"Old Hundredth" (also known as "Old Hundred") is ahymn tune inlong metre, from the second edition of theGenevan Psalter. It is one of the best known melodies in many occidentalChristian musical traditions. The tune is usually attributed to the French composerLouis Bourgeois (c. 1510 – c. 1560).

Although the tune was first associated withPsalm 134 in theGenevan Psalter, the melody receives its current name from an association with the100th Psalm, in a translation byWilliam Kethe titled "All People that on Earth do Dwell". The melody is also sung to various other lyrics, including theCommon Doxology ("Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow") and various German Lutheran chorales. In that latter respect it was used byJohann Sebastian Bach as acantus firmus in his chorale cantataHerr Gott, dich loben alle wir (BWV 130).

TheGenevan Psalter was compiled over a number of years in theSwiss city ofGeneva, a center ofProtestant activity during theReformation, in response to the teaching ofJohn Calvin that communal singing ofpsalms in thevernacular language is a foundational aspect of church life.^[1] This contrasted with the prevailing Catholic practice at the time in which sacred texts werechanted inLatin by the clergy only.^[2] Calvinist musicians including Bourgeois supplied many new melodies and adapted others from sources both sacred and secular. The final version of this psalter was completed in 1562.^[3] Calvin intended the melodies to be sung inplainsong during church services, but harmonized versions were provided for singing at home.

The original lyrics set to this tune in the Genevan Psalter are a paraphrase of Psalm 134:

Or, in English translation:^[4]

Old 100th is commonly used to sing the lyrics that begin "All People That on Earth Do Dwell,"Psalm 100, a version that originated in the Anglo-Genevan Psalter (1561) and is attributed to the Scottish clergymanWilliam Kethe.^[5] Kethe was in exile atGeneva at this time, as theScottish Reformation was only just beginning. The first verse is as follows:^[6]

This version was sung at thecoronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, with harmonization and arrangement by the composerRalph Vaughan Williams.

A hymn commonly sung to Old 100th is "Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow," using the text often referred to as theDoxology, written in 1674 byThomas Ken, a bishop in theChurch of England.^[7] This hymn was originally the final verse of a longer hymn entitled "Awake, My Soul, and With the Sun,"^[8] though it is most commonly sung by itself as adoxology. The traditional text is:

In the United States, this version is particularly emblematic ofMainline Protestant churches, and often evokes nostalgia among churchgoers. Different versions of that text are also widely used, includingnontrinitarian andgender neutral variations.

The melody can be used for any hymn text inlong meter, that is, with four lines of eight syllables iniambic feet. The hymnFrom all that dwell below the skies, a paraphrasing ofPsalm 117 byIsaac Watts with the Doxology as the final verse, is commonly sung to the tune.^[9] In theSacred Harp and othershape note singing traditions, the tune is sung with the text "O Come, Loud Anthems Let Us Sing," a metrical paraphrase ofPsalm 95 fromTate and Brady'sA New Version of the Psalms of David. The popularHawaiian versionHoʻonani i ka Makua mau was translated byHiram Bingham I and is published in hymnals.^[10]

The tune first appeared in the Genevan Psalter, coupled with French metrical text for Psalm 134. Over the years, the tune was sometimes rhythmically modified. Below it is as set by Johann Sebastian Bach in the final movement of his cantataHerr Gott, dich loben alle wir (BWV 130).

• Voluntary on the Old Hundredth – also calledThe 100th Psalm tune. Set as a Lesson. This is an organ piece using the psalm tune as a theme, not unlike achorale prelude, and was meant for church use. Authorship is somewhat dubious, the piece was either written byJohn Blow or his studentHenry Purcell.
• "Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir", a hymn in twelve stanzas byPaul Eber afterPhilipp Melanchthon's "Dicimus grates tibi", forMichaelmas, is sung to the same tune (Zahn No. 368).Johann Sebastian Bach harmonized this hymn in thechorale cantataBWV 130, and in thefour-part chorales BWV 326 and BWV 327.^[11][12]
• Hubert Parry –Three Chorale Fantasias is based on the Old 100th.
• Virgil Thomson – quoted in several movements of his score forThe Plow that Broke the Plains (1936).
• Paul Hindemith – quoted in hisTrauermusik (January 1936).^[13]
• Benjamin Britten – 1948 cantataSt Nicolas
• David Maslanka – Symphony No. 4
• Frank Ticheli – Angels in the Architecture
• Felix Mendelssohn – Piano Trio in C minor Op 66, 4th movement Finale
• Ralph Vaughan Williams – The Old 100th Psalm Tune ("All people that on earth do dwell") – originally composed for the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II; with a brass fanfare and borrowing afauxbourdon setting byJohn Dowland.^[14]
• The 1893 song "The Volunteer Organist" byGeorge Spaulding features the Old Hundredth in its refrain - it is played by the piano and is harmonised to an original vocal melody.
• InThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer byMark Twain, the congregation sings "Old Hundredth" (called "Old Hundred" here) to celebrate the reappearance ofTom Sawyer,Huck Finn and Joe Harper at the funeral service being held for them after they had gone missing and were presumed dead.
• Patrick O'Brian makes frequent reference to it in hisAubrey–Maturin series of historical fiction novels, as being one of the traditional hymns sung by the sailors on Sundays.^[15]

"Old Hundred" was the first work transmitted by telephone during Graham Bell first demo at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Boston, May 10, 1876).^[16]

• Metrical psalter
• Psalm 100

• Old 100th (setting by Vaughan Williams): Scores at theInternational Music Score Library Project

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• Psalm settings
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