Music for February 3, 2019 + The Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

Vocal Music

• The Greatest Is Love – Allen Pote (b. 1945)

Instrumental Music

• Vater Unser (Our Father in Heaven) – J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
• Praise the Name of Jesus – arr. Fred Bock (1939-1958)
• Wir Christenleut (We Christians Folk) – J. S. Bach

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

• Hymn 379 - God is Love, let heavens adore him (ABBOT’S LEIGH)
• Hymn 598 - Lord Christ, when first thou cam’st to earth (MIT FREUDEN ZART)
• Hymn R7 - Praise the name of Jesus (HICKS)
• Hymn R218 - Broken for me (BROKEN FOR ME)
• Hymn R223 - Glory be to Jesus (WEM IN LEIDENSTAGEN)
• Hymn R226 - Ubi caritas (Jacques Berthier)
• Hymn 530 - Spread, O spread, thou mighty word (GOTT SEI DANK)
• Psalm71:1-6 - simplified Anglican Chant by Jerome Meachen

Allen Pote

The choir sings an anthem based on today's Epistle lesson by the American composer Allen Pote. Pote is known nationally as a composer of sacred music as well as a clinician for festivals and workshops. Since 1975 his published choral works, which include twelve musicals for youth and children, have been widely performed.

For twenty two years he was Director of Music in churches in Texas and Florida, including a tenure at Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church here in Houston. He is currently a full time composer living in Pensacola, Florida.

A contemporary of Potes was Fred Bock, a composer, church musician, and publisher who served as Minister of Music at Bel Air Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles for 14 years, then at Hollywood Presbyterian Church for 18 years. Bock was born in Great Neck, New York, playing the piano at age six and organ at age twelve. He attended Ithaca College, receiving his B.A. in Music Education. He earned his Masters and did Doctoral work in Church Music at the University of Southern California.

Back when he was just a college student, he self-published his first piece, an arrangement for band. From that simple beginning he formed several music publishing companies, including Gentry Publications, publishers of music for school and concert use and Fred Bock Music Company, publishers of church music. There are now over 600 compositions and arrangements of his in print. This includes his piano arrangement of today's presentation hymn, the contemporary chorus by Fred Hicks titled Praise the Name of Jesus, which I'm playing for the communion voluntary.

Serving as bookends for the service are two works from J. S. Bach's little organ book, Orgelbüchlein.  (I can be redundant in two languages!) The Orgelbüchlein ("Little Organ Book") is a collection of 46 chorale preludes for organ written by Johann Sebastian Bach which serve a four-fold purpose: it is a collection of organ music for church services, a treatise on composition, a religious statement, and an organ-playing manual.

The prelude is a setting of the  Lutheran version of the Lord's Prayer, Vater unser im Himmelreich (Our Father in Heaven). After the text and melody were written in 1539, many composers use the hymn in choral and organ compositions. including Dieterich Buxtehude and Georg Böhm. Bach himself used the chorale in four choral works and at least two other organ settings.

Albert Schweitzer won
the Nobel Peace Prize
in 1952. In addition to
being a Doctor, Missionary,
and Philosopher, he was
also an organist and noted
Bach scholar, giving
numerous organ concerts
in Europe to finance his
hospital in Africa.

In this setting the melody is in the soprano voice. The accompaniment in the inner parts and pedal is based on a four-note sixteenth note sighing motif preceded by a rest or "breath") and a longer eight-note version; both are derived from the first phrase of the melody. The two forms of the motif and their inversions pass from one lower voice to another, producing a continuous stream of sixteenth notes; semiquavers (sixteenths) in one voice are accompanied by eighth notes in the other two. The combined effect is of the harmonisation of a chorale by arpeggiated chords. Albert Schweitzer  described the accompanying motifs as representing "peace of mind"(quiétude).

The closing voluntary,  Wir Christenleut, is the last of the Christmas Chorales in the book. The text

We Christians may
Rejoice to-day,
When Christ was born to comfort and to save us;
Who thus believes
No longer grieves,
For none are lost who grasp the hope He gave us.

is not particularly picturesque (i.e., no shepherds, angels, or wise men were involved in this hymn), so I don't feel too out-of-sync by playing it in the season of Epiphany.

This prelude is written for single manual and pedal in four voices. Like today's opening voluntary, the unadorned melody is in the top voice. The accompaniment—striding eighth notes in the pedal (like an ostinato bass) and dance-like sixteenth notes in the inner parts—are formed from two short motifs. Both accompanying motifs serve to propel the chorale prelude forwards, the resolute striding bass having been seen by Albert Schweitzer as representing firmness in faith, a reference to the last two lines of the first verse "who thus believes no longer grieves, for none are lost who grasp the hope He gave us."

