Common Meter

Messe Royale de Versailles – Héritage des Manuscrits Bourbons is a newly imagined grand Baroque Mass by Akiva David, inspired by a personal encounter with history. While visiting distant Bourbon cousins in France, Akiva was shown a cache of original court music manuscripts—works once performed in the gilded Chapelle Royale of Versailles under the Sun King.

This album reawakens that vanished sound world: the opulence of Lully, the theatrical majesty of Rameau, the sacred gravitas of Delalande. Written for period instruments at historical pitch (A=415) and sung in liturgical Latin, each movement moves from solemn prayer to radiant celebration, from the hushed call of a single oboe to the triumphant blaze of natural trumpets and timpani. Recorded with the resonance and spatial grandeur of the Versailles chapel, it evokes the pomp, devotion, and artistic glory of the Ancien Régime.

A work of both personal heritage and historical imagination, this Mass stands as a tribute to the enduring beauty of sacred French Baroque music — and to the manuscripts that carried its spirit across centuries.

Track 4 Messe Royale de Versailles - Sanctus – Largo, B major

Frought with error, but a worthwhile endeavour.

Ps 92 v 1-5 Contemplation

Psalm 100, to the tune Old 100th, at the beautiful wedding service of Mr & Mrs Chris and Alison Macleod. 

Psalm 100, Old 100th - Chris & Alison's Wedding

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Text: Psalm 4 from 'Psalms for Singing – A 21st Century Edition (2004)'
Produced by the Reformed Presbyterian church of Ireland.

8  I will both lay me down in peace,
         and quiet sleep will take;
      Because thou only me to dwell
         in safety, Lord, will make.

Psalm 4 (Tune: Wallace)

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5  His testimony and his law
         in Isr'el he did place,
      And charged our fathers it to show
         to their succeeding race;

   6  That so the race which was to come
         might well them learn and know;
      And sons unborn, who should arise,
         might to their sons them show:

   7  That they might set their hope in God,
         and suffer not to fall
      His mighty works out of their mind,
         but keep his precepts all:

   8  And might not, like their fathers, be
         a stiff rebellious race;
      A race not right in heart; with God
         whose sp'rit not steadfast was.

From the Scottish Psalter of 1650

Psalm 78 v5-8 (Tune: Argyle)

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Text: Scottish Psalter (1650) 

7  God shall endure for aye; he doth
         for judgment set his throne;
   8  In righteousness to judge the world,
         justice to give each one.

   9  God also will a refuge be
         for those that are oppressed;
      A refuge will he be in times
         of trouble to distressed.

  10  And they that know thy name, in thee
         their confidence will place:
      For thou hast not forsaken them
         that truly seek thy face.

  11  O sing ye praises to the Lord,
         that dwells in Zion hill;
      And all the nations among
         his deeds record ye still.

Psalm 9 (Tune: Stroudwater)

Text: Scottish Psalter (1650)  (Meter: CM)

1  How excellent in all the earth,
         Lord, our Lord, is thy name!
      Who hast thy glory far advanced
         above the starry frame.

 3  When I look up unto the heav'ns,
         which thine own fingers framed,
      Unto the moon, and to the stars,
         which were by thee ordained;

   4  Then say I, What is man, that he
         remembered is by thee?
      Or what the son of man, that thou
         so kind to him should'st be?

   5  For thou a little lower hast
         him than the angels made;
      With glory and with dignity
         thou crowned hast his head.

   6  Of thy hands' works thou mad'st him lord,
         all under's feet didst lay;
   7  All sheep and oxen, yea, and beasts
         that in the field do stray;

   8  Fowls of the air, fish of the sea,
         all that pass through the same.
   9  How excellent in all the earth,
         Lord, our Lord, is thy name!

Psalm 8 (Tune: Richmond)

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 1  That man hath perfect blessedness,
         who walketh not astray
      In counsel of ungodly men,
         nor stands in sinners' way,

   2  Nor sitteth in the scorner's chair:
         But placeth his delight
      Upon God's law, and meditates
         on his law day and night.

   3  He shall be like a tree that grows
         near planted by a river,
      Which in his season yields his fruit,
         and his leaf fadeth never:

   4  And all he doth shall prosper well
         The wicked are not so;
      But like they are unto the chaff,
         which wind drives to and fro.

   5  In judgment therefore shall not stand
         such as ungodly are; 
      Nor in th' assembly of the just
         shall wicked men appear.

   6  For why? the way of godly men
         unto the Lord is known:
      Whereas the way of wicked men
         shall quite be overthrown.

Psalm 1 sung acapella from The Scottish Metrical Psalter of 1650. (Meter: CM) Recorded at Dowanvale free church.

