Music for April 30, 2023 + The Fourth Sunday of Easter + Good Shepherd Sunday

Vocal Music

• The Lord Is My Shepherd – Howard Goodall (b. 1958)

Instrumental Music

• Prelude on "Brother James's Air" - Searle Wright (1918-2004)
• Prelude on "St. Columba" – Sam Batt Owens (1928-1998)
• Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow – Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706)

Congregational Music (all hymns from The Hymnal 1982 with the exception of the middle hymn)

• Hymn 377 - All people that on earth do dwell (OLD 100TH)
• Hymn  - Good Shepherd, you know us (GOOD SHEPHERD, KINGWOOD)
• Hymn 207 - Jesus Christ is risen today (EASTER HYMN)
• Hymn 304 - I come with joy to meet my Lord (LAND OF REST)
• Hymn 708 - Savior, like a shepherd lead us (SICILIAN MARINERS)
• Psalm 23 – Tone V

Today is Good Shepherd Sunday. That is not its official name, just a nickname given to the fourth Sunday of Easter taken from the opening collect of the day:

O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

It's the closest thing our congregation has to a patronal feast day. In honor of that, we feature several pieces of music about the Shepherd.

Good Shepherd, You Know Us

First, I want to talk about the middle hymn.

You may remember that back in September 2022, the choir surprised me with a newly-composed hymn in honor of my 25th anniversary at Good Shepherd. David Ashley White, former head of the music school at University of Houston and an internationally known composer, was commissioned to write the hymn tune, and he suggested a text by one of his favorite writers, Christopher Idle, a priest in the Anglican Church. The text is perfect for our congregation:

Good Shepherd, you know us, you call us by name,

you lead us; we gladly acknowledge your claim.

Your voice has compelled us; we come at your call,

and none you have chosen will finally fall.

Good Shepherd, you warn us of robbers and thieves;

the hireling, the wolf, who destroys and deceives;

all praise for your promise on which we can stand,

that no-one can snatch us from out of your hand.

Good Shepherd, you lay down your life for the sheep;

your love is not fickle, your gift is not cheap.

You spend your life freely, you take it again;

you died, so we live - we are healed by your pain.

At one with the Father, you made yourself known:

'I am the Good Shepherd', at one with your own.

You loved us before we had heeded or heard;

by grace we respond to your life-giving word.

Christopher Idle b.1938, © Christopher Idle/ Jubilate Hymns

The choir sang it as an anthem back in October, and now we are going to sing it as a congregational hymn this Sunday. It's PERFECT for the day!

The Lord Is my Shepherd

I can't believe it's been over 10 years since we have sung this marvelous piece!

Devotees of the BBC comedy series, The Vicar of Dibley, will recognize this tune immediately. It is the theme song for the show, composed by one of Britain's leading contemporary composers, Howard Goodall.  Goodall is an EMMY, BRIT and BAFTA award-winning composer of choral music, stage musicals, film and TV scores. (You might not realize it, but film and television are very lucrative markets for classical composers!) 

Howard Goodall

He is also a distinguished music historian, writer and broadcaster. In recent years he has been England’s first ever National Ambassador for Singing, the Classical Brit Composer of the Year and was Classic FM’s Composer-in-Residence for 6 years. In the 2011 New Year Honours he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to music education.

Goodall's setting of Psalm 23, The Lord Is my Shepherd, has proved to be an extremely popular piece of music. His intention in writing the theme had always been to write a piece of church music which could have a life of its own, beyond the series, and this has certainly been fulfilled in Psalm 23.

“Anyone who thinks about the BBC programme The Vicar of Dibley, is likely to focus on one of two things: the dry wit and humor of Dawn French or the now instantly recognizable theme tune The Lord is my Shepherd by Howard Goodall. Accompanied by organ, the piece opens with a most lyrical, legato melody for solo soprano, repeated by tutti sopranos with simple yet effective harmonies for A, T and B, continuing in the warm, flowing style. A homophonic middle section, moving towards a more minor tonality, reflects the mood of the words ‘Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil’, and provides an effective contrast. A return to the original theme draws the work to a beautiful conclusion which, in the right circumstances, could provide a very spiritual moment.” 

George Adamson, ‘Music Teacher’ magazine October 2000.

