New spiritual song

Concert with new sacred songs

With New Sacred Song ( NGL ) is a musical genre called that emerged in the second half of the 20th century and has the following characteristics:

a (in the broadest sense) religious text - this includes u. a. liturgical , biblically oriented, Christian committed and political texts
Belongs to the genre song
Stylistic influence through popular music (e.g. hits , beats , blues , jazz , folksong , folklore and rock )
or based on neo-modal patterns of the 1930s in a kind of "new hymn style",
intended for worship use (even if they are often sung outside of worship)
The main producers and agents are choirs, trombone choirs , bands and individual songwriters .

Emergence

First beginnings after the Second World War

Seigneur, mon ami by Père Aimé Duval , published in 1955, is considered the first New Sacred Song .

In 1956 the church musician Helmut Barbe performed his musical Hallelujah Billy at the German Protestant Church Congress in Frankfurt am Main. In this work he used elements from jazz music for the first time . The response to this performance was very positive, especially among young people.

Père Maurice Cocagnac sang his religious chansons on the German Catholic Day in 1962 .

The artist group TAKT from 1947

Text authors and composers conference of the artist group TAKT on the Knivsberg (1988)

The group TAKT (for lyricists and composers conference ) is an artist group of authors and composers who, after its founding in 1947, played a key role in the development of the musical genre New Spiritual Song. Many songs created by members of the TAKT group have found their way into the various song books of the Christian churches. The group published its own selection for the Kirchentag in Cologne 2007. The song book Singing to be Heard has been published by Strube-Verlag and comprises 119 TAKT songs from three decades.

Competitions from 1962

The four competitions of the Evangelical Academy in Tutzing were trend-setting in the history of the New Spiritual Song . For the first competition initiated by the evangelical student pastor of Munich Günther Hegele, 996 entries were sent in, which were supposed to “correspond to the musical resonance of young people, which is characterized by jazz and light music”.

1st competition 1962: 1st prize: Thanks for this good morning , text and music: Martin Gotthard Schneider; 2nd prize: Show us the way; Award: A child was born to us

2nd competition 1963: 1st prize: Because you say “yes” to me, text: Christine Heuser , music: Oskar Gottlieb Blarr; 2nd prize: Stay with us master! (“ A ship that calls itself a community ”), text and music: Martin Gotthard Schneider; 3rd prize: Let us feel, text and music: Alfred Hans Zoller; 1st prize choral songs: God is our confidence by Heinz W. Zimmermann; 2nd prize choral songs: From good powers , text: Dietrich Bonhoeffer , music: Herbert Breuer; More songs: God means well with you by Martin Gotthard Schneider; The Devil by Dietrich Mendt ; I draw my dark street from Klaus Kleinau ; Finds the path of Ernst Fröhlich ; The Path of Mercy (“Between Jericho and Jerusalem”) by Martin Gotthard Schneider; In the garden of Gethsemane by Jacqueline Juergens ; Don't defend yourself by Martin Gotthard Schneider

In 1963 the Dominican Jeanne-Paule Marie Deckers became world famous as Sœur Sourire with Dominique .

In 1965, the euphoria of many church musicians and choirs was initially stopped. The Archbishop of Cologne , Cardinal Josef Frings, prohibited the use of jazz, negro spirituals and “spiritual hits” in the church. A little later, in May 1966, the German (Catholic) Bishops' Conference also spoke out against this type of church music.

Supplementary booklets next to the Protestant church hymn book

The rejection of the evangelical church hymn book from 1950 by younger and progressive milieus led in the evangelical churches "to the demand for new songs and to the production of a flood of new spiritual songs, which were initially hectographed (largely without the control of the church leaders) and were distributed as copies " .

Various regional Protestant churches reacted constructively to the criticism. They released collections of new songs for liturgical work in evangelical services. In 1982 the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria published the supplementary booklet "Silberpfeil", which was continued in 2011 by the booklet "Kommt, breathes auf" with a further 176 songs. The Evangelical Church in Württemberg reacted similarly. "In the Luther year 1983" (so the preface) she published the booklet "New Songs - an offer for the congregations of the Evangelical Church in Württemberg published by the Evangelical Oberkirchenrat Stuttgart" for her parishes Helped establish religious services. Guitar chords appeared in the music notation, signaling that the song accompaniment should not only be entrusted to the church organ.

Songbooks and hymn books in the Catholic and ecumenical field

The Habakuk music group is still an important multiplier at church days when it comes to the New Spiritual Song

In the Catholic and ecumenical field, the first songbooks with contributions to praise and adoration were published during this time , such as Jericho , edited by Karl Natiesta and Tom Runggaldier (1970) or Schalom - Ecumenical Songbook (1971).

