![Scottish Metrical Psalter (24970711791)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Scottish_Metrical_Psalter_%2824970711791%29.jpg)
A metrical psalter is a kind of
Bible translation
The Bible has been translated into many languages from the biblical languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. all of the Bible has been translated into 724 languages, the New Testament has been translated into an additional 1,617 languages, and ...
: a book containing a verse translation of all or part of the
Book of Psalms
The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived f ...
in
vernacular
A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...
poetry
Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...
, meant to be sung as
hymn
A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...
s in a
church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* C ...
. Some metrical psalters include melodies or harmonisations. The composition of metrical psalters was a large enterprise of the
Protestant Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
, especially in its
Calvinist
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...
manifestation.
Biblical basis
During the Protestant Reformation, a number of
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
texts were interpreted as requiring reforms in the
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
used in
worship
Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. It may involve one or more of activities such as veneration, adoration, praise, and praying. For many, worship is not about an emotion, it is more about a recognition ...
. The Psalms were particularly commended for singing;
James 5:13 asks, "Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise."
Colossians 3:16 states "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God." Various Reformers interpreted these texts as imposing strictures on
sacred music
Religious music (also sacred music) is a type of music that is performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence. It may overlap with ritual music, which is music, sacred or not, performed or composed for or as ritual. Relig ...
. The psalms, especially, were felt to be commended to be sung by these texts. The need was felt to have metrical vernacular versions of the Psalms and other Scripture texts, suitable to sing to metrical tunes and even popular song forms.
Following an interpretation of the
regulative principle of worship
The regulative principle of worship is a Christian doctrine, held by some Calvinists and Anabaptists, that God commands churches to conduct public services of worship using certain distinct elements affirmatively found in scripture, and conversely ...
, many
Reformed churches adopted the doctrine of
exclusive psalmody
Exclusive psalmody is the practice of singing only the biblical Psalms in congregational singing as worship. Today it is practised by several Protestant, especially Reformed denominations. Hymns besides the Psalms have been composed by Christians ...
: every hymn sung in worship must be an actual translation of a Psalm or some other Biblical passage. Some Reformed churches, especially the Calvinists, rejected the use of instrumental music and
organs
In biology, an organ is a collection of tissues joined in a structural unit to serve a common function. In the hierarchy of life, an organ lies between tissue and an organ system. Tissues are formed from same type cells to act together in a f ...
in church, preferring to sing all of the music ''
a cappella
''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...
''. Even today, the
Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America
The Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA) is a Presbyterian church with congregations and missions throughout the United States, Canada, Japan, and Chile. Its beliefs—held in common with other members of the Reformed Presbyteria ...
, the
Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland
The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland ( gd, An Eaglais Shaor Chlèireach, ) was formed in 1893. The Church identifies itself as the spiritual descendant of the Scottish Reformation. The Church web-site states that it is 'the constitutional hei ...
, and other Reformed churches of the Scottish tradition maintain this practice.
The psalters themselves
During the pre-reformation days, it was not customary for
lay
Lay may refer to:
Places
*Lay Range, a subrange of mountains in British Columbia, Canada
*Lay, Loire, a French commune
*Lay (river), France
*Lay, Iran, a village
*Lay, Kansas, United States, an unincorporated community
People
* Lay (surname)
* ...
members of a church's congregation to communally sing hymns. Singing was done by the
priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...
s and other
clergy
Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...
; communal singing of Gregorian chant was the function of professional choirs, or among communities of
monks
A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedicat ...
and
nun
A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...
s.
John Calvin
John Calvin (; frm, Jehan Cauvin; french: link=no, Jean Calvin ; 10 July 150927 May 1564) was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system ...
, inspired by Erasmus's comments, desired singable versions of the Psalms and other Christian texts for the communal use of the
Reformed church
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Cal ...
es.
The Genevan Psalter
![Old100](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Old100.png)
One of the greatest metrical psalters produced during the Reformation, the
Genevan Psalter
The ''Genevan Psalter'', also known as the ''Huguenot Psalter'', is a metrical psalter in French created under the supervision of John Calvin for liturgical use by the Reformed churches of the city of Geneva in the sixteenth century.
Background
...
, was authored for the Protestant churches of France and
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
(called the
Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...
s). It has been in uninterrupted use to the present day by the Huguenot and other French-speaking Protestant churches.
The texts of the French Psalter were brought together from two independent sources: the poet
Clément Marot
Clément Marot (23 November 1496 – 12 September 1544) was a French Renaissance poet.
Biography
Youth
Marot was born at Cahors, the capital of the province of Quercy, some time during the winter of 1496–1497. His father, Jean Marot (c.&n ...
and the theologian
Théodore de Bèze
Theodore Beza ( la, Theodorus Beza; french: Théodore de Bèze or ''de Besze''; June 24, 1519 – October 13, 1605) was a French Calvinist Protestant theologian, reformer and scholar who played an important role in the Protestant Reformation ...
