A Symphony of Psalms

We present a concert of contrasting psalm settings by composers from the 17th to the 20th Centuries, illustrating the wide variety of themes in the Book of Psalms, from praise and celebration to thanksgiving, prayer, despair and hope.

Giovanni Gabrieli took verses from a number of psalms for his lively eight-part anthem Jubilate Deo (Be Joyful in the Lord). He probably wrote it for the Feast of the Ascension, celebrating the marriage of Venice to the sea. Mendelssohn’s Richte mich, Gott (Psalm 43: Judge me, O God) is also for eight parts, with the upper and lower voices often singing alternately. Like as the Hart Desireth the Waterbrooks, a ‘quietly intense’ arrangement by Herbert Howells of three verses from Psalm 42 expressing the psalmist’s longing for God, will be complemented by one of his Psalm Preludes for organ.

Elgar’s grand ceremonial anthem Give unto the Lord (Psalm 29) evokes a series of vivid images of the voice of the Lord ruling the natural world. Kodály’s simple setting of Psalm 114 tells how the mountains and hills jumped for joy when the Israelites escaped from slavery in Egypt. Psalm 150, Praise ye the Lord, the very last in the Book of Psalms, is a fervent exhortation to praise God in music and dance. It was set by César Franck in bold, chromatic harmonies and also by Stravinsky in the final movement of his mystical and moving choral Symphony of Psalms.