An important contribution to the spread of new sacred songs was the song book Das Lob , which was first published in 1979 by Josef Mittermair ( Pettenbach ). The songbook collected the entire range of existing new sacred songs: the German texted spirituals used in beat masses , chansons by Maurice Cocagnac, Alfred Flury , Aimé Duval and Sœur Sourire , songs that were "heard down" from sound carriers and from the radio such as Our Father by Giorgio Moroder and many other songs. The Gen Rosso fair was spread through this songbook, as was the Tyrolean youth and children's fair by Raimund Kreidl and the Palatinate children's fair by Hartmut Wortmann, which is still sung at first communions . In April 2013 this songbook was published in its 14th edition.

In the time of the GDR from 1975 - and also after the fall of the Wall - an annual song booklet for young people was established for Trinity Sunday . These song collections still appear at the same time every year. The publisher is now the office for youth pastoral care of the German Bishops' Conference.

1986: Sing Jerusalem
1992: Cantata
2002: song source
2006: you with us
2007: Cantata II
2008: Kindergottes Praise - Because you are there
2011: Young Praise to God - Being a blessing
2013: Praise to God

Musicals and pop oratorios

New Hope drew the reformers, as in 1968, the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat by Andrew Lloyd Webber has been released. When his musical Jesus Christ Superstar was performed in 1970 , the efforts for contemporary church music continued. A tune from Webber found its way into the praise of God in the Catholic Church in 2013 . Webber's “The Last Supper” from Jesus Christ Superstar is numbered GL 188 with a new German text that Raymond Weber created in 2009: Take, oh God, the gifts we bring. Accept ourselves with bread and wine . This song is proposed for the preparation of gifts during a Catholic mass. In 2018 the Evangelical Church followed suit and presented new songs in the songbook Where we praise you - plus this melody with a text by Frieder Dehlinger: Let's find different people together, poor rich people, homeless at home .

Youth choir movement

The youth choir movement was from the late 1960s, a decade-long development of Christian music towards the new clergy song in German-speaking countries, which is mainly under the freikirchlich- evangelical worn spread youth and from that until the mid-1990s into it. The German-language New Spiritual Song, which was shaped by German lyricists and composers such as Manfred Siebald , Peter Strauch , Margret Birkenfeld , Johannes Nitsch and Gerhard Schnitter , developed from predominantly American models . The main publication in this area is the series Singt das Lied der Lieder, which appeared in 1983, with New Spiritual Songs arranged primarily for choirs.

Gospel choirs

Gospel choirs with their performance of Afro-American Christian music brought Negro Spirituals into European churches and thus provided important impulses for the further development of the New Spiritual Song

Gospel choirs and gospel singers perform African American Christian music. In Europe they often concentrate on the Negro Spirituals , which have become the basis for new designs in the sense of the New Spiritual Song.

Some Negro Spirituals, also just called Spirituals , have gradually become part of official German church hymn books. The Protestant hymn book contains (EG 499) Singing with a Sword ; it became the German-language song Erd und Himmel shall sing . The Christmas Go Tell It on the Mountain became a Last Supper song in the Evangelical Hymn book (EG 225) and, after an arrangement by Friedrich Walz, is called : Come on, tell everyone! .

When Israel was in Egypt's land , translated as When Israel was in Egypt (EG Württemberg 603), belongs to some regional hymn book sections as a biblical narrative song . In a very rhythmic guise it's me oh Lord , German as a creation song You created, Lord, our earth well (EG Bayern 652).

Such adaptations can also be observed in various free church and Catholic hymn books. I'm gonna sing when the Spirit says "Sing" can be found by Paul Ernst Ruppel in the hymn book of the Evangelical Methodist Church (No. 96) translated into German as I sing my song when the Lord says to me: "Sing" .

Sacropop

The term " Sacropop " - new church music with stylistic devices of modern pop music - was coined in 1971 by Peter Janssens . It is not just about service music for worship services, but also large concert forms such as musicals and pop oratorios , which should help shape the New Spiritual Song.

For Peter Janssens, the New Spiritual Song was always about a renewal of the liturgy "from the spirit of the 2nd Vatican Council " . One of the titles of his songs is: "We want to sing other songs ... the Lord leads us to new land" . This line of text from 1972 from the hand of Alois Albrecht became in the foreword to his large collection of songs from 1992 a determining motto of his endeavors for the New Spiritual Song

Working group for church music and pastoral care for young people in the Diocese of Limburg from 1971

In 1971 the working group for church music and pastoral care for young people was founded in the Limburg diocese. The founders saw themselves challenged to help the congregations to find new songs in line with the times. The working group had an extensive training program to contribute to the dissemination of the newly created songs and to qualification measures for choirs, bands and communities.

