebett und Leer gseng braucht: Psalmen oder andere jrs gleichen: so es alles gschiecht im glauben und erkantnufi Christi: unnd jr gantz leben gottselig anrichten inn aller trew und gedult gegen yederman.” Note that in sixteenth-century German, there are very few full stops; the effect is a little like a modern run-on sentence punctuated only with commas. Thus, a phrase like that here

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First there is a somewhat cryptic reference to “the seven holy times, Mass, vespers, and matins”

One of the hymns in the book makes it clear that what Schiitz Zell prob- ably means here by “the seven blessed times” is the association of particular hours: midnight, the first hour of the morning, the third hour, the sixth hour, the ninth hour, vesper time, and evening, with the passion of Christ." One reason for the reference to the “seven blessed times” is no doubt related to the common lay desire to have an equivalent for the daily cycle of monastic pray- ers, but changing the connotation from monastic to Christological changes the context and (potentially) opens the seven times to all of Christ’s disciples. The three times specifically named: Mass, vespers, and matins, ma^ be noted here because they were traditionally the most important for devout but work- ing lay people, and because they were practiced in a new, strongly communal way, in Protestant communities like Strasbourg.100 These three times, i.e., the Lord’s Testament (Supper), matins, and vespers, are also among the times for which there are specific hymns in Weisse’s and Schiitz Zell’s hymnbook.

The book also gives hymns for other times of the day, such as mealtimes and bedtime, which would pick up again the theme of the “seven holy times.”101 However, this phrase probably has less to do with transferring specific liturgical prayer times to the lay context than with the idea that Chris- tians should pray throughout their days, since Schiitz Zell goes on to describe a series of lay Christians singing about their ordinary work: washing dishes, farming, tending children. Again, the “praise, prayer, and teaching” theme re- curs as a description for Christian songs (and Weisse’s hymns), and Christians

about the various artisans may be related both to the one before (the seven blessed times) and to the one following (“sollich Lob: . . .”), in a kind of flow of consciousness fashion. See the introduction by Brochardt Waldis 1527 to his parable of the prodigal son for one of the rare men- tions of women’s work: “dat alle mynschen, de sick Christlikes namens rhomen, mit der schrifft ummegingen, dat alle handtwercks lude by ohrem arbeyde, de Buer hynder der ploch, de dresscher ynn der schunen, de olden wyver by dem Spynwocken, de kynder up der straten, van Gade und synem worde, sungen, fleden, und trachteden . . (Wackernagel, p. 546).

99 Cf. p. H4v in section on Wandel und Leiden Christi, in Appendix Two. This was evidently not an unusual idea; in a popular late medieval German catechism, first published in 1470 and fre- quently reprinted, Chapter 26 is entitled “The Our Father and the Hail Mary, and then the prayers for the canonical hours, for those who do not know Latin.” Prayers focusing on the passion of Christ are given for prime, terce, sext, none. Cf. Janz, Three Reformation Catechisms , pp. 88-90.

100 Miintzer cites these same three times both in speaking of medieval clerical offices and of the German offices that he proposed for laity (Wackernagel, p. 541). For contemporary Strasbourg practice, see Bornert, La reforme protestante , pp. 491-495.

101 See Appendix Two, section 12: “Sunderliche gsang auff die tagzeiten” has subsections for morning/on rising, at table, after eating, vespertime, evening before sleeping (Zlv, 2v, 4r, 5r, 6v, 7r, Aalr). See also section 18 on “Testament des Herren” (beginning Dd5r).

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are told to sing Psalms or the like, in faith and the knowledge of Christ, and to order their lives for the benefit of their neighbors.

How Should Christians Sing?

One of the important motifs of Schiitz Zell’s preface and annotations, ex- pressed most clearly in this passage but also woven through the whole text, is the emphasis on faith and the spirit in which Christians sing and live. Schiitz Zell seems to be cautioning that both singing and daily living must be done in a certain relationship with Christ and one’s neighbors, in order for the prayer and praise to be acceptable to God. Elsewhere Schiitz Zell makes plain that by the right relationship she means the characteristic Protestant justification by faith through grace. Here imglauben (in the faith) serves as a kind of shorthand, though the content of the faith and knowledge of Christ are more fully developed in Schiitz Zell’s annotations to the hymns.102

This question of the spirit in which the Christians sing represents a crucial issue for Schiitz Zell. For example, when she contrasts the mother’s vocation with the nun’s or the monk’s or priest’s, she makes it plain that singing to a wailing baby pleases God better than monastic prayer, when the lullaby is an appropriate text sung in the faith. Implied is the possibility that the mother is no better than a cleric if she does not act in faith.103 Indirectly but no doubt intentionally, Schiitz Zell provides a very gende balance to her criticism of monastic piety; lay Christians are not exalted above the traditional clergy simply by being lay, but by acting in faith. Faith and the spirit of prayer are fundamental.

Schiitz Zell’s reminder that Christians should order their lives faithfully in relationship to their neighbors is somewhat elusive, but it is probably meant to cover several points. Most generally, the love of the neighbor is linked with the worship of God (singing in the faith and knowledge of Christ), a kind of “echo” of the two great commandments. It is very likely that Schiitz Zell in- tended her readers to remember that their teaching role as heads of house- holds, representing love of the neighbor, is as much a part of their vocation as their own individual singing, expressing the worship of God. Christians are to sing praise and proclaim the gospel; they are also to live responsibly with

102 Examples are indirect (not phrases such as “justified by faith alone”); most often they are expressed negatively: “not by works or merit” (e.g., ms. letter 19 October 1553, llv). See McKee, KSZ. Im jjlauben appears three times in Preface A3r. See below at nn. 120f., 126f., for Christo- logical emphasis. Concern for combining spirit and words is expressed in several other prefaces, especially Augsburg 1530 (citing Isa. 29:13), and more fully developed in Zwick’s argument with the Zurich “Anabaptists” who insisted that one should sing only in the heart (Wackernagel, pp. 549, 556).

103 See above at nn. 93ff., n. 98.

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their neighbors, particularly their children and relatives, which includes teach- ing them rightly. One of the fascinating things here is that both command- ments, worship of God and love of neighbor, are fulfilled by this singing of biblically-based hymns.

The Fruit of Faith or Its Opposite

Practical as always, Schiitz Zell thus comes back full circle, to the issue of an objective choice between good and bad songs and speech, and the eschatolog- ical fruits of such a choice.

These [those who sing and act in faith] will also praise God with and in Christ the everlasting Priest, with His angels, before His [God’s] throne. But the others who only use scandalous knavish songs and rot- ten, wanton sayings, and so forth, and who have let their children and relatives be taught these, and sing and say them, they will have to weep, wail, and gnash their teeth forever with the devil. Here let each one choose which one he wills; he will receive final judgment according to that choice. But I wish for all people knowledge of the good, and ever- lasting salvation. Amen.104

Again, as early in the preface, Schiitz Zell points to the absolute contrast be- tween Christ and the devil, and links the hymns that she is offering to Stras- bourg Christians to their decision for or against God. This eschatological note is rather unusual in a hymnbook preface -it would be more appropriate in a sermon, and may suggest that Schiitz Zell had an exaggerated view of her own role.

These words should be seen in context, however. Schiitz Zell is applying the for-or-against God not to any writing of her own but to a collection of texts that she regards as plainly biblical in content. In her eyes, this hymnbook is much more than a songbook; it is a collection of sermons, a prayer, praise, and teaching book, a proclamation of “the work of Christ and our salvation”— and therefore it shares (in derivative fashion) the authority of the Bible. Choos- ing and teaching this biblical material in place of the old scandalous songs is a life or death matter. The concluding prayer that all people will come to knowledge of the good and to eternal salvation is a fervent expression of

104 Preface A3r-v: “Solche werden auch Gott: mit und inn Christo dem ewigen Priester mit seinen Englen ewigklich loben vor seinem stuol: So die andern: welche nur schantliche buoben lieder: unnd feyge muotwillige spriich: &cet. gebraucht und jr kind unnd gsind haben lassen leeren: singpn und sagen: mit dem Teuffel ewig myessen weynen: heiilen und zeenklaffen. Hie nemm yegklicher an welches er woll: nach dem wiirt er das end urtheyl empfahen. Ich winsch aber alien menschen: erkantnufi des guoten: und das ewig heyl. Amen.”

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Schiitz Zell’s lifelong vocation as a “fisher of people.”105 As a prayer for the effectiveness of the biblical sermons-in-song which are the substance of the hymnbook, these words also form a fitting transition to the body of the book, Weisse’s hymns annotated by Schiitz Zell.

The Annotations and Katharina Schutz Zell’s Catechetical Instruction

Annotating Hymnbooks and Prayerbooks

One of the most intriguing aspects of Schutz Zell’s hymnbook, the annota- tions of the hymns, fills out the picture of the lay reformer’s program to pro- vide a biblical prayer, praise, and teaching book for ordinary Christians.

Hymnbooks

It was not unusual for hymnbooks to include some very brief remarks about the meaning or use of a particular piece. For example, in Luther’s Wittenberg Hymnbook of 1529, there are occasional informative comments, e.g., “A Christmas song for children,” or instructive notes, e.g., “A fine spiritual song, how the sinner comes to grace.” The scattered notes in Weisse’s hymnbook are similar; e.g., “About the presentation of Christ in the temple” for a hymn about the circumcision, or “The following song will be sung at the burial of children” to introduce a funeral hymn.106 Such instructive remarks were prob- ably the exception rather than the rule, however, because most hymn collec- tions were intended for liturgical or school contexts in which the learned leaders would guide the use of the music.

Texts intended for private use, for the laity, might have more explanatory material, somewhat like the Bible annotations that were so popular in this period. In fact, notes in vernacular Bibles are a good parallel, since among the most important occasions for explanations are those situations in which ma- terial is new to the reader, or the interpretation has changed.107 Much of the content of Protestant religious music, as of Protestant translations and inter-

105 Cf. Ein Briejf, A3r, for the reference to “fisher of people” and McKee, KSZ, for full dis- cussion of Schutz Zell’s understanding of her vocation.

106 Jenny, Luther, Zwingli, Cabin , pp. 47, 81: Luther’s #4: “Ein Kinderlied auf die Weihnacht Christi” for “Vom Himmel hoch,” and #18: “Ein fein geistlich Lied, wie der Sunder zur Gnade kommt” for “Nun ffeut euch, lieben Christen gmein.” Weisse in Gesangbuch , C2v, M5r (=F3v, Bb5v in Schutz Zell; cf. Appendix Two).

107 Maiginal or interlinear explanatory notes were common in medieval Bibles used by schol- ars, and later these Latin “glossed Bibles” were also printed. With the reforming movements of the sixteenth century came an explosion of annotated Bibles, especially Protestant vernacular ones.

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pretations of the Bible, was new or transformed from earlier religious songs. Especially where changes were subtle or old language was used in a new way, interpretation was essential, particularly for lay people. As songbooks came to be used as private devotional books, more catechetical material was added; for example, the 1533 edition of Luther’s hymnbook included more instruc- tive headings than earlier books, plus collects (prayers), and woodcuts, as an aid to devotion.108 Schiitz Zell was among the first reformers to give exten- sive annotation in a hymnbook, and her efforts (more consistent than most editors’) make clear the catechetical dimension of her purpose in publishing.

