Music for April 3, 2022 + The Fifth Sunday in Lent

Vocal Music

• Wash Me Throughly – David Halls (b. 1963)

Instrumental Music

• Jesus, I Will Ponder Now – Robert Below (1934-2021)
• Wenn Wir In Höchstein Nöten Sein – J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
• When we are in utmost need
• Toccata on “In the Cross of Christ I Glory” – David Cherwien (b. 1957)

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

• Hymn 398 - I sing the almighty power of God (FOREST GREEN)
• Hymn 441 - In the cross of Christ I glory (RATHBUN)
• Hymn 476 - Glory be to Jesus (WEM IN LEIDENSTAGEN)
• Hymn 610 - Lord, whose love through humble service (BLAENHAFREN)
• Psalm 126 – Tone IIa

In 1888, the eccentric French composer Erik Satie (1866-1925) published three short, atmospheric piano solos called Gymnopédies. The first, marked Lent et douloureux (“slowly with pain/grief”), is perhaps one of the most famous piano solos penned during the late Romantic era. (You can listen to it here - just NOT during church!) Gymnopédie No. 1 is a simple piece, and that’s where the beauty comes from. The melody is a single, flowing line of quarter notes, raising and lowering like ocean waves. The rhythms are long and sustained, creating a sense of floating through time.

The piece begins with two alternating chords: Gmaj7 (G-B-D-F#) and Dmaj7 (D-F#-A-C#). The melody floats over these two chords, slowly raising and lowering and expanding in dynamics.

I tell you all this because in the anthem this week, composer David Halls has written what could be a companion composition for choir, using the penitential Psalm 51.

Wash me thoroughly from my wickedness, and forgive me all my sin.

For I acknowledge my faults, and my sin is ever before me. (Psalm 51:2-3)

This simple piece begins not with two alternating chords, but with a four bar chordal progression over two alternating bass notes, D and A. The single melody line enters over this basso ostinato in much the same way as the melody in the Satie piece. The tempo never varies, never hurries, just moves gracefully and peacefully along. After the first line of the Psalm text is repeated (the only difference from the first time is that the lower choir voices add a harmonic line), we move to a new section of music, where the upper choir voices (sopranos and tenors) present a new melodic line which is then echoed by the altos and basses. All four voices join together to proclaim "my sin is ever before me." Then the first section is repeated almost note for note.

David Halls is the Director of Music at Salisbury Cathedral.  Whilst a pupil at Harrogate Grammar School, he was Assistant Organist at St Wilfrid’s, Harrogate, and studied the organ with Adrian Selway at St Peter’s Church, Harrogate, Ronald Perrin at Ripon Cathedral and later with Thomas Trotter in London. In addition to his daily duties in the cathedral, David has toured Austria, Estonia, France, Holland, Italy, Latvia, Sweden and the USA with the Cathedral Choir and has appeared as conductor, accompanist and soloist in many concerts and recordings. In demand as a recitalist in cathedrals and churches throughout the UK, he has recorded two solo CDs and a DVD on the Willis Organ in Salisbury Cathedral. He is active as a composer with many choral and organ works published in the UK and USA.

The opening voluntary is a chorale prelude on Jesus, I Will Ponder Now (JESU KREUZ, LEIDEN UND PEIN), a hymn that is quite popular in Lutheran churches but not many other places. The tune was written in the late 16th Century, then paired with a 17th century text. This organ arrangement was composed in the early 21st century by Robert Below, a piano professor at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. He taught in their Conservatory of Music for 32 years before retiring in 1996. Known as a prolific performer and composer, His numerous anthems, hymns, and other sacred works were used at his beloved All Saints Episcopal Church in Appleton.

The communion voluntary is the beautiful chorale prelude from Bach's collection, Orgelbüchlein.  Bach wrote “Wenn wir in höchsten Nöten sein,” BWV 641, when he was in his thirties. It's a tender and delicate ornamented chorale. Here’s the first phrase of the original melody:

And here’s that phrase as it practically disappears under Bach’s fanciful ornamentation:

There’s an obvious motivation for writing an ornamented melody line here. The chorale text begins, “Wenn wir in höchsten Nöten sein, / Und wissen nicht, wo aus noch ein” (When we are in utmost need, and are completely at a loss). So the profuse ornamentation, and the way it disguises the tune, may represent uncertainty or restlessness.