Psalm 1 (Tune: Azmon / Denfield)

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(recorded by Paul Hillier, Theatre of Voices, The King's Noyse & David Douglass) 
Download full album from: https://itunes.apple.com/album/third-tune-for-acrchbishop/id586089926?i=586090342&ign-mpt=uo%3D5

Text  from 'Archbishop Parker's Psalter'. 
Tune: '3rd Mode Melody'  by Thomas Tallis  [CM.D]

3. Let us they say: break down their ray,
of all their bonds and cords:
We will renounce: that they pronounce,
their loores as stately lordes.

4. But God of might: in heauen so bright,
Shall laugh them all to scorne:
The Lord on hie: shall them defie,
they shall be once forlorne.

9. With iron rod: as mighty God,
all rebels shalt thou bruse:
And breake them all: in pieces small,
as sherdes the potters vase.

10. Be wise therfore: ye kinges the more,
Receyue ye wisdomes lore:
Ye iudges strong: of right and wrong,
aduise you now before.

11. The Lorde in feare: your seruice beare,
with dread to him reioyce:
Let rages be: resist not ye,
him serue with ioyfull voyce.

12. The sonne kisse ye: lest wroth he be,
lose not the way of rest:
For when his ire: is set on fire,
who trust in hym be blest

Psalm 2 (Tune: Third Mode Melody)

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PSALM 13 sung a capella from the Scottish Psalter of 1650. Meter: CM

1  How long wilt thou forget me, Lord?
       shall it for ever be?
    O how long shall it be that thou
       wilt hide thy face from me?

 2  How long take counsel in my soul,
       still sad in heart, shall I?
    How long exalted over me
       shall be mine enemy?

 3  O Lord my God, consider well,
       and answer to me make:
    Mine eyes enlighten, lest the sleep
       of death me overtake:

 4  Lest that mine enemy should say,
       Against him I prevailed;
    And those that trouble me rejoice,
       when I am moved and failed.

 5  But I have all my confidence
       thy mercy set upon;
    My heart within me shall rejoice
       in thy salvation.

 6  I will unto the Lord my God
       sing praises cheerfully,
    Because he hath his bounty shown
       to me abundantly.

Psalm 13 (Tune: Stornoway)

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Text: Scottish Psalter (1650)  Recorded at a Free Church of Scotland Psalmody Recital(Meter: CM)

1  Wherefore is it that thou, O Lord,
         dost stand from us afar?
      And wherefore hidest thou thyself,
         when times so troublous are?

   2  The wicked in his loftiness
         doth persecute the poor:
      In these devices they have framed
         let them be taken sure.

17  O Lord, of those that humble are
         thou the desire didst hear;
      Thou wilt prepare their heart, and thou
         to hear wilt bend thine ear;

  18  To judge the fatherless, and those
         that are oppressed sore;
      That man, that is but sprung of earth,
         may them oppress no more.

Psalm 10 (Tune: Glenluce)

Text: Scottish Psalter (1650) Recorded @ Arbroath FCC Youth Weekend
Meter: CM

  5  For thou a little lower hast
         him than the angels made;
      With glory and with dignity
         thou crowned hast his head.

   6  Of thy hands' works thou mad'st him lord,
         all under's feet didst lay;
   7  All sheep and oxen, yea, and beasts
         that in the field do stray;

   8  Fowls of the air, fish of the sea,
         all that pass through the same.
   9  How excellent in all the earth,
         Lord, our Lord, is thy name!

Psalm 8 (Tune: Tiverton)

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Psalm 18 sung acapella from the Scottish Metrical Psalter of 1650.
Singing by Dowanvale Free Church of Scotland. (Meter: CM)

28  The Lord will light my candle so,
         that it shall shine full bright:
      The Lord my God will also make
         my darkness to be light.  

  29  By thee through troops of men I break,
         and them discomfit all;
      And, by my God assisting me,
         I overleap a wall.

31  Who but the Lord is God? but he
         who is a rock and stay?
  32  'Tis God that girdeth me with strength,
         and perfect makes my way.

 35  The shield of thy salvation
         thou didst on me bestow:
      Thy right hand held me up, and great
         thy kindness made me grow.

Psalm 18 (Tune: Warwick)

The CD has sold out of new copies!  So here are the psalms from the album.  I will probably upload the hymns at a later date

By The Still Waters..

Psalm 107: 23-30 Loch Broom

Psalm 116: 13-19 Coleshill

700 Free Recordings of Congregational & Choral Psalm Singing.
Different Versions, Different Tunes, Different Styles. All the recordings are free!!

I LOVE doing it and I love hearing how others appreciate it, but it does cost money. So if you can help me cover the overheads (https://www.patreon.com/psalms), I will keep uploading the beautiful recordings! 

Buy Scottish Psalter (1650) with sheet music: https://amzn.to/4cJHFPY

Psalm 10 (Tune: Glenluce)

ThePsalmsSung.org

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