Music for June 16, 2019 + Trinity Sunday

Vocal Music

• Father of Heaven, Whose Love Profound – Healey Willan (1880-1968)

Instrumental Music

• All Glory Be To God on High - Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
• Adoration Antiphon (Holy, Holy) - Fred Bock (1939-1998)
• We All Believe in One True God - J. S. Bach (1685-1750)

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

• Hymn 362 - Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty! (NICEA)
• Hymn S-236 - Canticle 13: Benedictus es, Domine – setting by John Rutter
• Hymn 686 – Come, thou fount of every blessing (NETTLETON)
• Hymn 295 - Sing praise to our Creator (CHRISTUS, DER IST MEIN LEBEN)
• Hymn R37 - Father, we love you (GLORIFY YOUR NAME)
• Hymn R206 - Holy, holy (Jimmy Owens)
• Hymn 368 - Holy Father, great Creator (REGENT SQUARE)

I understand that clergy-types don't particularly care for preaching on Trinity Sunday. There's nothing innately inspiring about the doctrine of the Three-in-One. But as a musician, I love Trinity Sunday, because we have such good music from which to choose to honor this day. Holy, holy, holy has to be one of my favorite hymns to play, partially because people will sing it, and partially because, as a little boy growing up Methodist in a small town, we sang it every first Sunday of the month, when we would have Communion.  (It was the closest thing we had to a Sanctus!) I could sing it from memory.

The anthem is by Healey Willan, an English musician who immigrated to Canada early in the 20th century to teach at the Toronto Conservatory of Music. He was on faculty and staff there from 1913-1936, when he and the school parted ways. He had become organist at St. Mary Magdalene in 1921, and he remained there until his death in 1968.

Musically, he wrote in many different genres, including operas, symphonies, chamber music, a concerto, and pieces for band, orchestra, organ, and piano. He is best known today for his church music. Even in that he utilized disparate styles. For his choirs at St. Mary Magdalene he wrote music for the decidedly Anglo-Catholic congregation, with its more mystical approach. Willan's deep interest in plainsong and polyphonic, unaccompanied choral music is evident. But beginning in the 1950s he also began to write organ and choral music with a broader scope, using familiar hymn texts and tunes in his church music. The anthem today is an example of that. The text and tune are perhaps more familiar to Lutherans than Anglicans. The text is a prayer to the Trinity. Listen for this recurring phrase: Before thy throne we sinners bend....

There is also some good organ music based on the Trinity. One of my favorites is this sturdy chorale-prelude by Bach on the German chorale, Wir glauben all an einen Gott (We all believe in one God) The text is a paraphrase of the creed by Martin Luther, using a 15th century tune that Luther adapted for the text.  Bach use a fragment of the melody for the subject in his fughetta which I am playing as the closing voluntary.

I call it a fughetta because, unlike an actual fugue, the subject (melody) does not appear in the pedal. Instead, we find an ostinato passage which makes me feel like Sisyphus, for the pedal melody begins climbing up the pedalboard until it reaches an octave, then tumbles back down again, only to be repeated:

A contemporary of Bach's, Georg Philipp Telemann, wrote the opening voluntary, a two-part setting of the hymn we're singing as our hymn of praise, All Glory Be to God on High. It's a metrical setting of the Gloria which we sing every Sunday. In this organ piece, the melody is heard clearly in the upper voice, played by the right hand. The first verse is imitative, very much like a fugue, but with the melody played in half-notes above all accompaniment. The second setting returns to the usual rhythm of the hymn-tune while the left hand employs a playful dance-like motif.

Music for February 3, 2019 + The Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

Vocal Music

• The Greatest Is Love – Allen Pote (b. 1945)

Instrumental Music

• Vater Unser (Our Father in Heaven) – J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
• Praise the Name of Jesus – arr. Fred Bock (1939-1958)
• Wir Christenleut (We Christians Folk) – J. S. Bach

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

• Hymn 379 - God is Love, let heavens adore him (ABBOT’S LEIGH)
• Hymn 598 - Lord Christ, when first thou cam’st to earth (MIT FREUDEN ZART)
• Hymn R7 - Praise the name of Jesus (HICKS)
• Hymn R218 - Broken for me (BROKEN FOR ME)
• Hymn R223 - Glory be to Jesus (WEM IN LEIDENSTAGEN)
• Hymn R226 - Ubi caritas (Jacques Berthier)
• Hymn 530 - Spread, O spread, thou mighty word (GOTT SEI DANK)
• Psalm71:1-6 - simplified Anglican Chant by Jerome Meachen

Allen Pote

The choir sings an anthem based on today's Epistle lesson by the American composer Allen Pote. Pote is known nationally as a composer of sacred music as well as a clinician for festivals and workshops. Since 1975 his published choral works, which include twelve musicals for youth and children, have been widely performed.

