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. 

SWINGING SAINTS! Music for November 6, 2022 + All Saints (Observed)

Vocal Music

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

Instrumental Music

• Morning Canticle – Sondra Tucker (b. 1957)
• How Can I Keep from Singing – Sondra Tucker, arr.
• Sine Nomine – John Weaver (1937-2021)

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

• Hymn 287 For all the saints, who from their labors rest (SINE NOMINE)
• Hymn 286 Who are these like stars appearing? (ZEUCH MICH, ZEUCH MICH)
• Hymn 618 Ye watchers and ye holy ones (LAAST UNS ERFREUEN)
• Hymn R127 Blessed are they, the poor in spirit (BLEST ARE THEY)
• Hymn 625 Ye holy angels bright (DARWALL’S 148TH)

It's not your usual Sunday  (musically) at Good Shepherd. First, its the Sunday we observe All Saints Day (which is on November 1st).  We remember those who have died and have "gone before," as they say. We usually use music by the "saints" of church music, (read "dead, white men") but today we also offer choral and instrumental music by a living white man AND a woman. We can feel the earth shake even as we write this. Read on.

By All Your Saints

For the offering, the choir will sing an setting of hymn 231, a poem by Horatio Nelson (a British politician and relative of the famous Naval hero Lord Nelson) set to a Finnish folk tune, NYLAND. It is arranged by Joel Martinson, director of Music Ministries and Organist at The Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration in Dallas, Texas.

Morning Canticle and How Can I Keep From Singing    

These two handbell pieces, played by our Good Shepherd Bell Choir, are by the Houston composer Sondra Tucker. Sondra and I have known each other since our days together in Memphis, over 25 years ago. She has served Presbyterian and Episcopal Congregations in both Memphis and Houston, and is currently the director of the Houston Bronze Ensemble, a professional handbell group in Houston (of which I am a member.) She is also acting as organist and choir director at First Congregational Church of Houston.

The prelude, Morning Canticle, is a bright, original tune which sparks an interesting match with the melody of "Holy Holy Holy", which is played by handchimes in the middle of the piece.

The communion piece is a lovely arrangement of the American Gospel hymn, How Can I Keep From Singing. The text and tune were both written by Robert Lowry, a Baptist minister who became a popular writer of gospel music in the mid- to late-19th century. His best-known hymns include "Shall We Gather at the River", "Christ Arose!", and "Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus". Despite his protestations that preaching was his main vocation and that music was merely a sideline, it is as a hymnwriter that Lowry is chiefly remembered. 

I think it's funny that I first heard this hymn not in church but on a CD of music by the New-Age singer/musician Enya, who changed some more overtly Christian lines.

In this arrangement we will also hear the handchimes playing the melody on the middle verse of the hymn.

Sine Nomine

Of all the music we are presenting this Sunday, the one I am most excited about is the closing voluntary, Sine Nomine. "SINE NOMINE is the tune name of the opening hymn this morning, the wonderful All Saints hymn, For all the saints, who from their labors rest. But did you know that SINE NOMINE is not the first, much less the only tune for that hymn? When the hymn was first published, it was sung to the melody SARUM, by the Victorian composer Joseph Barnby, until the publication of the English Hymnal in 1906 when Ralph Vaughan Williams, the editor of that hymnal, wrote a new tune which he called SINE NOMINE.  The tune's title means "without name" and follows the Renaissance tradition of naming certain compositions "Sine Nomine" if they were not settings for preexisting tunes.

What excited me about this organ piece is that it combines both the original tune SARUM with the later tune SINE NOMINE. But wait! THERE'S MORE! It also combines the Black spiritual, When the Saints Go Marching In with SINE NOMINE. And, if that is not enough, the whole piece is played in a Dixieland Jazz style! Yes, folks, you read that right. The hymn tune many consider to be the epitome of Anglican hymn tunes is given the Dixieland treatment. 

This genius "mash-up" was the brain child of American organist John Weaver. Weaver served as Organist and Director of Music at the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church from 1970-2005. He also headed the Organ Department of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia from 1972-2003 AND chaired the Juilliard School's Organ Department from 1987-2004.