Brunfels’ Prayerbook

Before considering Schiitz Zell’s annotations in detail, it is helpful to look at the annotated collection of biblical prayers edited by Otto Brunfels, men- tioned above. In purpose, this Biblisch Bettbouchlin is one of the closest par- allels to Schiitz Zell’s hymnbook, and certainly the most important private prayerbook to appear in the early Strasbourg reformation. Published in Latin and German, the Biblisch Bettbouchlin was frequently reprinted and translated; it was clearly a very popular prayerbook, easily accessible to laity. The book contains 138 prayers from the Bible: 107 from the Old Testament (including the Apocrypha), 30 from the New, plus the Te Deum , the only non-biblical text in the collection.109

Brunfels introduces each prayer with a short note. In the early sections this usually names the speaker (s), the occasion or situation, and the biblical book and chapter.110 Some notes, especially those in the section on the Psalms, give (instead of the author) the character of the person who would speak this prayer, e.g., a sinner, someone in trouble, or so on. Sometimes neither author nor contemporary speaker is actually named, though both are obvi- ous, and the note focuses on the contents of the prayer. Many of these prayer

108 Das Khyfsche Gesangbuch 1533, K. Ameln, ed. (Kassel, 1983). Some comments are as sim- ple as “Die Zehen gepot Gottes lange,” fl8. Others are more complex “Ein ausdermassen fein Christlich und kunstlich lied/ dar inn ein hiiebsch gesprech ist/ Christi und des Siienders/ und wie endlich der siiender von Christo gnade erlangt. Auffs erste fehet der suender an/ und klagt sein not/ Christus antwort drauff &c. fl09. The theological agenda is less clear than in Schiitz Zell’s book, perhaps because Luther expected most people using his hymnbook to be guided by clergy.

109 Brunfels, Biblisch Bettbouchlin , Alr-7r (index). There are seven sections: 1) Prayers for the Sins of the People, 2) Prayers in Time of Trouble and Anfechtung and for One’s Own Personal Sin, 3) Thanksgivings, Blessings, and Praise to God the Lord, 4) Prayers for the Sustaining of Life, 5) Some Devotional Prayers drawn from David’s Psalms to God, 6) Some Short Little Prayers, and 7) Five Special Excellent Prayers to be Prayed Daily.

110 Ibid. pp. [lv]: “Und da das volck murmelet wider Gott/ Aaron/ und Mosen/ bette aber Moses fur sye vor dem Herren. Numeri.xiii.” 17r (xvii): “Gebett Judith/ zuo erhaltung Stett/ land und leiit vor dem Tyrannen Holoferne. Judit.ix.”

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notes on the Psalms are expressed in the first person, as an aid to devotional application, while the comments on other prayers are more “objective” or impersonal.111

Marc Lienhard points out that Brunfels carefully avoids taking any strong theological position in the annotations to the prayers; the texts are supposed to speak for themselves. As noted above, there is some indication of theolog- ical orientation in the preface, e.g., an objection to any mechanical repetition of prayers, and rejection of the intercession of the saints. Lienhard comments that Brunfels apparently did not have much interest in the institutional or cor- porate expression of prayer; one prayed for others but not necessarily with them. One of the interesting things about Brunfels’ preface or “exhortation to prayer” is that it appeared only in the German version of the book, but not the Latin form intended for an international audience. 112 Presumably the theological direction was fitting for the local lay audience, but the Latin text itself should be open to a wider confessional spectrum of readers. Is there a hint here of a split between lay and learned, or only a desire to be useful even to an audience that might despise Protestant heresy, or something of both?

Brunfels and Katharina Schiitz Zell

Schiitz Zell was certainly acquainted with Brunfels, though she does not seem to have been friends with him in the way she was with many other Strasbourg reformers. His book, which was apparently directed to an audience similar to the one Schiitz Zell wanted to address, may well have been suggestive when she planned the format of her hymnbook. Like Brunfels and unlike most hymnbook editors, Schiitz Zell had in mind an audience of ordinary people who would need guidance, and thus she tried to give fairly consistent com- ments, so that an independent reader could make good use of the book.113

Before examining Schiitz Zell’s annotations in detail it may be useful to

111 Ibid., p. 79r (lxxix): “Das der Herr selb/ uns flier/ regier / leeren und leyte uff sein weg / zuo wandlen in seinen gebotten und Evangplio. damit wir nit durch menschen leer und satzun- gen verfiiert werden. Ps. cxix.”

112 Marc Lienhard, “Prier au XVIC siecle: Regards sur le Biblisch Bettbiichlin du Strasbourgeois Othon Brunfels,” Revue d’histoire et de philosophic religieuses 66 (1986): 46-55. See above at n. 27.

113 Schiitz Zell mentions Brunfels only once in her extant writings; in a list of the writers an- thologized in Castellio’s De haereticis non comburendis (Basel, 1554), cf. Schiitz Zell, Ein Brieff. \ Elr. Schiitz Zell speaks frequently of other Strasbourg reformers, e.g., Capito, Hedio, Bucer, as well as many who passed through the city. Cf. McKee, KSZ. Brunfels may have modeled his comments on the titles of the Psalms, to which his preface explicitly refers, Biblisch Bettbouchlin, Bb6r: “Also ist in vilen Psalmen/ die iiberschrifft und titel haben ad victoriam/ invitatorium/ dz ist/ das die selben gebett ob sye gleich weniger wort seind/ doch anreytzung und bewegung den hertzen geben etwas guots zuo gedencken oder begpren.” Schiitz Zell makes no such remark, but she also may have had the Psalms in mind.

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make a brief summary comparison of Brunfels’ and her attitudes as seen in their books. Both are clearly Protestant, e.g., in their insistence on the spirit of the one who prays, and the rejection of the cult of saints, but Brunfels man- ifests this stance almost solely in his preface, while Schiitz Zell carries it over into her annotations. Although she generally avoids polemic in the notes, pre- ferring in a devotional work to state the positive interpretation, Schiitz Zell is more willing than Brunfels to take a stand for a particular theological posi- tion; the catechetical purpose is much more marked in her work. She regarded the hymns in her book as clearly biblical, but not necessarily completely self- explanatory. Like the editors of vernacular Bibles, Schiitz Zell apparently felt the need to be sure that the users of her book clearly distinguished the right teaching from misconceptions that they might have carried over from earlier wrong teaching. Another difference between Brunfels and Schiitz Zell, evi- dent in both prefaces and annotations, is the context of the prayers: individual or communal. Although she certainly believed that individuals should pray, Schiitz Zell was much more firmly committed to the community and to cor- porate worship, whether in the liturgy or in the family, than Brunfels appeared to be.

Schiitz Zell’s hymn annotations are thus distinctive, if not in a class by them- selves, and worth a closer examination. Except in one instance (noted be- low),114 she retained any remarks by Weisse, but the latter were both ex- tremely rare and only in a very few instances theologically important.115 Thus, one thing that Schiitz Zell does is provide many more notes; she also gives much fuller instruction, both simple information and theological direction, and suggests the appropriate attitudes for those who use these hymns in praise, prayer, and teaching.

Katharina Schiitz Zell’s Annotations on the First Three Books

In Schiitz Zell’s hymnbook not every hymn begins with a comment, but the great majority do. The early sections on the incarnation, birth, circumcision, and epiphany have almost no notes.116 This is natural, since the headings of

114 Substitution see at nn. 128-129. Hereafter comments from Weisse, Gesangbuch , will be noted only by page numbers, as also with Schiitz Zell; references to hymns will be taken from Schiitz Zell. In one case, Weisse has “ein anders” (E7r) and Schiitz Zell a substantive remark (L7r); once Weisse adds a few more insignificant words: “werde das nachfolgende lied gesungen” (M5r).

115 Weisse has headings to designate most of the eighteen divisions, but only a handful on texts (at most fourteen), and many of these are subheadings in the section on prayers for times of day, or fairly obvious; see Appendix Two comparing Schiitz Zell’s comments with Weisse’s. A handful of Weisse’s comments have particular theological significance: on the Virgin Mary (before n. 127), the Lord’s Testament/Supper (before n. 130), and burial (M2v = Bb2r in Kath- arina Schiitz Zell).

116 Besides the headings and a few words on epiphany taken over from Weisse, there are only two brief comments (A8r, B3r).

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the sections are a form of identification, and the major gospel stories of the life of Christ were generally known. The next sections: ministry and suffering/ passion, resurrection, and ascension, and the following section on the Holy Spirit, are mosdy annotated, though there are some exceptions.117

Many of these annotations inform the reader/singer about the content of the hymns. For example, “The story of the resurrection of Christ, out of the evangelists” (K3r); “A lovely song, with what glory God the Father trans- figured His Son” (Nlr) ; or “A joyous spiritual song to sing in the Easter season” (M6r).118 Some particularly highlight biblical references. For example, “A spiritual song out of the gospel of Matt. 21, about the vineyard” (F8r); or “A spiritual song from the gospel of John, chapters 11 and 12, about Lazarus, and the Pharisees’ jealousy of Jesus” (G2v); or “The story of the sending of the Holy Spirit, from the Acts of the Aposdes, chapter 2” (N4v).

A comparison of the comments with the hymns indicates that Schiitz Zell is pointing out a central feature of a hymn, not the whole text, but there is no real confusion for the reader. The hymn “on the Vineyard” interweaves this parable with aspects of the passion, but since the heading for this whole sec- tion is “Ministry and Suffering/Passion ,” it was sufficient to point out the locus of the parable (part of Christ’s ministry) for lay people who might not know where to find it, and the passion story would be clear enough. Sometimes the biblical reference is not specific, e.g., “A meditation from the prophets about the suffering of Christ” (J2v). This note is probably based on the first line of the text, but supported by the rest of the content; a reference to Isaiah’s proph- ecy of suffering [the servant theme], is extended by a number of other Old Testament allusions about lost sheep and the inadequacy of animal blood and the necessity of [Christ’s] own.119

Many notes also give a theological and/or practical orientation to the infor- mation. Examples include: “A thanksgiving to God the Father for the sacrifice of Christ” (H5v); “How Christ overcame death and brought back life” (L3r); and “A prayer hymn to Christ, that He would faithfully fulfil His heavenly office for His people” (N4r). Many of the comments also implicitly instruct Christians about proper responses: “An exhortation that we should follow Christ in resurrection from sins, and believe in His Word” (K8r); “A prayer that we may die to sins with Christ and rise again with Him” (L5r); or “A beau-

117 Of the forty-three pieces, thirty-nine have notes.

118 For the original German of the notes, see Appendix Two.

119 J2v-3v for contents. Schiitz Zell, like the lay people for whom she wrote, normally read the Old Testament through the eyes of the New. Her knowledge of the Old Testament was influ- enced not only by a Christian interpretation but also by the texts cited in the New Testament. Cf. McKee, KSZ.

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tiful sequence to exhort [us] to seek and to find Christ, as Mary Magdalene sought and found Him” (M7r).

Christ as the sole Savior was the central theological claim for Schiitz Zell, and this soteriological theme comes through with resounding clarity. See, for example, the note: “A lament of Christ over those who will not put their trust in Him alone” (J5r).120 Christ is not alone, of course, but the relatively few individual references to the Father and the Spirit in this section are usually related to salvation history. See the notes: “A praise hymn to God the Father at the Easter festival, to pray for a spiritual resurrection for us” (M4v); “A prayer and praise hymn to the Holy Spirit, without whose grace we are able to do nothing” (N7r); or “A prayer hymn to the Holy Spirit for those who are straying” (Olv). A more trinitarian emphasis is also possible, e.g., “A praise and prayer hymn to God and Christ, that He might bestow on us His Holy Spirit, and preserve us” (N8v). The language about the singers is normally in the plural, and sometimes explicitly corporate in focus: “A hymn crying to the Holy Spirit for the unity of the church” (03r).121

The first three booklets cover the questions of salvation history, and the annotations to these hymns clearly teach the reader that Christ is the sole Sav- ior, by grace through faith, a salvation planned by God the Father and a faith made alive in the believer by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Along the way, the biblical basis of the hymns is frequently pointed out, and Christians are often directed to appropriate attitudes: prayer, praise, repentance, etc. Many of these themes and practices recur in the notes to the fourth and longest book, but the latter lacks the coherence of the first three and its annotations require more attention.

Schiitz ZelVs Annotations on the Fourth Book

The contents of the last fascicle of Schiitz Zell’s hymn are the most diverse, and the annotation is the fullest. The book covers ten headings, two more than the first three booklets put together, and it measures in volume ap- proximately the same length as the first three booklets together. The annota- tion of part four, however is slightly more than double the amount found in the first three booklets combined; quite obviously, Schiitz Zell found it nec- essary to annotate almost every hymn, and to do this at some length.122 The

120 On Schiitz Zell’s Christocentricism, cf. McKee, “Defense of Zwingli, Schwenckeld, and the Baptists.”

121 Cf. Ameln, the editor of Weisse’s facsimile, on the “Wir-Lied” and corporate piety of the Bohemian Brethren, which he characterizes as “pre-Lutheran, pre-humanist.” Gesangbuch , p. 4.

