The Sixth Psalm of David

Justin Heinrich Knecht’s compositional interpretation of Moses Mendelssohn’s poetic translation of the 6th psalm bears the force of Enlightenment ideas in its music. Effective instrumentation, the targeted use of the choir and vocal soloists together with contrasting dynamics communicate the entire emotional spectrum of this psalm text. Knecht created an early Romantic piece of south German church music which has unjustly lain in obscurity for too long. As in his other psalm compositions, the scoring can be regarded as flexible, allowing parts to be omitted or unavailable instruments to be substituted by similar sounding ones according to the forces available.