Music for June 5, 2023 + Trinity Sunday

Vocal Music

• Father of Heaven, Whose Love Profound – Healey Willan (1880-1968)
• God Be in My Head – H. Walford Davies (1869-1941)

Instrumental Music

• Allein Gott in der Hőh – Andreas Armsdorff (1670 –1699)
• Christus, der ist mein Leben – Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706)
• Allein Gott in der Hőh – Johann Sebastian 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 (NICEA)
• Hymn 321 - All glory be to God on high (ALLEIN GOTT IN DER HŐH)
• Hymn 371 - Thou, whose almighty word (MOSCOW)
• Hymn 295 - Sing Praise to our Creator (CHRISTUS, DER IST MEIN LEBEN)
• Hymn R37 - Father, we love you (GLORIFY YOUR NAME)
• Hymn 368 - Holy Father, great Creator (REGENT SQUARE)
• Canticle 13 - Glory to You (John Rutter)

Trinity Sunday

I understand that priests hate to preach on Trinity Sunday, for trying to preach on the mystery of the Holy Trinity is akin to tightrope walking, without a net, in a high wind. I mean, it's a mystery, right? As a musician, however, I love Trinity Sunday because there is a lot of great music for the day, including one of my favorite hymns, "Holy, holy, holy." I remember singing that in the Methodist Church when I was a boy on every first Sunday of the month when we had communion.

Father of Heaven, Whose Love Profound

This setting of the hymn "Father of heaven, whose love profound," using the hymn tune ANGELUS, comes from the pen of the British-Canadian composer Healey Willan. The text is a hymn to the Trinity by the 19th century British priest Edward Cooper. The tune, which is found in our hymnal for an evening hymn (hymn 23), is a 17th century tune by the Silesian composer Georg Joseph who served at the court of prince-bishop of Breslau, Poland.

Though Healey Willan composed more than 800 works including operas, symphonies, chamber music, a concerto, and pieces for band, orchestra, organ, and piano, he is best known for his church music. In 1913 he left his home in London and came to Toronto as head of the music theory department at the University of Toronto and organist and choirmaster at St. Paul's Church. From 1921 until his death he was precentor at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene. He wrote adaptations of ancient service music, hymn tunes, faux-bourdons, newly composed service music, motets, symphonies, operas, cantatas, organ works, chamber music, songs, and incidental music for plays. The Hymnal 1982 includes the Kyrie, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, and Gloria in excelsis (S 91, S 114, S 158, and S 202) from his Missa de Sancta Maria Magdalena.

God Be In My Head

Every week, at the end of the choir's rehearsal, we close with the singing of a short blessing in the form of an anthem, and the saying of compline, the service of night prayer. This year the choir has been singing this blessing from The Book of Hours, an early form of a prayer book prescribed for the monastic house at Salisbury, which was printed in London in 1514; one copy survives, at Clare College, Cambridge.

The music is by H. Walford Davies, an English composer, organist, and educator who held the title Master of the King's Music from 1934 until 1941. Davies served with the Royal Air Force during the First World War, during which he composed the Royal Air Force March Past, and was music adviser to the British Broadcasting Corporation, for whom he gave commended talks on music between 1924 and 1941. He was knighted in 1922.

As this is the last time the choir will sing before summer break, we close our season as we close our rehearsal, by singing this blessing.

Organ Voluntaries

The voluntaries this morning are all based on two of the hymns from our morning service, and they are all settings by Baroque German Composers. (The Baroque period was that period spanning from 1600-1750, ending in the death of J. S. Bach.)

The opening and closing voluntaries are settings of the Hymn of Praise we will be singing during the month of June. Hymn 421, "All glory be to God on high," is fitting for Trinity Sunday as it praises each person in the Godhead. It is also fitting to be sung in place of the Gloria, as it is a metrical setting of the canticle.

The closing voluntary is a trio by Bach, using the tune in the pedal. You'll also hear fragments of the melody in the music played on the manuals (keyboards). 

The opening voluntary is also a trio, but with the melody played in canon. First you hear the melody in the right hand, then several measures later the same melody is taken up in the pedal. This is by Andreas Armsdorff, a German composer and organist. He was born in Mühlberg, a town in Southern Germany, and studied music and law. At some point in his early life he moved to nearby Erfurt where he may have studied with Johann Pachelbel.

Johann Pachelbel was the preeminent organist in South Germany at the time. In addition to his famous Canon, he wrote church music, including several volumes of organ music. The music during the Eucharist is a partita on our presentation hymn ("Sing praise to our Creator," hymn 295), one of a set of four partitas (variations) on German chorales which he wrote.

Music for Sunday, September 22, 2019

Vocal Music

• Psalm 113 – Edward Bairstow (1874-1946)
• I Choose Love – Mark A. Miller (21st Century)

Instrumental Music

• Solemn Melody – H. Walford Davies (1869-1941)
• Prelude in B-flat – Clara Schumann (1819-1896)
• Toccata in D Minor – Max Reger (1873-1916)

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

• Hymn 475 - God himself is with us (TYSK)
• Hymn 605 - What does the Lord require (SHARPETHORNE)
• Hymn R 255 - Give to our God immortal praise (DUKE STREET)
• Hymn 488 - Be thou my vision (SLANE)
• Hymn 676 - There is a balm in gilead (BALM IN GILEAD)
• Hymn 390 - Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (LOBE DEN HERREN)

This Sunday the choir is singing a very simple but powerful anthem written by Mark A. Miller, a Associate Professor of Church Music and Composer In Residence at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. Written in response to the tragic massacre at the Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina in June 2015, this anthem represents our solidarity to love in the midst of pain, of war, of brokenness. We choose love. We choose community. What better way to share this message than through powerful song?  I have been humming the tune all week, and allowing the words to wash over me and nurture my soul. I hope they will do the same for you:

In the midst of pain, I choose love.
In the midst of pain, sorrow falling down like rain,
I await the sun again, I choose love.

