Music for April 2, 2023 + The Sunday of the Passion

Vocal Music

• Ride On, King Jesus – Hall Johnson (1888-1970)
• He Never Said a Mumbalin’ Word – Spiritual, arr. William M. Schoenfeld (b. 1949)

Instrumental Music

• All Glory, Laud and Honor -arr. Cynthia Dobrinski (1950-2021)
• O Sacred Head – Rudy Davenport (b. 1948)
• Ah, Holy Jesus – Russell Hancock Miles (1895-1983)

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

• Hymn 154 All glory, laud, and honor (VALET WILL ICH DIR GEBEN)
• Hymn 480 When Jesus left his Father’s throne (KINGSFOLD)
• Hymn 143 The glories of these forty days (ERHALT UNS, HERR)
• Hymn R214 Your only son, no sin to hide (LAMB OF GOD)
• Hymn R227 Jesus, remember me (Taizé)
• Hymn 168 O sacred head, sore wounded (HERZLICH TUT MICH VERLANGEN)

Two spirituals and two German chorales are featured in the music for Palm Sunday.

Ride On, King Jesus

The opening Palm Sunday liturgy will feature the solo Ride On, King Jesus, sung by Christine Donley. It was arranged by the African-American composer Hall Johnson. 

Johnson was born in Athens, Georgia, taught himself to play the violin by reading a book about it, moved to New York City where he played in the orchestra of Broadway musicals, and set out to preserve the heritage of the Negro Spiritual. He arranged spirituals for his own ensemble, the Hall Johnson Singers as well as soloists such as the famed Marion Anderson. He also provided the scores for several films, his last being “Cabin in the Sky” in 1943 with Ethel Waters and Lena Horne.

He Never Said a Mumbalin Word

This Spiritual recalling Christ’s Passion provides poignant evidence of the eloquence and empathy born of shared suffering. The call-and-response singing style also provides a means of affirming the communal wisdom expressed in recurring phrases and refrains. The lines " They crucified my Lord, They nailed him to a tree, They pierced him in the side," etc, calls for the response, "and he never said a mumbalin' word."

This warm and gracious setting of this beloved melody, with a flowing piano accompaniment, is provided by William M. Schoenfeld, an American composer and arranger with degrees from  Cal-State, Hayward, California; the Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, California; and Master of Church Music from Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas.

Ah, Holy Jesus

I inherit a lot of organ music from the libraries of organist who have either retired or passed away. I am guessing that is where I got this short prelude on the hymn Herzliebster Jesu. It comes from a set ot two Lenten Chorale Preludes which are tied together by the use of the musical them "B-A-C-H." (The name of Bach can be spelled by playing the notes B (flat) A C and B (natural)

In music, the BACH motif is the motif, a succession of notes important or characteristic to a piece, B flat, A, C, B natural. In German musical nomenclature, in which the note B natural is named H and the B flat named B, it forms Johann Sebastian Bach's family name.

The composer of the closing voluntary, Russell Hancock Miles, was for a long time a music professor at the University of Illinois. Though little known today in the organ world, the May 1944 edition of the organist's magazine The Diapason said, "A graduate of Syracus University, Professor Miles is one of the outstanding pupils of his father-in-law, Dr. William Berwald. As head of the organ department at the University of Illinois, professor of composition, concert and church organist, conductor of the university chorus and composer, Professor Miles has taken a high place."

An interesting side-note is that Russell Miles is the son of C. Austin Miles, Sr., the composer of the well-loved gospel hymn "In the Garden."

Tenebrae

I want to remind all of you of the Tenebrae service our choir will sing Wednesday Evening. The service of Tenebrae follows a tradition of the early church dating back to the eighth century, and commemorates the final hours of Christ's life on earth as He prepared for and suffered death on the cross. This exceptionally moving work features familiar hymns and spirituals, and has become a staple in Holy Week repertoire in churches throughout the country.

The Good Shepherd Choir will present Tenebrae: A Service of Darkness on the Wednesday of Holy Week, April 5, at 7 p.m. in the Nave.