Music for September 8, 2019

Vocal Music

• Teach Me, O Lord – Thomas Attwood (1765-1838)

Instrumental Music

• Prélude, Opus 15, no. 5 – Louis Vierne (1870-1937)
• From God Shall Naught Divide Me, BuxWV 220 – Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707)
• Tuba Tune in D Major, Op. 15 – C. S. Lang (1891-1971)

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

• Hymn 400 - All creatures of our God and king (LAAST UNS ERFREUEN)
• Hymn 675 - Take up your cross, the Savior said (BOURBON)
• Hymn 635 - If thou but suffer God to guide thee (WER NUR DEN LIEBEN GOTT)
• Hymn - I have decided to follow Jesus (ISSAM)
• Hymn R 206 - Holy, holy (HOLY HOLY)
• Hymn 423 - Immortal, invisible (ST. DENIO)
• Psalm 1 – Tone VIb

Thomas Attwood (unknown painter)

Two weeks ago the Good Shepherd Choir sang an anthem by Mozart, and the week before we featured music by Mendelssohn. Today we sing an anthem by an English composer who bridged the two, Thomas Attwood. Attwood was organist at St. Paul's Cathedral in London from 1796 until his death. He began his musical career as a chorister in the Chapel Royal. The Prince of Wales, later George IV, sent him to Italy to study music when Attwood was 18, and then on to Vienna, where he became a student and friend to Mozart. Mozart told a friend, "I have the sincerest affection for Attwood, and i feel much pleasure in telling you that he has imbibed more of my style than any other scholar I have ever had." (1) Today's anthem, Teach Me, O Lord, dates from 1797, and exhibits much of Mozart's style. It has many of the same melodic and harmonic characteristics of Ave Verum, Mozart's miniature masterpiece.

Later in his life, Attwood became a close friend to the young composer Mendelssohn. During Mendelssohn's first trip to London, he suffered a knee injury in an accident, and spent the latter part of his recuperation in Attwood's home at Beulah Hill in Norwood. Following a second stay at  Norwood in 1832, Mendelssohn dedicated his Three Preludes and Fugues for the Organ (Op. 37) to Attwood.

(1) Wienand, Elwyn A. and Young, Robert H., The Anthem in England and America, The Free Press, 1970, p. 248 

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.