Music for May 3, 2020 + The Fourth Sunday of Easter

Vocal Music

• Psalm XXIII – Paul Creston (1906-1985), Amy Bogan, soprano

Instrumental Music

• The King of Love My Shepherd is – Healey Willan (1888-1968)
• Fugue in G (Gigue) BWV 577 - J. S. Bach (1685-1750)

Congregational Music (hymns from the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 708- Savior, like a shepherd lead us (SICILIAN MARINERS)

This Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Easter, is what's known as Good Shepherd Sunday. Look at all the readings for this Sunday Psalm, Epistle, and Gospel all talk about the Shepherd. Likewise, the music also focuses on the Lord as our Shepherd.

Today's musical offering is a luxurious setting of the 23rd Psalm by the American composer Paul Creston.

As a composer, Creston was about as self-made as he could be. Born Giuseppe Guttoveggio in New York City in 1906, Creston chose his professional surname from a high school play he'd been in, adopting "Paul" simply because it appealed to him. He taught himself composition and music theory while working full-time to support his family, meaning his style was independent of any outside influence. His work is noted for its complex and shifting rhythms, while retaining a distinctly modern American tonal sound.

Paul Creston

Early performances of his music by the avant-garde American pianist Henry Cowell led to a 1938 Guggenheim fellowship. In 1941, Creston's Symphony No. 1 received the annual award from the New York Music Critics' Circle. His music was championed by a number of important conductors, including Arturo Toscanini, Eugene Ormandy, and Leopold Stokowski.

From his earliest years as a composer, Creston maintained a post as organist of St. Malachy's Church in New York City (1934-1967). There is a distinct religious sensibility to much of his music that is clearly evident in such works as the Symphony No. 3 ("Three Mysteries"; 1950) and the orchestral meditation Corinthians: XIII, Op. 82 (1963).

His setting of Psalm 23 (The Lord is my Shepherd) is more musically demanding and technically difficult than some of the well-known choral settings, yet obtains an even greater feeling of tranquility. It will be sung by our soprano soloist, Amy Bogan.

The organ music includes Healey Willan's pastorale setting of the Irish tune, ST. COLUMBA. You’ll often hear The King of Love My Shepherd Is sung with this tune – but only because the publishers of the 1906 English Hymnal couldn’t secure the copyrights to the British tune that was originally written for The King of Love (DOMINUS REGIT ME). The publishers used the Irish hymn tune instead and it’s become a favorite.

ST. COLUMBA is named for (obviously) St. Columba – an Irish abbot and missionary credited with spreading Christianity to the area we now know as Scotland. (As legend has it, he may have also been the first person to have spotted the Loch Ness Monster!) Today St. Columba is one of the three patron saints of Ireland alongside St. Brigid of Kildare and – naturally – St. Patrick.

I end with the Fugue à la Gigue by Bach. It is a fun, lighthearted dance piece with a lively recurring tune that appears in every voice part (soprano, alto, tenor and bass) and interwoven in increasing complexity.