Hymnology

A general Analysis of the Hymns of the Hungarian Reformed Hymnbook

The congregations of the Reformed Church District of Királyhágómellék and Transylvania replaced the older hymnbooks twenty years ago. The replacement of 1921 hymnbook, previously used in the Partium region, and of the 1923 hymnbook used in Transylvania, opened a new chapter in the church singing practice. When comparing the origin and style layer of the songs in the two hymnbooks, the difference is striking, especially with respect to the 19th century melodies and the amount of 18–19th century ad notam songs in the 1921 hymnbook.

The Structure of the Heidelberg Catechism and Its Hungarian Reading in 1948 and 2013

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The first from the altogether three parts essay offers an analysis of the structure and inner logical dynamism of the Heidelberg Catechism, the symbolic document of the Re-formed church. The analysis demonstrates in a series of four concentric circles, how each of these represents a certain historically verifiable perception of the Christian faith.The first and one represents an individualistic approach, understood as the key conceptof the then beginning modernity, based on the soteriological logic of my sin, my salvation and my gratefulness.

Source: The Hoffgreff Hymnbook (?)

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Since 1948 the Reformed Hymnal contains a versified paraphrase o f Lamentations chapter 5, interwoven with allusions to the fate of the Reformation in Hungary. This appears to have been taken over from the Hoffgreff Cantionale of 1556 (printed in Kolozsvár, Klausenburg, Cluj- Napoca), but in fact the text of this poem is based on the 1877 edition of an old Hungarian poem.

Calvin’s Passion for Music

Contributor

Es gibt ein verbreitetes Bild von Calvin, wonach er ein harter, schroffer Typ gewesen ist. Es ist namentlich in Deutschland verbreitet. Aber stimmt dieses Bild? Jedenfalls kennen wir ihn noch nicht recht, wenn wir nicht seine Liebe des Gesangs kennen. Bei ihm war die Beziehung zur Musik höchst lebendig. Er kannte und schätzte die Musik seiner Zeit, die der Renaissance, und er schätzte sie so, dass ihm unter dem Hören die Tränen kamen.

The Hymnbook of 1837 from Kolozsvár

For centuries, our hymnbooks bring to the fore not only the issue of musical literacy but also tradition. The Reformed church singing in Transylvania and the Partium was determined by traditions rather than by the sheet music itself. From the beginning of the 19th century the Transylvanian hymnbooks were created under the influence of the spirit of the time. A typical example of this is the hymnbook edited under the influence of theological rationalism in 1837.