Music for March 29, 2015 + Palm Sunday

Vocal Music

• Hosanna – David W. Music
• Go to Dark Gethsemane - T. Tertius Noble (1867-1953)
• Were You There? – spiritual (Richard Murray, baritone, Bernice Satterwhite, piano)
• Gethsemane – Sally DeFord (b. 1959) (Bidkar Cajina, baritone)

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 458 – My song is love unknown (LOVE UNKNOWN)
• Hymn R 227 – Jesus, remember me (Jacques Berthier)
• Hymn 168 – O sacred head, sore wounded (HERZLICH TUT MICH VERLANGEN [PASSION CHORALE])

The anthem this Sunday is a beautiful acapella setting of the Holy Week hymn, Go to Dark Gethsemane by the composer T. Tertius Noble. It was written in 1918 for the

T. Tertius Noble
prior to coming to America

choir of the Church of St. Luke and the Epiphany in Philadelphia for a service of Lenten music. Included on the program was an anthem written especially for this service by Dr. Noble, who was then the organist/choirmaster of St. Thomas Episcopal Church, New York City. Noble was an English-born organist and composer who had studied at the Royal College of Music. He served as Organist and Choirmaster at Ely Cathedral and York Minster prior to his last appointment at St Thomas, where he was responsible for establishing a choral tradition along Anglican cathedral lines. Noble also founded the Saint Thomas Choir School for boys in 1919.

Noble composed orchestral and chamber music, but is now remembered for his music for the Anglican church, particularly his Evening services in a A major, B minor and A minor, and his anthems Go to dark Gethsemane, Souls of the Righteous, and Grieve not the Holy Spirit.

The children's choirs will join the adults for the Blessing of the Palms out in the front yard at the beginning of the 10:15 service to sing a musical setting of Hosanna in the Highest by David W. Music, Professor of Church Music and Graduate Program Director in the School of Music at Baylor University, where he has taught since 2002.

Hymns for Sunday

• All glory, laud, and honor (VALET WILL ICH DIR GEBEN) - This well known hymn was written by St. Theodulph of Orleans in 820 while he was imprisoned in Angers, France, for conspiring against the King, with whom he had fallen out of favor. The text acts as a retelling of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. The tune was composed by Melchior Teschner in 1613 for "Valet will ich dir geben," Valerius Herberger's hymn for the dying. Though the tune is often named ST. THEODULPH because of its association with his text, is known in our hymnal, and especially in organ literature, as VALET WILL ICH DIR GEBEN.  
• My song is love unknown (LOVE UNKNOWN) - Though not as well known as today's opening hymn, it is a perfect hymn for Palm Sunday, for it tells the entire story of Holy Week, from Triumphal entry to the crucifixion. Samuel Crossman wrote the hymn in 1664, when only Psalms were allowed to be sung in public worship. It is a very personal expression of Christ's Love and our response. John Ireland composed LOVE UNKNOWN in 1918 for this text,  the tune was first published in The Public School Hymn Book of 1919. Ireland wrote LOVE UNKNOWN within fifteen minutes on a scrap of paper upon receiving the request to compose it from Geoffrey Shawfor the 1919 hymnal, The Public School Hymn Book. 
• Jesus, remember me (Jacques Berthier) Another of the short, repetitive chants from the the Taizé community, an ecumenical community in France, the text references Luke 23:42, where one of the robbers crucified with the Savior cried out, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Jesus responded, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise" (v. 43). This humble plea of a sinner for divine mercy is all the more poignant today as our Savior in heaven continues to pray for his people.
• O sacred head, sore wounded (HERZLICH TUT MICH VERLANGEN [PASSION CHORALE]) The original Latin poem addressed seven Aspects of the Crucifixion: feet, knees, hands, side, breast, heart, and face. Known as "crucifix hymns" they were designed for long, intense devotions while kneeling at the altar. Part seven, salve caput, was put into German by the famous hymn writed Paul Gerhardt, then translated into English by Robert Bridges for "O sacred head, sore wounded." The tune HERZLICH TUT MICH VERLANGEN has been associated with Gerhardt's text since they were first published together in 1656. The tune's first association with a sacred text was its attachment in 1613 to the funeral text "Herzlich tut mich verlangen" (hence the tune name). It was originally a court song by the great Renaissance composer Hans Leo Hassler in 1601.

