Music for Sunday, June 12, 2022 + Trinity Sunday

Vocal Music

• Missa Brevis No. 4 – Eleanor Daley (b. 1955)
• A Ukrainian Prayer – John Rutter (b. 1945)
• Give Me – Carson P. Cooman (b. 1982)

Instrumental Music

• All Glory be to God on High – Georg Philipp Teleman (1681-1767)
• We All Believe in One True God – 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 362 - Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty! (NICEA)
• Hymn S-236 - Canticle 13: Benedictus es, Domine - setting by John Rutter
• Hymn 371 - Thou, whose almighty word (MOSCOW)
• Hymn 295 - Sing praise to our Creator (CHRISTUS, DER IST MEIN LEBEN)
• Hymn R206 - Holy, holy (Jimmy Owens)
• Hymn 368 - Holy Father, great Creator (REGENT SQUARE)

This Sunday is Music Sunday. Our music ministry will be honored as part of the worldwide Music Sunday Celebration of the RSCM (The Royal School of Church Music). 

There are so many special days in the calendar, but Music Sunday is a day to connect in spirit with the whole of the RSCM. It is heart-warming to know that churches around the country, and indeed the world, are focusing on the role of music in worship and the dedicated church musicians who lead this. 

Here at Good Shepherd, we will take the opportunity to acknowledge and thank the many people who work in music leadership in our church. We will also sing a Missa Brevis by Canadian composer Eleanor Daley and a new anthem by John Rutter, written as a prayer for the people of Ukraine.

Missa Brevis No. 4

The Service Music (Kyrie, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei) is the Missa Brevis No. 4 by Canadian composer Eleanor Daley. Missa Brevis means "brief mass," and was written for her own church choir. The three movements are written for a 4-part acapella choir. 

Born and raised in Parry Sound, Ontario, Daley received her Bachelor of Music Degree in Organ Performance from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario and holds diplomas in piano and organ from the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto and Trinity College, England. She has been the Director of Music at Fairlawn Heights United Church in Toronto, Ontario since 1982. During this time, she has established a thriving choral program for which much of her music has been composed, thanks to the continuing support and talent of her choirs.

A Ukrainian Prayer

The offertory anthem is a new work by the English composer John Rutter. Rutter was moved to write "A Ukrainian Prayer" when Ukraine was attacked by Russia. As Rutter says, "How can a composer respond to a global tragedy? By writing music is the most obvious thing. Like everybody, I’ve been shocked and dismayed by the events of recent days, and the first thing I wanted to do was write some music that would respond in my own way."

"I went to a late night service in my old college chapel, where they sang a setting of a lovely Ukrainian prayer. So, having encountered the text in another musical setting on Wednesday night, on Thursday, I wrote my own music. I hope the meaning of the text will resonate in people’s hearts."

The anthem is written in an acapella, Eastern Orthodox style. The text is an old Ukrainian prayer:

Боже, Україну храни

Дай нам силу, вірі, й надії

Отче наш, Отче наш

Амінь

A literal translation of the text is:

Good Lord, protect Ukraine.

Give her strength, courage, faith, hope. Amen.

Give Me

During communion, the choir will sing a round written by American composer Carson Cooman on a text by Khwaja Abdullah Ansari (1006–1088), a Muslim Sufi saint who lived in the 11th century. The choir has been closing their rehearsals each week by singing this round as part of our closing prayers.

O God, give me a heart that I can pour out in thanksgiving.

Give me life that I can spend it working for the salvation of the world.

Music for Sunday, September 12, 2021 + The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• The Mind of Christ – K. Lee Scott (b. 1950)

Instrumental Music

• Lord Jesus Christ, Be Present Now – Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
• God Extends an Invitation – Anne Krentz Organ (b. 1960)
• Trumpet Tune – Georg Philipp Telemann

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of  "I have decided" which is from Lift Every Voice and Sing.)

• Hymn 525 - The church’s one foundation (AURELIA)
• Hymn 675 - Take up your cross, the Savior said (BOURBON)
• Hymn - I have decided to follow Jesus (ASSAM)
• Hymn 473 - Lift high the cross (CRUCIFER)
• Psalm 116:1-8

K. Lee Scott

Birmingham, Alabama composer Lee Scott has taken the hymn "May the mind of Christ, my Savior" and set it to the tune BATTY for a lovely anthem.  The text is called a "catalog" hymn, which list different things the believer asks: "May the mind of Christ," the "word of God," the "peace of God," and the "love of Jesus." The hymn was first published in the London children's hymnbook Golden Bells (1925) and has gained popularity in recent hymnals.

This text is attributed to Kate Barclay Wilkinson, an English woman from the turn of the 20th century. Little is known about Wilkinson's life: a member of the Church of England, she was involved in a ministry to girls in London and a participant in the Keswick Convention Movement. She was married to Frederick Barclay Wilkinson.