122 In book four there are 89 hymns. Weisse gives brief notes on five, plus subheadings (espe- cially times of day) and instructions in the final liturgical section. Schiitz Zell comments or makes significant additions for all the rest of the entries. See Appendix Two.

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topics in the fourth book are: praise hymns, prayer hymns, teaching/doctrinal hymns, hymns for particular times of day, hymns for children, hymns for the fallen or sinners, hymns for the burial of the dead, hymns about the last (judg- ment) day, hymns about the true saints, and hymns about the Testament (Sup- per) of the Lord.

General Notes

Given the great number of hymns and of annotations, it is not possible to go into as much detail as with the first three books. In addition, many of the categories of comments are the same or similar: informative, instructive, theological, and practical. A considerable number of the comments tell the reader the general subject matter of the hymn, for example “A beautiful hymn of praise about Christ and all His glory” (R5v); or “A table hymn: how all food was pure for human beings, and when they sinned it became accursed for them, but through Christ it is again blessed” (Z5v). Other notes inform the singer when and often how to use the hymn: “A wake-up call to the praise and service of God, through the example of the creatures” (Z2v); or “To re- mind us, at the graveside, of the rest \rhm\ of those who have died, and of our resurrection” (Bb5r).123

Some notes, directed to particular people or situations in the Christian life, instruct them in special ways. For example: “A children’s hymn to Christ, that He might teach them the new covenant and keep them in it” (Aa3r); or “A friendly call and speech of Christ to sinners, that they should turn back to Him with right repentance and humility” (Aa8v). Biblical texts also appear in this book. Two of the parables are designated: Luke 15 and the story of the prodigal son (in the section on sinners, Bblr), and the sheep and the goats of Matt. 25 (in the section on the last judgment, Cc2v), as well as the beati- tudes in Matt. 5 (with the doctrinal hymns, X8v). More unexpected is the reference to Exod. 19 for the giving of the Ten Commandments: not the Deca- log itself but the story of how Israel received it (X3v) . The Ten Command- ments themselves appear in both a longer version under doctrinal hymns, and a shorter version for children (X5r, Aa5r), but in neither case does Schiitz Zell feel the need to give the biblical locus -a measure of the familiarity of this cat- echetical piece!124

123 The second of these comments prefeces the hymn “Nu laftt uns der leib begraben,” which Luther praised and incorporated into his book of burial songs (Jenny, Luther , Zwingli, Cal- vin, p. 37) . This was also apparently Schiitz Zell’s favorite, since she led the mourners in singing it at her husband’s burial {Klag Bed und Ermahnung , 12r-v); cf. McKee, KSZ.

124 Luther also had longer and shorter versions: #14-15, Jenny, Luther , Zwingli , Calvin , pp. 71-76.

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Sometimes Schiitz Zell’s summary notes are rather similar, for example in the section on prayer hymns in which four firmly orthodox references to the “three persons” of the trinity indicate primarily that these are prayers or thanks for grace or blessing.125 However, the nuances of the hymns do in fact shape the wording of the annotation if there is some particular reason; “A prayer to the three persons for grace and help for God’s poor church [gemeyn]” (S8r) emphasizes the suffering of the church, while “A prayer to Christ to give help and grace to His spiritual bride, the Christian church [gemeyn ]” (Vlr) echoes the biblical nuptial imagery. These particular notes also demonstrate that, while the majority of comments speak familiarly in the first person plural, the concern for the church as a body is also heard.

Explicitly Protestant Notes

Schiitz Zell’s Protestant theological orientation is seen in the emphases that she draws out of the hymns. These convictions are certainly expressed in Weisse’s hymns, but Schiitz Zell’s notes, by pointing to particular issues, focus the readers’ attention on specific ideas. Some of the themes are fairly obvious: repeated references to faith and grace, e.g., “A praise hymn: how all creatures can do nothing, and also cannot be saved, without the grace of God the al- mighty” (P5v); or to the sole efficacy of Christ for salvation: “A praise hymn to Christ, and how we must be saved through Him alone” (R4v) . This second example is particularly interesting because the text itself is a reworking by the Bohemian Brethren of a hymn to Mary: “Maria zart von edler art” (Tender Mary from noble race) now altered to “O Jesu zart inn newer art” (Tender Je- sus, conceived and born in a new way).126 Strasbourgers no doubt knew “Maria zart” (Schiitz Zell does not provide the music, only the name), and the insistence that one prays to Christ alone could hardly have been clearer than in this substitution of Jesus for Mary, yet Schiitz Zell makes explicit the point of the substitution. Another example of an explicidy “Lutheran/ Protestant” change is expressed in the note: “A lovely hymn: how we cannot be saved through the law or our own works but through faith in the blood and merit of Jesus Christ” (T7v).

Some of Schiitz Zell’s comments make explicit ideas that Weisse’s hymns

125 S8r, Tlr, T2v, V3v. All refer to “drei personen .” See Q6v, “Dreyfaltigkeyt.” Schiitz Zell does not shy away from expressing clearly a firmly orthodox stance.

126 See Wolff, Le recueil , pp. 60, 181. Also Anne-Kathrin Moeseritz, Die Weissen der Boh- mischen Briidervon 1531: Ein Stile- und Quellengeschichtlichen Untersuchung der Nicht-liturgischen Mel- odien der Gesangbuch von Michael Weisse (doctoral thesis, Bonn, 1989), 162-165, discusses the back- ground of this popular Marienlied, indicating that Hans Sachs also made a Protestant version in 1525: “O Jesu zart, gottlicher Art.” While useful for musical history, this work offers little of interest for the purposes of the present work.

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certainly intended and that she apparently thought needed more emphasis, such as the proper honoring of Mary. One of Weisse’s rare notes entitles a hymn “About Mary the Mother of Christ” (N4r-v). As usual when she has a comment by Weisse, Schiitz Zell retains it, but also as usual, she adds to his words: “About Mary the Mother of Christ, How she, from the race of Jesse, bore Christ through the Holy Spirit, and how all the saints have built on Christ and not on Mary” (Dd4r). Schiitz Zell’s comments explain the im- portance of Mary in terms reminiscent of the apostles’ creed (“begotten of the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary”), that familiar catechetical tool which many hymnbooks (including her own) set to music. She makes it clear that Christ is the only foundation of faith, and no one can be saved by building on the foundation of Mary, as traditional popular piety had proclaimed. Schiitz Zell’s words here are almost a direct quotation of one of the verses of Weisse’s hymn,127 but she evidently thought that they needed to be empha- sized and made more prominent, to provide an interpretive introduction to the singing of the hymn.

The honoring of the saints is parallel to the veneration of Mary. A hymn about the saints is the only instance in the book in which Schiitz Zell replaces Weisse’s note. Not, probably, because she disagreed; it is more likely that she thought his text was not sufficiently clear, and it was too long to be combined with her own. Weisse writes: “About all the blessed martyrs and confessors of Christ” (N3v).128 This does not orient the reader very well theologically. Schiitz Zell substitutes the following: “How God saves us by Himself, and the one who obeys Him will be saved, and the one who comes to suffering because of this [obedience] will obtain the crown of salvation” (Dd2v) . This vigorous note indicates first the salvific activity of God; implied is the work of Christ, since elsewhere it is clear that it is Christ who saves us or makes us blessed.129 The importance of human activity is added, however, without in- tending to imply any merit: the person who obeys will be selig (saved or blessed -the word is ambiguous). The suffering of the faithful, which is the key point in Weisse’s note about martyrs and confessors, is more actively ex- pressed by Schiitz Zell: those who suffer for obeying God will receive the crown of blessedness/salvation.

Protestants all agreed in rejecting the veneration of the saints, but they cer- tainly did not all agree on the subject of the sacraments, and thus it is inter-

127 Verses 6-7 on stem of Jesse, verses 8-9 on work of Holy Spirit and Mary’s continued vir- ginity, but verse 10 for all saints have built on Christ and not Mary. Schiitz Zell: Dd4v.

128 “Von alien Gotseligen/Merterern und Bekennern Jhesu Christi.”

129 Varied texts express this, e.g., see at n. 126 (R4v).

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esting to see how Schiitz Zell annotates the hymns on the Lord’s Supper. The most important comment on the Supper itself is an addition to Weisse’s note. Weiss writes: “About the Testament of the Lord, that is, about His body and blood, understood as testament [ testaments weifi\” (N5r), and Schiitz Zell adds: “First, how Christ, being with the Father, sent us the Holy Spirit, and ordained His Testament for the forgiveness of sins” (Dd5r). Testament is Weisse’s normal word for the Supper; only rarely will he use the word sacra- ment. Apparently what is intended is a kind of symbolic or sacramental pres- ence of Christ’s body and blood in the “testament” or covenant. As is evident elsewhere in her writings, Schiitz Zell undoubtedly found a spiritual interpre- tation of the Supper congenial, though she probably did not define presence with the precision of the learned theologians.130

Here also, the next two hymns in the section on the Supper contribute a bit more to the picture of Schiitz Zell’s view of the Lord’s Supper and the one she wanted to teach. Weisse has no notes on these two texts. About the first, Schiitz Zell writes: “How one ought to prepare [to go] to the Lord’s Sup- per” (Dd6r) . An examination of the hymn indicates that it describes both the wrong and the right ways to come to the Supper. The wrong way is not having Christ in one’s heart but only seeking Him in bread and wine; Christians must not be misled by false prophets who say that Christ is personlich there. The view being rejected is certainly transubstantiation. The right way to come is for Christians to examine themselves to see if they have Christ’s Spirit in them and are prepared to do God’s righteousness; if so, the bread and wine will be witnesses of the grace of God to them.131

The content of the third hymn on the Lord’s Supper is primarily an explicit attack on transubstantiation, although it also speaks of baptism. (There is no section of hymns on baptism.) Schiitz Zell’s note on this hymn seems to weight the two sacraments equally, and set them in context: “Christ distrib- uted to His church [gemeyn ] many gifts with the Holy Spirit, His apostles, baptism, the sacrament of the Supper, and what pertains to that” (Dd7r). It is the community to which Christ gives the gifts with the Holy Spirit; the gifts are apparently the apostles (who preach, as other notes emphasize), and

130 Example of Weisse’s rare use of “sacrament,” N7v. Later editors of Weisse’s book, begin- ning in 1544, altered the Eucharistic theology in several of the hymns of this section, and others which carried the same idea of the Testament were dropped by 1566; cf. Wolff, Le recueil , pp. 40-41. See Schiitz Zell’s defense of her husband’s Eucharistic prayer in Ein Brieff. \ J2v: “ein geist- lich und selen speifi.” She does not support a doctrine of mere symbols, but she sided with the Swiss-Strasbouig party at Marburg against her beloved Luther, see Ein Brieff. \ G3r. Full discussion in McKee, KSZ.

131 See especially verses 4, 5, 8, 9 (Dd6r-7r).

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the two dominical sacraments. Schiitz Zell is summarizing the main points of Weisse’s hymn, but doing it in her own way. Weisse speaks of Christ’s “mes- sengers [botten] ,” Schiitz Zell makes these His apostles. One verse of Weisse’s hymn speaks of Christ’s adopting His chosen through His messengers, and convincing/assuring them with baptism and His testament that He will be end- lessly gracious to them. It then goes on to fulminate against transubstantia- tion.132 Schiitz Zell’s note gives the essential points of Christ’s gifts, without adding any polemical reference.

