Music for May 9, 2021 + The Sixth Sunday of Easter

Vocal Music

• Come Down, O Love Divine – arr. Fernando Ortega (b. 1957)
• Harrison Boyd, solo

Instrumental Music

• Christ the Lord Is Risen Again – Sondra K. Tucker
• Be Thou My Vision – arr. Julie Turner
• Trumpet Prelude – Johann Helmich Roman (1694-1758)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of the canticle which is from Wonder, Love, and Praise.)

• Canticle Christ our Passover (Pascha nostrum) (SINE NOMINE)
• Hymn 413 New Songs of celebration render (RENDEZ à DIEU)
• Hymn 297 Descend, O Spirit, purging flame (ERHALT UNS, HERR)
• Hymn 610 (stanzas 1,2,4) Lord, whose love through humble service (BLAENHAFREN)

It seems like I have been excited about the music each Sunday ever since the choir has been been back, and this Sunday is no exception, except this week it is because the Good Shepherd Handbell Guild is back to play for us! We are playing two pieces, both of which are based on hymn tunes. 

The opening voluntary is a setting of the old German Easter chorale Christ ist erstanden (hymn 184). The tune is from 1533, so it is akin to a Renaissance dance.  The use of tambourine and flute enhance this vibrant setting of the ancient Easter hymn. We are still in the Easter Season, so it is still appropriate! 

Sondra Tucker

It is arranged by my friend Sondra Tucker. She and I were musicians in Memphis together, then we both moved to Houston. She then moved back to Memphis before returning back to Houston! In fact, she has been playing with our group this Spring, and we are thrilled to call her a friend of our bell choir. Sondra is a well-known composer for handbells, for choir, for organ, and for flute ensemble.  Since 2013 Sondra has served as Handbell Editor for Alfred Publishing Company.  She is in demand as a conductor and clinician, having served on the faculty of numerous local, area, and national events. She is a graduate of the University of Arkansas and the University of Memphis. Away from music, Sondra is an avid knitter, swimmer, and motorcycle rider.  She is married to Roger, who has also played with us this Spring.

The other handbell work is a setting of the beloved Irish hymn Be Thou My Vision (hymn 488), paired with another tune, THAXTED," a melody by the English composer Gustav Holst. Holst's air is based on the stately theme from the middle section of the Jupiter movement of his orchestral suite The Planets and named after Thaxted, the English village where Holst lived much of his life. He adapted the tune in 1921 to fit the patriotic poem "I Vow to Thee, My Country."  You'll hear that melody in the middle of the piece, played on the bells while accompanied by the handchimes.

Julie Turner

This medley is a product of Julie Turner, a musician from Tennessee who specializes in Handbell music. Since 2006, Turner has been the Associate Conductor, Composer in Residence and a Board Member of Music City Bronze, Nashville's advanced community handbell group. She has also been the handbell director at her church in Nashville since 1999. She holds a B.A. in Music from Cumberland University and was a contract music engraver for the United Methodist Publishing House for nine years. Julie has over 30 published handbell arrangements and compositions and was named Composer of the Year in 2009 by Jeffers Handbell Supply. Julie and her husband Jim have lived in Nashville since 1986, where they raised their two children.

The choir is not singing an anthem this week. Instead, we will hear a solo by Harrison Boyd, who will be leaving this week to continue his education with an internship in Iowa. Harrison has chosen an arrangement of the hymn Come Down, O Love Divine (hymn 516) by Ralph Vaughan Williams. It is in an arrangement by Fernando Ortega, a contemporary Christian Musician from New Mexico who now works in an Anglican church. He has produced 20 albums of sacred music in both contemporary and more traditional hymnody since 1999, and has won three Dove Awards. He's become known for his contemporary take on traditional hymns. You might find interesting his 2016 blog entry where he discusses the difference between upbeat worship songs that "were always so corny and utterly forgettable," and the hymn which Harrison sings for us today.