PREPARE THE WAY! Music for December 4, 2022 + Advent II

Vocal Music

• By All Your Saints – arr. Joel Martinson (b. 1960)

Instrumental Music

• The Lion and the Lamb – David Nevue (b. 1965)
• Comfort, Comfort Ye My People – Johann Gottfried Walther (1684 –1748)
• Comfort, Comfort Ye My People – Johann Christoph Oley (1738–1789)

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 KLEINS WALDVŐGELEIN)
• Hymn 67 Comfort, comfort ye my people (PSALM 42)
• Hymn 59 Hark! A thrilling voice is sounding (MERTON)
• Hymn R 92 Prepare the way of the Lord (Taizé)
• Hymn 65 Prepare the way, O Zion (BEREDEN VAG FOR HERRAN)
• Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19 – Tone Ib

By All Your Saints

Did you know there is one hymn in our hymn with 25 different stanzas? Yeah, and you people thought last Sunday's opening hymn was too long! (It wasn't.)  The hymn, By all your saints still striving, is found in the section Holy Days and Various Occasions, and is meant to cover 22 individual saints in addition to All Saints Day. The disclaimer here is that 23 of those stanzas are meant as options for verse two out of three. We are using the stanza for St. John the Baptist, since the Gospel lesson introduces John to us as  "the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, 'The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.'" 

The Lion and the Lamb

The Old Testament reading is the familiar passage from Isaiah, prophesying a time of peace when "The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them." I was looking for a piano piece to play this Sunday, and came upon this piece by the New Age composer David Nevue. Nevue is an internationally known pianist and composer from Oregon who majored in Communication Arts, but discovered along the way that he had a love for music and the piano. 

After college, Nevue got a job in the desktop publishing business and composed music on the side. Though largely self-taught, he worked diligently and recorded his first "album" - a cassette, actually, in 1992. He has recorded 17 albums since then, and has become one of the top artists in both the Amazon.com and iTunes music sales charts for his New Age. 

Comfort, Comfort Ye My People

Comfort, Comfort Ye My People is the perfect hymn for Advent II. It is a paraphrase of Isaiah 40:1-5, in which the prophet looks forward to the coming of Christ. More specifically, the coming of the forerunner of Christ – John the Baptist – is foretold. Though Isaiah's voice crying in the desert is anonymous, the third stanza ties this prophecy and one from Malachi (Malachi 4:5) to a New Testament fulfillment. “For Elijah's voice is crying In the desert far and near” brings to mind Jesus' statement, “'But I tell you that Elijah has already come, ….' Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.” (Matthew 17:12, 13 ESV)

In addition to singing the hymn, I am also playing two settings of the chorale tune. Organists find preludes to this tune under GENEVAN 42 in Dutch works or under FREU DICH SEHR in German works. Our hymnal calls it PSALM 42. Louis Bourgeois composed or adapted this tune for Psalm 42 for the Genevan psalter in 1551. 

In the communion setting, the tune is soloed out in the right hand on the oboe, but J. G. Walther,  the composer, ornaments the chorale tune so highly that it is difficult to recognize it at first. 

The closing voluntary presents the tune much more clearly, though in a different meter than we use in our hymnal. (It is 4/4 time rather than 3/2 time.) It is also in a triple Canon, meaning you hear the melody first in the soprano (top) line, then in the pedal (bottom line) one measure later, then again in the tenor (middle) line 4 beats later. This keeps up through the entire song. This was written by another German composer, Johann Christoph Oley.

Oley
lived and worked just after the death of J. S. Bach, whose music Oley revered and often emulated. Oley had hand-copied many of the works of Bach, and he owned one of the four extant copies of the Schübler chorales with J.S. Bach’s corrections. His own works include a set of 14 keyboard variations and the four-volume Variirte Choräle which contains 77 settings for organ solo, two for solo oboe and organ, and six for organ and instrumental ensemble of flute, oboe, bassoon, horn, two violins, viola and cello. 

Music for Sunday, July 17, 2022 + The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Instrumental Music

• Partita on “Liebster Jesu” – Johann Gottfried Walther (1684-1748)
• Sonata in A – Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)
• Festive Trumpet Tune – David German (b. 1954)

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

• Hymn 440 - Blessed Jesus, at thy word (LIEBSTER JESU)
• Hymn 421 - All glory be to God on high (ALLEIN GOTT IN DER HÖHE)
• Hymn 488 - Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart (SLANE)
• Hymn R-266 - Give thanks with a grateful heart (GIVE THANKS)
• Hymn R201 - Be still, for the Spirit of the Lord (BE STILL)
• Hymn 344 - Lord, dismiss us with thy blessing (SICILIAN MARINERS)

Partita on “Liebster Jesu” – Johann Gottfried Walther (1684-1748)

The opening voluntary is a set of variations on the tune for our opening hymn. The tune, written in 1664 for text written by Tobias Clausnitzer in 1663, was a favorite of Johann Sebastian Bach and other Lutheran musicians.

There will be three settings. The first is in 4/4 time, and includes a running eighth  note figure. The second is in 6/8 time. Both settings follow the exact form of the hymn (AABB) and are written for the manuals only (no pedal). The third setting is in 6/8, but begins with a little fugue in the manuals before adding the straight melody in the pedals.

Sonata in A – Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)

The communion voluntary is one of the 555 keyboard sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti, the Italian -born composer born same year as Bach and Handel. His other compositions for opera and church pale in comparison to his keyboard works.

Scarlatti started off as an organist at the Royal Chapel in Naples when he was only sixteen years old.  He continued to work at the Royal Chapel until 1704. Then, in 1709, Scarlatti was commissioned for service to the exiled queen of Poland, Marie Casimire. This was where he met Handel. Scarlatti and Handel performed at the palace of Cardinal Ottoboni in a trial of skill. When Scarlatti was judged to be better than Handel at the harpsichord, word began to spread about the young composer. Scarlatti then went on to teach music to Maria Magdalena Barbara, a Portuguese princess, where he became the master of music for Maria’s household. When the princess was crowned Queen of Spain, Scarlatti served the Spanish Royalty till his death in 1757.

Due to the nature of his appointment to the Portuguese and Spanish courts, most of his music was published after his death. Still, the sonatas were highly regarded by musicians such as Johannes Brahms, Frederic Chopin, Béla Bartók and Heinrich Schenker.

Domenico Scarlatti died in Madrid, Spain on July 23, 1757. His residence and his music have been preserved as part of Spanish Cultural Heritage. Many of his descendants still live in Madrid to this day.

Festive Trumpet Tune – David German

This festive trumpet tune (descriptive, if not original, title) was written by organist David German for his own wedding when he was director of music at Calvary Church in Charlotte. These days, he is director of music at Stephens Valley Church in Nashville. He attended  Moody Bible Institute, Olivet College, and Winthrop University. 

