Music for June 3, 2022 + Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Veni Creator Spiritus – Stephen Sturk (b. 1950)
• Come, Holy Ghost – Thomas Attwood (1795-1838)
• Psalm 104:25-35, 37 – setting by William Crotch (1775-1847)

Instrumental Music

• Tongues of Fire (Pentecost Dance) – Alfred V. Fedak (b. 1953)
• Come, God Creator, Holy Ghost – Johann Gottfried Walther (1684-1748)
• Improvisation on “Veni Creator Spiritus” – Alfred V. Fedak

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

• Hymn 509 - Spirit divine, attend our prayers (NUN DANKET ALL UND BRINGET EHR)
• Hymn 20 - Now Holy Spirit, ever One (WAREHAM)
• Hymn - Through north and south (LASST UNS ERFREUEN)
• Hymn R90 - Spirit of the Living God (IVERSON)
• Hymn R168 - If you believe and I believe (Traditional, Zimbabwe)
• Hymn 511 - Holy Spirit, ever living (ABBOT’S LEIGH)

Today is Pentecost Sunday, the day we commemorate the appearance of the Holy Spirit on the disciples after Christ ascended into heaven. It is considered the birthday of the church, and a major holiday in the history of the church.

One of the oldest and most widely used hymns in the Christian church is Veni, Creator Spiritus, with a text attributed to Rabanus Maurus (776-856) and a chant melody from around the same time. This text and/or tune permeates our music this morning.

Veni Creator Spiritus

This anthem by the California composer Stephen Sturk begins with the original chant in Latin, sung simply as is fitting for a chant. Interspersed with the hymn are verses of Psalm 36 set to the same chant, but this time in a rhythmic setting, much like a modern hymn.

Stephen Sturk is cofounder and artistic director of the Pacific Academy of Ecclesiastical Music (PACEM), music director at Saint Thomas of Canterbury Episcopal Church in Temecula, California, as well as composer in residence at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral and conductor of Cappella Gloriana in San Diego. He previously was artistic director of the San Clemente Choral Society, and from 1993 to 1997 he served on the faculty of the University of San Diego, where he was director of the Choral Scholars Program. Prior to settling in California in 1991, Sturk was music director of the New York Motet Choir and associate conductor of the choirs at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. From 1980 to 1983, he was director of The Juilliard Singers at The Juilliard School. 

Come, Holy Ghost

Thomas Attwood wrote this now classic English anthem in 1834, after he had left St. Pauls and begun teaching at the Royal Academy of Music. While the music is newly composed by Attwood, it uses a translation of the Latin text by Maurus.

The son of a musician in the royal band, Attwood was born in London. At the age of nine he became a chorister in the Chapel Royal. In 1783 he was sent to study abroad at the expense of the Prince of Wales (afterwards George IV), who had been favorably impressed by his skill at the harpsichord. After two years in Italy, Attwood proceeded to Vienna, where he became a favorite pupil of Mozart. On his return to London in 1787 he held for a short time an appointment as one of the chamber musicians to the Prince of Wales. In 1796 he was chosen as the organist of St Paul's Cathedral, and in the same year he was made composer of the Chapel Royal. Soon after the institution of the Royal Academy of Music in 1823, Attwood was chosen to be one of the professors. He wrote an anthem for the coronation of William IV, and was composing a similar work for the coronation of Queen Victoria when he died on March 24, 1838. Attwood's funeral took place at St. Paul's Cathedral. He is buried in the Cathedral, in the crypt, under the organ.

Tongues of Fire (Pentecost Dance)
Improvisation on “Veni Creator Spiritus” 

The opening and closing voluntaries are by the American organist and composer Alfred Fedak. He recently retired as Minister of Music and Arts at Westminster Presbyterian Church on Capitol Hill in Albany, New York, but continues to teach at SUNY Schenectady. On June 1, 2021, he assumed the post of organist at First Reformed Church of Scotia, New York. 

The opening voluntary (Tongues of Fire) has a driving rhythm in the left hand, with the 'E' below middle C heard repeatedly throughout the entire piece. The first part is the dance movement, signifying the tongues of fire. Then the volume gets softer as the chant tune Veni Creator Spiritus appears, still as a dance.

Fedak uses the same chant tune in more traditional form in his Improvisation on “Veni Creator Spiritus” which I'm playing for the closing voluntary. Listen for a rippling melody which starts softly buts comes roaring into prominence before the plainchant enters in the pedals. It certainly sounds like a roaring fire!

