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It's my understanding that some "faith traditions" have sung the Biblical Psalms and maybe still do. I read somewhere that the puritans sang only the Psalms and were opposed to singing anything else. In the book I've been reading about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was Lutheran (maybe something like a reformed or restorationist Lutheran), Bonhoeffer himself writes about the necessity of singing the Psalms.

I'm looking for some 4-part (preferably shaped notes) songs based on the Psalms, either loosely or strictly/verbatim. I prefer they are English and not written for instruments. I also prefer they would be written prior to 1800. They don't need to be a part of the Anabaptist tradition. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Do any of you have hymnals that contain Biblical Psalms set to early a capella melodies or harmony?

There’s quite a bit of exclusive psalmody out there, courtesy of groups like the Presbyterian Church of Eastern Australia.

Here’s a list of psalters you can view online:
https://reformedbooksonline.com/topics/ ... /psalters/

(It’s interesting to me that there is a Christian group whose standards about worship are even more “strict” than my own church group’s.)

It's been a while since my reading, but I believe the first Calvinists were quite firmly opposed to hymns. Historically there was a period where many protestants sang the Psalms, and not hymns. Men like Isaac Watts were heretics to some.
In the 1970's and early 80's, the Jesus People movement and the Charismatic movement had adherents (aka my family) who sought to get back to the singing of Psalms and the dropping of hymns.

Hymns of the Church has several with words and music both written in or before 1800:

Psalm 5: 51
Psalm 15: 849
Psalm 19: 122 and 327
Psalm 34: 78
Psalm 36: 99
Psalm 40: 853
Psalm 46: 488
Psalm 100: 80
Psalm 103: 26
Psalm 118: 43

KingdomBuilder wrote:It's been a while since my reading, but I believe the first Calvinists were quite firmly opposed to hymns. Historically there was a period where many protestants sang the Psalms, and not hymns. Men like Isaac Watts were heretics to some.
In the 1970's and early 80's, the Jesus People movement and the Charismatic movement had adherents (aka my family) who sought to get back to the singing of Psalms and the dropping of hymns.

I wonder how they got past this verse regarding how a Spirit filled Christian will act - 'singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts." Eph 5:19 NLT

I still like singing those Psalms put to melodies in the 70's and 80'. We sang many of these in Pentecostalism in those days. 'Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light onto my way' -----. And lots of this . Well not quite that high.

Sudsy wrote:I wonder how they got past this verse regarding how a Spirit filled Christian will act - 'singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts." Eph 5:19 NLT

Well "hymns" surely didn't mean the same thing to them now as it does to us. The great surplus of artistic expression in Christianity would be foreign to many of our ancestors.

CADude wrote:It's my understanding that some "faith traditions" have sung the Biblical Psalms and maybe still do. I read somewhere that the puritans sang only the Psalms and were opposed to singing anything else. In the book I've been reading about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was Lutheran (maybe something like a reformed or restorationist Lutheran), Bonhoeffer himself writes about the necessity of singing the Psalms.

I'm looking for some 4-part (preferably shaped notes) songs based on the Psalms, either loosely or strictly/verbatim. I prefer they are English and not written for instruments. I also prefer they would be written prior to 1800. They don't need to be a part of the Anabaptist tradition. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Do any of you have hymnals that contain Biblical Psalms set to early a capella melodies or harmony?

Have you found some of what you are looking for? And did you have a specific tune in mind perhaps? And are you interested in the Psalms put to verse? I do have in my humble collection several hymnbooks and tune books either of venerable antiquity, or they are at the early end of 1800 and list various tunes as ancient or being derived from 14th/15th/16th century tune books. You would be welcome to come browse sometime.

Heirbyadoption wrote: Have you found some of what you are looking for? And did you have a specific tune in mind perhaps? And are you interested in the Psalms put to verse? I do have in my humble collection several hymnbooks and tune books either of venerable antiquity, or they are at the early end of 1800 and list various tunes as ancient or being derived from 14th/15th/16th century tune books. You would be welcome to come browse sometime.

Yes, I have found some of what I was looking for in The Christian Hymnary and John D. Martin's Hymns of the Church.

I'm not looking for any specific tunes. One thing that was of interest to me is how old the harmony is. Finding really old lyrics (pre-1600) isn't difficult at all. Finding really old tunes is a little more difficult. So much of what we sing today was written in the 1800's. Finding really old 4 part tunes is really, really difficult. The oldest stuff I've been able to find is polyphony such as Palestrina or Thomas Tallis or polyphony from the country of Georgia and it would appear to me that most of that was either religious music in heretical church's or else in the case of Georgia, possibly secular music. And polyphony is often difficult to sing.

The reasons for my interest here are that I've been trying to understand the evolution of religious music, specifically 4-part a capella harmony. Some day I'd like to write up something on my findings.

CADude wrote:

Heirbyadoption wrote: Have you found some of what you are looking for? And did you have a specific tune in mind perhaps? And are you interested in the Psalms put to verse? I do have in my humble collection several hymnbooks and tune books either of venerable antiquity, or they are at the early end of 1800 and list various tunes as ancient or being derived from 14th/15th/16th century tune books. You would be welcome to come browse sometime.

Yes, I have found some of what I was looking for in The Christian Hymnary and John D. Martin's Hymns of the Church.

I'm not looking for any specific tunes. One thing that was of interest to me is how old the harmony is. Finding really old lyrics (pre-1600) isn't difficult at all. Finding really old tunes is a little more difficult. So much of what we sing today was written in the 1800's. Finding really old 4 part tunes is really, really difficult. The oldest stuff I've been able to find is polyphony such as Palestrina or Thomas Tallis or polyphony from the country of Georgia and it would appear to me that most of that was either religious music in heretical church's or else in the case of Georgia, possibly secular music. And polyphony is often difficult to sing.

The reasons for my interest here are that I've been trying to understand the evolution of religious music, specifically 4-part a capella harmony. Some day I'd like to write up something on my findings.

As entails its evolution among Plain folk, you might make some study into Sacred Harp/Harmonia Sacra, and the development of the Aiken notation system. These all lent themselves to said evolution, at least on this side of the Pond.

From what I can tell, 4 part singing arose as an American cultural thing in the 1800s and was a popular hobby. At least contemporary literature seems to show that. Eventually it became popular in religious circles too, with the most conservative folks stubbornly clinging to 1 part.