The tune is a Moravian melody by the German composer Johann Christoph Kühnau

Anne Krentz Organ

The communion voluntary is a setting of a Brazilian hymn, Nuestro padre nos invita,  arranged for the piano by the Lutheran composer Anne Krentz Organ, the Director of Music Ministries at St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Park Ridge, IL.  She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from Valparaiso University, a Master of Music degree in Piano Pedagogy from the University of Illinois, and a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Church Music from Concordia University in River Forest, IL.

She came to a career in church music in a roundabout way.  She says,

I have a bachelor’s degree in piano performance, and a master’s degree in piano pedagogy. Piano teaching was my intended career. But the Spirit works in mysterious ways, and I began subbing for a Saturday evening service. Attendance was around 40-50 people, all of whom went up for communion at the same time, none of whom brought their hymnals along with them. There I would be, week after week, playing the communion hymn(s) verse by verse. That didn’t seem helpful, and at the same time, I was considering what to propose for my final project at Concordia [University]. It occurred to me that some “Reflections” on hymn tunes for holy communion might be useful. I arranged five communion tunes for piano, which were subsequently published by Augsburg Fortress as my first collection of piano arrangements.

Music for June 16, 2019 + Trinity Sunday

Vocal Music

• Father of Heaven, Whose Love Profound – Healey Willan (1880-1968)

Instrumental Music

• All Glory Be To God on High - Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
• Adoration Antiphon (Holy, Holy) - Fred Bock (1939-1998)
• We All Believe in One True God - J. S. Bach (1685-1750)

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 S-236 - Canticle 13: Benedictus es, Domine – setting by John Rutter
• Hymn 686 – Come, thou fount of every blessing (NETTLETON)
• Hymn 295 - Sing praise to our Creator (CHRISTUS, DER IST MEIN LEBEN)
• Hymn R37 - Father, we love you (GLORIFY YOUR NAME)
• Hymn R206 - Holy, holy (Jimmy Owens)
• Hymn 368 - Holy Father, great Creator (REGENT SQUARE)

I understand that clergy-types don't particularly care for preaching on Trinity Sunday. There's nothing innately inspiring about the doctrine of the Three-in-One. But as a musician, I love Trinity Sunday, because we have such good music from which to choose to honor this day. Holy, holy, holy has to be one of my favorite hymns to play, partially because people will sing it, and partially because, as a little boy growing up Methodist in a small town, we sang it every first Sunday of the month, when we would have Communion.  (It was the closest thing we had to a Sanctus!) I could sing it from memory.

The anthem is by Healey Willan, an English musician who immigrated to Canada early in the 20th century to teach at the Toronto Conservatory of Music. He was on faculty and staff there from 1913-1936, when he and the school parted ways. He had become organist at St. Mary Magdalene in 1921, and he remained there until his death in 1968.

Musically, he wrote in many different genres, including operas, symphonies, chamber music, a concerto, and pieces for band, orchestra, organ, and piano. He is best known today for his church music. Even in that he utilized disparate styles. For his choirs at St. Mary Magdalene he wrote music for the decidedly Anglo-Catholic congregation, with its more mystical approach. Willan's deep interest in plainsong and polyphonic, unaccompanied choral music is evident. But beginning in the 1950s he also began to write organ and choral music with a broader scope, using familiar hymn texts and tunes in his church music. The anthem today is an example of that. The text and tune are perhaps more familiar to Lutherans than Anglicans. The text is a prayer to the Trinity. Listen for this recurring phrase: Before thy throne we sinners bend....

There is also some good organ music based on the Trinity. One of my favorites is this sturdy chorale-prelude by Bach on the German chorale, Wir glauben all an einen Gott (We all believe in one God) The text is a paraphrase of the creed by Martin Luther, using a 15th century tune that Luther adapted for the text.  Bach use a fragment of the melody for the subject in his fughetta which I am playing as the closing voluntary.

I call it a fughetta because, unlike an actual fugue, the subject (melody) does not appear in the pedal. Instead, we find an ostinato passage which makes me feel like Sisyphus, for the pedal melody begins climbing up the pedalboard until it reaches an octave, then tumbles back down again, only to be repeated:

A contemporary of Bach's, Georg Philipp Telemann, wrote the opening voluntary, a two-part setting of the hymn we're singing as our hymn of praise, All Glory Be to God on High. It's a metrical setting of the Gloria which we sing every Sunday. In this organ piece, the melody is heard clearly in the upper voice, played by the right hand. The first verse is imitative, very much like a fugue, but with the melody played in half-notes above all accompaniment. The second setting returns to the usual rhythm of the hymn-tune while the left hand employs a playful dance-like motif.