Originally, this was the closing movement of a Hymn Sonata, commissioned by the Reuter Organ Company for the dedication recital at Shadyside Presbyterian Church in 1995. The style of a New Orleans Dixieland band infuses the entire piece, and Sine Nomine sounds unexpectedly right with dotted rhythms and jazz harmonies! The juxtaposition with Oh, When the Saints also draws attention to the fact that the opening of one tune is the inversion of the other.

A lyrical statement of SARUM, with its repeated notes and foursquare feel, essentially acts as a contrasting second subject. Following this there is another statement of SINE NOMINE as a jazz trumpet solo, after which SARUM and SINE NOMINE are combined. Finally, SINE NOMINE and Oh, When the Saints Go Marching In are grandly combined.

Music for Sunday, January 30, 2022 + The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

Vocal Music

• The Gift of Love – Hal H. Hopson (b. 1933)

Instrumental Music

• Pastorale on “Abbot’s Leigh” – Joel Martinson (b. 1961)
• Rhapsody – Daniel Elder (b. 1986)
• Fughetta on “Abbot’s Leigh” – Joel Martinson

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

• Hymn 379 - God is Love, let heavens adore him (ABBOT’S LEIGH)
• Hymn 598 - Lord Christ, when first thou cam’st to earth (MIT FREUDEN ZART)
• Hymn - Through north and south and east and west (LASST UNS ERFREUEN)
• Hymn R218 - Broken for me (BROKEN FOR ME)
• Hymn 530 - Spread, O spread, thou mighty word (GOTT SEI DANK)
• Psalm 71:1-6 – Tone Va

The opening and closing voluntaries are from a set of short pieces by Dallas composer and friend, Joel Martinson. He has held the position of Director of Music and Organist at The Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration in Dallas, Texas, since June 2004. He coordinates the musical life of this vibrant parish, including choral and instrumental ensembles for all ages, as well as the music series Transfigured Nights. He led Transfiguration’s new organ project, which culminated in a 3-manual, 47-stop organ by the firm of Richards, Fowkes & Co. dedicated in 2010. 

An active composer, Joel Martinson has been commissioned by a wide array of churches, musical organizations and individual performers across the United States. In 2007 he was commissioned to write his work Four Short Journeys to ABBOTT'S LEIGH, the tune of our opening hymn this Sunday. What I like about the work is that there are four very different pieces which are inspired by the tune, not just another straight-forward presentation of the melody. You will hear fragments which will remind you of the familiar hymn-tune, but is also an organ work in its own right.

The opening voluntary is his Pastorale. It takes its inspiration from the first three notes of the hymn-tune, and octave arpeggio found in in the last line of the hymn. It also exploits a juxtaposition of the minor and major tonalities found in the third phrase of the hymn.

The closing voluntary, Fughetta, is a lively fugal piece with a subject based on the first four bars of the tune. After a few excursions to various keys, it ends with a short refrain of the hymn followed by a final presentation of the subject.

The anthem is a well-known and loved setting of the English folk-tune, O WALY WALY, coupled with a paraphrase of 1st Corinthians 13 by another Dallas composer, Hal Hopson. Since published as an anthem in 1972, it has since become popular as a hymn, appearing in 24 hymnals, including RENEW which we have in the pews.

Hopson is a prolific composer, arranger, clinician, teacher and promoter of congregational song, with more than 1300 published works, especially of hymn and psalm arrangements, choir anthems, and creative ideas for choral and organ music in worship. Born in Texas, with degrees from Baylor University (BA, 1954), and Southern Baptist Seminary (MSM, 1956), he served churches in Nashville, TN, and most recently at Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas. 

The communion voluntary is written by the young American composer Daniel Elder. A native of Georgia, he earned his BM degree from the University of Georgia in 2010, and his Masters of Music from Westminster Choir College 2012. He now divides his time between Los Angeles and Nashville, Tennessee. He has written in both choral and instrumental idioms, and has made quite a name for himself in his short life. 