Music for June 3, 2022 + Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Veni Creator Spiritus – Stephen Sturk (b. 1950)
• Come, Holy Ghost – Thomas Attwood (1795-1838)
• Psalm 104:25-35, 37 – setting by William Crotch (1775-1847)

Instrumental Music

• Tongues of Fire (Pentecost Dance) – Alfred V. Fedak (b. 1953)
• Come, God Creator, Holy Ghost – Johann Gottfried Walther (1684-1748)
• Improvisation on “Veni Creator Spiritus” – Alfred V. Fedak

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

• Hymn 509 - Spirit divine, attend our prayers (NUN DANKET ALL UND BRINGET EHR)
• Hymn 20 - Now Holy Spirit, ever One (WAREHAM)
• Hymn - Through north and south (LASST UNS ERFREUEN)
• Hymn R90 - Spirit of the Living God (IVERSON)
• Hymn R168 - If you believe and I believe (Traditional, Zimbabwe)
• Hymn 511 - Holy Spirit, ever living (ABBOT’S LEIGH)

Today is Pentecost Sunday, the day we commemorate the appearance of the Holy Spirit on the disciples after Christ ascended into heaven. It is considered the birthday of the church, and a major holiday in the history of the church.

One of the oldest and most widely used hymns in the Christian church is Veni, Creator Spiritus, with a text attributed to Rabanus Maurus (776-856) and a chant melody from around the same time. This text and/or tune permeates our music this morning.

Veni Creator Spiritus

This anthem by the California composer Stephen Sturk begins with the original chant in Latin, sung simply as is fitting for a chant. Interspersed with the hymn are verses of Psalm 36 set to the same chant, but this time in a rhythmic setting, much like a modern hymn.

Stephen Sturk is cofounder and artistic director of the Pacific Academy of Ecclesiastical Music (PACEM), music director at Saint Thomas of Canterbury Episcopal Church in Temecula, California, as well as composer in residence at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral and conductor of Cappella Gloriana in San Diego. He previously was artistic director of the San Clemente Choral Society, and from 1993 to 1997 he served on the faculty of the University of San Diego, where he was director of the Choral Scholars Program. Prior to settling in California in 1991, Sturk was music director of the New York Motet Choir and associate conductor of the choirs at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. From 1980 to 1983, he was director of The Juilliard Singers at The Juilliard School. 

Come, Holy Ghost

Thomas Attwood wrote this now classic English anthem in 1834, after he had left St. Pauls and begun teaching at the Royal Academy of Music. While the music is newly composed by Attwood, it uses a translation of the Latin text by Maurus.

The son of a musician in the royal band, Attwood was born in London. At the age of nine he became a chorister in the Chapel Royal. In 1783 he was sent to study abroad at the expense of the Prince of Wales (afterwards George IV), who had been favorably impressed by his skill at the harpsichord. After two years in Italy, Attwood proceeded to Vienna, where he became a favorite pupil of Mozart. On his return to London in 1787 he held for a short time an appointment as one of the chamber musicians to the Prince of Wales. In 1796 he was chosen as the organist of St Paul's Cathedral, and in the same year he was made composer of the Chapel Royal. Soon after the institution of the Royal Academy of Music in 1823, Attwood was chosen to be one of the professors. He wrote an anthem for the coronation of William IV, and was composing a similar work for the coronation of Queen Victoria when he died on March 24, 1838. Attwood's funeral took place at St. Paul's Cathedral. He is buried in the Cathedral, in the crypt, under the organ.

Tongues of Fire (Pentecost Dance)
Improvisation on “Veni Creator Spiritus” 

The opening and closing voluntaries are by the American organist and composer Alfred Fedak. He recently retired as Minister of Music and Arts at Westminster Presbyterian Church on Capitol Hill in Albany, New York, but continues to teach at SUNY Schenectady. On June 1, 2021, he assumed the post of organist at First Reformed Church of Scotia, New York. 

The opening voluntary (Tongues of Fire) has a driving rhythm in the left hand, with the 'E' below middle C heard repeatedly throughout the entire piece. The first part is the dance movement, signifying the tongues of fire. Then the volume gets softer as the chant tune Veni Creator Spiritus appears, still as a dance.

Fedak uses the same chant tune in more traditional form in his Improvisation on “Veni Creator Spiritus” which I'm playing for the closing voluntary. Listen for a rippling melody which starts softly buts comes roaring into prominence before the plainchant enters in the pedals. It certainly sounds like a roaring fire!

Music for March 20, 2022 + The Third Sunday in Lent

Vocal Music

• Love the Lord – J. P. Reese, arr. Mark Schweizer (1956-2019)

Instrumental Music

• Erbarm dich mein, o Herre Gott – Johann Gottfried Walther (1684-1748)
• (O God, Be Merciful to Me) 
• Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley – David Gale (21st C.)
• Fugue in G Minor, BWV 578 – 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 142 - Lord, who throughout these forty days (ST. FLAVIAN)
• Hymn 648 - When Israel was in Egypt’s land (GO DOWN, MOSES)
• Hymn 143 - The glory of these forty days (ERHALT UNS, HERR)
• Hymn R266 - Give thanks with a grateful heart (GIVE THANKS)
• Hymn 149 - Eternal Lord of Love, behold your Church (OLD 124TH)
• Psalm63:1-8, Tone IIa

Our anthem today is an arrangement of a hymn out of the old shaped-note songbook, The Sacred Harp (1844), the best-known songbook of the shape-note tradition. Many people contributed tunes to this book, which feature rugged tunes and rough, often modal harmonies with imperfect harmonization techniques. One such composer is John P. Reese, an itinerant preacher, who wrote 21 tunes for the collection, including today's anthem. 

The texts were often eighteenth-century English hymns by such poets as Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley, William Cowper, or John Newton. Some of these texts, as modified by nineteenth-century American singers, have acquired choruses in the camp-meeting spiritual style. That's what has happened here with the familiar text by Isaac Watts, "Alas, and did my Savior bleed?" with the "new" chorus: 

O who is like Jesus? Christ, our savior,

Praise ye the Lord!

There's none like Jesus, Christ, our savior,

Love and serve the Lord!

It has been arranged, once again, by Mark Schweizer, who also arranged the anthems from the last two weeks.

The opening and closing voluntaries are by J.G. Walther and J.S Bach. Not only were they almost exact cotemporaries, they were also cousins. In 1707, Walther was made organist at the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Weimar. Bach became the Capellemeister at the court of the Duke of Weimar. The two became friends, and on September 27, 1712 Bach stood godfather to Walther’s son.

The chorale prelude that opens the service is a setting of the hymn “Erbarm’ dich mein, O Herre Gott,” which is a translation of Psalm 51, making it perfect for the season of Lent. This setting is in the form of a “Gapped” Chorale, in which one line of music, in this case the top line, presents the chorale phrases relatively slowly, while the other lines of music are moving in faster imitative polyphony.

This imitative polyphony is continuous throughout the piece.

For the closing voluntary I am playing the "little" Fugue in G Minor of J.S. Bach. It is one of Bach's best known fugues and has been arranged for other media, including an orchestral version by Leopold Stokowski. Early editors of Bach's work attached the title of "Little Fugue" to distinguish it from the later Great Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, which is longer in duration.

I am playing it in honor of Bach's 337th birthday on Monday, March 21st.

Music for November 28, 2021 + The First Sunday of Advent

Vocal Music

• Never Weather-beaten Sail – Thomas Campion (1567-1620)

Instrumental Music

• Sleepers, Wake! A Voice is Crying – Johann Gottfried Walther (1684-1748)
• Sleepers, Wake! A Voice is Crying – Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
• Sleepers, Wake! A Voice is Crying – Paul Manz (1919-2009)

Congregational Music (all hymns from The Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 73 - The King shall come when morning dawns (ST. STEPHEN)
• Hymn 57 - Lo! He comes, with clouds descending (HELMSLEY)
• Hymn 436 - Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates (TRURO)
• Psalm25:1-9 – Tone VIIIa

Today marks the first Sunday of Advent, and the theme of the Day can be discovered by reading the collect for the day:

Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP p. 159)

Thomas Campion

With that in mind, I have chosen the anthem a song by the English Renaissance composer, poet, and physician Thomas Campion. While other poets and musicians talked about the union of poetry and music, only Campion produced complete songs wholly of his own composition, and only he wrote lyric poetry of enduring literary value whose very construction is deeply etched with the poet’s care for its ultimate fusion with music.

