The Genevan Psalter of 1562

The Genevan Psalter of 1562; Set in Four-Part Harmony by Claude Goudimel, in 1565Author(s): G. R. WoodwardSource: Proceedings of the Musical Association, 44th Sess. (1917 - 1918), pp. 167-192Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Royal Musical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/765771 .Accessed: 14/02/2011 13:53

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JUNE 18, 1918.

DR. R. R. TERRY

IN THE CHAIR.

THE GENEVAN PSALTER OF 1562; SET IN

FOUR-PART HARMONY BY CLAUDE GOUDIMEL, IN 1565.

BY THE REV. G. R. WOODWARD, M.A.

I.--THE WORDS, BEGUN BY CLENIENT MAROT.

THE germ of the Genevan Psalter is to be found in a metrical French version of Psalm 6. It consists of ten stanzas in six lines, in the measure of Insbruch, ich muss dich lassen, beginning Ne vueille pas, 0 Sire, the workmanship of Clement Marot. For full particulars of the history and literary compositions of this remarkable man, to whom French lyric poetry, as well as the Genevan Psalter, owes so much, the student is referred to M. Douen's "Clement Marot et le Psautier Huguenot," a review of which, written by Major G. A. Crawford, appeared in the Musical Times during the months of June till November, 1881. But in a lecture on the French Psalter it is needful to say something, however briefly and disjointedly, on its originator.

Clement Marot, born at Cahors-en-Quercy, about 1497, inherits the gift of poetry from his father, et quod tentabat scribere versus erat; at the age of ten comes to Paris, learns Latin, Greek, and Italian; has a pleasant voice, sings well, plays the spinet; some verse, dedicated to King Francis I., gains him the office of valet de chambre to the King's sister, Marguerite, Duchess of Alen9on, and afterwards Queen of Navarre: influenced by this amiable, beautiful, and accomplished Princess, who has leanings towards the Huguenots (i.e., the Eid-genossen, or Oath-confederates), in 1521 Marot ridicules the faults and failings of the Monks, thereby incurring their undying enmity: in 1525 Marot is wounded and taken prisoner, together with Francis I., at Pavia; returns to Paris, marries, succeeds his father

The Genevan Psalter of 1562.

as valet de chambre to the King; by order of the Sorbonne is thrown into prison, but delivered by means of the Archbishop of Chartres. In 1533 Marot publishes "Le Miroir de tres Chrestienne Princesse Marguerite de France"; this includes the aforesaid Psalm 6, the Paternoster, the Ave Maria, and Credo, all in verse. In consequence of Huguenot outrages to an image of Our Lady in Paris, in 1328 Marot is compelled to leave the city; in 1534, unseemly and abusive attacks on the Mass, whereof Marot of course was guiltless, again force him to flee; he retires to Ferrara, where he meets Calvin; thence to Venice. Through the intercession of Marguerite and the I)auphin, Marot is allowed to return to France. In 1536 he finishes his first instalment of the Psalms, thirty in number, (Viz., I-15, 19, 2 2. 4, 32, 37, 38, 51, 103, 104, I13-115, 130, 137, and 143). When the Emperor Charles V. (Luther's bitter foe) visits Paris, he rewards the translator of these Psalms with 200 gold doublons (one doublon = 33 or 36 shillings of English money), and requests Marot to translate him his special favourite, Psalm 107, or I18; the Catholic Monarch's love of Marot's PIsalms increases more and more till his death. At Francis' desire the Sorbonne appoints a Tlriumvirate of learned Doctors to examine Marot's Trental of Psalms. They find therein "nothing contrary to the Faith, Holy Scripture, or the ordinance of the Church"; their imprimatur given. In I542 the Psalms are published, but possibly owing to fresh disturbances of Iconoclasts (latter-day representatives of the Manichees, from whom came the Turlupins and Bogomilli and their spiritual descendants, who have so long disturbed the peace of the Eastern and Western Church), in consequence of the Psalter's being taken up by the Htuguenots, and such as the Waldenses and Albigenses, and seeing that the Psalms were becoming one of the most formidable weapons in spreading the Reformation in France, and calling to remembrance previous Edicts forbidding the use of the ver- nacular, the Sorbonne apparently repents itself of its permission to print the Psalms. Marot's arrest is ordered; but again he escapes, crossing the French frontier, to return no more.

Arrived in Switzerland in November, I542, Marot is surprised to find that twelve of his Psalms have appeared in the Strasbourg l'salter of 539, and in the Antwerp Psalter of 541 ; a Carmelite Monk with Reforming sympathies, having taken "French-leave," has purloined, adopted, adapted, and "improved" one dozen of Marot's best, a practice not unknown to compilers of modern H-mnals, verifying the wisdom of Solomon's saying, "Every fool will be meddling" (Prov. xx. 3). At Geneva, in accordance with King Francis' wishes, and also at Calvin's request, Marot metaphrases more Psalms, and in August, 1543, publishes his "Cinquante Pseaunies." containing, with an epistle to the Ladies

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of France, and another to the King, a revised edition of his thirty Psalms, twenty new ones, of which the Song of Symeon was reckoned one, the Ten Commandments, the Credo, the Paternoster, the Hail Mary, and Prayers before and after meals. The new Psalms are 18, 23, 25, 33, 36, 43, 45, 46, 50, 72, 79, 86, 9I 1, o 07, I 1, , I18, 128, and 138.

The light-hearted and witty Court-poet and the sour and severe so-called theologian have little in common: Marot never mentions Calvin, and the Pope of Geneva only twice alludes to Marot in his letters, and never utters a word of thanks for Marot's poetical work. For nearly two years Marot endures Calvin's manners. Marot's morals are then supposed to have scandalised "the little flock": the poet is refused the proper and necessary remuneration for his work (for he has a wife, and now also three children of that marriage); is accused of having used dice for a game of backgammon with Francois Bonivard, the sometime prisoner of Chillon; gives mortal offence of speaking of "L'Enfer de Geneve"; is compelled to consent to the with- drawal of his Ave Maria* drawn into French verse; whereupon Marot withdraws himself altogether from Geneva, to Chambery, in April, 1544; thence to Turin, where he dies in the following August, not without grave suspicion of poison. M. Douen cannot understand how and why Marot's mortal remains were buried there in the Catholic Church of St. Jean, with every token of respect, by the members of the French Court at Turin. One explanation only is possible.

THE PSALTER AT FIRST TAKEN UP HB CATHOLICS.

In his Book, "The Psalms in human life," p. I80, Mr. R. E. Protherot informs us that " When Marot's Psalms first appeared, they were sung to popular airs alike by Roman Catholics and Calvinists. No one delighted in the sanctes chansonettes more

* Resiouy-toi, vierge Marie, Pleine de grace abundamment:

Le Seigneur, qui tout seigneurie, Est avec toy divinement.

Benoiste certes tu es entre Celles dessoulz le firmament:

Car le fruict qui est en ton ventre Est benyct eternellement.

[DouEN, I., p. 153.] It seems probable that the above words were sung to the tune on the Ten

Commandments (Ps. 140).

t Now the Lord Ernie.

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passionately than the Dauphin, afterwards Henry II. He sang them himself, set them to music, and surrounded himself with musicians who accompanied his voice on the viol or the lute. To win his favour, the gentlemen of the Court begged him to choose for each a Psalm. Courtiers adopted their special Psalms, just as they adopted their particular arms, mottoes, or liveries. Henry, as yet without an heir, sang to his own music Ps. 1-8, which promises to the God-fearing man a wife 'as the fruitful vine,' and children 'like the olive-branches.' Catherine de Medicis, then a childless wife, repeated Ps. 6, 'O Lord, rebuke me not in thine indignation.' Anthony, King of Navarre, chose Ps. 43. Diane de Poitiers sang the De profundis, Ps. I3. o... In after years, when Catherine had borne her husband ten children, Henry carolled Ps. 42 ('Like as the hart desireth the water-brooks'), as he hunted the stag in the forest of Fontainebleau, riding beside Diane, for the motto of whose portrait he chose the first verse of his favourite Psalm. During his life-time, King Francis was often heard singing the airs of Marot's Psalter, and on his death-bed it is recorded of this Catholic Monarch that, 'Knowing that his last hour was come, he set the affairs of his house in order, commanded to bring the Psalms of Clement Marot, caused divers of them to be read aloud to him, and commending his people and his servants to the Dauphin's care, departed this life, March 31, 154 .'"

