Flight of steps bearing the words of the Beatitudes. Is the idea to express climbing the mount of the Sermon on the Mount? Wikimedia Commons. By James Emery from Douglasville, United States – Stairs of MEEI church_1098, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35132465 The Beatitudes1 Introduction The version of the Beatitudes from Matt 5 in Book 6 dates from before this site went live in June 2015. Somewhat surprisingly, the only other metrical version of the Beatitudes I have ever managed to find is by Isaac Watts. That one alas is not suitable for modern use2. In Commo ..read more

Introduction From time to time I mark texts as potential candidates either for deep revision or for newer versions. Two of these were Psalms 36 and 55. Both the versions currently in the collection are relatively unaltered from their originals in the Old Version, i.e. SHa, and both are in Common Metre. They have several other things in common. Both seem to have been written by John Hopkins. Both have a double rhyming scheme, ABAB. That seems to have been more characteristic of psalms rendered by John Hopkins than either Thomas Sternhold or William Wittingham. Double rhyming resonates well but ..read more

Woodlands, the place Walter Greatorex chose to name his tune after. The Background Sometime around the time of the 1st World War, Walter Greatorex (1877-1949), Director of Music at Gresham’s School, Holt in North Norfolk, wrote a tune, which he named Woodlands after one of the houses in the school. The school itself had been founded as a country grammar school in 1555 but about 1900 had expanded to become a public school in the English sense of the word. He wrote it as a rousing tune to be sung in Unison by massed schoolboys.  As such, it became linked to ‘Lift up your hearts, we lift th ..read more

Chelvey Church from near Nailsea, in winter.Morning and Evening Prayer on an App This post may be less interesting to people from outside England but for some time, it has been possible to obtain an App for iPad or Android which will give you the text of Common Worship or BCP Daily Prayer, Morning, Evening and Compline, with readings, throughout the year.  The basic version is free and one can subscribe for a fuller version. Since April 2021 there has been a further development. In response to the various lockdowns, many churches, even now that services have resumed, continue to stream th ..read more

White paper doves in Salisbury Cathedral This is an exhibition in Salisbury from a few years ago which was adopted locally as a tribute to the victims of the Salisbury poisonings, see below.Introduction This wonderful psalm, Psalm 136, is unfortunately a problem for modern users. For once, it is not the sentiment. No babies are being dashed against any rocks. The self-consciously virtuous are not rejoicing in the destruction of the wicked. It is just that for modern tastes, this psalm is long and repetitive. There is an inspiring list of God’s goodnesses, his favours, 26 of them, with a refr ..read more

Bristol City Docks on a summer afternoon It’s over a year since I last posted anything, but I have recently written two new psalm versions. This is the first, Psalm 44. I hope the second will follow reasonably soon. The version of Psalm 44 currently in the collection derives from The Old Version, Sternhold and Hopkins, with some modernisation. The headnote starts with the comment, “The original is one of the most vigorous in the book.  Nevertheless, it has been altered to condense it and bring it more into line with modern usage.” It has its own, original tune, Old 44th in Double Common ..read more

The Gaia Globe from last year (April 2019) in the Great Hall in the Wills Building, Bristol University. The 2nd Edition of the Psalms Some more good news. I have just placed on the the Download Page ” How to find what you are looking for – Downloads ” pdfs of the 2nd Edition of the entire psalter. As before, they are in six sections, Books 1-4 and Book 5 divided into two sections, Pss 107-119 and Pss 120 – 150. Again, as before, there is a selection of doxologies after Psalm 150. The 2nd Edition of the Canticles, Book 6,  and of the tunebook have been there since ..read more

Abstract – any thoughts as to what might have inspired it? At last This has been pending for far too long, but at last, a gift for Easter and from the Covid 19 lockdown, I have uploaded and can release the first phase of the Second Edition. This first instalment consists of the second editions of the Tunebook and Book 6.  They are now on the download page (How to find what you’re looking for) in pdf format.  I’m issuing those two first. Those are the parts of the collection where the original edition is now most out of date.  They do not contain material that is a ..read more

West Allendale above Taylorburn, downloaded from Geograph © Mike Quinn I haven’t posted recently. I have been working on the Second Edition of Books 1-6 and the Tunebook.  This has not been progressing very fast. Meanwhile, though, I thought I would share three tunes. Each of them has something slightly unusual about its history. In each case, also, I have not yet decided to which psalm or canticle to link it.  If you have any suggestions for these, please make them in the comments section.  As I am beginning to approach the limit of capacity of my Soundcloud subscription, I hav ..read more

Dawn over the Aegean But first some good news to do with housekeeping:- I’ve just added to the Downloads page,  How to find what you are looking for – Downloads a pdf of all the blogposts from 2017. Second – The Advent Antiphons I commented in my last post ‘The Future and a revision’ that I was not proposing to try to set the Advent canticle in Common Worship Daily Prayer (CWDP), Salus Aeterna to metre unless certain conditions were fulfilled. As yet, none have been. I also commented that there are plenty of good Advent hymns already – which there are – and that Salus Aeterna is not ..read more