The song "Never Weather-beaten Sail," from his first Booke of Ayres, is a prayer that Jesus come and take the poet away to heaven, for no tired pilgrim nor worn out boat is as ready to leave this mortal coil as is the author. The second stanza describes the joys of heaven, the "life immortal."

    Never weather-beaten sail more willing bent to shore,
    Never tired pilgrim’s limbs affected slumber more,
    Than my wearied sprite* now longs to fly out of my troubled breast.
    O come quickly, sweetest Lord, and take my soul to rest!

    Ever blooming are the joys of heaven’s high Paradise,
    Cold age deafs not there our ears nor vapour dims our eyes:
    Glory there the sun outshines; whose beams the blessed only see.
    O come quickly, glorious Lord, and raise my sprite to Thee!
      
    *sprite = spirit

All the organ music is based on the Advent Chorale, Wachet Auf! Ruft uns die stimme! Two of the works are by J.G. Walther and J.S Bach. Not only were they almost exact cotemporaries, they were also cousins. In 1707, Walther was made organist at the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Weimar. Bach became the Capellemeister at the court of the Duke of Weimar. The two became friends, and on September 27, 1712 Bach stood godfather to Walther’s son. A story is told of how J.G. Walther played a trick on Bach, to cure him of boasting that there was nothing he could not read at sight. 

Music for September 19, 2021 + The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Grant Us Thy Peace – Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

Instrumental Music

• Was Gott tut, das is wohlgetan – Johann Gottfried Walther (1684-1748)
• Song Without Words: Consolation, Op. 30, #3 –Felix Mendelssohn
• Allegro in B flat Major – Felix Mendelssohn

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 390 - Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (LOBE DEN HERREN)
• Hymn 636 - How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord (FOUNDATION)
• Hymn 660 - O Master, let me walk with thee (MARYTON)
• Hymn 482 - Lord of all hopefulness (SLANE)
• Psalm 54 - Psalm Tone VIIIa

Felix Mendelssohn was exposed to Lutheran hymns during his musical studies, which included the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. He was then inspired to try his hand at writing chorale cantatas as part of his musical Studies in 1831.  He composed today's anthem, Verleih uns Frieden (Grant Us Thy Peace) in 1831 as one of eight chorale cantatas based on Lutheran hymns. He later chose only Verleih uns Frieden for publication.

The text is Martin Luther's "Verleih uns Frieden", a paraphrase of Da pacem Domine, a Latin prayer for peace from the 6th or 7th century based on biblical verses 2 Kings 20:19, 2 Chronicles 20:12,15 and Psalms 72:6–7. It was a regular close of church services in Luther's time. Surprisingly, Mendelssohn did not use the melody which was associated with Luther's text, but composed a  new melody following the style of recent hymns in clear major-key tonality.

Felix Mendelssohn

The melody appears three times, rendering the complete text each time. It is introduced by the men alone, then repeated by the trebles, with the men singing counterpoint, and finally appears in the sopranos in a mostly homophonic four-part setting.

Robert Schumann said about the composition: "The small piece deserves to be world famous and will become so in the future; the Madonnas of Raphael and Murillo cannot remain hidden for long."

The communion voluntary is another piece by Mendelssohn, this time on the piano. Songs Without Words (Lieder ohne Worte) is a series of short lyrical piano songs by Mendelssohn written between 1829 and 1845. The works were part of the Romantic tradition of writing short lyrical pieces for the piano, although the specific concept of "Songs Without Words" was new. 

Mendelssohn resisted attempts to interpret the songs too literally, and objected when his friend Marc-André Souchay sought to put words to them to make them literal songs:

What the music I love expresses to me, is not thought too indefinite to put into words, but on the contrary, too definite. (Mendelssohn's own italics)

However, that has not kept people from doing that very thing. The melody from Opus 30, No. 3 has been turned into a hymn-tune called CONSOLATION, which is used for several texts, the most prevalent being "Still, still with thee, the purple morning breaketh," by Harriet Beecher Stowe. (Extra points if you can tell me what famous novel she wrote.) It has published in several older hymnal, but is now out of fashion.

Music for Sunday, May 23, 2021 + Pentecost

Vocal Music

• If Ye Love Me – Thomas Tallis (c. 1505 – 1585)
• Gracious Spirit, Dwell in Me – K. Lee Scott (b. 1950)

Instrumental Music

• Dearest Jesus, We Are Here – Johann L. Krebs (1713-1780)
• Lord Jesus Christ, Be Present Now – Johann G. Walther (1685-1748)
• Komm, Gott Schöpfer, Heiliger Geist (Come God, Creator, Holy Ghost) BWV 667– 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 511 Holy Spirit, ever living (ABBOT’S LEIGH)
• Hymn R168 If you believe and I believe (Zimbabwean)
• Hymn R291 Go forth for God, go to the world in peace (GENEVA 124)
• Psalm 104 – tone VIIIa

Thomas Tallis was the preeminent composer of the English Renaissance. He was such an important  person during the Tudor period that he was one of the characters in the 2007 BBC television series The Tudors, though in a highly fictionalized version. A Catholic, he was able to survive the the conflict between Catholicism and Protestantism, and his music often displays characteristics of the turmoil. During Elizabeth I's reign, he wrote music using Latin texts, in a florid style. 

Henry VIII's break from the Roman Catholic church in 1534 and the rise of Thomas Cranmer noticeably influenced the style of music being written. Cranmer recommended a syllabic style of music where each syllable is sung to one pitch, as his instructions make clear for the setting of the 1544 English Litany. As a result, the writing of Tallis and his contemporaries became less florid, using English texts.

Today's anthem is an example of English text writing. If Ye Love Me was actually written during the reign of Elizabeth I, but it is a noted example of this Reformation compositional style, essentially homophonic but with some elaboration and imitation. Typically for Anglican motets of this period, it is written in an ABB form, with the second section repeated. It has become a favorite of English speaking choirs the world over. 

It was sung at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle in 2018.

The other anthem is a setting of a hymn by the 19th century English Congregational minister, Thomas T. Lynch. Lynch's hymn is set in this meter: 7.7.7.7.7.7 (seven syllables per line). But K. Lee Scott sets this text to the tune ADORE DEVOTE, a chant from the 13th century, which has the meter 6.5.6.5. D (Doubled). As you can imagine, some creative license has been used in fitting the 19th century text to the 13th century tune, including writing an entirely new 4th stanza written by the composer. Thankfully, it works. (The tune ADORE DEVOTE is in the Eucharist section of the hymnal as hymn 314: Humbly I adore thee, Verity unseen, as well as the hymn 357, Jesus, Son of Mary, fount of life alone in the Burial section.)

