Choral (Ger.), chorale (Eng.). Metrical hymn-tune characteristic of the Ger. Reformed Church and sung in unison. Martin Luther (1483-1546) wished to restore the congregation's role in church services and wrote simple devotional words to tunes familiar either as folk-songs or as old ecclesiastical melodies (i.e. plainsong chants). A famous example is Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott (A Safe Stronghold our God is still). But the Ger. word Choral orig. belonged to the unreformed Church and means the ecclesiastical plainsong, the cantus choralis. Properly, the ‘choral’ in the Ger. RC Church is that part of the plainsong sung by more than one v. (the ‘concentus’ as distinguished from the ‘accentus’), but this distinction of terminology is not always observed.

The first Lutheran chorales had not the regular rhythms that they later took on. They had often a mixture of duple and triple time and, indeed, a good deal of the free rhythm of plain song. With Lutheran chorales, as with Genevan, Eng., and Scot. hymn tunes, the melody was at first in the ten. During the 17th cent. it gradually became usual to place it in the treble, as today. 4-part settings of chorales were made by many musicians in the 16th, 17th, and 18th cents.

The repertory of the Ger. chorale may be said to have been completed in Bach's day. He comp. only about 30, but he made 400 reharmonizations of existing chorale melodies and used some of them with memorable effect in his settings of the Passions.The term is used in USA as a synonym for choir or chorus, e.g. Robert Wagner Chorale.