Music for November 2, 2014 + All Saints Sunday

Vocal Music

• By All Your Saints Still Striving – Joel Martinson (b. 1962)

Instrumental Music

• Improvisation I – George Oldroyd (1887–1956)
• Improvisation on “Sine Nomine” – Paul Manz (1919-2009)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of those marked “R” which are from Renew.)

• Hymn 287        For All the Saints (SINE NOMINE)
• Hymn 293        I sing a song of the saints of God (GRAND ISLE)
• Hymn 297        Descend, O Spirit, Purging Flame (ERHALT UNS, HERR)
• Hymn 620        Jerusalem, my happy home (LAND OF REST)
• Hymn 656        Blest are the pure in heart (FRANCONIA)
• Hymn 618        Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones (LASST UNS ERFREUEN)

Joel Martinson

My friend Joel Martinson has written this Sunday's anthem based on hymn 232 in our hymnal. It's a fairly straight-forward settting of the hymn, with the treble voices (the sopranos and altos, joined this week by the children of the St. Gregory choir) singing the first stanza. Stanza two has the men and trebles singing the tune in canon (a piece in which the same melody is begun in different parts successively, so that the imitations overlap). The last stanza has the entire choir singing the tune in unison.
Joel is Director of Music Ministries and Organist at The Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration in Dallas, Texas where he coordinates the vibrant musical life of the parish, the Transfigured Nights music series, and oversaw the installation of their new organ. As a composer, his music has been performed throughout the United States, in Great Britain and Europe, and on the continents of Africa and Asia. Nearly 100 of his works have been published.
This hymn was written to commemorate many of the different saints days in our calendar. Horatio Nelson first wrote the initial stanza and the concluding Doxological stanza for his 1864 collection Hymns for Saints Days and Other Hymns. Following the original publication, additional stanzas were contributed by friends and were revised by Nelson. In the same spirit of cooperation, the present form of the text was prepared for the 1982 Hymnal using additional texts of F. Bland Tucker and Jerry Godwin, making the hymn appropriate for eleven different saints days. 

About our hymns:

Hymn 287        For All the Saints (SINE NOMINE) -  Based on a picture of the "cloud of witnesses" (Hebrews 12:1), this hymn gives thanks for the saints of old, makes a prayer that we may be found faithful, and acknowledges the unity of the whole Church in heaven and on earth in the mystical body of Christ, a picture of the church in holy warfare, and a vision of the victorious Church. Vaughan Williams' magnificent marching tune makes this a contemporary version of "When the Saints Go Marching In!"

Hymn 293        I sing a song of the saints of God (GRAND ISLE) "Are there any saints alive today?" The children of Lesbia Scott often asked such questions, so she wrote this hymn for All Saints Sunday in 1929 to suggest that there are plenty of saints alive today in all walks of life, and that anyone can be a saint if we really work at it. The tune has just the light-hearted, joyful feeling to fit the charmingly simple and picturesque text.

Hymn 620        Jerusalem, my happy home (LAND OF REST) -  Several different sources have been found for this text, but it seems to have been written by a Catholic priest Frances Baker around 1553, who based it on meditations by Augustine on the hoped for peace of Jerusalem, the old city of heaven where all will be be peace and joy. This hymn is popular among our church for its delightful early American folk tune, LAND OF REST.

Hymn 656        Blest are the pure in heart (FRANCONIA) John Keble wrote a collection of hymns for all the various seasons of the church year, and this one is the most famous. Based on the Beatitudes (Matthew 5;3), it originally had seventeen stanzas! Thank goodness our hymnal only uses four of those!

Hymn 618        Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones (LASST UNS ERFREUEN) Athelstan Riley (isn't that a great name?) wrote ths festive hymn, which we often sing at St. Michael and All Angels, for the first stanza names the nine order of angels who serve God. The "bearer of the eternal Word" in stanza two is the virgin Mary. We are singing it for All Saints Sunday because of stanza three, which adds in all the "souls in endless rest" who have arrived in heaven. While rehearsing this for Sunday, one of the kids in children's choir asked, "Don't we sing other words to this song?" The answer is yes, the most familiar being "All Creatures of our God and King."

Music for October 26, 2014 + The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Let Us Love in Deed and Truth – Larry King (1932-1990) 

Instrumental Music

• Sonata in D Minor: Cantilena, Opus 148 No. 11– Josef Rheinberger (1839-1901) 
• Sonata in E Minor: Scherzoso, Opus 132, No. 8 - Josef Rheinberger 
• Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, BWV 147 – J. S. Bach (1685-1750) (arr. Douglas Wagner) 

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of those marked “R” which are from Renew.)