Music for January 27, 2019 + The Third Sunday after the Epiphany

Vocal Music

• Teach Me, O Lord – Thomas Attwood (1765-1838)

Instrumental Music

• Chorale in E – César Franck (1822-1890)
• Andante from Sonata in A for Oboe – Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
• Psalm 19: The Heavens Declare the Glory of God – Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739)

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 576 - God is love, and where true love is (MANDATUM)
• Hymn 632 - O Christ, the Word Incarnate (MUNICH)
• Hymn - One bread, one body (ONE BREAD ONE BODY)
• HymnR226 - Ubi Caritas (Jacques Berthier)
• Hymn 539 - O Zion, haste, thy mission high fulfilling (TIDINGS)
• Psalm 19 - simplified Anglican Chant by Jerome J. Meachen

In today's Gospel reading, Jesus stands in his home synagogue and reads scripture: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me." He tells them that he is the fulfillment of that word. It is fitting that the psalm appointed for today is Psalm 19. Psalm 19 begins "The heavens declare the glory of God," but it moves to a declaration of the beauty of God's Law.

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes...

It ends with these beautiful words

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Thomas Attwood (artist unknown)

It's because of this thought that I chose today’s anthem with text from Psalm 119, a simple, direct rendering of the words "Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes." It was written by English composer and musician Thomas Attwood, who was very active in the musical life of England, holding posts as chamber musician to the Prince of Wales, organist of St. Paul’s Cathedral, composer to the Chapel Royal and professor at the Royal Academy of Music.  His choral works, now mostly forgotten and seldom performed, reveal the influence of his teacher Mozart.

Benedetto Marcello

Psalm 19 was also the obvious inspiration for my choir of the closing voluntary, "Psalm 19: The Heavens Declare the Glory of God," by the Italian composer Benedetto Marcello.

Had Antonio Vivaldi not shot to fame when he was rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century, we would undoubtedly be more familiar with the name of Benedetto Marcello. For Marcello’s reputation—unlike Vivaldi’s—did not wane during his own lifetime, and he enjoyed an international reputation which was to last for more than 250 years. Born a year after Johann Sebastian Bach into a prominent and respected Venetian family, he pursued a career not in music, but in law. This led him to occupy several major positions in the government of the Italian Republic. He did not, however, allow his public duties to keep him away from his pursuit of music, which he continued actively to cultivate as a nobile dilettante. Marcello’s works, and particularly his Psalm settings, were to exert a major influence on the musical culture of Italy and of other European countries throughout the whole of the 18th century and even into the 19th.

Marcello’s magnum opus is his Estro poetico-armonico. This work, which was published between 1724 and 1726, is a setting of the first fifty Psalms of David as paraphrased into Italian by the poet Girolamo Ascanio Giustiniani. In addition to the subtle deployment of vocal resources, and his imaginative use of musical techniques to illustrate the texts, Marcello brought to these Psalms a peculiar quality of freshness and originality which unquestionably contributed to their becoming a major international success. Many of them, including today's closing voluntary, were transcribed as instrumental works. The version I am playing today was arranged by the 19th century French organist Theodore DuBois, and I think there is more Paris than Venice in the final product!

C

Music for September 2, 2018

Vocal Music

• I Give to You a New Commandment – Peter Nardone (b. 1965)

Instrumental Music

• Onse Vader in hemelrijck – Jan Pieterzoon Sweelinck (1562-1621)
• Ayre in F – Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1757)
• Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise – arr. Michael Burkhardt (b. 1957)

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

• Hymn 423 - Immortal, invisible, God only wise (ST. DENIO)
• Hymn R122 - Surely it is God who saves me (FIRST SONG OF ISAIAH)
• Hymn 707 - Take my life and let it be (HOLLINGSIDE)
• Hymn R145 - Lord, I want to be a Christian (I WANT TO BE A CHRISTIAN)
• Hymn R172 - In our lives, Lord, be glorified (LORD, BE GLORIFIED)
• Hymn 556 - Rejoice, ye pure in heart (MARIAN)
• Psalm 15 - paraphrase by Christopher Webber, 1986 (ST. ANNE)

The choir sings a lyrical anthem by the Scottish composer Peter Nardone. He sets a text from John 13:34-35 (I give to you a new commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you) to a lovely melody, which is sung by the treble voices. He then combines that melody with the Latin chant Ubi caritas, sung by the gentlemen of the choir.

Ubi caritas est vera, Deus ibi est. Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor. Exsultemus et in ipso jucundemur. Timeamus et amemus Deum vivum. Et ex corde diligamus nos sincero.
[Where charity is true, God is there. The love of Christ has gathered us into one. Let us rejoice and be glad in him. Let us fear and love the living God. And from a sincere heart let us love one another.]

Peter Thomas Nardone is a Scottish countertenor, organist, choirmaster, and composer. He has sung with the Monteverdi Choir, the King's Consort, and the Tallis Scholars. He has been Director at Chelmsford Cathedral and is currently Organist and Director of Music at Worcester Cathedral, and Artistic Director of Three Choirs Festival.

