Music for February 20, 2022 + The Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany

Vocal Music

• O Come, Ye Servants of the Lord – Christopher Tye (c. 1505 - c. 1572)

Instrumental Music

• Sing Praise to Our Creator – Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg (1718 – 1795)
• Communion – Richard Purvis (1837-1911)
• March – Arthur William Marchant (1850-1921)

Congregational Music (all hymns from The Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 390 - Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (LOBE DEN HERREN)
• Hymn 576 - God is love, and where true love is (MANDATUM)
• Hymn 295 - Sing praise to our Creator (CHRISTE, DER IST MEIN LEBEN)
• Hymn 304 - I come with joy to meet my Lord (LAND OF REST)
• Hymn 657 - Love divine, all loves excelling (HYFRYDOL)
• Psalm 37:1-12, 41-42 – Tone Va

The anthem today is by the English Renaissance composer Christopher Tye. He studied at Cambridge University and in 1545 became a Doctor of Music both there and at Oxford. Talk about an over-achiever! He was choirmaster and organist of Ely Cathedral from about 1543. He may have been music teacher to King Edward VI who reportedly quoted his father Henry VIII, as saying "England hath one God, one truth, one doctor hath for music's art, and that is Doctor Tye, admired for skill in music's harmony."

The anthem comes from Tye's Actes of the Apostles (1553), his setting of the first fourteen chapters of the Book of Acts in metrical verse, with a new musical setting for each chapter. These are short, strophic pieces, whose settings range in style from fairly homophonic to quite imitative; the final setting is a double canon at the fourth. It is from this collection that his most familiar piece is derived; the most common tune of "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks", hymn 94 in our hymnal (though not attributed to him.)

Our anthem comes from the fourth chapter (or movement) of this work, but with new words. The original text, the translation of the Latin scripture, is very difficult to understand to our modern ears

When that the people taught they had

There came to them doutles:

Priests and rulers as men nye mad,

And eke the Saduces.

Whome it dyd greve that they should move

The people and them leade:

That Jesus Christ, by powre above

Should ryse up from the deade.

What we are singing is an English translation of a Latin contrafactum for the original text. What is a contrafactum, you ask? It’s what you get when an existing tune is used with a new set of words. A well-known example is The Star-Spangled Banner, which is sung to the music of “The Anacreontic Song” popularly known as a drinking song. 

What I think is ironic is that Christopher Tye translated Latin words into English, which were then replaced with Latin words which have now been translated in English.

The opening voluntary is two variations of hymn 295 by Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg, a German music critic, music theorist and composer. During his life he published two volumes of chorale preludes, which contain his only known composition for the organ.

This hymn tune, CHRISTUS, DER IST MEIN LEBEN, is given two treatments. In the first, the melody is in the pedal, played on a 4’ reed. In the second, the melody is in canon between the right hand and the pedal. 

Richard Purivs

Some years ago, in Berkeley, California, theater-organ buffs discovered a wonderfully talented high school boy named Don Irving, who play fabulously for a while and then disappeared. It turns out, his real name was Richard Purvis, and he became well known in church music circles. After making his concert debut at age 13, he won a scholarship to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. From there he began concertizing and composing. His works certainly show a predilection for the lyrical style of the theater organ. 

While his music has fallen out of fashion, several of his works have entered classic status in American organ music of the 20th century. One of those is this work called “Communion,” which features a lush, slow chordal theme which serves as a backdrop to a simple melody reminiscent of Gregorian Chant. A distinct feature of this piece is the use of chimes. Since we do not have chimes, we’ll use a handbell for the tolling of the bell.

Music for October 22, 2017 + The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Give Almes of thy Goods – Christopher Tye (1505-1572)
• O For a Closer Walk with God – Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924)

Instrumental Music

• O Worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness – Darwin Wolford (b. 1936)
• On a theme of Orlando Gibbons – Charles Villiers Stanford
• Sortie – Denis Bédard (b. 1950)

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

• Hymn 377 - All people that on earth do dwell (OLD 100TH)
• Hymn R258 - To God be the glory (TO GOD BE THE GLORY)
• Hymn 408 - Sing praise to God who reigns above (MIT FREUDEN ZART)
• Hymn R269 - Let all that is within me (Melvin Harrell)
• Hymn R271 - Alleluia, alleluia! Give thanks to the risen Lord (ALLELUIA NO. 1)
• Hymn 544 - Jesus shall reign where’er the sun (DUKE STREET)
• Psalm 96:1-9 - ToneVIIIa

Last month marked the 165th birthday of Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, the Irish musician who, along with Edward Elgar and Charles H. H. Parry, helped create a renaissance in English music in the late 19th century.

