Martin Luther's Revolution

Episode

Title

First
Broadcast

Repeated

Comments

A Square Dance In Heaven

20170430

20180803 (R3)

The Rev Lucy Winkett takes a musical tour of the Reformation.

The Protestant Reformation has traditionally been regarded as 'the triumph of the word', marking a decisive shift from a visual and sensual culture to a literary one. But for MARTIN LUTHER, music, with its power to move emotions, was an 'inexpressible miracle' second only to Theology. When people engage in music, he said, singing in four or five parts, it is like a 'square dance in heaven.

Luther's ideas about music were to have a decisive influence on the development of music in Germany. Indeed, the dominance of German music from the 17th to 19th centuries would not have happened without him. The English and Scottish Reformations, which took a Calvinist route, were untouched by this influence. It took until the 18th century for the hymn-writing Wesley brothers to do for England's churches what Luther had done for German ones two hundred years earlier. The Lutheran Church, with its hymns and chorales, was the seedbed for the choral and liturgical works of Germany's greatest composers. No Luther, no Bach. It's that simple.

The Rev Lucy Winkett, a trained singer and Bach enthusiast, takes the listener on a musical tour of the Reformation. The programme opens in the Georgenkirche in Eisenach where MARTIN LUTHER and J.S Bach were both choirboys. Lucy visits Torgau, where the first Lutheran cantor, Johann Walther, set Luther's famous words to music and spearheaded the educational reforms which led to an explosion of choral singing throughout Saxony. The programme ends in Leipzig at the Thomaskirche, where Bach wrote his famous cantatas and other works based on Lutheran liturgy.

Music for this programme has been specially recorded with the choir of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, under the direction of Dr Geoffrey Webber.

Producer, Rosie Dawson.

Reformation 500

20170507

CHRIS BOWLBY explores how the Reformation shaped German culture and what it means today.

Germany's celebrating 500 years since the Reformation - but what does it mean today? CHRIS BOWLBY visits Wittenberg - where MARTIN LUTHER started it all in 1517. He discovers how the Reformation transformed life in many different ways, and helped make Germany a nation of singers and book-lovers. But amidst all the culture and kitsch Germany's also grappling with a darker legacy - Luther's anti-Semitism and exploitation by dictators and populists.

Producer, CHRIS BOWLBY

Editor, Penny Murphy

Episodes

Episode	Title	First Broadcast	Repeated	Comments
01	A Square Dance In Heaven	20170430	20180803 (R3)	The Rev Lucy Winkett takes a musical tour of the Reformation. The Protestant Reformation has traditionally been regarded as 'the triumph of the word', marking a decisive shift from a visual and sensual culture to a literary one. But for MARTIN LUTHER, music, with its power to move emotions, was an 'inexpressible miracle' second only to Theology. When people engage in music, he said, singing in four or five parts, it is like a 'square dance in heaven. Luther's ideas about music were to have a decisive influence on the development of music in Germany. Indeed, the dominance of German music from the 17th to 19th centuries would not have happened without him. The English and Scottish Reformations, which took a Calvinist route, were untouched by this influence. It took until the 18th century for the hymn-writing Wesley brothers to do for England's churches what Luther had done for German ones two hundred years earlier. The Lutheran Church, with its hymns and chorales, was the seedbed for the choral and liturgical works of Germany's greatest composers. No Luther, no Bach. It's that simple. The Rev Lucy Winkett, a trained singer and Bach enthusiast, takes the listener on a musical tour of the Reformation. The programme opens in the Georgenkirche in Eisenach where MARTIN LUTHER and J.S Bach were both choirboys. Lucy visits Torgau, where the first Lutheran cantor, Johann Walther, set Luther's famous words to music and spearheaded the educational reforms which led to an explosion of choral singing throughout Saxony. The programme ends in Leipzig at the Thomaskirche, where Bach wrote his famous cantatas and other works based on Lutheran liturgy. Music for this programme has been specially recorded with the choir of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, under the direction of Dr Geoffrey Webber. Producer, Rosie Dawson.
02	Reformation 500	20170507		CHRIS BOWLBY explores how the Reformation shaped German culture and what it means today. Germany's celebrating 500 years since the Reformation - but what does it mean today? CHRIS BOWLBY visits Wittenberg - where MARTIN LUTHER started it all in 1517. He discovers how the Reformation transformed life in many different ways, and helped make Germany a nation of singers and book-lovers. But amidst all the culture and kitsch Germany's also grappling with a darker legacy - Luther's anti-Semitism and exploitation by dictators and populists. Producer, CHRIS BOWLBY Editor, Penny Murphy