Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Music for May 1, 2016 + The Sixth Sunday of Easter

GOOD SHEPHERD SCHOOL SUNDAY
Music by the Day School Children
  • Canon in D – Johann Pachelbel
  • African American Rondo
  • Song of Peace (Dona Nobis Pacem)
  • Arise from 5 American Hymn Tunes
Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of those marked “R” which are from Renew.)
  • Hymn 7 - Morning has broken, like the first morning (Bunessan)
  • Hymn 533 - How wondrous and great thy works, God of praise! (Lyons)
  • Hymn 705 - As those of old their first fruits brought (Forest Green)
  • Hymn R250 - O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder (O Store Gud)
  • Hymn 400 - All creatures of our God and King (Lasst uns erfreuen)
This Sunday we will be celebrating education at Good Shepherd Church. Sunday School and our Preschool join forces to honor all of our amazing teachers. Included in this celebration will be music offered by the children of the Good Shepherd School under the direction of Karen Silva.  Not only will they be singing, but also performing instrumental music using percussion instruments, Orff instruments, and Boomwhackers. (You'll just have to come see and hear for yourself what a Boomwhacker is!)

Karen has done a great job with our dayschool kids. More than just having them match pitch and learn to keep a steady beat, she also introduces them to music history, musical form, musical instruments, musical genres - things that will help them appreciate music as they grow older. You'll be amazed at what these pre-school and kindergarten children can do!

Friday, April 22, 2016

Music for April 24, 2016 + The Fifth Sunday of Easter

Vocal Music
  • I Give You a New Commandment – Peter Nardone (b. 1965)
  • The Call – Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Instrumental Music
  • Adagio – Frank Bridge (1879-1941)
  • Allegro marziale e ben marcato – Frank Bridge
Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of those marked “R” which are from Renew.)
  • Hymn 390 - Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (Lobe den Herren)
  • Hymn 205 - Good Christians all, rejoice and sing (Gelobt sei Gott)
  • Hymn R276 - Soon and very soon (Soon and Very Soon)
  • Hymn 296 - We know that Christ is raised and dies no more (Engleberg)
  • Hymn 576 - God is love and where true love is (Mandatum)
  • Hymn 304 - I come with joy to meet my Lord (Land of Rest)
Peter Nardone
The Gospel this week should be familiar - after all, we just heard it four weeks ago at Maundy Thursday. "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another." We sing this verse in an anthem by Scottish composer, organist, conductor, and singer Peter Nardone. In addition to being Organist & Director of Music at Worcester Cathedral, he is conductor of the Worcester Festival Choral Society and is Artistic Director of the Worcester Three Choirs Festival. In this anthem, an original melody for the Gospel text is juxtaposed with the ancient chant Ubi Caritas, pairing these two traditional Maundy Thursday texts. We are past Holy Week, obviously, but any Maundy Thursday text dealing with a new commandment would be super appropriate today. That is also why we are singing the hymn God is love and where true love is during communion this week. Heck, even the tune name of that hymn is super appropriate! ( Mandatum = mandate = commandment).
The communion solo is that beautiful, classic song, The Call, with music by Ralph Vaughan Williams based on a text by George Herbert.  Anyone who grew up with the hymnody of the Anglican Church will have grown up with George Herbert. ‘Let all the world in ev’ry corner sing’, ‘Teach me, my God and King’, ‘King of Glory, King of Peace’—these all helped to teach us, little though we might have been aware of it at the time, that good hymns could also be good verse. Vaughan Williams recognized this, and used five of Herbert's poems for his Five Mystical Songs, written in 1911 for the Three Choirs Festival in Worcester (see Peter Nardone, above!) The simple setting by Vaughan Williams reflects the hymnic stance and metre of the poem. It has, in fact, been used as a hymn in many modern hymnals, including ours. (see hymn 487).