For twenty two years he was Director of Music in churches in Texas and Florida, including a tenure at Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church here in Houston. He is currently a full time composer living in Pensacola, Florida.

A contemporary of Potes was Fred Bock, a composer, church musician, and publisher who served as Minister of Music at Bel Air Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles for 14 years, then at Hollywood Presbyterian Church for 18 years. Bock was born in Great Neck, New York, playing the piano at age six and organ at age twelve. He attended Ithaca College, receiving his B.A. in Music Education. He earned his Masters and did Doctoral work in Church Music at the University of Southern California.

Back when he was just a college student, he self-published his first piece, an arrangement for band. From that simple beginning he formed several music publishing companies, including Gentry Publications, publishers of music for school and concert use and Fred Bock Music Company, publishers of church music. There are now over 600 compositions and arrangements of his in print. This includes his piano arrangement of today's presentation hymn, the contemporary chorus by Fred Hicks titled Praise the Name of Jesus, which I'm playing for the communion voluntary.

Serving as bookends for the service are two works from J. S. Bach's little organ book, Orgelbüchlein.  (I can be redundant in two languages!) The Orgelbüchlein ("Little Organ Book") is a collection of 46 chorale preludes for organ written by Johann Sebastian Bach which serve a four-fold purpose: it is a collection of organ music for church services, a treatise on composition, a religious statement, and an organ-playing manual.

The prelude is a setting of the  Lutheran version of the Lord's Prayer, Vater unser im Himmelreich (Our Father in Heaven). After the text and melody were written in 1539, many composers use the hymn in choral and organ compositions. including Dieterich Buxtehude and Georg Böhm. Bach himself used the chorale in four choral works and at least two other organ settings.

Albert Schweitzer won
the Nobel Peace Prize
in 1952. In addition to
being a Doctor, Missionary,
and Philosopher, he was
also an organist and noted
Bach scholar, giving
numerous organ concerts
in Europe to finance his
hospital in Africa.

In this setting the melody is in the soprano voice. The accompaniment in the inner parts and pedal is based on a four-note sixteenth note sighing motif preceded by a rest or "breath") and a longer eight-note version; both are derived from the first phrase of the melody. The two forms of the motif and their inversions pass from one lower voice to another, producing a continuous stream of sixteenth notes; semiquavers (sixteenths) in one voice are accompanied by eighth notes in the other two. The combined effect is of the harmonisation of a chorale by arpeggiated chords. Albert Schweitzer  described the accompanying motifs as representing "peace of mind"(quiétude).

The closing voluntary,  Wir Christenleut, is the last of the Christmas Chorales in the book. The text

We Christians may
Rejoice to-day,
When Christ was born to comfort and to save us;
Who thus believes
No longer grieves,
For none are lost who grasp the hope He gave us.

is not particularly picturesque (i.e., no shepherds, angels, or wise men were involved in this hymn), so I don't feel too out-of-sync by playing it in the season of Epiphany.

This prelude is written for single manual and pedal in four voices. Like today's opening voluntary, the unadorned melody is in the top voice. The accompaniment—striding eighth notes in the pedal (like an ostinato bass) and dance-like sixteenth notes in the inner parts—are formed from two short motifs. Both accompanying motifs serve to propel the chorale prelude forwards, the resolute striding bass having been seen by Albert Schweitzer as representing firmness in faith, a reference to the last two lines of the first verse "who thus believes no longer grieves, for none are lost who grasp the hope He gave us."

Music for January 1, 2017 + The Holy Name of Jesus

There will be no choir this Sunday

Instrumental Music

• Das alte Jahr vergangen ist [The old year now hath passed away] BWV 614 – Johann Sebastian Bach
• Jesus, Name Above All Names/O, How I Love Jesus – arr. Mark Hayes
• Praise the Name of Jesus – arr. Fred Bock
• In dir ist Freude [In Thee Is Gladness] BWV 615 – Johann Sebastian Bach

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

• Hymn 450 - All hail the power of Jesus’ name (Coronation)
• Hymn 644 - How sweet the name of Jesus sounds (St. Peter)
• Hymn 250 - Now greet the swiftly changing year (Sixth Night)
• Hymn R26 - Jesus, name above all names (Hearn)
• Hymn R98 - How Majestic Is Your Name (How Majestic) 
• Hymn R28 - Emmanuel (McGee)
• Hymn R37 - Father, we love you (Glorify Your Name)
• Hymn 477 - All praise to thee, for thou, O King divine (Engleberg)

Jesus publicly received his Holy Name when he was presented
at the Temple and circumcised, under the Law

According to the liturgical calendar, the first of January, while still part of the twelve days of Christmas, is known as The Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. The celebration is held eight days after Christmas to commemorate the naming of the child, because the Gospel of Luke tells us, "at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb."

