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In a country that at one time was divided east from west, music has become a source of great national pride, and the citizens of Germany take great pleasure in remembering and celebrating their country's musical achievements. Although once considered a center of musical excellence with composers such as Ludwig van Beethoven and Richard Wagner, Germany's modern music scene has succumbed to the outside influence of America and its large music industry. For a person to fully understand the music of Germany today, he or she must first look back at its amazing history and the struggles that its music has faced over the past century. For many hundreds of years, the only form of music found in Germany was found in churches. It was the Latin chants of the clergy, monks, and nuns (Ian Roberts, 88). In the wake of the Martin Luther and the reformation of the church in the 16th century, the new liturgy of Protestantism made way for different forms of church singing. No longer were hymns sung in Latin, but instead Germans began singing and composing in German and gave rise eventually to the German Cantatas and oratorios (Barry Turner, 39). Over the next century the Baroque style and movement was started. One of baroque's most well