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Music flourished in German Protestant churches after the passing of Martin Luther. For the next 200 years, Lutheran composers such as Johann Walter, Michael Praetorius, Heinrich Schütz, and Dietrich Buxtehude put musical flesh and blood on Luther's belief that music was a gift of God. Like Luther, they believed that church music should proclaim the gospel and praise the Creator, be skillfully composed and skillfully performed, and incorporate congregational participation. Their music featured texts from Luther's German translation of the Bible, the liturgy, and popular hymns. The lives and achievements of these four men in particular show that they were not merely "predecessors of the great J. S. Bach" but outstanding Christian musicians in their own right.

Martin Luther was a fine amateur musician, but he knew he needed professional help in order to carry the gospel to the people. He chose a younger friend, Johann Walter, for that purpose.

Walter's background prepared him well for the challenge. He displayed exceptional musical talent during his school years and published his first work at age 28—a choral collection of a few historic Latin hymns and 23 new German hymns (chorales) by Martin Luther and Walter himself. Luther saw something special in his younger colleague and recommended Walter for the position of musical leader of the Latin school and church in Torgau. Walter thus became the first Lutheran cantor—the forefather of hundreds upon hundreds of Lutheran church-school teachers and church musicians.

At Torgau, Walter set many texts of Luther's German translation of Scripture to music and put into practice Luther's goal of encouraging worshipers to participate more actively in the service by singing the new German chorales. The powerful hymn texts and tunes became popular. Walter and other musicians loved them and embellished them in all kinds of ways for choirs and organ.

Walter was innovative in another way. For centuries during Holy Week, Roman Catholic priests and deacons had chanted the biblical story of Christ's Passion. One person sang the words of the Gospel writer (e.g., John), one sang the words of Jesus, and a third sang the words of all of the other participants. Walter had a different idea. His Passion settings retained the solos of the Gospel writer and Jesus but gave the words of the crowd and other characters to the choir. This kind of conversation between soloists and choir influenced composers for over 200 years.

Walter, like Luther, was convinced that God had created music to carry the message of salvation. In 1538 he wrote a poem called "In Praise of the Noble Art of Music," in which he cited nearly every biblical passage that expressed how music was part of God's revelation. In fact, he declared, of all the arts music most clearly proclaims God's word: "No other arts with it compare, / For it breathes purest Gospel air, / Exalting Holy Writ on high / And earning highest praise thereby."

Praetorius was a pivotal figure in Lutheran church music—a man of extraordinarily broad interests who respected the old tradition of music for trained choirs yet created new settings of chorales for the people.

The son of a Lutheran schoolteacher who had been a colleague of Johann Walter, Praetorius received musical instruction at the Latin School in Torgau before briefly attending the University at Frankfurt. Apparently, Praetorius never graduated or continued his formal musical education, but he must have demonstrated outstanding ability, for in 1595 he secured a provincial court position as organist at Wolfenbüttel. He became director of the chapel music establishment in 1604. He later traveled widely and attained fame as a performer, composer, and author. By the time of his death, he had also accumulated a considerable fortune—rare for a church musician in any age. He showed his charitable nature by bequeathing funds to set up a foundation for the poor.

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