This psalm has been much sung and much quoted over the centuries. Many wonderful renaissance settings by Byrd, Lassus, Victoria … all the big names and then some*.
Old hands may remember the lines in the BCP: “O Lord open thou our lips; and our mouths shall show forth thy praise.” [v.15. I remember chanting those lines many times. Tone 8 was it? We should do it sometime just for old times’ sake.]
You know what? I have written so much about this Central Penitential that I suggest the enthusiastic amongst you to review previous references on these pages. You could:
- Type “Psalm 51” into the Search field at right.
- Look at the most recent post here>
- Review the Index page for Book II here>
- Scan the Penitentials page here>
Have fun…
[O by the way, SWUC is not singing this one this coming Sunday.
Await with keen anticipation the generous wisdom from Roger and Willa’s experienced and caring hands regarding tasty morsels and more.]
*And then some? Have you ever heard of Alexander Utendal (1543/45 – 7 May 1581) a Flemish composer? This is one obscure dude about whom I have never written in all of the above insightful and erudite posts and pages. Turns out he knocked out some nice works including, you guessed it, Psalm 51:
Psalms in the South 