Music for March 22, 2015 + The Fifth Sunday in Lent

Vocal Music

• City Called Heaven - Josephine Poelinitz (1942?)
• Pange Linqua Glorioso – plainsong, mode 3

Instrumental Music

• Wondrous Love – Gordon Young (1919-1998)
• Largo from Trio Sonata in C Minor BWV 526 – J. S. Bach (1685-1750)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982)

• Hymn 495 - Hail, thou once despised Jesus (IN BABILONE)
• Hymn 439 - What wondrous love is this (WONDROUS LOVE)
• Hymn 479 - Glory be to Jesus, who in bitter pain (WEM IN LEIDENSTAGEN)
• Hymn 473 - Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim (CRUCIFER)

Josephine Poelinitz is an Elementary Music Specialist in the Chicago Public Schools. Her arrangement of City Called Heaven, a “sorrow song” performed in the style of “surge-singing,” has become a favorite of choirs of all ages. In it, Poelinitz salutes the American gospel heritage evident in the vocal spacing and piano accompaniment. While our soloist (the lovely and talented Simone McQuitty from Lone Star Kingwood) laments about life’s troubles, the choir and piano accompany with short, sighing pulses. These aspects in the context of the F minor sonority create a weary hopelessness overcome only by the hope to “make heaven my home.”

The organ prelude is on the Southern Hymn "What Wondrous Love Is This" that has been the focus of the Lenten Wednesday Night Study. Michigan composer Gordon Young used the hymn as inspiration, but did not make a literal arrangement of the tune. Fragments of the tune and/or harmonies from the chorale are use to create an 'impression' of the hymn.

The communion voluntary is a movement from one of the six trio sonatas Bach wrote for the organ during his first few years in Leipzig, where he lived from 1723 until his death in 1750. Written for the organ or pedal clavichord (a practice instrument for organists), these sonatas require the right and left hands to play independently melodic lines on separate keyboards, while the feet play the basso continuo. According to Paul Jacobs, organ professor at Julliard, “The organ sonatas are disarmingly attractive and immediately appealing to the listener, though they pose ferocious interpretive and technical demands for the player.” A significant challenge of performing these works is one of sheer coordination: playing three lines of music on two keyboards and pedal with all four limbs. “There isn't much for the performer to cling on to,” Jacobs said. “It’s a little like walking on eggshells.”  By contrast, in other weightier organ and keyboard works, Bach sometimes employs thicker four- or five-part counterpoint, offering a more idiomatically conceived keyboard texture. In other words, there is nothing for the organist to hide behind!

(I am delighted to be playing this on the day after J.S.Bach's 330th birthday, though, according to Wikipedia, Bach's birth date of March 21 is in the Old Style, which is March 31 in the New Style. This discrepancy corresponds to the difference between the Julian calendar [which was in use in Bach's time] and the newer Gregorian calendar. So I can celebrate for TEN WHOLE DAYS!)

Hymns for Sunday

• Hail, thou once despised Jesus (IN BABILONE) The author, John Bakewell, lived to be 98,  and was an English Methodist minister in whose home Thomas Olivers wrote "The God of Abraham praise." To the original two stanzas, others were added by Martin Madan, who became chaplain to the Lock Hospital (an institution for the "restoration of unhappy females.") It can best be described as rhymed theology.
• What wondrous love is this (WONDROUS LOVE) - The melody for this hymn shows signs of Celtic influences, and the unusual meter of the text is that of an old sea chantey about Captain Kidd! The tune first appeared in the valleys of the Southern Appalachians, where William Walker wrote it down and included it in his historic hymnbook Southern Harmony. Each stanza has a single thought which is  underscored by repetition, but it is the haunting melody which has made this hymn so popular. 
• Glory be to Jesus, who in bitter pain (WEM IN LEIDENSTAGEN) This devotional hymn on the crucified Christ is thought to be eighteenth-century Italian in origin. It appears in the Hymnal in a much altered form, matched with a very accessible German tune from the 19th century. The tune's name comes from the funeral text that was first associated with the tune in 1874. ("O let him whose sorrow no relief can find")
• Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim (CRUCIFER) Here is another hymn which owes its popularity to its tune (with its stirring refrain) than to any great merit of the text-- which is a revision of original lines by George Kitchin, an Anglican who published works in the history, biography, and archaeology. It is related to "Onward Christian Soldiers" and "For all the saints" in its symbolism of marching in the ranks of the soldiers of the crucified. It is the crucified Christ and his cross which we follow, and his love e proclaim to the world.