Friday, April 15, 2016

Music for April 17, 2016 + The Fourth Sunday of Easter

Good Shepherd Sunday
Vocal Music
  • I Will Sing New Songs – Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
  • The Lamb – John Tavener (1944-2013)
Instrumental Music
  • A Chorale Prelude on "St. Columba" Op. 14 - Robin Milford (1903-1959) 
  • Chorale – William Mathias (1934-1992)
  • Jesus, Meine Zuversicht – Anton Wilhelm Leupold (1867-1940)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of those marked “R” which are from Renew.)
  • Hymn 366 - Holy God, we praise thy name (Grosser Gott)
  • Hymn 205 - Good Christians all, rejoice and sing (Gelobt sei Gott)
  • Hymn 286 - Who are these like stars appearing? (Zeuch mich, zeuch mich)
  • Hymn 377 - All people that on earth do dwell (Old 100th)
  • Hymn 343 - Shepherd of souls, refresh and bless (St. Agnes)
  • Hymn 708 - Savior, like a shepherd lead us (Sicilian Mariners)
William Blake
This Sunday (The Fourth Sunday of Easter) is often called Good Shepherd Sunday for it always includes a Gospel Reading about Jesus, our Shepherd, as well as the beloved 23rd Psalm. This year, instead of an anthem based on the 23rd Psalm or one that directly refers to Jesus as Shepherd, I decided to go with an anthem setting of a poem by William Blake, the 19th century British poet and painter. He was an unusually sensitive boy, who began seeing visions at an early age. He was 10 when he allegedly saw the prophet Ezekiel under a tree and had a vision of "a tree filled with angels." Blake's visions would have a lasting effect on the art and writings that he produced. He was also heavily influenced by the Bible, and it would remain a lifetime source of inspiration, coloring his life and works with intense spirituality. The poem, "The Lamb," for instance, is based on his conception of God. In "The Lamb" Blake makes the traditional association between a lamb and the "Lamb of God," Christ:
For he calls himself a Lamb:
He is meek & he is mild;
He became a little child:
I a child & thou a lamb.
The poet sees God in terms a child  can understand. God is gentle and kind and very much like us. The close association between the "I," "child," and "lamb" suggests that all men share in the same spiritual brotherhood.

John Tavener
John Tavener, 20th century English composer who died in 2013 at age 69, used The Lamb in 1982 for the choral piece we wrote for his then 3-year old nephew, Simon. It was composed using only seven notes during a car ride from South Devon to London. “It came to me fully grown so to speak, so all I had to do was to write it down,”said Tavener. The Lamb has become a classic in its own time, and is recorded on over 37 different CDs. Blake's child-like vision perhaps explains The Lamb's great popularity in a world that is starved of this precious and sacred dimension in almost every aspect of life.

The communion voluntary is a simple, quiet piece by the composer of the Sanctus we sing every Sunday in Eastertide. William Mathias wrote Chorale during Eastertide fifty years ago, in 1966. It still sounds fresh and meditative.

Notes on a few of the hymns
It's easy to see why hymn 343 - Shepherd of souls, refresh and bless and hymn 708 - Savior, like a shepherd lead us are part of our hymn line up, as they specifically speak to Jesus as our shepherd. Hymn 377 - All people that on earth do dwell is not as obvious. It is a poetic setting of Psalm 100, which of course has the line "we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture." In regards to Good Shepherd Sunday, hymn 286 - Who are these like stars appearing? is a little harder to figure out. It follows the reading from Revelation 7:9-17, and speaks directly to stanzas 13-16. The original hymn included one more stanza which would have made it perfect for Good Shepherd Sunday (and captures verse 17 from the Revelation passage):
Lo, the Lamb Himself now feeds them
On Mount Zion's pastures fair;
From His central throne He leads them
By the living fountains there;
Lamb and Shepherd, Good Supreme,
Free He gives the cooling stream.

