Music for May 28, 2017 + The Sunday after Ascension Day

Vocal Music

• Let Us With a Gladsome Mind – Alan Ridout (1934-1996)
• I will not leave you comfortless – Everett Titcomb (1884-1968)

Instrumental Music

• Prière du Christ montant vers son Père ("Prayer of Christ ascending towards his Father") - Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992)
• Like the Murmur of the Dove’s Song – James Biery (
• Toccata in G - Théodore Dubois (1837 –1924)

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

• Hymn 494 - Crown him with many crowns (DIADEMATA)
• Hymn R37 - Glorify Your Name (GLORIFY YOUR NAME)
• Hymn 495 - Hail, thou once despised Jesus (IN BABILONE)
• Hymn 214, omit st. 3 - Hail the day that sees him rise (LLANFAIR)
• Hymn 315 - Thou, who at thy first Eucharist didst pray (SONG 1)
• Hymn 460 - Alleluia! Sing to Jesus! (HYFRYDOL) 
• Psalm 68:1-10, 33-26 Exsurgat Deus – Tone VII

Everett Titcomb was an American composer of sacred choral and organ music who contributed a vast amount of works for the Episcopal Church in the first half of the twentieth-century.  A native of Massachusetts, he was largely self-taught, though he was influenced by many of the well-known composers stationed in the Boston area during the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: Eugene Thayer, Dudley Buck, George Chadwick, and Horatio Parker; yet at the same time he was keenly interested in plainchant and the polyphonic style of the 15th and 16th century Italians. For fifty years, Titcomb served the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Boston as their organist and choirmaster.

His motet for Pentecost, I Will Not Leave You Comfortless (1934) reflects his interest in Renaissance polyphony. It begins with a broad, unfolding line and emphasizes the Veni, creator chant (Come, Holy Spirit) which forms a cantus firmus in the bass voice in the Alleluia section. This motet is among his best work, and one which has remained a part of sacred and university choral repertoire into the 21st Century. It is significant for its selection to be in the official program of the 1936 English Church Music Festival in London where it was performed by 4000 voices with Titcomb in attendance. It was the first time an American composer had been featured in the festival. Subsequently, it was made famous in the United States by its inclusion in several coast-to-coast radio broadcasts of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. In many ways, it launched his career as an internationally recognized composer of sacred music. (1)

The opening voluntary is the last movement of a suite written for Ascension Day by the French composer Olivier Messiaen which he arranged from his orchestral suite L'ascension. This movement is titled "Prière du Christ montant vers son Père", ("Prayer of Christ ascending to his Father"), and is accompanied by this quotation from this week's Gospel, John 17:6, 11.

I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world... And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.

This piece represents the actual ascent of Christ, wafting slowly up into the heavens, into the light of the Father, with movement beginning in the bottom register of the organ and rising to the top.
Christ's ascension is extremely slow, solemn, and full of emotion. It is written for the tender sound of the string stops on the organ. As the piece begins, it is a little sad,  but comforting. It is the sadness of those left behind who have hope that they will again see their loved one.

From the middle of the piece onward, a marvelous transformation of emotion takes place - from the sadness of the beginning to an inner confirmation of profound faith - and, as we reach the end, which continues to crescendo, the light that radiates from heaven floods the observers of this miraculous ascension with hope and love. The end is ecstatic. When we reach that point (that is, when we can no longer hear any music), we are left with the feeling that Christ's journey through the firmament continues that he is so far away that we, still here on earth, are no longer able to observe his ascent. (2)

(1)  Online diary of William Harris (March 14, 2013) retrieved from http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/3/14/1194153/-Thursday-Classical-Music-Op-C109-Everett-Titcomb
(2) Gillock, Jon, Performing Messiaen's Organ Works: 66 Masterclasses. Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 2009, pp 47 

Music for May 21, 2017 + The Sixth Sunday of Easter

Rogation Sunday

Vocal Music

• If Ye Love Me – Thomas Tallis (c.1505-1585)
• Jesus Christ, the Apple Tree – Elizabeth Poston (1905-1987)

Instrumental Music

• Prelude on Dunedin – David Dahl (b. 1937)
• The Infinite Meadows of Heaven – Paul Mealor (b. 1975)
• Earth and All Stars – arr. Keith Kolander (b. 1955)

