A cappella (Italian for From the chapel/choir ) music is vocal music or singing without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato style. In the 19th century a renewed interest in Renaissance polyphony coupled with an ignorance of the fact that vocal parts were often doubled by instrumentalists led to the term coming to mean unaccompanied vocal music. In modern usage, a cappella often refers to an all-vocal performance of any style, including barbershop, doo wop, and modern pop/rock. Today, a cappella also includes sample/loop "vocal only" productions by producers like Jimmy Spice Curry, Teddy Riley, Wyclef, and others.
Religious traditions
A cappella music originally was, and still often is, used in religious music, especially church music as well as anasheed and zemirot. Gregorian chant is an example of a cappella singing, as is the majority of sacred vocal music from the Renaissance. The madrigal, up until its development in the early Baroque into an instrumentally-accompanied form, is also usually in a cappella form. The original music in Judaism and then in early Christianity was a cappella and has continuously existed in both of these related religious communities as well as in Islam.
Christian
The polyphony of Christian a cappella music began to develop in Europe around the late 1400s. The early a cappella polyphonies may have had an accompanying instrument, although this instrument would merely double the singers' parts and was not independent. By the 1500s, a cappella polyphony had further developed, but gradually, the cantata began to take a cappella's place. 16th century a cappella polyphony, nonetheless, continued to influence church composers throughout this period and to the present day. Such is seen in the life of Palestrina becoming a major influence on Bach, most notably in the aforementioned Mass in B Minor .
Opposition to instruments in worship
Present-day Christian religious bodies known for conducting their worship services without musical accompaniment include some Presbyterian churches devoted to the regulative principle of worship, Old Regular Baptists, Primitive Baptists, Plymouth Brethren, Churches of Christ, the Old German Baptist Brethren, the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church and the Amish and Mennonite. Certain high church masses and other musical events in liturgical churches (such as Roman Catholic and Lutheran) may be a cappella, a practice remaining from apostolic times. Many Mennonites also conduct some or all of their services without instruments. Sacred Harp, a type of religious folk music, is an a cappella style of religious singing, but is more often sung at singing conventions than at church services.
Opponents of musical instruments in the Christian worship believe that they are supported by the New Testament and Church history. The New Testament verses typically referenced are Matthew 26:30; Acts 16:25; Romans 15:9; 1 Corinthians 14:15; Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16; Hebrews 2:12, 13:15; James 5:13, which reveal a command for all Christians to sing. Further study reveals that in the New Testament, when God was worshiped in song, it was performed “a cappella” regardless of the day or setting. Paul singing praises to God in jail (Acts 16:25) and Christians singing when they are happy (James 5:13) are two examples. 1 Cor. 14:15, 26 discusses the worship service of Corinth and textually uses the words speak and sing in ways that cannot include instruments. There is no reference to instrumental music in the worship of the New Testament or the worship of the church for the first six centuries. That being said, the reason for such absence is highly debated, though several reasons have been put forth throughout church history. The absence of instrumental music in New Testament worship is significant given the abundance of Old Testament references and commands. After several hundred years of Tabernacle worship without instrumental music, King David introduced musical instruments into Temple worship based upon a commandment from God. God commanded who was to sing, who was to play, and what instruments were to be used, as seen in 2 Chronicles 29:25–29. Unlike the Israelite worship assembly, which was only able to look on during Temple worship as the Levitical Priest sang, played, and offered animal sacrifices, in the New Testament, all Christians are commanded to sing praises to God. This leaves those opposed to instrumental music in worship with the understanding that if God wanted instrumental music in New Testament worship, he would have commanded not just singing, but singing and playing like he did in the Old Testament. Though God commanded instruments to be used in Temple worship, and the daily life of Israel, the first recorded example of a musical instrument in Christian worship was an organ introduced by Pope Vitalian into a cathedral in Rome around 670. Thus, over time, the expression a cappella (Latin for "from/like the chapel") came to mean exclusively vocal music in contradistinction to the spreading use of the organ in cathedrals.
Unfortunately, instruments have divided Christendom since their introduction into worship. They were considered a Catholic innovation, not widely practiced until the 18th century, and were opposed vigorously in worship by the majority of Protestant Reformers, including Martin Luther (1483–1546), John Calvin (1509–1564), John Wesley (1703–1791), and Alexander Campbell (1788–1866). The fact that Christendom has periodically grafted instrumental music into the worship service probably obscures, for contemporary adherents, the long, general and conscientious teaching of a cappella. In Sir Walter Scott's The Heart of Midlothian , for example, the heroine, Jeanie Deans, a Scottish Presbyterian, writes to her father about the church situation she has found in England (bold added):
Acceptance of instruments in worship
An alternate viewpoint is that limiting praise to the unaccompanied chant of the early church is not commanded in scripture, and that the church in any age has been free to offer its songs with or without musical instruments:
New Testament vocabulary of Christian praise is inclusive of instruments.
- New Testament translators “fully intended to include and not exclude musical accompaniment” in rendering English translations.
- The Greek word “ psallo ” (typically translated “sing” or “make music”) was used in the first century for (1) sing with or without instruments or (2) play an instrument. Ferguson notes that a pattern had evolved leading into the first century where Greek-speaking Jews writing to Gentiles always used the word for playing an instrument. He gives the Jewish historian Josephus as first-century instrumental example. Since the primary meaning of psallo in the first century was to “sing with or without instruments,” it is often abbreviated in English translations as “sing,” though some (e.g.: Amplified Bible, Moffatt's Translation) make the acceptance of instruments clearer.
- Eph 5:19 and Col 3:16 invite Christians to sing “psalms,” a noun defined by numerous first century lexicons as a song sung with musical accompaniment.
Since the New Testament never counters this instrumental language with any negative judgment on instruments, opposition to instruments instead comes from an interpretation of history. It is striking that there is no written opposition to musical instruments in any setting in the first century and a half of the church (including scripture). Toward the end of the second century, however, Christians began condemning the actual instruments themselves. Those who oppose instruments today believe that emerging opposition of these Church Fathers demonstrates a better understanding of God's desire, but there are significant differences between the teachings of the Church Fathers and Christian opposition to instruments today.
- Modern Christians typically believe it is acceptable to play instruments or to attend weddings, funerals, banquets, etc., where instruments are heard. The Church Fathers made no exceptions. Since the New Testament never condemns instruments themselves, much less in any of these settings, it is conceded that “the church Fathers go beyond the New Testament in pronouncing a negative judgment on musical instruments.”
- Written opposition to instruments in worship began near the turn of the 5th century. Modern opponents of instruments do not make the same assessment of instruments as these writers, who argued that God had allowed David the “evil” of using musical instruments in praise. Contrary to their teaching, the Old Testament scripture shows that God specifically asked for instruments rather than merely tolerating an evil.
Since “a cappella” singing brought a new polyphony with instrumental accompaniment, it is not surprising that Protestant reformers who opposed the instruments (such as Calvin and Zwingli) also opposed the polyphony. While Zwingli was burning organs in Switzerland – Luther called him a fanatic – the Church of England was burning books of polyphony.
Jewish
While services in the Temple in Jerusalem included musical instruments (2 Chronicles 29:25-27), traditional Jewish religious services in the Synagogue, both before and after the destruction of the Temple, did not include musical instruments given the prac
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