Claude Goudimel – Psalm 40

Good Shepherd Catholic Church Choir
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Cristiano Rizzotto, director
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Psalm 40 – Claude Goudimel (1514 – 1572)

1. Aprés avoir constanment attendu, de l’eternel la volonté,
Il s’est tourne de mon costé, et a mon cri au besoin entendu,
Hors de fançe et d’or dure, et profondeur obscure, d’un gouffre m’a tiré:
a mes piés affermis, et au chemin remis, sur un roc asseuré.

2. J’ay publie ta justice et presché, voire sans feindreˬaucunément:
Seigneur tu le sais, et comment rien je n’en ay tenu clos ne caché,
Ta loyauté constante, ton aide tant puissante Je déclareˬa chacun:
J’annonce ta bonté et grandˈ fidélité, au milieu du commun.

Translation:

1. After patiently waiting for the eternal will of God,
he turned to my side and he heard my cry of need
and out of the deep dark abyss that calls me he pulled me:
My feet he made firm and put me on the right path, on a firm rock.

2. I have announced your justice and proclaimed it
even without pretending to anyone, Lord, you know it.
And know, I have kept nothing closed or hidden.
Your constant loyalty, your help, so powerful, I declare it to everyone.
I announce your kindness and great fidelity in the midst of the people.

Number of voices: 4vv Voicing: SATB
Genre: Sacred, Hymn
Language: French
Instruments: A cappella
Published: 1564

Description: The tune (appears in the tenor) and text were published in Les pseaumes mis en rime francoise by Clément Marot, & Théodore de Bèze. Goudimel publshed a harmonization in 'Les Cent Cinquante Psaumes de David' of 1564.

The Middle French varies somewhat from modern French usage.

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Claude Goudimel (c. 1514 to 1520 – between 28 August and 31 August 1572) was a French composer, music editor and publisher, and music theorist of the Renaissance.

Claude Goudimel was born in Besançon. Few details of his life are known until he is documented in Paris in 1549, where he was studying at the University of Paris; in that year he also published a book of chansons. In the early 1550s he worked with printer Nicolas Du Chemin, and may have still been studying at the University of Paris until 1555; by 1555 he was also Du Chemin's partner in the publishing business.

Goudimel moved to Metz in 1557, converting to Protestantism, and is known to have been associated with the Huguenot cause there; however he left Metz due to the increasing hostility of the city authorities to Protestants during the Wars of Religion. First he settled in his native town of Besançon, and later moved to Lyon.

He was murdered in Lyon sometime between 28 and 31 August 1572, during the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, along with much of the Huguenot population of the city.

Music and influence

Goudimel is most famous for his four-part settings of the psalms of the Genevan Psalter, in the French versions of Clément Marot. In one of his four complete editions he puts - unlike other settings at the time - the melody in the topmost voice, the method which has prevailed in hymnody to the present day. In addition he composed masses, motets, and a considerable body of secular chansons, almost all of which date from before his conversion to Protestantism (probably around 1560). Goudimel’s style tends to be homophonic, with an intriguing use of syncopated rhythm and melisma and staggered voice entries to bring out inner parts, especially in the chansons. His Psalm settings, however, are more polyphonic, characteristic of the moderate contrapuntal style exemplified by the chansons of Jacques Arcadelt, an approximate contemporary.

The widespread claim that he taught Palestrina is now regarded as untenable.

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Golden Valley, MN 55426
Phone: 763-544-0416
Fax: 763-544-9896

Video production: Clara & Cristiano Rizzotto.

Видео Claude Goudimel – Psalm 40 канала Dr. Kristina Rizzotto