Music for Sunday, March 27, 2022

Vocal Music

• Lord, For Thy Tender Mercy’s Sake – Richard Farrant (c. 1525-1580)

Instrumental Music

• Rhosymedre – Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
• My Song Is Love Unknown
• Prelude au Kyrie – Jean Langlais (1907-1991)
• Cwm Rhondda – Paul Manz (1919-2009)

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

• Hymn 690 - Guide me, O thou great Jehovah (CWM RHONDDA)
• Hymn R249 - Great is thy faithfulness (FAITHFULNESS)
• Hymn 686 - Come, thou fount of every blessing (NETTLETON)
• Hymn 693 - Just as I am, without one plea (WOODWORTH)
• Hymn 411 - O bless the Lord, my soul (ST. THOMAS (WILLIAMS))
• Psalm 32 – tone IIa

The English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams is the composer of this morning's opening voluntary. Vaughan Williams is one of the first composers who wrote in what you could call a “distinct English style”; he made a point of breaking away from the German style which had a profound influence on classical music forms like symphonies, concertos, and chamber music. His studies with Ravel likely had something to do with this. He was also interested in folk tunes of the British Isles, as evidenced by today's prelude.

"RHOSYMEDRE" is Vaughan Williams's best-loved work for organ. It is sometimes used for the Lenten hymn "My Song is Love Unknown." (Our hymnal uses the tune LOVE UNKNOWN.) Though originally written for pipe organ, it's been arranged for orchestra and almost every ensemble possible. (I've even heard it played by a saxophone quintet.) As usual, in his arrangements of British folk music, Vaughan Williams succeeds here in turning an apparently simple tune into a work of profound emotional impact. Renaissance cadences much in evidence, in this short but sweet work Vaughan Williams crafts a wistful piece of great beauty. It's one of my favorites, and one that I want played at my funeral one day.

Ralph Vaughan Williams in World War I

Vaughan Williams had a strong sense of integrity, in that he believed music should be accessible to everyone. He also believed in being of service to his fellow citizens, to the point that he signed up at age 42 when World War One broke out. He was an ambulance wagon driver and became a lieutenant in the Royal Artillery, being sent to fight in France in 1918. The constant sound of guns damaged his hearing and lead to his deafness in his old age. The war had an impact on his music, culminating in his Dona nobis pacem (“Grant us peace”) completed in 1936, at a time there must have been speculation of another war brewing.

A humble man, Ralph Vaughan Williams declined the honor of a knighthood. His ashes were interred at Westminster Abbey.

The communion voluntary is part of a larger work by French composer Jean Langlais called Hommage à Frescobaldi, written in 1952. This is the first piece in that collection, entitled, appropriately enough, "Prélude au Kyrie." It begins with a slowly-ascending melodic figure against suspended chords. When the opening material returns, halfway through, it is now accompanied by the pedal, which plays the chant theme from the Kyrie of the Mass "Cunctipotens genitor Deus."

Born in La Fontenelle, Brittany, France, a small village near by the Mont Saint-Michel, Jean Langlais became blind from the age of two. At the age of eleven, he was sent to the Paris National Institute for the Young Blind where he studied piano, violin, harmony and organ. Later, he entered the Paris National Conservatory of Music, obtaining a First Prize in 1930. 

In 1945, he became the successor to Cesar Franck and Charles Tournemire at the prestigious Sainte-Clotilde in Paris. He left that position in 1987 at the age of 80, having been organist for 42 years!

The closing voluntary is the well-known (at least among organists!) improvisation on our opening hymn this morning, CWM RHONNDA. (Guide me, O thou great Jehovah). It is by the American Lutheran composer Paul Manz. 

It's a little exuberant for the season of Lent, but today is Laetare Sunday, or the fourth Sunday in the season of Lent. Traditionally, this Sunday has been a day of celebration, within the austere period of Lent. It gets its name from the first few words of the traditional Latin Introit of the day from the Roman Catholic Mass, "Laetare Jerusalem" ("Rejoice, O Jerusalem"). Hence, I don't feel too badly that the opening of the piece sounds a lot like Handel's "Hxllelujxh" from Messiah.

