Music for April 30, 2017 + The Third Sunday of Easter

Vocal Music

• As We Gather at Your Table – Skinner Chávez-Melo (1944-1992)

Instrumental Music

• Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 649 - J. S. Bach (1685-1750) 
• Fantasia No. 2- Georg Philipp Telemann (1681 – 1767) 
• Engleberg – Charles Callahan (b. 1951)

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

• Hymn 180 - He is risen, he is risen! (UNSER HERRSCHER)
• Hymn 492 - Sing, ye faithful, sing with gladness (FINNIAN)
• Hymn 495 - Hail, thou once despised Jesus (IN BABILONE)
• Hymn R115 - God’s holy ways are true and just (LASST UNS ERFREUEN)
• Hymn 204 - Now the green blade riseth (NOEL NOUVELET)
• Hymn - I come to the garden alone (IN THE GARDEN)
• Hymn 296 - We know that Christ is raised (ENGLEBERG)
• Psalm 116:1-3, 10-17 Dilexi, quoniam – Mode 2

For the third Sunday of the Easter season the choir is relaxing things a bit and singing a modern hymn for the offertory. The text by Carl Daw is set to a tune by the late Skinner Chávez-Melo, an organist, conductor and composer who was born in Mexico City, but completed his musical studies in the United States, receiving degrees at Eastern Nazarene College and the Union Theological Seminary, and pursuing further studies at the Juilliard School and the Manhattan School. He was music director at the St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church in Manhattan at the time of his death when he was just 47 years old.

Chávez-Melo, was a contributor to the Spanish language hymnal for the Episcopal Church, El Himnario, wrote this tune in 1989 to honor Raquel Gutierrez Achon, the editor of that hymnal. Originally written for the text Sing of Mary, pure and lowly (hymn 277 in The Hymnal 1982), it was paired with this text for supplement to our hymnal, Wonder, Love, and Praise because the committee...

...wanted a less objective tune that would speak to the way the text draws the singer inward to reflect on the meaning of Eucharist for personal commitment and service. (John L. Hooker, Wonder, Love, and Praise Leader's Guide, 1997)

For the opening voluntary I've chosen a chorale prelude from the Schübler Chorales, a collection of six chorale preludes for organ by J. S. Bach, At least five of the six are transcribed for organ from movements in Bach's cantatas. This one, Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ ("O Stay With Us, Lord Jesus Christ), is a transcription of the third movement of cantata no. 6, Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden ("Stay with us, for evening falls").  It was originally a solo for soprano paired with an obligato violin solo

I chose it because of the connection to the day's Gospel reading. Two early Christians are walking to Emmaus, when they meet a stranger who has not heard of the Crucifixion of Christ. They discuss the events, and their companion explains how this is to fulfill the scriptures.

²⁸As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. ²⁹But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. ³¹Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight (Luke 24)

Christ and the Disciples at Emmaus,  Pascal-Adolphe-Jean Dagnan-Bouveret (French), 1852-1929

You can see how this passage also influenced my choice of today's anthem, too.

As we gather at your table,
as we listen to your word,
help us know, O God, your presence;
let our hearts and minds be stirred.
Nourish us with sacred story
till we claim it as our own;
teach us through this holy banquet
how to make Love's victory known.

The Communion Voluntary today is the unaccompanied Fantasia No. 2 for flute by the German Baroque composer Georg Philipp Telemann. It is played by Kingwood Park High School Senior Andrea Velasquez who gave her Senior Flute recital here at Good Shepherd yesterday. She will be majoring in music this fall at Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY.