. Marot and Beza's psalms appeared in a number of different collections, published between 1533 and 1543; in the latter year Marot published ''
Cinquante Pseaumes
50 (fifty) is the natural number following 49 and preceding 51.
In mathematics
Fifty is the smallest number that is the sum of two non-zero square numbers in two distinct ways: 50 = 12 + 72 = 52 + 52. It is also the sum of three squares, 50 = 32 ...
'', a collection of 50 psalms rendered into French verse. The full psalter containing all 150 canonical Psalms, plus the
Nunc Dimittis
The Nunc dimittis (), also known as the Song of Simeon or the Canticle of Simeon, is a canticle taken from the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke, verses 29 through 32. Its Latin name comes from its incipit, the opening words, of the Vulgate ...
, appeared in 1562.
The French psalms were set to melodies that were harmonized and altered for congregational singing. Music for the
Genevan Psalter
The ''Genevan Psalter'', also known as the ''Huguenot Psalter'', is a metrical psalter in French created under the supervision of John Calvin for liturgical use by the Reformed churches of the city of Geneva in the sixteenth century.
Background
...
was furnished by
Loys Bourgeois
Loys "Louis" Bourgeois (; c. 1510 – 1559) was a French composer and music theorist of the Renaissance. He is most famous as one of the main compilers of Calvinist hymn tunes in the middle of the 16th century. One of the most famous mel ...
and others like
Guillaume Franc
Guillaume Franc (c. 1505–1571) was a French musician and composer active in Geneva and Lausanne. He is regarded as instrumental in the development of both the ''Genevan Psalter'' and the '. Some of the melodies are still used in hymns in the 21 ...
and a certain Maistre Pierre. The composer
Claude Goudimel
Claude Goudimel (c. 1514 to 1520 – between 28 August and 31 August 1572) was a FrenchPaul-André Gaillard, "Goudimel, Claude", ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 19 ...
harmonized these melodies with great variation in the complexity of the music. In some cases each part matches note for note, while others are
contrapuntal
In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...
or even
motet
In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margar ...
s. Even more elaborate musical arrangements were composed in the seventeenth century by
Paschal de l'Estocart and
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck ( ; April or May, 1562 – 16 October 1621) was a Dutch composer, organist, and pedagogue whose work straddled the end of the Renaissance and beginning of the Baroque eras. He was among the first major keyboard compo ...
.
An example of the Huguenot Psalter is
Psalm 134
Psalm 134 is the 134th psalm from the Book of Psalms, a part of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Behold, bless ye the , all ye servants of the ". Its Latin title is "Ecce nunc bene ...
(tune given above):
Vous, saints ministres du Seigneur,
Qui, dévoués à son honneur,
Veillez la nuit dans sa maison,
Présentez-lui votre oraison.
The Dutch metrical psalter
A metrical psalter was also produced for the Calvinist
Reformed Church
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Cal ...
of the Netherlands by
Petrus Datheen in 1566. This Psalter borrowed the
hymn tune
A hymn tune is the melody of a musical composition to which a hymn text is sung. Musically speaking, a hymn is generally understood to have four-part (or more) harmony, a fast harmonic rhythm (chords change frequently), with or without refrain ...
s from the Genevan Psalter and consisted of a literal translation of
Marot
Marot ( Punjabi, ur, ) is a city in Bahawalnagar District in Punjab, Pakistan. This city is situated at the border of India and Pakistan. This city is situated 50 km from Fortabbas, 160 km from Bahawalnagar and 100 km from Bahawal ...
and
Beza
Theodore Beza ( la, Theodorus Beza; french: Théodore de Bèze or ''de Besze''; June 24, 1519 – October 13, 1605) was a French Calvinist Protestant theologian, reformer and scholar who played an important role in the Protestant Reformatio ...
's French translation. The Dutch psalter was revised on orders of the Dutch legislature in 1773, in a revision which also added non-paraphrase hymns to the collection. This psalter also continues in use among the Reformed community of the Netherlands, and was recently revised in 1985. In 1968 a new metrical psalmbook appeared, which is incorporated in the Dutch hymnbook; ''Liedboek voor de kerken'' of 1973.
Metrical psalters in German
The Genevan Psalms were translated into German by
Ambrosius Lobwasser
Ambrosius Lobwasser (1515–1585) was a German humanist and translator, born in Saxony. He served as professor of jurisprudence at the University of Königsberg from 1563 until his retirement in 1580, but is best known for his ''Psalter des Köni ...