THE PSALTER COMPLETED BY 1. DE BEZE.

By Marot's early death, at the age of forty-seven, the Psalter was left, and remained, unfinished until the arrival at Geneva of Theodore de Beze, of whom it is sufficient to say he was well- born, at Vezelay in Burgundy, in 1519; that he had received a good classical education; that in 1548 he came to Geneva to join his old friend, Jean Crespin, in his printing office, but went thence to Lausanne on his appointment there as Professor of Greek. In his "Histoire du Psautier," p. 25, M. Bovet relates how that, before Beza left Geneva to enter on his new work, Calvin happened to enter his room during his absence from home. By good luck Calvin espied lying on Beza's table a slip of paper with a versification of the i6th Psalm. Without the author's knowledge, Calvin took possession thereof, showed it to his friends, and at once begged Beza to take in hand the completion of the Genevan Psalter. To this proposal Beza agreed, and in 1552 he added thirty-four Psalms (viz., Pss. i6, 17, 20, 21,

26-31, 34, 35, 39-42, 44, 47, 73, 90, 119-127, 129, I31-I34). In 1554 there followed six more (viz., Pss. 52, 57, 63-65, and I i). In 1562 there were added the remaining sixty Psalms.

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The Genevan Psalter, at first taken up by Catholics until finally appropriated by Calvinists and others, differs in some respects from other Psalters and Hymnals which owe their origin to the Reformation. First, it was intended for private use, and not for public worship. Next, following the some-time view of the Primitive Church, the words were taken entirely from the words of Holy Scripture, but versified, whereas the Lutheran Choral books were intermixed with translations of old Church Office Hymns, Mediaeval Sequences and the like. Cranmer and our English Reformers wished indeed to retain the ancient Latin Hymns and Processionals, &c., but they confessed their inability to provide good enough translations of the same. Furthermore, the Genevan Psalter, which may be said to have first appeared in 1542, and to have been finally completed in 1562, long remained exactly as Marot and Beza left it, whereas to the Lutheran books additions were continually being made.

The name of Marot is sufficient guarantee to the merits of his share of the Psalter, and the scholarship of Beza for the rest of the work.

This is that Theodore de Beze, who, in 1562 procured from the monastery of St. Irenarus, at Lyons, a MS. of the 6th century, now known as "Codex Bezle" or Codex D. It is on parchment, and contains the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles, with a Latin version, deviating more from the received readings than any other. It appears to have been written in France, and by a Latin transcriber ignorant of Greek, from many curious mistakes which occur in the text and version attached. These variations arise from capricious alterations. See Dean Alford, "Greek Testament," vol. i., chap. vii., p. I o. Dean Burgon also describes it as a most corrupt document. Ieza presented it to Cambridge University.

There are about 120 varieties of metre employed by these two Makers of the Psalter, some of the measures being of rare beauty. They all march in the trochaic or iambic movement, in stanzas ranging from 4 to r 2 lines of divers length, constructed with great skill and good taste by the judicious use of trochaic or feminine rimes and endings, It is safe to assert that the graceful metres and pleasing rhythms, first employed by Marot, and then repeated by his successor, lent themselves to the melodists, and inspired and helped Bourgeois, and his continuator, in the adapting or composing of the various tunes to which the Genevan Psalter has been wedded from that day onwards.

This brings us to Louis Bourgeois. But, again, as on March 12, I906, speaking in the presence of so many members of the Musical Association, your lecturer offers his remarks, this time on the music of the Genevan Psalter, with all becoming deference and modesty.

Ir7I

Thte Genevan Psalter of 1562.

[Here the quartet (consisting of Mrs. Lester Jones, Miss Kate Mayes, Mr. Lester Jones. and Mr. Charles Page) sang four French Psalm tunes:-

(i.) Ps. i, a Strasbourg melody of 1539, revised by Bourgeois.

(ii.) Ps. 6, founded on a popular air, in the A.olian Mode, by Bourgeois.

(iii.) Ps. 42, ditto, by Bourgeois. (iv.) Ps. 68, a melody by Matt. Greiter, Cantor at

Strasbourg. The Settings, all by Claude Goudimel, will be found in " Songs

of Syon," Nos. 33ob, 144b, T25b, and 33b.]

II.-CONCERNING: THE MEI,ODIES.

These were, for the most part, composed or adapted by Louis Bourgeois. Here one cannot improve on the words of Dr. Robert Bridges, Editor of the "Yattendon Hymnal," now Poet- Laureate of England. On page o of his Notes at the end ot Vol. IV., this is how he describes the good workmanship of Louis Bourgeois:-

"A name come, with the slow justice of time, out of long obscurity to high esteem. He was born at Paris, accompanied Calvin to Geneva in 1541 to be precentor of the Huguenot Church there. He found in use a Strasbourg book of thirty tunes, and when he departed in 1557 he left a Psalter of eighty-five tunes. Of these eighty-five three are original Strasbourg tunes almost unchanged; eight are Strasbourg tunes modified by Bourgeois; twelve are his own contribution to his first edition of 1542; fourteen were added in 1543 or 1544; and three in his revision (in which revision he modified fifteen of the old, and added four new tunes of his own, which he subsequently discarded); twelve were added in 15 i, and the other thirty-three (to Beza's new Psalms after Marot's death) before he left in I557. The scarcity of copies of these editions makes an exact account difficult. He was imprisoned by his employers for his musical innovafions in 1551, and having suffered Calvin for sixteen years, seems to have lost his appointment and left Geneva on account of Calvin's opposition to his desire to introduce part-singing. lie published a book of fifteen four-part Psalms at Lyons in I549. Among all his eighty-five tunes there are very few which are not of great merit, while among all the subsequent additions by his successors, there are not more than two or three which will compare with his work. . . Historians who wish to give

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a true philosophical account of Calvin's influence at Geneva ought probably to refer a great part of it to the enthusiasm attendant on the pleasure of singing Bourgeois' melodies."

According to M. Iouen (I., p. 649) Bourgeois composed, or adapted, tunes to the first thirty Psalms by Marot in 1542; viz., tunes for Pss. 1-15, 19, 22, 24, 32, 37, 38, 51, 103, 104,

13, 114 I5, 1, 30, 137. and 143. For Marot's other nineteen Psalms in i544, Bourgeois

composed, or adapted, tunes for the following, viz., Nos. r8, 23, 25, 33, 36, 43, 45, 46, 50, 72, 79, 86, 91, 11o, 107, 110,

I 8. 128, 38, and the Song of Symeon. For Beza's first thirty-four Psalms in 1 5 1, Bourgeois composed,

or adapted, tunes for the following: Pss. 16, 17, 20, 21, 26-31, 34, 35, 39-42, 44, 47, 73, 90, 1 I9-127, I29, I31-134.

For Beza's next five Psalms in 1544, Bourgeois wedded the already existing tune of Ps. 17 to Ps. 63: the tune of Ps. 5 to Ps. 64; the tune of Ps. 72 to Ps. 6 ; the tune of Ps. 33 to Ps. 67; and the tune of Pss. 24 and 62 to Ps. i I.