The formative members were the lyricists and composers Eugen Eckert , Dietmar Fischenich, Winfried Heurich , Joachim Raabe , Horst Christill , Peter Reulein and the long-time chairman Patrick Dehm . A characteristic of the productive work are the over 25 published choir and song books. Below is a selection:

1994 Choir book “Vom Leben singen” (from life singing) with 188 songs
1999 Choir and band book * "Coloring the Time" with 161 songs
2003 Choir book "Let your light shine", with 103 songs
2008 song book "Because you are there" - Children's Praise to God with 380 songs
2009 Choir and band book “Because Heaven Needs Us” with 200 songs
2011 Young Praise to God “A Blessing” with 720 songs

AK SINGLES

The SINGLES working group in the BDKJ in the Archdiocese of Cologne was founded in 1971 . The members (Stephanie Aragione-Krey, Dieter Böttcher, Peter Deckert , Joachim Geibel, Thomas Johannsen, Thomas Quast , Christoph Seeger , Rudolf von Gersum, Raymund Weber , Bernhard Wilmes and Torsten Wolter) organize workshops and publish the "SINGLES Liedblatt" critically selected new sacred songs in score form, and thus contribute to the dissemination of current songs. SINGLES is an acronym : “Singing International New Spiritual Songs. A service offer ". Former members were: Wolfgang Bretschneider , Johannes Fromm , Heinz Martin Lonquich and Gregor Linßen

Taizé

The song books of the ecumenically oriented Communauté de Taizé , which are widespread in Europe, contain songs that are assigned to the New Spiritual Song

Liturgy sung at a European youth meeting with the songs typical of Taizé

The ecumenically oriented Community de Taizé emerged from the second half of the 20th century with a wide range of chants, some of which are also included in the New Spiritual Song. Above all, the regularly recurring European youth meetings in many major European cities ensured that these songs were widely used.

The creators of these chants are Robert Giscard , Jacques Berthier from 1975 and the French Jesuit Joseph Gelineau .

In a similar direction in Germany, the Gnadenthal community, founded in 1964, also created chants and songbooks that were published by Presence-Verlag and lead to the New Spiritual Song.

Places and contexts of the New Spiritual Song

The new contexts in which these songs stand are essential for the distribution, form and subject matter of the New Spiritual Songs. Event formats that were unfamiliar in the church until then, but also large formats and a correspondingly demanded market for song books, sheet music and media decisively promote the emergence of the New Spiritual Song.

Alternative worship projects

Cinema service

In the beginning there were alternative church service projects, such as the Cannstatter cinema church service, which was initiated by Pastor Kurt Rommel . This particular place required music beyond the Protestant church hymn book .

Jazz service, beat fair and youth service

After the Second World War , jazz services flourished here and there with a new musical culture. The same applies to beat masses and youth services .

Political night prayer

The political night prayer in Cologne from 1968 should also be mentioned here.

Liturgical nights

At the Evangelical Kirchentag in Düsseldorf in 1973, Uwe Seidel designed a liturgical night for the first time, which became a model for a new form of worship and which was not only celebrated at the Kirchentag. Seidel contributed texts for Neue Geistliche Lieder.

Worship service

The form of a worship service also requires appropriate music. The current culture of praise and worship ( Worship ) as of the Charismatic Movement is marked, tries the concern of the doxology take in a new form. Instead of fixed liturgical pieces, the praise usually consists of short, single-verse chants that are musically based on current pop music . According to the charismatic view, these should lead to the worship of God for his own sake. The character of the majority of the genuinely charismatic songs corresponds to this goal ”.

Musicians such as Albert Frey , Keith Green , Arne Kopfermann , Lothar Kosse , Martin Pepper and Matt Redman as well as the groups Outbreakband and Vineyard Music are included in this liturgical field of work .

Songbooks in this area have been the various editions of Celebrate Jesus! .

Christian pop concerts

Another place arose in addition to the church services in Christian pop concerts, which was a new form for the church at that time. There were also Christian "songwriters" who were either alone or with their music groups in parishes.

Christian rock music concerts

The differentiation between pop and rock is not easy in the field of Christian music because the transitions are often fluid, but this style also helped shape the New Spiritual Song.

Major Christian events

The Christian songwriter Albert Frey with the guitar at a major Christian event in 2013 ( ProChrist )

Major Christian events also live from the new Christian song culture and promote it. Open-air formats do not call for an organ, but rather the instruments of pop concerts. Large event halls thrive on modern event culture. This includes the stage technology , which starts with large-scale amplifier systems and extends to impressive lighting effects . Formats such as

Kirchentag and Katholikentag (both major denominations and Ecumenical Kirchentag )
Christival since 1976
Community day under the word from 1973
European youth meeting of the ecumenically oriented Community de Taizé from 1978
World Youth Day since 1984
ProChrist from 1993
German Evangelical Trumpet Day from 2008
Christmas Day from 2014.

