Music for February 13, 2022 + The Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany

Vocal Music

• Blessed Is the Man – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

Instrumental Music

• If Thou But Trust in God to Guide Thee – Georg Böhm (1661–1733)
• Hymn 635 in The Hymnal 1982
• Holy Manna – arr.Charles Callahan (b. 1951)
• Hymn 580 in The Hymnal 1982
• Erhalt Uns, Herr – Gerald Near (b. 1942)
• Hymn 191 in Renew

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

• Hymn 48 - O day of radiant gladness (ES FLOG EIN KLEINS WALDVOGELEIN)
• Hymn R191 - O Christ, the healer, we have come (ERHALT UNS, HERR)
• Hymn 635 - If thou but trust in God to guide thee (WER NUR DEN LIEBEN GOTT)
• Hymn R127 - Blest are they, the poor in spirit (BLEST ARE THEY)
• Hymn 493 - O for a thousand tongues to sing (AZMON)
• Psalm 1 – Tone Va

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was arguably, one of Russia's greatest composers. After his triumphant tour of America in 1891, and being awarded an honorary doctorate at Cambridge University in 1893, he was accepted as a world figure, not a merely national composer but one of universal significance. In 1891 the Carnegie Hall program booklet proclaimed him, together with Brahms and Saint-Saëns, to be one of the three greatest living musicians, while music critics praised him as "a modern music lord".

He wrote several works which still enjoy popularity, including the ballets Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, the 1812 Overture, his First Piano Concerto, several symphonies, and the opera Eugene Onegin. But he also wrote many smaller works, including an Album for the Young, op. 39. Robert Schumann wrote a similar book some years earlier, under the same title. Schumann wrote his collection because there wasn’t much good piano material at an easier level, and Tchaikovsky likely wrote his own collection for the same reasons.

In this collection, Tchaikovsky wrote pieces inspired by Russia, his travels, dances, and various children’s concepts (like "The Sick Doll"). It’s a really diverse collection both in emotion and content.

Today's anthem is an adaptation of one of those pieces, titled "In Church." The text comes from different scripture sources, including the psalm appointed for today, Psalm 1.

All of the organ music today is based on hymn tunes, two of which are being sung in the service today. The opening voluntary is a set of two variations of the tune WER NUR DEN LIEBEN GOTT, which we will sing at the presentation of the offering. The hymn in our hymnal is in 3/4 time, while the setting by the German composer Georg Böhm, is in 4/4 time.

Georg Böhm was one of the leading organists and organ composers in North Germany in the years around 1700. He is notable for his development of the chorale partita and for his influence on the young J. S. Bach. The opening voluntary is from one of his chorale partitas, large-scale compositions consisting of several variations on a particular chorale melody. He effectively invented the genre, writing several partitas of varying lengths and on diverse tunes. Later composers also took up the genre, most notably 

Bach. Böhm's chorale partitas feature sophisticated figuration in several voices over the harmonic structure of the chorale. His partitas generally have a rustic character and can be successfully performed on either the organ or the harpsichord.

December 8, 2019 + Advent II

Vocal Music

• A Shoot Shall Come Forth – Richard Horn (1938-2004)

Instrumental Music

• Partita on Comfort, Comfort Ye, My People – Georg Böhm (1661 – 1733)

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

• Hymn 616 - Hail to the Lord’s Anointed (Es flog ein kleines Walvögelein)
• Hymn 67  - Comfort, comfort ye, my people (Psalm 42)
• Hymn R 92 - Prepare the way of the Lord (Jacques Berthier)
• Hymn 307 - Lord, enthroned in heavenly splendor (Bryn Calfaria)
• Hymn 304 - I come with joy to meet my Lord (Land of Rest)
• Hymn 65 - Prepare the way, O Zion (Bereden vag for Herran)
• Psalm 72:1-8 – Tone Ig

By now, church musicians, like many other American consumers, are experiencing the "Christmas Crush (or, as we'd rather call it, "Advent Angst.") As of this writing, I have yet to complete the first full week of December, but already I'm worn out. So I'm not going to spend a lot of time on these music notes this week.

Except to say - all the organ music (the opening, closing, and communion voluntaries) is from one large set of variations on the tune we use for Hymn 67 - our Gospel hymn this week. I'll be using four segments of the partita during the service.

Our hymnal calls the tune Psalm 42, because this form of the tune, with its highly rhythmic, dance-like meter, was first used with a French version of Psalm 42. It first appeared in 1551 toward the end of the Renaissance, in a Psalter edited by Louis Bourgeois. It was he who probably wrote this tune.