Prelude on "St. Columba"

The Irish tune "St. Columba, found in our hymnal for the paraphrase of Psalm 23, "The King of Love my shepherd is," is given a pastorale setting by a late friend of mine, Sam Batt Owens. Sam was the organist/choirmaster at Grace-St. Luke's Episcopal in Memphis for several years.

In this setting, he begins with what I like to think of as a flute solo, played by a lone shepherd on the hillside as he keeps watch over his flock by night. (Oh, wait, that's Christmas.) In any case, I hear the shepherd improvise on his flute as the melody comes in underneath the flute solo. After another, more straight-forward presentation of the tune, the piece ends with the flute solo once more. It is reminiscent of the opening and closing passages of the third movement of Hector Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, "Scène aux champs" (Scene in the country), where two shepherds dialogue back and forth on the English Horn and the (offstage) oboe.

Prelude on "Brother James' Air"

Searle Wright was an composer, organist, choir director, and teacher in organ playing, composition and improvisation. He influenced an entire generation of American church musicians through his teaching at Columbia University and as President of the American Guild of Organists.

"Brother James' Air" is a well-known hymn tune composed by James Leith Macbeth Bain (1840-1925), who was a healer, mystic, and poet known simply as Brother James. It is used for a metrical setting of Psalm 23.

Music for April 23, 2023 + The Third Sunday of Easter

Vocal Music

• Now Let Us All Praise God and Sing – Gordon Young (1919-1998)

Instrumental Music

• Ach Bleib bei uns, Herr Jesus Christ, BWV 649 – J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
• Improvisation on Picardy – Charles Callahan (b. 1951)
• Prelude in D Major, BWV 925 – J. S. Bach

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

• Hymn 180 - He is risen, he is risen! (UNSER HERRSCHER)
• Hymn 296 - We know that Christ is raised (ENGLEBERG)
• Hymn 207 - Jesus Christ is risen today (EASTER HYMN)
• Hymn R 229 - Let all mortal flesh keep silence (PICARDY)
• Hymn R 233 - Glory be to Jesus (WEM IN LEIDENSTAGEN)
• Hymn 182 - Christ is alive! Let Christians sing (DUKE STREET)
• Psalm 116 – Hal Hopson

The Opening Voluntary:  Ach Bleib bei uns, Herr Jesus Christ

When you read the text of the chorale on which the opening voluntary is based, you become aware that this is actually an evening hymn. 

Ah Jesu Christ, with us abide,

For now, behold, ’tis eventide:

And bring, to cheer us through the night,

Thy Word, our true and only light.

But these lines are also based on scripture, the story of the disciples on their way to Emmaus when they meet their risen Lord.

As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. Luke 24

So you can see why I like to play Bach's setting of this evening hymn on the third Sunday of Easter. If you were to come across this piece on its own, for the first 30 seconds you’d be wondering what sort of piece it was. An exercise for just one hand? A work that’s survived incomplete? Or maybe a strange fugue with a theme that’s far too long? But when the second part enters, the bits of the puzzle soon fall into place with the chorale melody Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ: it’s a chorale arrangement! Like the other chorale arrangements from the Schübler-Choräle, this one too is an arrangement of an earlier work with a completely different instrumentation. Originally, Bach wrote almost identical notes as an aria for violoncello piccolo and soprano, as part of cantata BWV 6.

The Supper at Emmaus, Matthias Stom (ca. 1633 – 1639)
Oil on canvas. Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

The Anthem: Now Let Us All Praise God and Sing

This morning we repeat an anthem we sang last fall. (Think of this as the equivalent of one of episodes of the Johnny Carson Tonight Show which they would repeat after a busy week. We, like Johnny, were just too tired to prepare something new!) It is by twentieth-century American organist and choral and organ composer Gordon Young.  Dr. Young was awarded 18 consecutive annual composition awards from The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers. His works works total over 800, and a number of his church anthems such as this one have become standard repertoire.  These are Young's words which speak the praise of God within all our hearts expressed as “Alleluia”, an early Hebrew expression of praise which literally means "Praise to Yahweh" or "Praise God!"

Closing Voluntary: Prelude in D Major

This was actually scheduled to be played back in February, but Covid had other plans for my weekend.

This prelude is another spurious composition by J. S. Bach. It is found in Clavier-Büchlein vor Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, a collection of keyboard music compiled by the German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach for his eldest son and second child, Wilhelm Friedemann. 

