Psalm 98

Chantez à Dieu nouveau cantique

also paraphrased as
Sing to the Lord new songs delightful
Entonnons un nouveau cantique
New songs of celebration render

with GENEVAN 98/118

I. French Text

After the death of Clément Marot in 1544 and a brief intervening period of no clear literary leadership, the task of completing the French metrical psalter was taken up by Théodore de Bèze, a skilled theologian and poet who would later succeed Jean Calvin as head of the church at Geneva. Marot had left behind 49 psalm paraphrases, meaning de Bèze was responsible for writing the other 101. One of the texts to appear in the final collected volume, Les Pseaumes mis en rime françois (Geneva, 1562), was this paraphrase of Psalm 98, “Chantez à Dieu nouveau cantique.” The paraphrase includes 4 stanzas of eight lines, with an alternating rhyme scheme of ababcdcd.

On the musical side, following the departure of Loys Bourgeois from Geneva in 1557, the composer known in Genevan records as Maitre Pierre produced some additional tunes, but in this case, the text for Psalm 98 was paired with one of the earlier tunes, written for Psalm 118. For the background of this tune and its earliest printings, see the article for “Rendez à Dieu.”

II. Early English Paraphrase

Unlike Psalm 118, which was adapted for the Scottish psalter of 1564, this French version of Psalm 98 was not translated or imitated in either the English (1562) or Scottish (1564) metrical psalters. One of the few attempts (or possibly the only attempt) to convert the French of Théodore de Bèze into English was made by John Standish in All the French Psalm Tunes with English Words (1632; 2nd ed. 1650). “Sing to the Lord new songs delightful” preserves the four-stanza structure and the rhyme scheme of the French. In this version, the corresponding Bible verses were numbered for helpful comparison, rather than numbering the stanzas. Standish’s paraphrase has not entered into common use.

III. Modern French and English Paraphrases

In the 1970s, two new paraphrases of Psalm 98 emerged as texts suitable for singing with the old French tune. The first of these was produced by Roger Chapal (1912–1998), “Entonnons un nouveau cantique,” published in his collection 75 Psaumes (Strasbourg: Oberlin, 1970 | Fig. 3), in four stanzas of eight lines. Chapal was a minister in the l’Église réformée de France (Reformed Church of France).

Chapal’s text is generally faithful to the biblical text, with some ideas overlapping between stanzas. The only omission is any mention of playing with lyres. In the opening phrases, he included a purpose for singing a new song: to celebrate the Savior God. In the original psalm, the judgment comes at the end, but in Chapal’s text, this appears at the ends of stanzas 3 and 4.

The same year Chapal’s paraphrase was published, a committee was formed to produce a fourth edition of the multi-lingual songbook Cantate Domino (1924, 1930, 1950), under the direction of the World Council of Churches. Among the committee members was Erik Routley (1917–1982), who was made chairman. From the work of Chapal, the committee gleaned his paraphrases of Psalms 42–43, Psalm 98, Psalm 100, and Psalm 138. Routley prepared the English translation of Psalm 98 in 1972, and this was published in the hymnal in 1974 (Fig. 4). The melody was attributed to the 1551 Genevan psalter. Routley omitted Chapal’s original second stanza, possibly because much of it is a repetition of ideas from the first, except for God’s “grâce et sa fidélité” (grace and faithfulness), a direct reference to verse 3 of the psalm.

Routley later explained part of his motivation for preparing this paraphrase, in relation to the way the Genevan tune had become disassociated from psalmic texts in English hymnals:

This great tune has always, in English-speaking use, been confined to devotional occasions: “Bread of the world” and “Father we thank thee” are its usual associations, giving it only at most two stanzas. But the Genevan Psalter set it to the jubilant Psalms 98 and 118, which is why this version was written. It wants, of course, a thoroughly open-hearted and festive interpretation.[1]

Routley’s text is not a strict translation from Chapal. Although it follows a similar three-stanza structure, Routley’s paraphrase more closely aligns with the flow of thought in the original psalm, such as saving the justice of God for the end of the song. In the first stanza, he borrowed Chapal’s language of celebration, and he altered the perspective somewhat by mentioning the foes of God who are brought to submission by his mighty arm:

Awed by his power his foes surrender
And fall before the mighty One.

In the second stanza, Routley called on trumpets and organs to make music, a slight instrumental divergence. In the third stanza, he expanded on God’s righteousness, calling him also “commanding” and “ever glorious.”

The year after Cantate Domino was published, Routley’s text appeared in New Church Praise (1975 | Fig. 5), but with replacements for lines 3–4 in the first stanza, thus bringing the text closer in line with the original psalm:

Love sits enthroned in ageless splendour:
Come and adore the mighty one.