Music for March 15, 2015 + The Fourth Sunday of Lent

Vocal Music

• God So Loved the World – John Stainer (1840-1901)
• O God, Have Mercy – Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

Instrumental Music

• Récit du chant Pange Linqua Gloriosum - Nicolas de Grigny (1672-1703)

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

• Hymn 686 - Come, thou fount of every blessing (NETTLETON) 
• Hymn R 132 - As Moses Raised the Serpent Up (THE GIFT OF LOVE)
• Hymn 671 - Amazing Grace! how sweet the sound (NEW BRITAIN)
• Hymn 690 - Guide me, O thou great Jehovah (CWM RHONDDA)

The Gospel reading this week is one of the most familiar pieces of scripture in the world. It sums up the Gospel message  - "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whoso believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." I felt called to once again use the familiar anthem by John Stainer, from his famous oratorio, The Crucifixion, as the choir's communion motet today. Stainer had been the organist-choir master at St. Paul's, London in the late 1800s and wrote a large amount of organ and choral music, as well as a popular treatise on organ playing.

Portrait of Mendelssohn
by the English miniaturist
James Warren Childe, 1839

Richard Murray is also singing a fitting solo for the season of Lent, from the oratorio St. Paul by Felix Mendelssohn. During his lifetime, St. Paul was a popular and frequently performed work. However, compared with such oratorios as Handel's Messiah, Bach's Christmas Oratorio and St Matthew Passion or even Mendelssohn's own Elijah, it has failed to maintain its place in the choral repertory and is now infrequently performed in its entirety. I think that is a shame, as it is full of beautiful, dramatic music, and tells the story of Paul, beginning with the stoning of Stephen, the conversion of  Saul (Paul), and ending with the apostle’s subsequent career. This aria comes after Saul is left blinded by the light on the road to Emmaus, and he breathes out this prayer ("O God, have Mercy upon me").

The opening voluntary is a 17th century French organ work by Nicolas de Grigny. He died young and left behind a single collection of organ music, which together with the work of François Couperin, represents the pinnacle of French Baroque organ tradition. J.S. Bach so admired it that he transcribed (by hand!) the entire volume for his own use. As with most of de Grigny's music, this prelude is based on a familiar chant (No. 166 in our hymnal, Sing, My Soul, the Glorious Battle). His treatment of the melody, however, is so ornate and complex, that it would be hard to recognize it, regardless of how well known it might be!

As this is the fourth Sunday of Lent, otherwise known as Refreshment Sunday in England. On this day, the Lenten fast is allowed to be relaxed, so I am taking a break from the more somber Lenten chants and have chosen some well known hymns which still fit the readings of today quite well.

• Come, thou fount of every blessing (NETTLETON) In 1752, a young Robert Robinson attended an evangelical meeting to heckle the believers and make fun of the proceedings. Instead, he listened in awe to the words of the great preacher George Whitefield, and in 1755, at the age of twenty, Robinson responded to the call he felt three years earlier and became a Christian. Another three years later, when preparing a sermon for his church in Norfolk, England, he penned the words that have become one of the church’s most-loved hymns: “Come, thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace.”
• As Moses Raised the Serpent Up (THE GIFT OF LOVE) This is a poetic setting of John 3:14-17, part of Jesus' nighttime discourse with Nicodemus and includes that famous profession of faith "God so loved the world. . . ," one of the best-known and most frequently memorized verses in the entire Bible. Marie J. Post prepared the versification in 1985 for use with the tune O WALY WALY for the Christ­ian Re­formed Church’s Psal­ter Hymnal. She said this versification was one of her easiest assignments: “The lines simply fell into the music!” O WALY WALY is a traditional English melody which Hal H. Hopson adapted and arranged as an anthem in 1971 for his setting of 1 Corinthians 13, "Gift of Love"; his version became known as GIFT OF LOVE. 
• Amazing Grace! how sweet the sound (NEW BRITAIN) When John Newton was just eleven, he joined his father and began a tumultuous life at sea, eventually becoming captain of a slave ship. In a period of four years, however, his life was drastically turned around: he nearly drowned, he married a very pious Mary Catlett, and he read through Thomas à Kempis’ Imitation of Christ. In 1754 he gave up the slave trade and joined forces with the great abolitionist, William Wilberforce. A number of years later, he was ordained for ministry, and soon after wrote this great text, declaring that we are saved only the grace of God. Newton wrote, “I can see no reason why the Lord singled me out for mercy…unless it was to show, by one astonishing instance, that with him 'nothing is impossible'”
• Guide me, O thou great Jehovah (CWM RHONDDA) The great circuit-riding preacher/poet William Williams wrote the original Welsh text "Arglwydd, arwain trwy'r anialwch"–"Lord, Lead Me Through the Wilderness." It was published in 1745 with the title, "A prayer for strength to go through the wilderness of the world." Translated into some seventy-five languages, Williams's text has become universally popular in Christendom. The English translation by Peter Williams ("Guide me, O thou great Jehovah,") was published in 1771.   

