The world of Reformation Britain: seen and heard in the Wode Psalter

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For the very first time the eight surviving Part-books that comprise the Wode Psalter will be brought from Washington, Dublin, London and Edinburgh to be seen together in exhibition during the 2011 Edinburgh International Festival. The Psalter will also be heard: a selection of music from the Psalter will be performed in two concerts and recorded on disc. These music manuscripts offer an ideal mirror for reflecting the multi-faceted world of Reformation Britain. In addition to their music, they reveal new insights about religious worship and devotion, poetry, painting, patronage and material culture as well as providing an illustrated diary written during the reigns of Mary, Queen of Scots, and James VI and I. The Part-books were compiled between 1562 and 1592 by Thomas Wode, vicar of St Andrews, to contain four-part settings of metrical psalms, though other songs and instrumental music were also added. Wode's efforts placed Scotland within the strong European Reformed tradition of psalm-singing; he also helped preserve the literary and musical compositions of English radical reformers which were rejected within the established Church of England.The major musical significance of the manuscripts, which provide the sole source for most of their contents, has long been recognised but the Georgetown University Part-book has only recently become known and its music not fully incorporated. However, scholars from other disciplines have been slow to exploit the Psalter's many and varied treasures. As a consequence, the Wode Psalter presents an excellent multi-disciplinary focus for scholarly endeavour and one that unites researchers from different institutional backgrounds. It also offers an ideal medium for public engagement with the world of Reformation Britain, allowing it to be seen and heard in physical and electronic formats.Prior to the exhibition and feeding into its interpretative framework, a virtual research forum will facilitate the compilation of a research agenda for the Psalter. The forum mounted on the password-protected area of the project website will call upon the scholars and practitioners interested in working with the Psalter who have been brought into the specially-created academic network. Four online workshops using digital images from the Part-books and short commissioned articles to stimulate discussion will examine the Psalter's religious, literary and musical aspects and Wode's 'illustrated diary'. A final workshop will consider the Psalter in its entirety. Though the exhibition and concerts will be transitory, the project's legacy will be permanent. A CD of the Psalter's music will be commercially available so the Part-books can continue to be heard and the Psalter seen in printed form through the exhibition booklet. The online legacy will include an educational pack consisting of a research-skills online seminar on the theme of Thomas Wode and his 'musical diary'. The open access area of the project website will also host the specially-designed permanently available webpages containing a selection of digital images from the Psalter and material drawn from the exhibition and the virtual research forum. In these varied ways the Wode Psalter will allow the world of Reformation Britain to be seen and heard once again.