November 4, 2018 + All Saints Sunday

Vocal Music

• By All Your Saints – Joel Martinson

Instrumental Music

• Here I Am, Lord – Daniel Schutte
• Concerto in A Minor (First Movement) – Antonio Vivaldi

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

• Hymn 287 - For all the saints, who from their labor rest  (SINE NOMINE)
• Hymn 286 - Who are these like stars appearing (ZEUCH MICH, ZEUCH MICH)
• Hymn 822 - Through North and South and East and West (LAAST UNS ERFREUEN)
• Hymn 620 - Jerusalem, my happy home (LAND OF REST)
• Hymn 293 - I sing a song of the saints of God (GRAND ISLE)
• Hymn 618  - Ye holy angels bright (DARWALL’S 148TH)
• Psalm 24

All Saints Day is November 1. (Which is why we have All Hallow's Eve - Halloween - on October 31.) All Saints’ Day is when the church honors all Holy Ones, known and unknown. Our English word “saint” literally means “holy.” The next day, November 2, is All Soul's Day, the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed. In other cultures the celebration is known as Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos in Spanish-speaking countries.)

Here at Good Shepherd we combine the two and observe them on the Sunday following. That's why we sing all the good old All Saints hymns (For All the Saints is regularly voted as one of the favorites of the congregation to sing) and read the list of names of those dear to us who have died. (This would be a good time for you to watch the animated movie Coco. (I think its the best of the Disney movies, able to be enjoyed by children and adults alike).

I am out of the country this week, so my good friend Rob Carty will be playing the organ for me in my absence. 

Music for June 3, 2018 + Music Appreciation Sunday

Living Americans 

music by contemporary composers connected to the Episcopal Church or with connections to Texas and Houston

Vocal Music

• When In Our Music God Is Glorified – David Ashley White (b. 1944)
• Nearer, My God, to Thee – arr. Dan Forrest (b. 1978)
• Lord, You have Searched Me – David Hurd (b. 1950)
• Mass for St. Philip’s – William Bradley Roberts (b. 1947)

Instrumental Music

• Aria on a Chaconne – Joel Martinson (b. 1960)
• Strengthen for Service, Lord – Anne Krentz Organ (b. 1960)
• Festival Piece – Craig Phillips (b. 1961)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of those without a number which are from Wonder, Love, and Praise: A Supplement to the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 7 - Christ, whose glory fills the skies (RATISBON)
• Hymn 490 - I want to walk as a child of the light (HOUSTON)
• Hymn - Through north and south (LASST UNS ERFREUEN)
• Hymn - Heal me, hands of Jesus (SHARPE)
• Hymn 324 - Let all mortal flesh keep silence (PICARDY)
• Hymn 530 - Spread, O spread, thou mighty word (GOTT SEI DANK)

As I write this blog each week, I am acutely aware that much of what we sing, play, and hear in our worship is the work of dead white men. While I appreciate that we want to hear and perform music which has stood the test of time, I also have a yearning to experience music that is new, different, and indicative of the age in which we live. One day, while listening to SiriusXM's Symphony Hall channel, I heard a promo for their weekly series "Living Americans," and the idea of scheduling a service devoted to music of such people was planted in my head.

With the exception of two composers, all of the composers featured today have ties to the Episcopal Church. And though all the hymns are not by living composers, two of them (I want to walk as a child of the light and Heal me, hands of Jesus) are indeed written by composers who are still very much alive and connected to the Episcopal Church.
 

David Ashley White

When you think about hymns about worship and music, one of the first hymns that comes to mind is one written in 1971 by the British minister and hymn-writer, Fred Pratt Green. When In Our Music God Is Glorified , usually sung to the hymn tune ENGLEBERG. However, today we sing a setting of the text to the tune HAMMERLING by Houstonian David Ashley White, Professor of Composition and Composer-in-Residence at Houston’s Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church. He served as Director of the Moores School from 1999-2014.  This festival setting owas commissioned by the Houston Chapter of the American Guild of Organists for the 1988 National Convention, and was premiered at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Houston.