Who Bourgeois' continuator may be (the musician of whom Dr. Bridges speaks somewhat slightingly, and whose work M. Douen calls "mediocre ") is a moot point. But is is recorded that in June and July, 1561, Maistre Pierre, the Chanter, received a certain sum of money for having set the Psalms to music. Some suppose it to be Pierre Dubuisson, who in December, 1562, received the freedom of the City of Geneva. Others believe it to have been Pierre Daques, of Montheroux en Quercy, another Chanter who was similarly. honoured. In the "Psautier Romand" (Neuchitel, 1907), p. 373, the authorship of the melodies of Pss. 61, 4I, 84, 89, 97, 105, ii6, 141, and I50 (for this Psalter contains only a selection) is ascribed undoubt- ingly to Pierre Dagues. M. Douen says that the best of the non-Bourgeois Psalms are 6i, 74, 84, 88, 89, and 99: to which I myself would add. Pss. 81, 97, and 1I6.

Douen (I., p. 650) considers that nearly all the most beautiful, original, and melodious tunes of the Genevan Psalter belong to the first period of its publication, i.e., to Bourgeois, and he mentions the following as the finest, viz., Pss. i, 2, 8, 12, 23, 24 and 62, 25, 27, 32, 33 and 67, 36 and 68, 42, 47, 51, 65 and 72, 77 and 86, oo, lo1, 103, 110, ii8, 119, 129, 130, 131, 134 and 138. Strangely enough he has omitted Pss. 3, 19, and 107.

When Bourgeois quitted Geneva in 1557, it appears that there remained sixty-two Psalms to be translated. Twenty-two of these, when versified, were set by Bourgeois' successor, to melodies already existing in the Genevan Psalter. But the same Maistre Pierre (whether Dagues, or Dubuisson) adapted or composed

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forty new tunes, for the following Pss., viz., 48, 49, 52, 54-61, 74, 75, 80, 81, 83-85, 87-89, 92-94, 96, 97, 99, 102, 105, io6, 112, 135, 136, 141, I4r-15 (Douen I., pp. 649-650).

CONCERNING THE SOURCES WHENCE THE FRENCH PSALM-

TUNES WERE DERIVED.

(i.) Some are adaptations of ancient I,atin hymns. For example: Ps. 141 is taken from Conditor alme syderum; Ps. 129 is A Patre unigenitus, slightly varied; Ps. 19 is based (according to Dr. G. H. Palmer) on a Carthusian and Dominican melody for Exultet celum laudibus, a favourite in France from the 13th century onwards; Ps. 17 bears a strong likeness to Jesu quadragenarice; Ps. 104 is lam Christus astra ascenderat, amplified; Ps. 80 is a modification of the first stanza of the Easter Sequence Victimae paschali. Other Psalm- tunes remind one of the incipit of certain ancient Antiphons. But M. Douen is either in ignorance, or suppresses his knowledge, of these Latin hymns.

(ii.) Other 32 are said to be adaptations of popular secular songs, viz.: Pss. 3, 6, 8, 9, 13, 20, 25, 32, 34, 42, 48, 56, 64, 65, 67, 73, 77-79, 96, 97, Io1, [07, II3, 117, 119, 126, 134, 138, I40, 150, and Song of Symeon. Ps. 75 somewhat resembles II me suffit de tous mes maulx; Ps. 138 is almost note for note Une pastorelle gentile; Ps. 65 is a simplifiation of Petite Carmusette. When Calvin heard tell of this last mentioned melody, he is reported, for once in a life-time, to have smiled.

As to this practice of taking worldly ballad-tunes, and setting them to sacred words, opinion is divided. But, according to the old and true proverb, 'Tis not right, when taking corn to the mill, to give the devil the meal, and God the bran." " Besides, were it not also strange if God should have made such store of glorious creatures on earth, and leave them all to be consumed in secular vanity, allowing none but the baser sort to be employed in his own service?" (Hooker V., xv., 4). If the forerunners of Bach had not taken and written sacred words for the aforesaid, II me suffit de taus mes maulx for Insbruch, ich muss dich lassen, Flora, meine Freude, for Mein G'muth ist mir verwirret, A lieta vita, and the like, and pressed them into the service of the sanctuary, then the musical world would verily have been the poorer, nor should we now be possessed of Bach's various settings of Was mein Gott will, of 0 Welt, ich muss dich lassen, of Jesu, meine Freude, of Befiehl du deine Wege, of In dir ist Freude, and the like. Moreover the world has often taken over fine melodies from Church use, and set them to profane ballads, witness "John Anderson, my jo, John "; "Cauld kail in Aberdeen," "Crailtoun," and many others. Nor is it yet

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determined whether is the earlier of the twain, " Sumer is icumen in," or Perspice Christicola, the English and the Latin words written one under the other in the well-known MS. of the 13th century in the British Museum.

But to return to the sources of the Genevan Psalm-tunes, it need only to be observed that, if Bourgeois and his continuator made use of suitable secular airs, they certainly improved their book thereby, and are blameless. There is a tradition that the tune of Ps. 138, if not composed by Marot himself, was certainly a great favourite of his.

CONCERNING THEIR RHYTHM, STRUCTURE, AND MOIALITY.

The secret of the strength, charm, and perennial youth of the psalm-tunes may he ascribed to several causes.

(i.) The melodies are tuneful, tender, flowing: they are diatonic, lying within easy range of the voice, proceeding by no greater interval than a fifth, except from the ending of one strain to the beginning of another. There is no dull commonplace uniformity, with a long wearisome succession of minims, but these are agreeably varied by the introduction of semibreves, judiciously placed, and by the use of syncopation. The tunes, however, are all written in imperfect time; triple, or perfect time, being apparently considered inappropriate for sacred purposes. Various clefs are employed for the convenience of the singer, and to avoid the use of leger lines. The Psalm always leads off with one semibreve at least. At the end of a line, instead of the modern double-bar, a semibreve rest is employed, very rarely a minim rest. As before stated, the structure of Marot and Beza's various and well-chosen measures, with strophe and antistrophe, suggest theme and answer in the music, and of this Melodists took full advantage.

(ii.) Of the 125 different melodies contained in the Genevan Psalter, so far as we can judge, 31 are written in the Dorian and Hypo-Dorian Modes; 1 in the Phrygian and Hypo-Phrygian; 19 in the Mixo-Lydian and Hypo-Mixo-Lydian; 8 in the AZolian and Hypo-Aolian, and the remainder in the Lydian and Ionian, practically in the modern major scale. It is still the fashion of ignorance and conceit to sneer at these ancient " maneria." For instance, it is recorded in the Daily News of March 19, 1897, that "much fun was made of a sailor's ditty said to be written in the Hypo-mixo-Lydian Mode." Only three or four months ago in a leading journal, the musical reviewer of one of Mr. Cecil Sharp's latest editions of old folk-song headed one of his paragraphs by the words " THOSE MODES." Yet good musicians and learned men of all times have recognized the characteristics of

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each of these old scales, owing to the position of their semitones, their dominants, finals, and so forth. In Mr. Charles Sayle's "In praise of Music" you will find a good English translation of Plato's "Republic" (Bk. iii., 499-403), and of Aristotle's "Politica" (V., v.-vii.). Tunes in the Dorian Mode were considered grave, strong, moral, simple, severe, manly, majestic, and all that was beseeming to valiant, sober, and temperate men: wherefore the Dorian was strongly recommended for the hearing and education of young men and children. The Phrygian Mode was of a more passionate and excited style: it was thought to be religious, warlike, courageous, exciting to arms. Mixo-Lydian Melodies were supposed to sound pathetic and comparatively melancholy, fit for tragedy, stirring up the singer and listener to the spirit of self-restraint. The Lydian Scale tunes were looked on as tender and plaintive, effeminate, suited for dirges. The Ionian was deemed too gay and cheerful, unfit for sacred use: nay, some called it il modo lascivo.

