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Texts and Translations - Back Bay Chorale - Spring Concert 2007 - Psalms of David

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    Cantate Domino canticum novum

    Words: after Psalm 149:1-3, Latin (Vulgata Clementina)
    Translation: King James or Authorized Version
    Music: Heinrich Schütz (1585 - 1672), in 4 parts, from Cantiones sacrae, Op. 4, No. 29, SWV 81, published 1625.
  • Choral Public Domain Library page on the motet
  • MIDI file of the motet
  • 		
    1. Cantate Domino canticum novum;
          laus eius in ecclesia sanctorum.
    2. Lætetur Israël in eo qui fecit eum,
          et filiae Sion exultent in rege suo.
    3. Laudent nomen eius in tympano et choro;
          in psalterio psallant ei.
    		
    		
    1. Sing unto the Lord a new song,
          and his praise in the congregation of saints.
    2. Let Israel rejoice in him that made him:
          let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.
    3. Let them praise his name in the dance:
          let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.
    		

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    Laudate pueri Dominum

    Words: Psalm 112, Latin (Vulgata Clementina)
    Translation: Psalm 113, King James or Authorized Version
    Doxology translation: Book of Common Prayer, 1662.
    Music: Claudio Monteverdi (1567 - 1643), in 5 parts, from Messa a quattro voci, et salmi, concertati, published 1650.
  • Choral Public Domain Library page on the motet
  • MIDI file of the motet
  • 
    1. Laudate, pueri, Dominum;
          laudate nomen Domini.
    2. Sit nomen Domini benedictum
          ex hoc nunc et usque in sæculum.
    3. A solis ortu usque ad occasum
          laudabile nomen Domini.
    4. Excelsus super omnes gentes Dominus,
          et super cælos gloria ejus.
    5. Quis sicut Dominus Deus noster, 
          qui in altis habitat,
    6. et humilia respicit
          in cælo et in terra?
    7. Suscitans a terra inopem,
          et de stercore erigens pauperem:
    8. ut collocet eum cum principibus,
          cum principibus populi sui.
    9. Qui habitare facit sterilem in domo,
          matrem filiorum lætantem.
    
    DOXOLOGY:
       Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritu Sancto,
          sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper
          et in sæcula sæculorum.
       Amen.
    		
    
    1. Praise, O ye servants of the Lord,
          praise the name of the Lord.
    2. Blessed be the name of the Lord
          from this time forth and for evermore.
    3. From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same
          the Lord's name is to be praised.
    4. The Lord is high above all nations,
          and his glory above the heavens.
    5. Who is like unto the Lord our God,
          who dwelleth on high,
    6. who humbleth himself to behold
          the things that are in heaven, and in the earth!
    7. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust,
          and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;
    8. that he may set him with princes,
          even with the princes of his people.
    9. He maketh the barren woman to keep house,
          and to be a joyful mother of children.
          
    DOXOLOGY:
       Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;
          as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
          world without end. 
       Amen. 
    	

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    Chichester Psalms

    Music: Leonard Bernstein (1918 - 1990), for four part chorus, treble solo and orchestra, 1965.
    The psalm translations are from The Liturgical Psalter, translated by the International Commission on English in the Liturgy. © 1997, Archdiocese of Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications. Used with permission. Please don't cut and paste it somewhere else.

    For more information:

  • Wikipedia page on the Chichester Psalms (includes texts with a more accurate Semitic transliteration)
  • Pro Arte orchestra notes with link to translations
  • Interview with Leonard Bernstein with discussion of the Chichester Psalms


  • MIDI files of the Psalms, with individual voice parts available
  • Part I

    Words: Psalm 108:2, Hebrew
    
    2. Urah, hanevel, v'chinor!
          A-irah shahar!
    		
    
    2. Awake, my harp and lyre,
          so I can wake up the dawn.
    	
    Words: Psalm 100, Hebrew
    
    1. Hariu l'Adonai kol haarets.
    2. Iv'du et Adonai b'simha.
          Bo-u l'fanav bir'nanah.
    3. D'u ki Adonai Hu Elohim.
          Hu asanu, v'lo anahnu.
          Amo v'tson mar'ito.
    4. Bo-u sh'arav b'todah,
          Hatseirotav bit'hilah,
          Hodu lo, bar'chu sh'mo.
    5. Ki tov Adonai, 
          l'olam has'do,
          V'ad dor vador emunato.
    		
