GENEVAN 133

GENEVAN 133

Composer: Louis Bourgeois (1551); Harmonizer: Howard Slenk (1985)
Published in 1 hymnal


Printable scores: PDF, Sibelius
Audio files: MIDI

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: Howard Slenk

(no biographical information available about Howard Slenk.) Go to person page >

Tune Information

Composer: Louis Bourgeois (1551)
Harmonizer: Howard Slenk (1985)
Meter: 11.11.8.10.10.8
Key: D Major
Copyright: Text and harmonization © 1987, CRC Publications

Texts

Behold, How Good, How Pleasant Is the Union

Behold, how good, how pleasant is the union
when brothers, sisters live in sweet communion
and serve the LORD in cheerfulness.
It is like precious oil on Aaron's head,
which on his beard and priestly robe would spread,
anointing him to holiness.
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Notes

GENEVAN 133 first appeared in the 1551 edition of the Genevan Psalter. Howard Slenk (PHH 3) harmonized the tune in 1985. Composed in the Ionian mode (major), GENEVAN 133 consists of six lines that group into two very long melodic curves with identical cadences at the ends of lines 3 and 6. Sing the tune at a brisk pace in a festive manner with crisp organ articulation.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Media

Instances

Instances (1)TextImageAudioScore
Psalter Hymnal (Gray) #133TextImageAudioScore