Music for July 31, 2016 + The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• O Saviour, Hear Me– Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787), arr. Dudley Buck; Jennifer Wright, Mezzo-soprano

Instrumental Music

• Sonata in A for Oboe: II. Andante – Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
• Versets for the Kyrie (Messa della Domenica) – Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643)
• Trumpet Tune in D – Georg Philipp Telemann

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 408 - Sing praise to God who reigns above (Mit Freuden zart)
• Hymn 510 - Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove (St. Agnes)
• Hymn 533 - How wondrous and great thy works, God of praise! (Lyons)
• Hymn 325 - Let us break bread together on our knees (Let Us Break Bread)
• Hymn 594 - God of grace and God of glory (Cwm Rhondda)
• Psalm 49:1-2, 4-10 - Audite haec, omnes – tone II

Gluck

Christoph Willibald Gluck was a composer that bridged the Baroque period (Bach and Handel) and the Classical Period (Haydn and Mozart). It was during this time that Italian opera really began to dominate the opera world, and Gluck became one of the major players in that scene. He wrote over 40 operas, and of these, Orfeo ed Euridice is the best known. It is a treatment of the story of the legendary musician Orpheus and his journey to the Underworld to bring back his beloved Eurydice—an ancient illustration of the power of music.

By far the best known excerpts from any of Gluck's operas is the ‘Dance of the Blessed Spirits’ from the French version of Orfeo. This tune (for it was not an aria) constantly appears among lists of the favorite melodies from classical music. (It was the last selection played each night when WKNO-FM, the classical music station in Memphis, went off the air at midnight - back when stations went OFF the air at night!)

Dudley Buck

In 1880, Dudley Buck, the most influential American organist and church musician of that time, wrote sacred lyrics and arranged this piece for alto solo. It has since become a staple of sacred classical solo repertoire. The calm, graceful melody which was originally played on the flute is perfect for the pleading, penitential text that Buck wrote. It's always been a favorite of mine, and this Sunday we are fortunate to have Jennifer Wright, our alto section leader, sing it for us. She last sang in June for the Dvorak Mass in D when we sang it in the Eucharist.

Music for July 24, 2016 + The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Precious Lord, take my hand– Thomas A. Dorsey (1899-1993)(Margie VanBrackle, soprano)

Instrumental Music

• Largo from "Xerxes" - Georg Frederich Handel (1685-1759)
• Give Thanks - Henry Smith, arr. by Phillip Keveren
• Hornpipe from "Water Music" - Georg Frederich Handel

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 410 - Praise, my soul, the King of heaven (Lauda Anima)
• Hymn 488 - Be thou my vision (Slane)
• Hymn 707 - Take my life, and let it be consecrated (Hollingside)
• Hymn 711 - Seek ye first the kingdom of God (Seek Ye First)
• Hymn 615 - “Thy kingdom come!” (St. Flavian)
• Psalm 138 - Confitebor tibi - Kevin R. Hackett, based on In Babilone 

Below are pictures of Tommy Dorsey and Thomas A. Dorsey. Both were musicians.  Both were active in the first part of the 20th century. And both are considered pioneers in their chosen field. But despite these similarities, they are still two very different people. Whereas Tommy Dorsey was one of the first to promote swing music (at least among the white population), Thomas Dorsey was the creator of gospel music -- the African American religious music which married secular blues to a sacred text.

Tommy

Thomas

Dorsey was working as a Blues pianist in Chicago when, at twenty-six, his hectic and unhealthy schedule led to a nervous breakdown, leaving Dorsey unable to play music. After a three year recovery, he committed himself to composing sacred music. Then Dorsey’s life was thrown into crisis when his wife and son died during childbirth. In his grief, he turned to the piano for comfort. The tune he wrote, “Take My Hand, Precious Lord,” came, he says, direct from God, and became a Gospel standard.

The communion voluntary is a piano piece based on the song Give Thanks With A Grateful Heart. It is arranged by Phillip Keveren, a prolific arranger, pianist, orchestrator and producer. His work is featured in numerous instrumental recordings, church choral, educational piano and Christian artist releases. His arrangements and compositions appear on recent projects by Sandi Patty, Travis Cottrell, Sara Groves and Ronan Tynan.

Mr. Keveren holds a Bachelor of Music in Composition from California State University, Northridge, and a Master of Music in Composition from the University of Southern California. He and his wife Lisa live in Brentwood, Tennessee and are parents of two children, Lindsay and Sean. 

