Quoting Luther Without Documentation

Quoting Luther Without Documentation

            You may have read the quote, “Why should the devil get all the good tunes?” that   Martin Luther was supposed to have made.  The problem is that the writers who attach his name to this statement never give the document from which this pungent quote was allegedly taken. Perhaps this quote is the sister to the quote “Why should the devil have all the good art?” that no one can seem to find or document.  In an effort to build a case for the faulty notion that the music part of music doesn’t matter, these bogus quotes surface time and time again.  If Martin Luther’s or John or Charles Wesley’s name is not attached to these quotes then these zealous writers affix the venerable William Booth’s name to such quotes.

            In all Honesty, the argument will not be settled easily because the problem is much larger than the music beliefs of Luther or the Wesleys.  What I am contending for is some intellectual honesty from writers who are desperate to prove a point about the styles that they use as concomitants to the music they use in public worship.  We all know that common research writing requires documentation when someone’s name is affixed to a controversial quote.  In the process of a writer’s musical jihad, he or she must be sure to “play fair” when attempting to hook centuries of traditional church music praxis to much of what is being practiced by church musicians in this century.