Music for August 2, 2020 + The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• En Prière– Gabriel Faure (1845-1924)

Instrumental Music

• Hyfrydol – Gregg Sewell (b. 1953)
• Chorale – Ola Gjeilo (b. 1978)

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

• Hymn L146 - Break thou the bread of life (BREAD OF LIFE)
• Song of Praise S-280 - Glory to God (Gloria in Excelsis) – Robert Powell (b. 1932)

Gabriel Fauré

This Sunday we get to hear one of our former (and returning) staff singers, Anna Zhang, who will offer a lovely sacred song by Gabriel Fauré,  one of the most influential of French composers, bridging the the Romantic period with the beginnings of the modern era in music.

His early training was for a life as a church organist. At age nine he was sent to the École de Musique Classique et Religieuse (School of Classical and Religious Music), which Louis Niedermeyer was setting up in Paris. There he stayed for 11 years, training to become a church musician. Although he played the organ professionally for over four decades, his real strength lay in composition. His Requiem and Pavane remain among the best-loved classical pieces.

Fauré is regarded as one of the masters of the French art song, or mélodie. Maurice Ravel wrote in 1922 that Fauré had saved French music from the dominance of the German Lied. Today's solo is a great example of that. En Prière, or In Prayer, is a beautifully poetic song written in 1890 and based on the text of a devotional poem by Stéphan Bordèse. Stylistically and textually, En Prière is a musical glimpse into the prayer of a sincere believer. The delicate yet intense melodic line is supported, even sheltered, by the piano’s repetitive triplets.

Pianist Graham Johnson had this to say about the piece:

The creation of an atmosphere of heartfelt piety seems effortless, the progression of harmonies a miracle of fluidity. Only Fauré could have written this music. At ‘Révélez-Vous à moi’ the triplet accompaniment cedes to a motif of crotchets which wafts across the stave as if the Holy Spirit revealed; on the song’s last page this alternates in an almost liturgical manner with triplets, and is repeated no fewer than five times, as if in benediction.

from notes by Graham Johnson © 2005

The piano voluntary is a beautiful, meditative piece by the Norwegian composer, Ola Gjeilo, one of the bright "Northern Lights" in the modern musical atmosphere. This piece is taken from a recording of piano improvisations recorded in 2012.

Music for June 19, 2016

Vocal Music

• Crucifix – Jean-Baptiste Faure (1830-1914), Bidkar Cajina, baritone

Instrumental Music

• We pray now to the Holy Ghost – Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707)
• Elevation – Paul Benoit (1893-1979)
• Fugue in C Major – Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982)

• Hymn 388 - O worship the King (Hanover)
• Hymn 529 - In Christ there is no East or West (McKee)
• Hymn 707 - Take my life, and let it be (Hollingside)
• Hymn 652 - Dear Lord and Father of mankind (Rest)
• Hymn 535 - Ye servants of God, your master proclaim (Paderborn)

Jean Baptiste Faure
(painted by Edouard Manet)

Jean-Baptiste Faure was a operatic baritone who is best known today as the composer of Les Rameaux (The Palms), which has been a Palm Sunday staple for years in many churches (but not Good Shepherd, strangely enough.)

A choir boy in his youth, he entered the Paris Conservatory in 1851 and made his operatic debut the following year at the Opéra-Comique. He debuted at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, in 1860, and at the Paris Opera in 1861. His last stage appearances are recorded as taking place in Marseilles and Vichy in 1886.

In addition to singing, Faure composed several enduring songs, including Sancta Maria, Les Rameaux (The Palms), and Crucifix. The latter two were recorded by Enrico Caruso, among others.

Though this was chosen for this Sunday several weeks ago, it's text is fitting for this first Sunday after the terrible shootings in Orlando. This is the English text:

Come unto Him, all ye who weep, for He too weepeth,
Come unto Him, all ye who mourn, for He can heal.
Come unto Him, all ye who fear,
Come unto Him, in woe and weal.
Come unto Him, in your last sleep, He never sleepeth.