One should compare this version from the Scottish Psalter with that of Isaac Watts ([No. 257]), and of Martin Luther in his classic hymn of the Reformation, “Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott” ([No. 549]).
MUSIC. WINCHESTER OLD is from Este’s Psalter which was entitled “The Whole Booke of Psalmes with their wonted Tunes, as they are song in churches, composed into foure parts ... compiled by sondry authors,” London, Thomas Este, 1592, where it is set to Psalm 84.
Thomas Este, 1540?-1608?, was a London printer and music publisher. He printed an important edition of the psalter in 1592 in which the tunes were harmonized in four parts by ten eminent musicians of the time. In his dedicatory word Este wrote: “In this booke the Church Tunes are carefully corrected, and other short tunes added, which are sung in London and other places of this Realme.” The Church Tunes (known also as Proper Tunes), forty-six in all, were attached to their proper psalms and the remaining psalms were set to short, four line tunes, Common Tunes, not attached to any particular psalms. Este’s book is the earliest example in which the voice parts are printed on opposite pages—“Cantus and Tenor (i.e. the Melody) on the left-hand page, and the Altus and Bassus on the right”—instead of in separate books as was then the custom. New editions of Este’s Psalter, with slight changes, were published in 1594, 1604, and 1611. In the 19th century it had the honor of being reprinted by the Musical Antiquarian Society of England.
589. After Thy loving-kindness, Lord
Psalm LI
Scottish Psalter, 1650
Psalm 51:1-3, 10, 17. A Prayer for Pardon.
The psalmist prays for pardon and cleansing, confessing the greatness of his sins, and offering the sacrifice of a broken heart. Psalm 51 is the fourth of the seven psalms known from ancient times as the Penitential Psalms. The others are 6, 32, 38, 102, 130, and 143.
MUSIC. DUNDEE, also known as “Windsor,” is first found in Damon’s Psalter, which was entitled, The Booke of the Musicke of M. William Damon, late one of her maiestes Musitions: conteining all the tunes of David’s Psalmes, as they are ordinarily sung in the Church; most excellently by him composed into 4 parts, 1591. The tune, DUNDEE, is there set to Psalm 116.
Damon’s Psalter was one of the many private editions through which the Old Version of Sternhold and Hopkins went, besides numerous official editions. William Damon, c.1540-c.91, was organist of the Chapel Royal under Queen Elizabeth but is best known for the collection of psalms which he published in four parts. The work is in eight books, the first four of which have the melody in the tenor, and the second four in the soprano. Copies of Damon’s Psalter are rare. A few are to be found in the British Museum.