Music for March 18, 2018 + The Fifth Sunday in Lent

Vocal Music

• Ave Verum - Robert Lucas de Pearsall (1795-1856) 

Instrumental Music

• All Men Must Die – Georg Telemann (1681-1757)
• Lord Jesus, Think on Me – J. Bert Carlson (1937-2017) 

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

• Hymn 149 - Eternal Lord of love, behold your church (OLD 124th) 
• Hymn 439 - What wondrous love is this (WONDROUS LOVE) 
• Hymn 474 - When I survey the wondrous cross (ROCKINGHAM) 
• Hymn R233 - Glory be to Jesus, who in bitter pain (WEM IN LEIDENSTAGEN) 
• Hymn R232 - There is a redemeer (Keith Green) 
• Hymn 473 - Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim (CRUCIFER 
• Psalm 51:1-13 - Tone IIa 

Of all the things I've written about in the five-plus years of publishing this blog, nothing cries for further commentary more than the opening voluntary. I feel I must talk about it lest you (and the FBI) think it's my manifesto on the present human condition.

I guess I could have just published the title as Alle Menschen müßen sterben, which is the first line of the 17th century German hymn by Johann Georg Albinus, a Lutheran pastor, whose life's aim was "the glory of God, the edification of the Church, and the everlasting salvation, well-being, and happiness of his hearers." During his ministry he suffered greatly, not only from bodily infirmities, but from ecclesiastical encroachments and bickerings. But as a poet he was, says one writer, "distinguished by ease of style, force of expression, and liveliness of fancy, and his manner of thought was scriptural and pervaded by a deep religious spirit" Of the many hymns he composed and published, only three have been translated into English. One of those is this hymn, which was used by many musicians of the time, including J. S. Bach and Johann Pachelbel. (Today's setting is by Georg Phillip Telemann, a contemporary of Bach and Pachelbel)

All men must die,
all flesh passes like grass;
Whatever lives must perish
if it is to become new elsewhere.
This body must rot
if it is elsewhere to recover
and gain the great glory
which is prepared for those who are righteous

This hymn, which has been called Albinus' best known hymn, was written for the funeral of Paul von Henssberg, a Leipzig merchant, on June 1, 1652. It became a great favorite of many influential ministers of the 17th century. (1)

I particularly find it interesting that the tune itself, and the treatment of it by Telemann, is rather upbeat and lively. It's in A Major (a key not often -if ever -  associated with sadness or a time of penitence), and the second variation includes a jaunty, rhythmic motif in the accompaniment.

Robert Lucas de Pearsall
in a portrait painted by his daughter,
Philippa Swinnerton Hughes 

The offertory anthem is a setting of the famous Eucharistic hymn by Pope Innocent VI, Ave Verum Corpus (Hail, true body.) The most famous setting of it is by Mozart, but this one comes from the English composer, Robert Pearsall. It is one of a number of hymns by Pearsall included in the Arundel Hymnal edited by the Fifth Duke of Norfolk and published in 1905.

Pearsall was the son of an army officer and amateur musician, and we can presume Pearsall got his musical talent from him. Though he was trained as a barrister, and worked in Bristol as such, in 1825 he took his family to live abroad: There he divorced his wife and devoted more time developing his interests as a composer. As an amateur like his father, many of his compositions were not published until after his death, and even now, many remain in manuscript.

(1) John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)