25 Jan 2018

Rome pays homage to Geneva: Psalm 42

Even Roman Catholics sing the Genevan Psalms on occasion. Here it is the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, 7 June 2012, beginning with a mass at the Basilica of Saint John the Lateran, followed by a procession to Saint Mary Major and a eucharistic blessing. One assumes that Pope Benedict XVI is the white-robed man in the vehicle.

24 Jan 2018

Le Psautier génévois: Psaume 2

Arrangements by Claude Goudimel and Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck:

16 Jan 2018

Psałterz Dawidów: Psalm 91

And here's one more:

Psałterz Dawidów: Psalm 25

The traditional western liturgy prescribes the singing of Psalm 25 on the first sunday of Advent. This particular version is from the Psałterz Dawidów once again. Like the Genevan Psalter, it too is a metrical psalter in which the texts are rhymed in accordance with repeated stanzas. But the music is highly sophisticated and would not be appropriate for congregational singing. This is definitely for a trained choral ensemble. It deserves more exposure outside of Poland.

Psałterz Dawidów: Psalm 1

This is a live performance of the exquisite Psalm 1 from the Psałterz Dawidów as sung by the Collegium Vocale Bydgoszsz in 2010:

10 Jan 2018

Psałterz Dawidów: Psalm 81

Psalm 81 from the Polish-language David's Psalter is here performed by the Choir of the West Pomeranian Technical University of Szczecin, Poland, directed by Szymon Wyrzykowski. The venue is the St. Catharine's German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kiev, Ukraine.

1 Jan 2018

The Scottish Psalter, 1788 edition

My unfailingly thoughtful wife gave me a wonderful gift for Christmas this year: a 230-year-old copy of the 1650 Scottish Psalter. To be precise, this is "The Psalms of David in Metre, Allowed by the Authority of the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland, and appointed to be sung in congregations and families," printed in Glasgow by J. and M. Robertson, dated MDCCLXXXVIII. This was not, of course, the only complete metrical psalter published in English. The Sternhold & Hopkins Psalter had already been in use in England for nearly a century, and much later would come Tate & Brady's New Version Psalter of 1696. But the Scottish Psalter has proved much more durable than its competitors and has lived in the hearts of English-speaking Reformed Christians for more than three and a half centuries.