All the organ music for this Sunday comes from the Baroque period, the period in music history that is roughly the years 1600-1750. It was the period where the organ truly was the king of instruments, especially in Germany, the home of all three of today's composers. The first piece is a piece by Johann Ludwig Krebs. Krebs studied under his father and was later a favorite pupil of the composer Johann Sebastian Bach at Leipzig. His music shows many of the same attributes found in Bach's music, and his best organ works equal anything by Bach. Bach (who had also instructed J. Ludwig's father) held Krebs in high standing. However, it was quite difficult for Krebs to obtain a patron or a post at any cathedral. This can be attributed to the fact that by this time the Baroque tradition was being left behind in favor of the new galant music style. This point in time also marked the transition to the classical music era, with composers such as Bach's son, C.P.E. Bach. 

Today's opening voluntary is one of a set of pieces for organ and wind instruments that Krebs wrote. The trumpet part is played by Sydney Peltier, our alto section leader. She came to us at the start of the year. She is a teacher in Houston ISD, after teaching for a couple of years as a middle school choir director in Humble ISD.

The next two opening voluntaries are by another contemporary of Bach, Johann Gottfried Walther. Not only was his life almost exactly contemporaneous to that of Johann Sebastian Bach, he was the famous composer's cousin.  Walther as a city organist of Weimar wrote exactly 132 organ preludes based on Lutheran chorale melodies. Two of those are the settings of the hymn Lord Jesus Christ, be Present Now which I'll be playing for the second half of the opening voluntary. (The same tune is used in our hymnal for No. 3,  Now that the daylight fills the sky and No. 310, O saving Victim, opening wide).

The first one is written for keyboard alone - no pedal and no trumpet. But the second one was written with the pedal part playing the melody, which today will be played on the trumpet.

The closing voluntary is the extended chorale setting of Come, God, Creator, Holy Ghost, from Bach's The Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes, BWV 651–668. This chorale prelude on Martin Luther's hymn for Pentecost "Komm, Gott Schöpfer, Heiliger Geist" consists of two variations linked by a bridging interlude: the first is a miniature chorale prelude almost identical to BWV 631 in the Orgelbüchlein, with an uninterrupted cantus firmus in the soprano line; in the second, the four lines of the cantus firmus are heard in the pedal, beneath a flowing imitative ritornello accompaniment on the keyboard.

It is one of the last things he ever wrote. In 1750 when Bach began to suffer from blindness before his death in July, BWV 666 and 667 were dictated to his student and son-in-law Johann Christoph Altnikol and copied posthumously into the manuscript. 

Music for February 21, 2021 + The First Sunday in Lent

Vocal Music

• Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days – Erik Meyer (b. 1980)

Instrumental Music

• Three Preludes on Erhalt uns, Herr (The Glory of These Forty Days)
• Johann Pachelbel (1653 –1706)
• Johann Gottfried Walther (1684 –1748)
• Johann Christoph Bach (1642 –1703)
• They Will Not Lend Me a Child – Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)
• “Little” Prelude in D Minor – attr. To J. S. Bach (1685-1750)

As we enter the season of Lent, we begin to visit those Psalms that are categorized as "Laments." A lament is a passionate expression of grief or sorrow. In Lent, we Christians lament over our sins and grief.

In searching for music that is appropriate for our worship and also observes the contribution that Black people have made to our culture during Black History Month, I turned to a favorite piano piece by a Black composer which, while not being explicitly "sacred," it certainly upholds the feeling of lament.

The British composer and conductor Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was born to a father from Sierra Leone and a mother from England, who raised him as a single parent after the father returned to Africa. Coleridge-Taylor entered the Royal College of Music as a violinist when he was 15. He composed prolifically, at first producing a stream of chamber music, much of it redolent of Brahms (a favorite composer of his teacher, Charles Villiers Stanford), and by the turn of the century he produced imposing works for orchestra, chorus, and the stage.

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

Coleridge-Taylor became an admired conductor, leading the Westmoreland Festival from 1901 to 1904 and London’s Handel Society from 1904 until his death at 37. He made three visits to the United States, in 1904, 1906, and 1910. He impressed musical connoisseurs during these trips; the orchestral musicians of New York reportedly complimented his ability on the podium by dubbing him “the Black Mahler.”

When he was seventeen he became impassioned by the music of Dvořák, which led to an interest in American and African-American music, which Dvořák promoted. When Coleridge-Taylor toured the U.S. in 1904, the Boston firm of Oliver Ditson invited him to compose concert-style piano arrangements of twenty-four African-American songs. It published them in 1905, and it is in that collection that we find today's Communion voluntary. “They Will Not Lend Me a Child” is a lament, not from the southeastern United States, but from southeastern Africa.

In Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Anglo-Black Composer, 1875-1912, William Tortolano discusses this southeastern African lament "A ba boleki nwana!" and Samuel Coleridge Taylor's explanation of the meaning. "In countries where a childless married woman is considered less than nothing, it is only natural that such a one should try to borrow a child for adoption - a plan not, I believe, by any means unknown among more civilized peoples. Her lament on finding she is unable to discover a child is therefore literal in every sense of the word."

So while the song may not be composed for church use, I believe there is a sacred feel of lament inherent in the music. It's in the form of a theme and variations. There is more Brahms that Botswana in this piece.

The opening voluntaries are three different chorale preludes on a tune connected to one of the hymns for Lent in our hymnal, The glory of these forty days. All three composers were from Germany during the Baroque Period. Johann Christoph Bach was a cousin of Johann Sebastian Bach.

The anthem is another Lenten Hymn from our hymnal, albeit with a different tune (the Hymnal 1980 uses the tune ST. FLAVIAN whereas this anthem uses the tune MORNING SONG, which is found in our hymnal twice - hymns 9 and 583).  MORNING SONG is a folk tune that has some resemblance to the traditional English tune for "Old King Cole." The tune appeared anonymously in Part II of John Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music (1813).

It was composed by Erik Meyer a native of Collingswood, NJ, where he began his church music career at thirteen. He earned a BM and MM in organ from the Peabody Conservatory of Music. He has performed numerous organ recitals throughout the world and duo recitals with his wife, Anna. Erik is the organist at Abingdon Presbyterian Church, Abingdon, Pennsylvania, after serving as Minister of Music at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Salem, NJ. In addition, he is adjunct faculty at Temple University, teaching Exploring Music and Music Theory and introductory music courses. Previously, he was Director of Music at Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Philadelphia,

Music for August 16, 2020 + The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Build My House from Peter Pan – Leonard Bernstein (1918-1919), Kimberly Bollinger, soprano 

Instrumental Music

• Ach Gott und Herr – Johann Gottfried Walther 1684-1748 (attr. To Johann Sebastian Bach)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 420 - When in our music God is glorified (ENGLEBERG)
• Song of Praise S-236 – Canticle 13: Glory to You – John Rutter (b. 1945)

One of the unexpected blessings of virtual worship is that the same technology which enables me to bring the Good Shepherd Choir together in this time of quarantine also allows me to work with friends who live hundreds or thousands of miles away. One former choir member, Kim Bollinger, has been part of our virtual congregation these past few months, which led me to ask her to sing for one of our services. She readily agreed, and suggested a song from Leonard Bernstein's little known musical, Peter Pan. 

Most folks don’t know it, since it didn’t have a big run on Broadway. Bernstein wrote half a dozen songs for the show, which starred (of all people) Boris Karloff! (He was Hook, of course). The song Kim suggested is sung by Wendy, where she expresses her hope that her home will be be built with Peter Pan. It's a beautiful song, but I wondered what Kim was thinking! What does this have to do with the worship of God?