In the midst of war, I choose peace.
In the midst of war, hate and anger keeping score,
I will seek the good once more, I choose peace.

When my world falls down, I will rise.
When my world falls down, explanations can’t be found,
I will climb to holy ground, I will rise.

In addition to his post at Drew, Miller is a Lecturer in the Practice of Sacred Music at Yale University and Minister of Music of Christ Church in Summit, New Jersey and Composer in Residence of Harmonium Choral Society in NJ. From 2002-2007 he was Director of Contemporary Worship at Marble Collegiate Church and from 1999-2001 was Assistant Organist and Music Associate at the Riverside Church, both in New York City. Since 1999 he has travelled to every part of the country delighting congregations with the power and joy of music making. Mark received his Bachelor of Arts in Music from Yale University and his Master of Music in Organ Performance from Juilliard.

Music for March 6 + The Fourth Sunday of Lent

Vocal Music

• Thou Knowest, Lord, the Secrets of Our Hearts – Henry Purcell (1659-1695)

Instrumental Music

• Solemn Melody – H. Walford Davies (1869-1941)
• Aria for Handbells - Dale Wood (1934-2002)

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 R249 - Great is thy faithfulness (Faithfulness)
• Hymn 686 - Come, thou fount of every blessing (Nettleton)
• Hymn 693 - Just as I am, without one plea (Woodworth)
• Hymn 411 - O bless the Lord, my soul (St. Thomas (Williams)

I was shocked (shocked, I tell you) when I noticed that I have not scheduled any music of Henry Purcell in the two-plus years I've been writing these notes on this blog. Born in 1659, Purcell is generally considered to be one of the greatest English composers; no other native-born English composer approached his fame until the 20th century's Edward Elgar.

Henry Purcell

His father (also named Henry) was master of the choristers at Westminster Abbey. Though dad died when young Henry was but five, music had already taken hold of the young boy, and he became a chorister at the Chapel Royal. It’s said that he began composing at the age of 9, with his earliest known work an ode for King Charles’ birthday in 1670. He began studying with John Blow at the Chapel Royal, and by 20 had succeeded him as organist at Westminster Abbey. Legend has it that the elder musician stepped aside in recognition of the greater genius, and it is true that on Purcell's death in 1695 Blow returned to the post, and would write a noble Ode on the Death of Purcell. Purcell is buried next to the Westminster Abbey organ.

Purcell wrote secular and sacred music - odes for chorus and orchestra, cantatas, songs, catches, anthems, Services, chamber sonatas, keyboard works and incidental music for 49 plays. The largest part of his theatre music was composed during the last years of his life. It was during this period that he composed the chamber opera Dido and Aeneas, which is a very important landmark in the history of English dramatic music. 

The anthem today is taken from the Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary, written by Purcell, for the funeral of Queen Mary II in 1695. She had died in December 1694, but her funeral was not until March 1695. Purcell composed a setting of the sixth of the seven sentences of the Anglican Burial Service (Thou Knowest Lord) for the occasion.  The anthem was performed at his own funeral in November of the same year.

And as to the pronuncation of his name: Nicholas McGegan, the famed conductor, sets us straight:

For some reason, people often mispronounce Purcell’s name. It’s “PUR-cell.” It should rhyme with “rehEARsal"

Not "Pure HELL"

Sir Henry Walford Davies

Another Henry who makes his first appearance in this blog (though not in our services) is Sir Henry Walford Davies, an English musician who held the title Master of the King's Music from 1934 until 1941. At various times in his 45-year career, Davies enjoyed wide recognition as a composer, teacher, organist, and lecturer and in the latter capacity, he became England's first popular radio personality on the subject of classical music. In 1926 the newly-formed British Broadcasting Corporation, in an effort to bring the very best in cultural information, began broadcasting his lectures on music on a program called Music and the Ordinary Listener, which lasted until the outbreak of war in 1939. and brought him great popularity with British radio audiences.

But as a composer he is represented only by a few short works including some church anthems, the World War I favorite R.A.F. March Past, and this morning's opening voluntary, Solemn Melody. It first appeared in 1908 in a version for organ with a version for cello and orchestra a year later. It is in a simple song form. The tune is rich, warm, and flowing, and avoids either a feeling of British pomp or a sense of religiosity.

Dale Wood

Finally I want to comment on the Aria for Handbells by Dale Wood. It is a lovely, quiet bell piece based on an old Finnish hymn by C. G. Liander called Via Delorosa. The text, like the melody, is perfect for Lent.

A way to Calvary leadeth from dark Gethsemane,
May every one behold him who weary walks that way.
The way doth lead to perfect bliss, but a way of pain it is