The popularity of Williams's text is undoubtedly aided by its association with CWM RHONDDA, composed in 1905 by John Hughes during a church service for a Welsh Baptist song festival.  Hughes had little formal education, but he composed two anthems, a number of Sunday school marches, and a few hymn tunes, of which CWM RHONDDA is universally known.

Music for March 8, 2015 + The Third Sunday of Lent

Vocal Music

• Wilt Thou Forgive That Sin - John Hilton (ca. 1599 – 1657), arr. Peter Crisafulli
• Let Thy Blood in Mercy Poured - Johann Cruger

Instrumental Music

• These are the Holy Ten Commandments, BWV 679 – J. S. Bach
• Balm in Gilead - Timothy Shaw

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

• Hymn 143 The glory of these forty days (ERHALT UNS, HERR) omit stanza 5
• Hymn R 75 Praise the Lord! O heavens adore him (AUSTRIA)
• Hymn 676 There is a balm in Gilead (BALM IN GILEAD)
• Hymn 149 Eternal Lord of love, behold your church (OLD 124TH)

The choir is singing two unfamiliar hymns from the Hymnal 1982 this Sunday as part of their weekly offering. The anthem to be sung at the offertory is a contemporary arrangement of a 17th century hymn by the poet and priest, John Donne (1573-1631). He was dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, when he wrote the poem "Hymn to God the Father", which is the text of today's anthem. I am including it here, for I think the listener would do well to read and meditate on this text before and after hearing it sung in church.

from Hymns of the Christian Centuries, (1903) page 95

Izaak Walton says, in his Life of Donne (1670),

I have the rather mentioned this hymn for that he [Donne] caused it to be set to a most grave and solemn tune, and to be often sung to the organ by the Choristers of St. Paul's [Cathedral] Church in his own hearing, especially at the evening service, and at his return from his customary devotions in that place, did occasionally say to a friend, 'the words of this hymn have restored to me the same thoughts of joy that possessed my soul in my sickness, when I composed it. And, O the power of Church-music! that harmony added to this hymn has raised the affections of my heart, and quickened my grace of zeal and gratitude; and 1 observe that I always return from paying this public duty of prayer and praise with an unexpressible tranquillity of mind, and a willingness to leave the world.'

John Donne

The special sickness during which this hymn was composed fell upon the author during the earlier part of his life. It was sung at St. Paul's Cathedral, at intervals from 1621 to 1631, when Donne died.
Gregory Benoit notes that Donne puns on his own name in this poem, ending the first two stanzas by saying to God, “When you have done forgiving this sin, you still don’t have Donne — for I have more sins to address.” Each stanza addresses a specific class of sin, rather than specific actions which he has committed.

The music is by English composer and organist, John Hilton. He received the B. Mus. from Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1626, and became organist of St Margaret's, Westminster in 1628. It is highly possible that this is the tune that Donne commissioned for his text which was sung at St. Paul's

The opening voluntary is a hands-only organ piece (called manualiter) by J. S. Bach from the Clavier-Übung III, which has been referred to as the German Organ Mass.  It is a collection of compositions for organ which Bach published in 1739. It is considered his most significant and extensive work for organ, containing some of his musically most complex and technically most demanding compositions for that instrument. The purpose of the collection was fourfold:

1. an idealized organ program, taking as its starting point the organ recitals given by Bach himself in Leipzig.
2. a practical translation of Lutheran doctrine into musical terms for devotional use in the church or the home; 
3. a compendium of organ music in all possible styles and idioms, both ancient and modern, and properly internationalized.
4. a didactic work presenting examples of all possible forms of contrapuntal composition, going far beyond previous treatises on musical theory.

