Music for Sunday, August 30, 2020 + The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Psalm XXIII – Paul Creston (1906-1985), Amy Bogan, soprano

Instrumental Music

1. Symphony No. 4 in C Minor: II. Andante – Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
2. Prelude in C, BWV 547– J. S. Bach (1678-1750)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982)

• Hymn 675 - Take up your cross, the Savior said (BOURBON)
• Song of Praise S-236 – Canticle 13: Glory to You – John Rutter (b. 1945)

For the opening voluntary this week, I am playing a piano transcription of the first theme of the second movement of the fourth symphony of Franz Schubert. (I tried to get a "third" in there somewhere, but I just can't. You'll have to read on further to get to a"three.") The second movement of the classic symphony form is usually the slow, lyrical movement, 

This second movement Andante is no different. It is a beautifully Schubertian poem – yearning, melodic, full of rays of tenderness and hope. I thought it would be a nice, quiet, peaceful way to prepare for worship.

Franz Schubert about the time he wrote Symphony 4

Franz Schubert was just 19 years old when he wrote his Fourth Symphony. He was really beginning to hit his stride as a composer, but it was not yet his sole profession. He unhappily endured his working hours as an assistant teacher at his father’s school in the Säulengasse in Vienna. 

It is hard to imagine how Schubert balanced his teaching duties with his passion for composition. During two years as a teacher, he wrote 382 pieces of music, including his Second, Third, and Fourth Symphonies; four Singspiels (operas); great quantities of dances for solo piano; a fair amount of chamber music; lots of sacred music, including three complete Masses; and an abundant stream of songs, including such enduring favorites as Erlkönig, Heidenröslein, and Litanei auf das Fest Aller Seelen. Then, too, he was enjoying a full social life and was taking composition lessons twice a week from Antonio Salieri. It is a remarkable output for a man who died just twelve years later.

The closing voluntary is a prelude in C Major by Johann Sebastian Bach. In this piece, Bach plays with both movement and motionlessness. The 9/8 time signature of the Prelude evokes a rocking motion, which is underlined in the first bar by the clear division into three groups of three notes. (Here is where the elusive "three" from the first paragraph comes in.) From the opening of the Prelude onwards, a world of movement unfolds. The hands start to play faster notes and the pedal enters below with a hop, step and jump.

Bach plays with motionlessness as well. Towards the end of the Prelude, we hear long, motionless notes in the pedal and at a certain moment the movement seems to falter to a halt in a series of chords that go off the harmonic rails, after which the pedal comes to rest on the home base with a throbbing low C, while the rest of the parts run the final stretch.

Music for August 23, 2020 + The Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Gracious Spirit, Dwell with Me – arr. K. Lee Scott

Instrumental Music

• Fanfare and Chorale – Calvin Fuller 
• Holy God, We Praise Your Name – Max Reger

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

• Hymn 525 - The Church’s one foundation (AURELIA)
• Song of Praise S-280 - Glory to God – Robert Powell
• Sanctus R-207 - Holy, holy, holy Lord (LAND OF REST)

It's not every Sunday that I get to play an organ work written by a friend of mine. Especially rare is when that piece is vibrant, fresh, and so much fun to play. Well, this Sunday is one of those rare occasions when I play Fanfare and Chorale for the opening voluntary for our Sunday morning service. 

This stunning piece was composed by Calvin Fuller, organist and choirmaster at St. James Episcopal Church in Houston. He is a native of Houston and received his musical education at Texas Southern University where he earned Bachelor and Master of Music Education degrees. He pursued further study at the University of Maryland, the University of Texas and the University of Houston where he was a conducting student of Charles Hausmann and composition student of David Ashley White. 

For fifteen years he was chorus master of the Houston Ebony Opera Guild, a position he also held at Opera in the Heights. Presently, he is adjunct lecturer in the Music department of Texas Southern University, and The University of Houston-Downtown. I've known Calvin for more than 20 years through our work on the Diocesan Music Commission.

A charming and gracious man, his unassuming personality would never lead you to think that here was a first class composer and musician, but that is the case. And when I asked him for a photo to accompany this article, he sent me one which also shows his love for the Houston Astros. That caused me to remember a photograph taken at the Diocesan Choral Festival in 2017, the year the Astros won the World Series. There was a game the day of the festival (out of town, thankfully!), so we arrived in our Astros gear! I've included that photo of Calvin, Linda Patterson, and myself as well!

The choir (virtually) sings a setting of the hymn, Gracious Spirit, Dwell with Me, as arranged by K. Lee Scott. We previously sang this on Pentecost of this year.

Music for August 16, 2020 + The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Build My House from Peter Pan – Leonard Bernstein (1918-1919), Kimberly Bollinger, soprano 

Instrumental Music

• Ach Gott und Herr – Johann Gottfried Walther 1684-1748 (attr. To Johann Sebastian Bach)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 420 - When in our music God is glorified (ENGLEBERG)
• Song of Praise S-236 – Canticle 13: Glory to You – John Rutter (b. 1945)

One of the unexpected blessings of virtual worship is that the same technology which enables me to bring the Good Shepherd Choir together in this time of quarantine also allows me to work with friends who live hundreds or thousands of miles away. One former choir member, Kim Bollinger, has been part of our virtual congregation these past few months, which led me to ask her to sing for one of our services. She readily agreed, and suggested a song from Leonard Bernstein's little known musical, Peter Pan. 