Music for April 23, 2017 + The Second Sunday of Easter

Vocal Music

• An Easter Greeting – Martin How

Instrumental Music

• O Sons and Daughters, Let Us Sing – Jean-François Dandrieu (c. 1682 - 1738)
• That Easter Day With Joy Was Bright – Rudy Davenport (b. 1948)
• Good Christians all, rejoice and sing! – Paul Manz (1919-2009)

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

• Hymn 205 - Good Christians all, rejoice and sing! (GELOBT SEI GOTT)
• Hymn 492 - Sing, ye faithful, sing with gladness (FINNIAN)
• Hymn 206 - Alleuia! O sons and daughters, let us sing! (O FILII ET FILIAE)
• Hymn R258 - To God be the glory (TO GOD BE THE GLORY)
• Hymn R271 - Alleluia, alleluia! Give thanks to the risen Lord (ALLELUIA NO. 1)
• Hymn R91 - Open our eyes, Lord (OPEN OUR EYES)
• Hymn 193 - That Easter Day with joy was bright (PUER NOBIS)
• Psalm 116 – simplified Anglican Chant

If ever there was a hymn that was just perfect for a particular Gospel reading, it has to be this Sunday's hymn before the Gospel (and the inspiration for the opening organ voluntary. O Sons and Daughters, Let Us Sing. It is a version (in song) of today's Gospel reading.

The original hymn, which was in Latin, is usually attributed to a French cleric named Tisserand in the fifteenth or early sixteenth century. The first known publication of the text was in an untitled booklet in Paris between 1518 and 1536. Other Latin stanzas were also added at a later date. John Mason Neale translated the hymn into English in 1851.

This hymn tells the story of those who witnessed the resurrected Christ based on the gospel accounts, particularly that of John. After describing the scene at the tomb on Resurrection Sunday morning, the text narrates the disciples' responses, from the sudden appearance of Jesus in a locked room where a group of them were meeting (John 20:19-23) to the proof of Jesus' physical resurrection when He appeared to doubting Thomas (John 20:23-29).

This text appears in nine or ten stanzas in some hymnals, but ours divides these stanzas into two separate hymns because the first part of the hymn tells the story of the scene at the tomb on Resurrection Sunday, while the second part tells the story of the disciples' response to the news from John 20:19-29. A refrain of jubilant alleluias opens and closes the hymn.

The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, c.1601-1602, 

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1573-1610)

The opening voluntary is a set of variations on the 15th cenutry French tune for "O Sons and Daughters, Let us Sing. The tune name comes from the original Latin text which began "O filii et filiae, Rex coelestis."  The composer of these variations is Jean-François Dandrieu, who, though largely forgotten today, was regarded as one of the finest composers of harpsichord music of his time. He came from a well-to-do family and showed rare musical talent in his early childhood. Before the age of 5, he gave a harpsichord concert for Princess Palatine Elisabeth-Charlotte of Bavaria and other royalty. Both he and his sister Jeanne Françoise were pupils of composer and keyboard player Jean-Baptiste Moreau. 

In July 1705, Dandrieu was formally installed as organist at St. Merry Church in Paris. In addition to this enviable position, he got a more prestigious post in 1721 he was installed as one of the organists at the royal chapel. Twelve years later he added yet another organist post to the two he already held, when he succeeded his uncle Pierre Dandrieu as organist at St. Barthelemy, upon the latter's death in 1733. It is likely that the busy Dandrieu delegated some of his duties at St. Merry and St. Barthelemy to his sister.

It's in his first book of organ pieces (ironically published after his death) that we find these variations of the Easter hymn we are singing today.

Music for April 16, 2017 + Easter

Vocal Music

• Tell the News! – David Ashley White (b. 1944)
• Magdalen, Cease from Sobs and Sighs – Peter Hurford (b. 1930)
• Hallelujah (Messiah) – G. F. Handel (1685-1759)

Instrumental Music

• Carillon de Westminster - Louis Vierne (1870-1937)
• Final (Symphony No. 1 in D minor, Op. 14) – Louis Vierne

