Psalm Fantasies

I "York";
II "Old 107th";
III "Mon Dieu, Prete-moi L'Oreille" based on Psalm 86

Composer Notes... Settings of melodies from the Scottish Psalters of 1615 and 1635 with a third tune from the Genevan Psalter of 1543.
Why ‘Psalm’ and not Hymn or Chorale Fantasies? The answer lies in the austere character of the Scottish Presbyterian Church with its Calvinist origins. Anything not found in the Bible was not allowed in worship – so no organs, no hymns, no Christmas carols. Psalms were sung because they are Biblical. And they were sung in translation into metric verse. So the melodies resembled hymn tunes or Chorale melodies. Later when the rules were relaxed and organs and hymn singing allowed, the two categories remained separate and were published in separate books.