LORD, HAVE MERCY Music for February 26, 2023 + The First Sunday of Lent

Vocal Music

• Wilt Thou Forgive That Sin – John Hilton (1599-1657), Peter Crisafulli, arr.

Instrumental Music

• Prelude in E Minor, Op. 28, No. 4, – Frédéric François Chopin (1810 –1849)
• Sarabande in d minor – George Frederic Handel (1685-1759)
• Ein Feste Burg Ist Unser Gott – Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706)

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

• Hymn 142 Lord, who throughout these forty days (ST. FLAVIAN)
• Hymn 143 The glory of these forty days (ERHALT UNS, HERR)
• Hymn R 172 In our lives, Lord, be glorified (LORD, BE GLORIFIED)
• Hymn R107 You are my hiding place (HIDING PLACE)
• Hymn 688 A mighty fortress is our God (EIN FESTE BURG)
• Psalm 99 – Tone IIa

Yes, it’s that time of year again, when our liturgical actions change to reflect the meaning and purpose of Lent. And the music changes, too. A time of penitence and quiet reflection cannot embrace music that jumps for joy and is all “happy-clappy!” The organ becomes quieter (or drops out all-together), the service music changes to include a Kyrie (Lord, Have Mercy) and Agnus Dei (Jesus, Lamb of God.)

John Donne

Wilt Thou Forgive That Sin

The choir sings an anthem that certainly supports the penitential mood. Hymn 140 in our hymnal is not known to our congregation, so it makes a perfect anthem. It's text is from the poem A Hymn to God the Father by the English Renaissance writer John Donne. If you don't have a hymnal nearby, you can read the entire poem here. You can see that Donne was convicted of his sin.

The music is by John Hilton, an English composer, who was organist and lay clerk at St Margaret's Westminster from 1628 to 1644 and was buried in the church in 1657. He was the son of John (died 1608) who was organist and composer at Trinity College in that city. John junior graduated from that college in 1626 and leased a house from the Dean and Chapter of Westminster in the Almonry, near the Abbey. He was also a lutenist to Charles I. He ceased to be organist as Parliamentary forces ordered organs to be removed from churches and psalms to be said, not chanted.

John Hilton

This hymn has been arranged for quartet in Elizabethan style by the American Composer Peter Crisafulli. Born and raised in Evanston, Illinois, in 1946, Crisafulli earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from Northwestern University. His musical formation in the service of the church began at age seven as a chorister in the Men and Boys Choir of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Evanston. He has been serving as Minister of Music at All Saints Episcopal Church in Chevy Chase, Maryland, since 1988. Many of his compositions were written for All Saints Church. 

Prelude in E Minor

Frédéric Chopin wrote a number of preludes for piano solo. His cycle of 24 Preludes, Op. 28, covers all major and minor keys. The Prélude Op. 28, No. 4, by Frédéric Chopin, is considered by many to be one of the most famous of the Chopin preludes. By Chopin's request, the piece was played at his own funeral by Franz Liszt on a pipe organ. (I'll be using the piano, as originally planned.)

The famous German conductor and pianist Hans von Bülow called the prélude "suffocation", due to its sense of despair. In fact, Chopin's last dynamic marking in the piece is smorzando, which means "dying away". But the prelude may have once been given a title. According to George Sand's daughter Solange, who stayed with the composer at the monastery in Majorca when the preludes were written, "My mother gave a title to each of Chopin’s wonderful Preludes; these titles have been preserved on a score he gave to us." That titled score is lost. But Solange did record the names of the preludes, apparently without assigning the names to the prelude numbers. It is believed that the title "Quelles larmes au fond du cloître humide?" ("What tears (are shed) from the depths of the damp monastery?") corresponds to Prelude No. 4.

Music for March 31, 2019 + The Fourth Sunday in Lent

Vocal Music

• Just as I Am – Richard DeLong (1951-1994)

Instrumental Music

• Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir – Johann Pachelbel
• Prelude in E Minor – Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)

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

• Hymn 690 - Guide me, O thou great Jehovah (CWM RHONDDA)
• Hymn R90 - Spirit of the living God (IVERSON)
• Hymn 686 - Come, thou fount of every blessing (NETTLETON)
• Hymn - Deep River, my home is over Jordan (NEGRO SPIRITUAL)
• Hymn R147 - Softly and Tenderly (THOMPSON)
• Hymn 411 - O bless the Lord, my soul! (ST. THOMAS(WILLIAMS))
• Psalm 32 – Psalm tone IIa

"Every head bowed, every eye closed."