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

• Hymn 179 - “Welcome, happy morning!” (FORTUNATUS)
• Hymn 207 - Jesus Christ is risen today (EASTER HYMN)
• Hymn 174 - At the Lamb’s high feast we sing (SALZBURG)
• Hymn - Sing with all the saints in glory (HYMN TO JOY)
• Hymn R199 - This is the feast of victory (FESTIVAL CANTICLE)
• Hymn R237 - Jesus, stand among us (WEM IN LEIDENSTAGEN)
• Hymn R202 - Sing alleluia to the Lord (SING ALLELUIA)
• Hymn 182 - Christ is alive! Let Christians sing (TRURO)
• Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 Confitemini Domino - setting by Thom Pavlechko

David Ashley White

The offertory anthem is a new addition to the library of the Good Shepherd Choir. It was written by David Ashley White, a seventh-generation Texan who is on the faculty of the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston and is Composer-in-Residence at Houston’s Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church. He wrote this anthem for the Mississippi Conference of Church Music and Liturgy, which I attend every year and where I first heard it. I was immediately drawn to its melody, a rugged tune full of life and celebration which sounds as if it were written during the time of the Revolutionary War. Combined with the sparkling organ accompaniment, it will work well as the 'big' anthem at our Easter eucharist.

Peter Hurford

The communion anthem is also new to our library, but is well known among church musicians. It is the arrangement of an Easter carol by the British organist Peter Hurford. Trained in both music and law, Hurford has enjoyed an enviable reputation for both his organ playing and his musical scholarship. He received an appointment as music master at St. Albans Abbey in 1958 where he began to attract the attention of other English organists unsatisfied with the traditional and often heavy-handed Baroque style customarily heard in English churches.  After two decades at St. Albans, Hurford resigned in 1978 to devote his time to solo performances. By that time, his recordings had made his name a familiar one even to those who had not heard him in live performance. He suffered a minor stroke in 1997, but recovered enough to resume his performing career seven months later. In early 2008, he was diagnosed with advanced Alzheimer's Disease, and formally retired from concertizing in 2009.

When it comes to showy organ music, nothing, nobody, can beat the French. One of the greatest organists of the first half of the 20th century was Louis Vierne, who was organist at Notre Dame in Paris. He wrote music for orchestra, choir, voice and piano, but it is his organ music that he is most remembered for today. He wrote 6 organ symphonies, four suites, two organ masses and numerous other pieces for the instrument.

From the third suite of Vierne’s four-suite set 24 pieces de fantaisie we find Vierne's most famous work, The Carillon de Westminster. The ubiquitous clock-tune of Westminster Abbey, heard every hour on-the-hour in cities and towns all over the planet, is here gradually transformed into a magnificent, transcendent celebration of time and eternity itself. It gradually builds in intensity toward its awesome and heaven-storming climax. Though not explicitly "Easter" in title, its celebratory feel is perfect for this day.

Vierne's first symphony, Symphony No. 1 for organ in D minor, Op. 14, was premiered in 1899. It had six movements but it is the last movement, or Final,which I am playing for the closing voluntary today. From the first note to the last, it is non-stop with the melody in the pedals and rapid accompaniment in the manual keyboards. This movement is loud, starting with full organ and getting even louder!

Were his music not dramatic enough, it's only topped by his death - dying at the console during a performance. (You can read about it here). That's the way to go!

Music for the Triduum 2017

Maundy Thursday, April 13
7:00 PM

Vocal Music

• As In that Upper Room – Carl Haywood (b. 1949)
• Christus Factus Est – Felice Anerio  (1560-1614)

Instrumental Music

• O Lamb of God, Most Holy (BWV 656) - J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
• Deck Thyself, My Soul, With Gladness (BWV 654) - J.S. Bach

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

• Hymn 495 - Hail, thou once despised Jesus  (IN BABILONE)
• Hymn 576 - God is love, and where true love is (MANDATUM)
• Hymn R289 - Jesu, Jesus, fill us with your love (CHEREPONI)
• Hymn R148 - Brother, let me be your servant (THE SERVANT SONG)
• Hymn R226 - Ubi caritas et amor (TAIZÉ)
• Hymn 171 - Go to dark Gethsemane (PETRA)
• Hymn R170 - Stay here, and keep watch with me (TAIZÉ)
• Psalm 116:1, 10-17 – Tone IIa

Good Friday, April 14

noon

Vocal Music

• It Is Enough – Felix Mendelssohn 
• Were You There? – Spiritual
• Richard Murray, solist

Instrumental Music

• As Jesus Stood Beside the Cross - Samuel Scheidt

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 .)

