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This setting of Psalm 150 was submitted by composer Delvyn Case and performed by Elizabeth Ostling. It explores the mystical connection between breath, life, music, and praise as described in the psalm.
Psalm 150
How does this psalm piece interpret the psalm?
The psalter ends with the command for all things who have breath to praise the Lord. In the Hebrew, each line of Psalm 150 begins with “Hallelujah”, a word which, when heard in the context of that final command, seems intentionally onomatopoetic: a simple breath, out and in, over and over, forever and ever.
In keeping with the universal directive of the psalm (or is it simply an observation?), this work is written for both the flute and the flutist. It explores the sonic and ritualistic dimensions of our breath, and how—like the ruah (“breath” or “spirit” in Hebrew)—it surrounds us and inspires us, giving life (literal and musical) in ways that we cannot explain.
The piece’s opening gesture—animated, like Adam, by a breath—metamorphoses by the end into the word whose shape inspired it: Hallelujah. The word and the music then return from whence they came, merging into the rhythmic breath that sustains us throughout our lives and whose inescapable cessation will bring us into the presence of the One who made everything, from the tiniest drop of water to the spiral nebulae.
The mystical sounds and visuals remind us that the universe will continue to praise God long after it is devoid of anything with breath. Thus, this psalm is really just a beginning.
The performer is Boston Symphony Orchestra flautist Elizabeth Ostling. The composition and the video are by Delvyn Case.
Other resources by Delvyn Case
This piece may be performed live by a single flautist as a special anthem intended for meditation and prayer. The video may be shown either alongside a live performance or with recorded audio. It’s a quiet, mysterious piece that would work best in a darkened sanctuary.
Music: Delvyn Case, © Delvyn Case
Contact: Delvyn Case, case_delvyn@wheatoncollege.edu
Why and how did psalm singing become such a hallmark of Reformed worship? Join Dr. Karin Maag for a fascinating journey through time, from Reformation Geneva to Scotland and from the Netherlands to New England, exploring the roots and impact of metrical psalm singing. Along the way, we will hear the voices of early modern Christians as they learned how to sing the psalms, both in unison and in harmony.
Sister Kathleen Harmon of the community of the Ohio province of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in Dayton, invites us to be transformed by the psalms and experience them as the whole story God is revealing to us. As we keep praying and singing them, the psalms interpret us, and that’s when the transformation comes.
Vinroy D. Brown Jr.—conductor, musicologist, educator, and minister of creative worship and music at the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City—explores the vibrant intersection of Black sacred music and the psalms. He talks about Black composers and how they have reimagined the psalms through choral music, spirituals, and the gospel tradition for the benefit of everyone.
Why and how did psalm singing become such a hallmark of Reformed worship? Join Dr. Karin Maag for a fascinating journey through time, from Reformation Geneva to Scotland and from the Netherlands to New England, exploring the roots and impact of metrical psalm singing. Along the way, we will hear the voices of early modern Christians as they learned how to sing the psalms, both in unison and in harmony.
Sister Kathleen Harmon of the community of the Ohio province of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in Dayton, invites us to be transformed by the psalms and experience them as the whole story God is revealing to us. As we keep praying and singing them, the psalms interpret us, and that’s when the transformation comes.
Vinroy D. Brown Jr.—conductor, musicologist, educator, and minister of creative worship and music at the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City—explores the vibrant intersection of Black sacred music and the psalms. He talks about Black composers and how they have reimagined the psalms through choral music, spirituals, and the gospel tradition for the benefit of everyone.
John Goldingay, an Anglican priest and the senior professor of Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary, posits the psalms are the densest material in the entire Old Testament. They expound the nature of God as the compassionate, faithful, and committed one, but also as the one who makes demands upon us. The psalms help us talk to God, even about difficult things—and when we do, we are talking to someone who is in a position to do something about it.