But apart from this, that man " is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils, that hath no music in himself, and is not moved with concourse of sweet sounds," especially when the ail lies in one or other of the Greek or ancient Ecclesiastical scales. Take, for example, a few of the more or less well-known old English, Irish, Scottish, French, or Breton folk-songs and ballad ditties: " Shall I go walk the woods so wild " "Come o'er the bourne, Bessie"; "A the syghes that come fro' my harte"; "Westron wynd, when wyll thou blow"; " My love's an arbutus"; " Jenny"; "Over there"; Culloden Muir"; "Glenogie"; "Andro and his cutty gun "; "Mary AMorrison "; "I hae laid a herrin in saut";

" Put

the gown upon the bishop "; "O laddie with the golden hair"; " Jenny Nettles "; "Jenny dang the weaver "; " are ye sleepin', Maggie"; "Johnny Faa ";

" Hieland laddie"; "The land of

the leal"; "Dispns le chapelet"; "L'homme arme," &c. These will be found to be written in one or other of "those Modes." And indeed it requires no philosophical arguments of Plato or Aristotle, nor is it necessary to have Keltic blood in one's veins, to be an admirer of the aforesaid melodies and their like. All that is wanted is ears to hear, a musical soul, and a heart to love these exquisite ancient airs-merry, frolicsome, pathetic, sad, sorrowful, or warlike, as the case may be.

Now the French Psalm tunes delight us partly by their melody, partly by their rhythm and measure, and lastly, but not least of all, by reason of their tonality.

Of the Dorian and Hypo-Dorian Modes, good examples are to be seen in Pss. 12, 50, 96, 107, I30; 77 and 146. For Phrygian and Hypo-Phrygian Melodies, see Pss. 17, 26, 31, 51, 83, 1oo, and 132. For Mixo-Lydian Airs, see Pss. 19, 74, 85, 736. For Hypo-Mixo-Lydian specimens, turn to Pss. 93, I03, I 13, and I 17.

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For /Eolian and Hypo-.AEolian Tunes, see Pss. 6, 65, 1 to, and 38. For Lydian and Ionian Melodies (practically the modern major scale), fine examples will be found in Pss. 3, 25, 36, 42, 97, 0o1, 119, 124, 134, 138, 140, and the Song of Symeon. M. Douen

ignores the old Gregorian Modes, and has no word of praise to bestow save on the modem major and minor scales.

PSALMS SUNG TO THE SAME MELODY:

Pss. 5, 64. Pss. 46, 82.

, 14, 53. ,, 5, 69. ,, 17, 63, 70. ,, 6o, io8. ,, 18, 144. ,, 65, 72. ,, 24, 62, 95, 1 1. ,, 66, 98, 1 8. ,, 28, 109. ,, 74, 86. ,, 30, 76, 139. ,, 78, 90. ,, 3, 71. ,, I00, 131, 142. ,, 33, 67. ,, II7, 127. ,, 36, 68. Ps. 140 (Ten Commandments).

[Here the quartet sang one verse of-- (i.) Ps. 1 o, from a popular Air by Bourgeois, set by

Goudimel. (ii.) Ps. 107, by Bourgeois, set by Goudimel.

(iii.) PS. ii9, from a popular Air, by Bourgeois, set by Goudimel to English words by R. P. Ellis.

(iv.) Ps. 131, from a popular Air by Bourgeois, set by Claudin le Jeune.

The settings were taken from Songs of Syon, Nos. 358b, 300oob, 304b, and 63b.]

III.

M. Douen prints many early specimens of settings of the Genevan Psalm-tunes, but sometimes by shifting the tenor and upper parts the good man has got into difficulties with consecutive fifths. He gives us Pss. I, 118, 14, 38 as harmonized by Bourgeois; Ps. 25, set by Jean Louys; Pss. 25, 42, and 68, by Iambe-de-Fer; Pss. 25 and 5 by Richard Crassot; Pss. i and 25 by Sureau; Pss. 33 by Servin; Pss. I, 24, 25, and 130 by Orlando di Lasso, a native of Mons; Pss. 138, 42, 98, 25, and 11 by Claudin le Jeune; Pss. 25 and 51 by S. Mareschall; Pss. 65 and 134 by Sweelinck; Ps. 128 by Melissus Schedius; all done by the year 1621, besides much of Goudimel's work, of which more shortly and anon. M. Douen also mentions other eminent if less well-known contrapuntists who have lovingly and admirably exercised their skill in arranging the Psalms. (One great difference between the 16th century musicians and those of later date is this: the former were content to take existing fine

I77

Thie Genevan Psalter of 1562.

old melodies and set them, whereas their successors generally feel constrained to write tunes of their own composure.) The names are these: Pierre Certon, Clement Jannequin, Thomas Champion (not our Thomas Campion, poet and musician), A. Fr. Paladin, Pierre Santerre, Michel Ferrier, and Pascal de Lestocart. The aforesaid Jean Servin, who in 1563 published an edition of the Huguenot Psalter, for three voices, modestly hopes "that his debonaire readers will take his labours in good part, as he has no desire to rob of their glory the good people who have been honourably employed on this work; M. Claude Goudimel, among others, who in divers manners have made settings of the Psalms."

We now come to (;oudimel. Sir John Hawkins, acknowledged by his biographer to be "deficient in technical skill and often inaccurate,"* first started the theory-a mad March hare--that Goudimel never visited Rome. Well, the same has been said of St. Peter himself, with as little reason. Hawkins's lead has been followed by many since then, including M. Brenet, and especially by your German higher critics of music, R. Eitner and the Ratisbon authorities, whose works have been found out, and exposed by Dr. R. R. 'erry, of W\estminster, as full of musical blunders and literary inexactitudes. Meanwhile, until Sir John and his disciples have fully proved their case, for ourselves we are content to believe the old tradition, and long accepted belief, that Claudio Goudimel was, not indeed the Fleming Rinaldo Mel, but the Gaudio Mel, as testified and believed in by Adami, Liberati, Martini, Winterfeld, Rockstro, J. R. Sterndale Bennett, Major Crawford, Bovet, Douen, R. Bridges and others. Personally one would prefer to go wrong in the fellowship of the latter than be right in the company of the former.t For the following reasons, I have deliberately chosen Goudimel's settings of the Psalms, (i.) Because of my boyish admiration of Goudimel's setting of Ps. 42; (ii.) Because of my firm conviction, right or wrong, in riper years, that Goudimel did live, and write excellent music, in Rome, where numbers of his Masses and Motets long resided in the Vatican and Vallicellan Libraries: because I believe that in his music-school there he had many distinguished pupils, Animuccia, Bettini, Nanini, della Viola, and according to M. Douen, without doubt, Orlando di Lasso, and, above all, Palestrina himself. If so, this good Frenchman, or Fleming,

* W. H. Husk, in Grove's Diet., 1879, vol. i., p. 700).

t Since the delivery of the lecture, Mr. E. J. Dent writes thus: "I should hesitate to treat lightly Madame Michel Brenet's investigations as to Goudimel's supposed connection with Palestrina. Haberl may have made his mistakes, and it is right that they should be corrected, but we must be grateful to him and the others who have exposed the errors of Baini."

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born at Besancon in 1 5 o, may be called the foster-father of the Central Italian School in the golden age of Ecclesiastical music; (iii.) Because, about ten years ago, I had the good fortune to discover a complete and trustworthy edition of Goudimel's settings, printed at Delf in 1602-a small but precious volume, marked K 8, J, i I, in the British Museum Catalogue, but now, for fear of the Huns and their air-raids, unavailable, it being removed for safety; (iv.) Because Bourgeois and Claudin le Jeune's harmonies have always been inaccessible to me; (v.) Because I have always felt that, whether Catholic or no, Goudimel was a martyr for his music sake, for, from his connection with the Genevan Psalter, at the age of three- score years and upwards he fell one of the victims of the St. Bartholomew Massacre at Lyons, in August, 572 ; and because it pities me to think of so great a genius as Goudimel come to such a fearful end, that neither his grey heirs, nor piety, nor musical skill saved him, and it reminds one of the lines in Virgil, where it is said of Pantheus:-

"Nec te tua plurima, Pantheu, Labentem pietas, nec Apollinis infula texit."

