23 Jul 2021

Henry Ainsworth's Psalter

The Ainsworth Psalter is not well known today, even among aficionados of metrical psalmody. It was brought to Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620 by the Pilgrims, separatists fleeing persecution in England who had previously fled to the Netherlands. It was published in 1612 and used a limited number of Genevan melodies to which all 150 Psalms were sung. It did not endure over the long term, and their descendants eventually adopted the Bay Psalm Book (1640) of the Puritans. Here is a brief lecture on the Ainsworth Psalter by Prof. R. Allen Lott of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary:


There is little available online from the Ainsworth Psalter, but I have found two performances which I post below, Psalm 100, set to the familiar Genevan tune for Psalm 134, and Psalm 137. The quality of the latter is not especially good, and I would advise not using earphones to listen to it.



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