Christopher Smart, Hymns and Spiritual Songs

Neil Curry (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1763

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poem collection

Resources

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What needs to be made clear from the outset is that Christopher Smart never intended his

Hymns and Spiritual Songs

to be sung. It was his metrical version of The Psalms which he meant to be put to music. In

Jubilate Agno

(D. 217) he had written “I pray for a musician or musicians to set the new psalms.” And they were. In 1765, two years after their publication, J. Walsh, a bookseller whose speciality was music, brought out

A Collection of Melodies for the Psalms of David According to the Version of Christopher Smart, M.A., by the most eminent Composers of Church Music.

And eminent they were. They included the organists of Westminster Abbey and of King’s College Cambridge, and William Boyce, Master of His Majesty’s Band of Musick. Sadly, there is no evidence that this music was…

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2219 words

Citation: Curry, Neil. "Hymns and Spiritual Songs". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 July 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=24828, accessed 23 November 2024.]

Christopher Smart, Hymns and Spiritual Songs

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