Then I reread the lyrics, and heard, for the first time, the voice of God, speaking to us! It was like a parable, and we know how much Jesus loved speaking in parables! Read these words:

Will you build me a house?
A house that really will be mine.
Then let me give you my design.
A simple scheme of ... the house I dream of.

Build my house of wood.
Build my house of stone.
Build my house of brick and mortar.

Make the ceiling strong.
Strong against the storm.
Shelter when the days grow shorter.

But build my house of love.
And paint my house with trusting.
And warm it with the warmth of your heart.

Make a floor of faith.
Make the walls of truth.
Put of roof of peace above.
Can you build my house of love?

Copyright (C) 1950, 1980 by The Estate of Leonard Bernstein. Copyright Renewed. Leonard Bernstein Music Publishing Company, LLC, Publisher, Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. Sole Agent

I can imagine God asking this of each of us. Not so much as in our church, but in ourselves. In Paul's letters to the Corinthians, he often asked,  "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?"  We would do well to survey our own life and see of what our "temples" are made.

The opening and closing voluntaries are two settings of the same German Chorale, O God and Lord,These pieces were part of a collection of organ chorale preludes found in the music library of Johann Kirnberger, a pupil of Johann Sebastian Bach. Many of Bach's manuscripts had been preserved in Kirnberger's library (the "Kirnberger collection"), as well as other pieces that Bach had transcribed for his pupil. These two settings of Ach Gott und Herr were among those, and were for centuries thought to be by the master himself, but modern scholarship has attributed the authorship to the baroque composer Johann Gottfried Walther, a second cousin of Johann Sebastian Bach whose his life was almost exactly contemporaneous to that of the famous composer. 

Music for December 1, 2019 + Advent I

Vocal Music

• Zion Hears the Watchman Singing – Johann Gottfried Walther (1684-1748)

Instrumental Music

• “Sleepers, wake!” A voice astounds us – Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
• Ecce Dominus Veniet – Marcel Dupre (1886-1971)
• Fugue in A Major – Johann Sebastian Bach

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

• Hymn 57 - Lo! he comes with clouds descending (HELMSLEY)
• Hymn 73 - The King shall come when morning comes (ST. STEPHEN)
• Hymn 74 - Blest be the King whose coming (VALET WILL ICH DIR GEBEN)
• Hymn R 152 - I want to walk as a child of the light (HOUSTON)
• Hymn R 92 - Prepare the way of the Lord (Jacques Berthier)
• Hymn 68 - Rejoice! rejoice, believers (LLANGLOFFAN)
• Psalm 122 – Tone 1f

One of my Facebook colleagues posted this week that if it’s Thanksgiving, Advent can’t be far behind. And it’s true this year, for many of us won’t be sick of turkey yet when we light the first candle on the Advent wreath this Sunday. And since this is year A of the lectionary cycle, we’ll hear these words from Romans13:11

Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers… 

It just makes it easy when choosing music. One of the great Advent hymns is the German chorale, WACHET AUF, which you’ll find in our hymnal at hymn 61. It’s not that well known in our congregation, but so many composers from Bach’s time to today have arranged this hymn for choir or organ that I can use it several times, which is what I’m doing this Sunday.

First, you’ll hear it at the opening voluntary when I play J. S. Bach’s own organ transcription of his tenor solo from Cantata 140. It’s one of Bach’s most inspired melodies, and that’s just in the accompaniment! This casual, lyrical melody just goes alone, minding its own business, when suddenly, the watchman enters with his solemn warning, in the form of the chorale melody played on the trumpet stop. The two tunes don’t have anything to do with each other, yet they form to join a beautiful duet.

 The same chorale tune is used in the offertory anthem by a contemporary of Bach’s, Johann Gottfried Walther. Like Bach, Walther was an organist and composer of the Baroque era. Not only was his life almost exactly contemporaneous to that of J.S. Bach, he was the famous composer's cousin. He also studied organ with Bach’s second cousin, Johann Bernhard Bach.

In 1707 he was appointed organist at the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Weimar.  Bach had been appointed to the Duke of Weimar’s ‘Capelle und Kammermusik’in 1708. In 1712 Bach was godfather to J.G. Walther’s son. In his biography of Bach, J. N. Forkel told a story of how J. G. Walther played a trick on Bach, to cure him of boasting that there was nothing he could not read at sight.

Johann Gottfried Walther wrote sacred vocal works and numerous organ pieces, consisting mostly of chorale preludes. In fact, today’s anthem is one of his organ preludes which Mark Schweitzer arranged for choir. (It must be noted that Schweitzer, a fine singer and composer in his own right, died this past November in North Carolina. His passing will be a great loss to church musicians.)

The communion voluntary is an organ work by the brilliant French organist Marcel Dupré. Dupré’s international fame developed soon after the First World War as the direct result of his skill as an improviser, specifically on plainsong themes. The Six Antiennes pour les temps de Noël, Op.48, written in 1952, take as their basis the plainsongs of the Christmas antiphons. The first is for Vespers of the first Sunday of Advent;

Ecce Dominus veniet, et omnes sancti ejus cum eo: et erit in die illa lux magna, alleluia.

"Behold the Lord will come, and all his saints with him, and there will be a great light in that day, Alleluia."

Music for September 23, 2018

Vocal Music

• Cantique de Jean Racine – Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)

Instrumental Music

• Praise to the Lord, the Almighty – Johann Gottfried Walther (1684-1748)
• Preamble – Louis Vierne (1870-1937)
• Prelude on “Engleberg” – Craig Phillips (b. 1961)

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

• Hymn 390 - Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (LOBE DEN HERREN)
• Hymn R148 - Brother. Let me be your servant (SERVANT SONG)
• Hymn 301 - Bread of the world, in mercy broken (RENDEZ A DIEU)
• Hymn 660 - O Master, let me walk with thee (MARYTON)
• Hymn 711 - Seek ye first the kingdom of God (SEEK YE FIRST)
• Hymn 477 - All praise to thee, for thou, O King divine (ENGLEBERG)
• Psalm 54 – Tone VIIIa

"How do you choose the music you use for worship at Good Shepherd?" asked one person at Daughters of the King that night I talked to them about Growing Old Gracefully. (Note to self: stick with what you know.)

I always start with the congregational music, choosing hymns, psalms, and spiritual songs that support and magnify the scripture readings for the day.  Everything else comes from those choices.

Often I can find an organ or piano piece based on a hymn-tune that we are singing that Sunday. Such is the case this week, as I have two works based on the opening and closing hymns.

The opening voluntary is a chorale-prelude based on the German chorale LOBE DEN HERREN (Praise to the Lord.) It is by the  German organist and composer Johann Gottfried Walther. A cousin of Johann Sebastian Bach, his life paralled that of his now-famed relative not only in the years spanned but also in their profession. (For a time they both lived in Weimar, Bach as court musician, and Walther as organist at the Weimar Stadtkirche. Walther remained at that post until his death.)

In the prelude this Sunday you will hear the melody played in the pedal on a trumpet stop. This setting is what is called a "gapped" chorale setting - a movement in which the chorale melody is heard phrase by phrase against a continuously moving texture in counterpoint to it.

