Excerpt from a CD recording of a lecture-recital by Calvin Seerveld, professor emeritus of Philosophical Aesthetics at the Institute for Christian Studies, Toronto.
For information on how to get this CD, see the sidebar on the right.
.... And to give a graphic example of how lively and versatile Genevan Psalms found homes, I could show you Psalm 47 printed in Lyon, 1557, with a border including frogs, apes, centaurs, pan pipes, vielle, bare-breasted nymphs lounging in sensuous water.
This was a luxe edition, not used in Genevan churches. But Genevan 47 has a rollicking dance beat what gives the lie to the false stereotype of grim severity often ascribed to Genevan psalms. Let's hear Genevan 47 sung before I make a critical remark....
(audio sample includes two verses of Psalm 47 sung by the Pax Christi Chorale, under the direction of Stephanie Martin)
No wonder her majesty Queen Elizabeth I found 'the Genevan jigs,' as she is said to have called them, to be irreverent! But Louis Bourgeois correctly caught the boisterous, Jewish rough-hewn exuberance of Psalm 47--`Clap your hands, people! Shout!! The ascended Lord rules the bully nations of the world!' And these seasoned artistic-composer, Genevan-based Reformers were serious....
Excerpt from track 6 of "The Gift of Genevan psalmody for today"
For information on how to get this CD, see the sidebar on the right.
"The Gift of Genevan psalmody for today, sprung from its historical context," is available postpaid in Canada for $18 and postpaid in the USA for $21.
For further details and other publications by Calvin Seerveld visit
Toronto Tuppence Press
This page is included with the encouragement and permission of Calvin Seerveld.
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