    
    1. Shout joy to the Lord, all earth,
    2. serve the Lord with gladness,
          enter God's presence with joy!
    3. Know that the Lord is God,
          our maker to whom we belong,
          our shepherd, and we the flock.
    4. Enter the temple gates,
          the courtyards with thanks and praise;
          give thanks and bless God's name.
    5. Indeed the Lord is good! 
          God's love is for ever,
          faithful from age to age.
    	

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    Part II

    Words: Psalm 23, Hebrew
    Translation: King James or Authorized Version
    
    1. Adonai ro-i, lo ehsar.
    2. Bin'ot deshe yarbitseini,
          Al mei m'nuhot y'nahaleini,
    3. Naf'shi y'shovev,
          Yan'heini b'ma'aglei tsedek,
          L'ma'an sh'mo.
    4. Gam ki eilech
          B'gei tsalmavet,
       Lo ira ra,
          Ki Atah imadi.
       Shiv't'cha umishan'techa
          Hemah y'nahamuni.
    5. Ta'aroch l'fanai shulchan
          Neged tsor'rai
       Dishanta vashemen roshi
          Cosi r'vayah.
    6. Ach tov vahesed
          Yird'funi kol y'mei hayai
       V'shav'ti b'veit Adonai
          L'orech yamim.
    		
    
    1. The Lord is my shepherd, I need nothing more.
    2. You give me rest in green meadows,
          setting me near calm waters, 
          where you revive my spirit.
    3. You guide me among sure paths, 
          you are true to your name.
    4. Though I should walk 
          in death's dark valley,
       I fear no evil 
          with you by my side,
       your shepherd's staff 
          to comfort me.
    5. You spread a table before me 
          as my foes look on.
       You soothe my head with oil;
          my cup is more than full.
    6. Goodness and love will tend me 
          every day of my life:
       I will dwell in the house of the Lord 
          as long as I shall live.
    	
    Words: Psalm 2:1-4, Hebrew
    Translation: King James or Authorized Version
    
    1. Lamah rag'shu goyim
          Ul'umim yeh'gu rik?
    2. Yit'yats'vu malchei erets,
          V'roznim nos'du yahad
          Al Adonai v'al m'shiho.
    3. N'natkah et mos'roteimo,
    4. Yoshev bashamayim
          Yis'hak, Adonai
          Yil'ag lamo!
    		
    
    1. Why this strife among nations?
          Why this pointless scheming?
    2. Kings stand against God,
          nobles plot together,
          against the Lord's anointed:
    3. "Let us break these fetters," [...]
    4. High above the earth 
          God laughs in mockery.
    	

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    Part III

    Words: Psalm 131, Hebrew
    
    1. Adonai, Adonai,
          Lo gavah libi,
          V'lo ramu einai,
          V'lo hilachti
          Big'dolot uv'niflaot
          Mimeni.
    2. Im lo shiviti
          V'domam'ti,
          Naf'shi k'gamul alei imo,
          Kagamul alai naf'shi.
    3. Yahel Yis'rael el Adonai
          Me'atah v'ad olam.
    		
    
    1. Lord, Lord,
          I am not proud,
          holding my head too high,
          reaching beyond my grasp.
    
    
    2. No I am calm
          and tranquil,
       like a weaned child resting in his mother's arms:
          my whole being at rest.
    3. Let Israel rest in the Lord
          now and for ever.
    	
    Words: Psalm 133:1, Hebrew
    
    1. Hineh mah tov,
          Umah nayim,
       Shevet ahim
          Gam yahad.
    		
    
    1. How good it is,
          how wonderful,
       wherever people live
          as one!
    	

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    Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden

    Words: Psalm 117, German (Martin Luther, 1545)
    Translation: King James or Authorized Version
    Music: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750), in 4 parts, BWV 230, possibly pre-1723.
  • Choral Public Domain Library page on the motet
  • MIDI file of the motet
  • 		
    1. Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden, 
          und preiset ihn, alle Völker! 
    2. Denn seine Gnade und Wahrheit 
          waltet über uns in Ewigkeit. 
          Alleluja.
    		
    		
    1. O praise the Lord, all ye nations:
          and praise him, all ye people.
    2. For his merciful kindness is great toward us:
          and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever.
          Praise ye the Lord.
    		