C. V. Stanford

He was the only child of a prominent Dublin lawyer. His considerable musical talent gained him admission to Cambridge University at the age of 18 where he quickly established a commanding reputation, and was appointed organist of Trinity College while still an undergraduate. Afterward he studied in Leipzig and Berlin. He went on to compose in almost every music form including seven symphonies; ten operas; fifteen concertante works; chamber, piano, and organ pieces; and over thirty large-scale choral works.

Though his influence on the British music scene of his day was quite substantial, little of his popularity survived him, with only his voluminous sacred music remaining in the active body of works which is the foundation of the Anglican tradition.

Today you will hear two of his works during communion, both based on hymn-tunes. The organ voluntary is based on the tune by Orlando Gibbons, SONG 34, which can be found in our Hymnal 1982 at hymn 21. The anthem is his classic setting of hymn 684, O for a closer walk with God, paired with the hymn-tune CAITHNESS.

In addition to his musical prowess, one must admit that he was a snappy dresser. Gotta love those spats!

The opening voluntary is based on the Psalm appointed for today, Psalm 96.

Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness;
    let the whole earth tremble before him. - Psalm 96:9

Darwin Wolford

It is written by Darwin Wolford, a composer, organist, and former music professor living in Idaho. He was Director of Organ Studies at Brigham Young University–Idaho before his retirement in 2004.

Born in Logan, Utah, he began piano lessons at the age of eight. Wolford earned his bachelor’s degree from Utah State University, his Master of Music degree and his PhD in organ composition from the University of Utah.  During college he studied organ with famed Mormon Tabernacle organists Robert Cundick and Alexander Schreiner and composition with Leroy Robertson, John LaMontaine, and Ned Rorem.

He has published more than 350 compositions for choir, orchestra, organ, piano, and other instruments. Wolford’s works are among those heard performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Wolford is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served for many years as a member of the General Music Committee. he was a member of the Executive Hymnbook Committee and assisted with the publication of the 1985 LDS Hymnbook. He also helped prepare the LDS Children’s Songbook.

The anthem this morning is by the 16th century composer Christopher Tye. Tye was the choirmaster at Ely Cathedral during the reign of Henry the VIII, and as such contributed new music for the Anglican church, including this anthem, Give Almes of thy Goods. (The word almes being an Middle English spelling and pronunciation of alms, or charitable gifts.)

Give Almes of thy Goods is a short setting of an offertory sentence which appeared in both the 1549 and 1552 Books of Common Prayer. This is an Tudor creation in every way. Constructed in the ABB form of the early English anthem, this four-voice piece is entirely syllabic, exactly as Thomas Cramner, the architect of the Book of Common Prayer, required: "to every syllable a note."

Music for February 5, 2017 + The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany

Vocal Music

• Give Almes of Thy Goods – Christopher Tye (1505-1572)

Instrumental Music

• Prelude on Slane – Healey Willan (1880-1968)
• Let Us Break Bread Together – Dale Wood (1934-2003)
• Trumpet Tune in D – David N. Johnson (1922-1988)

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

• Hymn 372 - Praise to the Living God (LEONI)
• Hymn 488 - Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart (SLANE)
• Hymn 380 - From all that dwell below the skies (OLD 100TH)
• Hymn 325 - Let us break bread together (LET US BREAK BREAD)
• Hymn R306 - We are marching in the light of the Lord (SIYAHAMBA)

The anthem this morning is by the 16th century composer Christopher Tye. Tye was the choirmaster at Ely Cathedral during the reign of Henry the VIII, and as such contributed new music for the Anglican church, including this anthem, Give Almes of thy Goods. (The word almes being an Middle English spelling and pronunciation of alms, or charitable gifts.)

Give Almes of thy Goods is a short setting of an offertory sentence which appeared in both the 1549 and 1552 Books of Common Prayer. This is an Tudor creation in every way. Constructed in the ABB form of the early English anthem, this four-voice piece is entirely syllabic, exactly as Thomas Cramner, the architect of the Book of Common Prayer, required: "to every syllable a note."

Northeast aspect of Ely Cathedral
by John Buckler

And, yes, the closing voluntary is the Trumpet Tune in D by David Johnson which was heard every Sunday for years on KUHF(KUHA) as the theme music for the Sunday morning program "With Heart and Voice" until the station was taken off the air. It was a sad day for music and the arts in Houston.