Leipzig, Saxony, and Lutheran Orthodoxy

This chapter examines the dominance of Lutheran orthodoxy in Leipzig from the beginning of the German Reformation to the nineteenth century. Lutheran orthodoxy was an older, more Catholic form of Lutheranism that was closer to Luther’s earliest teachings. Saxony was divided between Albertine Saxony (Catholic) and Ernestine Saxony (Lutheran). Because it was an important Catholic city, Leipzig’s adoption of Lutheranism in 1539 retained all aspects of Catholic liturgy that were not in direct conflict with Reformation theology. In 1697, the conversion of Elector Friedrich August I created a situation of a Catholic monarch in Dresden ruling over the Reformation stronghold of Saxony. This paradox would influence church theology and music for centuries, including the retention of a sixteenth-century liturgy that resembled the Catholic liturgy, along with corresponding music. Pietism and rationalism were also threats to Lutheran orthodoxy. Church Superintendent Johann Georg Rosenmüller would modernize the liturgy beginning in 1785.