November 4, 2018 + All Saints Sunday

Vocal Music

• By All Your Saints – Joel Martinson

Instrumental Music

• Here I Am, Lord – Daniel Schutte
• Concerto in A Minor (First Movement) – Antonio Vivaldi

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

• Hymn 287 - For all the saints, who from their labor rest  (SINE NOMINE)
• Hymn 286 - Who are these like stars appearing (ZEUCH MICH, ZEUCH MICH)
• Hymn 822 - Through North and South and East and West (LAAST UNS ERFREUEN)
• Hymn 620 - Jerusalem, my happy home (LAND OF REST)
• Hymn 293 - I sing a song of the saints of God (GRAND ISLE)
• Hymn 618  - Ye holy angels bright (DARWALL’S 148TH)
• Psalm 24

All Saints Day is November 1. (Which is why we have All Hallow's Eve - Halloween - on October 31.) All Saints’ Day is when the church honors all Holy Ones, known and unknown. Our English word “saint” literally means “holy.” The next day, November 2, is All Soul's Day, the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed. In other cultures the celebration is known as Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos in Spanish-speaking countries.)

Here at Good Shepherd we combine the two and observe them on the Sunday following. That's why we sing all the good old All Saints hymns (For All the Saints is regularly voted as one of the favorites of the congregation to sing) and read the list of names of those dear to us who have died. (This would be a good time for you to watch the animated movie Coco. (I think its the best of the Disney movies, able to be enjoyed by children and adults alike).

I am out of the country this week, so my good friend Rob Carty will be playing the organ for me in my absence. 

Music for October 28, 2018

Vocal Music

• Alleluia from Exultate Jubilate, K.165  – W. A. Mozart (1756-1791) Christine Marku, soprano
• Look at the World – John Rutter (b. 1945)

Instrumental Music

• Declare the Maker's Praise - Joseph D. Daniel / arr. Tammy Waldrop
• Arioso from Cantata 156 – Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
• Sinfonia from Cantata 79: Wir Danken dir, Gott – J. S. Bach

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

• Hymn 410 - Praise, my soul, the King of heaven (LAUDA ANIMA)
• Hymn 302 - Father, we thank thee who hast planted (RENDEZ A DIEU)
• Hymn 671 - Amazing grace! how sweet the sound (NEW BRITAIN)
• Hymn 693 - Just as I am, without one plea (WOODWORTH)
• Hymn 535 - Ye servants of God, your Master proclaim (PADERBORN)
• Psalm 126 – Tone VIIIa

There's only one service this Sunday as we begin our 2018 Stewardship emphasis. Because of this, we pull out most of the stops for music this week!

We'll start out with an opening voluntary played by the Good Shepherd Handbell Guild. These 10 women meet each Wednesday morning during the school year. It's an interesting mix of ages, as the the youngest is 13 (we have three home-schooled youth). There are two sets of mother/daughters and one set of sisters. We have people with over 20 years of playing experience down to those playing for the first time.

The piece is an original composition by Joseph Daniel, a free-lance musician living in Michigan, with degrees in music from Baylor and the University of Michigan.

Then the Good Shepherd Choir will be joined by the Coventry Choir in John Rutter's beautiful anthem, Look at the World. Rutter is considered one of the leading living composers of sacred music. His anthem is perfect for our Stewardship emphasis as it enumerates the natural beauties that God created in the world and for which we give thanks.

Every good gift, all that we need and cherish,
Comes from the Lord in token of his love.
We are his hands, stewards of all his bounty,
His is the earth and his the heavens above.

Praise to thee, O Lord for all creation,
Give us thankful hearts that we may see
All the gifts we share, and every blessing,
All things come of thee

Mozart, age 18

Venanzio Rauzzini
engraved by Samuel Freeman 

Then at the offertory, Christine Irwin Marku will sing the soprano show-piece, Alleluia, from Mozart's Exsultate, jubilate.