Although numbers 1, 2, 4 and 5 in the notebook were undoubtedly composed by J S Bach himself, it is possible that this prelude was actually written by W F Bach sometime in the 1720s, under the guidance of his father.

The music would originally have been played on harpsichord or on clavichord.

Music for April 16, 2023 + The Second Sunday of Easter

Vocal Music

• An Easter Greeting – Martin How (1931-2022)

Instrumental Music

• Variations on “O Filii et Filiae” – Pierre Dandrieu (1664-1733)
• That Easter Day with Joy was bright – Rudy Davenport
• Carillon ou Cloches– Pierre Dandrieu

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

• Hymn 193 That Easter day with joy was bright (PUER NATUS)
• Hymn 206 O sons and daughters, let us sing! (O FILII ET FILIAE)
• Hymn 207 Sing we to our God above (EASTER HYMN)
• Hymn R 271 Alleluia, alleluia! Give thanks (ALLELUIA NO.1)
• Hymn R 91 Open our eyes, Lord (OPEN OUR EYES)
• Hymn R 258 To God be the glory (TO GOD BE THE GLORY)
• Psalm 16 – simplified Anglican Chant by Jerome W. Meachen

Martin How

Martin How, who wrote our offertory anthem this morning, spent a lifetime working in music, much of it with the Royal School of Church Music. 

The son of an Anglican priest, he was trained at Clare College, Cambridge, where is was also in charge of the Chapel Choir of men and boys as well as the choral society. After two years in the armed forces, he worked in a church for about four years before joining the staff of the Royal School of Church Music where spent the remainder of his career. 

He was known principally as a choir trainer specializing in the training and motivation of young singers. In this capacity he initiated and developed the RSCM Chorister Training Scheme which has since been used in various forms in many parts of the world. Much of his music was written with the young or inexperienced singer in mind. Thus is certainly true of today's anthem, An Easter Greeting, which was written for just a two-part choir of children or adult voices.

He was awarded the MBE in 1993for 'Services to Church Music' in the 1993 New Years Honors List.

Pierre Dandrieu

Pierre Dandrieu (d'Andrieu) was a French priest , composer and organist. Little is known about his early years. After he studied with the famous French organist Nicolas Lebègue , he became the organist of Saint-Barthélemy church on the île de la Cité in Paris, for more than 40 years. Upon his death, his nephew Jean-François Dandrieu succeeded him.

Pierre Dandrieu published one book of carols and various pieces for the organ in 1714. It is in this volume that we find the organ voluntaries for this day. 

The opening voluntary is a set of variations on our middle hymn, O sons and daughters, let us sing. It tells the story of the apostle Thomas, who wanted to reach out and touch the wounded hands and feet of Jesus before he would believe that he was actually alive. I'm only play the first few variations; the whole work takes about 10 minutes!

The closing voluntary is Carillon ou Cloches. If you know French, you know that translates to Carillon or Bells. This short toccata-like piece is very imitative of a bell peal heard in the bell towers of French churches.

Music for Easter 2023

Vocal Music

• Christ, Victorious, Christ, Now Reigning - Stephen Caracciolo (b. 1962)
• Forth He Came at Easter - David H Williams (1919-2002)

Instrumental Music

• A Prelude for Easter Morning – Gerald Near (b. 1942)
• Symphony V: Toccata – Charles-Marie Widor (1844 – 1937)

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

• Hymn 207 Jesus Christ is risen today (EASTER HYMN)
• Hymn 417 This is the feast of victory (FESTIVAL CANTICLE)
• Hymn 210 The day of resurrection (DIADEMATA)
• Hymn 174 At the Lamb’s high feast we sing (SALZBURG)
• Hymn I come to the garden alone (IN THE GARDEN)
• Hymn R237 Jesus, stand among us (WEM IN LEIDENSTAGEN)
• Hymn 193 That Easter day with joy was bright (PUER NOBIS)
• Hymn 179 “Welcome, happy morning!” (FORTUNATUS)
• Psalm 118 – Tone VIIIa, refrain by Hal H. Hopson

Christ, Victorious, Christ, Now Reigning

This is an original hymn-anthem that accesses the many and varied images of Christ as set forth in the lections for Christ the King Sunday, which also makes it a strong choice for Easter. It was  commissioned by Overbrook Presbyterian, Columbus, Ohio from Stephen Caracciolo, a nationally known composer and arranger whose choral works have been performed throughout the United States and Europe.

