Music for Sunday, October 10, 2021 + The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• O For a Closer Walk with God – Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924)

Instrumental Music

• Partita on “St. Anne” – Paul Manz (1919-2009)
• I. Theme
• II. Adagio
• IV. Presto
• V. Pastorale
• VI. Fugue-Finale

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

• Hymn 475 - God himself is with us (TYSK)
• Hymn 615 - “Thy kingdom come!” on bended knee (ST. FLAVIAN)
• Hymn R114 - Bless the Lord, my soul (Jacques Berthier)
• Hymn 680 - O God, our help in ages past (ST. ANNE)
• Psalm 90:12-17 simplified Anglican chant by Jerome Webster Meachen

The offertory anthem is a setting of a of a hymn by the poet William Cowper. From the handbook to the Psalter Hymnal we learn that he wrote this text on December 9, 1769, during the illness of his long-time friend and housekeeper, Mrs. Unwin. "In a letter written the next day Cowper voiced his anxieties about her condition and about what might happen to him if she died. Saying that he composed the text "to surrender up to the Lord" all his "dearest comforts," Cowper added,

Her illness has been a sharp trial to me. Oh, that it may have a sanctifying effect!. . . I began to compose the verses yesterday morning before daybreak, but fell asleep at the end of the first two lines; when I awoke again, the third and fourth were whispered to my heart in a way which I have often experienced.

C.V.Stanford

"Although Cowper frequently battled depression, doubt, and melancholy, this text speaks of a very intimate walk with the Lord. That walk is rooted in Scripture (st. 1), rejoices in conversion (st. 2-3), and denounces all idols that would usurp God's sovereignty (st. 4). The text concludes with a return to the prayer of the first stanza, but now that prayer is sung with increased confidence and serenity." -Psalter Hymnal Handbook

The tune, CAITHNESS, is Scottish, but the arranger, Charles Villiers Stanford, was not. Stanford was born in Ireland and received his early musical training at St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. He studied composition in both England and Germany. He taught at both the Royal College of Music and Cambridge University, and among his students are such notable musicians as Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams, John Ireland, Frank Bridge, Charles Wood, and Herbert Howells. His compositions include works for organ, piano, symphony orchestra, and chamber ensembles, as well as many works for Anglican church choirs. Stanford was knighted in 1902 and his ashes are buried beside Henry Purcell in Westminster Abbey. 

The Psalm for today is the last six verses of Psalm 90. The closing hymn is a paraphrase of the first five verses of Psalm 90. Thus we get to sing almost the entire Psalm. For this reason I have chosen to play  Paul Manz's partita (or variations) on ST. ANNE, which is the tune used for the hymn. Paul Manz was a Lutheran organist, who had a particular talent of improvising organ music based on hymns. These variations were probably improvised by Manz during a recital or one of his Hymn Festivals, and later published as Partita on St. Anne.

There are six movements which may or may not correspond to the six stanzas of Watt's hymn. I am playing five of those. The first movement is very straightforward, with an underlying rhythmic motive reminiscent of J. S. Bach's organ setting of the German Choral WER NUR DEN LIEBEN (BWV 642). The second movement also harkens back to music of Bach and German baroque composers with its ornamented solo line over an imitative accompaniment. You'll still be able to hear the melody if you listed closely.

The fourth movement is much lifelier, as you can tell by its title, Presto. The accompaniment will be in both hands, featuring a spinning counter-melody against a leaping part in the other hand. These melodic fragments bounce back and forth between the two hands while the feet play the melody.

One of the loveliest movements is the Pastorale (fifth movement), which I will play during communion. Pastorales are generally in 6/8 or 9/8 metre, at a moderate tempo, and this is no exception. The accompaniment has a lyrical melody which could stand alone by itself, without the addition of the hymn-tune that comes in, played by the left hand.

I'll play the last movement as the closing voluntary, for it's drive and excitement is perfect for music that should encourage us to leave this place with joy and commitment.