GENEVAN 101

Composer: Louis Bourgeois

Loys "Louis" Bourgeois (c.1510–1560) was a French composer and music theorist of the Renaissance. He is most famous as one of the main compilers of Calvinist hymn tunes in the middle of the 16th century. One of the most famous melodies in all of Christendom, the Protestant doxology known as the Old 100th, is commonly attributed to him. Next to nothing is known about his early life. His first publication, some secular chansons, dates from 1539 in Lyon. By 1545 he had gone to Geneva (according to civic records) and become a music teacher there. In 1547 he was granted citizenship in Geneva, and in that same year he also published his first four-voice psalms. In 1549 and 1550 he worked on a collections of psalm-tunes, most of which were… Go to person page >

Harmonizer: Claude Goudimel

Claude Goudimel (c. 1514 to 1520 – between 28 August and 31 August 1572) was a French composer, music editor and publisher, and music theorist of the Renaissance. Claude Goudimel was born in Besançon. Few details of his life are known until he is documented in Paris in 1549, where he was studying at the University of Paris; in that year he also published a book of chansons. In the early 1550s he worked with printer Nicolas Du Chemin, and may have still been studying at the University of Paris until 1555; by 1555 he was also Du Chemin's partner in the publishing business. Goudimel moved to Metz in 1557, converting to Protestantism, and is known to have been associated with the Huguenot cause there; however he left Metz due to the in… Go to person page >

Tune Information

Composer: Louis Bourgeois (1551)
Harmonizer: Claude Goudimel (1564, alt.)
Meter: 11.11.10.4
Key: G Major

Texts

I Praise Your Justice, LORD

I praise your justice, LORD, with my thanksgiving;
your mercy and your love guide all my living.
I will obey you, live in purity.
Stay close to me.
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Notes

GENEVAN 101 was first published in the 1551 edition of the Genevan Psalter. Claude Goudimel (PHH 6) harmonized the tune in 1564. Like most of Goudimel's harmonizations, the melody was originally in the tenor. The Psalter Hymnal Revision Committee changed some of the bass notes to provide first inversion chords; Goudimel's original bass provided all root position chords. GENEVAN 101 appears twice in the Psalter Hymnal: once here in its authentic, original Genevan form, and at 248 in its altered Anglo-Genevan form under the name JE TE SALUE. To avoid confusion when introducing the tune, organists should play it through once before the congregation sings. Use strong organ accompaniment, a brisk articulation, and a stately tempo.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Media

Psalter Hymnal (Gray) #101
Text: I Praise Your Justice, LORD

Instances

Instances (1)TextImageAudioScore
Psalter Hymnal (Gray) #101TextImageAudioScore