Christopher Smart, Hymns and Spiritual Songs

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What needs to be made clear from the outset is that Christopher Smart never intended his

Hymns and Spiritual Songs

to be sung. It was his metrical version of The Psalms which he meant to be put to music. In

Jubilate Agno

(D. 217) he had written “I pray for a musician or musicians to set the new psalms.” And they were. In 1765, two years after their publication, J. Walsh, a bookseller whose speciality was music, brought out

A Collection of Melodies for the Psalms of David According to the Version of Christopher Smart, M.A., by the most eminent Composers of Church Music.

And eminent they were. They included the organists of Westminster Abbey and of King’s College Cambridge, and William Boyce, Master of His Majesty’s Band of Musick. Sadly, there is no evidence that this music was…

2219 words

Citation: Curry, Neil. "Hymns and Spiritual Songs". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 July 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=24828, accessed 19 March 2024.]

24828 Hymns and Spiritual Songs 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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