Albert Schweitzer compared it to the Greater and Lesser Catechism of Martin Luther:

Luther, however, had written a greater and a smaller catechism. In the former he demonstrates the essence of the faith; in the latter he addresses himself to the children. Bach, the musical father of the Lutheran church, feels it encumbent on him to do likewise; he gives us a larger and smaller arrangement of each chorale ... The larger chorales are dominated by a sublime musical symbolism, aiming simply at illustrating the central idea of the dogma contained in the words; the smaller ones are of bewitching simplicity.  - Albert Schweitze, "J. S. Bach, Le Musicien-Poète", (Leipzig 1905).

This setting of the German chorale based on the Ten Commandments is the second, smaller setting of which Schweitzer speaks. It is a fughetta on a paraphrase of the first line of the chorale, in the rhythm of a gigue, and with bouncing leaps and an almost playful mood of high spirits! Not quite what we think of as LENTEN music!

Hymns -

• The glory of these forty days (ERHALT UNS, HERR) The Latin hymn Clarum decus jejunii may have been written by Pope Gregory I, and was translated from the Latin by Maurice F. Bell for The English Hymnal, 1906. It is a Lenten hymn that reminds us of the necessity for fasting and prayer as exemplified by Moses, Elijah, Daniel, and John the Baptist. We will omit stanza 5 during the processional as we are singing that stanza as the presentation hymn after the offertory.
• Praise the Lord! O heavens adore him (AUSTRIA) This hymn, based on Psalm 148, is by an anonymous author, and has been around since around 1801. A post-exilic hymn, Psalm 148 maintains that God's glory displayed in creation and redemption is so great that the praise on Israel's lips needs to be supplemented by a chorus from all creation. This echos the sentiment found in today's Psalm, Psalm 19 (The heavens declare the glory of God.)
• There is a balm in Gilead (BALM IN GILEAD) In the Old Testament, Gilead was the name of the mountainous region east of the Jordan River. This region was known for having skillful physicians and an ointment made from the gum of a tree particular to that area. Many believed that this balm had miraculous powers to heal the body. In the New Testament, God answers the suffering of His people by sending His own son to take our place. Jesus becomes our “balm in Gilead.” It is Him we are called to turn to in our times of trial for healing and comfort. We sing this song with that assurance: no matter our hardships or supposed shortcomings, Jesus loves us enough to take our suffering upon Himself.
• Eternal Lord of love, behold your church (OLD 124TH) A relatively new hymn, found only in about four hymnals, it is another hymn for the Lenten season, this time comparing our Lenten pilgrimage with the pilgrimage of the Israelites in escaping Pharoah (Cloud by day, fire by night).  

Music for March 1, 2015 + The Second Sunday of Lent

Vocal Music

• Lord, for thy Tender Mercy's Sake – Richard Farrant (c.1530-1580) or John Hilton (1565-1708?)

Instrumental Music

• Prelude on “Leoni” - Gerald Near (b. 1942)
• A Lenten Meditation – Robert Powell (b. 1932)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception “NORRIS” which is from Lift Every Voice and Sing.)

• Hymn 401 - The God of Abraham Praise (LEONI)
• Hymn 147 - Now let us all with one accord (BOURBON)
• Hymn - I can hear my Savior calling (NORRIS)
• Hymn 675 - Take up your cross, the Savior said (BOURBON)

The Choir is singing an anthem from one of my favorite eras and style of choral music: The 16th century Tudor anthem. The word “Tudor” is loosely used to denote the 100 years from the early 1500s to the 1600s, a period which some call the Golden Age of English church music. This genre includes simple four-part homophonic anthems to the more elaborate polyphony of six-, seven- or eight-part motets. Lord, For Thy Tender Mercy's Sake is one of two short anthems by either Richard Farrant or John Hilton, both English composers of sacred music. Farrant was organist at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, in the middle of the sixteenth century, while Hilton was known as a counter-tenor and organist, most notably at Trinity College, Cambridge. In the beginning, the music is in a simple, a capella, hymn-like style which befits the reflective and restful mood of the text, but at the words "that we may walk in a perfect heart" the choir has a chance to play around with the rhythms of the words and sing much more independently of each other, finally ending with a contrapuntal "amen."   The words are from Christian Prayers and Holy Meditations, by Henry Bull (1566).

