Music for January 28, 2018 + The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

Vocal Music

• Jesus Christ, the Apple Tree – Mark Schweitzer (b. 1956)

Instrumental Music

• Wo soll ich fliehen hin? (Whether Shall I Flee?) – Johann Sebastian Bach, BWV 694 (1685-1750) 
• Sonata No. 51 in B-flat Major – Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)
• Praeludium and Fugue in E Minor – Johann Sebastian Bach, BWV 533

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

• Hymn 493 - O for a thousand tongues to sing (AZMON)
• Hymn 536 - Open your ears, O faithful people (TORAH SONG)
• Hymn 380 - From all that dwells below the skies (OLD 100TH)
• Hymn R201 - Be still, for the Spirit of the Lord (BE STILL)
• Hymn R266 - Give thanks with a grateful heart (GIVE THANKS)
• Hymn 530 - Spread, O spread, thou mighty word (GOTT SEI DANK)
• Psalm 111 – Confitebor tibi – Tone IVe

The anthem this morning is a simple but beautiful setting of an anonymous poem, The Apple Tree. We first sang this setting three years ago, and I wrote about it and its composer then, so if you want to read what I wrote, click here. It's worth it. I really did a good job. 😀

The opening voluntary is an early work of Johann Sebastian Bach on the Lutheran Chorale Wo soll ich fliehen hin, a hymn about the fearful sinner who diligently tries to escape the clutches of the devil, and finds redemption and peace in the blood of Jesus. Those happy Lutherans! Bach must not have been too keen on this arrangement, for he never tried to publish it, and it was only because one of his students, Johann Kirnberger, who discovered it among twenty-four organ compositions following Bach's death, that we even have access to it today.

The piece is a trio, meaning that there are three parts, or lines of music; two played by each of the hands, and the third, the chorale-melody, played by the feet.  "Above the doom-laden chorale melody in the pedal, which unfurls frightfully slowly and is therefore unrecognisable, the right hand plays a hurried escape motif. Nevertheless, the cheerful undertone in the left hand reveals that there will be a satisfactory outcome.melody." (1) Organist Leo van Doeselaar compares the two manual parts to a duel: "The two parts... are fighting out a duel, allowing each other no rest at all. Wide leaps, continuing musical lines, lots of syncopation, hard leaps... and that's all logical, because the text is so emotional: 'Where can I go, with all my sins?" (2)

Wo soll ich fliehen hin,
weil ich beschweret bin
mit vielen grossen Sünden ?
Wo kann ich Rettung finden ?
Wenn alle Welt herkäme,
mein Angst sie nicht wegnähme.

Where should I fly from here since I am burdened with many great sins? Where can I find rescue? If everybody in the world came to help, they would not take away my anguish. 

Another early work of Bach is his so-called "Little" Prelude and Fugue in E Minor, one of the best known and most widely played of Bach's early works. Mendelssohn was said to have introduced it to St. Paul's Cathedral in London. (Probably leading to its other nick-name, the "Cathedral.") It's form shows an immaturity, but that's overlooked by its strong spirit and drive. The work begins with a section of passage-work, which acts as an introduction and firmly sets the key. This is followed by a section of extended elaboration derived from the opening material. The second section, the fugue, contrasts with first by its thicker texture and stricter rhythm.

A contemporary of Bach named Domenico Scarlatti was living and writing music at the same time in Italy and Spain. Scarlatti churned out an enormous number of keyboard sonatas — more than 550.  If we believe the tales that are told, we have Scarlatti's gambling habit to thank for that number. One story has it that Scarlatti needed help from his patroness, the Queen of Spain, to pay off his gambling debts.  In return, she asked the composer to write down his improvised keyboard music.  The manuscripts containing the keyboard sonatas were given first to the queen and then, when the queen died in 1758, to the great singer Farinelli.  Soon thereafter, Scarlatti’s sonatas became known and loved across Europe.