• Hymn 423 – Immortal, invisible, God only wise (ST. DENIO) 
• Hymn 707 – Take my life and let it be (HOLLINGSIDE) 
• Hymn R 145 - Lord, I want to be a Christian (I WANT TO BE A CHRISTIAN) 
• Hymn R 289 - Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love (CHEREPONI) 
• Hymn 610 – Lord, whose love through humble service (BLAENHAFREN) 
• Psalm 1 (Tone IV )

The anthem this Sunday is by Larry King. No, not that one. Not the one in suspenders who used to work on CNN. And not the Larry King whose Larry King Orchestra plays for all the big society galas in the Chicago area. I am talking about Larry Peyton King, a composer and organist who was the music director at Trinity Church in lower Manhattan for 21 years. King was a graduate of Redlands University in California and received a master's degree in sacred music at Union Theological Seminary. He studied organ at the Royal Academy of Music in London on a Fulbright scholarship. As a composer, he wrote many groundbreaking works for choir, organ and other instruments, including pre-recorded synthesizer sounds. He loved to use new sounds and musical styles in worship services, and composed numerous choral works and three intriguing organ works based on scriptural passages.

Trinity Church, NYC, where Larry King was organist
for 21 years. Note the World Trade Center in the background.

It is one such work that our choir sings today. The anthem, Let Us Love In Deed and Truth, uses a paraphrase of the scripture from I John 3:17-23, which I believe forms the basic tenets of Christianity:

If anyone has the world’s goods, and sees his neighbor in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Let us not love in word or speech, but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth: We have confidence before our God, and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments, and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we should believe in his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another.

The choral parts stand apart from the accompaniment, which forms a carpet of sound that supports, but not duplicate, the choir.

About our hymns:

Hymn 423 – Immortal, invisible, God only wise (ST. DENIO) "Now unto the King Eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever" (I Timothy 1:17) is the basis for this hymn of pure praise. The rollicking anapestic rhythm of the Welsh melody rushes the singer along to the climactic poetic thought of God being invisible only because he is hidden by the glory of light.
Hymn 707 – Take my life and let it be (HOLLINGSIDE) A favorite at Good Shepherd because it is used so often as a presentation (of the offering) hymn, it was written by Frances R. Havergal who, during a visit with friends in the 1870s, prayed that God would use her to witness to win all ten members of the family to Christ. "Before I left the house everyone had got a blessing," she wrote. On the last night of her visit, she penned twelve couplets including these two stanzas in our hymnal.
Hymn R 145 - Lord, I want to be a Christian (I WANT TO BE A CHRISTIAN) The story goes that in 1756, a slave in Hanover, VA went to a Presbyterian minister with the request: "I come to you, sir, that you may tell me some good things concerning Jesus Christ and my duty to God, for I am resolved not to live any longer as I have done." This desire to be a Christian is a universal longing that is voiced in many spirituals like this one.
Hymn R 289 - Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love (CHEREPONI) One of the simplest and most appealing melodies in our hymnal is this one that comes from the African nation of Ghana. It is a statement of commitment and servanthood, appropriate not only for Maundy Thursday, but for any service emphasizing discipleship. The tune name, CHEREPONI, comes from the village in Northern Ghana where this melody was collected.
Hymn 610 – Lord, whose love through humble service (BLAENHAFREN) This hymn was written in 1961 in response to an invitation of the Hymn Society of America to write hymns on social welfare. As Christians, we should follow the example of Christ, whose life was spent serving others. The tune is another of the Welsh tunes that are in our hymnal (like today's opening hymn) that has an easy melody to sing coupled to a driving rhythm.

Music for October 19, 2014 + The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Judge Eternal – Malcolm Archer (b. 1952)
• The Old Hundredth Psalm Tune – Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)

Instrumental Music

• Trio Sonata in E Minor: III. Un poco Allegro, BWV 528 – Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
• Deck Thyself, My Soul, With Gladness, BWV 654 - Johann Sebastian Bach
• Prelude in G Major, BWV 568 - Johann Sebastian Bach

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982)

• Hymn 408 – Sing praise to God who reigns above (MIT FREUDEN ZART)
• Psalm 96: 1-9 (Tone 1g )
• Hymn 377 – All people that on earth do dwell (OLD 100th)
• Hymn 325 – Let us break bread together (LET US BREAK BREAD)
• Hymn 544 – Jesus shall reign where’er the sun (DUKE STREET)