• Hymn 158 - Ah, holy Jesus, how has thou offended? (HERZLIEBSTER JESUS)
• Hymn 441 - In the cross of Christ I glory (RATHBUN)          
• Hymn 474 - When I survey the wondrous cross (ROCKINGHAM)

Easter Vigil, April 15

7:00 PM

Vocal Music

• Hallelujah (Messiah) - George Frederic Handel
• An Easter Greeting - Martin How

Instrumental Music

• Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands – Georg Böhm
• Good Christians all, rejoice and sing – Paul Manz

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

• Hymn 385 - Many and great, O God, are thy works  (DAKOTA INDIAN CHANT)  
• Hymn 648 - When Israel was in Egypt’s land (GO DOWN, MOSES)
• Hymn R-122  - Surely it is God who saves me (THE FIRST SONG OF ISAIAH)
• Canticle -  Christ our Passover (SINE NOMINE)
• Hymn 174 - At the Lamb’s high fest we sing (SALZBURG)
• Hymn 199 - Come, ye faithful, raise the strain (ST. KEVIN)

Triduum: A period of three days of preparation for a feast day. The term is most frequently used for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, the three days prior to Easter Sunday that are the concluding days of Holy Week, also known as the Easter Triduum. Other usage for the Easter Triduum reckons the days from the evening of Maundy Thursday through the evening of Easter Day. The term may indicate any three-day period of preparation for a feast.

We have three major services (and several small ones) in the three days leading up to Easter, and here is a list of music for all three.

Of particular interest (to me, at least) are the following pieces:

As In That Upper Room is a hymn set to a tune by Carl W. Haywood. Dr. Haywood is about to retire after 42 years on the faculty of Norfolk State University, where he originally got his undergraduate degree. Like me, he received his Master of Sacred Music (organ) at Southern Methodist University as well as the Master of Music in choral conducting (unlike me). Dr. Haywood then received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Southern California.

He has written several original hymns as well as a mass, Mass for Grace, written for Grace Episcopal Church in Norfolk, where he was organist/choirmaster for 26 years. He has served on the Liturgical Commission for the Diocese of Southern Virginia, the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music for the Episcopal Church of America and as Director of Music for the Union of Black Episcopalians.

The two organ chorales used at the Maundy Thursday Service are from Bach's monumental collection, The Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes, BWV 651-668. Bach compiled this collection in his final decade (1740-1750), from earlier works composed when he was court organist in Weimar, (1708-1717). The works form an encyclopedic collection of large-scale chorale preludes, in a variety of styles harking back to the previous century that Bach gradually perfected during his career. Together with the Orgelbüchlein, the Schübler Chorales and the third book of the Clavier-Übung, they represent the summit of Bach’s sacred music for solo organ.

The first thirteen chorale preludes BWV 651–663 were added by Bach himself between 1739 and 1742, supplemented by BWV 664 and 665 in 1746–7. In 1750 when Bach began to suffer from blindness before his death in July, BWV 666 and 667 were dictated to his student and son-in-law Johann Christoph Altnikol and copied posthumously into the manuscript.

The extended opening voluntary, O Lamm Gottes unschuldig [O innocent Lamb of God], is a 3 verse chorale partita. The first verse of this Good Friday hymn, is a subdued prelude in four parts based on the melody, which appears explicitly in the soprano line over the flowing eighth-note accompaniment; in the second verse the tune moves to the alto line and the eighth-note figures become more lively; in the final verse, the pedal finally appears to take up the cantus firmus, beneath a four part fugal counter-subject in triplets, first in a forthright angular figuration, then in hammered repeated notes leading to an anguished chromatic passage, indicative of the crucifixion, and finally in peaceful flowing eighth-notes.