Robert Powell at the console of the
organ at Christ Church, Greenville, SC

The Communion voluntary is a handbell piece by Robert Powell, retired music director of Christ Episcopal Church in Greenville, South Carolina. Born in Benoit, Mississippi, Powell attended Louisiana State University. After graduating from LSU, with a degree in organ and composition, he was drafted into the Army and sent to Tokyo, where he conducted a choir of American soldiers and Japanese women; their first big program was Handel's Messiah. After his military service, he attended Union Theological Seminary in New York City. While there, he  was assistant organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York, where Alec Wyton, his mentor, was organist and choirmaster. His first published work was in 1959, and since that time, he has published over 400 works for choir, organ, handbells, and other instruments, as well as his Service of Holy Communion, which is in our hymnal.

This Week's Hymns

• The God of Abraham Praise (LEONI) Forshadowing the reading from the Old Testament, we open our service with this hymn, which, according to Cyberhymnal.com, is based on The Yigdal of Daniel ben Judah, a Jewish judge in Rome, circa 1400, paraphrased by Thomas Olivers, circa 1765; first appeared in The Gospel Magazine, April 1775. The lyrics are based on the 13 creeds of Moses Maimonides (circa 1130-1204).  Indeed, Cyberhymnal prints twelve verses, which have been shortened to five in our hymnal.  
• Now let us all with one accord (BOURBON) We have a few Early American hymn tunes in our hymnal.  This tune, BOURBON, appeared in Columbian Harmony (1825) and was therein attributed to Freeman Lewis (1780-1859).  The melody is actually in a pentatonic key, which means its scale has five notes.  It also means you could play it on the piano on all black keys.  The tune name comes from Bourbon Country, Kentucky, not from the drink!
• I can hear my Savior calling (NORRIS) - This old gospel hymn is from Lift Every Voice and Sing II (LEVAS), a hymnal published for African-American congregations in the Episcopal Church. The text was written in 1890 by E.W.Blandy, with music composed for it by John S. Norris. LEVAS leaves out the fermatas (the held-out notes) on the last line, ("with him        , with him       ...), so I am going to follow good performance practice and include them as we sing this hymn. This hymn calls us to obey the call of Jesus, and "take up my cross."
• Take up your cross, the Savior said (BOURBON)  Charles W. Everest, an Episcopal priest , was but nineteen when he published Visions of Death, and Other Poems; from this work this popular hymn is taken. This hymn is perfect as a response to today's Gospel, as it describes the fully committed Christian life as denying self, facing all dangers, and following Christ to the uttermost. And, yes, this is the same tune as we sang earlier in the service!

Music for February 22, 2015 + The First Sunday in Lent

Vocal Music

• Lead Me, Lord – Samuel S. Wesley (1810-1876)

Instrumental Music

• Prélude au Kyrie – Jean Langlais (1907-1991)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 150 Forty days and forty nights (AUS DER TIEFE RUFE ICH)
• Hymn 693 Just as I am, without one plea (WOODWORTH)
• Hymn 142 Lord, who throughout these forty days (ST. FLAVIAN)
• Hymn 143, st. 5 O Father, Son, and Spirit blest (ERHALT UNS, HERR)
• Psalm 25:1-9 TONE II

Lead Me, Lord, is actually a part of a longer anthem by Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Praise the Lord, O My Soul, written in 1861. Wesley was the grandson of hymn-writer Charles Wesley, and the son of Samuel Wesley, another English musician, but it was Samuel Sebastian (named after Johann Sebastian Bach) that became the famous as one of his country's leading organists and choirmasters. He composed almost exclusively for the Church of England, writing some exquisite music, including the hymn-tune AURELIA (The Church's One Foundation). 

Jean Langlais. You can tell
he's French. Look at that beret!