Today it's English Choral music and the organ music of J. S. Bach. First, let's talk about the choral music,

Malcolm Archer

Judge Eternal is a very rhythmic setting of a hymn from our hymnal (#596) which was written in 1902 by the English priest Henry Holland, Canon at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. This setting is by a former Director of Music at St. Paul’s, Malcolm Archer, who is currently Director of Chapel Music at Winchester College in the heart of England, where conducts the choirs and teaches organ and composition. He has enjoyed a distinguished career in cathedral music, which has taken him to posts at Norwich, Bristol, and Wells Cathedrals, as well as St. Paul's. The first stanza is repeated at the end with the sopranos singing a soaring descant.


The hymn before the Gospel reading is the well known hymn All people that on earth do dwell (OLD 100th) as arranged by Ralph Vaughan Williams for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953, It was the only hymn used at the coronation, and this setting, with it's thrilling opening fanfares, has become loved and sung by choirs the world over. The fourth stanza is actually a harmonization by John Dowland, (1563?-1626) who was the most famous musician of his time.

Ursula and Ralph Vaughan Williams at their wedding in 1953. RVW was 81 at the time.

The music of Johann Sebastian Bach is like scripture to me. In practicing the works of that great Baroque master I can find peace and solace akin to the feeling I get from struggling in prayer and studying the daily scripture readings. Sometimes I stumble, and put away a difficult piece. The opening voluntary was one of those pieces. Twenty plus years ago I began to learn the three-movement Trio Sonata in  E Minor by Bach. I learned the first two movements, but for some reason, I never got the third movement learned. This past Summer, I was looking through my volumes of Bach's organ music and came across the six trio sonatas (music Bach had written to train his own son how to play the organ) and decided to finish the work. I am playing it this Sunday with no little feeling of self-satisfaction. 

The "Trio Sonata" is a musical form that was popular in the 17th and early 18th centuries. A trio sonata was written for two solo melodic instruments and basso continuo, making three parts in all, hence the name trio sonata. In the organ version, the right hand plays one melody line, the left hand plays the second melodic line, while the feet play the bass line. It's like rubbing your stomach and patting your head while dancing a jig.

The Communion voluntary is from the last volume of music that Bach worked on before going to his great reward. The so-called "Great Eighteen" was a collection of various chorales that he had written in previous years, but for some reason was never published. The first 15 of the chorales were copied in his own hand, but as his eyesight failed and his vitality diminished, he turned the pen over to his son-in-law to write down the last three. He never lived to see the book published.

There are three large arrangements with a florid, ornamented melody in the Eighteen Chorales. This setting of Hymn 339 in the Hymnal 1982 is one of those. Robert Schumann described it in a letter he wrote to Felix Mendelssohn  in 1840:

Around the cantus firmus (the melody) were hung gilded garlands, and such happiness had been poured into it that you yourself confessed to me that, if life were to deprive you of all hope and faith, this one chorale would restore them to you.

Bach expands the introduction and accompaniment into an independent music concept in opposition to the highly decorated melody.

Music for October 12, 2014 + The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• O Taste and See – Richard DeLong (1951-1994)
• Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us – William Bradley Roberts (b. 1947)

Instrumental Music

• Basse de Trompette - Jean-François Dandrieu (1682-1738)
• Deck Thyself, My Soul, With Gladness - Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
• Rigaudon - André Campra (1660-1744)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of those marked “R” which are from Renew.)

• Hymn 7 - Christ, whose glory fills the skies (RATISBON)
• Hymn 645 - The King of love my shepherd is (ST. COLUMBA)
• Hymn 383 - Fairest Lord Jesus (ST. ELIZABETH)
• Hymn 321 - My God, thy table now is spread (ROCKINGHAM)
• Hymn 556 - Rejoice, ye pure in heart (MARION)

Dr. William Bradley Roberts

The things you learn writing (and researching) a blog about your music. For instance: this Sunday we are going to sing one of the anthems from last week's Diocesan Choral Festival, a simple but beautiful piece by a friend of mine, Bill Roberts. I had met Bill several years ago at the Mississippi Conference on Church Music and Liturgy and strengthened that friendship through the avenue of Facebook. It was not until looking up pertinent information about him  (read: his birth-year) that I learned he was a graduate of Houston Baptist University. The Rev. Dr. Roberts is currently Professor of Church Music at Virginia Theological Seminary and Director of Chapel Music there, so you can imagine my surprise to find out that not only is he an alum of HBU, but was also ordained as a Baptist minister! He is now, however, thoroughly Episcopalian, having served as music director of some of the country's largest and most active Episcopal congregations.

