Becker Psalter

The Becker Psalter is a German metrical psalter authored by the Leipzig theologian Cornelius Becker and first published by Jakob Apel in Liepzig in 1602 under the title "Der Psalter Davids Gesangweis." Several composers set the psalms to new melodies, notably Heinrich Schütz, whose four-voice chorales were published in 1628 and revised and expanded in 1661. The 1602 publication was without melodies and meant to be sung to other well-known Lutheran hymns. Becker included in his Psalter earlier Lutheran paraphrases of psalms, such as "Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir", "Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein", "Erbarm dich mein", "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott".

Heinrich Schütz welcomed the theological intentions of this new metrical version, and composed the melodies, which he published twice during his lifetime (1628, 1661 (revised and enlarged)), together with four-part musical settings. Outside Dresden only a few of these Psalms have become popular.

External links

• Facsimile of the 1602 publication of the full text, courtesy of Bavarian State Library, Munich (Germany)
• Scan of the Breitkopf & Härtel publication of Heinrich Schütz' composition, as edited by Philipp Spitta (1841–1894) at IMSLP (Petrucci Music Library)