Caracciolo is the Artistic Director of the LancasterChorale, central Ohio’s premier all-professional chamber choir. He also performs as a professional bass at Washington National Cathedral where he  serves as a composer and substitute conductor for services. The chamber choir of Washington National Cathedral has recorded a CD of Caracciolo's choral music.

Forth He Came at Easter

This text, found at hymn 204 in our hymnal, is usually sung to the French Tune NOEL NOUVELET, but David H. Williams chose to use another French tune in his setting of the hymn by the English priest John Crum.  

David Henry Williams was an acclaimed church organist, choirmaster, and composer who was born in  Caerphilly, Wales but moved to America where he became a prolific composer of church music in the 50s and 60s. From 1966 until 1984, David served as Minister of Music, organist, choirmaster and composer-in-residence at Catalina United Methodist Church Tucson, Arizona.  William's published works are part of the repertoire of church and school libraries throughout the United States, Canada and Europe.

Prelude for Easter Day

A powerful organ work for Easter based upon the Gradual for Easter Day, Haec dies (This is the day) and the hymn O filii et filiae (O Sons and Daughters, Let Us Sing, hymn 206). It begins quietly and mysteriously but ends with full organ.

Gerald Near is considered one of the finest composers of church music writing today. He was born the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, where he was introduced to some of the finest choirs in America. He studied theory and composition at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago with Leo Sowerby, and continued those studies with Leslie Bassett at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. While at the University of Michigan, he also studied organ with Robert Glasgow, published organ and choral music, and completed his Master's degree in orchestral conducting while studying under Gustav Meier.

Since then Near has held such positions as Organist/Choirmaster and then Canon Precentor at St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Dallas, Texas; Composer in Residence at St. John’s Cathedral in Denver, Colorado; and Music Director at The Church of Holy Faith in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is currently Director of Music and Organist at St. Francis in the Valley Episcopal Church in Green Valley, Arizona and a freelance composer.

Toccata, Symphony V

For some, it isn't Easter until they have heard the strains of the final movement of Charles-Marie Widor's Fifth Organ Symphony. Well, here it is. I hope you find joy in it! Although written as a finale, the Toccata stands alone as a popular piece suitable for joyous

occasions. Its perpetual 16th-note motion in the right hand, crisp repeated chords in the left hand, and octave-leaping melody in the pedals follow faithfully the distinctive elements of the French organ toccata, in an exhilarating and iconic way

Music for Holy Week

April 5 +Tenebrae Service (7 PM)

Vocal Music

• Tenebrae: A Service of Darkness – Hal H. Hopson

Congregational Music (all hymns from The Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 168 - O Sacred Head Sore Wounded (HERZLICH TUT MICH VERLANGEN)
• Hymn 158 - Ah, holy Jesus (HERZLIEBSTER JESU)
• Hymn 474 – When I survey the wondrous cross (ROCKINGHAM)

April 6 + Maundy Thursday (7 PM)

Vocal Music

• Ave Verum – Camille Saint-Saens

Instrumental Music

• Adore te Devote - Charles Callahan
• Tantum Ergo - Charles Callahan

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

• Hymn 439 - What wondrous love is this, O my soul (WONDROUS LOVE)
• Hymn 495 - Hail, thou once despised Jesus (IN BABILONE)
• Hymn 576 - God is love, and where true love is (MANDATUM)
• Hymn 602 - Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love (CHEREPONI)
• Hymn R148 - Brother, let me be your servant (THE SERVANT SONG)
• Hymn R226 - Ubi caritas et amor (Taizé)
• Hymn 171 – Go to dark Gethsemane (PETRA)
• Song – Could you not watch? (Hal Hopson)
• Psalm 116 – Hal Hopson

April 7 + Good Friday (Noon)

Vocal Music

• Were You There? – Spiritual

Instrumental Music

• O Sacred Head - Johann Sebastian Bach
• O Traurigkeit, O Herzelied - Ethel Smyth