The communion voluntary is the great communion hymn Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele [Deck thyself, my soul with gladness], for two keyboards and pedal. The soberly ornamented, melismatic chorale in the soprano (right hand) alternates with the dance-like ritornellos of the two intertwining lower
parts in the left hand above a pedal bass; the unearthly counterpoint between the four different parts creates an air of great serenity, a “rapturous meditation” on the rite of communion. The adornment in the title is illustrated by the French-style ornamentation of the upper parts.  (Thanks to St. Thomas Church, New York City, for providing the program notes to John Scott's 2014 recital of the Great 18 Chorales)

Music for April 9, 2017 + The Sunday of the Passion

10:15 Morning Service

Vocal Music

• Hosanna in the Highest – Anon (16th C.)
• Behold, the Lamb of God – G. F. Handel (1685-1759)
• Via Dolorosa - Billy Sprague (b. 1952) /Niles Borop (b. 1956)

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

• Hymn 154 - All glory, laud, and honor (VALET WILL ICH DIR GEBEN)
• Hymn 480 - When Jesus left his Father’s throne (KINGSFOLD)
• Hymn R235 - O sacred head, now wounded (PASSION CHORALE)
• Hymn R214 - Your only Son no sin to hide (LAMB OF GOD)
• Hymn R227 - Jesus, remember me (Taizé)
• Hymn 474 - When I survey the wondrous cross (ROCKINGHAM)

6:30 P.M. A Service of Passion Readings and Music

Vocal Music

• Into the Woods - Richard Shephard
• Wondrous Love - Steven Pilkington
• Hosanna in the Highest – Anon (16th C.)
• Behold, the Lamb of God – G. F. Handel
• When I Survey the Wondrous Cross - Alfred V. Fedak
• Christus Factus Est – Felice Anerio 
• Surely He Bore All of My Grief - Michael Guimont

Instrumental Music

• Wondrous Love - arr. Sondra Tucker

Congregational Music

• Hymn 168 - O Sacred Head, Sore Wounded (PASSION CHORALE)

Lots of Music this weekend, both for the morning service of the Palms and the Passion, and the evening service of music and readings for the passion. I hope you are at both.

At the early service, Bidkar Cajina will sing a song during communion from a genre that doesn't often make it into our services. From the realm of contemporary Gospel Music (whatever that means) comes the song Via Dolorosa.

For many Christian pilgrims in Jerusalem, one of the most meaningful things they will do while in the city is walk the Via Dolorosa, the route that Jesus took between his condemnation by Pilate and his crucifixion and burial. This "way of sadness" was the inspiration for the 1986 Dove Award winning song made famous by Sandi Patti. It was composed by Billy Sprague, an Oklahoma native who grew up in the Amarillo, Texas area. He earned a degree in English from Texas Christian University, did graduate work for two years in literature at the University of Texas, Austin, followed by twenty-five years of making music in Nashville, Tn. He is currently Worship Pastor (what we call a director of music) at Edgewater Alliance Church in Edgewater, Florida.

Going to the other extreme, the Good Shepherd Choir will be singing the dramatic chorus from Messiah, Behold the Lamb of God. This is the chorus that begins the 2nd part of Messiah (which is referred to as "Part the Second.") Part the Second is divided into two great sections – the first telling the story of the human suffering of Christ, interestingly set to words entirely from the Old Testament; and the second celebrating "His divine aspect spreading over the world with a crescendo of glorious righteousness:"1 it ends with Hallelujah (which you will hear NEXT weekend!)

We will also sing a short 16th century motet by an anonymous composer on the great Palm Sunday text, "Hosanna in the highest." It is an excellent example of polyphony, the musical form that combines a number of distinct vocal lines, each forming an individual melody and harmonizing with each other.

1. Dallas Bach Society, Messiah program notes, 02/12/2015