PSALTERS, METRICAL

Metrical translations of the Psalms into the vernacular for the chief purpose of congregational singing. Although examples of metrical Psalters from earlier periods are known, the Reformed Churches of the 16th through the 18th centuries placed particular emphasis upon this type of text, the most notable exception being the Lutheran chorale, which, because it admitted the element of non-biblical poetic and religious thought, was generally rejected outside of Germany.

An attempt to survey in a limited space the history of metrical psalmody must be highly selective. Short titles will be used; and indicated dates refer not necessarily to the first edition but rather to the first complete, or most nearly complete edition of a specific title.

The earliest significant Psalter of the 16th century is the Souterliedekens of 1540. Printed in Antwerp, this Psalter, which was intended for use in the home and at social gatherings, contains the Psalms, the Te Deum, and five of the biblical canticles; 33 editions are known to have been published between 1540 and 1613.

Two basic trends, one French, the other English, are to be observed in the history of metrical psalmody. The French concept was developed in the Genevan Psalter of 1562, translated by Clément Marot and Théodore de Bèze with music selected, edited, and in some instances apparently newly composed primarily by Louis Bourgeois. Translated into Dutch verse and keeping the same tunes, this Psalter became the Dutch Psalter of 1566. The English concept was developed in the Psalter of Thomas Sternhold and John Hopkins, published in its complete form by John Day in 1562 and known as Sternhold and Hopkins or, later, the "Old Version." In its variety of stanza forms and its flexibility and subtlety of melody, the French concept was artistically superior; but the use of the familiar ballad stanza patterns and a formalized type of melody, made the English concept of greater practical value.

Toward the middle of the 16th century religious persecution in England drove various Protestant groups to the Continent. Under the influence of the Genevan Psalter, they reworked Sternhold and Hopkins and completed the Anglo-Genevan Psalter in 1561. A similar development produced the Scottish Psalter of 1564. In 1612 Henry Ainsworth completed a new Psalter for the English "Separatists" who had settled in Amsterdam. Known as the Ainsworth Psalter and brought to America by the Pilgrims in 1620, this Psalter borrowed music from both Sternhold and Hopkins and the Dutch Psalter. Mention should be made also of the bay psalm book, published in America in 1640.

The second half of the 17th century witnessed a general trend toward revision. Changes in the French language threatened to make the Marot-Bèze version unintelligible; and in 1679 a "revision," to all intents a new translation, was completed by Valentine Conrart. The English "Old Version" was gradually superseded by the "New Version" of 1696, completed by Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady and known as Tate and Brady. The Scottish Psalter of 1650, surrendering artistic vitality for practical usefulness, reduced the varied metrical patterns of its earlier editions to the monotony of the English common meter.

The publication in 1719 of Isaac Watts's The Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament marks a turning point in the history of metrical psalmody. Although it is ostensibly a Psalter, the freedom with which Watts paraphrases the Psalm texts is very different from the strict adherence to the Hebrew required in the earlier Psalters; the Psalter served as a model for the writers of the hymns that gradually replaced the Psalms as the basic texts for congregational singing in the majority of Protestant churches. The change from psalmody to hymnody met with considerable opposition, particularly from churches with strong Calvinistic backgrounds. Not until 1861 did the Established Church of Scotland authorize the singing of hymns.

Bibliography: m. patrick, Four Centuries of Scottish Psalmody (New York 1949). w. s. pratt, The Music of the French Psalter of 1562 (New York 1939). e. parks, The Hymns and Hymn Tunes found in the English Metrical Psalters (New York 1966) r. illing, Est-Barley-Ravenscroft and the English Metrical Psalter (Adelaide 1969) r. j. miller, John Calvin and the Reformation of Church Music in the Sixteenth Century (Ann Arbor 1971). r. g. appel, The Music of the Bay Psalm Book (Cambridge, MA 1975). r. leaver, "English Metrical Psalmody," The Hymnal Companion, ed. r. glover (New York 1990), 321–48. r. a. leaver, "Goostly Psalmes and Spirituell Songes": English and Dutch Metrical Psalms from Coverdale to Utenhove, 1535–1566 (Oxford 1991).

[a. garrett/eds.]