Dan Forrest

Nearer, My God, to Thee is by Dan Forrest, a free-lance composer living and working in South Carolina. Though he is a Presbyterian, his arrangement of the hymn Nearer My God to Thee was part of the prelude music for the funeral of Barbara Bush at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston in April. It is a beautiful arrangement with lovely harmonies which brings new life in this timeless hymn. It starts out in 6/8 time, but then reverts to the more familiar 4/4 time of the hymnal setting as it changes key on the second stanza. On the third stanza, we change keys again, not just once but twice before returning to the original key and gentle rhythm  of the beginning

David Hurd

The psalm for the day is David Hurd's Lord, You Have Searched Me Out. Dr. Hurd was Professor of Sacred Music and Director of Chapel Music at the General Theological Seminary in New York City for 28 years. He is presently the Director of Music at The Church of Saint Mary the Virgin in Times Square, New York City. We often sing parts of his Intersession Mass at our services, particularly in Advent. This setting of Psalm 139, the appointed Psalm for today, is one of the choir’s favorites.

William Bradley Roberts

Mass for St. Philip’s is a setting of the mass by William Bradley Roberts, the Associate Professor of Church Music at Virginia Theological Seminary and an ordained Episcopal priest. He came to Virginia Seminary after serving at St. John's, Lafayette Square, Washington, and St. Philip’s in the Hills, Tucson, Ariz. His undergrad degree was from Houston Baptist University.  This Mass was written for the Tucson congregation while he was serving as their director of music.

The organ and piano music includes:

Joel Martinson

Aria on a Chaconne is a beautiful, meditative organ piece by Joel Martinson, director of music and organist at Church of the Transfiguration (Episcopal) in Dallas. The lyrical melody is heard in the right hand played on a solo flute stop, while the left hand plays an accompaniment of pulsating block chords. At one point, the right hand plays a duet with itself as the left hand continues the accompaniment. Joel is another well-known composer of organ and choral music in the Episcopal Church. He runs his own publishing company, Kessler Park Press.

Anne Krentz Organ

Strengthen for Service, Lord is a setting of a new hymn-tune by Robert Hobby, director of music for Trinity English Lutheran Church, Fort Wayne, Indiana. The arrangement is by another Lutheran musician, Anne Krentz Organ, who serves as the Director of Music Ministries at St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Park Ridge, IL. Contrary to her name, Anne holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from Valparaiso University, a Master of Music degree in Piano Pedagogy from the University of Illinois, and a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Church Music from Concordia University Chicago. She currently serves as the President of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians.

Craig Phillips

Festival Piece – Craig Phillips is Director of Music at All Saints’ Church, Beverly Hills. His organ compositions are heard in churches all across the continent, with many being featured at National and regional meetings of the American Guild of Organists and the Association of Anglican Musicians.
After the service we will celebrate and honor all our musicians at Good Shepherd with an extended coffee hour to thank our choirs, music director and all those involved in the music program. This will be the choir’s final Sunday before summer break.

The public is invited to attend this service – guests are welcome.

Music for March 19, 2017 + The Third Sunday in Lent

Vocal Music

• As Pants the Hart - Joel Martinson (b. 1960)

Instrumental Music

• Lenten Contemplation – William E. Moats (20th-21st C.)
• Antiphonal Celebration  – Kevin McChesney (b. 1963)

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

• Hymn 522 - Glorious things of thee are spoken (AUSTRIA)
• Hymn 143- The glory of these forty days (ERHALT UNS, HERR)
• Hymn 686 - Come thou fount of every blessing (NETTLETON)
• Hymn R122 - Surely it is God who saves me (FIRST SONG OF ISAIAH)
• Hymn R9 - As the deer (AS THE DEER)
• Hymn 690 - Guide me, O thou great Jehovah (CWM RHONDDA)
• Psalm 95 - Tone IIa

Kevin McChesney

This Sunday we feature the Good Shepherd Bell Choir in two pieces by contemporary American composers. The opening voluntary is a piece in 6/8 time called Antiphonal Celebration - not the most Lent-like title, but a nice way to start the service. It is by Kevin McChesney, a free-lance specialist in handbells who is in demand as a workshop leader across the country. Previously he was a church music director in Methodist and Presbyterian churches as well as accompanist and co‑director for the vocal music department at Air Academy High School, where he co‑directed a major production each fall season for eleven years. McChesney graduated with highest honors from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a BMus in Composition and Theory. A composer and arranger of handbell music, Kevin currently has over 450 titles in print.

