Music for Sunday, June 18, 2017 + The Second Sunday after Pentecost

Instrumental Music

• Cello Concerto No. 1 in C major: I. Moderato – Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809) Alex Philips, cellist
• Aria – David Ashley White (b. 1944)
• Hymne – Vangelis (b. 1943) Evangelos Odysseus Papathanassiou
• Fanfare for St. Anthony - David Ashley White

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

• Hymn 401 - The God of Abraham praise (LEONI)
• Hymn 495 - Hail, thou once despised Jesus (IN BABILONE)
• Hymn 686 - Come, thou font of every blessing (NETTLETON)
• Hymn R149 - I, the Lord of sea and sky (HERE I AM, LORD)
• Hymn R305 - Lord, you give the great commission (ABBOT’S LEIGH)
• Psalm 116  - Dilexi, quoniam

Composed between 1761 and 1765 for Joseph Weigl, a gifted cellist in Haydn's Esterházy orchestra, the Cello Concerto Number 1 was presumed lost until 1961, when it turned up the National Museum in Prague among documents originally from Radenin Castle. High virtuosity is demanded of the cellist, as in the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth symphonies (in which Haydn provided solos especially for Weigl).

The first movement, marked Moderato, begins with a confident, courtly theme with dotted rhythms; in contrast, the second subject is softer and more sinuous, establishing a more lyrical mood. The mildly syncopated orchestral exposition ends with Lombardic rhythms at the conclusion of the orchestral introduction. When the cello enters and takes command of the themes, it launches the first theme with a resonant C major chord, eventually presenting each melody in an increasingly ornate manner. The development engages the cellist in intense passagework derived from the primary theme, while reappearances of the second subject allow the soloist to sing more expansively. Haydn works through the theme groups in sequence twice before reaching the cadenza and a brief coda derived from the movement's opening measures.

Haydn's C Major Cello Concerto has become a staple of the cello repertoire, after its 20th century premiere by Miloš Sádlo and the Czechoslovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras, on 19 May 1962. Many famous artists, including Jacqueline du Pré, Yo-Yo Ma, Julian Lloyd Webber, Pierre Fournier, Truls Mørk, Mstislav Rostropovich, Pieter Wispelwey, Heinrich Schiff, Lynn Harrell, Christine Walevska, Sol Gabetta, Maximilian Hornung, Mischa Maisky, Steven Isserlis, and Sergei Istomin have recorded it.

Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou, known professionally as Vangelis, is a Greek composer of electronic, progressive, ambient, jazz, and orchestral music. He is probably most well known for his Chariots of Fire (1981) and Blade Runner (1982) soundtracks or for the tracks used in the Cosmos (1980) television series.