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

• Hymn 405 - All things bright and beautiful (ROYAL OAK)
• Hymn 492 - Sing, ye faithful, sing with gladness (FINNIAN)
• Hymn 455 - O love of God, how strong and true (DUNEDIN)
• Hymn 705 - As those of old their first fruits brought (FOREST GREEN)
• Hymn R250 - O Lord my God (O STOR GUD)
• Hymn R54 - I sing the almighty power of God (Ellacombe)
• Psalm 66:7–18 - Jubilate Deo – Mode 2

In addition to being the Sixth Sunday of the Easter Season, today is Rogation Sunday. Rogation Sunday is the day when the Church has traditionally offered prayer for God’s blessing on the fruits of the earth and the labors of those who produce our food. The word “rogation” is from the Latin rogare, “to ask.” Historically, the Rogation Days (the three days before Ascension Day) were a period of fasting and abstinence, beseeching God’s blessing on the crops for a bountiful harvest. Few of us today directly derive our livelihood from the production of food, yet it is good to be reminded of our dependence upon those who do and our responsibility for the environment.

Elizabeth Poston

In recognition of this day, I have chosen the beautiful setting by Elizabeth Poston of the text, Jesus Christ, the Apple Tree. One of my choir members asked what an apple tree had to do with Jesus. I found a great meditation by Joan Halmo in The Hymn, the journal of the Hymn Society of America that had some great food for thought.

Trees have always been revered in every culture, as they bring shade to the earth, refuge for living creatures, food for our bodies as well as materials for home and every day living. Not only are they functional, but they are beautiful as well. Trees are also a sign of hope in the annual season of rebirth and renewal. As Dr. Halmo says, "The tree is in truth a bearer of life and of healing for humanity and the earth. (1)

The poet, Richard Hutchins, was a Calvinist Baptist minister who served at Long Buckby, Northamptonshire, England.  For years this text was thought to be by Anonymous, but the poem was attributed to "R.H." in The Spiritual Magazine, 1761 and collected into the book Divine, Moral, and Historical Miscellanies, in Prose and Verse... (London, 1761). Since The Spiritual Magazine was a magazine for Calvinistic Baptists, "R.H." contributed additional poems to this magazine, one of which identifies him as being from Long Buckby and as a minister by the name of Richard Hutchins served the Calvinist Baptist congregation in Long Buckby from about 1759-1765, it is likely that "R.H." refers to Richard Hutchins.

Hutchins was probably not well schooled in theology, yet he displays a keen vision of Christ as the tree of life, "laden with fruit and always green."

Paul Mealor

The piano piece at communion is a new piece by the Welsh composer Paul Mealor. He may not (yet) be the biggest name in classical music, but he has composed music for one of the biggest ceremonial events of the past decade, the marriage of Prince William and Catherine (Kate) Middleton. Mealor's motet, a setting of Ubi Caritas et Amor, was commissioned by Prince William for his wedding at Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011, when it was sung by the Choirs of Westminster Abbey and Her Majesty's Chapel Royal during the signing of the registry.

Topping the Classical Charts for six weeks with his bestselling album, A Tender Light in November 2011, he also broke records by being the first classical composer to hold both the classical and pop chart No. 1’s at the same time in December 2011, securing the UK Christmas No. 1 with his piece for The Military Wives Choir and Gareth Malone, Wherever You Are. Wherever You Are entered the UK Pop Singles Chart at number 1 that same month, selling over 556,000 copies in one week, more than the rest of the Top 12 combined, and was nominated for Best British Single in the 2012 BRIT Awards. It has been named as the fastest selling single since Elton John’s Candle in the Wind. In April of 2012 Mealor was voted the nation’s favorite living composer during the UK Classic FM Hall of Fame.

The Infinite Meadows of Heaven is a quote from H. W. Longfellow.

Silently one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven, Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels. Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie

This slow and expressive piece is underpinned by oscillating thirds in its outer sections that accompany a melody using the upper end of the keyboard. A low pedal octave also accompanies the first section. The middle section is more agitated but all returns to a blissful calm.

