Yale Journal of Music & Religion Volume 6 Number 1 Article 3 “That Hart May Sing in Corde:” Defense of Church Music in the Psalm Paraphrases of Matthew Parker Sonja G. Wermager Columbia University Follow this and additional works at: https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/yjmr Part of the History of Christianity Commons, History of Religion Commons, Musicology Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Wermager, Sonja G. () "“That Hart May Sing in Corde:” Defense of Church Music in the Psalm Paraphrases of Matthew Parker," Yale Journal of Music & Religion: Vol. 6: No. 1, Article 3. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17132/2377-231X.1161 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by EliScholar – A Digital Platform for Scholarly Publishing at Yale. It has been accepted for inclusion in Yale Journal of Music & Religion by an authorized editor of EliScholar – A Digital Platform for Scholarly Publishing at Yale. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “That Hart May Sing in Corde:” Defense of Church Music in the Psalm Paraphrases of Matthew Parker Cover Page Footnote My thanks to the Inner Temple Library, Union Theological Seminary Special Collections, Eric Lund, the reviewers of this article, and most of all to Dr. Jonathan Willis for his guidance on this project. This article is available in Yale Journal of Music & Religion: https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/yjmr/vol6/iss1/3 “That Hart May Sing in Corde” Defense of Church Music in the Psalm Paraphrases of Matthew Parker Sonja Wermager In a 1564 letter to the English statesman theological impetus underpinning Parker’s William Cecil, Archbishop of Canterbury musical policy as archbishop. From where Matthew Parker proudly reported on his did his commitment to music originate? recent reception of a delegation of French Why did Parker fight for the place of music ambassadors, describing to Cecil how in the liturgy at a time when many English the visitors “seemed to be glad, that in Protestants called for the simplification, or ministration of our Common Prayer and even prohibition, of music in church services? Sacraments we use such reverent mediocrity, A close examination of one of Parker’s poetic and that we did not expel musik out of works suggests that his actions as archbishop our quires, telling them that our musik concerning musical matters extended from drowned not the principal regard of our a deeply held conviction regarding music’s prayers.”1 The celebration of mediocrity capacity, when duly moderated, to move the might seem surprising to the modern-day soul toward devotion to God. In this article reader, but Parker wrote at a time when I contend that a rich vision of this musical “mediocrity” meant not averageness, but commitment can be found in his poetic rather moderation.2 There is perhaps no psalm paraphrases, published in 1567 better word than moderation to describe as The whole Psalter translated into English the quest of Parker’s tenure as archbishop metre. The art of paraphrasing psalms was of Canterbury, when he sought to steer the simultaneously scholarly and personal. As course of the nascent Church of England Rivkah Zim has pointed out, paraphrasing at a particularly volatile time. As one of involved balancing the personal voice of the the chief architects of the Elizabethan paraphraser with that of the original author. Settlement, Parker used the power of his In Zim’s words, “every imitation is a new position, sometimes forcefully, to ensure work: a re-creation or a transposition, but moderation, balance, and harmony in all never a reproduction, because every imitator aspects of ecclesiastical practice, including is an individual.” 3 By operating in a genre music in the liturgy. Indeed, Parker’s letter that allowed for a great deal of poetic license, to Cecil demonstrates his pride in crafting Parker carefully negotiated between strict a policy that retained music as a prominent translation and personal interpretation in part of Anglican liturgy, yet still guarded order to advance a theological justification against elements of excess feared by many for the inclusion of music in liturgy Protestants of the time. during an era when vocal polyphony and As one of the leading figures in instrumental music in sacred settings Elizabethan England, Parker has received fomented the suspicion of many Protestant substantial scholarly attention. Yet analyses reformers. Indeed, Parker himself was of his involvement in musical questions wary of immoderate music making. Yet tend to focus on his policy rather than rather than dismiss music for its potential theology. This study seeks to explore the spiritual dangers, in this volume he offered 38 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 