Listen for the antiphonal dialogue between treble and brass bells. The piece combines a lyrical melody with strong rhythmic energy, and uses mallets and the bell technique called martellato, where the bells are rung directly into the table pads.

The other piece uses both the full set of bells plus our three octaves of handchimes. It is a lovely medley of hymns associated with the Lenten season: SOUTHWELL (Lord Jesus, Think on Me), GETHSEMANE (Go to Dark Gethsemane), and HERZLIEBSTER JESU (Ah, Holy Jesus), all from the Hymnal 1980. This arrangement is by William E. Moats, a former band and orchestra director from Ohio. Moats graduated from Kent State University in Music Education and from Ball State University with a Master of Arts degree in Music.

He also served as choir director at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Kettering, Ohio for 15 years.  In addition to vocal choir he directed a brass ensemble, church band, folk ensemble, and handbell choir. In addition to handbell music, he has published band music, string orchestra music and brass chamber music.

Mr. Moats is currently semi-retired, currently directing an adult vocal choir in Mechanicsville, Virginia.

Music for December 6, 2015 + The Second Sunday of Advent

Vocal Music

• By All Your Saints – arr. Joel Martinson (b. 1962)

Instrumental Music

• Once He Came in Blessing – John Leavitt (b. 1956)
• Light One Candle to Watch for Messiah – Wayne L. Wold (b. 1954)
• Prepare the Way, O Zion – Paul Manz (1919-2009)

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 R128 - Blessed be the God of Israel (Forest Green)
• Hymn 53 - Once he came in blessing (Gottes Sohn ist kommen)
• Hymn 657 - Love divine, all loves excelling (Hyfrydol)
• Hymn R92 - Prepare the way of the Lord (Taizé)
• Hymn 65 - Prepare the way, O Zion (Berenden vag for Herran)

In the Gospel reading today, we learn that somewhere near the year 29 A.D., John the Baptist began proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. This fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, 

The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’

You will hear (and sing) those words several times this Sunday as we remember that prophecy.

St John the Baptist Preaching - Anastasio Fontebuoni

The only piece of music that does not directly tie into the theme of today's Gospel is the organ voluntary at communion by Wayne L. Wold. Wold is professor, organist, and chair of the music department at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, and also director of music ministry at First Lutheran Church of Ellicott City, Maryland.  In 1984 Wold wrote an Advent hymn using the Yiddish tune Tif in Veldele (Deep in the Forest)as the melody. It's in A Minor, as typical of many Jewish folk tunes, and has a lovely, haunting quality about it. The hymn and this tune have since been included in 4 hymnals, two Lutheran hymnals, one Catholic, and the newest Presbyterian Hymnal, Glory to God. Each line begins with this simple statement.  

Light one (two, three, four) candle(s) to watch for Messiah: let the light banish darkness. 

What I find charming about this organ prelude based on the Yiddish melody is that Wold has written it in the style of César Franck's lyrical Prelude, Fugue, and Variation. I will be playing just the first (prelude) and last (variation) movements of the piece. 

Hymn Spotlight - Hymn R128 - Blessed be the God of Israel (Forest Green)

The Prayerbook suggests a canticle as an alternative to the usual Psalm for the second Sunday of Advent. The Song of Zechariah (father to John the Baptist) is found at Luke 1:68-79. Carl Daw, an Episcopal priest now located at Boston University, wrote a hymn based on this canticle in 1989, and it is included in our Renew hymnal to the tune “Forest Green”  by the famous English composer, Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Music for December 7, 2014 + The Second Sunday of Advent

Vocal Music

• Rejoice, Greatly (Messiah) – G. F. Handel (1685-1759)
• By All Your Saints - Joel Martinson (b. 1960)