Music for January 27, 2019 + The Third Sunday after the Epiphany

Vocal Music

• Teach Me, O Lord – Thomas Attwood (1765-1838)

Instrumental Music

• Chorale in E – César Franck (1822-1890)
• Andante from Sonata in A for Oboe – Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
• Psalm 19: The Heavens Declare the Glory of God – Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739)

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

• Hymn 475 - God himself is with us (TYSK)
• Hymn 576 - God is love, and where true love is (MANDATUM)
• Hymn 632 - O Christ, the Word Incarnate (MUNICH)
• Hymn - One bread, one body (ONE BREAD ONE BODY)
• HymnR226 - Ubi Caritas (Jacques Berthier)
• Hymn 539 - O Zion, haste, thy mission high fulfilling (TIDINGS)
• Psalm 19 - simplified Anglican Chant by Jerome J. Meachen

In today's Gospel reading, Jesus stands in his home synagogue and reads scripture: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me." He tells them that he is the fulfillment of that word. It is fitting that the psalm appointed for today is Psalm 19. Psalm 19 begins "The heavens declare the glory of God," but it moves to a declaration of the beauty of God's Law.

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes...

It ends with these beautiful words

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Thomas Attwood (artist unknown)

It's because of this thought that I chose today’s anthem with text from Psalm 119, a simple, direct rendering of the words "Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes." It was written by English composer and musician Thomas Attwood, who was very active in the musical life of England, holding posts as chamber musician to the Prince of Wales, organist of St. Paul’s Cathedral, composer to the Chapel Royal and professor at the Royal Academy of Music.  His choral works, now mostly forgotten and seldom performed, reveal the influence of his teacher Mozart.

Benedetto Marcello

Psalm 19 was also the obvious inspiration for my choir of the closing voluntary, "Psalm 19: The Heavens Declare the Glory of God," by the Italian composer Benedetto Marcello.

Had Antonio Vivaldi not shot to fame when he was rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century, we would undoubtedly be more familiar with the name of Benedetto Marcello. For Marcello’s reputation—unlike Vivaldi’s—did not wane during his own lifetime, and he enjoyed an international reputation which was to last for more than 250 years. Born a year after Johann Sebastian Bach into a prominent and respected Venetian family, he pursued a career not in music, but in law. This led him to occupy several major positions in the government of the Italian Republic. He did not, however, allow his public duties to keep him away from his pursuit of music, which he continued actively to cultivate as a nobile dilettante. Marcello’s works, and particularly his Psalm settings, were to exert a major influence on the musical culture of Italy and of other European countries throughout the whole of the 18th century and even into the 19th.

Marcello’s magnum opus is his Estro poetico-armonico. This work, which was published between 1724 and 1726, is a setting of the first fifty Psalms of David as paraphrased into Italian by the poet Girolamo Ascanio Giustiniani. In addition to the subtle deployment of vocal resources, and his imaginative use of musical techniques to illustrate the texts, Marcello brought to these Psalms a peculiar quality of freshness and originality which unquestionably contributed to their becoming a major international success. Many of them, including today's closing voluntary, were transcribed as instrumental works. The version I am playing today was arranged by the 19th century French organist Theodore DuBois, and I think there is more Paris than Venice in the final product!

C

Music for January 20, 2019 + The Second Sunday after Epiphany

Vocal Music

• Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring – J. S. Bach (1685-1750)

Instrumental Music

• Schönster Herr Jesu – Hermann Schroeder (1904-1984)
• Andante Sostenuto – Hermann Schroeder
• Poco Vivace – Hermann Schroeder

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 440 - Blessed Jesus, at thy word (LIEBSTER JESU)
• Hymn 135 - Songs of thankfulness and praise (SALZBURG)
• Hymn R90 - Spirit of the living God (SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD)
• Hymn R136 - Alleluia (ALLELUIA)
• Hymn 371- Thou, whose almighty word (MOSCOW)
• Psalm 36:5-10 - simplified Anglican Chant by Jerome W. Meachen

These days when you go to a church wedding, you are apt to hear at least one (if not all) of these three pieces:

1. Canon in D by Johann Pachelbel
2. Trumpet Voluntary (or Prince of Denmark's March) by Jeremiah Clarke
3. Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring by J. S. Bach

A forensic deconstruction of J. S. Bach. Working with a cast
of the composer's skull on loan from the Bach Museum
in Eisenach, Scottish anthropologist Caroline Wilkinson
created a 3-D representation of the face of the man who died in
1750 at the age of 65.

