After the Reformation in Scotland, the people turned away from the Latin service in the Roman Church and began holding services in their own language. Metrical psalmody (singing metrical versions of the psalms) was the only part of worship in which the congregations of the Scottish churches joined until about 1749. In the three principal sections on the Presbyterian Church (which was born in Scotland), the singing of hymns did not become at all general till after 1852, in the United Presbyterian Church, after 1870 in the Established Church, and after 1873 in the Free Church. So it is easy to see how the use of the psalms in worship, beginning as early as 1533 when Clement Marot began his versions, could have established such a powerful influence on the Scottish mind and heart.

In an attempt to have uniformity of worship in England and Scotland, the House of Commons authorized the Psalms of David in English Meeter, 1646. But the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland was not happy with this revision and appointed a committee of four men to make their own version. It was printed in 1650 as The Psalms of David in Meeter. Newly translated and diligently compared with the Original Text and former Translations; More plain, smooth, and agreeable to the Text than any heretofore. Allowed by the Authority of the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland, and appointed to be sung in Congregations and Families. Edinburgh. Hymnologist John Julian says that this psalter has “survived all proposals to modernize it,… and remains to this day [1907] the only version of the Psalms used y Presbyterian Scotland… and its faithfulness, vigor, and terseness cannot be denied.”

MCKEE is named after Elmer M. Mckee, pastor of St. George’s Episcopal Church, New York City, where Harry T. Burleigh was the baritone soloist from 1894 to1946. Burleigh won this job over 59 White applicants for the post, even though there was much opposition to having a Black in such a position. His first solo was “The Palms,” by Fauré, and he sang it for 52 consecutive Palm Sundays in that church!

He adapted the Negro spiritual “I Know the Angel’s Done Changed My Name,” sung by the Fisk Jubilee Singers and included in their book Jubilee Songs, edited in 1884 by Theodore Seward and George White, Burleigh sand it in his church for many years. Hymnal 1940 included MCKEE for the first time in a major hymnal with “In Christ There Is No East nor West” (see SDAH 587).

Harry Thacker Burleigh was born December 2, 1866, in Erie, Pennsylvania, and there did the usual odd jobs—selling papers, running errands, and lighting street lamps. After singing in the boy’s choir of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Erie, he won a scholarship to the National Conservatory of Music, where he met Anton Dvorak, composer of New World Symphony. Concurrently with the 25-years, from 1900 to 1925. On two different occasions he sang for King Edward VII of England.

He was a charter member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), and did editorial work for G. Rocordi Music Publishers, New York. Atlanta University awarded him an honorary master’s degree, and Howard University honored him with the D.Mus. degree, His works include 90 songs, 50 choral works, and 49 arrangements of spirituals for solo voice with independent piano accompaniment. His work in this field marked the beginning of the use of spirituals as concert music by most of the well-known artists. The great tenor John MacCormack made famous his “Little Mother of Mine.” Burleigh is recognized as the first Black to achieved success in the serious music world. He died at Stamford, Cennecticut, September 11, 1949.