Mozart was just 16 when he wrote this. The man (yes, man) for whom Mozart wrote it, Venanzio Rauzzini, was the Italian soprano castrato of choice for the musical chattering classes of Milan. The composer and performer had been flung together to produce Mozart’s early opera, Lucio Silla, in which Rauzzini starred. The singer would eventually, after a couple more adulatory years wowing them in Italy, move permanently to the unlikely destination of Bath, England, living largely off his reputation by teaching and mounting subscription concerts.

Music for October 21, 2018 + Good Shepherd School Sunday

Vocal Music

• I Know I’m a Child of God - Lonnie Stanford

Instrumental Music

• Dona nobis Pacem - Traditional, arr. Tom Anderson
• Rhosymedre – Ralph Vaughan Williams 
• Symphony No. 9 “Ode to Joy” - Beethoven, arr. Tom Anderson      

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

• Hymn 8 - Morning is broken (BUNESSAN)
• Hymn 405 - All things bright and beautiful (ROYAL OAK)
• Hymn 380 - From all that dwell below the skies (OLD HUNDREDTH)
• Hymn R289 - Jesu, Jesu (CHEREPONI)
• Hymn R148 - Brother, let me be your servant (SERVANT SONG)
• Song - The Lord is my shepherd
• Hymn 530 - Spread, O spread, thou mighty word (GOTT SEI DANK)
• Psalm 91:9-6 Tone

Today is Good Shepherd School Sunday at the 10:15 service in the nave. The children of our day school will sing the offertory anthem today, and their Bell/Boomwhacker ensemble will play the opening and closing voluntaries. Karen Silva is the music teacher at our school and does a fabulous job teaching them rudiments of music in addition to learning to sing.

Founded in 1984, Good Shepherd School began with 2 classes and 22 children. Today, we have over 15 classes and maintain a regular student roster of over 300 students. We have school-year programs for children ages 1 through Kindergarten.

Music for October 14, 2018

Vocal Music

• Prayer – Mark Schweitzer (b. 1956)

Instrumental Music

• Partita on “St. Anne” – Paul Manz (1919-2009)
• I. Theme
• II. Adagio
• V. Pastorale
• VI. Fugue-finale

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

• Hymn 680 - O God, our help in ages past (ST. ANNE)
• Hymn 488 - Be thou my vision (SLANE)
• Hymn 707 - Take my life, and let it be (HOLLINGSIDE)
• Hymn R145 Lord, I want to be a Christian (I WANT TO BE A CHRISTIAN)
• Hymn R152 I want to walk as a child of the light (HOUSTON)
• Hymn 408 Sing praise to God who reigns above (MIT FREUDEN ZART)
• Psalm 90:12-17 – Tone VIIIa

North Carolina composer Mark Schweitzer has written a lovely, gentle setting of the hymn "King of Glory, King of Peace" which is deceptively simple sounding. It's easy to listen to because of the lyrical melody which beautifully aligns with the lyrics, as well as the luscious harmonies that support the melody, but it is much harder to sing than it would appear because of those harmonies. You have different parts singing suspensions, appoggiaturas, and other challenging harmonic devices. You have an accompaniment that, which supporting the singers, is still very independent.

George Herbert

The hymn King of glory, King of peace is by the British poet and priest George Herbert. Born to a wealthy Welsh family in 1593, he attended Trinity College, Cambridge in and graduated with a Bachelor's and a master's degree in 1616 at the age of 23. It looked like he was headed to a career in public service with his appointment to Parliament in 1624, but God had other plans, and he entered the priesthood in 1629. He was appointed as rector of the small rural parish of St. Andrew's in  Bemerton,  Wiltshire, near Salisbury. Here he preached and wrote poetry in Latin, Greek, and English.

His time at Bemerton was short-lived, however.  Having suffered for most of his life from poor health, in 1633 Herbert died of consumption only three years after taking holy orders. Shortly before his death, he sent a collection of his English poems, called The Temple to a friend, reportedly telling him to publish the poems if he thought they might "turn to the advantage of any dejected poor soul", otherwise to burn them. Thankfully, they were published not long after his death.

King of Glory, King of Peace can be found as a hymn in our hymnal, at no. 382, sung to another tune. In fact, we have two other settings of this text in our choir library, composed by Harold Friedell and Gerald Near.

