Psalm 116 (Lynar B7)

The Lynar manuscripts were preserved in the holdings of the Duke of Lynar in Lübbenau, and are therefore also known as the Lübbenauer Orgeltabulaturen. The seventh manuscript in the B-series contains 5 anonymous choral preludes/variations to Psalms. As Psalms were and are widely sung in the protestatns churches in the Netherlands this fits with the supposition that the composer or composers of these works must have been student of Sweelinck.

About half a year ago I published the first two Psalms from this manuscript, so it's about time for the remaining four. The first of these is Psalm 116. It has 4 variations, two of which have the psalm melody in the soprano voice. The other two have the psalm melody in the tenor voice (third variation) and the bass voice (last variation). The second variation is rhythmically a bit tricky to play as it mixes triplets of quarter and eighth notes with 'normal' quearter, eighth and sixteenth notes. When I was transcribing the composition my first idea was that the last variation could be played with the pedals. Bar 15 made me change my mind: it has a rather rapid flourish that's not really suited for the feet.

Score available here: http://partitura.org/index.php/anonymus-psalm-116-lynar-b7