In the German Lutheran tradition, those sprightly rhythms were toned down to a staid quarter-note melody in 4/4 time. (One of my church-musician friends calls it "death by quarter-note.") It is the Lutheran version that Georg Böhm used as the theme for his partita.

Georg Böhm  was a German Baroque organist and composer who is best known today for his keyboard works, particularly the chorale partita. A partita is a large-scale composition consisting of several variations on a particular chorale melody. He effectively invented the genre, writing several partitas of varying lengths and on diverse tunes.  Böhm's chorale partitas feature sophisticated figuration in several voices over the harmonic structure of the chorale. His partitas generally have a rustic character and can be successfully performed on either the organ or the harpsichord. Later composers also took up the genre, most notably Johann Sebastian Bach, who was influenced by Böhm  as a young musician.

Bach's son,  Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach, wrote that his father loved and studied Böhm's music, and a correction in his note shows that his first thought was to say that Böhm was Johann Sebastian's teacher. In 2006,  the earliest known Bach autographs were discovered, including one signed "Il Fine â Dom. Georg: Böhme descriptum ao. 1700 Lunaburgi". The "Dom." bit may suggest either "domus" (house) or "Dominus" (master), but in any case it proves that Bach knew Böhm personally. This connection must have become a close friendship that lasted for many years, for in 1727 Bach named none other than Böhm as his northern agent for the sale of keyboard partitas nos. 2 and 3

Music for December 10, 2016 + The Second Sunday of Advent

Vocal Music

• O Come, Emmanuel – Peter Paul Olejar (b. 1937)

Instrumental Music

• Partita on Freu' dich sehr, O meine Seele - Georg Böhm (1661–1733)
• Impressions on “Veni Emmanuel" – Cathy Moklebust (b. 1958)

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

• Hymn 67 - Comfort, comfort ye my people (PSALM 42)
• Hymn 53 - Once he came in blessing (GOTTES SOHN IST KOMMEN)
• Hymn 66 - Come, thou long expected Jesus (STUTTGART)
• Hymn 343 - Shepherd of souls, refresh and bless (ST. AGNES)
• Hymn R278 - Wait for the Lord (Taizé)
• Hymn 65 - Prepare the way, O Zion (BEREDEN VAG FOR HERRAN)
• Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13 - Benedixisti, Domine

We're featuring two and a half settings of the best known Advent Hymn, O Come, O come, Emmanuel this Sunday. One is sung by the choir with Handbells, and another is played by the Handbells alone. The remaining half of an arrangement? You'll have to pay attention in church on Sunday to catch it.

The tune, VENI EMMANUEL, was originally music for a Requiem Mass in a fifteenth-century French Franciscan Processional. A Church of England priest, Thomas Helmore, adapted this chant tune and published it in 1854. Helmore was ordained a priest but his main contribution to the church was in music. He was master of the choristers in the Chapel Royal for many years. The text for "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" comes from a 7 verse poem that dates back to the 8th century, the “Great ‘O’ Antiphons,” which was part of the medieval Roman Catholic Advent liturgy. A metrical version of five of the verses appeared in the 13th century, which was translated into English by J.M. Neale in 1851.

Peter Paul Olejar

The offertory is an arrangement by Peter Paul Olejar, the Director of Music at St. Paul’s Christian Church, Raleigh NC. With degrees from Duke University (AB) and Yale University (Master of Music) and further graduate studies at the University of Toronto Electronic Music Laboratory, he has had a fascinating career combining teaching, composition, and church music with forays into musicals and dance bands. In addition to his musical activities, he was a Consulting Systems Engineer for the IBM Corporation.

He has written music for chamber orchestra, brass ensemble, string quartet, theater orchestra, symphony orchestra, large dance bands, chorus, children’s plays, children’s chorus, solo vocal music, carillon and organ. He has directed pit orchestras for musical shows and has written orchestrations for the same.

Cathy Moklebust

The communion voluntary is an ethereal setting of the VENI EMMANUEL chant by the American composer, Cathy Moklebust. She begins the work with random handbells ringing at their own pace  while the chant melody is played on handchimes. Then comes a stanza with the bells in 12/8 time. The piece ends with bells going into 4/4 time with the refrain, "Rejoice, rejoice, Emanuel shall come to thee, O Israel."

Cathy Moklebust has developed and directed handbell music programs since 1983. Her handbell experience began in 1970 with the Towers Handbell Choir of First Lutheran Church in Brookings,  South Dakota, where she still lives with her husband.