(,En. ii., 429.)

CONCERNIN; THE CHARACTER AND STYLE OF GOUDIMEL'S

SETTINGS.

From the Psalms, chosen at haphazard, which have been or will be sung by a quartet of voices, you may form some judgment of the rest of Goudimel's harmonizations, and imagine what they would sound like when sung by a full choir, the Canto Fermo brought out by a strong body of voices. Of these harmonies I need only remark that they are written by a great master, toward the close of the i6th century, and that they are Goudimel's mature work.

The harmonies are simple, solid, and substantial. Settings are provided for each of the 50 Psalms: but, when the same melody is sung to two or more Psalms, Goudimel gives, in addition to a plain setting, capable of being sung by any village choir, a more elaborate form arranged as a Motet. In 1589 Palestrina arranged a complete set of fine old Church Melodies for four or five voices, called Hymni totius atnni. Rockstro remarks that "the beauty of his settings is indescribable: but, unhappily, they are far too difficult for general use." The rules of musica ficta being well-understood in the I6th century, very few accidentals-sharps, flats, and naturals-are indicated in these earlier editions: in the later ones, too many are added. Goudimel delights in open fifths: and

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perusal of his work proves that "the Great Masters of the Contrapuntal schools rarely introduced a Third into the last chord, except when writing in at least five Parts: and never closed with a Minlor Third under any circumstances what- ever."--(W. S. Rockstro, The Rules of Counterpoint, p. 44.)

Consecutive fifths and octaves are allowed in the last chord of one strain, and the opening chord of the next. Certain relations which would be now called false relations, which jar on modern ears, were considered all right in Goudimel's days. In melodies in the third and fourth. i.e., in the Phrygian and Hypo-Phrygian Modes, when the Plainsong is given to the 'enor, Goudimel generally uses the half close, ending on the chord of A, with C sharp, or else with the A and the E both doubled. But in Ps. 142 he has the full Phrygian close on E. \Vinterfeld (vol. i., p. 256) observes that in Ps. 139 the melody is brought in as a canon between the soprano and the tenor parts.

Most of Goudimel's settings give the Canto Ferino to the tenor voice; but in seventeen cases the uppermost voice has it. These are the Psalms: Nos. 28, 30, 34, 35, 40, 43, 6i, 76, 77, 8i, 86, 109, 17, 127, 129, 139, 146. Juvat integros accedere fontes; but, as the Delf copy of Goudimel's harmonies in the British Museum is at present unavailable, I have been unable to verify the above statement.

Now hear what Jean Jac(lues Rousseau thought of Goudinlel's work :-

"The harmnony is certainly the most majestic and sonorous that can be possibly heard."

And again in I758 he wrote from Montmorency:-

" I remember having seen in my youth, in the neighbourhood of Neufchatel, a spectacle, delightful and perhaps unique on earth. . . One of the most frequent amusements of the

happy peasants there, is to sing with their wives and children the Psalms in four-parts: and one is quite astonished to hear proceeding from these country cottages the strong, manly harmony of Goudimel, now so long time forgotten by our learned artists."

Once more :

"When I hear our Psalms sung in four parts, I always begin being overcome, and ravished with this full and vigorous harmony: and the first chords, when rightly entuned, send a thrill through my frame."

Hear also what Dr. Charles Wood has to say concerning Goudimel's settings. I had lent him the loan of my MSS. book containing all Goudimel's harmonies to the Genevan Psalter, all

18o

The Genevati Psalter of 1562.

except those in Motet form, which were considered unsuitable to "Songs of Syon." He wrote on September 7, 1917 7:

" I do not know that I have anything to say about Goudimel's settings that you do not know. They are designedly as simple as possible, no ornamental notes except the suspension of the leading-note at the perfect cadence, and the triads are mostly in the root position. But they are very masterly and very effective, as the upper parts lie in a lower 'register' of the voice than the Canto Fermno, and so the latter comes out very well. 'This I know from the ones we have sung (in Caius College Chapel, out of 'Songs of Syon'), but it is easy to see from reading them through."

Hear also what Dr. Frere, a scholar and musician, wrote on this subject in February last:-

"I am glad you are lecturing on the French tunes. They have gone up steadily in credit of late, and they thoroughly deserve it. What a tiresome book Douen is ! I quite agree that the later forms of the French are not worth troubling about."

In May last, the secretary of the London Church Choir Association tells me that, when the Genevan Ps. o1 was sung last Autumn by a large choir in St. Paul's Cathedral:-

"The Goudimel setting was very impressive and beautiful. There was no question that the whole hymn made itself felt.

Goudimel has been encored, i.e., he will be sung again at St. Paul's tnis year.

[Here the choir sang one verse of (i.) Ps. 3, to words written by Dr. Robert Bridges; (i.) "Song of Symeon," Ditto: (ii.) Ps. 140 (Commandments). Each of these three melodies was adapted by Bourgeois and set in four-part harmony by Goudimel. They will be found in "Songs of Syon," Nos. 389b, 185b, and 83b.]

CONCERNING THE POPULARITY OF THE WORDS AND TUNES.

Enough has already been said on this subject. Marot's Psalms were sung by "lords and ladies gay " at Court, by thousands of people in the Parks around Paris; the words and tunes were learned by heart and chanted by ' young men and maidens, old men and children," con amore. A poor peasant could write the opening sentence of Ps. 128, On a beau sa maisot bastir, over the door-posts of his house; a noble peer would have Ps. IoI, Vouloir m'a pris de mettre en escriture, carved on his ivory round-table, as we ourselves have seen it in the German Museum at Munich, so that he and his mess-mates might thereby sing

13 Vol. 44


Goudimel's four-part harmony, before or after meals. Although critics of various times, including Voltaire, have ever been ready to belittle and decry the Genevan tunes as trivial and deficient in dignity, yet these strains have been the greatest comfort and delight of multitudes of simple and devout souls, who have sung them in weal and woe, who have lived and died with them on their lips, whether they have departed this life peacefully in their beds at home, or have perished on the battle-field, or at the stake with fire and faggot beneath and around them. But no greater proof of the pol)ularity of the Genevan Psalter is needed than the number of editions that the book has passed through. M. Douen enumerates about 837 editions either of the Psalter or works bearing upon it: and printers then, as now, were unlikely to publish books unless tolerably sure of a good circulation. Ps. 68 became the "Huguenot Marseillaise." Nevertheless, when Meyerbeer composed his Opera " Les Huguenots," he took Luther's " Ein' feste Burg" for the Huguenot war-song. Ps. 68 should have been chosen, of course; but Meyerbeer's being born at Berlin may easily account for this musical error, and need cause us no surprise.

INFLUENCE OF THE GENEVAN PSALTER IN HOLLAND, ITALY, ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, AND GERMANY.

(i.) In Holland the Genevan Psalter was soon turned into Dutch; and, be it said to the credit of the translators thereof, Marot and Beza's rhythnms and rimes were carefully observed and reproduced, without alteration of a single music note. The Genevan Psalter quickly ousted the Souter-Liedekin hitherto in use there. Should you ever visit the chief Church at Haarlem, be sure to admire the magnificent (luarto copies of the Psalter, a modern issue, set up in old l)utch black-letter, with the music- notes of 6th century type, from the original matrices or punches. These Psalms helped the Reformers far more than all Calvin's writings put together, and they were gladly taken up by the common people, as well as by good musicians like Sweelinck.

(ii.) In Italy, in the parts bordering on France and Switzerland, and among the Waldenses, it was natural that the Genevan Psalter should find a second home. Owing to Goudimel's connection with Animuccia at Rome, it can reasonably be supposed that his settings of the Psalter gave a fresh impulse to the "I,audi Spirituali" * already in existence in Italy, and that they stirred up

* The Lecturer was unaware that an interesting, learned, and scholarly Paper, on the " Iaudi Spirituali " of the 16th and 17th centuries, had been read, in the presence of members of the Musical Association. on March 20. 1917, by Mr. E. J. Dent.

