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18 Nov 2020

Pidoux's history

I have added in the right sidebar a link to a page carrying a History of the Genevan Psalter - Dr. Pierre Pidoux. Here is an excerpt: 

On entering a cathedral, a tourist is often struck by the inherent harmony of the whole structure; a harmony which results from a well-defined design and successful proportions. He would not, at first, be aware that the edifice was the work of several generations of architects and stone-masons. His attention for details, evidence of a development of taste or techniques of successive generations, would only come later.

That is the case as well with the French Psalter which in its completed form was published in 1562. At first glance it seems that it is of uniform construction; one psalm looks much the same as another. One could easily think that the words and music were put together at one and the same time. The unity is even so strong that, if the initials of the author were not given, it would be impossible to tell who was responsible for what versification. The same can be said for the melodies: they all look the same, their origin, however, is veiled in anonymity.

It is indeed a unity: the Psalter of Geneva contains only versifications that remain faithful to the Biblical prose text. We do not find in them commentaries, paraphrases nor meditations inspired by a certain passage. Neither do we find attempts to actualize them, as can be found in German hymns of the same period.

One assumes that the text on this webpage is taken from the two-volume work by Pierre Pidoux (1905-2001), Le psautier huguenot du XVIe siècle, i: Les mélodies; ii: Documents et bibliographie (Basle, 1962).

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