(1515–1585) in 1573 "Psalter des königlichen Propheten Davids" and were sung a capella to Goudimel's harmonies for over two centuries. The Lobwasser psalms are still in use in the
Amish
The Amish (; pdc, Amisch; german: link=no, Amische), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss German and Alsatian origins. They are closely related to Mennonite churches ...
congregations in North America, who took them with the Swiss Hymnbooks to the New World. The music edition of 1576 was reprinted in 2004, which was a result of the International Psalm Symposion in
Emden
Emden () is an independent city and seaport in Lower Saxony in the northwest of Germany, on the river Ems. It is the main city of the region of East Frisia and, in 2011, had a total population of 51,528.
History
The exact founding date of E ...
. In 1798 the German pastor in Den Haag
Matthias Jorissen gave out his: "Neue Bereimung der Psalmen" which replaced the old-fashioned psalm book for nearly 200 years. The present Hymnbook (1996) of the Evangelical-reformed Churches and the Old Reformed Churches of Germany contains the complete psalter with many psalms of Matthias Jorissen and other authors. It was an important decision of the synods to retain the psalms in the hymnbook with the Genevan tunes. The need and interest in the complete Jorissen- Psalter led to different new editions in 1931, 1951 and 2006. The last one was given out for singing of the people and not for scientific use only. Today, psalms make up a quarter (102) of the Protestant hymn book from 1998 in German Switzerland.
Another German psalter is the
Becker Psalter
The ''Becker Psalter'' is a German metrical psalter authored by the Leipzig theologian Cornelius Becker and first published by Jakob Apel in Leipzig in 1602 under the title ''Der Psalter Davids Gesangweis''. Several composers set the psalms contai ...
.
Metrical psalters in English
Robert Crowley
![CrowleyMusic](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/CrowleyMusic.jpg)
The first complete English metrical psalter and the first to include musical notation was ''The Psalter of Dauid newely translated into Englysh metre in such sort that it maye the more decently, and wyth more delyte of the mynde, be reade and songe of al men''. Printed in 1549, it was the work of
Robert Crowley and was printed by him,
Richard Grafton
Richard Grafton (c. 1506/7 or 1511 – 1573) was King's Printer under Henry VIII and Edward VI. He was a member of the Grocers' Company and MP for Coventry elected 1562-63.
Under Henry VIII
With Edward Whitchurch, a member of the Haberdashers ...
and/or
Stephen Mierdman
Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...
. Crowley's psalter is a rare example of two-color printing (red and black on the first four leaves) in this era, which makes it visually resemble medieval manuscript psalters. (
Christopher Tye
Christopher Tye (c.1505 – before 1573) was an English Renaissance composer and organist. Probably born in Cambridgeshire, he trained at the University of Cambridge and became the master of the choir at Ely Cathedral. He is noted as the music ...
and
Francis Seager later included musical notation in their psalters, and the Sternhold and Hopkins psalter eventually incorporated a basic tune with the Anglo-Genevan edition of 1556.
John Day's ''The Whole Book of Psalmes'' (1562) contained sixty-five psalm tunes.) Crowley also included a calendar for calculating feast days as in the
Book of Common Prayer
The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...
, to which Crowley's psalter appears to be intended as a supplement.
The music provided in Crowley's psalter is similar to the Gregorian tones of the Latin
Sarum Rite
The Use of Sarum (or Use of Salisbury, also known as the Sarum Rite) is the Latin liturgical rite developed at Salisbury Cathedral and used from the late eleventh century until the English Reformation. It is largely identical to the Roman rite, ...
psalter, and it can be found in ''Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians''. A single note is given for each syllable in each verse, in keeping with Archbishop
Thomas Cranmer
Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build the case for the annulment of Henry' ...
's mandate for the reformed Edwardian
liturgy
Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...
. The goal was to emphasize simplicity and to encourage attentiveness to what was being sung by omitting complex vocal ornamentation. In addition to the Psalms, Crowley's psalter includes English versions of the
canticle
A canticle (from the Latin ''canticulum'', a diminutive of ''canticum'', "song") is a hymn, psalm or other Christianity, Christian song of praise with lyrics usually taken from biblical or holy texts. Canticles are used in Christian liturgy.
Ca ...
s
Benedictus
Benedictus may refer to:
Music
* Benedictus (Song of Zechariah), ''Benedictus'' (''Song of Zechariah''), the canticle sung at Lauds, also called the Canticle of Zachary
* The second part of the Sanctus, part of the Eucharistic prayer
* Benedictus ...
,
Magnificat
The Magnificat (Latin for "y soul
Y, or y, is the twenty-fifth and penultimate letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. According to some authorities, it is the sixth (or sevent ...
magnifies he Lord
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
) is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary, the Canticle of Mary and, in the Eastern Christianity, Byzantine tradition, the Ode of the Theotokos (). It is traditionally incorporated ...
,
Nunc Dimittis
The Nunc dimittis (), also known as the Song of Simeon or the Canticle of Simeon, is a canticle taken from the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke, verses 29 through 32. Its Latin name comes from its incipit, the opening words, of the Vulgate ...