Instrumental Music

• Lord Christ, the only Son of God – Johann Gottfried Walther (1684-1748)
• Lord Christ, the only Son of God, BWV 601 – 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 67 – Comfort, comfort ye my people (PSALM 42)
• Hymn 65 - Prepare the way, O Zion (BEREDEN VAG FOR HERRAN)
• Hymn R-278 – Wait for the Lord (Taizé)
• Hymn 76 – On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry (WINCHESTER NEW)
• Psalm 85 – tone VIIIa

Marion Russell Dickson, soprano

The music for the second Sunday of the Advent Season features music of THE Baroque Masters, Bach and Handel, with a lesser known baroque composer thrown in.  The offertory anthem is Rejoice Greatly, that wonderful soprano aria from Handel's Messiah, sung by Kingwood resident and friend of the Good Shepherd Music Ministry, Marion Russell Dickson. She recently completed her doctorate in vocal performance from the University of Houston. This will be a busy weekend of performing for her as she is also the guest soloist with the Kingwood Pops Orchestra Friday and Saturday night.

The chorale Herr Christ, der einge Gottes-Sohn [Lord Christ, the only Son of God] is the basis of both the opening and closing voluntaries. In the opening voluntary by  J. G. Walther, you hear the melody presented in its entirety in the soprano (top) part of the manualiter (that's German for "Look, Ma, no feet!") while the lower three voices accompany the melody with a repetitive eighth-note pattern. The closing voluntary is from Bach's monumental organ collection Orgelbüchlein ("Little Organ Book"), 46 chorale preludes for organ written by Bach during the period 1708–1717. The collection was originally planned as a set of 164 chorale preludes spanning the whole liturgical year. This is the third of four pieces for Advent, though it was probably the first written. Like the opening voluntary today, the melody (cantus firmus) is presented unadorned in the soprano line with the other three voices on the same keyboard and in the pedal. The accompaniment is derived from the suspirans pedal motif of three sixteenth notes followed by two eighth notes. For Albert Schweitzer, this particular motif signified "beatific joy", representing either "intimate gladness or blissful adoration." The mood expressed is in keeping with joy for the coming of Christ.  The motif, which is anticipated and echoed in the seamlessly interwoven inner parts, was already common in chorale preludes of the period. This motif figured in the earlier manualiter setting of the same hymn by Walther. Bach, however, goes beyond the previous models, creating a unique texture in the accompaniment which accelerates, particularly in the pedal, towards the cadences.

Interestingly, I played an opening and a closing voluntary by Walther and Bach last Sunday, too. This is not planned, just a happy coincidence. You can read what I said about those two here. 

The communion motet is a recycled anthem for All Saints Day based on the hymn in the hymnal, but with the stanza for John the Baptist inserted as verse two. Click HERE to see what I said about the anthem back in November (in case you have forgotten it!)

Hymn 67 – Comfort, comfort ye my people - This 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) The tune is called PSALM 42, because it was used for Psalm 42 in the French Genevan Psalter. J. S. Bach also used this tune in seven of his cantatas.
Hymn 65 - Prepare the way, O Zion  The text, having gone through a composite translation from Swedish and adapted from that, has bits and pieces of the most familiar Scripture that we hear during Advent.  The tune is very basic:  G major, 6/4 time, range of an octave.  Only the refrain adds some rhythmic interest.

Hymn R-278 – Wait for the Lord (Taizé)
Hymn 76 – On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry - Since this hymn explicitly calls us to make way for Christ, it is most fitting for the season of Advent. It references John the Baptist, a key figure in the narrative of Christ’s birth, to prepare the way or Christ’s second coming. Charles Coffin wrote this text in Latin for the Paris Breviary in 1736. In 1837 it was translated into English by John Chandler for his Hymns of the Primitive Church (Chandler mistakenly thought it was a medieval text). The text has since undergone many revisions, and today it is hard to find two hymnals in which the text is the same.

[Disclaimer: The organ has begun to act up again this week. Every time I practice, it behaves as if it were posessed of a ghost, and will instantly clear all my stops while I am practicing - or even worse, will add EVERY stop on the organ while I am in the midst of a quiet piece, to an utterly horrible sound. I have no control over it. Just remember this when you fill out your pledge card for the Capital Improvements Campaign!]