At communion we hear the opening movement from a collection of organ music by French organist Jean Langlais, written as a homage to the 17th century Italian organist, Girolamo Frescobaldi. It features the melody of the Kyrie from the Gregorian Mass IV - Cunctipotens Genitor Deus  played on a flute stop in the pedal, but only after a lengthy, improvisatory section in the manuals that demonstrates Langlais's ideal of mysticism. The slow tempo and long sustained chromatic chords draw the listener into a state of contemplation through the suspension of time. 

Langlais, like a number of organists, was blind, but he easily managed the manifold aspects of the organ without his sight.  As usually happens with the blind, his other sense made up for what he lacked.  By the sheer sound of a student’s playing, he could tell what fingering he was using.  In one famous story, Langlais was giving a lesson and told the student to use the third finger on a particular note.  The student ignored him, figuring that he’d never know.  “You are so stupid," Langlais exclaimed after failing to get through to him.  “The third finger!  Use the third finger!”   

As is my custom during Lent, I omit playing a festive closing voluntary, opting instead to let the Lenten worshiper leave the church in contemplative silence.

• Forty days and forty nights (AUS DER TIEFE RUFE ICH) - George Smyttan based this hymn on the Gospel reading for today, Mark 1:12-13, dealing with Christ's temptation in the desert, but seemingly it is concerned chiefly with the physical setting rather than the inner spiritual struggles which are more clearly delineated in the other Gospels. It is a great hymn for the first Sunday in Lent (but not of Lent! Sundays don't count!)
• Just as I am, without one plea (WOODWORTH) - "Every head bowed, and every eye closed!" If you ever went to a revival meeting in the South (or even just a regular service in the Southern Baptist Church), you've sung this hymn while the minister pleaded for the wayward sinner to come to the altar and give their life to Christ. The hymn was written by Charlotte Elliott, an invalid daughter of a minister, in 1836, and has since be included in almost every hymnal in the English speaking world, and translated in almost every major lanquage.
• Lord, who throughout these forty days (ST. FLAVIAN) - As a result of her life-long interest in religious education, Claudia Hernaman wrote 150 hymns for children. This one attempts to explain the deeper meaning of the forty days of Lent - fasting, praying, tempatations, and penitence which point to the joys of Easter which follow the penitential season.
• O Father, Son, and Spirit blest (ERHALT UNS, HERR) - Our presentation hymn is the last stanza of the Lenten hymn The glory of these forty days. Since the last stanza is doxological in nature (praising God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit), it is a good choice for this spot in the service. The tune is the same tune that was used as the presentation hymn for the Sundays after Epiphany, though in its original rhythmic form. The Lenten version of the tune is a harmonization by J. S. Bach.

Music For February 15, 2015 + The Last Sunday after the Epiphany

Vocal Music

• A Little Jazz Mass – Bob Chilcott (b. 1955)
• Be Thou My Vision – Bob Chilcott
• Swing Low, Sweet Chariot – arr. Harry T. Burleigh (Richard Murray, baritone)

Instrumental Music

• Lotus – Billy Strayhorn (1915-1967), arr. Alec Wyton (1921-2007)
• Come Sunday – Duke Ellington (1899-1974), arr. Craig Curry (21st c.)
• Processional – William Mathias (1934-1992)

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

• Hymn R201 - Be still, for the Spirit of the Lord (BE STILL)
• Hymn 7 - Christ, whose glory fills the skies (RATISBON)
• Hymn R247 - Lord, the light of your love is shining (SHINE, JESUS, SHINE)

"Every Man Prays In His Own Language" - Duke Ellington

It has been said that jazz is truly the most American of musical idioms. What originated in African American communities during the late 19th and early 20th centuries has spread throughout the world and over the years, evolving into a musical style that is as varied and hard to define as the Christian religion. This Sunday we will pray in the language of jazz, using a mass setting by an Englishman in the jazz idiom, and a couple of works by bona fide jazz musicians.

A Little Jazz Mass

First, let's talk about the jazz mass. The mass and the offertory anthem were written by Bob Chilcott, a British choral composer, conductor, and singer, based in Oxford, England. He started his music career as a boy, singing in the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, then continuing as a university student.  In 1985 he joined the King's Singers, singing tenor for 12 years. He has been a composer since 1997.

Chilcott has always loved jazz. At the beginning of his composing career, he worked as an arranger for the BBC Radio Orchestra and, while a member of the King's Singers, performed with artists such as George Shearing, Richard Rodney Bennett, John Dankworth, Art Farmer and the WDR Big Band. These experiences and influences have had a major impact on the music he composes.