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the devout Animuccia and his friend St. Philip Neri to take in hand those extra-liturgical hymns which were sung in St. Philip's Oratory, and in the Church of Santa Maria, in Vallicella, and which eventually gave birth to that which is now known as the "Oratorio."

(iii.) In England and Scotland. WVe are now come to the saddest part of the lecture. To trace the influence of Genevan on English Psalmody you are referred to the Introduction of the Historical Edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern, 19o9, pp. xxxviii.-lxv. There, and in the body of the book in his notes on Hymns, 66, 75, 109, 124, 177, r8i, 194, 206, 316, 334-336, 349, and 502, Dr. NW. H. Frere has given us a full and accurate account of the Genevan Psalm-tunes which found place (i.) in Crespin's Psalm-book of 1556; (ii.) in Sternhold and Hopkins' editions, 1558-I 562 (the last, of 1562, is called the "Old Version"); (iii.) in W. Parsons' Book of i563; (iv.) in Damon's Psalter of 579 and 1591 ; (v.) in Thos. Este's edition of 5o9 ; (vi.) in W. Barley and R. Allison's Psalter of 1599: (vii.) in T. Ravenscroft's Psalmes, of 162 , "with certain French Tones '; (viii.) all the French Psalm Tunes with English words, 1632 and 1650. Concerning Scottish Psalmody Dr. Frere mentions amongst others, (i.) the Scotch Psalter of 156 : (ii.) Andro Hart's "CL Psalmes of David," and, for further information, recommends the study of N. Livingston's 'History of the Scottish Psalter," a work showing great labour, industr,y and care; and Julian's Dictionary of Hymnology, pp. 1022-1034.

Dr. Frere accounts for all the fresh tunes taken into English or Scottish Psalters, and with much learning, and remarkable candour, notes the principal alterations that Bourgeois and his continuator have suffered. from first to last, at the hands of English and Scottish Psalter-makers. An honourable exception must be made in favour of Yattendon Hymns, the editor of which has strictly adhered to Marot's metres and Bourgeois' melodies, choosing or composing poetry of his own to suit the tunes. This is quite as it should be; and therefore all honour to our Poet Laureate!

Briefly, the case is this. As we have already seen, the Genevan book consists of psalms in some 20 different measures. abounding in trochaic endings, these being plentiful in the French, Dutch, Italian, and German languages, but scarce in our modern English and Scottish tongue. It .was the pleasure and wisdom of Sternhold, Hopkins and their contemporaries over the border to content themselves with about eight metres only, most of them being in common, or double-common measures. As said Quince to Bottom in "Midsummer Night's Dream" (Act iii., Sc. r). "Let them be written in eight and six." This was the popular ballad metre. There were short and lo,ng

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The Genevanl Psalter of 1562.

mleasure words besides, with one or two other metres, but scarcely a trochaic ending among them. On the accession of Queen Elizabeth, numbers of persons who had fled the country in Mary Tudor's reign returned from abroad full of enthusiasm for Bourgeois' melodies. The Queen herself disliked "the Genevan jigs," probably meaning the doctrines and habits of the Calvinists that sang, but not danced to, the tunes of the French Psalter, which are stately and dignified, insomuch that in " The Merry Wives of Windsor," Act ii., Sc. i (First Folio edition of 1623), Mistresse Ford is made to say of Sir Iohn Falstaffe, "I woulde haue sworne his disposition would haue gone to the truth of his words: but they doe no more adhere and keep place together, than the hundred Psalms to the tune of Greensleeues." Douen and Bovet quote a book, which they call, Les C. Psaumes de Beze traduits en anglais par Ant. Gilbie, Londres, 1581 et 1.590 12mo.

Now with the English and Scottish psalter-makers the difficulty arose how to accommodate " all and'some " of Bourgeois' tunes to English words. In the Elizabethan age, poets there were, and able madrigal writers, such as Francis Davison, Sir Philip Sidney, and Sir Nicolas Breton, who might easily have written words worthy of Bourgeois' melodies and Goudimel's settings. Witness the following versification of Ps. xix., by Sir Philip Sidney:-

'lhe heav'nly frame sets foorth the fame Of him that only thunders:

'he firmament, so strangely bent, Show'th his hand-working wonders.

Or Ps. cxxxvii., by F. Davison :

By Euphrates' flow'ry side We did bide,

From dear Iudah far absented, Tearing th' aire with mournful cries,

And our eies With their streames the streame augmented: WVhen poor Syon's doleful state

Desolate, Sacked, burned and enthralled; And thy temple spoil'd, which we

Ne'er should see To our mirthless minds we called.

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Or the Hymne by Sir Nicolas Breton:-

When the Angels all are singing All of glorie euer springing In the sound of heav'n's high graces, Where all vertues have their places; Oh that my poore soule were neare them, With an humble heart to heare them !

But no. Sternhold, like Marot, a groom in the King's chamber, but unlike Marot, a writer of doggerel, a man whose Muse "savoured more of Jordan than of Helicon," I say Sternhold, with his coadjutors, Hopkins, Kethe, Wisdome, Whittingham & Co., translated the Psalms into ballad metre, for the most part.

Now, what happened ? Sometimes, but rarely, English words were written tallying with the music-note. This was the good fortune of Bourgeois' Mixo-Lydian Air for Ps. 9 ; this the good luck also of Psalm 1 2. But far oftener, even when Bourgeois or Dagues' melody was correctly given, the words were wrongly accented. For example, Ps. 104, "H6nour and majestie in thee shine in6st clear" is supposed to be the equivalent of Tu es vestu de splendeur et de gloire ; in Ps. 50, " God will appear in beauty most excellent" is intended to represent Apparoistrd orne de beaute toute, and, "Our God will come before that long time is spent" =- Nostre grand Dieu vienddrd n'en faite doute. Here also is a good specimen of bad Scottish workmanship, for Ps. 103 (Scottice, 62):-

Although my soule hath sharplie been assaulted, Yet toward God in silence have I walked,

In whom alone all health and hope I see. He is mine health and my salvacy6n sure, My strong defence, which shall for ever endure,

Therefore afraide I need not much to be.

Hear how Ps. 130 has been wracked and tortured. No wonder that Bourgeois' work failed to "catch on" in England and Scotland:-

Lord, t6 thee make I mf moan, When dangers me oppress:

I call, I sigh, plaint and grone, Trusting to find release.

Hear now, O Lord, my request; For it is full due time,

And let thine eares be prest Unto this prayer mine.


The metre is the same as that of " Jerusalem the Golden," but one can scarcely believe it.

Sometimes a Bourgeois tune has been laid upon the bed of Procrustes, being now stretched out, now shortened. Ps. 107 has suffered two surgical operations in one and the same Psalter. It appears as a six-liner and also an eight-liner, and the notes have been shamefully handled. Ps. ioI has been reduced to what is now called St. Michael's tune, a fine one still, but not as in its first estate. Ps. I24, of five lines, has been drawn into a quatrain.

At other times, a French Psalm has had its penultimate semibreves split up into two minims, to avoid the feminine ending, e.g., Pss. 36 or 68, spoiling ex-Augustinian Monk Matthew (Greiter's melody of its beauty. Often, nay usually, even when the right notes have been retained, the rhythm has been need- lessly and inartistically altered; witness the last line of the Old Hundredth, Ps. I34. Ps. 140 (Commandments), has suffered much from this treatment. Not content with robbing it of its trochaic endings in lines i and 3, to "suit the genius of the English language," as it is alleged, or to make it easier for the singing of the people, the rhythm has been ruined by the removal of all the semibreves of the original. Then, when the melody has been reduced to a state of degradation, it is voted dull, and cast off as an old clout, to make room for another. Of late years compilers of hymnals which shall be nameless, instead of taking Bourgeois' tunes and Goudimel's harmonies, have ignorantly or deliberately chosen debased English or corrupt Scotch forms of a Genevan tune: and then, to make bad worse, have actually dressed up a i6th century melody in a 2oth century style of harmonization, about as great a piece of bad taste, and as flagrant a case of anachronism, as to represent, in a stained-glass window, Edward the Black Prince in a silk hat, frock coat, and a pair of black trousers.

