The Organ’s Historical Status in the Baroque Religious Time

Organ is one of the oldest musical instruments in the world， and is also considered as the symbol of Christian music. In the history of western music， the most booming era of the organ was closely associated with religious music. The organ became the most representative instrument in religious music because of its liturgical function. Especially in the baroque period， organ plays several roles in the religious service， different kinds of organ prelude were composed for the Lutheran or Calvinist church service. Bach’s organ work can lead us to overlook the prosperity of organ music in Baroque period. The fundamental principles relating to the organ performance or accompaniment also cannot be ignored.

No instrument is capable of such royal as the organ， and also no instrument has encountered as many obstacles as organ 沒during its two-thousand-year-long development. As its most basic， the organ is wind instrument. The origins of the organ can be traced back to the water organ in ancient Greece in 3BC， and then organ became a small home instrument played in the family for entertainment，but it was not allowed to be played in the Christian churches for centuries because it was always associated with “pagan”. Before the baroque era， music always stood as a servant to religion， which is a tool for church to fortify the faith and convey the holy sprit to the public. The early church leader did not accept the music without text； purely instrumental music was not allowed to be played in the church. So all the early music was for voice alone. The development of instrumental music was in a period of stagnation. And organ music was considered as “secular music” and played at home for entertainment at a very early age， and organ found its way into churches by the end of the tenth century.

But how did the organ gradually become used in church？

Although in the early stage， the instrumental music was forbidden to appear in church， but through the development of several centuries， people found it hard for the organist to control the timber and dynamic change on the organ to show the personal feeling. This quality made organ but not other instrument to be used in Christine worship. which is suited for the purpose the church leader wanted to get—the sacred atmosphere but without any personal emotion. Since 9BC， with the development of the polyphonic music， the instrument that could show the polyphonic music became more crucial. Organum is the earliest form of polyphonic music； it usually had at least two voice parts in a song， and organ could give the first note of every voice part and support the voice. Also， the organ could introduce a hymn with a prelude， which can guide the congregation into the mood of the hymn. Even though it is not entirely clear why the organ was allowed to be introduced to Christian church finally， it still can be attributed roughly to the need of the religious thought and the development of church music and polyphonic music. And what we need to remember is， although the organ was allowed to be played in the church since 9BC， no independent organ piece was written before sixteenth century， the instrumental music still occupied the secondary position until seventeenth century. The organ was assigned the accompaniment to the actual singing of the congregation rather late； That practice that seems to have developed only gradually during the course of the seventeenth century-the beginning of Baroque period.

Baroque period has been regarded as the golden age in the development of organ， the organ comes into fullest flower during the Baroque. The secular music flowering throughout the sixteenth century vanished in the seventeenth century； The sacred music was strongly secularized， which deeply influenced the sacred music of organ. When we talk about the organ in baroque period， there are two people that cannot be forgotten： Martin Luther and Bach.

Although Martin Luther did not live during the baroque period， his actions had deep impact and influence on the music of baroque period. Counter-reformation influenced the music as well as people’s religion. The development of the organ music in Lutheran churches during the seventeenth century was largely based on Lutheran theology. After the sixteenth century， reformation in religion evoked the reformation of music. The great protagonist of the reformation， Martin Luther， wanted to give a larger role to people， so he revived the form of congregational singing which aims to increase worshiper’s participation through music.

Chorale， a German hymn introduced by the martin Luther， became the most essential form of Lutheran worship music。Lutheran composers wrote many polyphonic settings for chorale. Like organ chorale （chorale prelude）-any organ setting of choral， any organ work based on Lutheran chorale. In Lutheran churches， the congregation and the organ were to perform the stanzas of a chorale alternately， like an introduction to a hymn. Organ chorale is written to introduce congregational hymns before or after singing the chorales， the organist was expected to improvise a piece of chorale prelude in order to lead the public to the mood quickly and alternate stanzas with the congregational singing， but as a liturgical factor competent to perform independent worship assignments. It was the duty of the organist in the main service on Sunday to open the service with the prelude， to provide the intonation for the liturgy singing of the clergy， the choir， and the congregation to enrich the hymn singing of the congregation through interludes， to introduce the cantata with a prelude， and to assist in the music， as well as to furnish a part of the music during Holy communion in the form of appropriate organ selections.