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    Richte mich, Gott

    Words: after Psalm 43, German (Martin Luther, 1545)
    Translation: King James or Authorized Version
    Music: Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847), Op. 78, No. 2, January 1, 1844.
  • Choral Public Domain Library page on the motet
  • MIDI file of the motet
  • 
    1. Richte mich, Gott, und führe meine Sache 
          wider das unheilige Volk 
          und errette mich von den falschen und bösen Leuten.
    2. Denn du bist der Gott meiner Stärke; 
          warum verstößest du mich? 
       Warum lässest du mich so traurig gehen, 
          wenn mein Feind mich dräng't?
    3. Sende dein Licht und deine Wahrheit, 
          daß sie mich leiten zu deinem heiligen Berge 
          und zu deiner Wohnung,
    4. daß ich hineingehe zum Altar Gottes, 
          zu dem Gott, der meine Freude und Wonne ist, 
       und dir, Gott; auf der Harfe danke, 
          mein Gott!
    5. Was betrüb'st du dich, meine Seele, 
          und bist so unruhig in mir? 
       Harre auf Gott; denn ich werde ihm noch danken, 
          daß er meines Angesichts Hülfe und mein Gott ist.
        
    
    1. Judge me, O God, and plead my cause
          against an ungodly nation:
          O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.
    2. For thou art the God of my strength:
          why dost thou cast me off?
       Why go I mourning
          because of the oppression of the enemy?
    3. O send out thy light and thy truth:
          let them lead me unto thy holy hill,
          and to thy tabernacles.
    4. Then will I go unto the altar of God,
          unto God my exceeding joy:
       yea, upon the harp will I praise thee,
          O God my God.
    5. Why art thou cast down, O my soul?
          And why art thou disquieted within me?
       Hope in God: for I shall yet praise him,
          who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
    	

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    King David's Songbook

    Words: Taken from the Bay Psalm Book, published in Cambridge MA, 1640.
    Music: Daniel Thomas Davis (1981 - ), 2007.
    Click here for a PDF download of a complete facsimile edition of the 1640 Bay Psalm Book.

    I. Preface and Responsory

    Chorus
    after Preface to the Bay Psalm Book (attrib. to Richard Mather).
    By whom are they to be sung? 
    Whether by the whole together with their voices? 
    Or by one man singing alone and the rest joyning in silence, 
    and in the close saying, singing: Amen.
        
    Soprano solo
    Psalm 22:22, English, Bay Psalm Book
    22. Thy name, I will declare to them
           that Brethren are to mee:
        in midst of congregation
           I will give prayse to thee.
           
    Chorus and Soprano solo
    after Psalm 40:9, English, Bay Psalm Book
    9. In the great congregation
          thy righteousness I know:
       Lo(e), I have not refrayned my lips,
          Jehovah, thou dost know.
        

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    II. Hymn: Praise for the Flight of a Dove

    Chorus and Soprano solo
    after Psalm 102:4-7, English, Bay Psalm Book
    4. My heart is smote, and dryde like grasse
          that I to eate my bread forget:
    5. By reason of my groaning voyce
          my bones unto my skin are set.
    6. Like Pelican in wilderness,
          like Owle in desert so am I:
    7. I watch, and like a sparrow am
          on house top solitarily.
           
    Chorus and Soprano solo
    Psalm 55:4-6, English, Bay Psalm Book
    4. My heart in mee is payn'd, on mee
          deaths terrors fallen bee.
    5. Trembling and feare are on mee come,
          horrour hath covered mee.
    6. Then did I say, O who to mee
          wings of a dove will give;
       that I might flie away and might
          in quiet dwelling live.
           

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    III: Liebeslied: The end of knowledge

    Chorus and Soprano solo
    Psalm 139:6-12, English, Bay Psalm Book
     6. Such knowledge is too strange, too high,
           for mee to understand.
     7. Where shall I from thy presence go?
           or where from thy face flye?
     8. If heav'n I climbe, thou there, lo(e) thou,
           if downe in hell I lye,
     9. If I take mornings wings; and dwell
           where utmost sea-coasts bee,
    10. Ev'n there thy hand shall mee conduct:
           and thy right hand hold mee.
    11. That veryly the darkness shall
           mee cover, if I say:
        then shall the night about mee bee,
           like to the lightsome day.
    12. Yea, darkness hideth not from thee,
           but as the day shines night:
        alike unto thee both these are,
           the darkness and the light.
           

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    Laudate Dominum

    Words: Psalm 116, Latin (Vulgata Clementina)
    Translation: Psalm 117, King James or Authorized Version
    Doxology translation: Book of Common Prayer, 1662.
    Music: Wolfgang Amadé Mozart (1756 - 1791), for Soprano, 4-part Chorus and Orchestra, #5 of Vesperae solennes de confessore, K. 339, 1780.
  • Choral Public Domain Library page on the motet
  • MIDI file of the motet
  • 		
    1. Laudate Dominum, omnes gentes;
          laudate eum, omnes populi.
    2. Quoniam confirmata est super nos misericordia ejus,
          et veritas Domini manet in æternum. 
    
