Music for March 7, 2021 + The Third Sunday in Lent

Vocal Music

1. Wilt Thou Forgive That Sin – Peter Crisafulli (b. 1946)
2. Hymn: Praise the Lord! O heavens adore him (AUSTRIA)
3. Hymn: Let Thy Blood in Mercy Poured (JESUS, MEINE ZUVERSICHT))

Instrumental Music

• Dies sind die heilgen zehn Gebot, BWV  678, 679 –  J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
• (These are the Holy Ten Commandments)
• Psalm XIX – Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739)

Peter Crisafulli

Today's anthem is a setting of a text by the 16th century English poet John Donne, with a melody by his contemporary John Hilton, arranged for quartet in Elizabethan style by the American Composer Peter Crisafulli.

Born and raised in Evanston, Illinois, Peter Crisafulli earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from Northwestern University. His musical formation in the service of the church began at age seven as a chorister in the Men and Boys Choir of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Evanston. He has been serving as Minister of Music at All Saints Episcopal Church in Chevy Chase, Maryland, since 1988. Many of his compositions were written for All Saints Church. 

The organ music choices for today were all inspired by our readings found in the Old Testament and the Psalm.

The opening voluntary is two chorale settings from the Clavier-Übung III of Johann Sebastian Bach. The Clavier-Übung is a collection of keyboard works written as "keyboard exercises," but the music goes far beyond being pure pedantic. Some of Bach's greatest music for keyboard (harpsichord as well as organ) are found in these four volumes.

At the heart of Bach’s Clavier-Übung III are some clever arrangements linked to the Lutheran Mass and the catechism. In this second group, the six parts of the Lutheran catechism – the principles of the religion – are each presented in a version with pedal and a version without. It begins with Luther’s little known ‘ten commandment chorale’ (Dies sind die heil'gen zehn Gebot') in ten verses (how else?), plus a conclusion and the following introduction: 

These are the holy ten commands,

Which came to us from God’s own hands,

By Moses, who obeyed His will,

On the top of Sinai’s hill.

Kyrieleis.’ 

It is a melody in five phrases, which Bach doubles to ten in a simple canon in the first chorale prelude.

A canon is like a round (think Row, row, row your boat). It is no coincidence that Bach uses the canonic technique in writing this prelude. The Greek word canon means ‘law’, so for that reason alone a composer can hardly avoid this technique in the case of this text. It is remarkable that the piece as a whole exudes a warm, pastoral atmosphere, rather than a purely technical one. The chorale melody, played in canon by the left hand, meanders smoothly between a melodically rich interwoven canon in the upper parts, notwithstanding a few harmonically exciting moments. This makes these ten commandments a peaceful counterpart to the one that follows. 

The second prelude is the smaller of two settings of this chorale-tune. The lively gigue-like fughetta has several similarities to the larger chorale prelude: it is in the mixolydian mode of G; it starts with a pedal point of repeated Gs; the number ten occurs as the number of entries of the subject (four of them inverted); and the piece ends on a plagal cadence. The liveliness of the fughetta has been taken to reflect Luther's exhortation in the Small Catechism to do "cheerfully what He has commanded." Equally well, Psalm 119 speaks of "delighting ... in His statutes" and rejoicing in the Law.

Benedetto Marcello

The closing voluntary is an organ arrangement of a vocal setting of Psalm 19 by Benedetto Marcello.  Marcello was an Italian composer, writer, advocate, magistrate, and teacher. He was a member of a noble family and was what 18th century chroniclers called a "dilettante"; an aristocrat who also pursued musical composition as a sideline, for, although he was a music student of Antonio Lotti and Francesco Gasparini, two well known and respected musicians of his day, Marcello's father wanted Benedetto to devote himself to law.

So Benedetto Marcello combined a life in law and public service with one in music. Marcello served the Venetian Republic as a magistrate from about 1708 until 1728. In 1730 he went to Pola as district governor. In 1738 Marcello was appointed to his final position as chief financial officer of the city of Brescia, but died after less than a year in this job on or around his 53rd birthday.

As a composer, Marcello was best known in his lifetime for his massively influential eight-volume publication Estro poetico-armonico, a collection of the first 50 Psalms as paraphrased in Italian by his friend G. Giustiniani. It is in this collection that we find today's closing voluntary, which was arranged by Theodore DuBois in the 1800s.