, and
Benedicite
The Benedicite (also Benedicite, omnia opera Domini or A Song of Creation) is a canticle that is used in the Catholic Liturgy of the Hours, and is also used in Anglican and Lutheran worship. The text is either verses 35–65 or verses 35–66 of ...
, as well as the
Te Deum
The "Te Deum" (, ; from its incipit, , ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to AD 387 authorship, but with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin Chur ...
and the
Quicumque Vult. These are the ''Cantica Prophetarium'' retained in the Book of Common Prayer from the Sarum psalter — key parts of the
Divine Office.
Crowley's lyrics are mainly based on
Leo Jud
Leo Jud (; also Leo Juda, Leo Judä, Leo Judas, Leonis Judae, Ionnes Iuda, Leo Keller; 1482 – 19 June 1542), known to his contemporaries as Meister Leu, was a Swiss reformer who worked with Huldrych Zwingli in Zürich.
Biography
Jud was born ...
's ''Biblia Sacrosancta'', which was in turn a fresh translation from the
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
that maintained fidelity to its lyrical arrangement. Crowley rendered all the psalms in simple
iambic fourteeners
In the mountaineering parlance of the Western United States, a fourteener is a mountain peak with an elevation of at least . The 96 fourteeners in the United States are all west of the Mississippi River. Colorado has the most (53) of any single ...
which conform to the single, short, four-part tune that is printed at the beginning of the psalter.
From Crowley's rendition of Psalm 24:
:The earth and al that it holdeth, do to the lorde belonge:
:The world and al that dwel therein as wel the olde as yonge.
:For it is he that aboue al the seas hath it founded:
:And that aboue the freshe waters hathe the same prepared.
For the sake of comparison, here is how the same text is rendered in contemporary English Bibles:
:The earth is the Lord's, and all that therein is: the compass of the world, and they that dwell therein.
:For he hath founded it upon the seas and prepared it upon the floods. (Psalm 24:1-2
Coverdale, 1535)
:
:The earth is Gods and all that therin is: the worlde, and they that dwell therein.
:For he hath laide the foundation of it vpon the seas: and he hath set it sure vpon the fluddes. (Psalm 24:1-2
Bishop's Bible
The Bishops' Bible is an English translation of the Bible which was produced under the authority of the established Church of England in 1568. It was substantially revised in 1572, and the 1602 edition was prescribed as the base text for the King ...
, 1568)
:The earth is the Lordes, and all that therein is: the worlde and they that dwell therein.
:For he hath founded it vpon the seas: and established it vpon the floods. (Psalm 24:1-2
Geneva Bible
The Geneva Bible is one of the most historically significant translations of the Bible into English, preceding the King James Version by 51 years. It was the primary Bible of 16th-century English Protestantism and was used by William Shakespear ...
, 1587)
:The earth ''is'' the L
ORD's, and the fulness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein.
:For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods. (Psalm 24:1-2
Authorised, 1611)
Sternhold and Hopkins ('Old Version')
Thomas Sternhold
Thomas Sternhold (1500–1549) was an English courtier and the principal author of the first English metrical version of the Psalms, originally attached to the Prayer-Book as augmented by John Hopkins.
Life
Anthony Wood says that Sternhold ...
published his first, short collection of nineteen ''Certayn Psalmes'' between mid-1547 and early 1549. In December 1549, his posthumous : was printed, containing thirty-seven psalms by Sternhold and, in a separate section at the end, seven psalms by
John Hopkins. This collection was taken to the Continent with Protestant exiles during the reign of Mary Tudor, and editors in Geneva both revised the original texts and gradually added more over several editions. In 1562, the publisher John Day brought together most of the psalm versions from the Genevan editions and many new psalms by John Hopkins,
Thomas Norton
Thomas Norton (153210 March 1584) was an England, English lawyer, politician, writer of verse, and playwright.
Official career
Norton was born in London, the son of Thomas Norton and the former Elizabeth Merry. He was educated at university o ...
, and
John Markant to make up ''The Whole Booke of Psalmes, Collected into English Meter''. In addition to metrical versions of all 150 psalms, the volume included versified versions of the
Apostles' Creed
The Apostles' Creed (Latin: ''Symbolum Apostolorum'' or ''Symbolum Apostolicum''), sometimes titled the Apostolic Creed or the Symbol of the Apostles, is a Christian creed or "symbol of faith".
The creed most likely originated in 5th-century Ga ...
, the ''
Magnificat
The Magnificat (Latin for "y soul
Y, or y, is the twenty-fifth and penultimate letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. According to some authorities, it is the sixth (or sevent ...
magnifies he Lord
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
) is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary, the Canticle of Mary and, in the Eastern Christianity, Byzantine tradition, the Ode of the Theotokos (). It is traditionally incorporated ...
