On September 2022 the 7th Congress 'Of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions' met at a global event that took place in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. It was attended by prominent religious leaders, such as Pope Francis, the Grand Imam of Al Azhar, and the Chief Rabbis of the Ashkenazi and the Sephardic, as well as political and cultural delegations from 60 countries. The Congress aimed to foster unity, peace, and harmony among different faiths and civilizations, especially in the post-pandemic and post-Ukrainian crisis world. The Congress adopted the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and issued an appeal to all people of goodwill to contribute to the security and well-being of the planet.
The sole surviving source for this verse anthem is the so-called Batten Organ Book (a.k.a. Tenbury MS 791) compiled around 1630. Its 6 vocal parts were reconstructed by David Wulstan in the second half of the 20th Century from a keyboard manuscript containing hundreds of organ reductions from the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean periods. The text was adapted from the 103rd Psalm of King David in the English translation of the Geneva Bible. Many modern groups have arranged performance for a 5 viol ensemble and 6 part choir (as was commonly done in the Jacobean court), but I chose the less imaginative mould of using a church organ and choir. After all, Orlando Gibbons was the appointed church organist at the Chapel Royal where he was employed at the time of this composition.
Text:
Praise the Lord o my soul
and all that is within me praise his holy name
and forget not all his benefits
Praise the Lord all ye his works
in all places of his dominion
Great is our lord
and great is his pow'r
Marvellous, worthy to be prais'd
Yea, and his wisdom is infinite
O Lord thy God of Zion
shall be king forever more
and throughout all generations.
O sing praises
sing ye praises unto God.
Description of the photos:
1. Psalm 102 and 103 from the first edition of the King James Bible (1611). Although the newly released King James was the more popular and widely distributed bible in Gibbons' time, it appears that Gibbons (and other contemporary composers) used the English translation of the Geneva Bible for song text.
2. Choir of the Hampton Palace Chapel where Gibbons likely performed his music as a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal.
3. Cover page of the first edition of the King James Bible, 1611. During Gibbons lifetime, there was a renewed interest in creating a more perfect translation of the bible into the English language, and this was its final product after a 7 year long project.
4. Pipes from the organ at St Nicholas in Stanford on Avon
5. Ceiling of the Hampton Palace Chapel
6. Pipe organ from the St Nicholas in Stanford on Avon (Northhamptonshire). The original base for this instrument was created by Thomas and Robert Dallam for Magdalen College (Oxford) around 1631 and was a design familiar to Gibbons.
7. King David singing the psalms and playing his harp, Peter Paul Rubens
8. Memorial bust for Orlando Gibbons, Nicholas Stone, 1626