Music for November 18, 2018

Vocal Music

• Here, O My Lord – Eleanor Daley (b. 1955)

Instrumental Music

• Prelude on “Old Hundredth” – Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706)
• I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light – arr. Cathy Moklebust (b. 1958)
• Toccata in C – Johann Pachelbel

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 48 - O day of radiant gladness (ES FLOG EIN KLEINS WALDVOGELEIN)
• Hymn 51 - We the Lord’s people, heart and voice uniting (DECATUR PLACE)
• Hymn 301 - Bread of the world in mercy broken (RENDEZ À DIEU)
• Hymn 685 - Rock of ages, cleft for me (TOPLADY)
• Hymn 571 - All who love and serve your city (CHARLESTOWN)
• Hymn 307 - Lord, enthroned in heavenly splendor (BRYN CALFARIA)
• Psalm 16 – Tone VIIIa

Traditionally, women have never been leaders in the classical music scene. (Or any scene, for that matter.) I've come to realize (and often joke about) that the majority of the music we hear in church was written by dead white men. That's why I purposely looked for new music this summer that was written by women (dead or alive). Our budget for new music is woefully small, so I only bought a handful of new titles this summer, but the majority, I am proud to say, are by women. This Sunday features two works by women.

Eleanor Daley

The anthem this Sunday is a setting of the communion text, "Here, O My Lord," by the Canadian composer Eleanor Daley. Born and raised in Parry Sound, Ontario, Daley received her Bachelor of Music Degree in Organ Performance from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario and holds diplomas in piano and organ from the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto and Trinity College, England. She has been the Director of Music at Fairlawn Avenue United Church (formerly Fairlawn Heights) in Toronto, Ontario since 1982. During this time, she has established a thriving choral program for which much of her music has been composed. You can read about this music program at their website, http://www.fairlawnchurch.ca/spirituality/music/

Cathy Moklebust

The Good Shepherd Handbell Guild is playing an arrangement of that favorite hymn "I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light," by the American Cathy Moklebust. Trained as a percussionist, she was first introduced to handbells when she was 12 years old at First Lutheran Church in Brookings, South Dakota. She has developed and directed handbell music programs since 1983. As one of today's most popular handbell music composers, she has approximately 250 published compositions and arrangements to her credit, many of them reaching bestseller status. Moklebust's music has been broadcast on "Today," "Good Morning, America," public television, public radio, and SiriusXM satellite radio.

I'm also playing a couple of organ works by the South German baroque composer, Johann Pachelbel. Yes, he's most famous today for his "Canon in D," but in his lifetime Pachelbel was known for his works for organ, and was considered one of the great organ masters of the generation before J.S. Bach. Pachelbel also taught organ, and one of his pupils was Johann Christoph Bach, who in turn gave his younger brother Johann Sebastian Bach his first formal keyboard lessons.

The opening voluntary is a chorale-prelude on the ubiquitous tune OLD HUNDREDTH, which we know as "the Doxology." The pedal carries the melody while the manuals (hands) provide the accompaniment.

The closing voluntary is a toccata which displays a lot of manual dexterity, but the pedal literally just sits on a low C. It's perfect for the lazy church organist.