Music for Sunday, January 30, 2022 + The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

Vocal Music

• The Gift of Love – Hal H. Hopson (b. 1933)

Instrumental Music

• Pastorale on “Abbot’s Leigh” – Joel Martinson (b. 1961)
• Rhapsody – Daniel Elder (b. 1986)
• Fughetta on “Abbot’s Leigh” – Joel Martinson

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

• Hymn 379 - God is Love, let heavens adore him (ABBOT’S LEIGH)
• Hymn 598 - Lord Christ, when first thou cam’st to earth (MIT FREUDEN ZART)
• Hymn - Through north and south and east and west (LASST UNS ERFREUEN)
• Hymn R218 - Broken for me (BROKEN FOR ME)
• Hymn 530 - Spread, O spread, thou mighty word (GOTT SEI DANK)
• Psalm 71:1-6 – Tone Va

The opening and closing voluntaries are from a set of short pieces by Dallas composer and friend, Joel Martinson. He has held the position of Director of Music and Organist at The Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration in Dallas, Texas, since June 2004. He coordinates the musical life of this vibrant parish, including choral and instrumental ensembles for all ages, as well as the music series Transfigured Nights. He led Transfiguration’s new organ project, which culminated in a 3-manual, 47-stop organ by the firm of Richards, Fowkes & Co. dedicated in 2010. 

An active composer, Joel Martinson has been commissioned by a wide array of churches, musical organizations and individual performers across the United States. In 2007 he was commissioned to write his work Four Short Journeys to ABBOTT'S LEIGH, the tune of our opening hymn this Sunday. What I like about the work is that there are four very different pieces which are inspired by the tune, not just another straight-forward presentation of the melody. You will hear fragments which will remind you of the familiar hymn-tune, but is also an organ work in its own right.

The opening voluntary is his Pastorale. It takes its inspiration from the first three notes of the hymn-tune, and octave arpeggio found in in the last line of the hymn. It also exploits a juxtaposition of the minor and major tonalities found in the third phrase of the hymn.

The closing voluntary, Fughetta, is a lively fugal piece with a subject based on the first four bars of the tune. After a few excursions to various keys, it ends with a short refrain of the hymn followed by a final presentation of the subject.

The anthem is a well-known and loved setting of the English folk-tune, O WALY WALY, coupled with a paraphrase of 1st Corinthians 13 by another Dallas composer, Hal Hopson. Since published as an anthem in 1972, it has since become popular as a hymn, appearing in 24 hymnals, including RENEW which we have in the pews.

Hopson is a prolific composer, arranger, clinician, teacher and promoter of congregational song, with more than 1300 published works, especially of hymn and psalm arrangements, choir anthems, and creative ideas for choral and organ music in worship. Born in Texas, with degrees from Baylor University (BA, 1954), and Southern Baptist Seminary (MSM, 1956), he served churches in Nashville, TN, and most recently at Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas. 

The communion voluntary is written by the young American composer Daniel Elder. A native of Georgia, he earned his BM degree from the University of Georgia in 2010, and his Masters of Music from Westminster Choir College 2012. He now divides his time between Los Angeles and Nashville, Tennessee. He has written in both choral and instrumental idioms, and has made quite a name for himself in his short life.