Music for May 15, 2016 + Pentecost

Pentecost and Confirmation

Vocal Music

• Creator Spirit, by whose Aid - Carolyn Jennings (b. 1936)
• Come Thou, Holy Spirit, Opus 25, No. 10 – Pavel Tschesnokoff (1877-1944)

Instrumental Music

• Celebration and Grace – Michael Mazzatenta
• Deep River – Douglas E. Wagner
• Improvisation on Veni Creator Spiritus - Alfred V. Fedak

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

• Hymn 225 - Hail thee, festival day (Salva festa dies)
• Hymn 513 - Like the murmur of the dove’s song (Bridegroom)
• Hymn 511 - Holy Spirit, ever living (Abbot’s Leigh)
• Hymn R90 - Spirit of the Living God (Iverson)
• Hymn R168 - If you believe and I believe (Traditional, Zimbabwe)
• Hymn R248 - Oh, let the Son of God enfold you (Spirit Song)
• Hymn 506 - Praise the Spirit in creation (Finnian)

I've always loved Pentecost, AKA: “Birthday of the Church” It's the Sunday fifty days after Easter ( Pentecost literally means “50”) that celebrates the day the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles, causing them to speak in tongues. (Here is a great article from PBS which is kind of a primer for Pentecost. Useful for explaining it to kids. Or Episcopalians.) The emphasis is on the Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost. Another name for the Holy Spirit is Paraclete, which the choir has had a good time singing "parakeet" for "Paraclete." (And I don't mean the kids choirs, either.) Paraclete appears in the Gospel of John (14:16, 14:26, 15:26, 16:7) where it may be translated into English as "counselor", "helper", encourager, advocate, or "comforter". The early church identified the Paraclete as the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5,1:8,2:4,2:38).

Carolyn Jennings

You'll hear that word in the choral acclamation that the choir will sing both before and after the Gospel reading. It is sort of like a choral fanfare. The acclamation/fanfare was written by Carolyn Jennings, a retired professor of music from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, where she taught for many years and also served in administrative roles, including being Chair of the Music Department and Associate Dean for the Fine Arts. She also recently retired from St. John's Lutheran Church in Northfield where she served as a church musician for over thirty years. Her husband, Kenneth Jennings, was also on the faculty of St. Olaf, directing the famed St. Olaf Choir.

The work starts off with trumpet fanfares which punctuate the choral setting of the hymn-text, "Creator Spirit, by whose aid," which is based on a ninth-century Latin hymn "Veni, Creator Spiritus."

The other choral offering is the communion anthem, Come Thou, Holy Spirit, by the Russian composer, Pavel Grigorievich Chesnokov (Anglicized, Tschesnokoff). If you've ever sung in a college or university choir, you've sung his great anthem, Salvation Is Created. This anthem, originally titled Duh Tvoj blagi (or Let Thy Good Spirit) is along the same line. It is set for seven-part chorus a capella, beginning with a four part men's choir singing in alternation with three-part treble choir. After a brief section sung by the sopranos and altos alone, the opening is repeated, ending with quiet "Alleluias."

Pavel Chesnokov

Primarily a composer, Chesnokov composed over five hundred choral works. By the age of 30, he had completed nearly four hundred sacred choral works, but his proliferation of church music came to a standstill at the time of the Russian revolution. Under Stalin, no one was permitted to produce any form of sacred art. So in response, he composed an additional hundred secular works, and conducted secular choirs like the Moscow Academy Choir and the Bolshoi Theater Choir. In 1933, the Soviets destroyed the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, where Chesnokov had been the last choirmaster. This disturbed him so deeply that he stopped writing music altogether. Instead, he turned to writing, and in 1940 published, "Khor i upravlenie im" (The choir and how to direct it), which remains an encyclopedic handbook for Russian choral directors. 

You will also hear the last appearance of the Good Shepherd handbell Choir this Sunday, as they play the opening voluntary and the communion voluntary. The opening piece is in a Rondo form where the "Celebration" section -  a bright, lively, syncopated section -  forms the 'theme' of the piece which alternates with varying 'episodes' that contrast with the theme. That would be the "Grace" sections of this work. Listen for a quieter rhythm (not quite as perky) and the use of handchimes as well as the martellatto technique (rung on the table, producing a short, muffled sound). Celebration and Grace was composed by Michael Mazzatenta, an award-winning handbell composer who also performs as a concert organist, accompanist, and jazz pianist. He is an Adjunct Faculty member at Chandler-Gilbert Community College in Chandler, AZ and Phoenix College, AZ. He resides with his wife Joan, also a musician, in Mesa, Arizona.

During Deep River, you'll hear our newest addition to the handbell ministry, our new octave of hand chimes which will give us three full octaves of chimes in addition to the five octaves of bells which we have. 

The closing voluntary is a little wild (much like the Holy Spirit herself!)  This improvisatory piece is from an oratorio by Alfred Fedak and Carl Daw. It begins with quick rolling, whole-tone scale patterns (depicting, I presume, the winds of the Spirit or perhaps the tongues of fire). This is followed by virtuosic, cadenza-like manual passages, interrupted by long held manual chords while each phrase of the ancient chant "Veni Creator Spiritus" (see the third paragraph above!) is played in the pedal. Each phrase takes an unexpected turn at the end, sending it to an unexpected resolution. It is NOT your usual organ postlude.