It may not be out of place here to note another hymn which deals with baptism, and which must have been important to Schiitz Zell, though her note does not make that explicit. This hymn is the one designated for the death of a child. Schiitz Zell’s note reads: “A hymn of comfort, how the death of children is bearable, and not much to be bewailed” (Bb5v)-a rather sig- nificant comment in view of Schiitz Zell’s own loss of her children.133 The hymn comforts parents in several traditional ways, especially affirming that those who die young are freed from sinning and escape many sorrows. Verse five, however, reads: “Baptism without [the] Spirit and covenant of faith heals no human soul, indeed also no one can be freed from sins by a foreign [some- one else’s] pledge.” Verse six goes on to say that no one can be saved through willing or working, preaching or baptizing, but all rests on the Lord alone, Who makes His people pure.134

In Schiitz Zell’s eyes, and perhaps those of many women she knew, one reason this hymn was comforting may have been verse five. This text very likely expresses a rejection of the traditional practice of emergency baptism: in this case, probably the baptizing of a newborn baby who was not expected to live. Sometimes the child -perhaps because it was born dead -could not be bap- tized, and many parents agonized even more over the eternal loss of the child than the temporal death. Elsewhere Schiitz Zell passionately rejects the tra- ditional teaching on emergency baptism because of the terrible suffering it caused to mothers (who, not unnaturally, were the most likely to be afflicted by the loss of a baby).135 Her pastoral concern was deeply aroused by this

132 See especially verse 3: “Nimpt sye durch seine botten auff/ und versichert sie mit dem tau ff/ ja auch mit seinem testament/ dz er in giinstig sey on end” (Schiitz Zell = Dd7v).

133 See at n. 89. At times Schiitz Zell does in fact bewail the loss of her children, e.g., letter to the Blaurers in n. 89.

134 Bb6r. See verses 2, 9, 12 on benefits of dying young; other verses, especially 1, point to the incomprehensibility of God’s will. Verse 6, Bb6v.

135 The idea that sacramental grace is objective led to the conviction that the act of baptism is salvific, and thus that anyone in danger of dying should be baptized as soon as possible. Mid- wives or relatives present at the birth of a child not expected to live customarily baptized the child. The degree of importance attached to this act is seen in a miracle story from a pilgrimage site

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issue, and one reason she called this song a hymn of comfort may have been that it clearly reassured anxious parents that all was not lost if they had not been able to baptize their child before it died.

That this conclusion of comfort might have been drawn from this partic- ular verse by some readers is suggested by the fact that this is the only verse of the whole hymnbook that is underscored in the single copy that survives today. It is possible that the person who underlined verse five defended believer’s or “adult” baptism, but verse six about willing- working, preaching- baptizing being of no use would hardly appeal to someone who affirmed believer’s baptism. The most likely candidate to affirm both verses would prob- ably be a “spiritualist” who did not put great weight on outward sacraments, but would recognize the sorrow of losing a child. The underscoring might also be a clue, therefore, to the community in which Schiitz Zell’s book was popular. 136

Other polemical notes are also sounded in the annotation-and-hymn com- binations. For example, once Schiitz Zell writes: “A beautiful praise hymn, how God, after many [human] wrongs, has sent His holy Word and Spirit into the world” (V4v). Although it does not explicitly mention the pope or Rome, this hymn is certainly an attack on the corrupt medieval church: false prophets who do false signs to lead people astray, twisting the shape of the church and truth. Verse four describes part of God’s response: He has established one people for Himself, adorned them richly with gifts to meet all their needs and set them before the world as a witness, He has governed them with His Word, directed their faith rightly, ordained ministers and ministry for their upbuild- ing.137 Weisse’s community understood themselves as this reformed church, and Schiitz Zell and those for whom she wrote would naturally see themselves in the same way. The corporate character of the church and the importance of its ministry expressed here also serve to balance the more spiritualist tone of the previously cited hymn.

Related to this view of the reformed church, especially the emphasis on pro- claiming the Word in the world, are the hymns that speak about the true honoring of the saints. The first and third of the five hymns in this section

in St. Gall, 1510, about a child who was “dead,” but revived for a few hours-long enough to be baptized- in response to a vow to the Virgin Mary. Clearly, for the parents it was a special favor of Mary that the child could be baptized, even if it then immediately died. See McKee, KSZ. For outraged motherly/pastoral objections to emergency baptism see Ein Brieff. ’ H3v.

136 Wolff, Le recueil , p. 199, suggests that one reason Schiitz Zell’s book was never repub- lished was that it was too much associated with the dissident communities that were increasingly unwelcome in Strasbourg after the synod of 1533. See above n. 53, below at n. 142.

137 Verse 4; cf. verse 2 on false prophets, verse 3 on disordered form of church; the eighth and last verse gives thanks that “w^’ are gathered to “Thy people,” V4v-5v.

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have to do with the apostles— one logical place for Protestants to locate “true saints.” In both of Schiitz Zell’s notes, she speaks of “the apostles’ office of preaching” (Cc5r, Cc7v), going on in the first instance to add “and its efficacy and strength.” The primary identification of the task of ministers, of saints, is the proclaiming of the Word; this note emphasizes the conviction that the first duty of clergy is preaching, while the sacramental role is subordinated.

But the clergy are not the only saints, not the only ones who proclaim the Word! Remember that in her short preface Schiitz Zell several times indicates that those who sing these hymns will be warning/exhorting themselves and others about Christ and their salvation. She (like Weisse) certainly regarded her work in publishing the hymnbook as proclaiming the Word: publishing a prayer, praise, and teaching book.138 Elsewhere Schiitz Zell also affirms, as well as practices, her own preaching/teaching role as a lay person who knows the Bible, one who speaks in the knowledge as well as the faith of Christ. The qualification is necessary: an ignorant lay person is no more use than an unin- telligible cleric. This qualifying caution also fits in with the intense catechetical fervor with which Schiitz Zell has attempted to imbue the parents and other responsible householders.139

Weisse’ s Liturgical Additions

At the end of the hymnbook there is an (apparently) anomalous section : var- ied hymns and liturgical instructions for a public worship service. These are “tacked on” to the hymns about the Lord’s Supper, and include hymns for other parts of a service, e.g., between gospel reading and sermon, along with explanations about prayers and the distribution of the Supper elements by a “rightly elected, called, and sent minister.”140 This is the only part of the book for which Weisse provides annotations for every hymn. Schiitz Zell adds nothing to his notes, but faithfully copies these pages, even though they do not correspond to the established liturgical practice of Strasbourg. 141 Prob-

138 “Ermanen” in A2r, and A2v; and in the Col. 3[:16] quotation, A2r. “Praise, prayer, and teaching”: Alv, A3r, and in the James 5:13 quotation, A2r-v. Note that Weisse expresses similar concerns: praising God, comforting the community, teaching other Christians; cf. nn. 32-33.

139 See, e.g., comments in long letter of 19 October 1553, 5r-v; and her own preaching/ teaching practice evidenced in impromptu sermon at her husband’s burial (record in KlagBed und Ermahnung) and at the burials of two friends, the Scher sisters. For discussion, see McKee, KSZ.

140 Weisse, N8r-Nllr; Schiitz Zell, Dd8r-Ee4r. References to “diener” and “vorsteher” (Weisse, N8r, 8v; Schiitz Zell, Dd8r, Eelv).

141 Compare with Hubert, StmjZburger liturgischen Ordnungen , pp. 96-100, for differences from Strasbourg order. For examples: Weisse has song between scripture and sermon (N9r), Stras- bourg between epistle and gpspel but not separating gospel from sermon (pp. 96-97) . Weisse has a kind of sung confession after the Supper prayer before the distribution of the elements (N8v), while in Strasbourg the sung creed (varied, could be aposdes’ creed) preceeds the Supper

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ably she was simply following Weisse’s request not to change any words in his book; certainly she did not see anything unedifying about the liturgical pas- sages, even if (the majority [?] of) her readers had no use for them.

It is intriguing, however, to note that Schutz Zell does in fact change some of the music in this section of the book.142 The implication is that she knew that her hymnbook might be used by some dissident groups in Strasbourg in their worship gatherings, and as Strasbourgers they would prefer familiar tunes to unfamiliar ones. In fact, one might wonder if some of the “Strasbourg melodies” of unknown provenance may have originated in such dissident, Schwenckfeldian groups?

This concluding liturgical passage about corporate worship, like the whole section of hymns on the Lord’s Supper, also signals again that Schiitz Zell did not devalue communal worship in favor of individual piety, but rather con- nected them. If this hymnbook was used by non-conformist groups in Stras- bourg which did not participate in the public liturgy of the established Prot- estant church, nonetheless they were still worshiping communally, not each seeking her or his own salvation.

The Influence of Katharina Schutz Zell’s Hymnbook

Schiitz Zell’s hymnbook was never republished, perhaps because it was too easily identified with sectarian Christians whom the established Strasbourg church wished to discourage. However, in later editions of the official Stras- bourg liturgy-songbook, there are a number of new developments that are reminiscent of Schutz Zell’s work. The most important of these are found in Martin Bucer’s preface to the 1541 songbook and later liturgies, and in a new page about “improvements” which was included in 1545. Bucer addresses par- ents and those who are responsible for others, telling them to teach their “chil- dren and relations and those they should protect,” to replace the bad songs

prayer (pp. 99-100). However, the differences are not great, and Strasbourg had gone through a considerable number of major and minor liturgical changes in the recent past, so it is not likely that Weisse’s form was particularly startling to the laity who read Schutz Zell’s book, especially since most of them did not use this portion of the text in public worship.

142 In the liturgical section there are six songs. For three of these (1, 2, 4), both Weisse (N8r, N9r) and Schutz Zell (Dd8v-Eelr) give tune designations printed elsewhere in their books; for one (3), both give the same music (Weisse, N8v; Schutz Zell, Eelr). The last two are different; Weisse gives music for both (N9r, NIOr). Schutz Zell gives two tune names for the fifth song (Eelv), neither of which corresponds to Weisse’s music, but both of which are given musical no- tation elsewhere in her book. Schutz Zell’s sixth tune (Ee2v-3r) is one of those unique to her hymnbook. See Appendix Two.

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with the good. In addition, he affirms the use of spiritual songs as well as literal biblical texts, and indicates that the songs in this book can be used for con- gregational or private/personal worship,143 thus expressing a concern both for the laity and for bridging the space between public and private worship.

Perhaps even more interesting or suggestive is the page in the 1545 edition of the liturgy-songbook that indicates “what has been improved in this song- book.” The first point informs the reader that the music has been divided into categories: Psalms first, hymns with some old choral songs, then spiritual songs, and finally the old and new festival songs. (The heading for the section on spiritual songs notes that the ones which serve to clarify the catechism are put first.) The second improvement listed says that almost every song is pref- aced by a short summary of the contents to explain the meaning to each Chris- tian. The fifth point indicates that an effort has been made to put each syllable under the appropriate note, so that people can teach themselves to sing.144 Clearly here there are at least echoes of Schiitz Zell’s concern for the education and ease of learning of the laity. Possibly the second point, the addition of short summaries before most of the hymns, is even a reflection of the popular appreciation for her innovation in making her hymnbook a catechetical tool, although Schiitz Zell’s work was not unique in this regard.

143 Hubert, Stmfiburger liturgischen Ordnungen , pp. 146-147, 148-149.

144 Hubert, Stmjlburger Liturgischen Ordnungen , p. 150 for 1545 list of eight points of improve- ment. See p. xxxii for a description of the format of 1545 lituigy-songbook which lists various headings; this list indicates that there is also a section of hymns for burial, though that does not appear as a point in the list of improvements.

