Genevan psalter
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The Genevan Psalter
Psalter
A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the later medieval emergence of the book of hours, psalters were the books most widely owned by wealthy lay persons and were...

is a collection of metrical psalms created under the supervision of John Calvin
John Calvin
John Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...

.

Background

Before the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

 the singing of the Psalms was generally done by a select group of performers, not by the entire congregation. John Calvin
John Calvin
John Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...

 understood that the entire congregation was to participate in praising God in the worship service. Already in his famous work Institutes of the Christian Religion
Institutes of the Christian Religion
The Institutes of the Christian Religion is John Calvin's seminal work on Protestant systematic theology...

 of 1536 he speaks of the importance of the singing of Psalms. Later in Articles for the organization of the church and its worship in Geneva, January 16, 1537, Calvin writes the following: "it is a thing most expedient for the edification of the church to sing some psalms in the form of public prayers by which one prays to God or sings His praises so that the hearts of all may be roused and stimulated to make similar prayers and to render similar praises and thanks to God with a common love." For this reason he wanted to create a song book in a form easily accessible to the people.

After being forced to move away from Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

 in 1538, Calvin settled in Strasbourg. He joined the Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...

 Congregation there where he also led numerous worship services. It was in Strasbourg where he got familiar with the German versification of the Psalms written by Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...

 and others. Calvin took these songs to his French congregation for which he wrote some metrical versification
Versification
Versification may be*the art of making verses, see poetry*the theory of the phonetic structure of verse, see meter *the rendition of a prose work into verse, especially of classical works during the Middle Ages, see medieval poetry...

s himself. His own versions of the Psalms were apparently not of sufficient quality and he turned to the French court poet, Clément Marot
Clément Marot
Clément Marot was a French poet of the Renaissance period.-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 , whose more correct name appears to have been des Mares, Marais or Marets, was a Norman from the Caen...

 who already versified most of the psalms in French during the first part of the sixteenth century.

1539 edition

In 1539 the first edition of Calvin's Psalter was published. It bore the title "Aulcuns Pseaulmes et cantiques mys en chant" and contained 22 psalms and hymns, including 13 versifications of Marot, the ten commandments, the song of Simeon and the Apostolic Creed set to music. Most of the melodies therein were familiar tunes used in the German church in Strasbourg at that time. Some of these melodies, presumably composed by Wolfgang Dachstein or Matthias Greiter. In the current collection of the Genevan Psalter the following melodies have survived: Psalm 1, 2, 15, 32, 33, 36, 51, 67, 68, 69, 103, 114, 115, 130, 137 and 143.

1542 edition

In 1541 Calvin returned to Geneva where he published a new psalter in 1542. Guillaume Franc, cantor and music teacher in Geneva, contributed numerous tunes for this edition including Psalm 6, 8, 19, 22, 24 (also used for 62, 95 and 111), and 38

1543 edition

Clément Marot moved to Geneva in 1543 and was commissioned by Calvin to create rhymed versions of all the Psalms, he was unable to complete this and died in the fall of 1544. His work was continued by Théodore de Bèze. The 1543 edition bore the title "La Forme des Prieres et Chantz ecclesiastiques" More melodies composed by Franc (Psalms 138 and 140) appeared as well as one by Pierre Certon (Ps 43).

1551 edition

Based on the introduction of this psalter "Pseaumes octantetrois de David" we can conclude that the supervising composer of this edition was Louis Bourgeois. It is not exactly clear how many of the melodies were actually composed by him, but it is generally assumed that most of the new additions were from his hand.

1562 edition

Finally in 1562 a complete Psalter was issued with rhymed versions of all 150 Psalms. Some of the earlier melodies were replaced. The last 40 melodies found herein are ascribed to a certain Maistre Pierre, probably Pierre Davantès. Many of the lyrics were updated or replaced and all of them were written by Marot and De Bèze.

Worldwide use

The Genevan melodies are still widely in use today in churches all over the world. In particular, the melody written by Bourgeois, known as The Old 100th
Old 100th
"Old 100th" or "Old Hundredth" is a hymn tune from Pseaumes Octante Trois de David , and is one of the best known melodies in all Christian musical traditions...

 or "Doxology" is found in numerous hymnals everywhere. Most of the other melodies from the Genevan Psalter are still used in Calvinist churches in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Scotland, Canada, The United States, South Africa and Australia.

In the Netherlands, already in 1565, some 40 Genevan psalm melodies can be found in the Lukas d'Heere psalter and eventually all of them were used in the Reformed churches there. After 1773 Dutch churches started to sing these melodies with 'whole notes' only, removing the original rhythm from the music. This practice disappeared gradually with exception of some very conservative churches who still sing them this way today. Many of the Calvinist churches of North America were founded by the Dutch, who took these Genevan melodies with them. Probably the only Christians in North America that still uses the Genevan Psalter in its entirety are the Canadian Reformed Churches. They sing from their own Book of Praise, the Anglo-Genevan Psalter, containing English versifications for all the Genevan tunes. Dutch settlers in South Africa also founded Calvinist churches where many of the Genevan Melodies are still used today.

In the German Evangelisch Reformierte Kirche a complete collection of the Genevan melodies can be found. Some of these melodies are also found in the general hymnbook for Protestant churches in Germany. Ironically some of these Reformed psalm melodies are even found in some Catholic hymnbooks in use in Germany.