Likewise, the closing voluntary is based on the closing hymn. ENGELBERG was composed in 1904 by the British composer Charles Villiers Stanford for the hymn "For All the Saints." It was fashionable in the earlier 20th century until it was eclipsed by the immensely popular SINE NOMINE, which Ralph Vaughan Williams composed for the same hymn in 1906.

Craig Phillips

It regained its prominence when it was paired with the  hymn "When in Our Music God Is Glorified" in 1972. Other texts that have been paired with this tune are "We Know that Christ Is Raised" and today's hymn, "All Praise to Thee, for Thou, O King Divine."

The organ piece by Craig Phillips, Prelude on "Engleberg," is more "Prelude" than "Engleberg." It starts with an opening fanfare before going into an original melody on the solo trumpet. It is a noble, heroic melody with a fanfare-like rhythm that goes on for three pages of music before we finally hear the familiar hymn-tune, played through, just once, with each phrase interrupted with a pedal solo reminiscent of the heroic melody from the first section. The piece ends with a recapitulation of the opening "A" section.

Louis Vierne

The other organ piece is the first piece from 24 Pièces en style libre op. 31, by the famed French organist Louis Vierne. Blind since birth, it is said that, at two years old, he heard his first piano. A pianist played a Schubert lullaby for him, and when he finished young Louis promptly began to pick out the notes of the lullaby on the piano. He attended the Paris Conservatoire and then became assistant to the organist Charles-Marie Widor at the church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris in 1892. He subsequently became principal organist at the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, a post he held from 1900 until his death in 1937. He died at the organ of Notre-Dame at the end of his 1750th recital.

I've chosen it to compliment the other French piece today, the Cantiqe de Jean Racine by Gabriel Faure. We sang this piece a year ago, so go here to read about it.

Music for September 16, 2018

Vocal Music

• Day by Day – Martin How (b, 1931)

Instrumental Music

• Voluntary in G Major – William Boyce (1710-1779)
• Variations on Jesu, Meine Freude (Hymn 701) – Johann Gottfried Walther (1684-1748)
• Sinfonia from “Sampson” – George Frederick Handel (1685-1759)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of those marked “x” which are from Lift Every Voice and Sing II.)

• Hymn 525 - The Church’s one foundation (AURELIA)
• Hymn 675 - Take up your cross, the Savior said (BOURBON)
• Hymn 433 - We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing (KREMSER)
• Hymn L136 - I have decided to follow Jesus (ASSAM)
• Hymn L144 - I can hear my Savior calling (NORRIS)
• Hymn 522 - Glorious things of thee are spoken (AUSTRIA)
• Psalm 116:1-8 - tone VIIIa

I love Baroque music (music from @1600-1750), and particularly the well-defined musical forms of the period. In Germany one of the prevailing tendencies was pairing the Prelude and Fugue together. Stylistically, the prelude is improvisatory in nature with a small number of rhythmic and melodic motifs that recur through the piece, while a fugue is a sophisticated compositional technique of two or more voices, built on a musical theme that is introduced at the beginning, then imitated at different pitches and which recurring frequently during the composition.

In England, composers didn’t seem to pair the two forms as much as combine them into one piece called voluntaries. Originally, the term voluntary was used for a piece of organ music that was free in style and was meant to sound improvised (the word voluntary in general means "proceeding from the will or from one's own choice or consent"). [1] This probably grew out of the practice of church organists improvising after a service.

Later, the voluntary began to develop into a more definite form, like the today’s voluntary by William Boyce. It begins with an improvisatory section (prelude) before ending with a fugue – and in this instance, it’s a Double Fugue, with two subjects that are developed simultaneously.

William Boyce was the leading native-born composer in England during Eighteenth Century, second only in popularity to that German intruder, Georg Friedrich Händel (who later Anglicized the spelling of his name as George Frederick Handel.) He was known for his set of eight symphonies, his church anthems and his odes. He also wrote three operas and some chamber music.

At the age of 48, Boyce went deaf, and had to give up playing the organ. He devoted himself to editing the collection of church music which bears his name and completing the compilation Cathedral Music that his teacher Maurice Greene had left incomplete at his death. This led to Boyce editing works by the likes of William Byrd and Henry Purcell. Many of the pieces in the collection are still used in Anglican services today.

Boyce was largely forgotten after his death and he remains a little-performed composer today. The great exception to this neglect is his church music, which was edited after his death and published in two large volumes in 1780 and 1790.

The first movement (Allegro) of Boyce's Symphony No. 1 in B-flat was the first piece of music played during the procession of the bride and bridegroom at the end of the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018.

To balance the understated elegance of Boyce’s Voluntary, I will end the service with a transcription of a Sinfonia from the Oratorio Solomon by his greatest rival, Handel. This Sinfonia, which opens act 3, is more commonly known as "The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba.” It was featured at the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony.

[1] "voluntary". Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 14 September 2018.

Music for December 3, 2017 + The First Sunday of Advent

Vocal Music

• O Thou the Central Orb – Charles Wood (1866-1926)

Instrumental Music

• Sleepers, Wake! A Voice Astounds Us – Johann Gottfried Walther (1684-1748)
• Sleepers, Wake! A Voice Astounds Us – Johan Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
• Sleepers, Wake! A Voice Astounds Us – Paul Manz (1919-2009)

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 KLEINS WALDVÖGELEIN)
• Trisagion S-102 – setting by Alexander Archangelsky
• Hymn 57 - Lo! he comes, with clouds descending (HELMSLEY)
• Hymn 68 - Rejoice! Rejoice, believers (LLANGLOFFAN)
• Hymn R278 - Wait for the Lord (Taizé)
• Hymn 73 - The King shall come when morning dawns (ST. STEPHEN)
• Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18 - Tone VIIIa

As we enter the new Church Year with the season of Advent, we find two themes in Sunday's service:  In the opening collect, Psalm, and the Gospel we see the juxtaposition of darkness and light. We also hear the warning, "Stay Awake! Be ready, for you don't know when the Bridegroom comes."

At Children's choir this past Wednesday, as we began our study of Advent, we read the opening verses from Psalm 80:   

1 Hear, O Shepherd of Israel, leading Joseph like a flock; *
    shine forth, you that are enthroned upon the cherubim.
2 In the presence of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, *
    stir up your strength and come to help us.
3 Restore us, O God of hosts; *
    show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.

I asked them if they could remember the last time it really rained. Often times children struggle to answer such broad questions such as this, but not this time. "Harvey!" was the immediate answer. "Well, do you remember the first time you saw the sun after that rain?" I asked them. Indeed they did, and recalled what joy they felt at seeing those beams of light.

Well, that is the same kind of joy we can feel if we look for the beams of light this Advent season. It's the kind of light we hear of in the anthem today:

O Thou the central orb of righteous love,
Pure beam of the most high,
Eternal light of this our wintry world,Thy radiance bright awakes new joy in faith,
Hope soars above, above.

Come, quickly come, and let thy glory shine,
Gilding our darksome heaven with rays divine.

Thy saints with holy lustre round Thee move,
As stars about thy throne, set in the height
of God’s ordaining counsel, as Thy sight
gives measur’d grace to each,
Thy power to prove.

Let Thy bright beams disperse the gloom of sin,
Our nature all shall feel eternal day,
In fellowship with Thee,
Transforming clay to souls while ere unclean,
now pure within. Amen.