Ill

Conclusion

Close examination of Katharina Schiitz Zell’s hymnbook edition reveals a rather remarkable project for the reform of piety in sixteenth-century Stras- bourg, by one imaginative, astute, and determined lay reformer. As her fore- word and annotations on this hymnal of the Bohemian Brethren make clear, Schiitz Zell consciously planned her work to span several of the most impor- tant dimensions of devotional expression: music or song, prayer, and cateche- sis, or, in her words, “praise, prayer, and teaching.” Her objective was to fill a pressing need for appropriately reformed devotional works. She wanted to displace old unacceptable songs and texts with wholesome, saving knowledge of true biblical teaching conveyed in attractive hymns and melodies, and illu- mined with notes to aid ordinary Christians in exhorting themselves, their households, and their neighbors.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Schiitz Zell’s foreword is her sen- sitivity to the actual situation of lay people, especially women, and her capac- ity to enter into their feelings while still working to transform ideas or practices that she considered wrong. Her awareness of and willingness to meet her audience halfway is clear in Schiitz Zell’s citing of lay objections to the con- temporary popular effects of the Strasbourg reform of worship, and her skillful response to legitimate complaints about the dearth of religious songs and neglect of church year feasts. Schiitz Zell’s own experience as a lay woman also made her sensitive to the context of her audience, lay people in busy households, and her language and illustrations give particular attention to women’s work and the daily lived ministries of lay people who are called to praise God and edify their neighbors with godly songs as they go about their mundane tasks.

The voice of the Protestant reformer is also clearly heard. It is a broadly comprehensive voice, emphasizing the major features of reformed faith but

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rarely touching on matters disputed among Protestants; it is the voice of a lay person, and a woman, which gives a special accent to the common faith. The context is trinitarian; salvation is through faith in Christ alone, and not by intercession of the saints or the Christian’s own works. The Bible is the all im- portant source of the knowledge of salvation, and every Christian should learn and practice its teaching; ignorance is not tolerable. All Christians are called not only to moral behavior but also to religious vocations, to participation in the priesthood of believers. These are the points at which the sharpest notes of polemic are heard: against immoral songs and incomprehensible monastic devotions, pro biblical teaching and lay vocations, especially those of women and mothers of families. Nevertheless, the value of the lay vocation is depen- dent on faith and knowledge of Christ, not on some absolute superiority of laity over clergy. Everyone must learn and choose for or against Christ’s gospel, and all are responsible both for praising God and exhorting themselves and their households and their neighbors.

For Katharina Schiitz Zell, one critical means to express both the worship of God and the love of neighbor is through singing the biblical teaching “en- thusiastically and with clear voices,”145 in the right spirit of devotion to God alone, with prayer in times of anxiety and praise in times of joy (Jas. 5:13). Although the artistic interest was subordinated to the educational, Schiitz Zell’s hymnbook makes clear that she shared Luther’s delight in the gift of music, and was willing to go to considerable trouble to make “lovely melo- dies” contribute to the proclamation of the gospel in song. The music in her book was not merely functional but also evidence of Schiitz Zell’s apprecia- tion for the place of this art in the worship of God.

Schiitz Zell’s work, published in 1534-1536, appeared at a critical point in the Strasbourg reform of worship, and for a number of reasons it was shunted onto a side track as the process of reform continued. The need for devotional songs, which her hymnbook had met, was gradually filled by more official church publications; for example, Strasbourg liturgical books began to expand in the late 1530s to include more hymns, especially ones for the church year feasts. Schiitz Zell’s book itself was almost certainly associated im- plicitly, if not explicitly, with dissident religious groups, especially Schwenck- feldian circles, which were increasingly unwelcome in Strasbourg after 1533, and were actively discouraged as time went on. Not only was her edition of the Brethren’s hymnal not republished, but even the lovely new melodies which appeared in Schiitz Zell’s book for the first time were not taken into the general repertoire of Protestant church music.

145 Preface, A2r (cf. at n. 62).

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Schiitz Zell’s book may have had more influence than appeared on the sur- face, however. It may have contributed to changes in the official hymnbooks; for example, supporting the popular demand for the reintroduction of hymns for Christological holy days, which was actually effected in 1537, or possibly in encouraging the annotation of hymns in 1545 Strasbourg liturgy. Since Schiitz Zell herself remained throughout her life dearly loved by the ordinary citizens of Strasbourg, it is probable that many people who left: no written records used and appreciated her hymnbook more than some of the later clergy may have liked.146

Whatever its immediate impact, Schiitz Zell’s hymnbook remains as a fas- cinating monument to a strong, talented, astute, and convinced lay reformer: a woman who stood on the boundary between clergy and laity, working on the continuum between liturgy and popular piety, understanding and sharing many concerns of ordinary Christians, and acting with all the resources at her command to encourage and cajole, argue and persuade her beloved fellow cit- izens to sing their way into the religious renewal of the whole of their lives.

146 For Schiitz Zell’s popularity all her life, see McKee, KSZ. Although Strasbourg was one of the most tolerant places in Reformation Europe, radical groups were gradually excluded after the synod of 1533, and this exclusion became more rigid and extreme during the second half of the century; see Abray, People’s Reformation , chapter 5, especially pp. 107ff. Schiitz Zell fought (unsuccessfully) to keep the broader tolerance of the first generation; cf. McKee, “Defense of Zwingli, Schwenckfeld, and the Baptists.”

Appendix I

Translation of Katharina Schiitz Zell’s Foreword for Her Edition of The Hymnbook of the Bohemian Brethren147

Out of special love and friendship a songbook was given to me to read. It was printed in Bohemia and sent to good people in Landskron and Fullneck by a godfearing man, indeed, a man who knows God. His name is Michael Weisse. I do not know him personally, but as the Lord says: “By their fruits shall you know them” [cf. Matt. 12:33]. When I read this book, I had to con- clude that, so far as I understand the Scriptures, this man [Weisse] has the whole Bible wide open in his heart. Indeed, he has the same knowledge and experience as the two dear men Joshua and Caleb had of the promised land, when they had faithfully visited and walked through it by the command of the Lord given through Moses [cf. Numb. 13:1, 17, 30; 14:6-9].

I found such an understanding of the works of God in this songbook that I want all people to understand it. Indeed, I ought much rather to call it a teaching, prayer, and praise book than a songbook, although the little word “song” is well and properly spoken, for the greatest praise of God is expressed in song, as when Moses sang a glorious song of praise to God when the Lord brought him and His people through the sea, Exod. 15 [: 1-18]. And the holy Anna the same way sang thanks and praise to God the Lord when He had given her Samuel, I Kings 2 [I Sam. 2:1-10]. As also David made so many glorious Psalm songs, and used often the expression: We should to sing to the Lord, and such like [cf. e.g., Ps. 95:1, 96:1, 2; 98:1, 5]. Thence have also

147 A critical edition of the original German of this text will appear with the rest of Schiitz Zell’s writings in McKee, The Writings of Katharina Schiitz Zell (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, projected for 1997 or 1998).

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come all the songs of the church, where they have been kept in the right way and with the right heart, as they were by the first singers.

Since, however, now so many scandalous songs are sung by men and women and also children throughout the world, songs in which all slander, coquetry, and other scandalous things are spread through the world by young and old -and the world likes to have such things sung! So it seemed to me a very good and useful thing to do as this man has done, that is, to convey the whole business of Christ and our salvation in song, so that the people may thus enthusiastically and with clear voices be exhorted regarding their salva- tion, and the devil with his songs may not have any place in them. Also so that good parents may say to their children: “Up till now we have all sung bad songs, to the scandal [vexation] of our souls and our neighbors’ souls.” But so that you may not complain: “So may we never sing? Must we become like sticks and stones?” Therefore now sing these songs, which express so ad- mirably God’s love towards us, and exhort us so faithfully not to neglect the salvation offered to us.

Wherefore also St. Paul teaches us such, in Eph. 5[:3, 4, 18-19] and Col. 3[:16], that we should not allow anyone to hear from us avaricious, insulting words, raillery, or foolish things, and should not be full of wine but full of the Spirit, and we should exhort one another with Psalms and hymns and spiri- tual songs. Amd St. James says, in the fifth chapter [verse 13]: whoever is anx- ious should pray, and whoever is in good spirits should sing Psalms, that is, all kinds of praise of God. As also this man of God has divided up the songs in his book into eighteen groups of songs about the works of God. This book was a concern to me [because of its size] ; there were too many songs to be printed all together; that would be too expensive for people to buy. So I took the book in hand, for the use and service of children and the poor, and divided it into several small booklets costing two, three, and four pennies. However, in the first booklet I put a litde index of the order and titles of all the songs of the whole book, and in the next booklet I indicated what follows in the other [book], so that if anyone wanted to buy all of them and put them to- gether, in order in one book (until perhaps it is complete, as it has been printed), [that would be possible].

For there are to be found here many attractive songs about the feast days: the coming and the work of Christ, such as the angelic salutation, Christmas, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, and so on, and the true dear saints. So that many good people may not complain: “the holy remembrances themselves will all be forgotten, if no one ever celebrates the feasts of Christ and the saints.” Therefore, dear Christian, whoever you are, since you have until now allowed your children and relatives to sing false scandalous songs at the coun-

Appendix I

67

try dances and elsewhere, and even much more on the feasts of Christ and the saints! As on St. John the Baptist’s day, when it would be more fitting for all Christians to be sorrowful that things were in such bad shape in the world then -and are still so -that one who spoke and taught the truth [John the Baptist] had to die for doing so [cf. Matt. 14:3-12]. So now (in response to this clear call which God makes to the world) encourage them [your chil- dren and relatives] to sing godly songs in which they are exhorted to seek knowledge of their salvation.

And teach your children and relatives to know that they do not serve hu- man beings but God, when they faithfully (in the faith) keep house, obey, cook, wash dishes, wipe up and tend children, and such like work which serves human life, and that (while doing this very work) they can also turn to God with the voice of song. And teach them that in doing this, they please God much better than any priest, monk, or nun in their incomprehensible choir song, as they [the clergy] lifted up some foolish devotion of useless lul- laby to the organ. A poor mother would so gladly sleep, but at midnight she must rock the wailing baby, and sing it a song about godly things. That is called, and it is, the right lullaby (provided it is done in the faith) that pleases God, and not the organ or the organist. He is no child, and you may not si- lence Him with piping and singing! But silence yourself: He requires some- thing else.

But the seven holy times, Mass, vespers, and matins, will be sung thus: the artisan at his work, the maidservant at her dishwashing, the farmer and vinedresser on the farm, and the mother with the wailing child in the cradle— they use such praise, prayer, and teaching songs, Psalms or other such like things, provided it is all done in the faith and the knowledge of Christ, and they devoutly order their whole lives with all faithfulness and patience towards everyone. These will also praise God with and in Christ the everlasting Priest, with His angels, before His [God’s] throne [cf. Revel. 7:9-12]. But the others who only use scandalous knavish songs and rotten, wanton sayings, and so forth, and have let their children and relatives be taught these, and sing and say them, they will have to weep, wail, and gnash their teeth forever with the devil [cf. Matt. 8:12].

Here let each one choose which one he wants; he will receive final judg- ment according to that choice. But I wish for all people knowledge of the good, and everlasting salvation. Amen.

Appendix II

Katharina Schiitz Zell’s Annotations on Weisse’s Hymns

[Book One] Von Christo Jesu unserem saligmacher/ seiner Menschwer- dung/ Geburt/ Beschneidung/ & c. etlich Christliche und trostliche Lobgsang/ aufi einem vast herrlichen Gsangbuoch gezogen/ Von welchem inn der Vorred weiter anzeygt wiirdt.

Ps. 98[:1], Ps. 81[:la], Ps. 146[:2] [quotations]

A4v: Von der Menschwerdung Christi.148 Veni Redemptor gentium. Oder im thon, A solis ortus cardine. *Von Adam her solange zeit [1, Weisse Zahn 307a ALT.]149

A6r: Der Sequentz Mittit ad Virginem, Deiitsch. *Als der gyetige Gott [2, Weisse Zahn 1645]

148 Underlining indicates headings (indented) or comments that Katharina Schiitz Zell copied from Weisse, although here the spelling is from Katharina Schiitz Zell’s printing, which usually differs from Weisse’s. The primary interest of this table for the present work is precisely the comments on the hymns, but an effort has been made to include useful musical data, such as the addition of Zahn numbers where possible. J. Zahn, Melodien der deutschen evangelischen Kirchenlieder (Giitersloh, 1889), 7 vols.