We are singing his setting of the hymn text, Savior, like a shepherd lead us, which employs a lilting melody in compound triple meter. The addition of a flute (played by Ruth Clark) on the second stanza really adds to the pastoral feel that one would expect for a song about a shepherd.

Richard DeLong

Our other anthem was written by another friend of mine from my SMU days, Richard Delong, Richard was an organist, harpsichordist, conductor, composer, and clinician, from Mansfield, Ohio, before he moved to Dallas, Texas in 1973 to attend Southern Methodist University, where he received the degrees of Master of Music and Master of Sacred Music. He served as director of music for East Dallas Christian Church and St. Matthew's Episcopal Cathedral before being appointed Director of Music for the Roman Catholic parish of St. Mark the Evangelist, in Plano, Texas, a position he held until his death.  He was an exquisite choral conductor, and his choirs rivaled any choir at home or abroad.

His work as a composer became recognized nationally following the premiere of his "Deus Creator Omnium" at the opening of the 1985 Regional American Guild of Organists convention in Providence, RI. His own choir sang the premiere performances of nearly 100 choral works. His anthem, O Taste and See, was published in 1992. It is a superb a cappella motet on the text from Psalm 34. It has a harmonic language with really requires the choir to listen and tune to each other.

Music for October 5, 2014 + The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• A Repeating Alleluia– Calvin Hampton (1938-1984)
• Everywhere I Go – Natalie Sleeth (1930-1992)
• God So Loved the World – John Stainer (1840-1901)

Instrumental Music

• Andante – John Stainer
• March in G – Henry Smart (1813-1879)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of those marked “R” which are from Renew.)

• Hymn 518 – Christ is made the sure foundation (WESTMINSTER ABBEY)
• Hymn 458 – My song is love unknown (LOVE UNKNOWN)
• Hymn R-173 – O Lord hear my prayer (Jacques Berthier)
• Hymn 495 – Hail, thou once despised Jesus (IN BABILONE)

In many traditions, especially Catholic and Episcopal congregations, it is customary to sing an Alleluia before the reading of the Gospel. Most protestant churches sing a hymn instead. This morning we are using A Repeating Alleluia by Calvin Hampton. One of the most important composers of American church music in the twentieth century, Hampton was Director of Music at Calvary Episcopal Church, New York City, from 1963 to 1983. Before his untimely death from AIDS at the age of 46, he developed a unique compositional voice, which is heard in his extensive catalogue of hymn-tunes and works for choir and organ; A Repeating Alleluia features an imaginative set of variations on a repeating eight-bar theme which the congregation will sing while the choir provides the two counter melodies. 

Calvin Hampton

Hampton had an energetic and inimitable approach to music in the church.  He experimented with unusual instruments like the Ondes Martenot and the Moog synthesizer, and various styles, from the Baroque to Rock. He created the famous “Fridays at Midnight” organ concerts, noted to be a “fixture of Manhattan cultural life” in the 1970s. His Halloween events at Calvary, where Hampton dressed as a werewolf, as the Frankenstein monster, or another scary specter; and many unique musical events that he presented, brought a wide range of people into the church.  This playful approach to sacred music seemed to attract a wide and diverse audience, not least of which were children. I know that the children of our St. Gregory Choir, who are singing with the adults this Sunday on this anthem, have grown to love A Repeating Alleluia.

Sir John Stainer

In reading the Gospel story this week about the vineyard owner who sent his son to collect the produce of the harvest, only to have the tenants kill the son, I was reminded of the favorite scripture of John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son." I felt called to use the familiar anthem with that text by John Stainer, from his famous oratorio, The Crucifixion, as the choir's communion motet today. Stainer had been the organist-choir master at St. Pauls, London in the late 1800s and wrote a large amount of organ and choral music, as well as a popular treatise on organ playing. I am playing one of his organ works as an opening voluntary. His music was fairly conservative for the time, and today seems rather dated, but he has faired better than his contemporary Henry Smart, the composer of the closing voluntary, Smart was highly rated as a composer during his time, but is now remembered only by a few organists and choral singers. His many compositions for the organ were described as "effective and melodious, if not strikingly original" by the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica,

The offertory is an anthem for children's choirs by the 20th century composer Natalie Sleeth. The bright, cheery melody fits her own text of faith and assurance. 

Everywhere I go, the Lord is near me. If I call upon him, he will hear me. Never will I fear, for the Lord is near, everywhere I go.