Music for January 17, 2021 + The Second Sunday of the Epiphany

Vocal Music

• O Jesus, Joy of Loving Hearts – Beverly Ward (b. 1935)
• The Summons – John Bell (b. 1949)
• Bidkar Cajina, baritone
• Hymn 707: Take my life, and let it be (HOLLINGSIDE)

Instrumental Music

• Suite for Organ – Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
• Sinfonia
• Ayre
• Trumpet Tune
• Rondeau
• Trumpet Tune
• Adagio
• Trumpet Tune
• Trumpet Tune in D Major – Henry Purcell

This Sunday I have a Men's Schola leading the music. In monasteries, the name schola cantorum is often applied to certain selected monks whose duty it is to chant the more elaborate portions of the liturgical music, such as the graduals and alleluias at Mass, the rest of the community joining only in the simpler parts. These men from the Good Shepherd Choir will be singing a setting (in English paraphrase) of the Latin hymn Jesu dulcis memoria, retaining the traditional plainsong melody, with a lovely organ accompaniment and a canonic verse in the middle. It is arranged by Beverly Ward. I was happy to see this piece as I am trying to find and use more music written by women composers.

Mr. Ward, however, is not a woman.

Mr. Ward was the organist and choirmaster at St. James Episcopal Church, Hendersonville, NC, and St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Asheville, NC, from 1994 until 2003. Mr. Ward has also served as organist and choirmaster at St. James Cathedral, Chicago.  A graduate of Furman University, Eastman School of Music, he is also a graduate of the College of Church Musicians of Washington, an elite group who studied at Washington National Cathedral. Mr. Ward undertook advanced study at the American Conservatory of Music, Chicago, while teaching there. He was a composition student of Leo Sowerby. His works can be found in the catalogs of Flammer, H.W. Gray, Augsburg, and St. James Music Press.

During Communion you will hear Bidkar Cajina sing the beautiful hymn "The Summons" by Scotsman John Bell. I wrote about this hymn and John Bell when he last sang this in October, so please check out my post here.

The organ music is all music of Henry Purcell, the finest and most original composer of his day. Though he was to live a very short life (he died at age 36), he was able to enjoy and make full use of the renewed flowering of music after the Restoration of the Monarchy.

Henry Purcell

As the son of a musician at Court, a chorister at the Chapel Royal, and the holder of continuing royal appointments until his death, Purcell worked in Westminster for three different Kings over twenty-five years.

He is responsible for much choral music for the church, but also music for opera and theatre. While Purcell was known for being the organist at Westminster Abbey, the English organ was nowhere near the size nor as elaborate as the organ in Germany, so what little organ music Purcell wrote was rather inconsequential to the great body of organ literature. Thus, modern organists have had to turn to transcriptions of his orchestral works for their portion of music from Purcell.  The Suite I am playing for the opening voluntary is an arrangement of various works from his incidental music for the English stage.