The words are by H.R. Bramley, and in researching on the web, I found this well written meditation on the text by the Revd Canon John Seymour of Leicester Cathedral. I hope you take a moment to read it.

Charles Wood, contemplating
the answer to 8 across in the Times
Crossword Puzzle.

The composer of the anthem, Charles Wood, wrote a considerable amount of church music and most of it is still in use today simply because it is well written and enjoyable to sing. Much of it is skilfully crafted, and this is amply demonstrated in today's anthem where the organ part which accompanies the melody sung by the basses ("Come, quickly come") shows careful handling of the chromatic counter-melody.

Wood spent much of his life in Cambridge at the University and wrote the chimes for the Gonville and Caius College clock. Like his counterpart C. V. Stanford, Wood collected and published Irish folksong (both were Irish), and he succeeded Stanford to the post of Professor of Music at the University of Cambridge in 1924. Wood only began church music towards the end of his life and much of it was published posthumously. In his earlier years he composed much larger works for stage, oratorios, and three string quartets.

The organ voluntaries are all based on the quintessential Advent hymn, "Sleepers, Wake!"  I am playing the best known setting of this by J. S. Bach for the communion voluntary. Bach himself arranged this for organ from his Cantata No. 140, where it was originally sung by the tenors alone. The accompaniment itself is one of the most beautiful melodies ever written, and when Bach brings the stark, straight-forward chorale melody in (played on the trumpet stop), it acts as a clarion call to "wake up!"

The opening Voluntary is another setting of the same hymn by Bach's cousin, Johann Gottfried Walther, whose life was almost exactly contemporaneous to that of J.S. Bach.   In 1702, at the age of eighteen, he was made organist of the Thomaskiche in Erfurt. At twenty-three he was appointed Weimar town organist and music master to the ducal children. In 1721 he became a court musician.

Walther wrote sacred vocal works and numerous organ pieces, consisting mostly of chorale preludes.

Music for October 8, 2017 + The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• I Choose Love – Mark Miller (21st C.)
• Let Thy Blood in Mercy Poured - Johann Crüger (1598-1662)

Instrumental Music

• Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan  (Whate'er my God ordains is right) – Johann Gottfried Walther (1684-1748)
• Concerto No. 4 in F Major:  III. Andante – G. F. Handel (1685-1759)
• Fantasia C-major BWV 570 – 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 518 - Christ is made the sure foundation (WESTMINSTER ABBEY)
• Hymn 474 - When I survey the wondrous cross (ROCKINGHAM)
• Hymn 495 - Hail, thou once despised Jesus! (IN BABILONE)
• Hymn R9 - As the deer pants for the water (AS THE DEER)
• Hymn 598 - Lord Christ, when first thou cam’st to earth (MIT FREUDEN ZART)
• Psalm 80:7-14 – Tone VIIIa

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, and that's exactly what you'll hear this Sunday in the piece our choir will sing at the offering. This soulful anthem, written in response to the tragic events that occurred at Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, North Carolina in 2015, is a testament to the power of forgiveness and peace. I chose it even as our community was still knee-deep (literally) in post-Harvey pain, and it is even more appropriate the week after the tragedy in Las Vegas.

Mark A. Miller

It is written by the contemporary composer Mark Miller. He is on the faculty at both the Drew Theological School and the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale University where he teaches music and worship. He also is 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.  Miller received his Bachelor of Arts in Music from Yale University and his Master of Music in Organ Performance from Juilliard.

As the the son, grandson, brother, and cousin of United Methodist clergy, Mark Miller believes in Cornel West’s quote that “Justice is what love looks like in public.” He also passionately believes that music can change the world. This is never more obvious than today's anthem, I Choose Love. Here is 

Miller’s Reflection on his composition:

“Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

The gospel stories of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection continue to inspire, uplift, and amaze me. They inspire, uplift, and amaze because Jesus consistently chooses love. When it would be easier for him to appease with the powerful religious leaders and Roman backed authorities he chooses love. Even as his friends disappear and the crowds that once shouted “hosanna” turn on him with shouts of “crucify,” he chooses love. Even after betrayal and humiliation, even when he is dying, he chooses love.

The words to the song “I Choose Love” are by my friend Lindy Thompson, written in response to the murder of nine people who were at their church bible study. The people of Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church of Charleston, S.C., chose love when they offered forgiveness in the face of hatred and violence.

We always have a choice. Every day we have a choice–how will the events of your day and your life affect you? It’s the challenge of the witness of Jesus–the challenge of a truly faithful life–a daily spiritual discipline for each of us to rise up every day and say “I choose love.”

The other anthem this morning uses John Brownlie's communion text, Let Thy Blood In Mercy Poured. Brownlie was a Scottish Presbyterian minister who was interested in both education and hymnology. He wrote several original hymns, and translated many more from Latin and Greek. In addition, he wrote on the history of hymns. This hymn-text has been matched with a melody by Johann Crüger, one of the leading musicians in Germany during the early baroque period. Nine of his hymns are in our Hymnal 1982.

Music for March 26, 2017 + The Fourth Sunday in Lent

Vocal Music

• O Jesus, Every Moment – Philip Stopford (b. 1977)

Instrumental Music

• Psalm Prelude, Set1, No.3 - Herbert Howells (1892-1983)
• Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort - Johann Walther (1684-1748)

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 645 - The King of love my shepherd is (ST. COLUMBA)
• Hymn R191 - O Christ, the healer, we have come (ERHALT UNS, HERR)
• Hymn 533 - How wondrous and great thy works, God of praise! (LYONS)
• Hymn R189 - Amazing grace! how sweet the sound (NEW BRITAIN)
• Hymn 149 - Eternal Lord of love (OLD 124TH)

A beautiful old Irish prayer provides the text for today's anthem. Philip Stopford has taken great care to write a simple melody and to treat this meaningful prayer with tender lyricism. Renowned for his beautiful choral music, Stopford is a British composer who is currently Director of Music at Christ Church, Bronxville, New York. This energetic 40 year old started life as a church musician as a chorister at Westminster Abbey in London. Since then, he has worked at Canterbury Cathedral, Chester Cathedral, St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, UK, before coming to the states. He's written much beautiful choral music, much of which can be heard on his YouTube channel, including this Sunday's anthem, under his direction. 

 After studying with Herbert Brewer at Gloucester Cathedral as a teenager, Herbert Howells moved to London to study at the Royal College of Music, where his teachers included Charles Villiers Stanford, Charles Wood, and Hubert Parry. Diagnosed with Graves’ disease in 1915, Howells was given six months to live, but survived after doctors treated him with radium injections, a previously untried treatment. The first set of Psalm-Preludes dates from this time and his illness may be the reason the second Psalm-Prelude is inspired by the fourth verse of the 23rd Psalm,‘Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death...’

Johann Gottfried Walther, student of J. Bernhard Bach (a second cousin of THE Bach), was an accomplished organist and composer of the Baroque period, In 1702, at the age of eighteen, he was made organist of the Thomaskiche in Erfurt. At twenty-three he was appointed Weimar town organist and music master to the ducal children. In 1721 he became a court musician.

Walther wrote much organ music; his compositions explore stylistic elements from across Europe. He is placed next to Bach as a composer of the chorale variation (he and Bach became friends while Bach lived in Wiemar). Outside of his organ music, Walther was also known for his book, Musikalishe Lexikon oder Musicalisches Bibliotek (Leipzig, 1732), the first dictionary/encyclopedia of music.

