Music for July 11, 2021 + The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

Instrumental Music

• Christus, der ist mein Leben– Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706)
• We pray now to the Holy Spirit—Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707)
• Strengthen for Service, Lord – arr. Anne Krentz Organ (b. 1960)
• Toccata in E Minor – Johann Pachelbel

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 686 Come, thou fount of every blessing (EBENEZER)
• Hymn 295 Sing praise to our Creator (CHRISTUS, DER IST MEIN LEBEN)
• Hymn 671 Amazing Grace! how sweet the sound (NEW BRITAIN)
• Psalm85:8-13– Tone VIIIa

Years ago, before I began my work as a musician in the Episcopal Church, I had a short stint working at a Kinkos. I was tired of church music, and, since I loved paper and office supplies, I thought working at Kinkos might be fun. "Fun" might not be the best word to describe my two years there, but "interesting" sure fits.

Working those huge copiers gave me the opportunity to see a lot of documents. Some were so technical that I showed no interest. (Flight manuals for FedEx transport planes.) What really pique my interest were wedding service leaflets. My favorite to this day is the one which had a hand-drawn cover with the Bible verse on the front in calligraphy: "What God hath joined together let no man put us under." (sic) Another favorite was the one which listed the music, including the famous Canon in D by the composer Paco Bell. 

I thought about that this week as I was choosing music for the service, and Hymn 295, Sing praise to our Creator, wound up as one of my choices for hymns. I remembered Johann Pachelbel had written a partita (a set of variations) on the German chorale, Christus, der ist mein Leben, which is the tune used for hymn 295 in our hymnal. Since the partita doesn't include much pedal, I decided that it would be a great choice for this Sunday since I would be out of the office this week, with little time to practice the organ.

(Regular organ practice is essential to anyone who wants to play interesting and challenging literature on any musical instrument. You may not realize it, but two hours with an instrument a day is not unusual for an active musician. In fact, two hours is almost the minimum.)

Since I was playing a chorale-based selection of Pachelbel, I decided to choose one of his "free" organ works for the closing voluntary. The Toccata in E Minor is a serious if flashy organ work with little pedal work. It's got a great sense of forward motion which is perfect for the closing of the service as we are sent out to "do the work you have given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord."

Pachelbel was an organist during the Baroque period who is credited with bringing the south German organ school to its peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secular music, and his contributions to the development of the chorale prelude and fugue have earned him a place among the most important composers of the middle Baroque era. 

During that same time, you have Dietrich Buxtehude, a Danish-born organist who spent the last 40 years of his life at Marienkirche (St. Mary's Church) in Lubeck in Northern Germany. He was very well known and influential. Both G.F. Handel and J.S. Bach wanted to follow Buxtehude at St. Mary's, but neither one wanted to marry his daughter as that was a condition for the position. I'm playing another chorale-based work by him for the offertory.

Anne Krentz Organ

To balance all that Baroque organ music, I looked to the piano music of the contemporary American composer with the ironic name of Anne Krentz Organ. She is the Director of Music Ministries at St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Park Ridge, IL. She  holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from Valparaiso University, a Master of Music degree in Piano Pedagogy from the University of Illinois, and a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Church Music from Concordia University in River Forest, IL. She is a leader in contemporary Lutheran Church music, having served on the staff of the Lutheran Summer Music Program as organist and handbell choir director, additionally teaching classes on church music and hymnody. Organ currently serves as the President of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians.

In today's Communion voluntary, Organ takes an original hymn tune of another Lutheran Composer, Robert Hobby, and crafts a beautifully meditative piano piece. The tune, BUCKHURST RUN, is paired with the text "Strengthen for service, Lord, the hands" (see The Hymnal 1982, #312) in the 2006 hymnal of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Evangelical Lutheran Worship. BUCKHURST RUN is named after the street in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where the Hobby family lives.