Domenico Scarlatti

Scarlatti's sonatas all fall into the same form as the typical early 18th century keyboard sonata, the two-part binary form in two related sections, both of which are usually repeated. That is true of today's sonata, No. 51. The majority of Scarlatti's sonatas are brisk, energetic pieces, but since I am playing during communion, I've chosen one of his slower pieces marked Cantabile, which means "in a smooth singing style."

1. Bierman, Marloes. “Wo Soll Ich Fliehen Hin.” All of Bach, 15 May 2015, allofbach.com/en/bwv/bwv-694/. accessed 25 January 2018
2. van Doeselaar, Leo. “Wo Soll Ich Fliehen Hin.” All of Bach, 15 May 2015, allofbach.com/en/bwv/bwv-694/.

Music for January 21, 2018 + The Third Sunday after the Epiphany

Vocal Music

• They Cast Their Nets in Galilee – Michael McCabe (b. 1941)

Instrumental Music

• Prelude on “Mit Freuden Zart” – T. Frederick H. Candlyn (1892-1964)
• Deck Thyself, My Soul, With Gladness – Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
• Grand Chœur – François-Clément Théodore Dubois (1837 - 1924)

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

• Hymn 408 - Sing praise to God who reigns above (MIT FREUDEN ZART)
• Hymn 470 - There’s a wideness in God’s mercy (BEECHER)
• Hymn 533 - How wondrous and great thy works (LYONS)
• Hymn R147 - Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling (THOMPSON)
• Hymn 660 - O Master, let me walk with thee (MARYTON)
• Hymn 550 - Jesus calls us: o’er the tumult (GALILEE)
• Psalm 62:6-14 - setting by Thom Pavlechko

Vocation de Saint Jacques et de Saint Jean
Jacques Joseph Tissot (1836 – 1902)
Brooklyn Museum Collection

This Sunday we hear the Gospel story of the calling of the disciples. There are two hymns in our hymnal that speak directly this story, and we will sing (or hear) both of them. The best known is the hymn Jesus calls us: o'er the tumult. In the 1982 Hymnal, the editors decided to do away with the familiar tune GALILEE in favor of two other tunes which honestly have no history of being associated with the text. The first year I was here at Good Shepherd I dutifully chose the tune which I thought the congregation would have the best chance of singing. After the service I was castigated by congregation members who said

(cas·ti·gate [ˈkastəˌɡāt] verb formal: reprimand (someone) severely) 

 the real tune was the one in the 1940 Hymnal (and every other hymnal in the United States.) Henceforth I have always paired this text with the tune GALILEE. (So don't try to read the music out of the hymnal - I'll be playing another tune.)


The other hymn is one that is somewhat peculiar to the Episcopalians. “They cast their nets in Galilee” comes from the last four stanzas of a poem written in 1924 by attorney and poet William Alexander Percy (1885-1942), a native of Greenville, Mississippi, and a graduate of Sewanee. 

The words are simple in themselves, calling to mind “happy, simple fisherfolk” who leave their peaceful lifestyle for the Peace of God. As they soon learned, there is a cost of discipleship.

These verses entered the Hymnal 1940 with the tune composed by David McK. Williams, general music editor of that hymnal. He named the tune GEORGETOWN out of friendship for F. Bland Tucker, who was then rector of St. John's Church, Georgetown Parish, in Washington, D.C.

Michael McCabe

This hymn has been arranged by Michael McCabe, an organist and composer who had a 20 year military career. His various assignments provided McCabe with unique learning opportunities, such as study with such notable musicians as Leo Sowerby, Thomas Matthews, Dale Wood, and the composer of this hymn, David McK. Williams. He has served numerous church, including Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. As a published composer, McCabe was elected to ASCAP in 1972, and ASCAP credits include NBC Television, foreign and domestic recording, the Stockholm and Stuttgart Music Festivals.

This is a pretty straight-forward arrangement of the tune, with the choir singing in unison (or in canon) most of the time. On stanza three, McCabe comes up with a new melody which on the surface looks like the original, but is in an entirely new mode and tonality. Please pray that the tenors and basses (who sing this stanza) remembers the difference. We did not have choir rehearsal this week due to ice and general indifference.