Music for November 2, 2014 + All Saints Sunday

Vocal Music

• By All Your Saints Still Striving – Joel Martinson (b. 1962)

Instrumental Music

• Improvisation I – George Oldroyd (1887–1956)
• Improvisation on “Sine Nomine” – Paul Manz (1919-2009)

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

• Hymn 287        For All the Saints (SINE NOMINE)
• Hymn 293        I sing a song of the saints of God (GRAND ISLE)
• Hymn 297        Descend, O Spirit, Purging Flame (ERHALT UNS, HERR)
• Hymn 620        Jerusalem, my happy home (LAND OF REST)
• Hymn 656        Blest are the pure in heart (FRANCONIA)
• Hymn 618        Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones (LASST UNS ERFREUEN)

Joel Martinson

My friend Joel Martinson has written this Sunday's anthem based on hymn 232 in our hymnal. It's a fairly straight-forward settting of the hymn, with the treble voices (the sopranos and altos, joined this week by the children of the St. Gregory choir) singing the first stanza. Stanza two has the men and trebles singing the tune in canon (a piece in which the same melody is begun in different parts successively, so that the imitations overlap). The last stanza has the entire choir singing the tune in unison.
Joel is Director of Music Ministries and Organist at The Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration in Dallas, Texas where he coordinates the vibrant musical life of the parish, the Transfigured Nights music series, and oversaw the installation of their new organ. As a composer, his music has been performed throughout the United States, in Great Britain and Europe, and on the continents of Africa and Asia. Nearly 100 of his works have been published.
This hymn was written to commemorate many of the different saints days in our calendar. Horatio Nelson first wrote the initial stanza and the concluding Doxological stanza for his 1864 collection Hymns for Saints Days and Other Hymns. Following the original publication, additional stanzas were contributed by friends and were revised by Nelson. In the same spirit of cooperation, the present form of the text was prepared for the 1982 Hymnal using additional texts of F. Bland Tucker and Jerry Godwin, making the hymn appropriate for eleven different saints days. 

About our hymns:

Hymn 287        For All the Saints (SINE NOMINE) -  Based on a picture of the "cloud of witnesses" (Hebrews 12:1), this hymn gives thanks for the saints of old, makes a prayer that we may be found faithful, and acknowledges the unity of the whole Church in heaven and on earth in the mystical body of Christ, a picture of the church in holy warfare, and a vision of the victorious Church. Vaughan Williams' magnificent marching tune makes this a contemporary version of "When the Saints Go Marching In!"

Hymn 293        I sing a song of the saints of God (GRAND ISLE) "Are there any saints alive today?" The children of Lesbia Scott often asked such questions, so she wrote this hymn for All Saints Sunday in 1929 to suggest that there are plenty of saints alive today in all walks of life, and that anyone can be a saint if we really work at it. The tune has just the light-hearted, joyful feeling to fit the charmingly simple and picturesque text.

Hymn 620        Jerusalem, my happy home (LAND OF REST) -  Several different sources have been found for this text, but it seems to have been written by a Catholic priest Frances Baker around 1553, who based it on meditations by Augustine on the hoped for peace of Jerusalem, the old city of heaven where all will be be peace and joy. This hymn is popular among our church for its delightful early American folk tune, LAND OF REST.

Hymn 656        Blest are the pure in heart (FRANCONIA) John Keble wrote a collection of hymns for all the various seasons of the church year, and this one is the most famous. Based on the Beatitudes (Matthew 5;3), it originally had seventeen stanzas! Thank goodness our hymnal only uses four of those!

Hymn 618        Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones (LASST UNS ERFREUEN) Athelstan Riley (isn't that a great name?) wrote ths festive hymn, which we often sing at St. Michael and All Angels, for the first stanza names the nine order of angels who serve God. The "bearer of the eternal Word" in stanza two is the virgin Mary. We are singing it for All Saints Sunday because of stanza three, which adds in all the "souls in endless rest" who have arrived in heaven. While rehearsing this for Sunday, one of the kids in children's choir asked, "Don't we sing other words to this song?" The answer is yes, the most familiar being "All Creatures of our God and King."