Publishing houses and media houses

Publishing houses and media houses also discovered the genre and at the same time a corresponding market. They produced new choir books and songbooks with accompanying sound carriers. The modern media world discovered the New Spiritual Song, it also became an economic factor.

The publishers who maintain a focus on their product range in the New Spiritual Song include, among others

the Abakus-Verlag from 1974
the Hänssler Verlag with Pila Music from 1978
the Strube publishing house
the Singing Community publishing house
Gerth media
ERF Medien (Germany) , ERF Medien Austria , ERF Medien (Switzerland)
the Christian Media Foundation .

Evangelical hymn books

Judy Bailey , here in an open-air concert in Karlsruhe, is represented as a songwriter with works in the more recent hymn books. "Thank you, father, for life" found its way into the songbook "Where we praise you, new songs grow - plus"

Free churches also developed hymn books with a large proportion of New Spiritual Songs at the turn of the century; here the hymn book Celebration and Praise

Evangelical hymn book

The New Spiritual Song has finally established itself in the Evangelical Church through the inclusion of individual songs in the Evangelical Hymnbook , which replaced the Evangelical Church Hymnbook of the post-war period in 1996 .

Now there were songs by Ernst Arfken , Fritz Baltruweit , Herbert Beuerle , Paul Bischoff , Clemens Bittlinger , Oskar Gottlieb Blarr , Wim ter Burg , Siegfried Fietz , Detlev Jöcker , Thomas Knodel , Kurt Marti , Johannes Nitsch , Kurt Rommel , Martin Gotthard Schneider , Manfred Siebald , Peter Strauch , Dieter Trautwein , Jürgen Werth and Christoph Zehendner, at least in the regional section of the official hymnbooks, are indispensable.

With the addition of the New Spiritual Song, the Evangelical Hymnal has become much more ecumenical. Catholic authors and musicians such as Ludger Edelkötter , Winfried Heurich , Peter Janssens , Huub Oosterhuis , Lothar Zenetti and Diethard Zils stand alongside the exponents of evangelical spirituality.

In the field of evangelical church music , the genre of the New Spiritual Song is currently the most productive genre. The writing and dissemination of ever new pieces of this music genre is particularly promoted by the German Evangelical Church Congress , which takes place every two years .

Where we praise you, new songs grow

In 2005, the song book Where we praise you, new songs grow , which is published by Strube-Verlag for the Protestant churches in Baden, Württemberg, Palatinate and the Églises Réformée et Luthérienne d'Alsace et de Lorraine. It was significantly expanded in 2018 and now includes 224 new spiritual songs that complement the Evangelical hymn book. The new songbook is seen in connection with the song spring after 1960 in the Christian churches, which brought with it many new texts and melodies that are musically influenced by jazz elements, spirituals and chansons .

New in this book are songs by Judy Bailey , Cliff Barrows , Martin Buchholz-Fiebig , Christoph Georgii , Peter Hamburger , Okko Herlyn , Werner Hoffmann , Paul Janz , Johannes Jourdan , Daniel Kallauch , Matthias Nagel , Sefora Nelson , Lukas Di Nunzio , Ute Passarge , Danny Plett , David Plüss , Matt Redman , Tobias Reitz , Anton Rotzetter , Manfred Schlenker , Dieter Schnebel , Kathi Stimmer-Salzeder , Uwe Seidel and Ulrike Streck-Plath .

EGplus

The Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau and the Evangelical Church of Kurhessen-Waldeck also introduced a joint booklet to the Evangelical Hymn book under the title EGplus in September 2017 on the occasion of the anniversary of the Reformation .

After twenty years of using the evangelical hymn book, the church leaders found that the selection of songs no longer fully met the requirements of the practice. For example, there were no chants for baptismal services, weddings and funeral ceremonies from the area of the New Spiritual Song. Songwriters from the Evangelical Church of Hesse and Nassau are well represented, such as Friedrich Karl Barth , Clemens Bittlinger and Eugen Eckert .

free tones

The songbook freiTöne was also created for the Reformation summer 2017. It is a joint songbook of the German Evangelical Church Congress and the Evangelical Church in Germany and offers, among other things, current songs of the New Spiritual Song: "Songs of longing and hope, songs of pain and consolation, political chants and spiritual songs: lament and Please, encouragement and confession, praise and thanks ". Creations by Judy Bailey , Schalom Ben-Chorin , Detlev Block , Eugen Eckert , Albert Frey , Peter Janssens , Thomas Laubach , Christoph Lehmann , Andreas Lettau, Ute Passarge , Jürgen Werth , Jörg Zink and others have been recorded.

