Ursell Room, Pusey House, St Giles, Oxford OX1 3LZ
Professor Henrike Lähnemann will be giving a seminar on "Singing the Psalms in sixteenth century Germany" as part of TORCH's The Oxford Psalms Network lecture series.
2017 sees the 500th anniversary of the publication of the German Reformation. Its rapid spread was based on two decisive factors: printing and singing. The new genre of the Protestant hymn book contained a large proportion of Psalms in German paraphrase. At the same time, Latin psalm singing continued in the monastic setting both in the Hours and as form of personal devotion.
The lecture will look at the personalised Psalters as well as the popular appeal of congregational singing of hymns based on Psalms, taking in as most prominent example Luther’s versification of Psalm 46 in‚ Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott‘.
