OLD 107TH

Composer (attributed to): 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 107 first appeared in the 1551 edition of the Genevan Psalter. Dale Grotenhuis (PHH 4) harmonized the tune in 1986. Composed in the Dorian mode this Genevan tune consists of four long lines, each of which has two phrases; lines 1 and 2 share melodic and rhythmic patterns, and lines 3 and 4 also have similar rhythms. Psalm 107 is a joyous song that needs strong organ accompaniment. Signal the internal refrain in the last half of stanzas 2 through 5 ("Bless him, his love proclaim. . .") by changing organ registration or texture.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 1988