Tunes for Archbishop Parker's Psalter

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In 1567 English composer Thomas Tallis contributed nine tunes for Archbishop Parker's Psalter, a collection of vernacular psalm settings intended for publication in a metrical psalter then being compiled for the Archbishop of Canterbury, Matthew Parker. They are:

  1. Man blest no doubt (Psalm 1)
  2. Let God arise in majesty (Psalm 68)
  3. Why fum'th in sight (Psalm 2)
  4. O come in one to praise the Lord (Psalm 95)
  5. E'en like the hunted hind (Psalm 42)
  6. Expend, O Lord, my plaint (Psalm 5)
  7. Why brag'st in malice high (Psalm 52)
  8. God grant with grace (Psalm 67, tune known as )
  9. Come Holy Ghost, eternal God (Veni Creator, tune known as )

The eight psalm tunes as printed in Parker's Psalter included symbols showing how they could be applied throughout the book.[1] They were not separately named and appear to have become obscure for some centuries following the death of Tallis, but the set includes some of his most famous melodies: the third, "Why fum'th in sight", in the third or Phrygian mode, was used by Ralph Vaughan Williams as the basis of his Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis and became known as the "third mode melody"; the eighth is known as ; and the last, , is still included in numerous hymnals.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Parker, Matthew (1567). The whole Psalter translated into English metre: which contayneth an hundred and fifty Psalmes. London: John Daye. pp. VV4r–YY4r.

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