Music for February 28, 2016 + The Third Sunday in Lent

Vocal Music

• Lord, for Thy Tender Mercy’s Sake - – Richard Farrant (c.1530-1580) or John Hilton (1565-1708?)

Instrumental Music

• Prelude in Classic Style – Gordon Young (1919-1998)
• Aria (Op. 51) - Flor Peeters (1902-1986)
• My Shepherd Shall Supply My Need - Jessie S Irvine (1836 – 1887)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 143 - The glory of these forty days (Erhalt uns, Herr)
• Hymn 648 - When Israel was in Egypt’s land (Go Down, Moses)
• Hymn 142 - Lord, who throughout these forty days (St. Flavian)
• Hymn 685 - Rock of ages, cleft for me (Toplady)
• Hymn 344 - Lord dismiss us with thy blessing (Sicilian Mariners)

I'm out of town for the weekend, and in my absence, Jill Kirkonis will be playing the organ, and Mac Jones will direct the choir. The choir's anthem will be a choral setting of a sixteenth century prayer by Henry Bull, set to music by either Richard Farrant or John Hilton, both English composers of sacred music. Farrant was organist at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, in the middle of the sixteenth century, while Hilton was known as a counter-tenor and organist, most notably at Trinity College, Cambridge. In the beginning, the music is in a simple, a capella, hymn-like style which befits the reflective and restful mood of the text, but at the words "that we may walk in a perfect heart" the choir has a chance to play around with the rhythms of the words and sing much more independently of each other, finally ending with a contrapuntal "amen."

During communion you'll hear Aria by Belgian organist Flor Peeters. Peeters was one of the most renowned organists and composers for organ of the twentieth century. He attended the Lemmens Institute in Mechelen where he won the highest award, the Lemmens-Tinel Prize and at the age of twenty  was appointed a professor at the Institute. In addition, in 1923, he became assistant organist at the Cathedral of St. Rombout in Mechelen. In 1925, Peeters was appointed to succeed his former teacher at the Lemmens Institute as professor of organ.

He began to write what would become a large catalog of organ music and sacred choral works. He was particularly masterful in his use of the variation forms. Hi interest in Gregorian chant often influenced his slower music and sometimes forms the basis of longer compositions. In 1943, he completed his Practical Method for Accompanying Gregorian Chant.

Germany attacked and occupied both Belgium and the Netherlands in 1940. Peeters refused to perform for the German occupiers. As a result, his passport was confiscated. Nevertheless, he was permitted to travel regularly across the border between Belgium and the Netherlands in order to continue his teaching at Tilburg, and, in the course of doing this, he carried secret messages between the authorities of the cathedrals of these two countries.

Flor Peeters

The Aria dates from the War years; it originated in 1943 as the slow movement of a Sonata for trumpet and piano, and it is still a permanent fixture on exam syllabuses for aspiring young trumpeters. Peeters also arranged it for violin, for cello, and for solo organ, and it is in this form that we hear today. The expressive melody unfolds above an accompaniment of soft repeated chords—a technique that Peeters used to equally telling effect in the slow movement of the Organ Concerto. As in so much of his finest work, there is a simplicity and sincerity in this music that speaks directly to the heart.