'', and other biblical passages or Christian texts, as well as several non-scriptural versified prayers and a long section of prose prayers largely drawn from the ''English Forme of Prayers'' used in Geneva.
![Old Hundredth Sternold & Hopkins (1628), crop](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Old_Hundredth_Sternold_%26_Hopkins_%281628%29%2C_crop.JPG)
Sternhold and Hopkins wrote almost all of their Psalms in the "common" or
ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...
metre
The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pref ...
. Their versions were quite widely circulated at the time; copies of the Sternhold and Hopkins psalter were bound with many editions of the
Geneva Bible
The Geneva Bible is one of the most historically significant translations of the Bible into English, preceding the King James Version by 51 years. It was the primary Bible of 16th-century English Protestantism and was used by William Shakespear ...
, and their versions of the Psalms were used in many churches. The Sternhold and Hopkins psalter was also published with music, much of it borrowed from the French Geneva Psalter. One setting from their collection that has survived is the metrical form of the Psalm 100 attributed to
William Kethe, with the tune known as the
Old 100th
"Old 100th" or "Old Hundredth" (also known as "Old Hundred") is a hymn tune in long metre, from the second edition of the Genevan Psalter. It is one of the best known melodies in many occidental Christian musical traditions. The tune is usuall ...
, often used as a
doxology
A doxology (Ancient Greek: ''doxologia'', from , ''doxa'' 'glory' and -, -''logia'' 'saying') is a short hymn of praises to God in various forms of Christian worship, often added to the end of canticles, psalms, and hymns. The tradition derives ...
:
:All people that on earth do dwell,
:sing to the Lord with cheerful voice:
:Him serve with fear, his praise forth tell,
:come ye before him and rejoice.
In 1621,
Thomas Ravenscroft
Thomas Ravenscroft ( – 1635) was an English musician, theorist and editor, notable as a composer of rounds and catches, and especially for compiling collections of British folk music.
Little is known of Ravenscroft's early life. He prob ...
published an expanded edition of the Sternhold and Hopkins Psalter; Ravenscroft's edition added many more psalm tunes, some of which had been composed, since the original publication, by leading late Tudor and early Stuart English composers such as
Thomas Morley
Thomas Morley (1557 – early October 1602) was an English composer, theorist, singer and organist of the Renaissance. He was one of the foremost members of the English Madrigal School. Referring to the strong Italian influence on the Englis ...
,
Thomas Tallis
Thomas Tallis (23 November 1585; also Tallys or Talles) was an English composer of High Renaissance music. His compositions are primarily vocal, and he occupies a primary place in anthologies of English choral music. Tallis is considered one o ...
,
John Dowland
John Dowland (c. 1563 – buried 20 February 1626) was an English Renaissance composer, lutenist, and singer. He is best known today for his melancholy songs such as "Come, heavy sleep", " Come again", "Flow my tears", " I saw my Lady weepe", ...
, and
Thomas Tomkins
Thomas Tomkins (1572 – 9 June 1656) was a Welsh-born composer of the late Tudor and early Stuart period. In addition to being one of the prominent members of the English Madrigal School, he was a skilled composer of keyboard and consort mus ...
. Another musical contributor to this volume was
John Milton
John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem '' Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and political ...
, the father of
the poet of that name.
By any objective measure of circulation Sternhold and Hopkins's psalter was a success. As a separate volume, it was re-printed more than 200 times between 1550 and 1640; in addition, the psalms in this form were included in most editions of the
Geneva Bible
The Geneva Bible is one of the most historically significant translations of the Bible into English, preceding the King James Version by 51 years. It was the primary Bible of 16th-century English Protestantism and was used by William Shakespear ...
, and also in most versions of the ''
Book of Common Prayer
The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...
''. They continued to be in regular use in some congregations until the late eighteenth century.
Literary opinion after the sixteenth century, on the other hand, was decidedly negative. In his 1781 ''
History of English Poetry'', British
poet laureate
A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ...
Thomas Warton
Thomas Warton (9 January 172821 May 1790) was an English literary historian, critic, and poet. He was appointed Poet Laureate in 1785, following the death of William Whitehead.
He is sometimes called ''Thomas Warton the younger'' to disti ...
called the Sternhold and Hopkins psalter "obsolete and contemptible," "an absolute travesty," and "entirely destitute of elegance, spirit, and propriety." In 1819,
Thomas Campbell Thomas Campbell may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Thomas Campbell (poet) (1777–1844), Scottish poet
* Thomas Campbell (sculptor) (1790–1858), Scottish sculptor
* Thomas Campbell (visual artist) (born 1969), California-based visual artist ...
condemned their "worst taste" and "flat and homely phrasing." In 1757,
John Wesley
John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English people, English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The soci ...
described the verse of Sternhold and Hopkins as "scandalous doggerel".