The impetus behind the revision is unclear, whether it was Routley’s own idea or the recommendation of someone on the hymnal’s committee. Routley wrote the forward for the collection and was co-editor. The musical setting included a harmonization, uncredited, by British composer-scholar John Wilson (1905–1992), who had also served on the committee for the hymnal. The melody was precisely credited to the 1545 Strasbourg collection, as revised in the 1551 Genevan collection.

The Full Music Edition of Catante Domino (1980 | Fig. 6) kept the original version of Routley’s text, and it used the harmonization by John Wilson, here dated 1964. Wilson’s harmonization was first printed in Hymns for Church and School (1964) at nos. 205 and 340; Routley wrote a historical essay for the hymnal.

In the last hymnal Routley edited, Rejoice in the Lord (1985 | Fig. 7), he used the revised text from 1975, and he included a different harmonization by John Wilson, this one dated 1979.

Lastly, one other harmonization in circulation is by Routley himself, first printed in Ecumenical Praise (1977 | Fig. 8), for which he was on the editorial board. It was uncredited in that collection, but credited to him in other collections.[2] This version uses the original 1974 text.

IV. Assessment of Routley’s Text

Routley’s paraphrase has been widely adopted in English hymnals. Hymn scholar Raymond Glover said of it:

This hymn is not a slavish copy [of Chapal], but a fresh interpretation of the psalm, one bursting with dynamic energy. For example, resonance and vitality stand out in his use of words: “joyfully, heartily, resounding,” “rivers and seas and torrents roaring,” and “peal out the praise of grace abounding.” Dr. Routley has captured in contemporary language the spirit of the psalmist with whom we join in praising God as Creator, Savior, and Judge.[3]

Carl Daw noted Routley’s extensive use of long words:

Unlike many earlier attempts to fit English texts to Genevan tunes, Routley does not limit himself to the usual hoard of Anglo-Saxon monosyllables, whose jostling angularity lacks the smoothness needed for tunes created to carry supple French. Clusters of multisyllables like “unending righteousness” . . . seem remarkably at home with this music.[4]

Additionally, Daw saw Routley’s opening line, based on Chapal’s, as “a distinctly fresh expression of the overfamiliar command to ‘sing to the Lord a new song.’” Lutheran scholar Henry Gerike found much to be admired in the final stanza:

Especially in this stanza, the author uses fresh, dynamic language to capture the thoughts of the psalmist: “rivers and seas and torrents roaring, honor the Lord with wild acclaim.” Such freshness is winsome indeed in putting psalms into our mouths and hearts.[5]

Gerike noted one potential drawback of the paraphrase in the obscuring of the psalm’s reference to the Lord coming to judge the earth; a clearer mention of that event would make the hymn better suited for Advent.

by CHRIS FENNER
for Hymnology Archive
13 October 2020
rev. 29 October 2020

Footnotes:

1. Erik Routley, unpublished (and incomplete) companion to Rejoice in the Lord, in the possession of hymnal committee member Norman Kansfield, made available for this article 12 Oct. 2020.

2. See especially Glover & Leaver, “New songs of celebration render,” The Hymnal 1982 Companion, vol. 3B (1994), p. 778.

3. Raymond Glover, “New songs of celebration render,” The Hymnal 1982 Companion, vol. 3B (1994), p. 777.

4. Carl P. Daw Jr., “New songs of celebration render,” Glory to God: A Companion (2016), p. 378.

5. Henry V. Gerike, “New songs of celebration render,” Lutheran Service Book Companion to the Hymns, vol. 1 (2019), p. 1174.

Related Resources:

John Wilson, Sixteen Hymns of Today for Use as Simple Anthems (Croyden, England: Royal School of Church Music, 1978).

Richard Watson & Kenneth Trickett, “New songs of celebration render,” Companion to Hymns and Psalms (Peterborough: Methodist Publishing House, 1988), pp. 295–296.

Raymond Glover & Robin A. Leaver, “New songs of celebration render,” The Hymnal 1982 Companion, vol. 3B (NY: Church Hymnal Corp., 1994), pp. 776–778.

Carl P. Daw Jr., “New songs of celebration render,” Glory to God: A Companion (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2016), pp. 377–379.

Henry V. Gerike & Joseph Herl, “New songs of celebration render,” Lutheran Service Book Companion to the Hymns, vol. 1 (St. Louis: Concordia, 2019), pp. 1174–1175.

“New songs of celebration render,” Our Lives Be Praise: The Hymn Tunes, Carols, and Texts of Erik Routley (Carol Stream, IL: Hope, 1990), no. 128.

Nancy Wicklund Gray, “New songs of celebration render,” Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology:
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/n/new-songs-of-celebration-render

“New songs of celebration render,” Hymnary.org:
https://hymnary.org/text/new_songs_of_celebration_render