The opening hymn for Sunday is the grand old hymn, O God, our help in ages past, by Issac Watts. Since the Psalm for this Sunday is the last half of Psalm 90, I decided to sing this hymn, which is considered to be one of the best paraphrases of the first six verses of Psalm 90 by Watts.  All of the organ music will be from Paul Manz's set of variations on the hymn tune forever associated with that text, St. Anne. These variations were probably improvised by Manz during a recital or one of his Hymn Festivals, and later published as Partita on St. Anne.

Music for October 7, 2018

Vocal Music

• For the Beauty of the Earth – John Rutter (b. 1945)

Instrumental Music

• Benediction – Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877-1933)
• Suite Liturgique: III. Communion– Denis Bédard (b. 1950)
• Now Thank We All Our God – Sigfrid Karg-Elert

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of those marked “R” which are from Renew and "L" which is from Lift Every Voice and Sing II.)

• Hymn 376 - Joyful, joyful, we adore thee (HYMN TO JOY)
• Hymn R250 - O Lord, my God (O STOR GUD)
• Hymn 480 - When Jesus left his Father’s throne (KINGSFOLD)
• Hymn L218 - Jesus loves me, this I know (JESUS LOVES ME)
• Hymn R173 - O Lord, hear my prayer (Jacques Berthier)
• Hymn 397 - Now thank we all our God (NUN DANKET ALLE GOTT)
• Psalm 8 – Tone VII

John Rutter (right), looking startled to be caught
standing next to your organist in 2017. We have
same haircut.

That John Rutter became one of the world’s most well-known composers of church music should surprise no one. He sang as a boy chorister at London’s prestigious Highgate School, and proceeded to study at Clare College, Cambridge, where he later became director of music. Rutter leapt to prominence in 1970, as co-editor of the second volume in Oxford University Press’s Carols for Choirs series. Since then, his name has become synonymous with English church music, especially for the Christmas season. He now lives near Cambridge, and conducts a professional choir, the Cambridge Singers.

This Sunday the choir sings one of his anthems with a Texas connection. Rutter wrote his setting of the nineteenth-century hymn, For the beauty of the earth, for Rosemary Heffley and the Texas Choral Directors Association in 1980. Foregoing the tune found in most hymnals (though not the Hymnal 1980!), Rutter crafted a lyrical, rising melody that joyfully concludes with an off-kilter rhythm and flamboyant turn. It has since become a standard in choir libraries, sung by choirs the world over. It's been  arranged for women's voices and men's voices in addition to the regular mixed voice choir, in addition to arrangements for concert band!

The author of the text is the otherwise neglected nineteenth-century English poet Folliott Pierpoint, who taught classics at Somersetshire College in southwest England. Much of Pierpoint’s poems deals with nature, and For the beauty of the earth is believed to have been a rhapsodic response to a springtime vista in the Somerset countryside when he was 29.

Two pieces by Sigfrid Karg-Elert open and close our 10:15 service. Karg-Elert was a German composer of considerable fame in the early twentieth century, best known for his compositions for organ and harmonium (reed organ). He was born as Sigfried Karg, but his concert-agent suggested early in his career that he add  a variant of his mother's maiden name (Ehlert) to his surname, and adopt the Swedish spelling of his first name.

Karg-Elert regarded himself as a musical outsider. Notable influences in his work include composers Johann Sebastian Bach (Germany), Edvard Grieg (Norway), Claude Debussy (France), Alexander Scriabin (Russia), and early Arnold Schoenberg (Austria). In general terms, his musical style can be characterized as being late-romantic with impressionistic and expressionistic tendencies.

I was interested to discover that, though Karg-Elert was well received and appreciated outside of Germany (especially in the US and the UK, where the Organ Music Society of London held a ten-day festival in his honor in 1930), the cultural climate in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s was very hostile to the internationally oriented, French-influenced Karg-Elert. This is during the time that Adolph Hitler was on the rise, promoting his "Mach Deutschland wieder groß" (Make Germany Great Again) campaign.

Karg-Elert died in Liepzig in 1933 of complications from diabetes, at age 55.