Free Churches

The hymn book of the United Methodist Church from 2002 tends to give greater weight to the New Spiritual Song . These include songs by Hartmut Handt , Walter Klaiber , Horst Krüger and Paul Ernst Ruppel .

Other free churches use song books like I want to thank you! , New Congregation Songs and Celebrations & Praise . The latter appeared as the first edition in 2003 and has since been the most common hymn book with a high proportion of New Spiritual Songs in the services of the Evangelical Free Church and Free Evangelical Congregation . Composers and poets of the New Spiritual Song include Günter Balders , Manfred Siebald , Peter Strauch , Hella Heizmann , Jörg Swoboda , Gerhard Schnitter , Margret Birkenfeld , Jürgen Werth , Siegfried Fietz , Johannes Nitsch , Hartmut Handt and Judy Bailey .

Picture gallery of the songwriters of the New Spiritual Song (selection)

Alois Albrecht , former Vicar General of Bamberg, is considered one of the pioneers of the NGL
Ernst Arfken was a Protestant pastor, organist and doctorate in musicology, which is how he shaped the beginnings of the NGL
Judy Bailey , who now lives in Germany, has a strong presence at major Christian events
The guitarist and priest Clemens Bittlinger
Oskar Gottlieb Blarr was a prize winner at the competition of the Evangelical Academy Tutzing in 1963, in the early days of the NGL
Eugen Eckert has a particularly strong presence at the church congresses
Siegfried Fietz was already very productive with regard to the NGL in the 20th century

Albert Frey created numerous modern prayer and worship songs

Both in theory as a university professor and in practice as a band leader, Gregor Linßen is on the move when it comes to NGL

Sefora Nelson brings her Italian roots to the NGL

Winfried Pilz was a Catholic clergyman and songwriter

Thomas Quast is a judge in Cologne on the one hand, and has also been a songwriter on the NGL field for a long time on the other

Michel Wackenheim , French priest and NGL author

The songwriter Jürgen Werth is represented with his songs in many church and free church hymn books

The journalist and theologian Christoph Zehendner is present with works in almost all song collections of the New Spiritual Song

New spiritual songs in the Catholic area

New spiritual songs in the trunk of the praise of God

In the article “ List of Chants in the Root Part of Praise to God ” 37 songs are marked with “NGL”; among them are eight songs by Peter Janssens . In addition, there are 21 songs from Taizé in the trunk section. Helmut Schlegel is one of the modern Catholic lyricists in praise of God. Thomas Gabriel and Gregor Linßen are represented with melodies for the New Spiritual Song in Praise of God.

New spiritual songs in the proper parts of the praise of God

In the own parts, the proportion of New Spiritual Songs is usually larger. In the own part of the (arch) dioceses of Austria , for example, there are 53 New Spiritual Songs (out of about 200 in total) and four other Taizé songs. Before that, there was the songbook Singe Jerusalem in Austria , a songbook first published in 1986, mainly with New Spiritual Songs, which was often used parallel to the official hymnbook. The book Liederquelle from 2002 also had a similar supplementary function , also with numerous New Spiritual Songs.

New Spiritual Songs in the Old Catholic Church

Also in the 2015 revised hymn book of the Old Catholic Church in Germany , which was published under the title Attuned , New Spiritual Songs and Taizé Chants are increasingly featured. Many of the newer melodies have chord symbols .

New Spiritual Songs in Ecumenism

From 1969 onwards, many New Spiritual Songs were defined and marked as ecumenical by the Working Group for Ecumenical Songs . A visible sign in today's hymnbooks is the ö , which marks a song as ecumenical (in brackets if there is no completely identical version).

Since hymn books of different denominations can hardly be used at the same time in cemeteries, the Working Group of Christian Churches in Germany has published a joint song book for ecumenical use at church services on the occasion of bereavement. Above all, the new edition from 2016 should be mentioned: Because you are with me - Ecumenical songbook for burials . For the first time, this new edition contains an appropriate proportion of songs from the NGL area. Songs by Fritz Baltruweit , Eugen Eckert , Hella Heizmann , Siegfried Fietz , Albert Frey , Winfried Heurich , Huub Oosterhuis , Winfried Pilz , Manfred Siebald , Peter Strauch and Lothar Zenetti are therefore also an option in the casual services around funerals .

New sacred song and arrangement

In order to develop the sound of the New Spiritual Song, arrangements of different line- ups are also required in accordance with the style .