Sternhold and Hopkins render the beginning of the 24th Psalm in this way:
:The earth is all the Lord's, with all
::her store and furniture;
::Yea, his is all the work, and all
::that therein doth endure:
::
::For he hath fastly founded it
::above the seas to stand,
::And placed below the liquid floods,
::to flow beneath the land.
Tate and Brady ('New Version')
First published in 1696, the ''
New Version of the Psalms of David
Tate and Brady refers to the collaboration of the poets Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady, which produced one famous work, ''New Version of the Psalms of David'' (1696). This work was a metrical version of the Psalms, and largely ousted the old vers ...
'' was the work of
Nahum Tate
Nahum Tate ( ; 1652 – 30 July 1715) was an Irish poet, hymnist and lyricist, who became Poet Laureate in 1692. Tate is best known for ''The History of King Lear'', his 1681 adaptation of Shakespeare's ''King Lear'', and for his libretto for ...
(who was later named
poet laureate
A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ...
) and
Nicholas Brady. A second edition was published in 1698, and supplements were issued in 1700, 1702, 1704 (twice) and 1708. Their Augustan version shows somewhat more polish than the 17th century versions.
The hymn ''Through all the changing scenes of life'' is the setting of Psalm 34 from the New Version, and ''As pants the hart for cooling streams'' is a setting of Psalm 42.
Other versified psalms in English
During the period of the English Reformation, many other poets besides Sternhold and Hopkins wrote metrical versions of some of the psalms. The first was Sir
Thomas Wyatt, who in around 1540 made verse versions of the six penitential Psalms. His version of Psalm 130, the famous ''De profundis clamavi'', begins:
:From depth of sin and from a deep despair,
:From depth of death, from depth of heart's sorrow
:From this deep cave, of darkness deep repair,
:To thee have I called, O Lord, to be my borrow.
:Thou in my voice, O Lord, perceive and hear
:My heart, my hope, my plaint, my overthrow.
Sir
Philip Sidney
Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek language, Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philip ...
made verse versions of the first 43 psalms. After he died in 1586, his sister,
Mary Sidney Herbert, the Countess of Pembroke, completed the translation of the final two-thirds of the psalter. Together they used a dazzling array of stanza forms and rhyme schemes—as many as 145 different forms for the 150 psalms. The Sidney Psalter was not published in its complete form until the twentieth century, but it was widely read in manuscript, and influenced such later poets as
John Donne
John Donne ( ; 22 January 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a clergy, cleric in the Church of England. Under royal patronage, he was made Dean of St Paul's ...
and
George Herbert
George Herbert (3 April 1593 – 1 March 1633) was an English poet, orator, and priest of the Church of England. His poetry is associated with the writings of the metaphysical poets, and he is recognised as "one of the foremost British devoti ...
.
However, poetry remains a matter of private devotion unless given a musical setting for trained choirs or for congregational singing. Rather than iambic pentameter, in England and Scotland in the 16th and 17th centuries, the overwhelming preference in rural congregations was for iambic tetrameters (8s) and iambic trimeters (6s), ridiculed in Shakespeare's
A Midsummer Night's Dream
''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...
, in which Nick Bottom and the other "rude mechanicals" obsess over the need for a prologue "written in eight and sixe". The three meters then in use: Common Meter (8,6,8,6), Long Meter (8,8,8,8), and Short Meter (6,6,8,6) remain in widespread use in hymnals today.
Other English metrical psalters
Later writers attempted to repair the literary inadequacies of the Sternhold and Hopkins version. The ''
Bay Psalm Book
''The Whole Booke of Psalmes Faithfully Translated into English Metre'', commonly called the Bay Psalm Book, is a metrical psalter first printed in 1640 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was the first book printed in British North America. The psa ...
'' (1640), the first book published in the British colonies in America, was a new metrical psalter:
:The earth Jehovah’s is,
:and the fullness of it:
:the habitable world, and they
:that there upon do sit
:Because upon the seas,
:he hath it firmly laid:
:and it upon the water-floods
:most solidly hath stayed
In the 1640s, the English
Parliamentarians
Francis Rous
Francis Rous, also spelled Rouse (c. 1581 to 1659), was an English politician and Puritan religious author, who was Provost of Eton from 1644 to 1659, and briefly Speaker of the House of Commons in 1653.
Stepbrother of Parliamentary leader ...
and
William Barton both authored their own metrical paraphrases. Their translations were scrutinised by the
Westminster Assembly
The Westminster Assembly of Divines was a council of Divinity (academic discipline), divines (theologians) and members of the English Parliament appointed from 1643 to 1653 to restructure the Church of England. Several Scots also attended, and ...
and heavily edited. Rous's original version of Psalm 24 read:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
After much alteration, a much-altered translation based on Rous's work was approved by the
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the sovereign and highest court of the Church of Scotland, and is thus the Church's governing body.''An Introduction to Practice and Procedure in the Church of Scotland'' by A. Gordon McGillivray ...
and published in 1650 as the
Scottish Metrical Psalter, to be used throughout the
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland.
