23 Dec 2020

Psalm 22: Sternhold & Hopkins

Not a lot has been done with the Sternhold & Hopkins Psalter (1562) on YouTube, except by the Scottish Psalter CMD channel, whose recordings I am reluctant to recommend. However, someone has posted a very nice vocal rendition of Psalm 22:23-24, 31, set to the tune NEW BRITAIN, usually associated with John Newton's famous hymn, Amazing Grace. The arrangement is by John Purifoy, with Steve Boyce singing.

English Protestants sang from the S&H throughout the 17th century, and it became one of the principal liturgical resources of the Church of England, along with the Book of Common Prayer, Miles Coverdale's prose Psalter, the Books of Homilies, and the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion (1571). The S&H remained in use until Tate & Brady's "New Version" Psalter was produced. Metrical psalmody died out in England in the 19th century, perhaps due to the influence of the Oxford Movement, which brought back chanted psalmody. Today metrical psalmody is associated with Scotland, but at one time both of these ancient kingdoms sang the Psalms in metre.

Here is Psalm 22, posted earlier this year:




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