As for the settings of the French tunes, in the English Psalters especially, no fault is to be found with them; for they are the workmanship of some of the best musicians and madrigal writers of the Elizabethan era, such as J. Dowland, E. Blancks, G. Farnaby, W. Parsons, T. Causton, R. Allison, and T. Ravenscroft. Their harmonies were always infinitely superior to the poor words to which they were linked. The only pity was that the forms of Bourgeois' tunes had almost invariably to be altered to suit the English or Scottish verse.

According to the then custom, the melody was generally given to the tenor, but in one case the alto has it.

In the Scotch Psalter of 1564 there are thirty tunes styling themselves French. The editor of " Yattendon Hymns " is content to believe that the old 137th, which stands out as a gem

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amongst its fellows, is "the work of I,ouis Bourgeois.; that Mrs. Whittingham [wife of the Dean of Durham, and sister of John Calvin] induced her brother to get this favour from Bourgeois, both in honour of her husband's poetry [for he it was who translated Ps. I37] and also to show the English how to deal with their double common measure. At any rate the tune may rank with Bourgeois' best." For my own part I agree with R. B., and also believe that the Old 148th springs from the same source.

IN GERMANY.

In 1572, Melissus Schedius, a Franconian and Poet Laureate at Vienna, made the Genevan Psalter better known in Germany and German Switzerland by his versification of o0 Psalms: the music was kept intact. But in the following year, Ambrosius Lobwasser, ravished with the sweetness of Goudimel's harmonies, translated the whole Psalter into German verse.

Of Johann Criiger (1598-1662) it can be proved (though not noticed by M. Douen) that his famous Sapphic, "Herzliebster Jesu," is based on Bourgeois' Ps. 23. - But in his "Gesangbuch" (I640) Cruger also gives Ps. 23 in its integrity (see Erk, No. 239, and No. 229 in Bach's "371 Vierstimmige Chorale").

The following 80 Genevan Psalm-tunes, and possibly more, are to be found in J. Zahn's six vols. of "Die Melodien" :-Pss. 13 , 134 9, I41, 140, 93, 74, 12, I1o, 8, i36, I32, I3, 15, 5, 143, "Song of Symeon," 26, 6, 12, 127, 30, I13, 24, 83, 88, 125, 58, 105, 112, 50, '1, 119, i6, 37, 133, 137, 103, 90, 23, 89, 8i, 75, 38, 6i, 146, 34, 107, 130, 128, 126, 148, 84, 35, I7, 72, 20, I 18, 44, 46, 59, 51, 27, 32, 99, I50, 42, 25, 86, 97, 4, 79, 48, 33, 19, 3, 138, 36, i8, 47.

The Psalms occur in the above order, arranged according to the length and number of their syllables and lines, trochaic or iambic, in an ascending scale. Zahn gives a list, in each case, of the various German Gesangbiicher in which these French tunes occur, from the earliest times down to the present date.

The following Genevan Psalms have been harmonized in various ways by J. S. Bach:-Pss. 8, 23, 36 and 68, 42, 86, 127, 1134 and 140 (Commandments.)

For Ps. 8 (" Die Sonn' hat sich mit ihrem Glanz," or "Der Tag ist hin, die Sonne gehet nieder "), see the "Choralgesange," No. 65, and Schemelli's "Gesangbuch," No. 40, and the "371 Vierstimmige Chorale," No. 232.

For Ps. 23 (" Ich danke dir, 0 Gott, in deinem Throne "), see the "Choralgesange," No. I8o; Erk, No. 239; the "371 Vierstimmige," No. 229.

For Pss. 36 or 68 (" 0 Mensch, bewein " dein Sunde grosz "), see the "Choralgesange," No. 286; the "Vierstimmige," No. o20

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or 306; the St. Matthew's "Passion " Music, the last Choral in Part I., No. 35; H. Reinann's " Das Deutsche geistliche Lied," No. 19; and Bach's "

Orgelmusik" (Breitkolpf), Band VII., No. 38.

For Ps. 42 ("Freu dich sehr, o metme Seele "), see the "Choralgesange," Nos.98-io4; Erk, Nos. 35-38, and 202-205; the "Vierstimmige," Nos. 29, 64, 67, 76, and 282.

For Ps. 86 (" Lass, o Herr, dein Ohr sich neigen"), see the "Choralgesange," No. 226: and the " Vierstimmige," No. 218.

For Ps. 127 (" Herr, Jesu Christ, wahr'r Mensch und Gott "), see the "Choralgesange," No. 144; Erk, No. 225; and the "Vierstimmige," No. 284.

For Ps. 134, our "Old Hundredth" (" Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir"), see the "Choralgesange," Nos. 129-132; Erk. Nos. 218-221 ; the "Vierstimmige," No. 1 64.

For Ps. 140, the Ten Commandments tune (IVenn wit in. hochsten Nothent sein), see the "Choralgesange," Nos. 358 and 359: Erk, No. 306; the " 371 Vierstimmige Chorale," Nos. 68 and 247; Bach's Orgelmusik (Breitkopf), Band VII., No. 43, and Band IX., p. 98: Novello's B. G. Edition, Book XVII., p. 85. This last-named Choral Prelude on Bourgeois' tune known as Leve le cceur, ouvre l'oreille, is interesting as being the last that old Bach treated; it may be called Bach's swan-song. We have the authority of Prof. Sanford Terry for stating this is the last of the Achtzehlt Chordle-Bach dictated it to his son- in-law, Altnikol, and in revising it on his death-bed directed Altnikol to give it the title of " Fur deinen Thron tret' ich heinit," the first line of a hymn attributed to Bodo von Hodenberg.

From this you may gather which French Psalm tunes were Bach's favourites. Ps. 42 he has harmonized eight times over. This Psalm was also highly esteemed by Schumann.

Bach's Fughetta, No. 122, for the Organ, entitled "Lob seidem allmachtigen Gott," is a variation of the French Psalm tune 14 1, (" Conditor alme syderum "); but the probability is that he knew this old Latin hymn melody for Advent, either from some German source, or owed it to M. Weisse's influence.

Of late years it has been my privilege and pleasure to spend many days in the Round Room and the Large Room of the British. Museum, there turning over the pages and poring over the works of ancient sacred poets, melodists and harmonists, " such as found out musical tunes and recitedversesin writing." While transcribing their words and settings, while reading and enjoying their melodies, set like "apples of gold in pictures of silver" (Prov. xxv., ii.), when playing over their harmonies, and occasionally hearing them sung, I have contemplated with reverence and affection the resuscitated forms of a glorious, but generally speaking, unappreciated past. There has marched before my mind's eye a goodly company of poets