I've included many hymns and songs this Sunday which exult the name of Christ. Two of the piano voluntaries are settings of contemporary songs extolling Jesus' name.

This is, of course, also New Year's Day. While not a liturgical feast day, there is indeed music written for the church's observance of the day. Two of the most famous pieces for New Year's Day come from Johann Sebastian Bach's Orgelbuchlein. I'll be playing both of them for this Sunday's single Eucharistic service at 10:15. The opening voluntary is rather melancholy, with its intensely chromatic, highly ornamented melody of the chorale Das alte Jahr vergangen ist [The old year has passed] played slowly in the right hand on one keyboard while the left hand and feet accompany on another manual and the pedal board.

The other piece, played at the close of the service, is much more jubilant and bright. In Thee is Gladness is a hymn by  Johann Lindemann written for a balletto (dance tune) by Giovanni G. Gastoldi, a priest and composer from Mantua, Italy. Only the first four notes of the chorale are used as a recurring motif used as an ostinato during the piece, along with the "short-short-short-long" rhythm of the ultra short melodic fragment that also appears throughout the hymn. 

Music for November 13, 2016 + Kirking of the Tartan

Vocal Music

• Judge Eternal – Malcolm Archer (b. 1952)
• Draw Us in the Spirit's Tether - Jack H. Ossewaarde (1918-2004)

Instrumental Music

• Highland Cathedral - James D. Wetherald, arr., Richard Kean, piper
• In My Life, Lord, Be Glorified (A Sylvan Poeme) – Fred Bock (1939-1998)

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

• Hymn 7 - Christ, whose glory fills the skies (Ratisbon)
• Hymn S-204 - Glory be to God on High - Old Scottish Chant
• Hymn R276 - Soon and very soon (Soon and Very Soon)
• Hymn 707 - Take my life, and let it be consecrated (Hollingside)
• Hymn 615 - “Thy kingdom come!” on bended knee (St. Flavian)
• Hymn 671 - Amazing grace! How sweet the sound (New Britain)
• Hymn 371 - Thou, whose almighty word (Moscow)
• Canticle 9: The First Song of Isaiah (Ecce, Deus) Isaiah 12:2-6 – Tone VIIIg

Malcolm Archer has written a sprightly, rhythmic anthem on the text "Judge Eternal, throned in splendor." It's distinct trademark is the use of variable meter, alternating 7/8 time with 4/4 time throughout the melody. Other than that one (noticeable) characteristic, it is very much like a typical hymn. All four stanzas are set to the same tune, with treble voices singing the first stanza, tenors and basses singing the second stanza, and all voices singing the last stanza in unison. Only the the third stanza is sung in four parts, without organ, and in a different key. 

I decided to schedule this anthem this past summer, as the presidential election took an ugly turn. The text spoke to me as a Christian as well as a citizen of this great country. Several times in rehearsal choir members would remark that we should have sung this before the election. It will still bring healing and hope in it's presentation this Sunday.

Judge eternal, throned in splendor,
Lord of lords and King of kings,
with thy living fire of judgment
purge this land of bitter things;
solace all its wide dominion
with the healing of thy wings.

Still the weary folk are pining
for the hour that brings release,
and the city's crowded clangor
cries aloud for sin to cease;
and the homesteads and the woodlands
plead in silence for their peace.

Crown, O God, thine own endeavor;
cleave our darkness with thy sword;
feed all those who do not know thee
with the richness of thy word;
cleanse the body of this nation
through the glory of the Lord.

The text is by Henry Scott Holland, an English priest who was Canon of St. Paul's, London, for years. His hymn, "Judge eternal, throned in splendour" (Prayer for the Nation), first appeared in the Commonwealth for July 1902. It has since been included in over 95 hymnals.

Malcolm Archer is one of the leading church musicians in England today, having also served at St. Paul's, London as director of music.