Michael Schütz opened up many a New Sacred Song for brass ensemble, trombone choir , band , choir and orchestra both through clever instrumentation and through the addition of intonations , introductions , interludes and small interludes.

The appropriate reproduction of New Spiritual Songs on the church organ is also a challenge for church musicians who are influenced by classical music.

For the playback of New Spiritual Songs on the piano in jazz style, Peter contributed Hamburger ideas and published them in 2001 under the title Swinget the Lord .

For the field of trombone choirs, Dieter Kanzleiter is to be named as arranger.

Criticism of the New Spiritual Song

Criticism within the Roman Catholic Church

Drums , guitar and keyboard , typical instruments of the New Spiritual Song, played, despite all the reservations of Benedict XVI. against the genre, a role in the Pope's visit to Germany in 2011 in Berlin

Within the Roman Catholic Church there is repeated criticism of the New Spiritual Song. Opponents of this genre accuse the so-called "NGL" of profaning the mystery of the Roman Catholic faith. Songs like A stone falls into the water, Lord, your love is like grass and shore or similar pieces, according to some Catholic theologians, do not correspond to the character and dignity of the Catholic liturgy . Many songs are suitable for catechesis, but because of their often unliturgical texts, there is no place for them in worship.

Pope John Paul II , Joseph Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict XVI. and Pope Francis have repeatedly warned against trivializing the liturgy. However, this banalization is not to be blamed on the New Spiritual Song per se , but rather an often thoughtless selection of songs, but often also an inferior quality of many New Spiritual Songs. In 2003 Pope John Paul II described the requirements for liturgical music as follows: “As far as the liturgical musical compositions are concerned, I adopt the 'general law' that St. Pius X put it as follows: 'A composition for the church is more appropriate and liturgical to the extent that it approaches Gregorian chant in rhythm and structure and sound, and it is all the less suitable for the house of God as it differs from removed from that top model. ' Of course, it is not a question of simply copying the Gregorian chant, but rather of ensuring that the new compositions are imbued with the same spirit that produced that chant and gradually gave it shape. "

According to Joseph Ratzinger, music in church services must not be “banalized mass music” but must be “historically proven music”. It must be able to orientate itself towards the liturgical texts as well as be measured against the Gregorian chant and Palestrina . This resulted in Pope Benedict XVI. far-reaching normative specifications for the musica sacra . He emphasized that "the music that serves worship 'in spirit and truth' cannot be rhythmic ecstasy, not sensual suggestion or numbness, not subjective emotional bliss, not superficial entertainment". Church rock or pop music was therefore vehemently rejected by him and rock and pop festivals were described as "anti-cult". These forms of music are based on an ideology of self-liberation that is deeply contrary to the Christian image of man. "These are redemption practices whose form of redemption is related to drugs and fundamentally opposed to the Christian belief in redemption."

On the other hand, the New Spiritual Song has established itself as a valid form of expression of faith in the Catholic Church. Some dioceses maintain their own offices for the maintenance of the New Spiritual Song as a variant of church music. Already in the Praise of God (1975) and above all in its diocesan parts there were new spiritual songs, in the Praise of God (2013) their share has increased considerably.

Criticism in the environment of the Evangelical Church

One reproach that the New Spiritual Song had to put up with in the Protestant area from the start was that the criterion for success was set against the abstract artistic quality criterion (only what is really good should be sung). The following applies: "What is received is good!" .

At first, for example, the song Thank you for this good morning was very controversial in circles of the Evangelical Church. “Kitsch, lukewarm scraps of modern advertising methods, primitive, blasphemy, poetry for garden gnomes, invasion of subliminal sexuality into the church, lousy candy, communist and national socialist tone and music for liturgical playboys,” was the title of this winning song of the 1961 Tutzing competition.

Konrad Klek and Werner Schrade stated: Instead of high-level poetic language, the texts contain unequivocal, symbolic, and sometimes striking everyday language ... in order to avoid problems of understanding. This corresponds to the tendency towards simple melodies. The sometimes heated arguments between the protagonists of the New Song and the guardians of quality and tradition fill volumes .

On the other hand, the immense number of “new songs” becomes a problem of singing together in the church. Bernhard Leube's question is what remains of the unmistakable and ever increasing song production in the long term, “what can be sung together and what connects us in the large amount of songs from which everyone picks out what they like best. In the song landscape there are more and more single households, living space that you don't have to share with others. But also that ... Neue Lied has long since ceased to be immune from becoming an inner world that often only listens to its own echoes. "

Positioning in the 21st century

The broad inclusion of the New Spiritual Song in almost all recent hymn books of Christian denominations shows that this genre has arrived in the middle of the church. This is also evident in the establishment of working groups and workshops for the New Spiritual Song in offices and departments for church music.