If you grew up anywhere near the "Bible Belt" or every attended a revival in a Baptist Church (read "evangelistic meeting"), you've heard this term, offered at the end of the altar call, while the preacher or evangelist encouraged those with deep, dark sins to repent and give their life to the Lord. He often would ask the choir to sing (yet another) stanza of the quintessential invitational hymn, Just as I am. That hymn was used so much by so many song leaders that many recovering evangelicals have grown to hate that hymn.

Richard DeLong

Yet the text itself is a strong witness to the grace of God, who loves us and welcomes us just as we are. The text, when removed from its familiar tune "Woodworth," takes on a new strength and hope. That is just what happens with this Sunday's anthem, set to a new melody by the late Dallas composer Richard DeLong. DeLong, originally from Ohio, received the degree of Bachelor of Music from Ashland College and the degrees of Master of Music and Master of Sacred Music from Southern Methodist University. His teachers included Robert Anderson, Larry Palmer, Lloyd Pfautsch, Roger Deschner, and Carlton Young.

When I first met Dick he was director of music at East Dallas Christian Church, where he had transformed a rather pedestrian choir into a stellar choral group. Later he served as Director of Music for St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church in Plano, Texas where his choir had been chosen to perform dozens of world premiere performances. DeLong was very active at the national level with both the American Guild of Organists and the American Choral Directors Association.

The Opening voluntary is the second of two settings of the German chorale, Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir. The text is a metrical setting of Psalm 130. (Out of the depths have I called unto thee).

The communion voluntary is an unusual choice for church, as it is by Frédéric Chopin, a well known composer, but one who did not write any religious music. The Prelude in E Minor is from his Opus 28, written when he was around 28 years old. The prelude is one of the composer's saddest works, with its slow melody that hovers around one note while the accompaniment slowly pulses along. By Chopin's request, this piece was played at his own funeral,

Music for June 28, 2015 + The Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Swing Low, Sweet Chariot – arr. Harry T. Burleigh (1866-1949) - Richard Murray, soloist

Instrumental Music

• Tune in E (in the style of John Stanley) – George Thalben-Ball (1896-1987)
• Prelude in E-Minor (op.28 no. 4) - Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
• Tuba Tune in D – Craig Sellar Lang (1891-1971)

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

• Hymn 493 O for a thousand tongues to sing (AZMON)
• Hymn 533 How wondrous and great (LYONS)
• Hymn R 23 The Steadfast love of the Lord never ceases (THE STEADFAST LOVE)
• Hymn 411 O bless the Lord, my soul (ST. THOMAS[WILLIAMS])
• Hymn R 281 Broken for Me (BROKEN FOR ME)
• Hymn 610 Lord, whose love through humble service (BLAENHAFREN)

From A Land Down Under 

George Thalben-Ball was an incredible force in the organ world of Great Britain. Though originally born in Australia, his family moved to England when he was four. He entered the Royal College of Music in London at the incredibly early age of 14, and upon graduation, the young man was asked to deputise as organist at London's Temple Church by its then organist, Sir Henry Walford Davies. In 1923, he succeeded Walford Davies as organist and director of the Temple Church choir, a post he held for nearly 60 years. Under his direction, the choir attracted such a following that queues for services often spilled out of the Temple into Fleet Street. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1967 and knighted in 1982.

He was also well known as a virtuoso organist, playing on the daily BBC radio broadcasts. He could sight-read, transpose and improvise in any style and at any length to the highest standard without perceptible effort. The opening voluntary today is a piece he wrote in the style of John Stanley, an 18th century English organist and composer. It's really rather stylized, and romantic in its idea of what the music of Stanley was like, but it's still a lovely, stately piece. It's in three parts, with the first and last being almost identical.

Likewise, C. S. Lang (known to his friends as Robin) was born in New Zealand but moved with his family to London where he also studied at The Royal College of Music. His best-known work is the Tuba Tune for organ, Opus 15, a favorite of recitalists. This dashing little piece, which owes its title to the boisterous melody sounded forth on the organ's tuba stop, begins in the style of Handel but, in its central section, has some brief key changes that could belong to no century except the 20th.

Hymn of the Day

Lord, whose love through humble service

Albert F. Bayly wrote this text in response to a Hymn Society of America search for new hymns on social welfare in 1961. The text begins with recognition of Christ's ultimate sacrifice on the cross and then points to the continuing needs of the homeless, the hungry, the prisoners, and the mourners. Bayly's words remind us of modern refugees, AIDS patients, and famine victims who are as close as our doorstep or who are brought to our attention via the news media. The final two stanzas encourage us to move from Sunday worship to weekday service; such integrity in the Christian life is truly a liturgy of sacrifice, pleasing to God.

The tune BLAENHAFREN is a Welsh melody in a rounded barform (AABA), making it easy to learn and easy to sing. The rhythmic accents propel the melody forward, providing a fitting setting for this challenging text.