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[German Version] Union School of Sacred Music, affiliated with Union Theological Seminary (UTS) in New York, in the Reformed tradition. It was founded in 1928 by Clarence and Helen Snyder Dickinson, along with H.S. Coffin, the president of UTS. Through its high-quality instruction and the music books and textbooks published by C. Dickinson, it exercised enormous influence on American Protestant worship in the mid-20th century. The students at the school studied liturgics alongside their musical st…

[German Version] is a short prayer, generally of petition. The early monks valued quick prayer as a remedy against vice. Before Vatican II such prayers were enriched with indulgences. Technically, such indulgences still exist, albeit in modified form, but they are of little interest in contemporary piety. Quick prayers can be seen as part of the effort to “pray always” (cf. Luke 18:1; Eph 6:18, etc.) and are related to contemporary interest in centering prayer, the Jesus prayer (Heart, Prayer of the), and other spiritual practices aiming toward reflective concentration. Anthony Willi…

[German Version] (Oct 12, 1872, Down Ampney, Gloucestershire – Aug 26, 1958, London), British composer and director. Vaughan Williams taught composition at the Royal College of Music in London and Cambridge University. He had studied with Hubert Parry, Charles Wood, and Charles Villiers Stanford and briefly with Max Bruch and Maurice Ravel. He composed symphonies, choral music, hymns, and music for the stage, theater, film, and radio. He was influenced by English folksongs and Tudor (English Renaissance) polyphony. He was the musical editor of the influential English Hymnal (1906)…

[German Version] is the Latin title of the Song of Simeon (Luke 2:29–32), which he sang as Jesus was presented in the temple. Beginning with “[Lord], now you let [your servant] depart,” it is the third of the New Testament canticles in Luke, along with the Benedictus and the Magnificat . In the Roman liturgy, it is sung during the procession after the blessing of candles before mass on the Feast of the Presentation (Candlemas) and at Compline (Liturgy of the Hours). In many Protestant churches and in the Eastern rites, it is …

[German Version] I. Liturgy – II. Music I. Liturgy The offertory is the point in the liturgy of the Eucharist when the offerings are received and the altar is prepared for the eucharistic liturgy (Eucharist). The offerings include bread and wine for the communion service, and typically money (Collections) for the church and the poor. This offering of money was not emphasized in the Early Church; Justin, for instance, says only that the bread and wine are brought in. Tertullian und Hippolytus tell of the …

[German Version] (baptismal name, Peter; Nov 27, 1874, Junkersdorf – Sep 2, 1946, Maria Laach Abbey), OSB, was a historian of liturgy and the Benedictine order, and abbot of Maria Laach (from Jul 7, 1913, until his death). After philosophical-theological studies in Beuron and Rome, he studied further at Maredsous; he was awarded the Dr.iur. h.c. and Dr.theol. h.c. (Bonn, Tübingen). He was a founding figure and leading champion of the liturgical movement in Germany. In 1931 he founded the Benedikti…

[German Version] I. Liturgy The Sanctus is an acclamation sung after the preface of the Eucharistic prayer. It is virtually universally used in the East and West in liturgical traditions, with increasing use in the reformed orders of less liturgical Protestant traditions. The text expresses unity of earthly worship with heavenly worship in praise of God. The text is the Trisagion based on Isaiah (Isa 6:3; see also Rev 4:8), with the added Benedictus, both of which end with “Hosanna” acclamation (see also Matt 21:9; Ps 118; 25–26a). The Trisagion (three Holys) comes ¶ from the ancient mor…

[German Version] I. History of the Discipline – II. Current State of Research The study of church music is a relatively new scholarly field that endeavors comprehensively to collect, investigate, interpret, transmit, and also make usable in practice our knowledge about the practical and theoretical aspects of church music. The multifaceted contexts of church music must thereby be incorporated, including liturgy and liturgical theology, similarities and differences with re…

[German Version] I. Sources in Antiquity – II. Early Church – III. Eastern Churches – IV. Western Churches – V. Present – VI. Legal Issues – VII. Church Music Training I. Sources in Antiquity There is one lone musical reference (Gen 4:21) in the earliest OT strata, suggesting a minor role for music in Israel before c. 1200 bce. With the migration into Canaan, Israelite music-making flourished as exemplified by evidence of dirges (2 Sam 1:19–27), war songs (Num 21:14f.), victory songs (Exod 15:1–18, 20), magical incantations …