"The enthusiasm for New Spiritual Songs, which we have experienced for decades in the entire German-speaking region, makes it clear that this new type of church music is sought and accepted by people," states Patrick Dehm .

Bernhard Leube already suspected in 2008: “One could get the impression that the Neue Lied is slowly becoming an epoch itself. Half a century has passed since the first Tutzing song competition. "However, Leube immediately limits:" There is no shortage of new songs and songbooks, the scenes are differentiated, milieus isolated, style, taste and theology in diverse forms find their customers, Publishers and songwriters have their clientele, sacred songs and songbooks have long been a commodity that customers use and consume, and economic action and thinking have long since arrived in the song scene in singing and making music. The huge number of songs makes it possible for groups and generations, people and milieus to choose what is currently appropriate for singing with extremely fine differentiation. "

From the genre New Spiritual Song , the following songs have been identified as core songs of the Evangelical Church in Germany:

Faithfully and quietly surrounded by good powers - text: Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1944, melodies: Otto Abel 1959 or Siegfried Fietz 1970
God gave us breath so that we could live - text: Eckart Bücken , melody: Fritz Baltruweit 1982
We have found God's traces - text: Diethard Zils , melody: Jo Akepsimas 1973

This core song list, developed in 2006 with a total of 33 hymns, is widely used within the Evangelical Church in Germany and is also recommended by the Union of Evangelical Churches (UEK) and the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany (VELKD).

Quotes

“In many churches the organ and keyboard stand together in harmony.
Church choir and pop choir are not contradictions in principle.
Every music in the church,
whether classical or rock,
has to meet a special quality standard. "

- Regional Bishop Frank Otfried July at a greeting in 2006

"The NGL is an inspiring, established,
pastorally significant and liturgically valuable part of church music."

- Impulse paper by Tobias Lübbers, Klaus Brantl, Thomas Wiegelmann and Stefanie Lübbers

literature

Peter Bubmann : The “New Spiritual Song” as a medium of expression in religious milieus . In: Zeithistorische Forschungen / Studies in Contemporary History 7 (2010), pp. 460–468 ( online ).
Peter Bubmann: Popular Church Music of the Present. In: Wolfgang Hochstein, Christoph Krummacher (Ed.): History of Church Music, Vol. 4: The second half of the 20th century and the challenges of the present (= Encyclopedia of Church Music , Vol. I / 4). Laaber-Verlag, Laaber 2014, pp. 292–343.
Peter Bubmann: Sound between heaven and earth. Popular Christian Music. Stuttgart 1990.
Peter Deckert: THE NGL LITERATURE LIST. Books, magazine articles, theses on the subject of "New Spiritual Song (NGL) - Sacro-Pop - Religious Popular Music". Cologne 1975–2019 ( online ; PDF; 835 KB).
René Frank : The New Spiritual Song - New Impulses for Church Music . Tectum, Marburg 2003, ISBN 3-8288-8573-X .
Peter Hahnen: The New Spiritual Song as a contemporary component of Christian spirituality . 2nd Edition. LIT-Verlag, Münster 2003, ISBN 3-8258-3679-7 .
Peter Hahnen: Igniting songs! Theology and History of the New Spiritual Song . Lahn-Verlag / Haus Altenberg, Kevelaer / Düsseldorf 2009, ISBN 978-3-7840-3433-1 .
Bernward Hofmann (compilation): Troubadour for God - New Spiritual Songs. 6th edition. Kolping-Bildungswerk Diözesanverband Würzburg eV, Würzburg 1999.
Dorothea Monninger (Red.): New Spiritual Songs. Sounds - texts - temperaments. Office of worship of the EKD, information and correspondence sheet, 16th year, issue 2 (2002).
Pastoral Office Passau (ed.): Sing a new song to the Lord. New songs in Passau's own part of the new praise of God. With 11 hymnological contributions by Barbara Stühlmeyer (book and CD). Passau 2013, ISBN 978-3-9813094-7-8 .
Alex Stock : Devotional. On the poetic theology of Huub Oosterhuis , St. Ottilien 2011.
Barbara Stühlmeyer : The New Spiritual Song 2013 - a situation analysis . In: Musik + message No. 2, 2013, published by the Association for Christian Popular Music in Bavaria, Nuremberg , November 2013.

Web links

Early sound document of the song Thank you for this good morning with the Botho Lucas Choir | YouTube , accessed April 24, 2020

Individual evidence

↑ Peter Bubmann , Zeithistorische Forschungen, Issue 3/2010, THE “NEW SPIRITUAL SONG” AS AN EXPRESSION MEDIUM OF THE RELIGIOUS ENVIRONMENT. Retrieved February 26, 2019 .