Peter Nardone, conducting the Three Choirs Festival

From the 14th century on, The Netherlands were known for their organs, and organ builders from the Lowlands influenced organs built all across Europe. I find it strange, then, that Dutch organ playing failed to keep up with the innovative organs being built in the 15th and 16th century. Most local organists played transcriptions of vocal literature. When a few prominent English organists moved to the Lowlands as religious exiles, the Dutch were exposed to what the keyboards were capable of. In Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Netherlandish organ music found its first significant organist of native birth. He was able to combine the polyphonic heritage of Netherlandish choral composers with foreign keyboard traditions.

The two variations of the German chorale Vater Unser in Himmelreich (Our Father in Heaven), with which I open today's service, are examples of that. In the first, we hear a basic four-part setting, with the melody in longer, sustained notes on top. This is very much like a choral work of the period, though with more 16th note passages in the lower voices. (You can follow this melody by looking in our hymnal at hymn 575). The second variation changes key, and has the melody, or the cantus firmus, in the alto line. The organ of Sweelinck's time, as innovative as it was, still did not have much of a pedal division, and was used mainly to solo out the melody. Though this variation is not written specifically with that in mind, I will be playing the alto melody on the pedal reed, so you will hear it prominently featured in this arrangement.

There are several different variations on this chorale that are attributed to Sweelinck, and most of them are spurious compositions, with their authenticity in question. The volume in which these two variations are published feels as though these two, at least, are authentic. So I feel validated. (Smug grin.)

The communion voluntary is a transcription of an instrumental work by Georg Phillipe Telemann. Telemann was another Lutheran organist, living and working in Germany in the first half of the eighteenth century. But for a composer to have written over 3000 works in his lifetime, he is relatively unknown today.

a marmot. (Not Telemann)

Telemann became a composer in spite of his mother’s firm disapproval. She wanted him to become a priest, and when she discovered that young Telemann had been secretly
learning the violin, she confiscated the instrument, lest it inspire her son to trade in his ecclesiastical aspirations for some kind of low-class, show-biz job like "a clown, a tightrope walker or a marmot trainer."

A marmot trainer, no less.

But, she need not have worried. By his early 20s, Telemann's music had already established the composer as one of the most distinguished individuals in the city of Leipzig. Throughout the decades that followed, he was perhaps the greatest musical celebrity of his time. In his early 40s, he even turned down the most prestigious church music gig in Leipzig, which eventually went to the city council's third choice: Johann Sebastian Bach.

Music for August 19, 2018

Instrumental Music

• Prelude on Bryn Calfaria – Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
• Ornament of Grace – Bernard Wayne Sanders (b. 1957)
• Cantilena (Sonata in D Minor) – Josef Rheinberger (1839-1901)
• Trumpet Tune in D – Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767)

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

• Hymn 427 - When morning gilds the skies (LAUDES DOMINI)
• Hymn 488  - Be thou my vision (SLANE)
• Hymn 307 - Lord, enthroned in heavenly splendor (BYRN CALFARIA)
• Hymn R288 - Eat this Bread (Taizé)
• Hymn 420 - When in our music God is glorified (ENGLEBERG)
• Psalm 34:9-14 – tone VIIIa

Grace Tice and I, after playing an Advent Recital
at Northwoods Presbyterian Church in Houston.
It looks like our prom photo.

This week I am delighted to welcome one of my best friends, oboist Grace Tice, to Good Shepherd. Grace has a Masters Degree in oboe from Rice University, and plays with the Houston Ballet Orchestra in addition to being a free-lance musician around Houston. She will play two pieces for us this Sunday.

Last week I played a piece by Bernard Sanders, and in the comments about his career, I mentioned that he had written a prize-winning composition. This week we will get to hear that work. Ornament of Grace was the first prize winner of an international competition sponsored by the American Guild of Organist in 2008 to promote An International Organ Celebration, a year-long global effort to promote the use of the organ within the church and concert hall. The contest was for a piece of music for organ and one other instrument. Part of the honor was that organists world-wide were encouraged to perform Ornament of Grace on the world's largest organ recital on October 19, 2008. I had the pleasure of performing the Houston premiere of this piece along with Grace at the Organ Spectacular held in Houston at Christ Church Cathedral.

The title comes from verses from scripture which refer to an “ornament of grace.” Proverbs 1:9 asserts: "For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck." The whole chapter refers to receiving instruction and having understanding. Verse eight speaks specifically of receiving the instruction of a father and the law of a mother. Again in Proverbs 4:9 we read: "She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee." Then in Proverbs 25:12 it states: "As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover [sic]upon an obedient ear." It becomes evident that obedience to instruction gives added beauty to the life of a Christian – an ornament; an embellishment.