Historical significance

The Genevan Psalms are predominantly used within the Calvinist churches. In these churches the role of church music is often far less significant than in e.g. Lutheran churches. One result of this different approach is that most of the singing in Calvinist churches is done in unison. Harmonies and instrumental renditions were exclusively used within the home or for concert performances. Hence the number of musical arrangements based on the Genevan Psalm melodies is far smaller than those based on the church music from other church traditions. The most well known harmonies, based on the Genevan psalter are the 4-part choral renditions composed by Claude Goudimel
Claude Goudimel
Claude Goudimel was a French composer, music editor and publisher, and music theorist of the Renaissance.-Biography:...

. Less known are the compositions of Claude Lejeune from the same era and the arrangements of Clément Janequin
Clément Janequin
Clément Janequin was a French composer of the Renaissance. He was one of the most famous composers of popular chansons of the entire Renaissance, and along with Claudin de Sermisy, was hugely influential in the development of the Parisian chanson, especially the programmatic type...

 and Paschal de l'Estocart
Paschal de l'Estocart
Paschal de l'Estocart was a French Renaissance composer.Not much of his life is known. He was in Lyons between 1559 and 1565, and was married in the latter year. In his youth he is known to have visited Italy, but the exact years are not known...

. The Dutch composer Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck 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 composers of Europe, and his work as a teacher helped establish the north German organ...

 wrote various psalm variations for organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...

 and psalm motets for choir. Anthonie van Noordt, another Dutch composer wrote organ works in a similar style, based on these melodies. Orlando di Lasso together with his son Rodolpho composed three-part renditions of the psalms by Caspar Ulenberg, whose melodies were mostly based on the Genevan Melodies. In North-Germany, Sweelinck's pupil Paul Siefert
Paul Siefert
Paul Siefert was a German composer and organist associated with the North German school.-Biography:...

 composed two volumes of psalm motets.

The Polish composer Wojciech Bobowski
Wojciech Bobowski
Wojciech Bobowski or Ali Ufki was a Polish musician and dragoman in the Ottoman Empire. He translated the Bible into Ottoman Turkish, composed an Ottoman Psalter, based on the Genevan metrical psalter, and wrote a grammar of the Ottoman Turkish language...

, who later converted to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

 and took the name Ali Ufki, modified a number of psalms to the Turkish tuning system. In Italy the Jewish composer Salamone Rossi
Salamone Rossi
Salamone Rossi or Salomone Rossi was an Italian Jewish violinist and composer. He was a transitional figure between the late Italian Renaissance period and early Baroque.-Life:...

 wrote motets based on the Genevan Melodies. A small number of Genevan psalms found their way into the Lutheran church tradition. Hence we find a number of these melodies in the compositions of Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

 and others. More recent composers inspired by the Genevan psalter are: Zoltán Kodály
Zoltán Kodály
Zoltán Kodály was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is best known internationally as the creator of the Kodály Method.-Life:Born in Kecskemét, Kodály learned to play the violin as a child....

, Frank Martin
Frank Martin (composer)
Frank Martin was a Swiss composer, who lived a large part of his life in the Netherlands.-Childhood and youth:...

 en Arthur Honegger
Arthur Honegger
Arthur Honegger was a Swiss composer, who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. He was a member of Les six. His most frequently performed work is probably the orchestral work Pacific 231, which is interpreted as imitating the sound of a steam locomotive.-Biography:Born...

 amongst others.

Tunes

In the complete edition of 1562 only 124 tunes were used for the 150 Psalms. Hence some of them are used repeatedly. 15 tunes occur twice, 4 tunes occur three times and 1 occurs four times, in the following combinations:
  • psalm 5 and 64
  • psalm 14 and 53
  • psalm 17, 63 and 70
  • psalm 18 and 144
  • psalm 24, 62, 95 and 111
  • psalm 28 and 109
  • psalm 30, 76 and 139
  • psalm 31 and 71
  • psalm 33 and 67
  • psalm 36 and 68
  • psalm 46 and 82
  • psalm 51 and 69
  • psalm 60 and 108
  • psalm 65 and 72
  • psalm 66, 98 and 118
  • psalm 74 and 116
  • psalm 77 and 86
  • psalm 78 and 90
  • psalm 100, 131 and 142
  • psalm 117 and 127

Musical characteristics

The Genevan Melodies form a strikingly homogeneous collection. Besides the fact that the melodies were written in a relatively short time span by a small number of composers, they have a number of characteristics in common.
  • They are based on the so-called church modes
  • The melodic range is generally within one octave
    Octave
    In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...

  • The note values are restricted to half notes and quarter notes (with exception of the final note)
  • Every melody starts with a half-note and ends on a breve (also known as double whole note
    Double whole note
    In music, a double whole note or breve is a note lasting twice as long as a whole note...

    )
  • Regular meter and bar-lines are absent
  • There are very few melismas (only Psalm 2
    Psalm 2
    Psalm 2 is the second Psalm of the Bible. It tells us that we can either defy God and perish, or submit to him and be blessed. Psalm 2 itself does not identify its author, but Acts 4:25-26 clearly attributes it to David.-In the original Hebrew:...

    , 6, 10, 13, 91, 138)

External links

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