The opening voluntary is an organ interpretation of the hymn tune which we will be singing before the Gospel this morning. DUNEDIN is a tune written in 1971 by Vernon Griffiths, an English organist and teacher  who moved to New Zealand in 1926 to accept a position at the Christchurch Teachers' Training College. This tune, DUNEDIN, is named after the town where his second position at as music master at King Edward Technical College. (2)

This setting is from the Bayoubuchlein, the collection of organ preludes on hymn-tunes from the last 50 years that was compiled for the 2016 American Guild of Organists National Convention here in Houston. This prelude was debuted at a service at Christ Church Cathedral, Houston. It is in three parts: In the first verse the melody is played on a stopped called a Krummhorn (similar to a clarinet) while the right hand accompanies with a single flute stop. In verse two we find a canon at the octave between the two hands, playing on separate manuals (keyboards). The final stanza has the melody in the pedal on a trumpet and trombone sound while the right hand punctuates the musical phrases with fanfare-like chords.

David Dahl

David P. Dahl is Professor of Music and University Organist Emeritus from Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, WA, retiring in 2000 after thirty-five years of teaching. In August, 2010, he retired as Director Emeritus of Music Ministries at Christ Episcopal Church, Tacoma, where served for forty years. During his career he has been an active recitalist, including performances for national conventions of the American Guild of Organists and the Organ Historical Society. He is a published composer of organ music and has been awarded the Distinguished Service Award from the Organ Historical Society, and the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Pacific Lutheran University. (3)

(1) Halmo, Joan, "Hymn Interpretation ['Jesus Christ the Apple Tree']", The Hymn, July 2002, Volume 53, Issue 3, Pages 52-54, print
(2) Rachael M. Hawkey. 'Griffiths, Thomas Vernon', from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/biographies/4g21/griffiths-thomas-vernon (accessed 19 May 2017)
(3) David Dahl biography (2016, June). Retrieved from http://agohouston2016.com/conference/composers/david-dahl

Music for May 14, 2017 + The Fifth Sunday of Easter

Vocal Music

• The Call – David Ashley White (b. 1944)

Instrumental Music

• Quiet Praise – Dan R. Edwards (b. 1951) (HANDBELLS)
• Prelude on Adoro Te Devote – Jacob B. Webber (b. 1988) (HANDBELLS)
• Now the Green Blade Riseth – Mark Sedio (b. 1954)

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

• Hymn 2 - Father, we praise thee, now the night is over (CHRISTE SANCTORUM)
• Hymn 492 - Sing, ye faithful, sing with gladness (FINNIAN)
• Hymn 379 - God is love, let heaven adore him (ABBOTT’S LEIGH)
• Hymn 188 - Love’s redeeming work is done (SAVANNAH)
• Hymn R217 - You satisfy the hungry heart (GIFT OF FINEST WHEAT)
• Hymn R220 - Let the hungry come to me (ADORO TE DEVOTE)
• Hymn 525 - The Church’s one Foundation (AURELIA)
• Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16 - In te, Domine, speravi – Mode 1

Contemporary American Composers.
(Living) Contemporary American Composers.
(Living) Contemporary American (Men) Composers.
(Living) Contemporary American (White) (Men) Composers: That's what the composers of all the vocal and instrumental music have in common this week. Everyone of the composers was born in the last half of the 20th century.

David Ashley White is Professor of Composition at Moores School of Music, with degrees from the University of Houston (B.M. and M.M.) and the University of Texas at Austin (D.M.A.). He served
as Director of the Moores School from 1999-2014.

David Ashley White

A seventh-generation Texan, White is an active member of the Houston arts community, serving on boards that include a mayoral appointment to the Houston Arts Alliance. He has recently been appointed composer-in-residence at Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church in Houston, his home parish. In addition, he has been designated the Distinguished Composer by the American Guild of Organists for its national convention held last year in Houston, where his anthem, With a Shining Like the Sun, was premiered.

His anthem, The Call, is a simple and moving setting of this famous text by George Herbert. (Come, my Way, my Truth, my Light.) It's a perfect anthem for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, where this text is almost mandated by the Gospel Reading. The most famous version of this text is the solo by Ralph Vaughan Williams (found as a hymn in our hymnal). White's setting is almost like a waltz.

The closing voluntary is a toccata-like setting of the French noel, NOEL NOUVELET, which was originally a Christmas carol (I mean, "NOEL"!) But the text that has become even more popular (at least in the States) with the tune is the Easter hymn, Now the Green Blade Riseth. Mark Sedio puts fragments of the melody all throughout his composition, most often in the pedal part. If you want to stay and listen to the whole piece, it won't take long; it's about 90 seconds to play. You will still get to Mother's Day brunch on time.