T. Frederick H. Candlyn

The opening voluntary is a setting of our opening hymn. This is a piece I have had in my library since I was in high school. When I began playing the organ at age 15, I also began exploring the hymnal, learning many hymn-tunes that were new to me. One of those was Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above (MIT FREUDEN ZART). I have never heard a hymn that I thought was so grand, and it pained me that my small congregation in Tennessee did not know it. So I scoured a music catalogue (this was before the internet) and ordered this arrangement sight-unseen. I did not know the name of Thomas Frederick Handel Candlyn, nor the church from which he retired, St. Thomas Episcopal in Manhattan, but I loved the improvisatory style in which he wrote, and have loved playing it this 40+ years.  I hope the congregation gets something out of it, too.

Music for January 14, 2018 + The Second Sunday after Epiphany

Vocal Music

• Hush! Somebody’s Calling My Name – Brazeal Dennard (1929-2010)
• May My Light Shine – Lynn Bailey (b. 1955) and Becki Mayo (b. 1956)

Instrumental Music

• Voluntary in A Minor – Maurice Greene (1696-1755)
• Communion – François-Clément Théodore Dubois (1837 - 1924)
• Allegro in D Minor – John Stanley (1712-1786)

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

• Hymn 7 - Christ, whose glory fills the skies (RATISBON)
• Hymn 295 - Sing praise to our Creator (CHRISTUS, DER IST MEIN LEBEN)
• Hymn 707 - Take my life and let it be consecrated (HOOLINSIDE)
• Hymn R149 - I, the Lord of sea and sky (HERE I AM LORD)
• Hymn R147 - Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling (THOMPSON)
• Hymn 535 -  Ye servants of God, your Master proclaim (PADERBORN)
• Psalm 139 Domine, probasti – David Hurd

Becki Slagle Mayo

The Coventry Choir is singing an anthem that is perfect for the season after Christmas and Epiphany. The text is inspired by the Star of Bethlehem, and the music and text both quote the refrain of "We Three Kings." (Star of Wonder, Star of Light...) This work is a collaboration between two composers, Becki Slagle Mayo and Lynn Shaw Bailey.

A graduate of Campbellsville College and Mankato State University, Mayo is director of youth and children's choirs at Alpharetta (Georgia) Presbyterian Church, and maintains a private piano studio in her home. As a composer and arranger, she has published over 50 compositions with 12 major publishing companies.

Lynn Shaw Bailey

Perhaps best known by her anthems for younger and developing voices, Bailey studied music at Oklahoma Baptist University and received OBU’s Alumni Profiles in Excellence Award. She also studied composition privately with Bob Burroughs, David Schwoebel, and Alice Parker. In addition, Lynn has degrees in journalism and nursing.

A native and resident of Georgia for most of her life, Bailey and her husband now live in Waco, Texas

The Good Shepherd Choir is singing an anthem we did exactly three years ago, so I am adding this link to what I said about Hush! Somebody's Calling My Name here.

Maurice Greene

The opening and closing voluntaries are connected by a musical lineage. Maurice Greene , the composer of the opening voluntary, was an English composer in London. His grandfather, John Greene, had been the Recorder in the City of London and his father, Thomas Greene, chaplain of the Chapel Royal and canon of Salisbury. Maurice Greene was the youngest of seven children and began his musical studies as a chorister at St. Paul's Cathedral. His voice broke at the age of 14 and his musical tutoring was continued under Richard Brind, the Cathedral organist.

By the time he was but 40 years old, he held all the major musical appointments in the country,  namely Organist of St. Paul's Cathedral, Organist and Composer to the Chapel Royal, Professor of Music at Cambridge University and Master of the King's Musick. 