    DOXOLOGY:
       Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritu Sancto,
          sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper
          et in sæcula sæculorum.
       Amen.
    		
    		
    1. O praise the Lord, all ye nations:
          and praise him, all ye people.
    2. For his merciful kindness is great toward us:
          and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever.
    
    DOXOLOGY:
       Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;
          as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
          world without end. 
       Amen. 
    		

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    Psalm 98

    Words: after Psalm 98, New Revised Standard Version
    Music: Vartan Aghababian, for four-part chorus with divisi, 2006.
  • MIDI files of Psalm 98 (mislabeled as Psalm 28, one file for each voice part)
  • 		
    1. O sing unto the Lord a new song;
          for he has done marvelous things: [...]
    3. all the ends of the earth have seen
          the victory of God.
    4. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth:
          break forth into joyous song and sing praises. 
    5. Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,
          with the lyre and the sound of melody. 
    6. With trumpets and the sound of the horn
          make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord.
    		

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    Lord, Thou Hast Been Our Refuge

    Words: Psalm 90:1-7, 9-10, 13-14, 17, Book of Common Prayer, 1662.
    Music: Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), Motet for chorus (SATB), semi-chorus (SATB) and orchestra or organ, 1921.
    Click here for an MP3 file of the Psalm.
     
    Semi-Chorus or
    Solo Baritone
    Words: Psalm 90:1-4, Book of Common Prayer, 1662.
     1. Lord, thou hast been our refuge: 
           from one generation to another.
     2. Before the mountains were brought forth, 
           or ever the earth and the world were made: 
           thou art God from everlasting, and world without end.
     3. Thou turnest man to destruction: 
           again thou sayest, Come again, ye children of men.
     4. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday: 
           seeing that is past as a watch in the night.
    		
    Full Chorus
    (at the same time)
    Words: after Psalm 90:1, translated by Isaac Watts (1674 - 1748), 1719.
    Music: Harmonization of St. Anne, William Croft (1678 - 1727), 1708
     1. O God, our help in ages past,
           our hope for years to come,
        our shelter from the stormy blast,
           and our eternal home.
    		
    Full Chorus
    Words: Psalm 90:5-7, 9-10, 13-14, 17, Book of Common Prayer, 1662.
     5. As soon as thou scatterest them they are even as a sleep: 
           and fade away suddenly like the grass.
     6. In the morning it is green, and groweth up: 
           but in the evening it is cut down, dried up, and withered.
     7. For we consume away in thy displeasure: 
           and are afraid at thy wrathful indignation.
     9. For when thou art angry all our days are gone: 
           we bring our years to an end, as it were a tale that is told.
    10. The days of our age are threescore years and ten; 
           and though men be so strong that they come to fourscore years: 
        yet is their strength then but labour and sorrow; 
           so soon passeth it away, and we are gone.
    13. Turn thee again, O Lord, at the last: 
           and be gracious unto thy servants.
    14. O satisfy us with thy mercy, and that soon: 
           so shall we rejoice and be glad all the days of our life.
    17. And the glorious majesty of the Lord our God be upon us: 
           prosper thou the work of our hands upon us, 
           O prosper thou our handywork.
    		

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    For more information:

  • Catholic Encyclopedia of 1911 on Psalms
  • Wikipedia entry on Psalms
  • Psalters consulted for this program:

  • Unbound Bible
    A searchable database of Bible translations, in multiple languages and multiple versions in major languages (11 English translations!). Offers the nifty abillity to do multiple translations of the same passage in parallel columns.
  • Oremus Bible Browser
    Another searchable databse, searchable in five different English translations.
  • On-Line Parallel Bible
    More searchable bibles, from multiple English translations, which offers the ability to view parallel verses, parallel chapters, concordances, dictionaries and notes.
  • Book of Psalms in German (Martin Luther, 1541)
  • Book of Psalms in Latin (Vulgata Clementina, 1592)
  • Book of Psalms in English (King James Version, 1611)
  • Bay Psalm Book (Cambridge MA, 1641)
    A scanned facsimile of the Massachusetts Bay psalter, the first book published in British North America. There is also a web page with digital excerpts from the Bay Psalm Book.
  • English language Psalter (Book of Common Prayer, 1662)
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