Fortress Press

In A History of Christian Psalmody, Charles H. Cosgrove traces the history of Christian psalm-singing during the church's first five centuries. It describes the nature and development of psalmody in a wide range of settings, including personal and domestic devotion, daily cathedral rituals, annual feasts such as Christmas and Easter, the ascetic practices of city Christians and desert monks, and public events of the church such as martyr parades, episcopal processions, and even protest psalmody in the streets against hostile emperors. It also explains how psalms were performed, including topics such as solo and responsorial singing, antiphony, the earliest choirs, and the melodic character of ancient psalmody. A final chapter describes ancient Christian beliefs about the benefits and pleasures of psalm-singing. Written accessibly for both scholars and general readers interested in ancient Christian music, the book offers the most comprehensive account of its subject to date.