Congregational Music (all hymns from The Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 158 - Ah, holy Jesus (HERZLIEBSTER JESU)
• Hymn 168 - O Sacred Head Sore Wounded (HERZLICH TUT MICH VERLANGEN)
• Hymn 474 – When I survey the wondrous cross (ROCKINGHAM)
• Hymn 441 – In the cross of Christ I glory (RATHBUN)

Music for April 2, 2023 + The Sunday of the Passion

Vocal Music

• Ride On, King Jesus – Hall Johnson (1888-1970)
• He Never Said a Mumbalin’ Word – Spiritual, arr. William M. Schoenfeld (b. 1949)

Instrumental Music

• All Glory, Laud and Honor -arr. Cynthia Dobrinski (1950-2021)
• O Sacred Head – Rudy Davenport (b. 1948)
• Ah, Holy Jesus – Russell Hancock Miles (1895-1983)

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

• Hymn 154 All glory, laud, and honor (VALET WILL ICH DIR GEBEN)
• Hymn 480 When Jesus left his Father’s throne (KINGSFOLD)
• Hymn 143 The glories of these forty days (ERHALT UNS, HERR)
• Hymn R214 Your only son, no sin to hide (LAMB OF GOD)
• Hymn R227 Jesus, remember me (Taizé)
• Hymn 168 O sacred head, sore wounded (HERZLICH TUT MICH VERLANGEN)

Two spirituals and two German chorales are featured in the music for Palm Sunday.

Ride On, King Jesus

The opening Palm Sunday liturgy will feature the solo Ride On, King Jesus, sung by Christine Donley. It was arranged by the African-American composer Hall Johnson. 

Johnson was born in Athens, Georgia, taught himself to play the violin by reading a book about it, moved to New York City where he played in the orchestra of Broadway musicals, and set out to preserve the heritage of the Negro Spiritual. He arranged spirituals for his own ensemble, the Hall Johnson Singers as well as soloists such as the famed Marion Anderson. He also provided the scores for several films, his last being “Cabin in the Sky” in 1943 with Ethel Waters and Lena Horne.

He Never Said a Mumbalin Word

This Spiritual recalling Christ’s Passion provides poignant evidence of the eloquence and empathy born of shared suffering. The call-and-response singing style also provides a means of affirming the communal wisdom expressed in recurring phrases and refrains. The lines " They crucified my Lord, They nailed him to a tree, They pierced him in the side," etc, calls for the response, "and he never said a mumbalin' word."

This warm and gracious setting of this beloved melody, with a flowing piano accompaniment, is provided by William M. Schoenfeld, an American composer and arranger with degrees from  Cal-State, Hayward, California; the Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, California; and Master of Church Music from Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas.

Ah, Holy Jesus

I inherit a lot of organ music from the libraries of organist who have either retired or passed away. I am guessing that is where I got this short prelude on the hymn Herzliebster Jesu. It comes from a set ot two Lenten Chorale Preludes which are tied together by the use of the musical them "B-A-C-H." (The name of Bach can be spelled by playing the notes B (flat) A C and B (natural)

In music, the BACH motif is the motif, a succession of notes important or characteristic to a piece, B flat, A, C, B natural. In German musical nomenclature, in which the note B natural is named H and the B flat named B, it forms Johann Sebastian Bach's family name.

The composer of the closing voluntary, Russell Hancock Miles, was for a long time a music professor at the University of Illinois. Though little known today in the organ world, the May 1944 edition of the organist's magazine The Diapason said, "A graduate of Syracus University, Professor Miles is one of the outstanding pupils of his father-in-law, Dr. William Berwald. As head of the organ department at the University of Illinois, professor of composition, concert and church organist, conductor of the university chorus and composer, Professor Miles has taken a high place."

An interesting side-note is that Russell Miles is the son of C. Austin Miles, Sr., the composer of the well-loved gospel hymn "In the Garden."

Tenebrae

I want to remind all of you of the Tenebrae service our choir will sing Wednesday Evening. The service of Tenebrae follows a tradition of the early church dating back to the eighth century, and commemorates the final hours of Christ's life on earth as He prepared for and suffered death on the cross. This exceptionally moving work features familiar hymns and spirituals, and has become a staple in Holy Week repertoire in churches throughout the country.

The Good Shepherd Choir will present Tenebrae: A Service of Darkness on the Wednesday of Holy Week, April 5, at 7 p.m. in the Nave.