The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want

If there is no Psalm like the 23rd, there may never be another version like this one. In Scotland it has never lost its popularity; in England it was included in The Church Hymnal for the Christian Year (1917) set to WILTSHIRE and WALDEN, as was Sternhold’s ‘Old Version’ text and Addison’s much smoother treatment; see notes on 23C. But the trigger for its enormous vogue during the 2nd half of the 20th-c was its inclusion in the 1947 Marriage Service of Princess (later Queen) Elizabeth and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, followed by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth’s Silver Wedding celebrations a year later. Even then it took time to sweep the board; of two major Anglican books, the first complete A&M to include it was the 1983 edition, while the New English Hymnal caught up in 1986. The text is that of the 1650 Psalter with minor variants (3.1, 4.3) common to other books. But William Whittingham’s 1556 text contributes to our familiar ‘23rd Psalm’, as do 6 other sources, according to Millar Patrick. Francis Rous may have had the last word in editing, following the Westminster Assembly revisions (1638–43); whatever we think of its famous inversions, it should never be said (though it often is!) that committees do not produce enduring hymnody. One analysis attributes one line to King James’ version (1631–36), 2 to Thos Sternhold, 3 to Wm Mure of Rowallan, 4 to Zachary Boyd (1644–48), 8 to the Westminster version (1647)—and just one apiece to Rous and Whittingham whose names too often appear as the main or only joint authors. More recently Stuart Townend is one of those who have borrowed line 1. The tune CRIMOND is named after the Aberdeenshire village where its supposed composer Jessie Irvine grew up in her father’s manse. Its popularity outside Scotland has gone hand in hand with that of the paraphrase. It was published in Aberdeen in 1872 (to accompany G W Doane’s Thou art the way), dated 1871, ascribed to David Grant, and even noted as his in the Preface. In 1908 or 1911 Anna Irvine claimed, apparently for the first time, that he had simply harmonised a melody of her sister Jessie, who by then had been deceased for more than 20 years. Other evidence seemed to support Grant as the composer; see HSB176 (July 1988). Thomas Pritchard’s arrangement, featuring as a Psalm tune in The Scottish Psalter of 1929, is used in the Church Hymnary 3rd Edn, Anglican Hymn Book and elsewhere. But no book had published this text and tune together until The School Hymn Book of the Methodist Church in 1950, soon followed by countless others. Before then both MARTYRDOM and WILTSHIRE (14 and 127) were in use in Scotland, and could even make interesting variations today.

b Chester 1524, d Durham 1579. He married John Calvin’s sister at Geneva, succeeding John Knox as Pastor of the English-speaking congregation there. 7 of his Psalm versions formed part of a collection of 51, the rest by Sternhold and Hopkins, published there in 1556, six years before their full ‘Old Version’. Whittingham was Dean of Durham from 1563 to his death. (His 19th-c namesake was a hymnwriting American bishop.) No.23B*.