Moklebust earned both her B.A. and M.Ed. in music at South Dakota State University and began her musical career as a public school instrumental music instructor in South Dakota. She is an active percussionist, and has performed as principal or section percussionist with several professional and community bands and orchestras throughout the upper Midwest. Cathy has played in, conducted, and coached church and community handbell ensembles in South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa. Since 1989, she has worked in the music retail and publishing industry; currently she and her husband David operate Moklebust Music Services, a music preparation service.

She has been commissioned to write music for festivals and other events, as well as for many individual handbell ensembles. Her music has been broadcast on "Today," "Good Morning, America," public television, public radio, and SiriusXM satellite radio.

The opening and closing voluntaries, while titled something completely different, are from a set of variations on the opening hymn, which our hymnal calls Psalm 42. The only difference is the meter. Our hymnal has it in the original rhythmic setting of the Renaissance, while the organ setting uses the isometric version made popular during the Baroque period. Look at the rhythms of the hymn A Mighty Fortress Is Our God in our hymnal to compare the difference. (688 is isometric, 687 is rhythmic.)

Music for Easter + March 27, 2016

Vocal Music

• Now Glad of Heart - K. Lee Scott (b. 1950)
• This Joyful Eastertide – Alice Parker (b. 1925)
• Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands – J. S. Bach (1685-1750)

Instrumental Music

• A Prelude for Easter – Gerald Near (b. 1942)
• Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands – Georg Böhm (1661-1733)
• Symphony V: Toccata – Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937)

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

• Hymn 207 - Jesus Christ is risen today (Easter Hymn)
• Hymn 417 - This is the feast of victory (Festival Canticle)
• Hymn 210 - The day of resurrection! (Ellacombe)
• Hymn 174 - At the Lamb’s high feast we sing (Salzburg)
• Hymns R29 - He is Lord, he is Lord (He Is Lord)
• Hymn 179 - “Welcome, happy morning!” (Fortunatus)

Three different styles of anthems encompass the varied emotions we experience at Easter. The anthem by K. Lee. Scott, Now Glad of Heart, is the typical barn-burner, a bright, rhythmic anthem employing full organ, starting with repeated Alleluias that are reminiscent of the Mission: Impossible theme,  a rollicking melody (which always reminded me of riding in a speed boat over a bounding main), a big choral fanfare in the middle, and more alleluias, this time tumbling down from Soprano to Bass like a cascading water fall.

The first communion motet is a short setting of the Dutch Easter Carol, VERUCHTEN, which was originally a seventeenth-century love song "De liefde Voortgebracht." It became a hymn tune in 1685 as a setting for "Hoe groot de vruchten zijn." The tune is distinguished by the melismas that mark the end of stanza lines and by the rising sequences in the refrain, which provide a fitting word painting for "arisen." 

Alice Parker arranged this in the early 1950s for Robert Shaw's choral group which was making a series of commercially successful recordings of hymns, carols and folk songs. She only set the first stanza. I was tempted to have us repeat this setting, singing the second stanza:

My flesh in hope shall rest,
And for a season slumber;
Till trump from east to west,
Shall wake the dead in number.

Can you guess why I was tempted to include it? God has a sense of humor, but I decided to go against my inclinations.*

The final anthem is J. S. Bach's setting of the Lutheran chorale, Christ Jesus lay in death's strong bands. It is an adaptation of a medieval chant Victimae Paschali laudes arranged in 1524 as a four-part chorale by Johann Walther for the hymn text by Martin Luther. One of the earliest and best-known Lutheran chorales, CHRIST LAG IN TODESBANDEN is a magnificent tune in rounded bar form (AABA).Bach incorporated it extensively in his cantatas 4 and 158. It is the closing movement of Cantata 4 that we sing this morning.

Many organ compositions are based on this tune; I am playing a highly ornamented setting by Georg Böhm, a German Baroque organist and composer who is known for his development of the chorale partita (variation) and for his influence on the young J. S. Bach. 

The opening voluntary is a beautiful improvisatory organ work by former Dallas composer Gerald Near. Starting out quietly, Near incorporates the  the ancient chant Haec dies, the Gradual for Easter day, with those beloved words so familiar to us: This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it! (Psalm 118: 24).  As the piece builds in tempo and volume, another Easter chant, O filii et filiae, appears, first in just subtle hints, then triumphantly in the form we recognize from the hymnal (it's hymn 203; we'll sing its cousin, hymn 206, next Sunday for the Second Sunday of Easter.)

*One hymnal has translated this verse to 

My being shall rejoice, 

secure within God’s keeping,

until the trumpet voice 

shall wake us from our sleeping