Josef Gabriel Rheinberger
anon., prior to 1901

The other work, heard at communion, is an arrangement for oboe and organ of the second movement of the organ Sonata No. 11 in D minor, Op. 148 ("Cantilène") by Josef Rheinberger. It reminds me so much of the second movement from J. S. Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3, the "Air." The bass line is a typical Baroque walking bass line, which is in constant motion. And like the Bach, Rheinberger's bass line is really just octave leaps or step-wise motion, as if moving through a scale. The melody, too, is much like the melody of the "Air," (had Bach written the melody to be played by one instrument, instead of first and second violins.) It's a long, intricate melody with graceful leaps and turns.

Josef Gabriel Rheinberger was an Catholic organist and composer, born in Liechtenstein but spending most of his life in Germany. He was a very talented boy, and by age nine was sent to Munich to study at the Munich Conservatorium. Here, his talents as organist were much admired, and he began to earn his living as an organist and private teacher. At the age of twenty, he began to teach theory and piano at the conservatory, and his first opus, four piano pieces, appeared.

We continue learning the hymn-tune BRYN CALFARIA. In addition to singing the hymn, I will play Ralph Vaughan William's organ setting of the tune for the opening voluntary. Unlike the pieces I played the last two weeks, which set out the tune quite plainly and simply, this one is a fantasia, a composition with a free form and in an improvisatory style. You'll hear bits and pieces of the melody, most notably the first four notes of the melody, and the "alleluia" portion of the hymn at the end.

Music for Sunday, June 17, 2018

Vocal Music

• Let There Be Peace on Earth – Mark Hayes (b. 1953), arr., Bruce Bailey, soloist

Instrumental Music

• Our Father in Heaven – Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
• Adagio from Fantasie in C – César Franck (1822-1890)
• Jubilee March – R. M. Stults (1861-1933)

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

• Hymn 525 - The Church’s one foundation (AURELIA)
• Hymn 558 - Faith of our fathers (ST. CATHERINE)
• Hymn R250 - O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder (O STOR GUD)
• Hymn 657 - Love divine, all loves excelling (HYFRYDOL)
• Psalm 92 - Bonum est confiteri

This Sunday Bruce Bailey is singing the song Let There Be Peace On Earth, written in 1955 by the husband/wife team of Jill Jackson Miller and Sy Miller in 1955. It was initially written for the International Children's Choir of Long Beach, California, and is still their theme song.

This beautiful arrangement by the contemporary pianist Mark Hayes uses the updated lyrics which change the gender specific terms Father/He/Brother to gender neutral terms (where "father" is replaced with "creator", and "brother" is replaced with "family" or "each other"), The gender-neutral lyrics have been copyrighted by the original licensing agent of the song. 

You can read the lyrics and a brief history of the song by checking out the History of Hymns blog written by Michael Hawn, retired as professor of sacred music at Perkins School of Theology, SMU, in Dallas.

The communion voluntary is an excerpt from a large-scale organ work by the Belgian/French composer César Franck. The work, the Fantasy in C Major, is in three large parts separated by short transitional passages. I'm playing the last section, Adagio, for communion. 

Unlike many musicians whose parents had other aspirations for their children, César Franck was encouraged by his father to pursue a career as a virtuoso pianist. But at the Paris Conservatoire he failed to achieve the necessary distinction as a performer, so he turned his attention to composition and the organ. (Can’t play piano? Be an organist!) It was a smart move, for he became famouse in Paris as organist at the newly built church of Ste Clotilde, with its Cavaillé-Coll organ. He drew to himself a loyal and devoted circle of pupils and in 1871 became organ professor at the Conservatoire.

As a composer, his best known orchestral works are the Symphonic Variations for solo piano and orchestra and the Symphony in D minor. Though he was best known in his day as a very distinguished organist, Franck wrote remarkably little for the instrument on which his improvisations had won him fame and pupils. The Organ pieces he did write, however, form the backbone of French Romantic organ literature, and have never gone out of style. 

I've talked before about my humble beginnings as organist at my home church, First United Methodist Church, in Tiptonville, Tennessee. I grew up across the street from the church, and spent many an hour roaming through the unlocked building. (Can you imagine letting youth have free access today, unsupervised in a public building?) 

I was always fascinated by the 1924 Möller pipe organ and the stacks of old music stashed on the floor of the choir room closet. Much of it was music purchased when the organ was new. One piece that caught my interest was a single page out of "The Organist" Magazine from 1928. It was the Jubilee March by R. M. Stults, an American composer of popular music in the late 19th century and early 20th century whose most popular work, The Sweetest Story Ever Told, was still popular for weddings into the middle of the 20th century. 

At the time it was built, our church was one of the larger public buildings in Tiptonville, and host to the local high school assemblies. Mae Peacock was organist at First Methodist at the time, and wrote in pencil at the top of the page, "T.H.S. graduation 1933."  The second half of the piece is missing, so several years ago I wrote a "B" section to extend the march, returning to the original to end the piece. 

