RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
P Salmanazar Psalmody
French Psalm music is generally recognized for its superior qualities wherever congregational singing is practised. Eighty-four melodies of the French Psalter are in use in the Protestant churches of Germany, a significant fact in consideration of the number of compositions originating in German Protestantism itself. The number of German tunes introduced into the French Psalter, on the other hand, is very small compared with this list, although the Strasburg melody of Psalm cxix. and the Strasburg system of singing the Ten Commandments were permanently adopted, while a number of other German Psalm tunes were used for a longer or shorter time. French Psalm melodies were also much employed outside of France, the Psalter being translated for its melodies into Dutch, English, Danish, Polish, Hungarian, Bohemian, Rha?tian, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, etc. Many of these melodies are still retained in Bohemian, Finnish, and American hymnals and choral books. They were even adopted in varying degrees by local Roman Catholic hymnals, the Eichsfeld hymnal (Langensalza, 1871) still retaining five. (J. Smend.)
Bibliography: C. J. Riggenbach, Der Kirchengesang in Basel seit der Reformation, Basel, 1870; F. Bovet, Hist, du psautier huguenot, vols, i.-ii., Paris, 1878—79; S. Kiimmerle, Encyklopadie der evangel. Kirchenmusik, vols, i.ii., Giitersloh, 1888-90 (consult articles " Bourgeois," " G. -Franc," " Goudimel," " Lejeune," " Lobwasser," " Der Liederpsalter der reformierten Kirche "); J. Zahn, Die Melodien der deutschen evangelischen Kirchenlieder , vols, i.-vi., Giitersloh, 1889-93; P. Wolfram, Die Entstehung und erste Entwickelung des deutschen evangelischen Kirchenliedes in musikalischer Beziehung, pp. 79, 89-90, 96-98, 112-113, 123-139, Leipsic, 1890.
PSALMODY.
Psalmody in the Bible (§ 1).
Post-Biblical Psalmody (§ 2).
Protestant Psalmody (§ 3).
The Psalm Tones (§ 4).
Origin of Christian Psalmody (§5).
History (§6).
Psalmody literally signifies the singing of psalms, Mid hence of hymns in general. In the wider sense rf the term it frequently denotes sacred song in distinction from worldly, or church singing as contrasted with secular. More specifically the term is ipplied to the Breviary (q.v.) in so far as the chantng of Psalms is the main object of that compila-. ion, while in a more technical sense it denotes the iturgical rendering of the Psalms, or portions of ;hem, as prescribed by the Church. Restricting Dsalmody for the nonce to its literal meaning of Psalm-singing, the history of the liturgical use of ;he -Psalter will here be summarized, reference being nade for the origin, authorship, date, and first pur- Dose of the collection to the article Psalms, Book of. The psalmody of the Old Testament, still overaid by the ceremonialism of the Mosaic code, is the subject of a clear allusion in the Davidic legislation (I Chron. xxiii. 5, 30), while the dedii. Psalm- cation of the Temple gave type to the ody in the entire service (II Chron. v. 11-13). In Bible. the subsequent prophetic books the Psalms emerge at all national crises. Their jubilant refrains ring clear in the prophets [Jer. xxxiii. 11); Amos (vi. 5) recognizes the sacredaess of the Davidic music already grown proverbial; md Isaiah abounds in echoes of the Psalter. The IX.— 21
New Testament accepts fully the Psalms of the Old Covenant. The Acts institute the apostolic regime, with the Psalter in full view, furnishing Peter's sermon and inspiring Pentecost. Distinct evidence shows that the Psalter was the fixed devotional formulary which wrought the accord, steadfastness, and praiseful spirit on that occasion among the thousands gathered at Jerusalem from many lands. At Corinth the irregular outburst of the charismata (I Cor. xiv.), when each one, without regard to the other, had his " psalm," received apostolic rebuke. The celebrated passages authorizing New-Testament psalmody are Eph. v. 19 and Col. iii. 16. James (v. 13) urges his scattered Jewish brethren to the use of the Psalms, and Revelation closes the New Testament with quotations from the Psalter. Between Babylon's fall and the millennium a fourfold Hallelujah is sounded (xix. 1-8), followed by the declaration that " the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." This must be taken with an earlier statement (hi. 7), where, as in Heb. iv. 7, " David " stands for the Psalms, revealing Jesus as " he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David."
During the first two centuries a.d. the Psalter retained its position of honor and sanctity. Early Christians were essentially " children of the Psalms," and the Psalms, the Sabbath, and the 2. Post- inflexible confession of Christ were the Biblical chief badges of Christian loyalty. A Psalmody, marked change came, however, with the Gnostic Bardesanes (q.v.), who composed a psalter of 150 Psalms modelled on the Old-Testament collection. Aided by his son Harmonius, he set the standard of Syrian music and hymnody. A century later Ephraem Syrus (q.v.), though inferior in originality to Bardesanes, sought to copy and Christianize his hymns, and to reclaim the ground for Christianity. He at least succeeded in securing a large following of admirers, who named him " Prophet of the Syrians " and " Harp of the Spirit," read his writings as Scripture, and welcomed him as the first Christian hymnologist, although, like Bardesanes, he sacrificed the Psalter. The hymn of Clement of Alexandria, " Bridle of colts untamed," ends with the exhortation, " let us praise with Psalms (psalomen) the God of peace." Through succeeding centuries of persecution the Psalms continued to hold their place, with but trifling exceptions, as the Church's hymnology among the people and the most earnest preachers, Athanasius, Chrysostom, Jerome, and Augustine. Except for the sequences and a few very short hymns, some of them centos of Psalms, these were the universal hymns of the Church. Many refused to sing the hymns and sequences, and the fiftyninth canon of the Synod of Laodicea (360) accordingly enjoined that " no psalms composed by private individuals nor any uncanonical books may be read in the church, but only the Canonical Books of the Old and New Testaments " (NPNF, 2 ser., xiv. 158). In the West the Psalms were sung in responses in choir long after Latin had ceased to be vernacular. The eighth canon of the Council of Toledo (653; as given in Labbe, Concilia, vii. 421) ordered that " none henceforth shall be promoted
Psalmody