Music for September 11, 2016 + The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Lord, for Thy Tender Mercy’s Sake – Richard Farrant (c.1530-1580) or John Hilton (1565-1708?)
• What Does the Lord Require? – Erik Routley (1917-1982)

Instrumental Music

• Elegy – George Thalben-Ball (1896-1987)
• Shalom (Peace) – Dan Locklair (b. 1949)
• Postlude in B-flat Major – John E. West (1863-1929)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 423 - Immortal, invisible, God only wise (St. Denio)
• Hymn 470 - There’s a wideness in God’s mercy (Beecher)
• Hymn 377 - All people that on earth do dwell (Old 100^th)
• Hymn 645 - The King of love my shepherd is (St. Columba)
• Hymn 708 - Savior, like a shepherd lead us (Sicilian Mariners)
• Psalm 51:1-4, 7-8, 11 - Miserere mei, Deus (Tone VIIIb)

Today marks the 15th anniversary of the devastating attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. I dare say that very few things in the past 50 years have shaken the country like that horrible day. But out of pain come acts of hope and beauty. Such is the piece that I play today for the communion voluntary.

Dan Locklair

Dan Locklair wrote his Æolian Sonata between late January and March for a recital celebrating the 70th Anniversary of Duke University Chapel’s Æolian pipe organ in June 2002. This was the last organ the Æolian Organ Company built before they merged with the E.M. Skinner Organ Co., forming the great American classic organ company,  Æolian-Skinner.

In three movements, The Æolian Sonata musically celebrates the heritage and continued use of the historic Æolian organ in Duke Chapel, but it also pays tribute to the spirit of the American people in the aftermath of the 2001 September 11 terrorist attacks. The title for each movement is in a different language, symbolically paying tribute to the outpouring of support that Americans have felt from peace-loving people throughout the world. In a spiritual way, the music of each movement is a reflection on its title, with these words being indicative of a healing nation.

The second movement,  Shalom (Peace),  is marked “Serene and unhurried.” It is a quiet and simple movement that lyrically dialogues flute and clarinet sounds as it gently reflects on the Hebrew word for peace. Locklair prefaced this movement with the dedication:

In remembrance of the darkness of September 11 from which emerged hope for Peace and joy in Thanksgiving.

Locklair is a native of Charlotte, North Carolina (USA). He holds a Master of Sacred Music degree from the School of Sacred Music of Union Theological Seminary in New York City and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Presently, Dr. Locklair is Composer-in-Residence and Professor of Music at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

The choir's anthem is 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."

The communion anthem is a hymn from our hymnal. Early in 1949 Albert F. Bayly wrote this text based on Micah 6:6-8 as one of a series of seventeen hymns he was writing on the Old Testament prophets. His objective was to present the prophets "in the light of the climax and fulfillment of the Old Testament revelation in the coming of Christ." "What Does the Lord Require" asks questions and states commands as if Micah were a modern-day prophet. The refrain line "Do justly. . ." subtly shifts from the imperative voice in stanzas 1 through 3 to a corporate confession in stanza 4. Erik Routley composed SHARPTHORNE in 1968 to be published as a setting for Bayly's text in a British hymnal. Sharpthorne is a village in Routley's native county of Sussex, England.

Don't forget the Concert of Remembrance and Peace tonight at Strawbridge United Methodist Church. Members from our choir will be a part of this event.