1 (2020) a guide for how to use music responsibly in values during the reign of Elizabeth I. The worship. Themes of moderation, modesty, genre became popular in part because and self-regulation weave throughout the sixteenth-century reformers and worshippers versifications, offering a guide for using saw the Psalms as a microcosm of the Bible, music in a devotional manner in addition to a common view encapsulated in Thomas justifying sung praise. Analysis of Parker’s East’s assertion, found in the introduction paraphrases in comparison with the poetic to his 1594 collection of metrical psalmody, versifications and Bible translations of his that “The Psalmes of Dauid are a Paraphrasis contemporaries highlights Parker’s defense of the Scriptures: they teach vs thankfulnesse, of church music as a central mode of prayer, and all the duties of a Christian worship for the average English Protestant. whatsoeuer.”4 John Calvin similarly praised Furthermore, comparison of the printed the Book of Psalms, declaring that it 1567 text with Parker’s manuscript held at represented “the Anatomy of all parts of the the Inner Temple Library in London reveals soul.”5 Critically for Protestants, the Psalms that in editing the volume for publication, seemingly justified sung performance of the Parker often chose explicitly musical text, due to their association with King David terms for the printed version. In so doing, and his harp. Thus, the implied biblical the archbishop provided foundational justification of singing psalms, as opposed justification for establishing a central role to simply reciting them, ameliorated fears of for music in Anglican liturgy, harnessing all musical excess. Singing the simultaneously the tools of his humanist training and the personal and universal words of the Book authority of his position to offer a model of Psalms had great spiritual significance for personal and communal devotion that for Protestants in early modern England, celebrated music’s ability to spiritually bridging the spheres of personal devotion enrich while simultaneously warning and communal worship and becoming a against its misuse. marker of Protestant identity.6 Yet music was nevertheless a fraught Reformation Psalms issue during the Reformation. Especially in By the time Parker published his version Calvinist thought, music had the potential of the Psalter, metrical psalmody had to lift the soul to God but also to tempt into already become an integral part of English distraction and sin. Drawing on centuries of Protestant practice and identity. The psalms anxiety about the appropriate role of music had been a pivotal part of Christian worship in church worship, the sixteenth-century for centuries, but during the Protestant reformers struggled within and among Reformation they gained central significance themselves to find music that would inspire in worship and inspired a burgeoning musical genuine devotion rather than lure into worldly genre, complete with a canon of melodically sensuousness. Unison metrical psalmody, simple, monophonic tunes to be sung in sanctioned by Calvin and promoted in unison by congregations. Adopted from England by the returning Marian exiles in the French practice and honed by the Marian 1560s, emerged as a popular solution because exiles during their years in continental of the genre’s scriptural text and musical Europe, English metrical psalmody evolved simplicity. Polyphonic and instrumental into a musical expression of Protestant styles, in contrast, came under attack not only Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 6, No. 1 (2020) 39 because of their association with Catholicism During the Reformation, theologians and the fear of music’s capacity to lull continued to struggle with Augustine’s listeners into sensuousness, but also because grappling with music’s simultaneous dense musical textures meant obfuscation of potential for sensuality and religiosity. the sacred Word—a point of critical concern Their conclusions formed an extensive for Protestant reformers. spectrum of opinions under the umbrella of The anxiety about the pleasures and Protestantism.10 Martin Luther embraced a perils of music that proliferated during the wide range of music making as a God-given Reformation can perhaps be best understood gift, leading him to declare, “Next to the through the spiritual struggles of Saint Word of God, music deserves the highest Augustine of Hippo (354–430 c.e.). One of praise.”11 The fact that he coopted secular the most influential of the Church fathers,7 tunes, retained Latin text in some instances, Augustine admitted in his Confessions that and supported both polyphonic and he sometimes wished “to banish all the instrumental music in sacred music settings melodies and sweet chants commonly