Music for June 9, 2019 + The Day of Pentecost

Vocal Music

• O Be Joyful in the Lord – Philip Stopford (b. 1977)
• O Thou Who Camest From Above – Philip Stopford

Instrumental Music

• Fantasy on “Nun Danket all” – Aaron David Miller (b. 1972)
• Veni Creator Spiritus – Dom Paul Benoit (1893 – 1979)

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

• Hymn 225 - Hail thee, festival day (SALVA FESTA DIES)
• Hymn 509 - Spirit divine, attend our prayers (NUN DANKET ALL UND BRINGET EHR)
• Hymn R234 - Now Holy Spirit, ever one (WAREHAM)
• Hymn R248 - O Let the Son of God enfold you (SPIRIT SONG)
• Hymn R90 - Spirit of the living God (IVERSON)
• Hymn R168 - If you believe and I believe (ZIMBABWE)
• Hymn 511 - Holy Spirit, ever living (ABBOTT'S LEIGH)
• Psalm 104:25-35, 37 – setting by William Crotch

For our Pentecost celebration we are singing two anthems by the (relatively) young English composer, Philip Stopford. Stopford has quite the musical pedigree. He began his musical career as a Chorister at Westminster Abbey under the direction of both Simon Preston and Martin Neary. After winning a major Music Scholarship to Bedford School, while still a teenager, he became Organ Scholar at Truro Cathedral. While in Truro, Stopford composed a setting of the Responses which later won the Federation of Old Choristers' Composition Prize.

Philip Stopford

After leaving Bedford School, Stopford studied music at Keble College, Oxford. Upon graduating, he was appointed Organ Scholar at Canterbury Cathedral before moving to Chester Cathedral as Assistant Organist. In 1999 to 2000 Stopford was appointed Organ Scholar at Canterbury Cathedral, and then moved to Chester Cathedral as Assistant Organist. In 2003, at the age of 25, Stopford was appointed Director of Music at St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast, becoming the youngest Anglican Cathedral Organist at the time.

In January 2016 Stopford was appointed Director of Music at Christ Church, Bronxville following a four month period as Composer in Residence, working with the Church Choir and Young At Arts children's choral and theatrical program.

Our offertory anthem, O Be Joyful, was composed for the Enthronement of the Bishop of Belfast Cathedral in 2007. While not strictly a piece for Pentecost, this setting of Psalm 100 from our Book of Common Prayer sparkles with radiance with its buoyant vocals and soaring phrases over the lively organ accompaniment.

The other anthem, a setting of O Thou That Camest From Above by Charles Wesley, is a prayer for the Holy Spirit. Its gentle, lilting melody begins in the men's voices. On stanza 2 the treble voices enter, building to a climax at the fourth stanza which resolves to a quiet, fervent amen.

The opening voluntary is a setting of this morning's hymn before the Gospel by Aaron David Miller organist at House of Hope Presbyterian Church, St. Paul, Minnesota. The tune, composed by early Baroque musician Johann Crüger, was first published in the 1647 edition of Crüger's hymnal, Praxis Pietatis Melica. The rhythmic structure of Crüger's tune has the second and fourth phrases beginning with a quarter rest and quarter note. This bit of syncopation has been emphasized in Miller's arrangement which begins with a bold fanfare and improvisation before heading into a dance-like treatment of the tune. It's perfect for the party we call Pentecost.

Miller was the featured artist at the National AGO convention held in Houston, in 2016. 

The closing voluntary is an improvisatory toccata on the traditional Pentecost chant, Veni Creator Spiritus, as played by the French monk and organist, Paul Benoit. Dom Paul lived as a member of the Benedictine community at the Abbey of St. Maurice et St. Maur, at Clervaux, in Luxembourg.  Largely self-taught, Benoit's compositions never leave the realm of tonality, albeit often modal. Dom Paul acknowledged the influence of the French impressionist works of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel upon his organ compositions.  As a result, Dom Paul's works are somewhat unique for the organ in bearing a pervasive imprint of impressionism.