Mark Sedio

Sedio currently serves as Cantor at Central Lutheran Church in Minneapolis where his responsibilities are varied: organist, choirmaster, resident composer, worship planner and educator. In addition he has held teaching positions both at Augsburg College and Luther Seminary.

Born in Minneapolis, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Education with choral and organ music concentrations in 1976. In 1979 he received a Master of Arts degree in choral conducting and literature from the University of Iowa. He also studied at Luther Northwestern Theological Seminary.

Dan Edwards

The Handbell Choir is playing the opening and communion voluntaries this Sunday, playing music by two different composers. They prelude is an original piece for bells by Dan Edwards.

Edwards was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, and studied at Tidewater Community College in Portsmouth and James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA. He has taught music in elementary and high schools and has worked as a church musician in a number of different denominations. He resides with his wife in Chesapeake, VA.

Jacob Webber

Jacob B. Weber wrote the communion bell piece on the Eucharistic hymn ADORE TE DEVOTE. He is a 2010 graduate from Bethany Lutheran College, Mankato, MN and is currently enrolled in the Masters of Church Music program at Concordia University Wisconsin.  He has studied organ with Dr. Kenneth Logan (Andrew’s University), Prof. Judith Kresnicka (Bethany Lutheran College), and currently with Dr. John Behnke (Concordia University Wisconsin).  

Having earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Church Music, he presently serves as Kantor at Emmanuel Lutheran Church and School (LCMS) in Dearborn, MI, fulfilling worship planning, teaching and organ responsibilities.  He also directs numerous adult and children’s ensembles at Emmanuel, including the choir, handbells, and brass.

Music for May 7, 2017 + The Fourth Sunday of Easter

Good Shepherd Sunday

Vocal Music

• Loving Shepherd of thy Sheep – Philip Ledger (1937-2012)

Instrumental Music

• Prelude on “Brother James' Air" – Searle Wright (1918-2004)
• Sheep May Safely Graze – J.S. Bach (168501750)
• Preludium in G BWV 568 – J.S. Bach

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

• Hymn 377 - All people that on earth do dwell (OLD 100TH)
• Hymn 492 - Sing, ye faithful, sing with gladness (FINNIAN)
• Hymn 208 - Alleluia! The strife is o’er, the battle done (VICTORY)
• Hymn 708 - Savior, like a shepherd lead us (SICILIAN MARINERS)
• Hymn R195 - I come with joy to meet my Lord (LAND OF REST)
• Hymn 343 - Shepherd of souls, refresh and bless (ST. AGNES)
• Psalm 23 - Dominus regit me (Mode 6)

Brother James’ Air is a hymn tune written in 1914 by James Leith Macbeth Bain, a Scottish mystic, minister, and poet who became known to his peers simply as Brother James.  The tune is most commonly used as the tune for the hymn text, “The Lord’s My Shepherd,” although in our hymnal it is used for the text “How lovely is thy dwelling-place.” (Hymnal 1982 #517) Because the Fourth Sunday of Easter is the Sunday normally referred to as “Good Shepherd Sunday,” I am thinking of the Psalm 23 paraphrase as the text as I play it this Sunday.

The arrangement is by Searle Wright, a native of Pennsylvania who grew up in Binghamton, New York. As a teenager he made money playing the organ at the Palace Theatre in Binghamton, but his future lay in Classical organ.  He studied in New York City with T. Tertius Noble and at Columbia University, where he later served the faculty as well as at the Union Theological Seminary. In 1977, he returned to Binghamton as the Link professor of music at the State University of New York in Binghamton. (SUNY)

In this setting you hear the tune three times: First, it is played on the strings in the Swell division, then the melody is heard in the pedal division, played (by the feet, of course) on a soft trumpet stop. After a brief interlude that begins on full organ and then gradually decreases in volume, the melody returns as it began, on the soft strings sounds of the Swell Division.

Philip Ledger

The offertory anthem this morning is a little gem by Sir Philip Ledger, an English organist and choral director best known for his years as director of the King's College Choir in Cambridge.

Ledger was born in Bexhill and educated at King's College, Cambridge. When appointed Master of Music at Chelmsford Cathedral, he became the youngest cathedral organist in the United Kingdom.
As Director of Music at the University of East Anglia, he worked closely with Benjamin Britten as an Artistic Director of the Aldeburgh Festival before returning to King's College, Cambridge as Director of Music. There he conducted the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols which is broadcast each year on Christmas Eve, made an extensive range of recordings with the famous choir and directed recitals and tours throughout the world. He then became Principal of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

This anthem is a setting of a simple 12-bar melody, which itself is divide into two, almost identical, parts. On the first verse the trebles sing, followed by the men on verse two in a new key. The third stanza has the entire choir singing in four parts, unaccompanied, with a new theme in the melody. The final stanza returns to the original tune sung by all voices entering at different times.