Music for March 20, 2022 + The Third Sunday in Lent

Vocal Music

• Love the Lord – J. P. Reese, arr. Mark Schweizer (1956-2019)

Instrumental Music

• Erbarm dich mein, o Herre Gott – Johann Gottfried Walther (1684-1748)
• (O God, Be Merciful to Me) 
• Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley – David Gale (21st C.)
• Fugue in G Minor, BWV 578 – Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

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

• Hymn 142 - Lord, who throughout these forty days (ST. FLAVIAN)
• Hymn 648 - When Israel was in Egypt’s land (GO DOWN, MOSES)
• Hymn 143 - The glory of these forty days (ERHALT UNS, HERR)
• Hymn R266 - Give thanks with a grateful heart (GIVE THANKS)
• Hymn 149 - Eternal Lord of Love, behold your Church (OLD 124TH)
• Psalm63:1-8, Tone IIa

Our anthem today is an arrangement of a hymn out of the old shaped-note songbook, The Sacred Harp (1844), the best-known songbook of the shape-note tradition. Many people contributed tunes to this book, which feature rugged tunes and rough, often modal harmonies with imperfect harmonization techniques. One such composer is John P. Reese, an itinerant preacher, who wrote 21 tunes for the collection, including today's anthem. 

The texts were often eighteenth-century English hymns by such poets as Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley, William Cowper, or John Newton. Some of these texts, as modified by nineteenth-century American singers, have acquired choruses in the camp-meeting spiritual style. That's what has happened here with the familiar text by Isaac Watts, "Alas, and did my Savior bleed?" with the "new" chorus: 

O who is like Jesus? Christ, our savior,

Praise ye the Lord!

There's none like Jesus, Christ, our savior,

Love and serve the Lord!

It has been arranged, once again, by Mark Schweizer, who also arranged the anthems from the last two weeks.

The opening and closing voluntaries are by J.G. Walther and J.S Bach. Not only were they almost exact cotemporaries, they were also cousins. In 1707, Walther was made organist at the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Weimar. Bach became the Capellemeister at the court of the Duke of Weimar. The two became friends, and on September 27, 1712 Bach stood godfather to Walther’s son.

The chorale prelude that opens the service is a setting of the hymn “Erbarm’ dich mein, O Herre Gott,” which is a translation of Psalm 51, making it perfect for the season of Lent. This setting is in the form of a “Gapped” Chorale, in which one line of music, in this case the top line, presents the chorale phrases relatively slowly, while the other lines of music are moving in faster imitative polyphony.

This imitative polyphony is continuous throughout the piece.

For the closing voluntary I am playing the "little" Fugue in G Minor of J.S. Bach. It is one of Bach's best known fugues and has been arranged for other media, including an orchestral version by Leopold Stokowski. Early editors of Bach's work attached the title of "Little Fugue" to distinguish it from the later Great Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, which is longer in duration.

I am playing it in honor of Bach's 337th birthday on Monday, March 21st.

Music for March 13, 2022 + The Second Sunday in Lent

Vocal Music

• According to thy Gracious Word – W. A. Mozart (17), arr. Mark Schweizer (1956-2019)

Instrumental Music

• Three versets on the Kyrie (Messe à l’usage ordinaire des Paroisses) – François Couperin (1668 - 1733)
• Dialogue sur la trompette et le chromorne 
• Récit de chromorne 
• Fugue sur les jeux d'anche

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

• Hymn 401 - The God of Abraham praise (LEONI)
• Hymn 147 - Now let us all with one accord (BOURBON)
• Hymn 143 - The glory of these forty days (ERHALT UNS, HERR)
• Hymn R243 - You shall cross the barren desert (BE NOT AFRAID)
• Hymn 598 - Lord Christ, when first thou cam’st to earth (MIT FREUDEN ZART)

Today's anthem is ostensibly by Mozart, but I think there is more Schweizer than Mozart in this piece. This is the second week in a row that we have sung a choral work arranged by Mark Schweizer.  Schweizer was truly an interesting and talented man. A native of Florida, he received music degrees from Stetson University in Deland, Florida and the University of Arizona including a doctoral degree in vocal performance. He returned to teach at Stetson University from 1982 to 1985 followed by eight years on the music faculty of Louisiana College. 

Mark moved to North Carolina where he founded St. James Music Press, where he served as editor, publisher, and composer. It was a groundbreaking idea, publishing books of choral music which the purchaser could then legally photocopy  as many copies as needed. And just like Netflix, Kindle, and the iPod changed the way people viewed movies, read books, and listened to music, SJMP gave music directors like me a new way to acquire music for our choirs. This has been extremely helpful during the time of the pandemic, when choral forces changed rapidly and music (and church) budgets shrank.

He wrote fifteen “Liturgical Mystery” novels, stories centered around Hayden Koenig, the chief of police AND organist at the Episcopal Church in the little town of St. Germaine, North Carolina. They are as full of humor as they are of mystery. 

He died of a glioblastoma in 2019.

