ZWINGLI, HULDRYCH (ULRICH)

(1 January 1484, Wildhaus, Switzerland – 11 October 1531, Cappel)

Protestant reformer who, despite extraordinary musical gifts, believed liturgical music to be an obstacle to faith and excluded it entirely from his revised liturgyAktion{}oder Brauch des Nachtmahls(1525). His ideas resulted in the radical reduction of music in Swiss reform churches, including the wholesale dismantling ofpipe organs, but a simplified liturgical music based mostly onmetrical psalmssoon returned to reform churches.

See alsoCalvin, Jean; Constance Songbook; Genevan Psalter.