Music for February 6, 2022 + The Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

Vocal Music

• Day by Day – Martin How (b. 1931)

Instrumental Music

• Meditation on “How Bright Appears the Morning Star” – David Bednall (b. 1979)
• Von Gott will ich nicht lassen [I will not forsake the Lord], BWV 658 – Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
• Wie Schön Leuchtet – David Cherwein (b. 1957)

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

• Hymn 362 - Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty (NICEA)
• Hymn R269 - Let all that is within me (Melvin Harrell)
• Hymn - Santo, santo, santo (Unknown)
• Hymn R149 - I, the Lord of sea and sky (HERE I AM, LORD)
• Hymn 537 - Christ for the world we sing (MOSCOW)
• Psalm 138 – Tone Va

The anthem today is a setting of the prayer by Richard of Chichester, the 13th century bishop and saint, who wrote the prayer

Thanks be to thee, our Lord Jesus Christ,

for all the benefits which thou hast given us,

for all the pains and insults which thou hast borne for us.

O most merciful Redeemer, Friend, and Brother,

may we know thee more clearly,

love thee more dearly,

and follow thee more nearly. Amen.

The prayer has been a hymn in the Episcopal church since its inclusion in The Hymnal 1940, though it's greater popularity has come from it's inclusion in the Broadway musical Godspell. Alas, the tune we are singing today is neither from the hymnal nor the musical, but a 1978 setting by Scottish-born organist Martin How. 

Martin How

The son of John How, a former Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway and the Primus of Scotland, Martin spent most of his career with the Royal School of Church Music where he was known principally as a choir trainer specializing in the training and motivation of young singers. In this capacity he initiated and developed the RSCM Chorister Training Scheme which has since been used in various forms in many parts of the world. He also inaugurated the RSCM Southern Cathedral Singers, a group which has broadcast frequently on BBC Radio's Choral Evensong from Canterbury Cathedral and elsewhere. He was awarded the MBE for 'Services to Church Music' in the 1993 New Years Honours List. 

Since his retirement from the RSCM he has returned to organ playing as an honorary member of the music staff at Croydon Minster.

David Bednall

The opening and closing voluntary are both based on the same hymn, the German chorale Wie Schön Leuchtet, which is found in our hymnal as hymn 496, “How Bright Appears the Morning Star” In the opening voluntary, David Bednall has given it a rather mystical treatment, with a slow, flowing triplet pattern accompanying a slow presentation of the cantus firmus. (Latin for "fixed melody", used to designate a pre-existing melody.)

English organist David Bednall is one of the leading choral composers of his generation. He is a Teaching Fellow and Organist of The University of Bristol, Sub Organist at Bristol Cathedral and Director of The University Singers. David Bednall has been Organ Scholar at The Queen's College, Oxford and at Gloucester Cathedral where he also served as Acting Director of Music and Acting Assistant Organist and served Wells Cathedral as assistant organist.

David Cherwien

The closing voluntary is a brilliant toccata on the same tune by the American organist David Cherwien.  Cherwien is currently serving as Cantor at Mt. Olive Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, MN, and in 2002 was appointed Artistic Director for the National Lutheran Choir, also based in the Twin Cities. He is a prolific composer with over 150 publications of choral and organ music, with several publishers including MorningStar Music, and is the 2007 winner of the Raabe Prize for Excellence in Sacred Composition for his piece, "The Souls of the Righteous."

The organ voluntary at Communion comes from J. S. Bach's great collection of 18 Chorale Preludes. The choral Von Gott will ich nicht lassen (I will not forsake God), BWV 658, set in the rare key of F minor (associated with tenderness and tranquility), harnesses with child-like innocence the Christian image of God. Bach sets the melody in the tenor voice (played in the pedal) sounding from within the flowing legato texture in the hands