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At the beginning of the century, the cultures of the various American Lutheran church bodies weren't quite ready to adopt the rich liturgical potential for musical composition offered by the full Common Service. The service itself often was abbreviated to a preaching order, and Holy Communion was celebrated infrequently. Instead of specifically liturgical music, the generic anthem usually received the chief attention of Lutheran choirs. Generally, hymns weren't chosen for their liturgical appropriateness or as a reflection of their traditional importance. Although the organ still was the chief instrument used in worship, its music didn't reflect liturgical or historic Lutheran practice. The instrument itself usually possessed undistinguished Romantic qualities. By mid-century the liturgical rites and texts of the service received more attention. Traditional liturgical and hymnic possibilities were recovered. Settings of the Propers were published. Anthems, cantatas, and chorale- and hymn-based compositions for voice and instruments revealed a distinctly neo-Baroque flavor. Composers provided a flood of accessible music for worship employing polyphonic principles, using historic forms, and writing in fresh, slightly acerbic, but inherently conservative tonality. Short organ chorale preludes were written again to introduce congregational hymnody. Chorale variations offered musical commentary on successive stanzas. With the revival of historic organ building, the venerable art of improvisation was recovered. Hymn festivals and worship conferences became popular occasions for exploring the wealth of Lutheranism’s liturgical and musical heritage by the 1970s. After the 1970s, new, through-composed settings of congregational liturgies were written. Publishers offered new choral settings of Proper texts, and settings of new hymns enriched the repertoire. Sung anthems were asked to relate more directly to the liturgy. Renewed interest in music for small instrumental ensembles, or music for organ and one or two instruments, opened up other avenues of composition. By mid-century the quality of pipe organs was improved and electronic organs also began to be accepted by congregations. Toward the end of the century, the piano, amplified electronic keyboard, and guitar came to be seen as possible alternative instruments, especially in nonliturgical worship.
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