All the organ music for the morning comes from Messe pour les paroisses by the French Baroque composer François Couperin. This music was written to be performed during the Mass, alternating with the choir. In this so-called alternatim practice,  the organist plays when texts would otherwise have been sung. a term which indicates a type of liturgy where alternate sections of the Mass were performed by different forces. 

Today's movements all come from the first part of the mass, the Kyrie, which we normally only use during Lent. The titles have nothing to do with text, but with musical form; the Dialogue sur la trompette et le chromorne is a two-part piece with the trumpet stop playing against the krummhorn, an organ stop which imitates the double-reed wind instrument that flourished between the 15th century and about 1650. The Récit de chromorne features that same stop in an improvisatory solo for the krummhorn, while the Fugue sur les jeux d'anche is simply a fugue using nothing but the reed stops, which on an organ includes the trumpet stops.

François Couperin, the most important member of the renowned Couperin dynasty, is the foremost composer of the French Baroque. A prodigiously talented keyboard player, he inherited the post of organist at the church of St Gervais in Paris when he was just eleven years old, subsequently dividing his time between the capital and Versailles upon becoming organiste du Roi in 1693. 

Music for March 6, 2022 + The First Sunday in Lent

Vocal Music

• Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days – Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924), arr. Mark Schweitzer

Instrumental Music

• Chorale Prelude on a melody by Orlando Gibbons – Healey Willan (1880-1968)
• Suite No. 4 in E Minor: Sarabande – George Frederick Handel (1685-1759)
• Hilf Gott, Dass Mir's Gelinge, BWV 624 – Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

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

• Hymn s-67 The Great Litany
• Hymn R112 - You who dwell in the shelter of the Lord (ON EAGLE’S WINGS)
• Hymn 150 - Forty days and forty nights (AUS DER TIEFE RUFE ICH)
• Hymn R9 - As the deer pants for the water (AS THE DEER)
• Hymn 559 - Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us (DULCE CARMEN)
• Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16 – Tone IIa

The anthem today is what classical musicians call a quodlibet, which is an arrangement of two or more familiar tunes in polyphonic relationship, meaning that they can be heard at the same time. The arranger, Mark Schweizer, has done that by combining the beautiful melody of Gabriel Fauré's Pavane, Op. 50 with the hymn-tune MORNING SONG (hymn 9 in the Hymnal 1982), using the text, "Lord, who throughout these forty days." The combination is a match made in heaven. Here are links for you to hear the two melodies by themselves. (Just don't listen during the sermon if you are reading this on Sunday!) 

Mark Schweizer

Gabriel Fauré

Fauré: Pavane / Rattle · Berliner Philharmoniker

Morning Song

The opening voluntary is an organ setting of another tune from hymnal which is not an explicitly Lenten hymn, Lord, forever at thy side, found at hymn 670. This tune is used in an anthem, though, which is often sung during Lent, Jesus, Grant Me This I Pray. This setting of the tune from the great English musician of the Renaissance Orlando Gibbons, is by the English-turned-Canadian composer, Healey Willan.

The closing voluntary is a short work by Johann Sebastian Bach found in his collection called Orgelbüchlein. Bach’s Orgelbüchlein (Little Organ Book) is one of the most extraordinary of all Bach’s organ collections and compositions. Even though it may seem to be just a collection of hymn-tune (chorale) arrangements for the church organist, it is considered by many scholars to be a masterpiece of organ literature. 

Bach planned a collection of 119 chorale preludes (only 45 were written) to be used during the liturgical year. Some are quite simple, while others are intricate works in miniature. Today I am playing one of the Lenten chorales on a text and tune well known to congregations during Bach's day.

The text itself is unusual. It was written in the 1500s by Heinrich Müller while he was in prison by the Duke of Saxony for his Lutheran sympathies. Müller included his name as an acrostic, using the first letter of each stanza to spell our his name. Also, the first stanza is weirdly self-referential: the poet asks God’s help “die Silben reimen zwingen” (to force these syllables to rhyme). Most hymns during the Reformation aimed to reach the entire worshipping community, not individual piety.

Much like Müller "forcing syllables to rhyme,"  Bach does the same thing, forcing the right hand to play two voices in canon. It’s an inside joke for the performer. For the listener, who might not perceive these counterpoint games, the idea is still clear from the meandering left-hand and pedal parts. The piece takes a lot of physical work to perform, and it sounds, at best, bizarre.  

Bach’s organ version was probably a deliberately rather awkward harmonic and canonic whole, with a left hand that searches around capriciously from high to low. Maybe Bach also thought it might not be so easy to keep constant faith if you were imprisoned for your religious beliefs for over ten years.