149 Wolff, Le recueil , vol. 1, pp. 44—49, gives a table indicating the provenance and alterations in Katharina Schiitz Zell’s 85 musical pieces, but she does not give Zahn numbers. The data from Wolff is combined with Zahn as follows. Numbers 1-85 in bold are Katharina Schiitz Zell’s noted melodies, in order as she gives them. My grouping of melodies:

1. Melodies marked Weisse, or Weisse alt., to indicate tunes the same as Weisse, or “alt.,” i.e., given minor rhythmic or musical alterations by Katharina Schiitz Zell. Usually Zahn num- bers are given for these, but not always in the case of liturgical melodies.

2. Some melodies from the Strasbourg Enchiridion 1525 (Stras. Enchiridion 1525).

3. Some melodies which may be Weisse alt. or Strasbourg.

4. Some liturgical melodies for which Katharina Schiitz Zell’s version is different from Weisse’s but her model is not known [MNK] (33, 45, 52, 54).

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A8r: Ein Geystlich Lied: im thon/ Dies est leticie, Als Adam im paradis B3r: Ein ander hiibsch Lobgsang/ ist auch zuo singen im thon, Veni redemp- tor gentium, &c. *Lob sey dem all mechtigen Gott [3, Stras. Enchiridion 1525, Zahn 297a].

B4v: *Danck wir gott dem vatter der barmhertzigkeyt [4, Zahn 1436, KSZ’s Own, Meyer 137]

B6r: *Glaubige seel schaw dein Herr und Kiinig wil kommen [5, Zahn 2038, KSZ’s own, Meyer 142]

B7v: *Menschen kind merck eben [6, Zahn 3295, KSZ’s own, Meyer 149] Clr-v: Hie nachfolgen die Gesang/ von der Geburt des Herren Ihesu Christi. Im thon. Dies est laeticiae, wie undenbas von der Erscheynung notiert

Steht. Weyl Maria schwanger gieng

C3r: Das Kyrie Fons bonitatis. *0 Vatter der barmhertzigkeyt [7, Weisse Zahn 8600b ALT.]

C5r: *Es ist heiit ein frolich tag [8, Weisse Zahn 8562 ALT.]

C6v: *Lafit uns frolich und eintrechtig singen [9, Zahn 49, KSZ’s own, Meyer 146] C8r-v: Grates nunc omnes, &C. *Lobet Gott o lieben Christen [10, Weisse Zahn 8620 ALT.]

D2r-v: Oder im thon, Veni redemptor gentium. *Lob singet Gott und schweiget nicht [11, Stras. Enchiridion 1525 Zahn 297a or Weisse ALT.]

D4r: *Adam hett uns gantz verderbet [12, Weisse Zahn 1388 ALT.]

D5v: O sancta mundi Domina. *Kompt her o ir volcker [13, Weisse ALT.: no Zahn]

D6v-7r: Nobis est natus hodie. *Ein kind ist uns geboren heiit [14, Zahn 1942, KSZ’s own, Meyer 139]

D8v: *Frew dich heiit o Jerusalem [15, Zahn 1617, KSZ’s own, Meyer 140] Elv: *Singet lieben leiitt [16, Weisse Zahn 1609]

E3r: Ave rubens rosa, viigo. *Gottsah zuo seiner zeit [17, Weisse Zahn 7374 ALT.] E5r: *0 Christe warer Gottes Son [18, Zahn 8492, KSZ’s own, Meyer 150] E6v: Von der Beschnevdung. *Lob sey gott denn der samen Abrahe [19, Weisse Zahn 4034]

E8r: Im thon, O Christe warer Gottes Son, wie oben im letsten gsang von der Geburt notiert. O Christe unser saligkeyt

5. Five special forms of liturgical melodies, two with (14 & 21) three without (47, 63, & 74) independent Zahn numbers.

6. Eleven “Strasbourg melodies” that first appeared in Katharina Schiitz Zell’s hymnbook; most have their own Zahn numbers (4, 5, 6, 9, 15, 18, 20, 30, 85), two do not (39, 55).

Categories 5 and 6 have been studied in Christian Meyer, Les melodies des eglises protestantes de langue allemande: Catalogue descriptif des sources et edition critique des melodies, vol. 1: Les melodies publiees a Strasbourg (Baden-Baden, 1987), 199-206. These numbers are given as Meyer #.

Appendix II

71

E8v: Nach disem folget nun das Ander Biiechel von der Erscheynung, Wan- del und Leiden Christi.

[Book Two] Das ander Byechlin der Geystlichen gsang/ Von der Er- scheinung/ Wandel und Leiden Christi unsers heylandts

Flv: Dies est laeticiae, in ortu, &C. Als Jesus geboren war

F3r: Im thon, O Christe warer Gottes Suon, Oben im ersten biiechlin, am

xxxiii. blatt notiert. O Jesu Christ der Heyden liecht

F3v: Von der OpfFerung Christi inn tempek im obgemeldten thon. O Jesu der du uns zuo guot

F4r: Von der OfFenbarung Christi im.xii.jar. im thon, wie oben. O Jesu schon und wolgestalt

F4v: Vom Wandel und Leiden Christi unsers herrn und hevlands. *Q suesser herre Jesu Christ [20, Zahn 1516, KSZ’s own, Meyer 152]

F6r-v: Tesus Christus nostra salus. * Jesus Christus gottes suon von ewigkeyt [21, Zahn 1434, KSZ’s own, Meyer 145]

F8r: Ein geystlich Lied aufi dem Evangelio Matthaei.xxi.vom Weinberg, Inn der Melodey, Rex Christe factor omnium. Gott het einen weinberg gebawt Glv: Vivus panis Angelorum. *Als got sein son vom hochsten thron [22, Weisse Zahn 21 ALT.]

G2v: Ein geystlich Lied aufi dem Evangel. Johan. xi. und. xii. capit. vom Lazaro, und der Pharise. neid iiber Jesum, Zuo singen, wie Patris sapientia. *Christus warer Gottes Suon [23, Weisse Zahn 6283 ALT.]

G5v: Ein ander Lied vom Dem Palmen tag, aufi dem Evangelio Matthaei.xxi. *Secht heiit an wie der Messias [24, Weisse Zahn 315a ALT.]

G7v: Ein ander Lied vom dem Palmen tag. * Wunderlich ding hat sich ergangen [25, Weisse Zahn 62 ALT.]

G8r-v: Ein geystlich Lied, von dem leiden Christi unsers heylands, der Pas- sion genant. *0 ir christen secht an den kiinig und heylant [26, Strasbourg version or Weisse Zahn 3904 ALT.]

H4v: Ein gesang, der Syben zeiten, Das Patris sapientia, genant, im thon, wie oben am .x. blatt im Giii. notiert. Christus der unns salig macht H5v: Ein dancksagung zuo Gott dem vatter, von des opffers Christi wegen. *Gelobet sey gott der unser not [27, Weisse Zahn 22]

H6v: Ein ander Dancksagung. *Lob sing hut, o Christenheit [28, Weisse Zahn 7095 ALT.]

H8r: Ein betrachtung menschlichs fals, von Christo widerbracht, Im thon. Crux fidelis, Oben am xv.blat. O Christgleubig Mensch bedenck heut Jlr: Stabat mater dolorosa. Ein dancksagung zuo Gott und zuo Christo. *0 ir Christen dancksaget Gott [29, Weisse Zahn 23]

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J2v: Ein betrachtung aufi den Propheten, vom leiden Christi, Im thon, Vex- illa regis, am .xii.blatt Gv notiert. Die Propheten hond prophezeit und geschryben J3v: Ein klag und ermanung Christi zuo den siindern. *Siindiger mensch schaw wer du bist [30, Zahn 318, KSZ’s own, Meyer 154]

J5r: Lamentatio. Ein Klaglied Christi, uber die, so nit ir vertrawen inn yhn alleyn setzen wollen. *0 mensch hor und nim zuo hertzen [31, Weisse Zahn 50] J7r: Media vita in morte sumus. *Mitten wir im leben seind [32, Stras. Enchiri- dion 1525, Zahn 8502]

[Book Three] Das dritt Byechlin der Geystlichen gsang / Von der AufFerstehu ng / Hymmelfart Christi unsers Herren/ und von dem Heyligen Geyst

Klv: John 11[:25]; 2 Tim. 2[:8]; 1 Cor. 6[:14]; Rom. 8[:11] [quotations] K2r: Von der AufFerstehung Christi. Mortis en cum gloria. Ein betrach- tung der AufFerstehung Christi. * Frewet eiich heiit o ir Christen [33, MNK, Meyer 141]

K3r: Die Histori von der AufFerstehung Christi, ausz den Evangelisten. *Ge- lobt sey Gott ym hochsten thron [34, Weisse Zahn 287 ALT.]

K4v: Ein anders ausz dem Evangelio Johan, am xx. Capitel. *Mit freiiden wollen wir singen [35, Weisse Zahn 337]

K6r: Vom neid der Juden, iiber den todt, begrebnusz und AufFerstehung Christi. *Christus ist erstanden, hat iiberwunden [36, Weisse Zahn 6240a]

K8r: Ein ermanung das wir Christo nachvolgen, inn aufFerstehung von den siinden, und seinem wort glauben. *Gebenedeyt sey unser heylandt [37, Weisse Zahn 8420]

Llv: Von vilFeltiger erweisung der AufFerstehung Christi, aufi den Evange- listen, Im thon der Zehen gebott, oder A solis ortus cardine, Auch inn dem thon des ersten heds, im ersten Biiechlin, Von Adam her so lange zeit, &c. *Christus leyd den todt mit gpdult [38, Weisse Zahn 1389a ALT.]

L3r: Wie Christus den todt iiberwunden und das leben wider bracht hat. *Gnad und warheyt ist vorhanden [39, KSZ’s own, Meyer 143]

L5r: O Christe warer Gottes son. Oben im Ev notiert. Ein gebett, das wir mit Christo den siinden absterben, und mit ym aufFersteen. Criste der du den newen bund

L5v: En morte pater divinus. Ein lob und dancksagung zuo Gott dem vatter und zuo Christo umb seiner Urstend willen. *Wol auff ir Christen frewet eiich [40, Weisse Zahn 8463 ALT.]

L7r: Ein lob und freiiden gsang, von der Urstend Christi, Im nechsten thon.

Ir auGerwolten frewet eiich

Appendix II

73

L8r: Triumphat. Ein Triumph Lied von der Urstend Christi. *Singen wir heiit mit gleichem mund [41, Weisse Zahn 8560 ALT]

Mir: Victimae pascali. Ein Sequentz von der Urstend Christi. *Singen wir frolich aUesampt [42, Weisse ALT.: not Zahn form]

M2v: Inn der melodey, Christ ist erstanden. Christus ist erstanden von des todes banden

M3r: Ein trostgesang aller Christen, von der Urstend Christi. *Christus der hey- landt, der den todt am kreiitz krefftig iiberwandt [43, = Regina caeli Laetare, Weisse ALT.]

M4v: Salve festa dies. Ein lobgsang zuo Gott dem Vatter, auff das osterlich fest, uns umb ein geystlich aufferstehung zuo bitten. *Frewt eiich heiit alle gleich [44, Weisse Zahn 7149 ALT.]

M6r: Hoc festum venerantes. Ein geystlich freiiden lied der Osterlichen zeit nach zesingen. *Die zeit ist yetz gantz freiidenreich [45, MNK, Meyer 138]

M7r: Ein schoner Sequentz zuo ermanen Christum zuo suochen und finden, wie Maria Magdalena yn suocht und fand. *Gott dem Vatter der barmhert- zigkeyt [46, = Mane prima sabbati, Weisse ALT.]