Many of us have sung and loved Harold Friedell's wonderful anthem, Draw Us In the Spirit's Tether. As with many great texts, there are other musical settings. One of those is a short motet using just the first stanza written by Jack H. Osseraarde. Osserwaarde was Organist and Choir master at Calvary Church in New York City  before coming to Houston in 1953 to be Organist and Choirmaster of Christ Church Cathedral and organist and program annotator of the Houston Symphony Orchestra under Leopold Stowkowski.

During his time in Houston, Ossewaarde wrote a Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in C, and “Hosanna to the Son of David.” His anthem Draw us in the Spirit’s tether was published during his tenure at the Cathedral, though it was actually written while he was still at Calvary Church, New York City.

He left Houston in 1958 to return to New York, this time as director of music at St. Bartholomew's in Manhattan.

I refer the reader to a previous post of mine about "Kirking of the Tartan." It's not on the official prayerbook liturgical calendar, but we have been observing the Sunday closest to the feast day of Samuel Seabury as "Kirking Sunday" for 19 years now. Some of the congregation still are at a loss why we do it.  Our piper this Sunday is Mr. Richard Kean, a professional piper and native of Scotland.

Mr. Richard Kean, piper

Music for February 7 + The Last Sunday after the Epiphany

Vocal Music

• Gospel Adoramus – Mark Hayes
• Round the Lord in Glory Seated – David McCarthy
• "Circle" Sanctus - Sheldon Curry
• The Storm is Passing Over – Barbara Baker

Instrumental Music

• I’m Goin’ to live So God Can Use Me – Paul Taylor
• Come, We That Love the Lord – Timothy Shaw
• Toccata Brilliante on We Will Glorify – Twila Paris, arr. Fred Bock

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

• Hymn 7 - Christ, whose glory fills the skies (Ratisbon)
• Hymn 383 - Fairest Lord Jesus (St. Elizabeth)
• Hymn 135 - Songs of thankfulness and praise (Salzburg)
• Hymn R201 - Be still, for the Spirit of the Lord (Be Still)
• Hymn R247 - Lord, the light of your love is shining (Shine, Jesus, Shine)

It's Gospel Sunday!

After I first arrived at Good Shepherd, I would schedule music that had not been in the typical rotation of an Episcopal Congregation. Things such as spirituals, old hymns and gospel songs from my youth would find their way onto my music lists. I never thought anything of it until I overheard a choir member remark to another singer, "It must be his Methodist upbringing."

"Pardon Me, your Methodist is showing."

It's going to show with all it's Protestant glory this Sunday, the last Sunday before Lent begins. Since Lent brings with it a quieter, more subdued set list, we're going to leave Epiphany with a bang. 

The service will start with an organ arrangement of the spiritual, I'm Gonna Live So God Can Use Me. 

I'm gonna live so God can use me anywhere, Lord, anytime!
I'm gonna live so God can use me anywhere, Lord, anytime!

Then instead of the Gloria in Excelsis, we will sing Mark Hayes' setting of Gospel Adoramus, written in a contemporary Rock-Gospel style, using both the Latin and English texts of the Adoramus Te. In the Hayes inserts a quasi-baroque style five-part round. It's fun to sing!

I'll use the piano again for the offertory, a Gospel-inspired setting of an Anglican hymn by a Canadian-born composer! David McCarthy was born in Winnipeg, Canada with degrees in music from McGill University, the Eastman School of Music, and Houghton College. He is the organist and choir director at Incarnation Episcopal church in Penfield, NY, and also teaches at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York.

David wraps the text Round the Lord in Glory Seated in a tune that sounds like it came right out of a Black Baptist Church in South Carolina. (Or Georgia. Or Alabama. Or Detroit, for that matter.) The three stanzas feature the choir in unison, then the men with three part treble descant, then a four-part setting of the tune with a clever descant of "Holy, Holy, Holy" sung above. With a modulation to a higher key on each stanza, do not be surprised if you feel transfigured after hearing it!

For over 30 years, in Texas, Tennessee, and Arizona, Sheldon Curry has conducted church choirs – some in large Episcopal Cathedrals; others in rural Baptist communities. (He was, for a short time, director of music at St Stephens Episcopal Church here in Houston.) During that time, he has taught off and on – mostly poor, at-risk minority students. He teaches at Imago Dei Middle School in Tuscon where he also serves as Director of Music at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church as well music editor for Alfred Music Company.  He has used the old tune, May the Circle Be Unbroken for the Rev. Susan Anderson-Smith's setting of the Sanctus for use at chapel services at Imago Dei.