The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...
. This showed some improvements, but ballad metre remained ubiquitous:
:The earth belongs unto the Lord,
:and all that it contains;
:The world that is inhabited,
:and all that there remains.
:For the foundations thereof
:he on the seas did lay,
:And he hath it established
:upon the floods to stay.
One of the most widely known hymns in Christian worship, "
The Lord's my Shepherd
"The Lord's My Shepherd" is a Christian hymn. It is a metrical psalm commonly attributed to the English Puritan Francis Rous and based on the text of Psalm 23 in the Bible. The hymn first appeared in the ''Scots Metrical Psalter'' in 1650 traced ...
", is a translation of
Psalm 23
Psalm 23 is the 23rd psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "The Lord is my shepherd". In Latin, it is known by the incipit, "". The Book of Psalms is part of the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and a boo ...
appearing in the 1650 Scottish Psalter.
Isaac Watts
Isaac Watts (17 July 1674 – 25 November 1748) was an English Congregational minister, hymn writer, theologian, and logician. He was a prolific and popular hymn writer and is credited with some 750 hymns. His works include "When I Survey the ...
produced a metrical psalter, in which he breaks out of the ballad metre in his 1719 ''The Psalms of David, Imitated in the Language of the New Testament, and Apply'd to the Christian State and Worship'', which, as the title indicates, was intended as an interpretation rather than a strict translation of the psalms.
:This spacious earth is all the Lord's,
:And men, and worms, and beasts, and birds:
:He raised the building on the seas,
:And gave it for their dwelling-place.
But by the time better metrical psalms were made in English, the belief that every hymn sung in church had to be a Biblical translation had been repudiated by the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
. A flowering of English hymnody had occurred under writers such as Isaac Watts and
Charles Wesley
Charles Wesley (18 December 1707 – 29 March 1788) was an English leader of the Methodist movement. Wesley was a prolific hymnwriter who wrote over 6,500 hymns during his lifetime. His works include " And Can It Be", " Christ the Lord Is Risen ...
, but their hymns were freed from the stricture that each verse had to be a translation of a scriptural text. Attitudes towards the Biblical text itself had also changed, with closer emphasis being paid on its exact phrasing. This new regard for the letter of the Biblical text diminished the appeal of the psalters' previous versions; those who sang them no longer felt they were singing Scripture. The success of these newer hymns has largely displaced the belief that each hymn must be a direct translation of Scripture. Now, many hymnals contain Biblical references to the passages that inspired the authors, but few are direct translations of Scripture like the metrical psalters were.
Metrical psalter in Gaelic
The
Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...
Psalter was produced by the
Synod of Argyll. By 1658, the first fifty psalms had been translated into ballad metre due to the work of
Dugald Campbell
Dugald Campbell was a Scottish doctor from the Isle of Arran who went to Hawaii and set up the national health service during the 1890s. Campbell travelled extensively and in Hawaii he took up the post of government physician on the islands, wh ...
,
John Stewart, and
Alexander McLaine. A manuscript of the final 100 psalms was produced in 1691 with the entire Gaelic psalter, with revisions to the 'first fifty' being produced in 1694. The Gaelic Metrical Psalms are used to this day in the Scottish Highland Presbyterian Churches where the practice of
lining out
Lining out or hymn lining, called precenting the line in Scotland, is a form of a cappella hymn-singing or hymnody in which a leader, often called the clerk or precentor, gives each line of a hymn tune as it is to be sung, usually in a chanted fo ...
is used, in accordance with the
Westminster Assembly of Divines
The Westminster Assembly of Divines was a council of Divinity (academic discipline), divines (theologians) and members of the English Parliament appointed from 1643 to 1653 to restructure the Church of England. Several Scots also attended, and ...
Directory for Public Worship. The corpus of tunes has shrunk over the years with only about twenty-four in general use.
Modern-day metrical psalters
Many churches continue to use metrical psalters today. For example, the
Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America
The Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA) is a Presbyterian church with congregations and missions throughout the United States, Canada, Japan, and Chile. Its beliefs—held in common with other members of the Reformed Presbyteria ...
(RPCNA) produced psalm books based on the
Scots Metrical Psalter
Decisions concerning the conduct of public worship in the Church of Scotland are entirely at the discretion of the parish minister. As a result, a wide variety of musical resources are used. However, at various times in its history, the General A ...