One of his students was the eight year old John Stanley, who, though blind from an accident since the age of two, studied "with great diligence, and a success that was astonishing" (1).  Stanley had begun his musical studies at seven with lessons from another organist  but the teacher/student partnership was not fruitful. However, under the guidance of Maurice Greene, he progressed so that by age nine he was playing the organ occasionally at All Hallows Church on Bread Street.

John Stanley

The organist at All Hallows at that time was the composer William Babell, a former pupil of Handel. Babell died on September 23rd, 1723 and exactly one month later the eleven year old Stanley was appointed organist to the church at a salary of £20 per annum!

At the age of fourteen he was chosen as organist at St. Andrew's, Holborn and at the age of seventeen became the youngest person ever to obtain the BMus degree at Oxford University. In 1734 he was appointed organist to the Temple Church - a position he held until his death. It was at the ancient Temple Church that his brilliant playing upon the organ and harpsichord attracted the attention of many fine musicians including Handel who regularly visited the church to hear him.

The English organ of this period was not as developed as the German organ of the same time, often having no pedals and only two keyboards, so the music of the period is not as complex as the music of Bach or Buxtehude. The piece I am playing today has been freely arranged for the modern organ by English organist Henry Coleman. It includes a pedal part and more manual (keyboard) changes.

(1) The Present State of Music in Germany, the Netherlands and United Provinces, Charles Burney (1773)

Music for January 7, 2018 + The First Sunday after the Epiphany

The Baptism of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Vocal Music

• The Holly and the Ivy – Richard Shephard (b. 1949)

Instrumental Music

• When Jesus Went to Jordan’s Stream – Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706)
• O Lamb of God, Most Holy – Johann Pachelbel
• Toccata in C – Johann Pachelbel

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

• Hymn 398 - I sing the almighty power of God (FOREST GREEN)
• Hymn 381 - Thy strong word did cleave the darkness (TON-Y-BOTEL)
• Hymn 135 - Songs of thankfulness and praise (SALZBURG)
• Hymn R248 - O let the Son of God enfold you (SPIRIT SONG)
• Hymn R90 - Spirit of the Living God (IVERSON)
• Hymn 616 - Hail to the Lord’s anointed (ES FLOG EIN KLEINES WALDVÖGELEIN)
• Psalm 29  Afferte Domino – Tone Vc, antiphon by James E. Barrett

This Sunday we remember the Baptism of Christ. The first Sunday after the Epiphany is always focused on Christ's baptism, and often we include an anthem setting of "Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day" which we may have just sung at Christmas. But this year we are serving up another Christmas left-over, the old English Carol "The Holly and the Ivy." The carol itself is a curiosity, for what is particularly sacred about Holly and Ivy? What is inherently Christmas about the two, either, other than the hardiness of the evergreen? In any case, we are singing it on this first Sunday of the new year, relishing in the reminder that " Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ To be our sweet Saviour."  (An interesting article about this carol is found on the gardening website TheSpruce.com. You can read it here.

The organ music is much more connected to the day's readings. The main Lutheran chorale dealing with the Baptism of Christ is the old hymn CHRIST UNSER HERR ZUM JORDAN KAM, which is found in our hymnal at number 139, albeit to a new translation of the text originally by Martin Luther. Both J. S. Bach and Dietrich Buxtehude wrote beautiful organ settings of the chorale, but today I am playing one by Johann Pachelbel, the greatest organist of the South German organ school of the baroque period. (Both Bach and Buxtehude were North German.) The melody of this setting is in the pedal, played on an 8' trumpet stop.

The communion voluntary is Pachelbel's setting of the Lenten chorale O Lamm Gottes unschuldig (Lamb of God, Most Holy). Why would I schedule a Lenten piece for the first Sunday of January? Because in the Gospel of John, John the Baptist declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" when he saw Jesus walking toward him.

This short setting of the chorale is in the form of a fughetta. Did you fughetta 'bout fughettas? I wrote about them in my Christmas post. (Fughetta: a short fugue that has the same characteristics as a fugue. Often the contrapuntal writing is not strict, and the setting less formal.) Just be glad there is no test.