NUNC DIMITTIS (Bourgeois)

Composer: Louis Bourgeois

Louis Bourgeois (b. Paris, France, c. 1510; d. Paris, 1561). In both his early and later years Bourgeois wrote French songs to entertain the rich, but in the history of church music he is known especially for his contribution to the Genevan Psalter. Apparently moving to Geneva in 1541, the same year John Calvin returned to Geneva from Strasbourg, Bourgeois served as cantor and master of the choristers at both St. Pierre and St. Gervais, which is to say he was music director there under the pastoral leadership of Calvin. Bourgeois used the choristers to teach the new psalm tunes to the congregation. The extent of Bourgeois's involvement in the Genevan Psalter is a matter of scholar­ly debate. Calvin had published several partial psalter… Go to person page >

Harmonizer: Claude Goudimel

The music of Claude Goudimel (b. Besançon, France, c. 1505; d. Lyons, France, 1572) was first published in Paris, and by 1551 he was composing harmonizations for some Genevan psalm tunes-initially for use by both Roman Catholics and Protestants. He became a Calvinist in 1557 while living in the Huguenot community in Metz. When the complete Genevan Psalter with its unison melodies was published in 1562, Goudimel began to compose various polyphonic settings of all the Genevan tunes. He actually composed three complete harmonizations of the Genevan Psalter, usually with the tune in the tenor part: simple hymn-style settings (1564), slightly more complicated harmonizations (1565), and quite elaborate, motet-like settings (1565-1566). The vario… Go to person page >

Tune Information

Title: NUNC DIMITTIS (Bourgeois)
Composer: Louis Bourgeois (1551)
Harmonizer: Claude Goudimel (1551)
Meter: 6.6.7.6.6.7
Incipit: 56543 24312 21155
Key: F Major
Source: Pseaulmes cinquante de David, 1547;Genevan Cantique de Simeon
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

Louis Bourgeois (PHH 3) composed NUNC DIMITTIS for the Song of Simeon; the tune was first published in the 1547 edition of the Genevan Psalter. Claude Goudimel (PHH 6) wrote the harmonization in 1564 with the melody originally in the tenor voice. Some Christian denominations associate this tune with the ancient Greek "Candlelight Hymn," which begins with the words "O gladsome Light, O grace" in the translation by Matthew Bridges (PHH 410).

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 1988

Timeline

Arrangements

Harmonizations, Introductions, Descants, Intonations

  • The Art of Hymn Playing Volume 2: 250 Preludes Introductions Free Accompaniments & Alternate Harmonizations
    Composer/Editor Charles Callahan
    Published By: MorningStar Music Publishers, Inc. (2009) pp. 99
  • The Art of Hymn Playing Volume 2: 250 Preludes Introductions Free Accompaniments & Alternate Harmonizations
    Composer/Editor Charles Callahan
    Published By: MorningStar Music Publishers, Inc. (2009) pp. 99
  • The Concordia Hymn Prelude Series Volume 34: General: Nun danket - O Jesu
    Composer/Editors Richard Hillert; Melvin Rotermund
    Published By: Concordia Publishing House (1985) pp. 21
  • Free Harmonizations of Hymn Tunes: By Fifty American Composers
    Composer/Editor D. DeWitt Wasson
    Published By: Hinshaw Music, Inc. (1984) pp. 88

Organ Solo

  • Hymn Prelude Library Volume Eight Tunes NO: Lutheran Service Book
    Composer/Editors Kevin J. Hildebrand; Stephen Rosebrock
    Published By: Concordia Publishing House (2015) pp. 58
  • The Eventide Collection: Organ
    Composer/Editor Franklin D. Ashdown
    Published By: Concordia Publishing House (2006) pp. 27
  • Organ Classics for Weddings & Worship Services: Moderately Easy
    Composer/Editor Carroll Thomas Andrews
    Published By: Lillenas Publishing Company (1998) pp. 27
  • Great Evening Hymns Music for Manuals
    Composer/Editor Charles Callahan
    Published By: MorningStar Music Publishers, Inc. (1997) pp. 4
  • The Concordia Hymn Prelude Series Volume 34: General: Nun danket - O Jesu
    Composer/Editors Richard Hillert; Melvin Rotermund
    Published By: Concordia Publishing House (1985) pp. 20
  • The Concordia Hymn Prelude Series Volume 24: General: Ed - Ew
    Composer/Editors Herbert Gotsch; Richard W. Gieseke
    Published By: Concordia Publishing House (1983) pp. 18
  • A Christmas Suite: Four Organ Preludes
    Composer/Editor Gordon Young
    Published By: Hope Publishing Company (1970) pp. 9
  • The Organ Portfolio Volume 25 Number 5 June 1962: A Bi-Monthly Magazine for Church Organists
    Composer/Editors Ellen Jane Lorenz; Charles E. Sergisson
    Published By: Lorenz Publishing Company (1962) pp. 46
  • The Organ Portfolio Volume 17 Number 2 December 1953: Voluntaries for the Church Organ
    Composer/Editors Ellen Jane Lorenz; Johann Sebastian Bach
    Published By: Lorenz Publishing Company (1953) pp. 56

Piano Solo

  • Creative Keyboard's Complete Church Pianist: Hymn Arrangements for Every Occasion
    Composer/Editor Gail Smith
    Published By: Creative Keyboard Publications (2000) pp. 30

Voices: Vocal Solo

  • Gathering to Praise: Songs of Celebration for a New Day
    Composer/Editors Nancy Schaefer; Romona D. Colao
    Published By: Word Music Group, LLC (1981) pp. 33

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Exclude 23 pre-1979 instances
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