Pope Innocent III’s bull Exsurge magnum expresses the despair that many composers shared at the destruction of their art by the anti-papist radicals in the Council of Trent. The composer Agricola, condemned the harsh measures taken by the Council as “ridiculous and cruel” but did not voice his disagreement with the papacy. St Augustine, commenting on the Exsurge of Augsburg in his De Civitate Dei, pointed out that “the populace of the city of Terni dreaded the severity of the punishments inflicted, and the populace of the other cities which were unfortunate in this respect were driven to seek refuge in numbers, which could not be large enough to answer the demands of their sorrowful country”. Thus we have St Augustine, the man who wished to crush all individuality, and to make all men one in the fold of the State, condemning the severity with which the councilsmen dealt with their rebellious subject, especially when their guilt was proved by the Exsurge of Augsburg. Such views could hardly be entertained in today’s politically correct atmosphere.

Not only was it the fear of papal displeasure which induced the reformers to fight for the liberty of the mind, but also the conviction that the councils had no jurisdiction in the matter. It was a belief in the papacy, which drove the scholars of the time to form the institutions of higher learning which they found so beneficial to their cause. The Pope of today is the modern equivalent of the religious leaders of the past. Those who believe that the Pope reacts to the slightest pressure are either completely mistaken or are trying to rewrite history.

Theologa Donatus relates the story of one Don Baptista, a devout Catholic and follower of St. Augustine, writing to a council of Toledo about the teaching of his religion to the masses in a state of pagrina. When pressed on what he meant by “involuntary servitude” he insisted that it included both the forced celibacy of the popes and the mass-produced, mindless, soul-less, entertain-the-races, word-painting, blind-as-fool popular music of the late medieval period. And how he delighted in his answer! No less a defender of the faith than Martin Luther pointed out long ago, “If there be any among us who has not seen the most beautiful things that art can give to the vision, let him come near a cathedral and ask the painter whether there is anything in it which may not be beautiful”.

And so it comes to pass that the reformers of the sixteenth century were not really interested in which composer did the next best word-painting, or that composer wrote the most beautiful music. They were only interested in which one was most truthful in his religious convictions. And that’s just the way it was in those times. The true measure of a human being is his ability to feel the truth about whatever he is doing. The real measure of a true Catholic is his ability to feel the truth about whatever he is doing in his life.

So which composer responded to the reforms of the council of Trent in an exemplary fashion?

I think one of the most striking responses ever recorded was that of Don Marquis de La Menou’s “Parolin”. In this work, which was published after 1503, La Menou depicts the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy, together with the Pope himself, engaging in corrupt behavior. As with the preceding best describes the situation in which we find ourselves today, Don Marquis de La Menou is correct about the extent of this degeneration.

But what about the other works which, in the preceding part of this article, we saw as being typical of the sixteenth century Protestant reformation? Stendhal’s” Werdneck”, composed between 1590 and 1594, is one such work, as is Bach’s “Feucelle”, which was written around the same time. The language of these pieces is highly confused, and even while the ideas expressed are highly familiar, and which in all probability would have been present at the time of the Reformation, such confusion does not undermine their significance for understanding the later consequences of that event. For example, Stendhal’s description of the way the Catholic Church hierarchy abused the power of the mass media, and manipulated common people to believe in truths contrary to those found in the reformed Bible is an important part of what has come to be called “postmodernism”.