Music for March 18, 2018 + The Fifth Sunday in Lent

Vocal Music

• Ave Verum - Robert Lucas de Pearsall (1795-1856) 

Instrumental Music

• All Men Must Die – Georg Telemann (1681-1757)
• Lord Jesus, Think on Me – J. Bert Carlson (1937-2017) 

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

• Hymn 149 - Eternal Lord of love, behold your church (OLD 124th) 
• Hymn 439 - What wondrous love is this (WONDROUS LOVE) 
• Hymn 474 - When I survey the wondrous cross (ROCKINGHAM) 
• Hymn R233 - Glory be to Jesus, who in bitter pain (WEM IN LEIDENSTAGEN) 
• Hymn R232 - There is a redemeer (Keith Green) 
• Hymn 473 - Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim (CRUCIFER 
• Psalm 51:1-13 - Tone IIa 

Of all the things I've written about in the five-plus years of publishing this blog, nothing cries for further commentary more than the opening voluntary. I feel I must talk about it lest you (and the FBI) think it's my manifesto on the present human condition.

I guess I could have just published the title as Alle Menschen müßen sterben, which is the first line of the 17th century German hymn by Johann Georg Albinus, a Lutheran pastor, whose life's aim was "the glory of God, the edification of the Church, and the everlasting salvation, well-being, and happiness of his hearers." During his ministry he suffered greatly, not only from bodily infirmities, but from ecclesiastical encroachments and bickerings. But as a poet he was, says one writer, "distinguished by ease of style, force of expression, and liveliness of fancy, and his manner of thought was scriptural and pervaded by a deep religious spirit" Of the many hymns he composed and published, only three have been translated into English. One of those is this hymn, which was used by many musicians of the time, including J. S. Bach and Johann Pachelbel. (Today's setting is by Georg Phillip Telemann, a contemporary of Bach and Pachelbel)

All men must die,
all flesh passes like grass;
Whatever lives must perish
if it is to become new elsewhere.
This body must rot
if it is elsewhere to recover
and gain the great glory
which is prepared for those who are righteous

This hymn, which has been called Albinus' best known hymn, was written for the funeral of Paul von Henssberg, a Leipzig merchant, on June 1, 1652. It became a great favorite of many influential ministers of the 17th century. (1)

I particularly find it interesting that the tune itself, and the treatment of it by Telemann, is rather upbeat and lively. It's in A Major (a key not often -if ever -  associated with sadness or a time of penitence), and the second variation includes a jaunty, rhythmic motif in the accompaniment.

Robert Lucas de Pearsall
in a portrait painted by his daughter,
Philippa Swinnerton Hughes 

The offertory anthem is a setting of the famous Eucharistic hymn by Pope Innocent VI, Ave Verum Corpus (Hail, true body.) The most famous setting of it is by Mozart, but this one comes from the English composer, Robert Pearsall. It is one of a number of hymns by Pearsall included in the Arundel Hymnal edited by the Fifth Duke of Norfolk and published in 1905.

Pearsall was the son of an army officer and amateur musician, and we can presume Pearsall got his musical talent from him. Though he was trained as a barrister, and worked in Bristol as such, in 1825 he took his family to live abroad: There he divorced his wife and devoted more time developing his interests as a composer. As an amateur like his father, many of his compositions were not published until after his death, and even now, many remain in manuscript.

(1) John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Music for Sunday, July 23, 2017 + The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Finlandia – Jean Sibelius, Margie VanBrackle, Soprano

Instrumental Music

• All Glory Be to God on High– Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
• Let Us Break Bread Together – Richard Proulx (1937-2010)
• Psalm XIX: The Heavens Declare the Glory of God – Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739)

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

• Hymn 290 - Come, ye thankful people, come (ST. GEORGE’S, WINDSOR)
• Hymn 686 - Come, thou fount of every blessing (NETTLETON)
• Hymn 424 - For the fruit of all creation (EAST ACKLAM)
• Hymn  - We are climbing Jacob’s ladder (JACOB’S LADDER)
• Hymn 344 - Lord dismiss us with thy blessing (SICILIAN MARINERS)
• Psalm 139:1-11, 22-23 Domine, probasti – Tone VIII.a

Thanksgiving in July? - Why are we singing "Come, ye thankful people, come?"

The Gospel this Sunday contains the parable of the weeds, where one person sows good seed, but another comes in the night and sows bad seed. (Who would do this? Is this the fore-runner of the modern internet virus?).  It's also known as the tares among the wheat. And here is where the opening hymn becomes relevant. Hear (or read, or SING) stanza two:

All the world is God's own field,
fruit as praise to God we yield;
wheat and tares together sown
are to joy or sorrow grown;
first the blade and then the ear,
then the full corn shall appear;
Lord of harvest, grant that we
wholesome grain and pure may be. 

