GENEVAN 89

Composer: Claude Goudimel

The music of Claude Goudimel (b. Besançon, France, c. 1505; d. Lyons, France, 1572) was first published in Paris, and by 1551 he was composing harmonizations for some Genevan psalm tunes-initially for use by both Roman Catholics and Protestants. He became a Calvinist in 1557 while living in the Huguenot community in Metz. When the complete Genevan Psalter with its unison melodies was published in 1562, Goudimel began to compose various polyphonic settings of all the Genevan tunes. He actually composed three complete harmonizations of the Genevan Psalter, usually with the tune in the tenor part: simple hymn-style settings (1564), slightly more complicated harmonizations (1565), and quite elaborate, motet-like settings (1565-1566). The vario… Go to person page >

One of the best-known tunes from the Genevan Psalter, GENEVAN 89 was first published in the 1562 edition. Jacobus J.K. Kloppers (PHH 87) harmonized the tune for the Psalter Hymnal in 1985. The first line is repeated in the second, and all the lines have a similar rhythmic pattern, including the last line, which was changed from the original (the third and fourth notes were originally half notes). Much of the psalm should be sung jubilantly, but sing stanzas 6 and 7 in a subdued manner. Antiphony can be useful in singing the complete psalm.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 1988