Singing the Reformation in English: A Historical and Practical Introduction to Miles Coverdale’s Goostly Psalmes and Spirituall Songes

25 October 2017 @ 5:00 pm - 7:30 pm

Goostly psalmes and spirituall
songes drawen out of the holy Scripture, for
the comforte and consolacyon of soch as
loue to reioyse in God and his Worde (The
Queen’s College Library, shelf mark
Sel.d.81(4))

Shulman Theatre,
The Queen’s College,
High Street,
OX1 4AW

Henrike Lähnemann, Chair of Medieval German Literature and Linguistics and Fellow of St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford

Wednesday, 25 October 2017 at 5pm in the Shulman Theatre, The Queen’s College, followed by Evensong at 6.30 with hymns from Coverdale’s hymnbook

2017 sees the 500th anniversary of the publication of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses which set in motion the German Reformation. Its rapid spread was based on the successful combination of three key activities: printing, translating – and singing! The Queen’s College Library holds a unique object which brings these three key themes together: the only surviving copy of the first printed hymnbook, Miles Coverdale’s Goostly psalmes and spirituall songes drawen out of the holy Scripture, for the comforte and consolacyon of soch as loue to reioyse in God and his Worde (The Queen’s College Library, shelf mark Sel.d.81(4)). In the lecture, Henrike Lähnemann will provide a hands-on (and voice-on) exploration of the new genre of the Protestant hymn book.

The talk is part of the programme of the ‘Workshop for Manuscript and Text Cultures’ (WMTC) at The Queen’s College; it will be followed by Evensong in chapel in which some of the hymns from Coverdale’s hymnbook will feature.

View the talk online at http://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/singing-reformation-english.