In today's Gospel reading, Jesus goes to a wedding, so I thought it only fitting that he should hear at least one of these!
Jesu, Joy... was the obvious choice for the choir. It is taken from Bach's cantata No. 147, Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben (which translates as ‘heart and mouth and deed and life’). It was written in 1723, the first year that Bach was the Cantor at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. Bach took up the position of Thomaskantor, the directorship of church music in Leipzig, after a thoroughly depressing and insulting application process. The head of the search committee, the councilman Abraham Christoph Plaz wrote, “since we cannot get the best," (Telemann and Graupner had declined the offer) "we will have to settle for average.”

Today no one knows who Graupner was, and Telemann is a little more than a relic of early music, but everyone knows Bach, and this movement from one of roughly 100 such works written in his first two years in Leipzig is one of his greatest hits. "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", shortened to simply "Joy", became a pop hit record in 1972 when covered by English studio group Apollo 100. It reached number six on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 during the winter of that year.

Today's organ music all comes from the pen of Hermann Schroeder. Schroeder is one of the most important German composers of the  20th century for organ. His music combines elements of the Middle Ages (fauxbourdon, ostinato technique, Gregorian modes), 20th-century polyphony and the linear, atonal writing of Hindemith. His chamber music for organ and other instruments constituted a special field of his musical activity.

While renowned in Germany, Schroeder is relatively unknown in the United States. His most widely regarded pieces are Kleine Praeludien und Intermezzi Op. 9 (1932) (Six Short Preludes and Intermezzos) and the chorale prelude Schönster Herr Jesu (1933) (Fairest Lord Jesus), both rather early works in his oeuvre.

I am playing two selections from his Op. 9 for communion and the closing voluntary, and his prelude on Schoenster Herr Jesu for the opening voluntary. I've listed the page number for this hymn in the service leaflet, in case you want to compare the melody you hear played on the oboe in the pedal part with the hymn in the hymnal. (Note: The text "Fairest Lord Jesus" has two tunes. The first one, ST. ELIZABETH, is the one we typically sing when we sing this text. The other, SCHONSTER HERR JESU, is the German tune originally used for this text in 1662. It is still quite popular in Germany. The Episcopal Hymnal 1940 was the first to use this tune with this text in America in modern times.

Music for January 10, 2019 + The Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ

Vocal Music

• Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day – John Gardner

Instrumental Music

• Erhalt Uns, Herr – Gerald Near
• Schműcke dich – Gerald Near
• Salzburg – Gerald Near

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 76 - On Jordan’s bank, the baptist’s cry (WINCHESTER NEW)
• Hymn 636 - How firm a foundation (FOUNDATION)
• Hymn 295 - Sing praise to our Creator (CHRISTUS, DER IST MEIN LEBEN)
• Hymn 132 - When Christ’s appearing was made known (ERHALT UNS, HERR)
• Hymn 510 - Come, holy Spirit, heavenly dove (ST. AGNES)
• Hymn 339 - Deck thyself, my soul, with gladness (SCHMŰCKE DICH)
• Hymn 135 - Songs of thankfulness and praise (SALZBURG)
• Psalm 29 -  simplified Anglican Chant by Jerome W. Meachen

This is the Baptism of Christ window here at Good Shepherd. It reminds us that this Sunday is the commemoration of Christ’s baptism. For that reason, I have chosen a setting of the old English carol, Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day, for the last stanza:

Then afterwards baptized I was;
The Holy Ghost on me did glance,
My Father’s voice heard I from above,
To call my true love to my dance.

The text is not set to the original, lilting carol tune, but is in a contemporary 20th century setting by John Gardner, an English musician who once tried to teach Paul McCartney the rudiments of music. In 1966 Gardner was asked by a mutual friend to help the Beatle with his composition, but the experience was not a great success. He discovered that McCartney “didn’t, in a sense, know anything [about composition]”, though he had somehow worked out for himself, by sheer musical instinct, compositional techniques which tested even classically-trained musicians. Gardner told him that he felt it would be better if they stopped the lessons so that McCartney  did not lose his creative spark.

