| |
| Id |
6212 |
| Category |
antiquarian music |
| Author / Composer |
LAWES, Henry (1596-1662) |
| Title |
A Paraphrase upon the Divine Poems by George Sandys. |
| Place |
London |
| Publisher |
At the Bell in St. Pauls Church-yard |
| Publication Date |
1638 |
| ISBN / Plate No. |
|
| Series |
|
| Size |
4to. [xxii], 55, [xii], 171; 15; 33pp. |
| Description |
Original leather (worn), rebacked. P.13 with printer's manuscript correction to second line. Title-page with woodcut device. Dedication to Charles I on verso of title-page. The colophon reads 'London, Printed by John Legatt, 1637'. The ‘poet-adventurer’ George Sandys (1577-1644), whom Dryden named ‘the best versifier’ of his age, had published an octavo collection A Paraphrase upon the Psalmes of David in 1636; here he adds paraphrases of Job, Ecclesiastes, and the Lamentations of Jeremiah, and a few songs collected out of prose books of the Bible, with commendatory poems from, among others, Henry King, Sidney Godolphin, Thomas Carew, and Edmund Waller, several meditating upon the growing troubles of the kingdom. Twenty-four of the Psalms are ‘Set to new Tunes for private Devotion: and a thorow Base, for Voice, or Instrument’ by Henry Lawes (1596-1662), ‘the most famous songwriter of his age’ and a friend of Milton (Oxford DNB); probably intended for performance by the Chapel Royal, they are the first works by Lawes to appear in print. The psalms comprise twenty-four tunes in various metres; tuneful and dignified, some of them, ‘Whitehall’ (Psalm viii), ‘Falkland’ (Psalm xii), ‘Battle’ (Psalm xxxi), ‘Psalm 32’ and ‘Farley Castle’ (Psalm 52), are still in use as hymn tunes today. |
| Reference |
First edition; the issue with the Dedication to Charles I on the verso of the title-page. RISM A/I/5 and A/I/12 L 1160. BUC p.603. Bowers & Davis 4(a). Pforzheimer 852. STC 21725. |
| Price |
£1500.00 |
|