Music for October 30, 2016 + The Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Let thy blood in mercy poured – Johann Cruger (1598-1662)

Instrumental Music

• Praise to the King – Bill Ingram (contemporary)
• Riguadon – André Campra (1660-1744)
• Let Thy Blood in Mercy Poured – Johann Gottfried Walther (1684-1748)
• Rondeau from Abdelazer - Henry Purcell (1659-1695)

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

• Hymn 411 - O bless the Lord, my soul (St. Thomas (Williams))
• Hymn 605 - What does the Lord require (Sharpethorne)
• Hymn 424 - For the fruit of all creation (East Acklam)
• Hymn 301 - Bread of the world, in mercy broken (Rendez a Dieu)
• Hymn 410 - Praise, my soul, the King of heaven (Lauda anima)
• Psalm 32:1-8, Tonus Pergrinus, refrain by David Clark Isele

This Sunday, the Good Shepherd Bell Choir will ring for the first time this season. We have a great group of ringers this year, and are excited about the coming year. We will be ringing two pieces in worship. First is an original piece for bells by Texas composer Bill Ingram. Ingram is a native of Longview, Texas and a graduate of East Texas Baptist University. He began work as a minister of music in 1963 and served several Baptist churches in Texarkana, Dallas, and Pasadena, (all Texas) before residing in Baytown, Texas.

Now Ingram is a freelance composer and arranger and serves as handbell editor for two different publishers. He often serves churches in the Houston area as interim Minister of Music.

Mr. Ingram says, “I began writing for hand bells when we purchased bells at First Baptist Church, Baytown in 1975. My first compositions and arrangements were probably published in 1976. I have over 650 arrangements and compositions in print." In 1996, Jeffers Handbell Supply honored him as the “Composer of the Year” when “Do Lord” was the best seller that year.

The other piece we will play is an arrangement of the French baroque composer André Campra's Rigaudon from his opera Idoménée. Arguably his most familiar work, it is most often used as a wedding processional. It is in the form of a rondo, a work ,with one principal musical theme that is stated at least three times in the same key and to which return is made after the introduction of each subordinate theme.

Andre Campra. His hair was not
all he had in common with Henry Purcell

The most significant composer for the French stage between Lully and Rameau, Campra had his beginnings as a church musician. His father, an amateur violinist, provided him with his first music lessons, and at age 14 he joined the choir of St. Sauveur. At one point he nearly lost his place in the choir when he was caught giving unauthorized performances in secular theaters on the side. In August of 1681 he became the director of music at the church of Ste. Trophime in Arles, and two years later moved on to the same position at the Cathedral of St. Étienne in Toulouse. In 1694 he became choir master at Notre Dame. Until he arrived in Paris he had composed mostly sacred music, but even though he had reached a top position in the world of church music, the dramatic stage once again began to draw his creativity.

He began writing a new form of entertainment, the opéra-ballet, which he had published in his younger brother's name because he was afraid of losing his church appointment. His first three works were so successful, however, that he became confident in his ability to support himself with secular music. In 1700, he left Notre Dame and wrote his first of eight operas. Of these, only Tancrède (1702) and Idomenée (1712) have been performed with any regularity in the twentieth century.

The closing voluntary is an organ arrangement of a Rondeau by Henry Purcell. (Note the French spelling of the word Rondo.) The similarity of our handbell offertory by Campra and the organ voluntary is more than just the musical form, however. Both are arrangements of popular tunes from theatrical works by leading composers of the same time period.

The Rondeau is from the incidental music that Henry Purcell composed for the play Abdelazer, or the Moor's Revenge. One of Purcell’s last works, the play was staged in 1695, the year of Purcell's death. The Rondeau’s place in history was assured when the composer Benjamin Britten chose it for his Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra: Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell (1946).

The choir will sing the four part hymn by Johann Cruger, Let Thy Blood in Mercy Poured, as the communion motet. This is one of the top five hymns by Cruger, whose other hymns are much better known to modern worshippers.

• Ah, Holy Jesus, How Hast Thou Offended

• Now Thank We All Our God

• Soul, Adorn Yourself with Gladness

• Jesus, Priceless Treasure

• Let Thy Blood in Mercy Poured

Cruger was the son of an innkeeper, born at Gross-Bressen, near Guben in Prussia. He studied theology at the University of Wittenberg but left early to be the cantor of St. Nicholas Church in Berlin and to teach at the Gymnasium of the Grey Friars.

A friend of Paul Gerhardt, Cruger composed melodies for many hymns by Gerhardt and others. He composed seventy-one sacred chorales and also created elaborate instrumental accompaniments for hymns, actively promoting congregational singing. He was also a musicologist and wrote about the theory and practice of music. His hymnals also included other famous tunes such as Praise to the Lord, the Almighty and O Sacred Head, Now Wounded.

I will follow the choir's singing of the hymn with an organ work based on the same hymn by the contemporary of J. S. Bach, the German organist Johann Gottlieb Walther.

Music for January 31, 2016 + The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

Vocal Music

• Thy Perfect Love – John Rutter (b. 1945)

Instrumental Music

• Suite Brève: Cantilene – Jean Langlais (1907-1991)
• Variations on “Liebster Jesu” – Johann Gottfried Walther (1684-1748)
• Suite Brève: Dialogue sur les mixtures – Jean Langlais 

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

• Hymn R49 - Let the whole creation cry (Llanfair)
• Hymn R155 - Though I may speak with bravest fire (Gift of Love)
• Hymn 440 - Blessed Jesus, at thy word (Liebster Jesu)
• Hymn 576 - God is love, and where true love is (Mandatum)
• Hymn R226 - Ubi Caritas (Taizé)
• Hymn 530 - Spread, O spread, thou mighty word (Gott Sei Dank)

The English composer John Rutter writes wonderfully approachable and finely crafted choral music. Christmas could hardly happen without his settings of both traditional and original carols. And for decades church choirs have been singing his lyrical anthems on religious texts. One such anthem is this Sunday's offertory, Thy Perfect Love. Based on a 15th century English prayer, the anthem begins with a soprano soloist who presents the poem in its entirety. Then the whole choir sings the prayer in four part harmony, without organ. The hymn sounds easy, but the descending chromatic chords are tricky to sing in tune and on pitch! Pray for the choir.

Jean Langlais

The organ music comes from the Suite Brève by Jean Langlais. Born in great poverty in rural Northwest France, he was blind by age two, and his musical talent became evident when he sang in the choir of the local church. At ten he was sent to the National Institute for Blind Children in Paris, where he began to study the organ. From there, he progressed to the Paris Conservatoire, obtaining prizes in organ and composition. By 1945 he was organist at one of Paris's great churches, St. Clotilde. It was here that he wrote today's voluntaries in 1947.

The opening voluntary, the lyrical "Cantilene," is based on an original modal theme heard on a reed stop in the pedal and accompanied by soft chords., which reinforce the modal character (neither Major nor Minor key) of the melody. The next section plays of the melody canonically between high and low registers, simultaneously using the two melodies in the pedal. The third section has the melody once again in the pedal, but with an add flute obbligato in the treble register. It's not easy. Pray for the organist.

The last piece, "Dialogue sur les mixtures," has fast, repeated chords moving rapidly from the neutral key of C Major to A-flat and back again, with lively echoings between the different manuals (keyboards) of the organ.