Gardner had written today’s anthem one year prior for his students at St Paul’s Girls’ School . While his arrangement is beautifully melodic, it also throws in some mischief for the singers with its ever-changing time signature. One former student recalled how she and her colleagues sang it “obsessively in the locker rooms”. Even as Gardner experimented with modern music for the Church, he was despairing at the way many of his contemporaries were “lowering the brow”, adding: “It is probable that many of the attempts to bring the atmosphere of the Espresso bar to the chancel are as hypocritical as they are misguided.”

The organ music for this Sunday comes from the pen of Gerald Near, and are all settings of tunes which we will sing during the 10:15 service.

Music for January 6, 2019 + The Feast of the Epiphany

Vocal Music

• The Provençal Carol – Donald Busarow (b. 1934)

Instrumental Music

• How Brightly Shines the Morning Star – Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707)
• What Star Is This – Jean-François Dandrieu (1682 - 1738)
• Fugue in C– Dietrich Buxtehude

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982)

• Hymn 127 - Earth has many a noble city (STUTTGART)
• Hymn 124 - What star is this, with beams so bright? (PUER NOBIS)
• Hymn 132 - When Christ's appearing was made known (ERHALT UNS, HERR)
• Hymn 128 - We three kings of Orient are (THREE KINGS OF ORIENT)
• Hymn 119 - As with gladness men of old (DIX)

Cecil Frances Alexander was an Irish poet and hymn-writer who wrote over 400 poems and hymns, with many of her most popular aimed at children. Her highly descriptive texts include such hymns as "All things bright and beautiful," "Once in Royal David's city," "There is a green hill far away," and "Jesus calls us o'er the tumult," to name but a few. Nine of her hymns can be found in our hymnal alone, yet the text to this Sunday's anthem is not one of them. "Saw you never, in the twilight" tells the story of the star of Bethlehem, and the journey of the wise men in following that star to find the infant Jesus, the "bright and morning star."

Cecil Frances Alexander
(No, she is not a man).

Saw you never, in the twilight,
when the sun had left the skies,
up in heav'n the clear stars shining
through the gloom, like silver eyes?
So of old the wise men, watching,
saw a little stranger star,
and they knew the King was given,
and they followed it from far.

Heard you never of the story
how they crossed the desert wild,
journeyed on by plain and mountain
till they found the holy child?
How they opened all their treasure,
kneeling to that infant King;
gave the gold and fragrant incense,
gave the myrrh in offering?

Know ye not that lowly baby
was the bright and morning Star?
He who came to light the Gentiles
and the darkened isles afar?
And we, too, may seek his cradle;
there our hearts' best treasures bring;
love and faith and true devotion
for our Savior, God, and King.

Jesus is often referred to as "the Morning Star." He even said, in Revelation 22:16, "I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things for the churches I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star." Therefore, I chose Dietrich Buxtehude's chorale fantasia on ‘Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern’, BuxWV223, (How bright appears the morning star, hymn 497 in The Hymnal 1982 ) as my prelude for the Sunday of Epiphany.

It begins with a section in which the first part of the melody is given in long notes first to the pedals and then to the uppermost voice. The melody’s subsequent notes are the subject of the deceptively free-sounding passage which immediately follows. Then begins a section based on the descending scale with which the melody concludes. The second verse  is a wonderfully exuberant jig fugue in AAB form (the form of the melody) whose initial subject is based on the melody’s first few notes (note how in the B section the momentum created by Buxtehude’s rhythms effortlessly sweeps up the repetitive phrases with which the melody’s last section begins).

The communion voluntary is another setting of an Epiphany hymn, this time from Eighteenth Century France. Jean-François Dandrieu was born in Paris into a family of artists and musicians. A gifted and precocious child, he gave his first public performances when he was 5 years old, playing the harpsichord for King Louis XIV of France, and his court. These concerts marked the beginning of Dandrieu's very successful career as harpsichordist and organist. In 1700, at age 18, he started playing the organ at the Saint-Merri church in Paris (a post previously occupied by Nicolas Lebègue) and became its titular organist in 1705. In 1721 he was appointed one of the four organists of the Chapelle royale of France. In 1733, he succeeded his uncle, the organist and priest Pierre Dandrieu to become the organist of the church of St Barthélémy in the Île de la Cité. When he died in 1739, he was succeeded at the organ of St Barthélemy by his sister, Jeanne-Françoise.

The organ piece this morning comes from a volume of organ noëls, which was a revised and enlarged version of a similar book published by his uncle, Pierre Dandrieu in 1714 and published posthumously by his sister, Jeanne-Françoise, in 1759.