A HISTORY OF VOCAL MUSIC. 585 



To Festa and his successors, and to the Popes of Eome, who 

 •during the sixteenth century gave their support and patronage 

 to music, principally through their famous choir in the Sistine 

 Chapel, we owe the existence of some of the most beautiful 

 sacred music in existence. 



But ecclesiastical music was destined to receive a con- 

 siderable check in its progress, chiefly owing to the great 

 abuse of the liberty allowed of adapting secular music to the 

 services of the Church. 



The clergy and the Church musicians, in their anxiety to 

 absorb into iheir service a style of music more suitable to the 

 tastes of the people than the plain-song or Gregorian chant, 

 had made use of many secular melodies, adapting them to 

 sacred words of the most solemn character, the music 

 itself being most inappropriate and, indeed, irreverent. At 

 last, the rendering of the musical portion of the service 

 became such a scandal that measures w^ere taken to brmg an 

 account of the state of affairs to the notice of one of the great 

 Councils held at different stated periods in some one of the 

 chief cities of Italy, by the cardinals and dignitaries of the 

 Eomish Church. 



Luther himself was a very good musician, and he was much 

 interested in Church music. He was one of the originators of 

 the chorale or hymn-tune, several of which he composed, and 

 which are used in our churches to this day. Luther may be 

 said to have made a clean sweep of all ecclesiastical music in 

 the churches over which his influence extended, except this one 

 form of hymnody — a proceeding which must have been fatal to 

 the cause of vocal art had it been adopted throughout all 

 Christendom. 



To carry out the much-desired reform of Church music 

 required a far greater musical genius than Luther. This re- 

 form did not take place until twenty years after his death, 

 when, at the Council of Trent held in 1563, it was decided to 

 appoint a Commission to inquire into the evils complained of, 

 and to propose a remedy. The eight cardinals composing this 

 Commission were men of the highest ability, both literary and 

 artistic, some of them remarkable for their piety, others not 

 only accomplished musicians but magnificent patrons of art ; 

 and their appointment to carry out this work shows the im- 

 portance attached to it. 



It was at first suggested that the use of all Church music 

 in harmony should be forbidden, and that only unaccom- 

 paiiied plain-chant or Gregorian melodies should be retained ; 

 a proposition which, had it been carried, would probably have 

 delayed the progress and development of music as an art for 

 many years — perhaps for centuries. Before, however, deciding 

 this question, the Commissioners resolved to avail themselves 



