PSALMODY, in its widest sense, is the singing of the Psalms of David and other sacred songs; hut from the beginning of the reformation period, the term .has been restricted to the singing of metrical versions of the Psalms to short simple airs. Psalm t,inging was of ancient date among the Jews, and was practiced from the first ages of Christianity; the charge of Pliny the younger against the Christians was, that they sang Psalms to Christ "quasi Dee." No authentic record, however, exists of the kind of melodies sung to the psalms by the primitive Christians. The practice of singing psalms in antiphony, or by two choirs, as still practiced (see ANTIPHONY), was introduced at an early period; it is said to have been begun in the eastern church by Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, in the 2d c.; and in the western church by Ambrose, bishop of Milan, in the 4th century. Al first the whole congregation, clergy and laity, joined in the psalm; hut difficulties and abuses arose from the growing neglect of musical cultivation; and,with a view of restoring public decency and order, the council of Laodicea, in the year 363, considered it necessary to forbid the laity to sing in church at all, except in certain sim ple chants of a popular description. Down to the reformation, the music of the church was surrendered to the clergy and trained musicians.
Psalmody, in the more modern sense, began in the 16th c., when Clement Marot, the court-poet of Francis I. of France, translated 52 of the psalms into French verse, dedi cating them both to his royal master—whom he likened to the Hebrew psalmist—and to the ladies of France. The sacred song-book, on its first appearance, not being accom panied by music, it became the practice to sing the psalms to favorite tunes—often those of popular ballads, and for a considerable time psalm-singing became a favorite fashion among the gay courtiers of Francis. Marot's collection was continued and concluded by Theodore Beza, whose psalms had the advantage of being set to music, Beza having in this the assistance of Calvin, wlm engaged the best composers of the day to unite his sacred songs with beautiful and simple airs of a devotional character. Psalm-singing
was taken up by the reformers, first for private devotion, and soon as part of the service of the church, Luther and Calvin restoring to the people their share in the musical part of public worship, and furnishing them with the means of performing it. From the time that psalm-singing was adopted by the reformers, it was discountenanced by the Roman Catholics, and soon came to be regarded as a badge of Protestantism. Luther and Calvin differed, however, in their ideal of psalmody: the former was favorable to harmony in parts, while the latter confined himself to the bare unaccompanied melody. Once taken up by the Calvinists and Lutherans, psalmodyspread over France, Germany, and the Low Countries, and reached England at the moment of her embracing the reformation. The first English metrical version of the Psalms was made in the reign of Henry VIII. by Thomas Sternhold, a native of Hampshire, groom of the robes to king Henry, aided by John Hopkins and William Whyttinghame. Vocal psalmody was soon after introduced into the church-service, the choral mode of singing being still retained in cathedrals and collegiate churches, and the liturgic hymns being retained in the prayer-book. Of the psalm-tunes which came into use, some have been attributed to Claude Goudimel, Claude le Rune, and Guillaume Franc, and a few owe their origin to Luther. The well-known 100th psalm is an adaptation of Gregorian phrases by Guil laume Franc. The first important collection of psalm-tunes for four voices published in England was made by Thomas Ravenscroft, Mus. Bac., and appeared in 1621; it was entitled " The whole Booke of Psalms, etc., composed into four parts by authors, to such several tunes as have been and are usually sung in England, Scotland, Wales.