Last week I played a piece by J. S. Bach that he had arranged for organ from one of his vocal works. This week, I'm playing another work arranged for organ from one of his solo vocal cantatas, but this time it is arranged by the 20th century organist E. Power Biggs.

Sheep May Safely Graze is from his secular cantata BWV 208, Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd (The lively hunt is all my heart's desire). Originally performed by a soprano, two recorders, and basso continuo, here the melody is played in the left hand on the organ stop called a Chromhorne (or Krummhorn), the right hand plays the two recorder parts on the flute stop, and the pedal fills in the basso continuo line.

This cantata, often called The Hunting Cantata, was composed in 1713 by Bach for the 31st birthday of Duke Christian of Saxe-Weissenfels. Despite its BWV number (#208 out of 216 cantatas that we a sure Bach wrote), this is Bach's earliest surviving secular cantata, composed while he was employed as court organist in Weimar. The work may have been intended as a gift from Bach's employer, William Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, for his neighboring ruler, Duke Christian, who was a keen hunter.

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 April 23, 2017 + The Second Sunday of Easter

Vocal Music

• An Easter Greeting – Martin How

Instrumental Music

• O Sons and Daughters, Let Us Sing – Jean-François Dandrieu (c. 1682 - 1738)
• That Easter Day With Joy Was Bright – Rudy Davenport (b. 1948)
• Good Christians all, rejoice and sing! – Paul Manz (1919-2009)

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

• Hymn 205 - Good Christians all, rejoice and sing! (GELOBT SEI GOTT)
• Hymn 492 - Sing, ye faithful, sing with gladness (FINNIAN)
• Hymn 206 - Alleuia! O sons and daughters, let us sing! (O FILII ET FILIAE)
• Hymn R258 - To God be the glory (TO GOD BE THE GLORY)
• Hymn R271 - Alleluia, alleluia! Give thanks to the risen Lord (ALLELUIA NO. 1)
• Hymn R91 - Open our eyes, Lord (OPEN OUR EYES)
• Hymn 193 - That Easter Day with joy was bright (PUER NOBIS)
• Psalm 116 – simplified Anglican Chant

If ever there was a hymn that was just perfect for a particular Gospel reading, it has to be this Sunday's hymn before the Gospel (and the inspiration for the opening organ voluntary. O Sons and Daughters, Let Us Sing. It is a version (in song) of today's Gospel reading.

The original hymn, which was in Latin, is usually attributed to a French cleric named Tisserand in the fifteenth or early sixteenth century. The first known publication of the text was in an untitled booklet in Paris between 1518 and 1536. Other Latin stanzas were also added at a later date. John Mason Neale translated the hymn into English in 1851.

This hymn tells the story of those who witnessed the resurrected Christ based on the gospel accounts, particularly that of John. After describing the scene at the tomb on Resurrection Sunday morning, the text narrates the disciples' responses, from the sudden appearance of Jesus in a locked room where a group of them were meeting (John 20:19-23) to the proof of Jesus' physical resurrection when He appeared to doubting Thomas (John 20:23-29).

This text appears in nine or ten stanzas in some hymnals, but ours divides these stanzas into two separate hymns because the first part of the hymn tells the story of the scene at the tomb on Resurrection Sunday, while the second part tells the story of the disciples' response to the news from John 20:19-29. A refrain of jubilant alleluias opens and closes the hymn.

The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, c.1601-1602, 

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1573-1610)

The opening voluntary is a set of variations on the 15th cenutry French tune for "O Sons and Daughters, Let us Sing. The tune name comes from the original Latin text which began "O filii et filiae, Rex coelestis."  The composer of these variations is Jean-François Dandrieu, who, though largely forgotten today, was regarded as one of the finest composers of harpsichord music of his time. He came from a well-to-do family and showed rare musical talent in his early childhood. Before the age of 5, he gave a harpsichord concert for Princess Palatine Elisabeth-Charlotte of Bavaria and other royalty. Both he and his sister Jeanne Françoise were pupils of composer and keyboard player Jean-Baptiste Moreau. 