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and musicians. And as 1 contemplated their writings, I am compelled to admit the undeniable superiority of the 1 6th century, that magna parens virtiil. I take note of these musicians' austere but benevolent looks, their thoughtful features, their kindly eyes, their artistic hands. Usually they fancy the pointed, or stiletto, beard; they wear white starched linen ruffles round their necks; on the breast they bear a medal, suspended by a chain; they show fair lawn sleeves; they carry an ink-hor by their side, with pen or reed. They wear the head-gear, doublet, or hosen garment common of the time, knee-breeches and silver-buckled shoes complete. In one hand they hold an old vellum or parchment scroll, the despised record and witness of their unwearied industry and willing obedience to the divine laws of harmony, and study of the strictest rules of counterpoint. These worthies spent their lives in a sacred cause, for the glory of God and for the benefit of their fellow men In return they commonly receive only contempt, neglect, ingratitude, oblivion, from those who might become happier and better men and women by the hearing and singing of the merry madrigals and sacred compositions of these their would-be benefactors. But they neither cry for revenge, nor look for praise at our hand, but merely ask for fair play and common justice; they only wish that we should respect their labours, and restore them, if we will, to public use, they only grieve that we have too-long allowed poor wretched Psalm-tunes and mutilated hymn-tunes to usurp the place of their own more tuneful and better handiwork, we preferring the hoarse croak of the raven before the tuneful songs of the nightingale. Among this long procession of I6th century composers, I recognise and greet Louis Bourgeois and Claude Goudimel, and, in courtier's costume, the figure of the light-hearted Clement Marot, a genius, a poetical star of the first magnitude. And as I compare their sacred songs with ours, I exclaim, O what a falling is there! How the gold is become brass and the silver tin! Is it too much to hope that Bourgeois and Goudimel may again come to their own ? Meanwhile let us resolve:-(i.) never to circulate bad compositions, but on the contrary, to suppress them by all the means of power; (ii.) never to play bad compositions, nor, unless compelled to, listen to them; (iii.) to consider it a vile habit to alter the works of good composers; never to insert new-fangled ornamentations, for this is the greatest insult that can be offered to the art of music. (Three of R. Schumann's Musical Maxims.)

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I)ISCUSSION.

DR. DUNSTAN: 1 would ask the Lecturer how far these melodies may be attributed to French composers, and how far they were themselves derived from the Gregorian? I have myself in setting the Missa De Angelis come across the first phase of our "Old i ooth " four times in the Sanctus and twice in the Agnus Dei. Perhaps Dr. Terry will say. So far as I have studied the subject, and I have looked into it a good deal, my opinion is that nearly all the old Psalm tunes were derived from portions of Plainsong that were then common throughout the whole of Europe, that the French adapted these to their own peculiar style-to the structure of their own language-and that the English did the same, utilising also several of the Genevan Psalter tunes and adapting them to English metres. I do not think our Lecturer, although he spoke so beautifully, was quite fair to the metrical Psalms of Sternhold and Hopkins, or indeed to the English adapters of the tunes. Much of course might be said on both sides. What, however, I would like to know is something more about the connection with the old Gregorians.

The CHAIRMAN: There ought to be a good discussion on this

subject, as we all profess great interest in hymns. If there is one thing more than another which impresses a foreigner it is our presumed enthusiasm for hymns. How far that enthusiasm (I had almost said "worship") is genuine, I am not prepared to say-but you will have noticed that no monarch, or statesman, or stockbroker, or music-hall artist ever dies here without his obituary notice telling us exactly what was his ' favourite hymn." We are all supposed to have a "favourite hymn." If we have not got one during life, the newspapers will be sure to assign us one after death. With regard to the point raised by Dr. Dunstan, I do not think we ought too readily to assume that because the tonality of a tune approximates to that of the Gregorian hymns, it therefore has a Plainsong origin. During the Plainsong period the Modes were the musical speech of Europe both inside and outside the Church. The songs of the people were in the Modes, just as much as were the songs of the Church. Many folk-songs are very like Plainsong hymns, and vice-versa, and that is as much as we can say about it. Regarding the Missa " De Angelis," the latter part of it is old, and the rest modern. 'I'he Gloria is of course a modern 16th century attempt at Plainsong. Only this afternoon a friend said to me, " What an

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The Genevan Psalter of 1562

excellent book Mr. Woodward's 'Songs of Syon' is; I have it in my library"-the assumption being that a book considered excellent for the library is not of practical value. But any one who has heard the singing at Caius College (where it is in use), or at any public school-where they take the trouble to sing these tunes with intelligence-will be of another opinion. I am aware of the common objection brought against the rhythm of these tunes, viz., that it is difficult to sing. I have been trying school- boys with these tunes in their original form for something over twenty years, and have never found any such difficulty. I am sure the same would apply to congregations. If we only could banish these particular old tunes for a generation so that the memory of the "Hymns Ancient and Modern " perversions of them could die out, we should find English people returning to them with a new zest. They would be ready to understand and appreciate them if only for the way in which they relieve the deadly monotony of the everlasting Common Metre (our legacy from Sterhold and Hopkins), which has flooded our popular hymn-books and has cast a blight over English hymnology ever since. These subtle and fascinating rhythms would prove a healthy antidote to that type of modern English hymn-tune which for deadly monotony it would be hard to beat. The weary procession of its minims reduces it to a thing of mere jingles, the deadly squareness of which modern musicians have tried to relieve by putting in secular harmony. I endorse most heartily everything Mr. Woodward has said il favour of some attempt to return to the subtle poetic rhythms of the 16th century and later. A good rhythm in the words induces a good rhythm in the tune. One word upon a subject which perhaps deserves remark. In common with most people I am afraid I was rather sceptical about that question of Goudimel having been in Rome, or rather I was sceptical about his having taught Palestrina when I found the chief authorities for the statement were Sir John Hawkins and Mr. W. S. Rockstro. But for once these unreliable historians would appear to have been right, and the German " scholars " wrong. This is only one instance of the bogus nature of so much modern German "scholarship." Those of us who pinned our faith to it have suffered much disillusionment, myself as much as anyone. I was early taught to believe in the profound scholarship af Haberl and other Germans of that school. I took all my early ideas of Polyphonic music from them, and it was only when I began to take up the subject seriously that I learnt how unreliable they were. W\herever one put their conclusions to the test by original research, they collapsed. It was just like pricking a bladder every time. In conclusion it only remains for me to say that we owe a hearty vote of thanks to the Lecturer. The thing which always interests and delights us in his work is

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his patient and accurate scholarship. I remember vividly his lecture here thirteen years ago, and wish that he would visit us oftener. May I also include in this vote of thanks the singers, for the trouble they have taken to come here and render these old tunes so accurately and beautifully.

'The vote of thanks was passed by acclamation. rhe Rev. G. R. WOODWARt,: If anybody wishes to discuss, or

ask information, or correct any mistakes that I have probably made to-day, let him write to West Hill, Highgate, where I shall have more time to answer their questions, and books to consult about me. I can promise him a reply within three days. Lecturers and preachers pay little regard to any praise or blame that they may merit and receive. We like best to see the result of our efforts in some practical way. Now, when I show you three or four MSS. books, almost a complete set of Goudimel's settings, what would please me most would be for some wealthy, artistic gentleman or some good Fairy Godmother to write and say: "Dear Mr. Lecturer, here is a cheque to defray the expense of printing at the Clarendon Press all Goudimel's harmonies; being Palestrina's and Orlando di Iasso's Master, he is worthy of reproduction. Give the first stanza at least in French, with English translation, if only in nonsense verse, to show exactly how the words should tally with the music. As a favour, pray edit the book for me yourself, but let Dr. Chas. Wood, or Sir Hubert Parry, see that the settings are correctly given. I am sick of 'the Church's one,' and of the prosy, the commonplace common-measure, words that I hear everywhere-poor, weak melodies, with sweet, sickly, sentimental harmonies, and uneccle- siastical progressions. Cannot you unearth a better tune for 'The King of love my Shepherd is,' and other hymns whose name is legion? Pray give us some more noble measures like Goss's 'Praise, my soul, the King of Heaven': pray supply us with a manly style of melody, like that of 'Our God, our help in ages past'; pray let us have a severer style of harmony, and tunes that will wear better than the above mentioned. Let the time suffice to have ignored, mutilated, improved the settings of the great musicians of the golden age of ecclesiastical music. Anyhow, let the compilers of the hymnary of the future have no excuse in tampering with the good work of Bourgeois, Goudimel, and the like, else if these gentlemen still persist in their wickedness, I shall wish them far enough, anyhow at Jericho, or Timbuctoo, hat and coat and hymn-book too."

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The Genevan Psalter of 1562