Music for July 22, 2018

Vocal Music

• God, Our Ever Faithful Shepherd – Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Christine Marku, soprano

Instrumental Music

• Toccata and Variations on The Lord is My Shepherd (CRIMOND) – Barbara Harbach (b. 1946)
• Prelude on “Evan” – Gordon Young (1919-1998)
• Grande Jeu – Pierre DuMage (1674-1751)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 518 - Christ has made the sure foundation (WESTMINSTER ABBEY)
• Hymn 645 - The King of love my shepherd is (ST. COLUMBA)
• Hymn 343 - Shepherd of souls, refresh and bless (ST. AGNES)
• Hymn 708 - Savior, like a shepherd lead us (SICILIAN MARINERS)
• Hymn 693 - Just as I am, without one plea (WOODWORTH)
• Hymn 493 - O for a thousand tongues to sing (AZMON)

We get to hear one of J. S. Bach's most beloved works for the offertory today. It is the ninth movement from Cantata No. 208, Schafe können sicher weiden,  also known as "Sheep May Safely Graze."

The Cantata is really not a sacred work. It is a secular cantata, written for the birthday of Duke Christian of Sachsen-Weissenfels, in 1713. This aria is not a hymn to the Good Shepherd but rather a celebration of benevolent despot (Duke Christian). 

Sheep may graze safely where there’s a good shepherd who stays awake and where there’s a good nobleman watching over a blissful nation.

Bach was the court musician at Weimar at the time, but he knew which side his bread was buttered. He received at least two more commissions directly from the court at Weissenfels. 

As is so often the case, Jesus gets worked into the translation, and this purely secular work becomes a mainstay in the sacred genre. We use it today in reference to the Old Testament reading Jeremiah 23:1-6:

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.

The Gospel lesson continues that theme, as Jesus sees a crowd and has compassion for them, because they were like "sheep without a shepherd." For that reason, Psalm 23 is chosen as the psalm of the day.

We will sing the hymn setting of the twenty-third psalm, set to the Irish tune ST. COLUMBA, for the psalm. I will admit that this is a long hymn, so the third stanza will be a solo organ stanza. Read the text while the organ plays a setting of the hymn by the English composer Kenneth Leighton, who captures the line "perverse and foolish oft I strayed" by not only straying from the melody, but even confusing things a bit with a canon between the right hand and the left hand.

Barbara Harbach

In addition to ST. COLUMBA, I will feature two other hymn-tunes associated with Psalm 23 for organ voluntaries. The opening voluntary is a set of variations on the tune CRIMOND (see hymn 663) by the Missouri composer and organist, Barbara Harbach. She is a professor of music at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and has written a large body of works including symphonies, operas, musicals, works for chamber ensembles, film scores, and modern ballet, as well as pieces for organ, harpsichord, piano, and choir.

In this work, you will hear a fanfare-like toccata at the beginning, with the melody rather hidden in the pedal line. Then she does something a little different with each variation. She changes the key with each movement. The melody is very clearly defined in each variation, but on the third variation, she combines the CRIMOND melody with the tune from "Amazing Grace," so you'll have to listen closely. The last variation presents each phrase of the tune in a different key, reminding me of my friend Gail who says (of her own singing), "I am not bound to one particular key."

The communion voluntary is based on a lesser-known tune from England named EVAN. It appears in over 280 hymnals to wide variety of texts, but the one Gordon Young had in mind when he made this lovely setting was "The Lord's My Shepherd, I'll Not Want." One can picture in one's mind that peaceful, pastoral hill side where sheep may safely graze.