In July 1705, Dandrieu was formally installed as organist at St. Merry Church in Paris. In addition to this enviable position, he got a more prestigious post in 1721 he was installed as one of the organists at the royal chapel. Twelve years later he added yet another organist post to the two he already held, when he succeeded his uncle Pierre Dandrieu as organist at St. Barthelemy, upon the latter's death in 1733. It is likely that the busy Dandrieu delegated some of his duties at St. Merry and St. Barthelemy to his sister.

It's in his first book of organ pieces (ironically published after his death) that we find these variations of the Easter hymn we are singing today.

Music for April 16, 2017 + Easter

Vocal Music

• Tell the News! – David Ashley White (b. 1944)
• Magdalen, Cease from Sobs and Sighs – Peter Hurford (b. 1930)
• Hallelujah (Messiah) – G. F. Handel (1685-1759)

Instrumental Music

• Carillon de Westminster - Louis Vierne (1870-1937)
• Final (Symphony No. 1 in D minor, Op. 14) – Louis Vierne

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

• Hymn 179 - “Welcome, happy morning!” (FORTUNATUS)
• Hymn 207 - Jesus Christ is risen today (EASTER HYMN)
• Hymn 174 - At the Lamb’s high feast we sing (SALZBURG)
• Hymn - Sing with all the saints in glory (HYMN TO JOY)
• Hymn R199 - This is the feast of victory (FESTIVAL CANTICLE)
• Hymn R237 - Jesus, stand among us (WEM IN LEIDENSTAGEN)
• Hymn R202 - Sing alleluia to the Lord (SING ALLELUIA)
• Hymn 182 - Christ is alive! Let Christians sing (TRURO)
• Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 Confitemini Domino - setting by Thom Pavlechko

David Ashley White

The offertory anthem is a new addition to the library of the Good Shepherd Choir. It was written by David Ashley White, a seventh-generation Texan who is on the faculty of the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston and is Composer-in-Residence at Houston’s Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church. He wrote this anthem for the Mississippi Conference of Church Music and Liturgy, which I attend every year and where I first heard it. I was immediately drawn to its melody, a rugged tune full of life and celebration which sounds as if it were written during the time of the Revolutionary War. Combined with the sparkling organ accompaniment, it will work well as the 'big' anthem at our Easter eucharist.

Peter Hurford

The communion anthem is also new to our library, but is well known among church musicians. It is the arrangement of an Easter carol by the British organist Peter Hurford. Trained in both music and law, Hurford has enjoyed an enviable reputation for both his organ playing and his musical scholarship. He received an appointment as music master at St. Albans Abbey in 1958 where he began to attract the attention of other English organists unsatisfied with the traditional and often heavy-handed Baroque style customarily heard in English churches.  After two decades at St. Albans, Hurford resigned in 1978 to devote his time to solo performances. By that time, his recordings had made his name a familiar one even to those who had not heard him in live performance. He suffered a minor stroke in 1997, but recovered enough to resume his performing career seven months later. In early 2008, he was diagnosed with advanced Alzheimer's Disease, and formally retired from concertizing in 2009.

When it comes to showy organ music, nothing, nobody, can beat the French. One of the greatest organists of the first half of the 20th century was Louis Vierne, who was organist at Notre Dame in Paris. He wrote music for orchestra, choir, voice and piano, but it is his organ music that he is most remembered for today. He wrote 6 organ symphonies, four suites, two organ masses and numerous other pieces for the instrument.

From the third suite of Vierne’s four-suite set 24 pieces de fantaisie we find Vierne's most famous work, The Carillon de Westminster. The ubiquitous clock-tune of Westminster Abbey, heard every hour on-the-hour in cities and towns all over the planet, is here gradually transformed into a magnificent, transcendent celebration of time and eternity itself. It gradually builds in intensity toward its awesome and heaven-storming climax. Though not explicitly "Easter" in title, its celebratory feel is perfect for this day.

Vierne's first symphony, Symphony No. 1 for organ in D minor, Op. 14, was premiered in 1899. It had six movements but it is the last movement, or Final,which I am playing for the closing voluntary today. From the first note to the last, it is non-stop with the melody in the pedals and rapid accompaniment in the manual keyboards. This movement is loud, starting with full organ and getting even louder!

Were his music not dramatic enough, it's only topped by his death - dying at the console during a performance. (You can read about it here). That's the way to go!