Music for January 10, 2019 + The Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ

Vocal Music

• Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day – John Gardner

Instrumental Music

• Erhalt Uns, Herr – Gerald Near
• Schműcke dich – Gerald Near
• Salzburg – Gerald Near

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 76 - On Jordan’s bank, the baptist’s cry (WINCHESTER NEW)
• Hymn 636 - How firm a foundation (FOUNDATION)
• Hymn 295 - Sing praise to our Creator (CHRISTUS, DER IST MEIN LEBEN)
• Hymn 132 - When Christ’s appearing was made known (ERHALT UNS, HERR)
• Hymn 510 - Come, holy Spirit, heavenly dove (ST. AGNES)
• Hymn 339 - Deck thyself, my soul, with gladness (SCHMŰCKE DICH)
• Hymn 135 - Songs of thankfulness and praise (SALZBURG)
• Psalm 29 -  simplified Anglican Chant by Jerome W. Meachen

This is the Baptism of Christ window here at Good Shepherd. It reminds us that this Sunday is the commemoration of Christ’s baptism. For that reason, I have chosen a setting of the old English carol, Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day, for the last stanza:

Then afterwards baptized I was;
The Holy Ghost on me did glance,
My Father’s voice heard I from above,
To call my true love to my dance.

The text is not set to the original, lilting carol tune, but is in a contemporary 20th century setting by John Gardner, an English musician who once tried to teach Paul McCartney the rudiments of music. In 1966 Gardner was asked by a mutual friend to help the Beatle with his composition, but the experience was not a great success. He discovered that McCartney “didn’t, in a sense, know anything [about composition]”, though he had somehow worked out for himself, by sheer musical instinct, compositional techniques which tested even classically-trained musicians. Gardner told him that he felt it would be better if they stopped the lessons so that McCartney  did not lose his creative spark.

Gardner had written today’s anthem one year prior for his students at St Paul’s Girls’ School . While his arrangement is beautifully melodic, it also throws in some mischief for the singers with its ever-changing time signature. One former student recalled how she and her colleagues sang it “obsessively in the locker rooms”. Even as Gardner experimented with modern music for the Church, he was despairing at the way many of his contemporaries were “lowering the brow”, adding: “It is probable that many of the attempts to bring the atmosphere of the Espresso bar to the chancel are as hypocritical as they are misguided.”

The organ music for this Sunday comes from the pen of Gerald Near, and are all settings of tunes which we will sing during the 10:15 service.

Music for September 25 + Pentecost XIX and St. Michael and All Angels

10:15 Eucharist

Vocal Music

• Fight the Good Fight – John Gardner (1917-2011)

Instrumental Music

• Voluntary in D – John Stanley (1712-1786)
• Symphonie No. 4: III. Andante cantabile - Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937)
• Trumpet Voluntary in D – John Stanley

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 429 - I’ll praise my Maker while I’ve breath (Old 113^th)
• Hymn 561 - Stand up, stand up for Jesus (Morning Light)
• Hymn 705 - As those of old their first fruits brought (Forest Green)
• Hymn 605 - What does the Lord require (Sharpthorne)
• Hymn 370 - God is love, let heaven adore him (Abbott’s Leigh)
• Psalm 146:2-9 - Lauda, anima mea (simplified Anglican Chant by Jerome Meachem)

St. Michael and All Angels

Choral Eucharist at 5 PM

Vocal Music

• Locus Iste – Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)
• Hide Me Under the Shadow of thy Wings – John Ebenezer West (1863-1929)

Instrumental Music

• Archangel Suite – Craig Phillips (b. 1961)

1. Michael – “…there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon.” – Rev. 12:7
2. Gabriel – Messenger of God – messenger of the Annunciation
3. Raphael – It is God who heals – Archangel of healing
4. Uriel – God is my light – Archangel of Light

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

• Hymn 282 - Christ, the fair glory of the holy angels (CAELITES PLAUDANT)
• Hymn R75 - Praise the Lord, let heavens adore hymn (Austrian Hymn)
• Hymn R114 - Psalm 103: Bless the Lord (Taizé)
• Hymn 618 - Ye watchers and ye holy ones (Lasst uns erfreuen)
• Hymn 625 - Ye holy angels bright (Darwall’s 148th)

This is a full Sunday for the Good Shepherd Choir, as we sing at the morning service at 10:15 as well as the Service dedicating the new Acolytes at 5 PM. Here are some thoughts about the music for both services.

John Gardner in rehearsal

I chose the anthem Fight the Good Fight to echo the themes of the Epistle reading for the day. ("Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. - 1st Timothy 6:12) That's also why we are singing that good old hymn, Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus.

The anthem was composed by John Gardner, an English organist and composer who once tried to teach Paul McCartney the rudiments of music! He was decidedly of the "old" school - much more romantic and traditional than other up and coming composers on the European continent after World War II. This anthem comes from a set of Five Hymns in Popular Style composed in 1966

At the Evening Service the choir sings the beautiful unaccompanied motet by the Austrian composer Anton Bruckner, Locus Iste. The text, which is sung in Latin, translates to

This place was made by God,
a priceless sacrament;
it is without reproach. . 

I have chosen it because (A.) I like it. (B.) The choir likes it, and (C.) It reminds me of what Jacob said after he woke from his dream of angels climbing a ladder to heaven. ("“Surely the Lord is in this place...This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” - Genesis 28:16-17)

Bruckner was a composer of a number of highly original and monumental symphonies. He was also an organist and teacher who composed much sacred and secular choral music. He was a devout Catholic, but he was not without his quirks. Read the article that I have linked to above. (But not during the sermon. DEFINITELY not in church.)

I'm excited to be playing a (relatively) new work at the evening service specifically for St. Michael and All Angels. It is a suite written in 2011 by Craig Phillips, Archangel Suite is a collection of four movements which explore the contrasting characters of the four traditional archangels.

Craig Phillips

I'm using the first movement, "Michael" as the opening voluntary; It is martial trumpet-tune which portrays St. Michael, the chief angelic adversary of Satan. The second and third movement will come during communion. "Gabriel" is a quietly but steadily flowing 9/8 movement with a lyric melody in the pedals, sounding above a flowing accompaniment in the manuals; "Raphael" is a shimmering meditation for celestes and solo stops, depicting the archangel of healing. I will play the finale, dedicated to Uriel,the archangel of light, as a closing voluntary. "Uriel" is a dramatic and vivid toccata in the French style.

Craig Phillips has served as Director of Music at All Saints’ Church, Beverly Hills since 2009. He previously served for 20 years as the churches’ Associate Director of Music and Composer-in-Residence. His choral and organ music is heard Sunday by Sunday in churches and cathedrals across the United States, and many of his works have been performed in concert throughout North America, Europe and Asia. He was named the American Guild of Organists Distinguished Composer for 2012 — the seventeenth recipient of this special award.