So there you have it!

I am back from my two week pilgimage to England and Wales, studying and listening to the Cathedral Choir music of the Anglican Church, and being edified in the faith by prayers and preaching. I will not bore you with it here, but if you would like particulars, ask me! I'll try to make it brief!

Music for April 30, 2017 + The Third Sunday of Easter

Vocal Music

• As We Gather at Your Table – Skinner Chávez-Melo (1944-1992)

Instrumental Music

• Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 649 - J. S. Bach (1685-1750) 
• Fantasia No. 2- Georg Philipp Telemann (1681 – 1767) 
• Engleberg – Charles Callahan (b. 1951)

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

• Hymn 180 - He is risen, he is risen! (UNSER HERRSCHER)
• Hymn 492 - Sing, ye faithful, sing with gladness (FINNIAN)
• Hymn 495 - Hail, thou once despised Jesus (IN BABILONE)
• Hymn R115 - God’s holy ways are true and just (LASST UNS ERFREUEN)
• Hymn 204 - Now the green blade riseth (NOEL NOUVELET)
• Hymn - I come to the garden alone (IN THE GARDEN)
• Hymn 296 - We know that Christ is raised (ENGLEBERG)
• Psalm 116:1-3, 10-17 Dilexi, quoniam – Mode 2

For the third Sunday of the Easter season the choir is relaxing things a bit and singing a modern hymn for the offertory. The text by Carl Daw is set to a tune by the late Skinner Chávez-Melo, an organist, conductor and composer who was born in Mexico City, but completed his musical studies in the United States, receiving degrees at Eastern Nazarene College and the Union Theological Seminary, and pursuing further studies at the Juilliard School and the Manhattan School. He was music director at the St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church in Manhattan at the time of his death when he was just 47 years old.

Chávez-Melo, was a contributor to the Spanish language hymnal for the Episcopal Church, El Himnario, wrote this tune in 1989 to honor Raquel Gutierrez Achon, the editor of that hymnal. Originally written for the text Sing of Mary, pure and lowly (hymn 277 in The Hymnal 1982), it was paired with this text for supplement to our hymnal, Wonder, Love, and Praise because the committee...

...wanted a less objective tune that would speak to the way the text draws the singer inward to reflect on the meaning of Eucharist for personal commitment and service. (John L. Hooker, Wonder, Love, and Praise Leader's Guide, 1997)

For the opening voluntary I've chosen a chorale prelude from the Schübler Chorales, a collection of six chorale preludes for organ by J. S. Bach, At least five of the six are transcribed for organ from movements in Bach's cantatas. This one, Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ ("O Stay With Us, Lord Jesus Christ), is a transcription of the third movement of cantata no. 6, Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden ("Stay with us, for evening falls").  It was originally a solo for soprano paired with an obligato violin solo

I chose it because of the connection to the day's Gospel reading. Two early Christians are walking to Emmaus, when they meet a stranger who has not heard of the Crucifixion of Christ. They discuss the events, and their companion explains how this is to fulfill the scriptures.

²⁸As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. ²⁹But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. ³¹Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight (Luke 24)

Christ and the Disciples at Emmaus,  Pascal-Adolphe-Jean Dagnan-Bouveret (French), 1852-1929

You can see how this passage also influenced my choice of today's anthem, too.

As we gather at your table,
as we listen to your word,
help us know, O God, your presence;
let our hearts and minds be stirred.
Nourish us with sacred story
till we claim it as our own;
teach us through this holy banquet
how to make Love's victory known.

The Communion Voluntary today is the unaccompanied Fantasia No. 2 for flute by the German Baroque composer Georg Philipp Telemann. It is played by Kingwood Park High School Senior Andrea Velasquez who gave her Senior Flute recital here at Good Shepherd yesterday. She will be majoring in music this fall at Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY.

Music for July 31, 2016 + The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• O Saviour, Hear Me– Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787), arr. Dudley Buck; Jennifer Wright, Mezzo-soprano

Instrumental Music

• Sonata in A for Oboe: II. Andante – Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
• Versets for the Kyrie (Messa della Domenica) – Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643)
• Trumpet Tune in D – Georg Philipp Telemann

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 408 - Sing praise to God who reigns above (Mit Freuden zart)
• Hymn 510 - Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove (St. Agnes)
• Hymn 533 - How wondrous and great thy works, God of praise! (Lyons)
• Hymn 325 - Let us break bread together on our knees (Let Us Break Bread)
• Hymn 594 - God of grace and God of glory (Cwm Rhondda)
• Psalm 49:1-2, 4-10 - Audite haec, omnes – tone II

Gluck

Christoph Willibald Gluck was a composer that bridged the Baroque period (Bach and Handel) and the Classical Period (Haydn and Mozart). It was during this time that Italian opera really began to dominate the opera world, and Gluck became one of the major players in that scene. He wrote over 40 operas, and of these, Orfeo ed Euridice is the best known. It is a treatment of the story of the legendary musician Orpheus and his journey to the Underworld to bring back his beloved Eurydice—an ancient illustration of the power of music.

