Liturgical Singing in the Lutheran Mass in Early Modern Sweden and its Implications for Clerical Ritual Performance and Lay Literacy

Authors

Mattias O. Lundberg, Uppsala UniversitetFollow

Abstract

This article postulates and analyses three distinct modes of performativity in Early Modern ecclesiastical music in Sweden, each linked to a specific repertoire of melodies, and each de facto (and sometimes also de jure) monopolized by the Church of Sweden. It is proposed that recognition and analysis of these three modes may provide further understanding of the interaction between singing, reading and speaking during the period under discussion. This sheds new light on what has in literacy research been termed “religious reading”, giving rise in some instances to a corresponding type of “religious singing” in a narrower sense: one where fixed melodies to moveable texts provide a bridge between literacy and non-literacy.

Author Biography

Mattias Lundberg is Professor of Musicology at the University of Uppsala. He has published books, articles, and editions concerning Western liturgical music in the Early Modern period (especially Lutheran), as well contributions on topics of scholarly erudition, hymnology and music theory from the same period.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Lundberg, Mattias O. (2017) "Liturgical Singing in the Lutheran Mass in Early Modern Sweden and its Implications for Clerical Ritual Performance and Lay Literacy," Yale Journal of Music & Religion: Vol. 3: No. 1, Article 4.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17132/2377-231X.1066