Music for December 20, 2020 + The Fourth Sunday of Advent

Vocal Music

• O Come, O Come, Emmanuel – Latin Chant, arr. Jackson Hearn (b. 1958)
• Come, thou Long Expected Jesus - Stuttgart
• Amy Bogan, soprano

Instrumental Music

• Three Advent Preludes – Gerald Near (b. 1942)
• Savior of the Nations, Come
• Ave Maria
• Veni, Emmanuel
• Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming – Alfred V. Fedak (b. 1953)
• Herr Christ, der ein'ge Gottes-Sohn, BWV 601 – J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
• (Lord Christ, the only Son of God)

Since we are not able to sing safely yet in our services, I have made the effort to include as many hymns in the vocal and instrumental music as possible. Today, Amy Bogan is singing two of our most favorite and well-known Advent hymns.

Probably the first Latin chant that any of us learn is the Advent hymn, Veni, Emmanuel (O Come, O Come, Emmanuel). This ancient advent hymn originated in part from the “Great ‘O’ Antiphons,” part of the medieval Roman Catholic Advent liturgy. On each day of the week leading up to Christmas, one responsive verse would be chanted, each including a different Old Testament name for the coming Messiah. When we sing each verse of this hymn, we acknowledge Christ as the fulfillment of these Old Testament prophesies. We sing this hymn in an already-but not yet-kingdom of God. Christ's first coming gives us a reason to rejoice again and again, yet we know that all is not well with the world. So along with our rejoicing, we plead using the words of this hymn that Christ would come again to perfectly fulfill the promise that all darkness will be turned to light. The original text created a reverse acrostic: “ero cras,” which means, “I shall be with you tomorrow.” That is the promise we hold to as we sing this beautiful hymn.

The other hymn is "Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus." Charles Wesley  wrote this Advent hymn and printed it in his Hymns for the Nativity of our Lord (1744). Like so many of Wesley's texts, "Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus" alludes to one or more Scripture passages in virtually every phrase. The double nature of Advent is reflected in this text, in which we remember Christ's first coming even while praying for his return. Stanzas 1 and 2 recall Advent prophecies in the Old Testament; 

Music for January 5, 2020 + The Second Sunday after Christmas Day

Vocal Music

• Falan Tidings – Donald Pearson (b. 1953)

Instrumental Music

• How Bright Appears the Morning Star – Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706)
• Impression on “We Three Kings” – Alfred V. Fedak (b. 1951)
• Gigue on “Stuttgart” – David Schelat (b. 1955)

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

• Hymn 109 - The first Nowell the angel did say (THE FIRST NOWELL)
• Hymn 421 - All glory be to God on high (ALLEIN GOTT IN DER HÖH)
• Hymn 127 - Earth has many a noble city (STUTTGART)
• Hymn 480 - When Jesus left his Father’s throne (KINGSFOLD)
• Hymn 324 - Let all mortal flesh keep silence (PICARDY)
• Hymn 119 - As with gladness men of old (DIX)

Twelve days after Christmas is the day marked as the Epiphany, generally thought of as the day that the God-Son was revealed as a human being in Christ Jesus. As the Epiphany is on a Monday this year, we will take the opportunity to focus this Sunday morning on the visit of the Magi as told in the Gospel of Matthew.

That being the case, much of the music for this Sunday features the Wise Men who followed that star. That includes the opening hymn, The First Nowell, which details the entire Christmas Story, focusing on the star which led both shepherds and magi to the infant King.

The offertory anthem is the same anthem sung at the 6:30 PM Service on Christmas Eve. Since the majority of our congregation was either at 4 or 10 PM,  we decided we'd do a follow-up singing of it on this Epiphany Sunday. Donald Pearson takes the text of a 17th century carol and sets it in a deceptively simple sounding anthem  It is, in fact, a work of subtlety and great depth. The three voice parts are as sweet and pleasant, but the harmonies are more challenging and the phrase shapes carry us right along with the surging melody.

According to the Oxford Book of Carols, the text dates from about 1610. Interestingly, the original carol starts with Matthew’s wise men and ends with Luke’s shepherds, which is truer to the narrative, since the Magi would have had to have left their homes weeks if not months before the birth, given the distance between their countries and Jerusalem. The title, Falan Tidings, comes from the original carol, which includes "the shepherds there about", who only had to leave their tents and flocks on Bethlehem Down and run down the hillside, ‘singing all even in a rout, “Falan-tiding-dido!”

I found it interesting that all of the composers today were born in the 50s, (except Pachelbel was born in 1653, while the others were 1950s babies!)