Nlr: Von der hymmelfart Christi. Modulemur. Ein schon lied, Mit was herrlikeyt Gott der vatter seinen son Christum Jesum verkleret hat. *Lob und preyfi, dancksagung und herrligkeyt [47, Zahn 66 second form is KSZ’s own, Meyer 148]

N2r-v: En emola tipica. Schrifftliche ursach, warumb Christus zuo hymmel gefaren ist, sampt der selben historien. *Singet frolich lieben leiit [48, Weisse Zahn 1973]

N4r: Ein gebettgsang zuo Christo, dz er sein ampt zuo hymmel, for sein volck treiilich wolle aufirichten, Im thon, O Christe warer Gottes son, Oben irn E am.V.blatt notiert. O Christe der du erstanden

N4v: Von dem Hevligen geist. Beata nobis gaudia. Die history, von der sendung des Heyligen Geysts, auft der Apostel geschicht. ii.cap. Auch inn der weifi des ersten lieds, im ersten biiechlein, Von Adam her so lange zeit. Auch inn den Zehen gebotten, und A solis ortus cardine. Als Jesus Christus Gottes Son N6r: Ein schoner hymnus von den syben gaben des Heyligen Geysts, Auch in den nehsten, hie vor gezeychten weisen. O Gott schopffer Heyliger geyst N7r: Urbs beata. Ein gebett und lobgsang zuom Heyligen geist, on welches gnaden wir gar nichts vermogen. *Kom heyliger geyst warer Gott [49, Weisse Zahn 2025]

N8v: Ein lob unnd gebettgsang zuo Gott und Christo, dz er uns mit seinem heyligen geyst begab und bewar. Im thon, Die zeit ist yetzt gantz freiiden reich, Oben am .lii.blatt notiert. Singen wir heiit aufi hertzen grund

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KATHARINA SCHUTZ ZELL

01v-2r: Ein gebett gsang zuom Heyligen geyst, fur die yrienden. *0 Heyliger geyst herre Gott [50, Strasbourg 1533 or Weisse Zahn 7445c ALT]

03r: Veni sancte Spiritus reple tuorum. Ein RuofF gsang zuom Heyligen Geyst, umb der Kirchen eynigkeyt. *Kom heyliger Geyst herre Gott [51, Weisse Zahn 8593 ALT.]

03v-4r: Der.cxxxiii.Psalmen/ Ecce quam bonum/ Ein lied Davids. *Sich wie lieblich ists [52, MNK, Meyer 153]

04 v: John 20[:17b]; Mark 16[:19]; Luke 24[:50b-51]; John 14[:26] [quota- tions] Folget nun das vierd Biiechlein von Lobgsengen, Bettgsengen, und Leergsengen.

[Book Four] Das vierde Byechlin der Geystlichen gsang/ Von Lobgsan- gen / Bettgsangen/ Leergsangen/ Gsang auff die tag zeytten / Gsang fur die Kinder/ Gesang fur die Gefallenen/ Gsang zuom begrebniifi der todten/ Vom Jiingsten tag / Von den rechten Heyligen/ Und vom Tes- tament des Herren.

Plv: Der gemeyn Apostel Glauben inn gesangs weyB. *Wir glauben inn Gott den vatter [53 = 38]

P2v: O lux beata Trinitas. Von den gnaden, die Gott den menschen zuo guot thuot. Im thon, A solis ortus cardine. Oder Veni redemptor gentium, &c. O Gottliche Dreyfaltigkeyt

P3v: Von den geschopfften wunderwercken Gottes allmechtigkeyt. Auch im nechsten thon. O Liecht heylig Dreyfaltigkeyt

P4v: Ein ermanung zuo alien creaturen, Gott yren schopffer zuo loben. Im thon, Grates nunc omnes, Oben im C am .xx.blatt notiert. Gott dem vatter sampt seinem son

P5v: Ave pulcherrima Regina. Ein Lobgsang, wie alien creaturen niitz miiglich, auch nit selig zuo werden, on die gnad Gottes des allmechtigen. *Lob und eer mit stetem danckopffer [54, MNK, Meyer 147]

P7v: Von Gottes Mayestat und herrligkeyt, welche alle engel und auBerwol- ten preisen. *Gott dem vatter im hochsten thron [55, KSZ’s own, Meyer 144] Qlr: Wie alle Engel, Apostlen, Propheten, Martrer und alle auBerwolten, Gott und Christum sampt dem heyligen geyst, loben und bekennen. *0 Herre Gotte wir loben dich [56, Weisse Zahn 5775 ALT.]

Q2v: Mens surgat fidelium. Ein erinnerung unserer schwacheyt und ellend, und Gottes krafft und herrligkeyt, auff das wir zuo Gott riieffen und bitten um gnad und stercke. *Laflt uns loben unsern Gott [57, Weisse Zahn 8182 ALT.] Q4r: Ein lobgsang, wie Gott unser vatter, uns trewlich und vetterlich mit zeit- lichen und geystlichen giietern und gaben versicht und begabt. Im thon,

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Nun frewt eiich lieben Christen. Auch im thon, Ach Gott von hymmel sych, &c. Oder, Das heyl ist uns kommen her, &c. Oder, Wer Gott nit mit uns dise

zeit. O Glaubig hertz gebenedey

Q5r-v: Ein dancksagung zuo Gott und Christo, umb der liebe willen zuom menschlichen geschlecht, Im thon, Lob und eer mit stetem danck opffer. Oben im P am lxxii blatt notiert. Lob sey dir herre Gott gesungen Q6v: Benedicta. Ein Sequentz von der heyligen Dreyfaltigkeyt. *Gebenedeyt unb gelobt sey [58, Weisse version; no Zahn]

Q8v: Das Te Deum laudamus Teiitsch. *0 Gott wir loben dich [59, Strasbourg version or Weisse Zahn 5775 ALT.??]

R4v: Ein lobgsang zuo Christo, und wie wir alleyn durch yn miiessen selig werden, Im thon, Maria zart von edler art. O Jesu zart inn newer art R5v: Ave praeclara. Ein schon lobsgang von Christo und von aller seiner herr- licheyt. *0 Jesu du verheyfiner heylandt [60, Weisse version: no Zahn]

Sir: Congaudent angelorum. Ein lobgsang von Christo, und von der selig- keyt aller deren die sich im ergeben. *0 Jesu zuo aller zeit [61, Weisse version: no Zahn]

S3v: Ein lobgsang von dem herrlichen wesen, allmechtigkeyt und wol wollen Gottes durch Christum Jesum. *0 Gott der du Bist ein geyst [62, Weisse Zahn 3386]

S4v-5r: Sanctorum meritis. Wie durch Adam, die siind und todt inn uns kom- men seind, und wir durch Christum widerumb gnad erlangt haben. *0 Herre Jesu Christ, der du gantz freiintlich bist [63, MNK, Meyer 151]

S6r-v: Folgen Betgeseng. Zuom ersten dz Vatter unser. Im thon. O Gott der du bist ein geyst. Oben im S.vi. notiert. Lafit uns schreyen alle gleich S7v: Das Vatter unser auff ein andere weifi. *Begeren wir mit ynnigkeyt [64, Weisse Zahn 3792]

S8r: Kirie fons bonitatis. Oben im ersten biiechlin am xix. blatt notiert. Ein gebett zuo den dreyen personen, umb gnad und hilff der armen gemeyn Gottes. O Gott vatter von ewigkeyt

Tlr: Kirie cunctipotens. Ein dancksagung, und gebett zuo den dreyen Gottlichen personen umb ire gnad. *0 ewiger barmhertziger Gott [65, Weisse Zahn 8609 ALT.]

T2v: Kirie magne Deus. Ein gebettgsang zuo den dreyen personen umb gnad, stercke, und rechten verstandt. *0 Vatter der barmhertzigkeyt [66, Weisse Zahn 1514 ALT.?]

T3v-4r: Angeli & Archangeli. Ein gebett und klag zuo Gott, wie wir von art zuom bosen geneygt, und nur auff die ziigniiB Gottes durch Christum uns verlassen kiinnen. * Barmhertziger ewiger Got [67, Weisse Zahn 1622]

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T5v: Ein anders inn dem thon. Ein gebett und lobgsang zuo Gott, das wir durch Christum inn ewige klarheyt kommen. Genedigpr und milter Gott T6v: Im thon. Pange lingua gloriosi. Ein gebett zuom vatter, umb gnad und hilff, rechte erkantnufi, liebe und glauben. O Gott Vatter im hochsten tron T7v: Ein schon gesang, wie wir durch das gesatz oder eygne werck nit miigen sehg werden, sonder durch den glauben inn das bluot und verdienst Jesu Christi. * Vatter der barmhertzigkeyt [68, Weisse Zahn 6364]

Vlr: Ein gebett zuo Christo umb hilff und gnad zuthuon seiner geystlichen Braut, der Christlichen gemeyn. *0 Jesu warer Gottes son [69, Weisse Zahn 197 ALT.]

V2r: Ein gebett und ermanung darinn Gott geprysen wiirt, seiner vilfeltigen giiete, so wir yn vor augen haben. *Barmhertziger und milter Gott [70, Weisse Zahn 7399]

V3v: Ite vos benedicti. Ein ruoff zuo den dreyen personen, umb Gottlichen segen und benedeyung. *0 bitten wir mit ynnigkeyt [71, Weisse Zahn 1514] V4v: Ein schon lobgsang, wie Gott nach vil irthumb, sein heylig wort und geyst inn die welt gesand hat, Im thon, Es ist das heyl uns kommen her. oder Ach Gott von hymmel sych daryn, &C. Gelobt sey Got der seinen son V5v: Ein gebet zuo Gott, das er die irrenden: erleuchten und zuo der war- heyt kommen lassen wolle, Im thon. Ad cenam agni providi. oder Im thon, des ersten lieds im ersten biechlin. Von Adam her, so lange zeit. Almech tiger ewiger Gott

V6v: Es spricht der unweisen mund wol. Auch im thon Es ist dz heyl uns kommen her, oder Aufi tieffer not. O Hochster Gott von ewigkeyt V7v: Ein gebett, das Got gnedig vollenden wolle, was er inn seinen gleiibigen angefangen hat. *Frewen wir uns all inn ein [72, Weisse Zahn 1176]

V8v: Ein klag lied zuo Gott, von der Christen harte durchachtung, das sye Gott erretten und erhalten wolle. *Die zeit ist yetz ferlich [73, Weisse Zahn 3275 ALT.]

Xlv-2r: Ein gebett, das unser geyst miige gesagen, wider den Teufel, Welt und unser eygen fleysch, Im thon, Ave maris Stella. O Gott 'vatter gebenedeyt inn ewigkeyt

X2v: Ein gebett und dancksagung zuo Gott das wir alle gnad und hiilff von Christo haben, Im thon, Mitten wir im leben sein. Wir waren inn grossem leyd X3v-4r: Folgen Leergeseng. Ein gsang, Wie das gesatz Gottes dem volck Israel ist geben worden, aufi dem andern buoch Mose, am xix.cap. Im thon wie man die zehen gebott singt, auch im thon, A solis ortus cardine, &c. oder im thon, Veni redemptor gentium. Zu Gott heben wir hertz und syn X5r: Die zehen gebott inn seiner melodey zuo singen, auch im thon, A solis ortUS cardine. Das seind die heylgen zehn gebott

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X6r: Von der erschopfRing und fal der Engel und menschen, und von der buofi und verdienst Christi fur des menschen siind, Im thon der zehen gebott. Gott dem vatter sey lob unnd danck

X7r-v: Ein lied von der leer und nachfolgung Christi, Im thon, Frewen wir uns all inn ein, Oben am cxiii.blatt notiert. O wie frolich ist die zeit X8v: Die acht seligkeyt auft dem Evangelio Matth.v. Im thon, Singet lieben leiit, &c. Oben im Ei. notiert. Chrisms unser hell

Ylr-v: Ein schone underweisung von der geystlichen hochzeit des son Gottes, von seinen botten, von erkennung unsrer selbs, von absterbung, vom tauft, nachtmal und ewiger kron, Im thon, Danck wir Gott dem vatter, oben im Biiii notiert. Gott der vater hat seinem son uns zuo guot

Y3r: Ein ermanung von dem todt, vom glauben, und wie man sich Gott ergeben soli, Im thon, Stabat mater, im Ii. notiert. O Mensch syh wie hie auff erdreich

Y3v: Ein schon Lied, von krafft der liebe Gottes, und yrer furnemsten wirck- ung, Im thon, der Zehen gebott, oder Veni redemptor gentium, &c. Wer gottes diener werden wyl

Y4v: Cedit hyems. Ein schone erinnerung, unsrer zergencklicheyt, des gwis- sen todts, des gericht Gottes und wie wir Christo glauben und nach folgen sollen. *Weltlich eer und zeitlich guot [74, Zahn 4971b, KSZ’s own, Meyer 155] Y6r-v: Ein ermanung das wir getrost zuo Gott tretten, dem teiifel absagen, und Christo unsrem herren anhangen. *Dem Kiinig vom oberstern reich [75, Weisse Zahn 6920 ALT.]

