MANCHESTER (Ravenscroft)

MANCHESTER (Ravenscroft)

Composer: Thomas Ravenscroft (1621)
Published in 6 hymnals


Printable scores: PDF, MusicXML
Audio files: MIDI, Recording

Composer: Thomas Ravenscroft

Thomas Ravenscroft United Kingdom 1592-1635. Born at Sussex, England, he allegedly sang in the choir at St Paul’s Cathedral. He attended music lectures at Gresham College. He was educated at Cambridge College, graduating in 1607. From 1618-1622 he was music master at Christ’s Hospital. Many of his works were aimed at pleasing a middle class lay public. He collected folk music: “Pammelia” (1609), “Deuteromelia” [includes the song “Three blind mice”](1609), “Melismata” (1611). He also published a metrical Psalter (the whole book of Psalms) in 1621. He composed 11 anthems, three motets, and four fantasies. He also wrote two treatises on music theory: “A briefe discourse of the true (but neglected) use of charact… Go to person page >

Tune Information

Title: MANCHESTER (Ravenscroft)
Composer: Thomas Ravenscroft (1621)
Meter: 8.6.8.6
Incipit: 13453 46557 3543
Key: e minor
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

MANCHESTER (also known as ELY; both names refer to British cities) is from the musical edition of The Whole Book of Psalms (1621) by Thomas Ravenscroft (b. England, c. 1582; d. England, c. 1635). Ravenscroft was a chorister as well as a participant in a theater company of child actors at St. Paul's Cathedral in London (1598). He graduated from Cambridge University with a music degree in 1605 and served as music master at Christ's Hospital from 1618 to 1622.

A composer of many songs for stage productions, Ravenscroft also published a number of works, of which the best known is The Whole Book of Psalms, with the Hymnes Evangelical and Songs Spiritual, composed into four parts by sundry Authors, to such several Tunes as have been and are usually sung in England, Scotland, Wales, Germany, Italy, France, and the Netherlands, never as yet in one volume published (1621). This psalter, with the tunes in the tenor, contains 105 settings (forty-eight by Ravenscroft) and was one of the earliest publications to list the composers' names as well as the tune names.

Emily R. Brink (PHH 158) harmonized the tune in 1985. MANCHESTER reveals the rhythmic vitality once present in British psalm tunes (partly as a result of Genevan influence). Think two beats per measure.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Timeline

Media

A New Version of the Psalms of David: Fitted to the Tunes Used in Churches #T6c
The Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs of the Old and New-Testament: faithfully translated into English metre: for the use, edification, and comfort of the saints...especially in New-England (25th ed) #T4b
Psalter Hymnal (Gray) #59
Text: Protect and Save, Me, O My God
  • Bulletin Score (melody only) (PDF)
  • Full Score (PDF, XML)

Instances

Instances (1 - 4 of 4)

CPWI Hymnal #222a

Text InfoTune InfoTextScoreAudio

Psalter Hymnal (Gray) #59

Audio

Small Church Music #3599

The Hymnal 1982 #364

Include 2 pre-1979 instances
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