Chilcott's jazz influences truly come to the fore in A Little Jazz Mass: The Kyrie has real groove, the Gloria echos a 1960s Star Trek soundtrack, the Sanctus and Benedictus utilize "improvised" lines in the soprano parts, and the Agnus Dei draws inspiration from the Blues. The voices are underpinned by a characterful piano accompaniment which gives the flavor of an authentic improvising jazz pianist. (Of which Jackson is not!)

This highly effective setting of the Latin Missa brevis is one of Chilcott's most celebrated and popular choral works to date, and has received countless performances (both on the concert platform and as part of the sung liturgy in church services) across the world, perhaps most notably at St Paul's Cathedral, London.

A Little Jazz Mass was written for the massed choirs of the 2004 Crescent City Choral Festival, and received its premiere in St Louis Cathedral, New Orleans in June of that year.

Lotus and Come Sunday

Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington was an originator of Big Band Jazz in the 1930s. Born in Washington, D.C., he began taking piano lessons at 7, and started his own band in his 20s. He hit the top during the Forties with songs such as "It Don't Mean a Thing if It Ain't Got That Swing," "Sophisticated Lady," "Prelude to a Kiss," "Solitude," and "Satin Doll."

Billy Strayhorn was a classically trained musician who joined the Duke Ellington organization in 1939. He'd written "Take the A Train" for Duke, who found it so thoroughly "Dukish" that he hired "Strays" on the spot. He was able to ease Ellington's burden as a composer and contribute many ideas, especially in harmony. The Strayhorn collaboration launched a productive recording period, regarded by many scholars to be the most significant and creative phase of Ellington's career. Strayhorn's training in long-form music became central to the orchestra. Together, the two composers teamed to write longer, more complex suites such as “Black, Brown and Beige,” an unprecedented 43-minute jazz work, which premiered at Carnegie Hall in 1943.

When Strayhorn  died of esophageal cancer in 1967, a devastated Ellington went into the studio to record a memorial album, And His  Mother Called Him Bill. When the session was over, Ellington went back to the piano. As he sat there alone, he began to play "Lotus Blossom," a tune that Strayhorn wrote in the 1940s. The recording equipment was still on as he played. Two of his band members quietly unpacked their instruments and sat in with Ellington on the second chorus. This became the last track on the album.

The inspiration for the song may have come from a place important to Strayhorn long before he wrote the song. Perhaps as an escape from his alcoholic father, Strayhorn spent a great deal of time in his grandmother's garden, which may have inspired "Lotus Blossom. Fittingly, when Ellington died in 1974, Alec Wyton reworked the song for the organ and he played it at Ellington's funeral at St. John the Divine in New York. It is that version that will open our service.

In the last decade of his life, Duke Ellington turned his attention to sacred music. In October 1962, the Reverend John S. Yaryan approached Ellington about performing at the new Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. The cathedral was due to open in three to four years and all sorts of cultural events were to occur there in its first year. Ellington got to work, writing the music for the first concert, which premiered on September 16, 1965. One of those numbers was the song, "Come Sunday," which Jackson will play during communion.

The hymns for this Sunday reflect the readings for the last Sunday after the Epiphany.

Be still, for the Spirit of the Lord (BE STILL) This contemporary hymn, by the English composer/piano teacher David J. Evans, has made its way into nine hymnals since its publication in 1986. I chose it for this Sunday because its second stanza describes what the Apostles must have felt at the Transfiguration. (Mark 9:2-10)

Christ, whose glory fills the skies (RATISBON) Another hymn about the glory of Christ, written by the great hymn writer Charles Wesley. This text was published in Hymns and Sacred Poems, compiled in 1740 by Wesley and his brother John. James Montgomery called it "one of Charles Wesley's loveliest progeny.”

Lord, the light of your love is shining (SHINE, JESUS, SHINE) A year after our opening hymn was first published, English hymn writer Graham Kendrick published this hymn which is now in over 17 hymnals. I like to use it in conjunction with the Mark 9 Transfiguration reading for it's imagery of light and glory. 

As we gaze on your kingly brightness,
So our faces display your likeness,
ever changing from glory to glory.
Mirrored here, may our lives tell your story.