Many, many thanks to Margie VanBrackle for singing and  Karen Silva for playing the organ in my absence while I am at the Mississippi Conference for Church Music and Liturgy this week. Good Shepherd is blessed to have some very talented members of our family.

Music for July 10, 2016 + The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Give Me Jesus – Mark Hayes (b. 1953), Mitchell Hutchins, tenor

Instrumental Music

• Jubilation 2: Variant on “Every time I Hear the Spirit"– Dennis Janzer (b. 1954)
• Aria – John S. Dixon (b. 1957)
• Postlude in C Minor – George Blake (1912-1986)

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 660 O Master, let me walk with thee (Maryton)
• Hymn R266 Give thanks with a grateful heart (Give Thanks)
• Hymn 602 Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love (Chereponi)
• Hymn 609 Where cross the crowded ways of life (Gardiner)

During these slow summer months I've been going through the choir's choral library, categorizing each title as to its place in musical history. So far I have these categories:

• Chant-based (Medieval c.1150 - c.1400)
• Renaissance (c.1400 - c.1600)
• Baroque (c.1600 - c.1750)
• Classical (c.1750 - c.1830) 
• Early Romantic (c.1830 - c.1860)
• Late Romantic (c.1860 - c.1920)
• Modern (1920 - present)
• Hymn-based
• Spiritual and folk based
• Contemporary (anything in the style of music from the 60's to the present)
• Traditional (anything that doesn't fit squarely in the last four categories.)

Mark Hayes

One classification I haven't used is "easy listening." You know what it is. It usually consists of covers of popular music from the 40s to the present day. There is a lot of church music out there that could fall into that category. One composer who does work well in this genre is Mark Hayes, an internationally known composer, arranger, concert pianist and conductor from Kansas City, Missouri, with over 1000 publications in print. (The catalog of his works has over 160 pages.) He has written and arranged songs for choir, piano, soloists, instrumentalists, organ and handbells, and travels extensively performing and leading workshops in churches of all denominations, including Episcopal. Surprisingly, we don't have any of his anthems in our library.

This Sunday, however,  we get to hear one of his arrangements when Mitchell Hutchins sings his arrangement of the spiritual, "Give Me Jesus." Mitchell was a choral scholar here at Good Shepherd back when he was a student at Lone Star Kingwood. He has since moved on to Stephen F. Austin to study Music Education, and sings in the choir at First Presbyterian Church, Kingwood. He's a favorite among many here at Good Shepherd, and you will love hearing him sing this setting of the familiar spiritual.

Two of the organ pieces are by composers who attended the recent convention of the American Guild of Organists held here in Houston (I was chair of Hospitality for this national meeting that brought more than 1200 organists from all over the globe to our city.) The first is the opening voluntary, a "jubilation" on the spiritual, Every Time I Feel the Spirit. It is a bright, rollicking little piece (only lasting 1'30") that reminds me of a Bach Invention. (The Inventions are a collection of short pieces J. S. Bach wrote for pedagogical purposes. These fifteen two-part works, each named 'inventio', along with fifteen three-part pieces, named 'sinfonia', were written as technical exercises for the independence of two hands, but are also beautiful works of art.) This piece by Dennis Janzer, organist-choir master at St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Memphis, is also written in just two parts, requiring an independance between the left and right hand.

The other piece is a lovely Aria by an John Dixon, an Englishman with an MBA from Harvard who is now the organist and composer-in-residence at a Presbyterian Church in Virginia Beach.

The closing voluntary is by a little known organist from New Jersey, George Blake. In 1926, at age fourteen, Blake began to play the theater organ professionally at the Franklin Theatre in Nutley, New Jersey. His father having died when he was very young, Blake quickly became the primary supporter of his family through his performing, and he lived with his mother in New Jersey for many years until her death. His younger brother was the cartoonist Bud Blake (of the popular comic strip "Tiger.") George Blake served as principal organist for a number of theaters in New Jersey and New York City, including the New Roxy (later the Center Theatre) in Rockefeller Center. He was also a regular performer on several radio programs of the day, including the "Lucky Strike Hour." As the age of the cinema organist ended, Blake focused primarily on sacred music. He was organist at several churches in New Jersey including St. Andrew's Episcopal (South Orange) and Grace Episcopal (Nutley).