Actually, Martin Luther was all in favor of music in general and liturgical music in particular. But he did strongly object to the way many church services, complete with choir and organ, were being presented more as entertainment than as an integral part of the liturgy. He favored singing by the congregation over singing by a choir.

Most churches these days do both.

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I had a music prof when I was attending the Cornish School of the Arts who, in addition to being a composer, was a church organist. One day, he took the class to the church where he played to demonstrate the organ there. Episcopal church, bloody great organ.

We stood up by the console while Prof. Cowell demonstrated how things work, stops, multiple manuals, etc. Then, he launched into Bach's Toccata and Fugue in Dm. There we stood, by the console, pipes to the left of us, pipes to the right of us. BEEG pipes, some as big as tree trunks, all the way down to about the size of a penny whistle.

RUMBLE RUMBLE!!

Prof. Cowell commented that, while playing the music of God, and with all that power at his fingertips, sometimes the organist can tend to forget who is Who!!

Mention was made of the names of prominent organists, saying that they were all very imposing. The name of E. Power Biggs came up as an example. Someone asked, "What does the 'E' stand for?"

Came the inevitable voice from the back of the room:

"Enormous?"

Don Firth

P. S. Actually, it's Edward, but that's beside the point.