GENEVAN 133

Composer: Louis Bourgeois

Louis Bourgeois (b. Paris, France, c. 1510; d. Paris, 1561). In both his early and later years Bourgeois wrote French songs to entertain the rich, but in the history of church music he is known especially for his contribution to the Genevan Psalter. Apparently moving to Geneva in 1541, the same year John Calvin returned to Geneva from Strasbourg, Bourgeois served as cantor and master of the choristers at both St. Pierre and St. Gervais, which is to say he was music director there under the pastoral leadership of Calvin. Bourgeois used the choristers to teach the new psalm tunes to the congregation. The extent of Bourgeois's involvement in the Genevan Psalter is a matter of scholar­ly debate. Calvin had published several partial psalter… Go to person page >

GENEVAN 133 first appeared in the 1551 edition of the Genevan Psalter. Howard Slenk (PHH 3) harmonized the tune in 1985. Composed in the Ionian mode (major), GENEVAN 133 consists of six lines that group into two very long melodic curves with identical cadences at the ends of lines 3 and 6. Sing the tune at a brisk pace in a festive manner with crisp organ articulation.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 1988