Music for December 20, 2020 + The Fourth Sunday of Advent

Vocal Music

• O Come, O Come, Emmanuel – Latin Chant, arr. Jackson Hearn (b. 1958)
• Come, thou Long Expected Jesus - Stuttgart
• Amy Bogan, soprano

Instrumental Music

• Three Advent Preludes – Gerald Near (b. 1942)
• Savior of the Nations, Come
• Ave Maria
• Veni, Emmanuel
• Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming – Alfred V. Fedak (b. 1953)
• Herr Christ, der ein'ge Gottes-Sohn, BWV 601 – J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
• (Lord Christ, the only Son of God)

Since we are not able to sing safely yet in our services, I have made the effort to include as many hymns in the vocal and instrumental music as possible. Today, Amy Bogan is singing two of our most favorite and well-known Advent hymns.

Probably the first Latin chant that any of us learn is the Advent hymn, Veni, Emmanuel (O Come, O Come, Emmanuel). This ancient advent hymn originated in part from the “Great ‘O’ Antiphons,” part of the medieval Roman Catholic Advent liturgy. On each day of the week leading up to Christmas, one responsive verse would be chanted, each including a different Old Testament name for the coming Messiah. When we sing each verse of this hymn, we acknowledge Christ as the fulfillment of these Old Testament prophesies. We sing this hymn in an already-but not yet-kingdom of God. Christ's first coming gives us a reason to rejoice again and again, yet we know that all is not well with the world. So along with our rejoicing, we plead using the words of this hymn that Christ would come again to perfectly fulfill the promise that all darkness will be turned to light. The original text created a reverse acrostic: “ero cras,” which means, “I shall be with you tomorrow.” That is the promise we hold to as we sing this beautiful hymn.

The other hymn is "Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus." Charles Wesley  wrote this Advent hymn and printed it in his Hymns for the Nativity of our Lord (1744). Like so many of Wesley's texts, "Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus" alludes to one or more Scripture passages in virtually every phrase. The double nature of Advent is reflected in this text, in which we remember Christ's first coming even while praying for his return. Stanzas 1 and 2 recall Advent prophecies in the Old Testament; 

Music for December 13, 2020 + The Third Sunday of Advent

Vocal Music

• Hark! A Herald Voice is Sounding – Roger Price (b. 1955)
• You Are Mine – David Haas (b. 1957)
• Camryn Creech, soprano, Harrison Boyd, baritone.

Instrumental Music

• Magnificat – Joseph Bonnet (1884-1944)
• Prelude on “Winchester New” – Malcolm Archer (b.1952)
• Chaconne – Louis Couperin (c. 1626-1661), transcribed for organ by Joseph Bonnet

The Canticle for this Sunday is Luke 1:46-55, known as The Magnificat, or "Song of Mary". It derives its name from the initial words of the Latin text, Magnificat anima mea Dominum. It was first spoken by Mary on the occasion of her visit to her cousin Elizabeth after the Annunciation. The western church has included it as the canticle at vespers at least since the 6th century, and it continues to be used so today.

Over the centuries all the great composers have supplied choral settings from the simple to the most elaborate. Our opening voluntary this week is The Magnificat by the French organist Joseph Bonnet, written for organ alone based on a theme in the fourth mode which resembles Psalm tone 4. I will perform it according to the ancient practice of alternation, whereby the odd-numbered verses are chanted by a cantor, and the even verses are played on the organ. It was first presented in that fashion for the chanting of the Magnificat by the choir of Rockefeller Chapel at the University of Chicago in the early 20th century during the tenure of Frederick Marriott as Chapel organist.

A student of Alexandre Guilmant, Bonnet served for 22 years as the organist of St Eustache, Paris. He extensively toured Europe and America as a concert organist. His organ compositions were very popular, and his six-volume Historical Organ Recitals, surveying centuries of organ music, was one of American organists’ sources of great music for several generations. It was in that collection that he published his arrangement of Louis Couperin’s Chaconne in G Minor. 

In his notes on the music, Bonnet wrote that the 1658 manuscript of the Chaconne was in the Bibliothè nationale in Paris, but he failed to mention that the manuscript was for harpsichord, not organ. Nevertheless, he treats it as a French-Classic Grand Chœur, beginning and ending on full organ, with three couplets, or interludes, played on a quieter sound.

Two duets will be sung by two of our college students home for Christmas. Harrison Boyd and Camryn Creech will sing the hymn Hark, a Thrilling Voice Is Sounding, set to an old Sacred Heart tune by Roger Price, Professor of Music at The University of Tulsa, and You Are Mine, a hymn by Catholic Composer David Haas.

Music for December 6, 2020 + The Second Sunday of Advent

Vocal Music

• Prepare the Royal Highway – arr. Thomas Gieschen (1931-2006)
• An Advent Prayer – Allen Pote (b. 1945)
• Christine Marku, soprano

Instrumental Music

• Partita on  "Freu dich sehr, o meine Seele” – Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706)
• Meditation on “Winchester New" from An Advent Triptych – Charles Callahan (b. 1951)
• Improvisation on “Bereden väg för Herran” – Paul Manz (1919-2009)

This Sunday's scripture readings includes the beautiful passage from Isaiah

Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.

A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” - Isaiah 40

There are two hymns which we always sing on the second Sunday of Advent. Those are hymn 67 – Comfort, comfort ye, my people, and hymn 65 – Prepare the Way, O Zion. This year, you are invited to read the words to hymn 67 while I play Johann Pachelbel's Partita on the tune, "Freu dich sehr, o meine Seele” (The Hymnal 1982 identifies it as PSALM 42, but it is the same tune.)

Christine Marku will sing a version of hymn 65 during the preparation of the communion elements using an arrangement by the Lutheran Composer Thomas E. Gieschen. A Native of Wisconsin, Gieschen was a professor of music for 40 years at Concordia University in River Forest, where he served as department chair and head of the Music Department. He earned a B.S. in Education from Concordia Teachers College, and a master's and doctorate in music from Northwestern University in Chicago.

He was also a published composer, arranger and organ recitalist, and a member of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians and the American Guild of Organists.

Another Lutheran, Paul Manz, improvised an organ setting of the same tune, the Swedish tune Bereden väg för Herran (Make way for the Lord). It was transcribed (written out) and published, and I will be playing it for the closing voluntary.

During Communion, Christine will sing an Advent anthem by the American Composer Allen Pote.  Pote is a nationally knowns 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 by choirs the world over, including the Chorister Choir here at Good Shepherd. Born in Halstead, Kansas, Pote earned a diploma in Church Music from Texas Christian University. He studied in Brussels on a Fulbright scholarship and took advanced work at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. For a while in the 80s he was director of music at Memorial Drive Presbyterian in Houston.