Most folks don’t know it, since it didn’t have a big run on Broadway. Bernstein wrote half a dozen songs for the show, which starred (of all people) Boris Karloff! (He was Hook, of course). The song Kim suggested is sung by Wendy, where she expresses her hope that her home will be be built with Peter Pan. It's a beautiful song, but I wondered what Kim was thinking! What does this have to do with the worship of God?

Then I reread the lyrics, and heard, for the first time, the voice of God, speaking to us! It was like a parable, and we know how much Jesus loved speaking in parables! Read these words:

Will you build me a house?
A house that really will be mine.
Then let me give you my design.
A simple scheme of ... the house I dream of.

Build my house of wood.
Build my house of stone.
Build my house of brick and mortar.

Make the ceiling strong.
Strong against the storm.
Shelter when the days grow shorter.

But build my house of love.
And paint my house with trusting.
And warm it with the warmth of your heart.

Make a floor of faith.
Make the walls of truth.
Put of roof of peace above.
Can you build my house of love?

Copyright (C) 1950, 1980 by The Estate of Leonard Bernstein. Copyright Renewed. Leonard Bernstein Music Publishing Company, LLC, Publisher, Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. Sole Agent

I can imagine God asking this of each of us. Not so much as in our church, but in ourselves. In Paul's letters to the Corinthians, he often asked,  "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?"  We would do well to survey our own life and see of what our "temples" are made.

The opening and closing voluntaries are two settings of the same German Chorale, O God and Lord,These pieces were part of a collection of organ chorale preludes found in the music library of Johann Kirnberger, a pupil of Johann Sebastian Bach. Many of Bach's manuscripts had been preserved in Kirnberger's library (the "Kirnberger collection"), as well as other pieces that Bach had transcribed for his pupil. These two settings of Ach Gott und Herr were among those, and were for centuries thought to be by the master himself, but modern scholarship has attributed the authorship to the baroque composer Johann Gottfried Walther, a second cousin of Johann Sebastian Bach whose his life was almost exactly contemporaneous to that of the famous composer. 

Music for August 9, 2020 + The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• I Choose Love – Mark Miller

Instrumental Music

• Aria - Flor Peeters (1903-1986)
• Mohrentanz (La Mourisque) – Tyman Susato (c. 1510/15 – after 1570)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 608 - Eternal Father, Strong to Save (MELITA)
• Song of Praise Hymn 421 - All Glory be to God on High (ALLEIN GOTT IN DER HÖH)

Mark Miller

In the midst of pain, of war, of brokenness... we choose love. We choose community. What better way to share this message than through powerful song, and that's exactly what you'll hear this Sunday in the piece our choir will sing at the offering. This soulful anthem, written in response to the tragic events that occurred at Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, North Carolina in 2015, is a testament to the power of forgiveness and peace. I chose it even as our community was still knee-deep (literally) in post-Harvey pain, and it is even more appropriate the week after the tragedy in Las Vegas.

It is written by the contemporary composer Mark Miller. He is on the faculty at both the Drew Theological School and the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale University where he teaches music and worship. He also is Minister of Music of Christ Church in Summit, New Jersey and Composer in Residence of Harmonium Choral Society in NJ. From 2002-2007 he was Director of Contemporary Worship at Marble Collegiate Church and from 1999-2001 was Assistant Organist and Music Associate at the Riverside Church, both in New York City.  Miller received his Bachelor of Arts in Music from Yale University and his Master of Music in Organ Performance from Juilliard.

As the the son, grandson, brother, and cousin of United Methodist clergy, Mark Miller believes in Cornel West’s quote that “Justice is what love looks like in public.” He also passionately believes that music can change the world. This is never more obvious than today's anthem, I Choose Love. Here is
Miller’s Reflection on his composition:

“Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

The gospel stories of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection continue to inspire, uplift, and amaze me. They inspire, uplift, and amaze because Jesus consistently chooses love. When it would be easier for him to appease with the powerful religious leaders and Roman backed authorities he chooses love. Even as his friends disappear and the crowds that once shouted “hosanna” turn on him with shouts of “crucify,” he chooses love. Even after betrayal and humiliation, even when he is dying, he chooses love.

The words to the song “I Choose Love” are by my friend Lindy Thompson, written in response to the murder of nine people who were at their church bible study. The people of Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church of Charleston, S.C., chose love when they offered forgiveness in the face of hatred and violence.

We always have a choice. Every day we have a choice–how will the events of your day and your life affect you? It’s the challenge of the witness of Jesus–the challenge of a truly faithful life–a daily spiritual discipline for each of us to rise up every day and say “I choose love.”

Tylman (or Tielman ) Susato was a Renaissance composer, instrumentalist and publisher of music in Antwerp. In 1543, he founded the first music publishing house using movable music type in the Low Countries. Until Susato set up his press, music printing had been done mainly in Italy, France and Germany.

Susato was also an accomplished composer. He wrote (and published) several books of masses and motets which are in the typical imitative polyphonic style of the time. He also wrote two books of chansons which were specifically designed to be sung by young, inexperienced singers: they are for only two or three voices.

Susato also was a prolific composer of instrumental music, and much of it is still recorded and performed today. He produced one book of dance music in 1551, Het derde musyck boexken ... alderhande danserye, composed of pieces in simple but artistic arrangement. Most of these pieces are dance forms (allemandes, galliards, and so forth).

Tielman Susato offers his Chanson book to Maria
of Hungary, governess of the Netherlands.