For Joy and Encouragement - Church Music from the Reformation

What is music actually meant to do for us? For Martin Luther the answer was clear. Music could gladden the sorrowful, encourage the despairing, calm a hateful mind and even drive away the Devil. Music was not merely decoration, but a force that could affect body, mind and soul alike. Luther himself had a close relationship with music. He played the lute, sang and wrote hymns, and he saw music as one of the best things humankind had been given. That is why music also came to have a very special place in the Lutheran church after the Reformation. New hymns were sung, old melodies gained new life, and composers created a rich and varied church music for the Danish churches. This year Haderslev celebrates the 500th anniversary of the introduction of the Reformation in Sønderjylland, and we mark it with a programme full of music from the period. The programme includes music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck and the Danish Renaissance composer Mogens Pedersøn, and of course also Martin Luther himself. It is music from a time when no one doubted that music could do something for people. It could lift the voice, gather the congregation and give comfort and joy, but also set the great questions of life, faith and death resounding. Come and experience the church music of the Renaissance - for joy and encouragement.

• Bo Holten