Friday, April 8, 2016

Music for April 10, 2016 + The Third Sunday of Easter

Vocal Music
  • A Song to the Lamb – Donald Pearson (b. 1953)
  • Dona Nobis Pacem – traditional round
Instrumental Music
  • Second Suite: Air – Jean Joseph Mouret (1682-1738)
  • Premiere Suite: Rondeau – Jean Joseph Mouret
Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of those marked “R” which are from Renew.)
  • Hymn 182 - Christ is Alive! Let Christians sing (Truro)
  • Hymn 255 - We sing the glorious conquest before Damascus’ gate (Munich)
  • Hymn R18 - Come, let us with our Lord arise (Sussex Carol)
  • Hymn R202 - Sing alleluia to the Lord (Sing Alleluia)
  • Hymn 535 - Ye servants of God, your Master proclaim (Paderborn)
Easter joy continues this Sunday with a festive anthem by Donald Pearson, Director of Music and Organist at St. Ignatius of Antioch Catholic Parish, Antioch, California. He had been Director of Music and Organist for the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Denver, Colorado for almost 25 years and had established a program of national and international prominence. It was for this choir that he wrote his setting of the canticle Dignus Est, which is based on the verses from Revelation that we will hear today in worship. Though written for congregational involvement, we are singing it as a choir anthem. Listen for the antiphon (refrain) which begins the piece and appears after every few verses. Handbells and finger cymbals give the anthem a truly festive touch.

Long-time fans of PBS's Masterpiece Theater will no doubt recognize the closing voluntary this Sunday. It is the theme song of that venerable series, often referred to as "Theme from Masterpiece Theatre." However, it's originally from one of the two Suites de symphonies (1729) by the French Baroque composer Jean Joseph Mouret. The first suite, renowned for its Masterpiece Theatre theme, is entitled "Fanfare for trumpets, timpani, violins, and oboes" and dedicated to the son of the Duchess of Maine, the Prince of Dombes.  The Second Suite contains the opening voluntary for this Sunday, a lyrical if unassuming piece simply entitled Air. Unlike the rich chords of the Rondeau, it is only in two parts, played on nothing but 8' and 2' flutes on contrasting manuals.

Mouret is an interesting subject. He had a career including vast popularity and a sudden fall from success. His father was a silk merchant and avid amateur violinist who saw to it that his son received complete instruction in music. Details of this education are unknown, but musical historians consider it likely that it occurred in the choir school of Notre Dame des Doms, an important regional church.

Mouret's family's wealth, his charm, and his lovely singing voice made him welcome in the best company. By 1707, he was in Paris, where he was appointed music master for the Marshall of Noailles. By 1709, he had the position of Director of music at the court of Sceaux. In 1714 to 1718, he was the orchestra director of the Paris Opéra and in 1717 he became director of the Italian Theater. In an age when Greek tragedies, pastoral romances, and historical operas were de rigeur, Mouret was bold enough to introduce comedy into his operas.

In 1718, he was given a royal privilege to publish music and in 1720 was appointed an ordinaire du Roy, as singer in the King's chamber. He was music director of the Concert Spirituel from 1728 to 1734. This appointment marked the beginning of the end of his great success, for the Concert Spirituel had financial and legal problems that affected him personally. In 1734, the troubled institution was taken over by the Académie Royale de Musique, which fired Mouret. In 1736, the Duke of Maine died and Mouret lost his position at Sceaux. In 1737, the Italian Theater had a change of policy that resulted in Mouret losing that job as well. Within four years, he had lost all sources of income and was essentially maintained as a charity case by the Prince of Carignan, who annually gave him a pension.

It is intriguing to note that George Frideric Handel went through periods of such reverses but was able to find a way to have a comeback. Mouret was not as fortunate or resilient; his spirit was progressively broken by all of these career misfortunes and in 1737, he began to go mad. Just after his 50th birthday, he was placed in the care of the Fathers of Charity at Charenton and died in that institution eight months later. (from the AllMusic.com biography by Joseph Stevenson.)