Choral

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Lutheran hymn. The German word was originally used to mean the choral parts of Latin chant, and by extension plainsong in general, a meaning which it still bears today. At the Reformation, Lutheran reform required the congregation to take a greater part in the church service and the term also came to be used for simpler monophonic singing in the vernacular. Many of the melodies used were adaptations from the plainsong itself; hence the term Choralbearbeitung/chorale arrangement to denote any kind of setting of such melodies. The English word is simply an adaptation of the German in its Lutheran sense, the final ‘e’ being added to make the pronunciation clear and to avoid confusion with the adjective ‘choral’.

German reformer Martin Luther himself wrote the words for many hymns. German composer Johann Sebastian Bach wrote a few original chorales, but mainly rewrote the harmony of traditional ones. Well-known chorales include ‘Now Thank We All Our God’ and ‘Wake, O Wake, for Night is Flying’.

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