Y8r: Ein warnung, das wir durch ein rechten glauben und liebe, uns wol ver- waren, vor unsrem synd dem teiifel der vil unsrer mit briieder erlegt und ge- schendt hat. *0 Wechter wach und bewar deine synnen [76, Weisse Zahn 68]

Zlv: Volgen geseng auff die Tagzeiten. Zuom ersten die/ so des morgens sollen gesungen werden. Das uns Gott auch disen tag, wie inn der nacht, behiieten und regieren woll, Im thon, O lux beata Trinitas, Oder der Zehen gebott. Es geet da her des tages schein

Z2r: Ein gsang das uns Gott auch disen tag, wie inn der nacht, behiieten, und unsern geyst wider das fleysch stercken wolle, im vorigen thon. Der tag bricht an und zeygpt sich

Z2v: Ein aufferweckung zuom lob und dienst Gottes, durch exempel der crea- turen. *Der tag vertreybt die finster nacht [77, Weisse Zahn 51a ALL]

Z3v: Ein anders, Im nechsten thon. Christglaubig mensch wach uff Z4r: Nach der sonnen auffgang zuo singem Das uns Gott wolle innerlich erleiichten, durch Christum die sonn der gerechtigkeyt, In thon, Veni creator, Oder der zehen gebott. Der hymmel schon und wolgestalt

Z5r: Vor dem tische. Ein errinnerung, wie Gott alles das do lebt, speiset und

78

KATHARINA SCHUTZ ZELL

erneret, und das wir auch Gott loben inn unsrer speifi und tranck. * Vatter im hochsten thron [78, Weisse Zahn 1142]

Z5v-6r: Ein tisch gsang, wie dem menschen alle speifl reyn war, und do er siindet wards ym verfluocht, aber durch Christum wider gebenedeyt, Im thon der zehen gebott. Grofimechtiger ewiger Got

Z6v: Nach dem tische. *Den vatter dort oben [79, Weisse Zahn 4795]

Z7r-v: Zuor Vesperzevt. Ein erynnerung des todts zoukunfft, und das wir ein reyn gewissen behalten, auff des Herren zuokunfft, Im thon, Lucis creator &C. Oder der Zehen gebott. Es ist yetz umb die vesperzeit

Z8r: Wie all ding zergeen, wie der tag, und das wir bestendig bleiben, so uns Gott probiert. Im vorigen thon, auch im thon, der zehen [gebott?] oder A solis ortus cardine, oder im thon, Von Adam her so lange zeit. Die sonne trit dem abend nehr

Aalr: Am abend Ee mann schlaffen geet. Ein ermanung zuom gebett, das uns Gott dise nacht behiieten wolle, Im thon, Christe qui lux es, &c. Oder der Zehen gebott. Die sonne wiirt bald undergeen

Aalv: Ein gebett das Gott dise nacht bey uns wolle fein [sein?], Im nechsten thon. Die sonne wiirt mit irem schein

Aa2r-v: Christe qui lux. Ein gebett zuo Christo, das er uns stercke im glauben und liebe, und dise nacht behuete, Im thon. O Gott der du bist ein geyst, Oben im Siii notiert. Christe du wares liechts und gottliche klarheyt

Aa3r: Volgen sonderliche gesenge fur die Kinder. Ein gesang der Kinder zuo Christo, das er sye den newen bundt leren wolle, und darinn erhalten, Im thon, Maria zart. O Jesu der du salig machst

Aa4r-v: Ein gesang der Kinder zuo Christo, das er sye wolle seinen willen leren, und zuo ym ziehen, Im thon, Den vatter dort oben, Im Zvi. O Herre Jesu Christ, der du erschynen bist

Aa5r: Ein leergsang fur die Kinder, mit eim kurtzen begriff der zehen gebott, Im thon, Singet lieben leiit. Oben im Nii. Kinder mercket fleissig auff Aa6r: Ein bekantniifi der kinder Christi Jesu, das sye mit seiner hilff unnd gnad from wollen werden, Im thon, Wunderlich ding, am Gvii notiert. Messia o Jesu Gottes son

Aa7r: [cross references, to creed, commandments, Lord’s prayer, beatitudes] Aa7r-v: Folgen Geseng fur die gefallenen von der angenommen gnad. Und zuom ersten, Ein klag fiber unsere siind, und ein bitt umb rechte buoft und barmhertzigkeyt Gottes, Im thon, Aufl tieffer not. AuG tieffer not last uns zuo Gott Aa8v: Ein friintlich ruoffen und gesprech Christi zuo den siindern, das sye sich widerumb zuo ym mit rechter buofi und der muot bekeren, Im thon, Conditor alme syderum. Oder der zehen gebott. Kert eiich zuo mir O lieben leiit

Appendix II

79

Bblr-v: Ein ermanung und lockung zuom verlornen son: Lucae am xv. Das er sich wider kere zuo Gott, durch ein buofifertig leben, Im vorigen thon, oder Von Adam her so lange zeit. Auch im thon, A solis ortus cardine. Ker

umb ker umb du j unger son

Bb2r-v: Folgen sonderliche Gesenge zuom Begrebniifi der todten. Und zuom ersten der/ die nach angenommener und gezeiigter gnad im bund des giietten gewissens mit Gott/ verschevden. Im thon, Sanctorum meritis. Oben im Sv notiert. O Vatter herre Gott

Bb3v: Ein anders, Wie der so selig ist, der hie inn disem leben nach dem wil- len Gottes wandelt, Im thon der Zehen gebott. Nun loben wir mit innigkeyt Bb5r: Uns beym grab zuo errinnern, der rhuo der abgestorbenen, und unsrer auffersteeung, Im vorigen thon. Nu lafit uns den leib begraben Bb5v: Zuom Begrebniifi der Kinder. Ein trostgsang, Wie der Kinder todt so treglich ist, und nit fast zuo beweynen, Im nechsten thon. Preyfi sey dem allmech- tigen Gott

Bb7r: Beym grab. Im nechsten thon. So lafit uns den leib behalten

Bb7r-v: Vom Tungsten Tag. Wie der letste tag so unversehen und so erschrocklich kommen wiirt, aber wol dennen so im Herren entschlaffen seind. *0 ir Christen wacht [80, Weisse Zahn 1439]

Bb8v: Ein einzeygen durch ettlich zeychen, das der jiingst tag bald kommen werd, und mit was weiB, und wie Christus rich ten wiirt, &c. *Es wiirt schier der letste tag herkommen [81, Weisse Zahn 1423 ALT.]

Cc2v: Wie es am Jiingsten gericht wiirt zuo geen, aufidem Evangelio Matth.am.XXV. *0 ir alle die ir eiich, dem herrn vereyniget [82, Weisse Zahn 8183 ALT.]

Cc5r-v: Folgen Geseng von den rechten Hevligen. Zuom ersten von den Aposteln. Von der Apostel predig ampt, und seiner wirckung und krafft, Im thon der Zehen gebott. Auch im thon, A solis ortus cardine. Christus schickt auft inn alle welt

Cc6v: Ein trostliche ermanung Christi zuo den seinen verschmechten inn der welt, das sey [!] bestendig blieben, Im thon, Freiiwen wir uns. Als Christus mit seiner leer

Cc7v: Lauda Sion salvatorem. Ein schoner Sequentz, Von der menschwer- dung Christi, Von seiner leer und seiner Apostel erwolung, von der Apostel predig ampt und irer verfolgung und standhafftigkeyt. *Gelobt sey Gott von ewigkeyt [83, Weisse ALT., not Zahn form]

Dd2v-3r: Wie uns Gott durch sich selb selig macht, und wer ym gehorcht der wiirt selig, und wer deflhalb inn leiden kompt, erlangt die kron der selig- keyt, Im thon, der Zehen gebott. Oder des ersten lieds, Von Adam her so lange zeit. Seer grofi ist Gottes giiettigkeyt

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Dd4r: Von Maria der muoter Christi. Wie sye, vom stamm Jesse, durch den heyligen geyst Christum gebar, und wie all heyligen auff Christum und nit auff Mariam gebawet haben, Im thon, Ave maris Stella. Preyfl sey dir hymlischer vatter und deinem son

Dd5r: Von dem Testament des herrn/ Das ist/ von seinem leichnam und bluot Testaments weifi. Erstlich, wie Christus beym vatter: uns seinen heyligen geyst schickt, und sein Testament verordnet hat zuor vergebung der siinden, Im thon, Vexilla regis, Oder der Zehen gebott. Christus der herr veigofl sein bluot Dd6r: Wie man zou des Herren Nachtmal geschickt sein sol, Im thon, Vex- illa regis prodeunt, Oder O salutaris hostia. Da Christus von unns scheyden wolt Dd7r: Christus theylt seiner gemeyn vil gaben mit dem heyligen geyst, seine Apostel den Tauff, das Sacrament des nachtmals, und was das sey, Im thon, der Zehen gebott, Oder, Vexilla regis prodeunt. Christus inn leiblicher person Dd8r-v: Nach dem gebett so von einem rechten Erwolten/ Beruoffenen und gesandten Diener sampt der glaubigen versamlung im nammen lesu/ zuo Gott geschicht/ umb allerlev hevlsame gaben / bifi auch umb gebenedeiung Gegenwertiges brotes und weines/ Das es werde (Testaments weifi) Der Leib und das Bluot Christi. Werde von der gantzen versamlung zuom beschlufi Amen gesungem Im thon. O Gott der du bist. Forne Siii notiert. Amen sprech wir alle gleich

Dd8v: Ein anders Im Thon. Begeren Wir. Oben am Svii. Amen sprechen wir eyntrechtig

Dd8v-Eelr: Wenn nach geschehenem gebett/ der diener mit den worten Christi anzeigt/ das dz brot/ sein leib sev/ welcher fur uns verraten/ Und der wein sein bluot/ welchs fur uns vergossen ist zuor vergebung der siinden/ Werde difi nachfolgend bekentnufi gesungen. *Wir glauben all unnd bekennen frey [84, Weisse Zahn 1902]

Eelr-v: Weil man mit dem Brot und Kellich. des herrn den gleiibigen dienet. werde gesungen. Vom leiden. Christi Tesus Christus Gottes son von ewigkeyt. Oben, im Fvi. Oder ein Lobgesang. Nach erkentniifi des Vorstehers. Wenn man das Evangelion hat gelesem ee mans auftleget. Werd gesungen, im thon Begeren wir. Oben am Svii notiert. O Christe warheyt und leben Eelv: Wie man sich bezevten von der welt zuo Christo bekeren. und nit des errichten fegefewers sich vertrosten sob Im thon, Vexilla regis. Oder der Zehen gebott. Thuot buossz thuot buofi o lieben leiit

Ee2v: Das Christus allevn unser mitler sey fur Gott und kevn ander. *Allzeit ists ser guot und hoch von noten [85, Zahn 2015, KSZ’s own, Meyer 136]

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. Entschuldigung Katharina Schiitzinn, fur M. Matthes Zellen, jren Eegemahal

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. Klag Red und Ermahnung Catharina Zellin zum Volck bei dem Grab M.

Matheus Zellen [1548] .

. Ms. letter to Ambrose Blaurer, 30 September 1534. St. Gall Stadtbib-

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. Ms. letter to Caspar Schwenckfeld, 19 October 1553. Strasbourg Archives

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. “Vorred” = Preface, in first booklet of hymnbook, Von Christo Jhesu. .

. . Lobgsdng. Strasbourg, 1534/35.

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