John Playford (b. Norwich, England, 1623; d. London, England, 1686) composed BRISTOL for his musical edition of The Whole Book of Psalms (1677). BRISTOL, named after the British city, was the only newly composed tune for that psalter. (Several other tunes use the same name.) BRISTOL was originally in three parts; the alto and tenor lines in the more typical four-part composition replaced the original middle part. The result is a rhythmically playful setting that moves into a triple meter on the last line. Emphasize the final stanza with a change in registration and a more stately tempo.
Playford was a bookseller, a clerk at the Temple Church, and choral vicar at St. Paul Cathedral. But he is primarily known for his music publishing. In order to publish in seventeenth-century England it was necessary to have the approval of the Stationers' Company, which Playford received. In 1603 King James I granted the Stationers' Company the privilege of being the sole printers of metrical psalters.
Because Playford was the primary publisher of the time, he published nearly all the psalters. Through his publishing he also encouraged better congregational singing of the psalms, especially in three-part harmony. Playford's best-known collection is his 1677 psalter, The Whole Book of Psalms; with the Usual Hymns and Spiritual Songs; together with all the Ancient and proper Tunes Sung in Churches, with some of Later Use. Composed in Three Parts, Cantus, Medius, and Bassus: In a More Plain and Useful Method than hath been formerly Published.
--Psalter Hymnal Handbook
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