By far the best known excerpts from any of Gluck's operas is the ‘Dance of the Blessed Spirits’ from the French version of Orfeo. This tune (for it was not an aria) constantly appears among lists of the favorite melodies from classical music. (It was the last selection played each night when WKNO-FM, the classical music station in Memphis, went off the air at midnight - back when stations went OFF the air at night!)

Dudley Buck

In 1880, Dudley Buck, the most influential American organist and church musician of that time, wrote sacred lyrics and arranged this piece for alto solo. It has since become a staple of sacred classical solo repertoire. The calm, graceful melody which was originally played on the flute is perfect for the pleading, penitential text that Buck wrote. It's always been a favorite of mine, and this Sunday we are fortunate to have Jennifer Wright, our alto section leader, sing it for us. She last sang in June for the Dvorak Mass in D when we sang it in the Eucharist.

Music for June 14, 2015 + The Third Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Be Still, My Soul – Jean Sibelius (1865 - 1957), arr. Sally DeFord (b. 1959)

Instrumental Music

• Come, Holy Ghost, Lord God – Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
• Prayer/Prelude in E-flat Major – Michael Larkin (b. 1951)
• Prelude on “Hyfrydol” – Healey Willan (1880 -1968)

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

• Hymn 252  - The Church’s on foundation (AURELIA)
• Hymn 533 -  How wondrous and great (LYONS)
• Hymn 178 -  Alleluia, alleluia! Give thanks to the risen Lord (ALLELUIA NO. 1)
• Hymn R 206 - Holy, holy (HOLY HOLY)
• Hymn 657 -  Love divine, all loves excelling (HYFRYDOL)

Jean Sibelius, looking rather serious
(as usual)

Jean Sibelius (1865 - 1957) was a Finnish violinist and composer from the first half of the 20th century who became the musical emblem of Finland. Meant by his family to become a lawyer, he switched to music in his twenties, mainly to become a violin virtuoso, but found himself increasingly drawn to composition. His music contributed to the development of a feeling of national identity in Finland where he is now celebrated as the country's greatest composer.

In 1899 Sibelius wrote a musical score for six historical tableaux in a pageant that celebrated and supported the Finnish press against Russian oppression. In 1900 Sibelius revised the music from the final tableau into FINLANDIA, a tone poem for orchestra. The chorale-like theme that emerges out of the turbulent beginning of this tone poem became the hymn tune FINLANDIA.

FINLANDIA was first used as a hymn tune in the Scottish Church Hymnary (1927) and the Presbyterian Hymnal (1933). This tune was  set to the hymn text of Katharina Von Schlegel, "Stille, mein Wille, dein Jesus hilft siegen" (Be Still, My Soul, The Lord Is On Thy Side) which we hear today in a solo setting by Sally DeFord, an American composer from Eugene, Oregon. It will be sung by Bidkar Cajina.

2015 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Sibelius.

The opening voluntary is two chorale preludes for manuals only (no pedals) by the German Baroque composer Georg Philipp Telemann. A contemporary and friend of both G. F. Handel and J. S. Bach (he was god-father to one of Bach's sons), he was one of the most prolific composers in history. Like Sibelius, he entered the University of Leipzig to study law at his mother's insistence, but eventually settled on a career in music. He held important positions in Leipzig, Sorau, Eisenach, and Frankfurt before settling in Hamburg in 1721, where he became musical director of the city's five main churches.

We open the service singing one of my most favorite hymns, The church's one foundation. In the mid-nineteenth century, Bishop John William Colenso of Natal raised a ruckus in the Catholic Church when he challenged the historicity and authority of many of the Old Testament books. Bishop Gray of Capetown wrote a stirring response of defense, which, in 1866, inspired Samuel Stone, to write this beloved hymn, basing his text on Article 9 of the Apostle’s Creed: “The Holy Catholic (Universal) Church; the Communion of Saints; He is the Head of this Body.” Now an affirmation of Christ as the foundation of our faith, we sing this hymn with those who have gone before us and with Christians around the world, declaring that beyond any theological differences, cultural divides, and variances in practice, we are all part of the same body, the body of Christ. 

The tune that most often accompanies this text is AURELIA, composed in 1864 by Samuel S. Wesley and first published as a setting for “Jerusalem the Golden.” It was paired with Stone’s text shortly after, to the chagrin of some: Dr. Henry Gauntlett was apparently very annoyed by this match-up, as he thought Wesley’s tune was “inartistic, secular twaddle.” Dr. Gauntlett was not to have the last word however, and the tune has stuck.