↑ "Come on, breathe on" - song booklet for the congregation, published by the Gottesdienst-Institut Nürnberg 2011

^ New songs - an offer for the parishes, 1983 as a special edition for the area of the Evangelical Church in Württemberg produced by the Hänssler Verlag , Neuhausen-Stuttgart, ISBN 3-7751-0839-4

^ Songbook DAS PRAISE. In: daslob.tk. Josef & Maria MITTERMAIR GnbR, accessed on March 7, 2017 .

↑ Published by the Archbishop's Youth Welfare Office Bamberg ( Alois Albrecht ), Cantabo Verlag Nürnberg, ISBN 3-9803205-1-0 .

↑ Published by the workshop Neues Geistliches Lied and the Archbishop's Youth Welfare Office Bamberg, ISBN 978-3-89889-119-6 .

↑ Kindergotteslob - Because you are there In: neuegeistlicheslied.de , accessed on March 7, 2017 (PDF; 1 MB)

↑ Junge Gotteslob - Be a blessing In: neuegeistlicheslied.de , accessed on March 7, 2017 (GIF graphic, 616 × 1128 pixels)

↑ Where we praise you, new songs grow - plus , Munich 2018, Strube Verlag VS 4049, ISBN 978-3-89912-211-4 , no. 137

↑ Peter Janssens, Meine Lieder - 200 Lieder , Peter Janssens Musik Verlag, Telgte-Westfalen 1992, foreword p. 6

↑ Enthusiasm for new church music. (No longer available online.) In: bistumlimburg.de. May 3, 2012, archived from the original on April 2, 2016 ; accessed on March 7, 2017 .

↑ www.ak-singles.de

↑ so Konrad Klek and Werner Schrade, on the history of the church song, in: Siegfried Bauer , trying and studying. Textbook for basic training in Protestant church music , Strube-Verlag (Edition 9024), Munich 1996, p. 262, ISBN 3-921946-29-8

↑ Example with a long history at the evangelical Johanneskirche in Cologne : Beat Mass in Cologne with tradition since 1976 , accessed on April 18, 2020

↑ Peter Zimmerling : Evangelical Spirituality. Roots and Approaches. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2003, p. 179.

↑ Where we praise you, new songs grow - plus , Munich 2018, Strube Verlag VS 4049, ISBN 978-3-89912-211-4

^ Foreword to Where we praise you, new songs are growing , Strube-Verlag Munich 2005, ISBN 3-89912-083-3

↑ EGplus - Description and history of the new hymn book on the homepage of the Center Annunciation, accessed on April 17, 2020

↑ Description of the songbook freiTöne on the website of the Michaeliskloster Hildesheim , accessed on April 17, 2020

↑ Because you are with me - Ecumenical songbook for burial , published by the Christian Churches Working Group in Baden-Württemberg, Schwabenverlag Ostfildern 2018, 4th edition, ISBN 978-3-7966-1665-5

↑ Article: Perceiving God's mystery with all your senses. 50 years of instruction “Musicam sacram”: Address of the Holy Father to the participants of the International Meeting for Church Music in the Sala Clementia - March 4, 2017 and commentary: Basic course correction . In: Die Tagespost Nr. 28, Würzburg March 7, 2017, p. 7.

↑ Chirograph of Pope John Paul II on the 100th anniversary of the publication of the Motu Proprio “Tra le Sollecitudini” on church music , November 22, 2003, accessed March 6, 2014.

↑ Peter Bubmann: Pope Benedict XVI. as a music theologian . In: Musik und Kirche, issue 4/5, year 2005, Bärenreiter-Verlag Kassel

^ Joseph Ratzinger: The world and human image of the liturgy and its expression in church music. In: Ders .: Gesammelte Schriften , Volume 11, Theologie der Liturgie. The sacramental foundation of Christian existence , 2nd ed., Edited by Gerhard L. Müller, Freiburg i. E.g. Herder, 2008, pp. 527-548, here p. 545; First published: 1995.

↑ Joseph Ratzinger The world and human image of the liturgy and its expression in church music. In: Ders .: Gesammelte Schriften , Volume 11, Theologie der Liturgie. The sacramental foundation of Christian existence , 2nd ed., Edited by Gerhard L. Müller, Freiburg i. E.g. Herder, 2008, pp. 527-548, here p. 538.

^ ^A ^b Joseph Ratzinger: The world and human image of the liturgy and its expression in church music. In: Ders .: Gesammelte Schriften , Volume 11, Theologie der Liturgie. The sacramental foundation of Christian existence , 2nd ed., Edited by Gerhard L. Müller, Freiburg i. E.g. Herder, 2008, pp. 527-548, here p. 541.