Music for Sunday, September 24, 2017 + The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Steal Away – Joseph Jennings (b. 1954)

Instrumental Music

• Adagio in E – Frank Bridge (1879-1918)
• Erbarm dich mein, O Herre Gott  BWV 721– Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)  
• Allegro con Spirito in B-flat – Frank Bridge

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982)

• Hymn 414 - God, my King, thy might confessing (STUTTGART)
• Hymn 527 - Singing songs of expectation (TON-Y-BOTEL)
• Hymn 551 - Rise up, ye saints of God (FESTAL SONG)
• Hymn 482 - Lord of all hopefulness (SLANE)
• Hymn 404 - We will extol you, ever-blessed Lord (OLD 124TH)
• Psalm 145:1-8 – Tone VIIIa

The anthem this morning is an arrangement of the Negro spiritual, Steal Away, by American composer and arranger,  Joseph Jennings. A native of Georgia, he had degrees in choral conducting (Colorado State University) and music education (Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio) when he auditioned as a counter-tenor for the all-male, a capella singing group, Chanticleer. Soon after, he became their musical director, where he led them to international renown. Under his direction, they produced 23 critically acclaimed recordings in works ranging from Gregorian chant to Renaissance masterworks to jazz. Many of the recordings became Billboard best sellers, including two Grammy winners. He retired from Chanticleer in 2009.

Joseph Jennings (Photo by Katy Raddatz--The San Francisco Chronicle)

In 2014 Chorus America conferred the inaugural Brazeal Wayne Dennard Award on Jennings to acknowledge his contribution to the African-American choral tradition during his 25-year tenure as a singer and music director with Chanticleer. The hundred plus arrangements of African-American gospel, spirituals and jazz made by Jennings for Chanticleer have been given thousands of performances worldwide by choirs such as ours worldwide.

Steal Away is a well known Spiritual, found in over 85 hymnals. The song is easily recognized by the chorus:

Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus!
Steal away, steal away home, I ain't got long to stay here

Songs such as "Steal Away to Jesus", "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot", "Wade in the Water" and the "Gospel Train" are songs with hidden codes, not only about having faith in God, but containing hidden messages for slaves to run away on their own, or with the Underground Railroad.

Steal Away gained world-wide recognition after the Civil War when the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee included the song on their tours of the United States and Europe. 

An arrangement of the song is included in the oratorio A Child of Our Time, first performed in 1944, by the classical composer Michael Tippett.

The communion voluntary, Erbarm dich mein, O Herre Gott  (Have Mercy on Me, O Lord God), is an unusual work by J. S. Bach. This early work (believed to be c. 1703), has unusual harmonies and a texture unique among Bach's music. There are more minor 7th and 9th chords than usual; more chord progressions a 3rd apart than usual; more untied suspensions. It's in the phrygian mode, which means it's key signature is two sharps (normally D Major or b minor), but the base note is F-sharp.

It’s a unique texture comes from the three-or four part repeated chords in the accompaniment with no break, under the melody in the soprano. Some feel this is to give a sense of vibrato in the accompaniment. You don’t find this same texture in any other Bach work, or many other of his contemporaries. This manuscript is only found once, in a handwritten collection owned by J. G. Walther. Some think this is not an authentic Bach work.

The opening and closing voluntaries are both by the British composer and organist Frank Bridge. His Adagio in E Major is very popular among organist. I love the slow, wistful melody that begins softly on a low 'E' and begins a slow ascent, growing in volume as the melody line rises. It reminds me of incense that intensifies as it languidly climbs toward God. The music reaches full organ before it begins to die away, ending as quietly as it began.