The Bible book with the 150 psalms has always played an important liturgical role. For example, monastic monks sang all 150 psalms every week for a long time! Under the influence of the reformer Johannes Calvin (1509-1564), the psalms for congregational singing were adapted, with melodies by Loys Bourgeois, among others. This way of singing psalms was adopted in the Netherlands with the help of
… Datheen's rhyme (1566). In 1773 this rhyme was replaced by the Statenberijming. The chorale books from the eighteenth century (for organists) give a good picture of the singing culture of that time. For example, an attempt was made to adapt the Renaissance character of the melodies to the taste of the eighteenth century. Furthermore, these books show how they tried to steer the rather massive congregational singing in the right direction. Henny Heikens (organ), Sytse Buwalda (countertenor) and Wilma van der Wardt (gamba) released a CD with psalms. They made use of the chorale books of, among others, Van Blankenburg, Nieuwenhuyzen and "a very skilled hand". (HJ) _more