, with the intention of making the words more modern and the translation more accurate. These were produced in 1889 (a
split-leaf brown book), 1911 (unpopular due to musical complexity), 1920 (a green book) and 1929 (also green, an expanded version of the 1920 one), 1950 (a blue book), and 1973 (a maroon one) calle
The Book of Psalms for Singing A further revision has been undertaken by the
RPCNA, again for the purposes of making the words more modern, and also to replace some of the more difficult-to-sing tunes, such as Psalm 62B, with tunes that are easier to sing. The new edition
The Book of Psalms for Worship was released in 2009.
The
Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland
The Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland is a Presbyterian church in Ireland. The church currently has forty-three congregations, of which thirty-five are located in Northern Ireland; the remaining eight are located in the Republic of Ireland. A ...
, however, produced a split-leaf version of the
Scots Metrical Psalter
Decisions concerning the conduct of public worship in the Church of Scotland are entirely at the discretion of the parish minister. As a result, a wide variety of musical resources are used. However, at various times in its history, the General A ...
, but with additional "Alternative versions" of the words included as the second half of the book. These were culled from a number of sources, including the RPCNA books mentioned above. Whenever a new version was necessary, they merely expanded their old book, without removing any of the old translations. One of these editions was produced in 1979. They were available in staff or
sol-fa. A revised Psalter in more modern idiom was published in 2004 under the title The Psalms for Singing.
The Melbourne Congregation of the
Presbyterian Church of Eastern Australia
The Presbyterian Church of Eastern Australia (PCEA) is a small Presbyterian denomination which was formed in Sydney on 10 October 1846 by three ministers and a ruling elder. As of December 2012 it consists of 13 pastoral charges with a total of ...
produced The Complete Book of Psalms for Singing with Study Notes in 1991. Music in staff format is provided in a variety of meters, mostly to established tunes. The texts draw from the best of older versions but provide much new material.
The
Free Church of Scotland published Sing Psalms in 2003, being a completely new translation. It is available in words only, and in staff and sol-fa split-leaf formats.
The
Canadian Reformed Churches
The 'Canadian and American Reformed Churches'' (CanRC) is a federation of Protestant churches in Canada and the United States, with historical roots in the Reformed Churches of the Netherlands. It emphasizes the importance of adherence to Biblica ...
have published and sing fro
Book of Praise the Anglo-Genevan Psalter (1972, 1984, 2014), containing English versifications for all the Genevan tunes. In 2015 Premier Printing publishe
New Genevan Psalterwhich consists of the 150 Psalms as found in the Book of Praise as well as the Ten Commandments and the Songs of Mary, Zechariah and Simeon.
Split-leaf psalters
A split-leaf psalter (sometimes known as a "
Dutch door
A Dutch door (American English), stable door (British English), or half door (Hiberno-English), is a door divided in such a fashion that the bottom half may remain shut while the top half opens. They were known in early New England as double-hung ...
" psalter) is a book of Psalms in metrical form, in which each page is cut in half at the middle, so that the top half of the pages can be turned separately from the bottom half. The top half usually contains the tunes, and the bottom half contains the words. The tune and words can be matched by matching the
meter
The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its prefi ...
; each meter is a specification of line length and (implicitly) stressed syllables; if a tune is in
Common Meter Common metre or common measure—abbreviated as C. M. or CM—is a poetic metre consisting of four lines that alternate between iambic tetrameter (four metrical feet per line) and iambic trimeter (three metrical feet per line), with each foot cons ...
, any set of Common Meter words can go with it.
References
Citations
Sources
*David Daniell, ''The Bible in English: Its History and Influence'' (Yale, 2003)
*Timothy Duguid, ''Metrical Psalmody in Print and Practice: English 'Singing Psalms' and Scottish 'Psalm Buiks', 1547-1640 (Ashgate, 2014), .
*
*
*''Psaumes de la Réforme'': Ensemble Charles Goudimel: Christine Morel, conductor. Music of Charles Goudimel,
Paschal de l'Estocart, and
Jan Sweelinck
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck ( ; April or May, 1562 – 16 October 1621) was a Dutch composer, organist, and pedagogue whose work straddled the end of the Renaissance and beginning of the Baroque eras. He was among the first major keyboard com ...
. (Naxos, 1995; catalog no. 553025) (sound recording)
*''Scottish Metrical Psalter'' (Eremitical, 2007)
External links
Psalter text & audio
*
* (Seven psalters in the English and Scottish traditions. Text and MIDI.)
Psalter text
* (text only)
* (text only)
Psalter audio
* (Recordings of seven Scottish Metrical Psalms 1650.)
* (Hymns derived from Psalms. PDF and MIDI.)
* (MIDI files arranged by meter)
Psalter miscellanea
*, John Calvin
*, David T. Koyzis
*
*
*
*
*
*
*Duguid, T., ''Metrical Psalmody in Print and Practice: English 'Singing Psalms' and Scottish 'Psalm Buiks', 1547-1640 (Ashgate, 2014), {{ISBN, 9781409468929.
Psalters
Psalm settings
Church of Scotland
Anglican liturgical books