Music for July 31, 2022 + The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• At the River – Aaron Copland (1900-1990)
• Amy Bogan, soprano

Instrumental Music

• Trumpet Intrada – John S. Dixon (b. 1957)
• Andantino – César Franck (1822-1890)
• Toccata in G Dorian– Johann Pachelbel (1653–1706)

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

• Hymn 408 Sing praise to God who reigns above (MIT FREUDEN ZART)
• Hymn 421 All glory be to God on high (ALLEIN GOTT IN DER HÖHE)
• Hymn 533 How wondrous and great thy works, God of praise! (LYONS)
• Hymn 302 Father, we thank thee who hast planted (RENDEZ A DIEU)
• Hymn R136 Alleluia (ALLELUIA)
• Hymn 594 God of grace and God of glory (CWM RHONDDA)
• Psalm 49:1-2, 4-10 – Tone IIa

At the River

Aaron Copland was often referred to as the Dean of American Composers. Incorporating elements of jazz and folk songs into his compositions, Copland was known for liberating the art world from European influences, and popularizing indigenous American music. Along with his fellow American composers Charles Ives, Samuel Barber, John Duke, Amy Beach and Edward MacDowell, Copland was interested in preserving hymns, Native American melodies and African-American spirituals. This includes his two sets of Old American Songs from 1950 and 1952, the second set was premiered by baritone William Warfield and the composer. Copland gave each song his personal musical style while retaining its original flavor (and, in some cases, echoes of instrumental accompaniment from banjo or harp). 

The hymn tune “At the River” (or “Shall We Gather at the River”) was written in 1865 by Robert Lowry, a Baptist pastor, composer, poet, chancellor at the University of Lewisburg, and editor and compiler of Sunday school songs. “At the River” was sung at memorial concerts for Copland and for Leonard Bernstein. (Next week we will hear some of Bernstein's music.)

Trumpet Intrada

Here is a new work by John S. Dixon. He was born in England and grew up about fifty miles east of London, near the Thames River estuary. Starting piano studies at age 6, he progressed to pipe organ at age 11. His first composition for public performance was the score to an original book for a youth theatre production when he was 16.

In spite of that early interest in music, he did not choose to make music his major field of study or his career. However. he remained active in music and theater while studying for the bachelor of arts degree at Oxford University and later at Harvard, where he earned an MBA.

He moved to America permanently in 1988, where he became a member of Providence Presbyterian Church, where he now serves as Organist and Composer-in-Residence. He reside in Norfolk.

Andantino

While I was at the American Guild of Organists convention in Seattle this summer, I was reminded that 2022 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of César Franck, the  Belgian-French composer of the last half of the 19th century. Though he is well known for his Symphony in D Minor, he is perhaps best known as a composer of organ music which had an emotional engagement, technical solidity, and seriousness comparable to that of German composers.

Much of his organ music is of an extended length, making it difficult to program in the musical life of the average parish Sunday service. But late in life he wrote of volume of organ music called L'Organiste, a collection of 59 short works written in 1889 and 1890 for the harmonium and is most often played on organ. The communion voluntary is one of those pieces.

Toccata in G Dorian

The closing voluntary is a toccata by the South German Baroque organist Johann Pachelbel. It's written in the mode of G Dorian, which is almost the same as G minor. What separates them, however, is that the "major" sixth in Dorian gives it a far more tasteful and distinguished tone rather than a sad, woeful one in the Aeolian mode. This "major" sixth creates an uplifting and bright spot in the mode so the Dorian mode takes on a more fulfilling, encouraging, and intense feel.

Music for July 10, 2016 + The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Give Me Jesus – Mark Hayes (b. 1953), Mitchell Hutchins, tenor

Instrumental Music

• Jubilation 2: Variant on “Every time I Hear the Spirit"– Dennis Janzer (b. 1954)
• Aria – John S. Dixon (b. 1957)
• Postlude in C Minor – George Blake (1912-1986)

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 660 O Master, let me walk with thee (Maryton)
• Hymn R266 Give thanks with a grateful heart (Give Thanks)
• Hymn 602 Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love (Chereponi)
• Hymn 609 Where cross the crowded ways of life (Gardiner)

During these slow summer months I've been going through the choir's choral library, categorizing each title as to its place in musical history. So far I have these categories:

• Chant-based (Medieval c.1150 - c.1400)
• Renaissance (c.1400 - c.1600)
• Baroque (c.1600 - c.1750)
• Classical (c.1750 - c.1830) 
• Early Romantic (c.1830 - c.1860)
• Late Romantic (c.1860 - c.1920)
• Modern (1920 - present)
• Hymn-based
• Spiritual and folk based
• Contemporary (anything in the style of music from the 60's to the present)
• Traditional (anything that doesn't fit squarely in the last four categories.)

Mark Hayes

One classification I haven't used is "easy listening." You know what it is. It usually consists of covers of popular music from the 40s to the present day. There is a lot of church music out there that could fall into that category. One composer who does work well in this genre is Mark Hayes, an internationally known composer, arranger, concert pianist and conductor from Kansas City, Missouri, with over 1000 publications in print. (The catalog of his works has over 160 pages.) He has written and arranged songs for choir, piano, soloists, instrumentalists, organ and handbells, and travels extensively performing and leading workshops in churches of all denominations, including Episcopal. Surprisingly, we don't have any of his anthems in our library.

This Sunday, however,  we get to hear one of his arrangements when Mitchell Hutchins sings his arrangement of the spiritual, "Give Me Jesus." Mitchell was a choral scholar here at Good Shepherd back when he was a student at Lone Star Kingwood. He has since moved on to Stephen F. Austin to study Music Education, and sings in the choir at First Presbyterian Church, Kingwood. He's a favorite among many here at Good Shepherd, and you will love hearing him sing this setting of the familiar spiritual.

Two of the organ pieces are by composers who attended the recent convention of the American Guild of Organists held here in Houston (I was chair of Hospitality for this national meeting that brought more than 1200 organists from all over the globe to our city.) The first is the opening voluntary, a "jubilation" on the spiritual, Every Time I Feel the Spirit. It is a bright, rollicking little piece (only lasting 1'30") that reminds me of a Bach Invention. (The Inventions are a collection of short pieces J. S. Bach wrote for pedagogical purposes. These fifteen two-part works, each named 'inventio', along with fifteen three-part pieces, named 'sinfonia', were written as technical exercises for the independence of two hands, but are also beautiful works of art.) This piece by Dennis Janzer, organist-choir master at St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Memphis, is also written in just two parts, requiring an independance between the left and right hand.

The other piece is a lovely Aria by an John Dixon, an Englishman with an MBA from Harvard who is now the organist and composer-in-residence at a Presbyterian Church in Virginia Beach.

The closing voluntary is by a little known organist from New Jersey, George Blake. In 1926, at age fourteen, Blake began to play the theater organ professionally at the Franklin Theatre in Nutley, New Jersey. His father having died when he was very young, Blake quickly became the primary supporter of his family through his performing, and he lived with his mother in New Jersey for many years until her death. His younger brother was the cartoonist Bud Blake (of the popular comic strip "Tiger.") George Blake served as principal organist for a number of theaters in New Jersey and New York City, including the New Roxy (later the Center Theatre) in Rockefeller Center. He was also a regular performer on several radio programs of the day, including the "Lucky Strike Hour." As the age of the cinema organist ended, Blake focused primarily on sacred music. He was organist at several churches in New Jersey including St. Andrew's Episcopal (South Orange) and Grace Episcopal (Nutley).