Music for May 1, 2022 + The Third Sunday of Easter

Vocal Music

• An Easter Greeting – Martin How (b. 1931)

Instrumental Music

• Christ Lay in Death’s Strong Bands – J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
• Chorale – Michael Larkin (b. 1951)
• Premier Suite: Rondeau – Jean Joseph Mouret (1682-1738)

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

• Hymn 374 Come, let us join our cheerful songs (NUN DANKET ALL UND BRINGET EHR)
• Hymn 417 This is the feast of victory (FESTIVAL CANTICLE)
• Hymn 255 We sing the glorious conquest (MUNICH)
• Hymn R202 Sing alleluia to the Lord (SING ALLELUIA)
• Hymn 535 Ye servants of God, your Master proclaim (PADERBORN)
• Psalm 30:1,3-6, 12-13– Tone Ib

Martin How

Easter is not just a day. It is a season, and we continue that season by singing An Easter Greeting by the modern English composer Martin How. How has spent most of his career with the Royal School of Church Music where he was known principally as a choir trainer specializing in the training and motivation of young singers. In this capacity he initiated and developed the RSCM Chorister Training Scheme which has since been used in various forms in many parts of the world. Since his retirement from the RSCM he has returned to organ playing as an honorary member of the music staff at Croydon Minster.

The anthem today is evidence of his interest and devotion to writing music for young or beginning singers. While An Easter Greeting may be easy to put together as a choir, it is still quality music which is fun to sing and interesting to listen to.

The opening voluntary is Christ lag in Todesbanden, BWV 625, a selection from the Orgelbüchlein (Little Organ Book) by Johann Sebastian Bach. Orgelbüchlein is a collection of 46 preludes for organ almost exclusively written during the 1708-1717 period, while Bach was court organist in Weimar. The collection is defined by Bach himself  as '[a book] in which a beginning organist receives given instruction as to performing a chorale in a multitude of ways while achieving mastery in the study of the pedal, since in the chorales contained herein the pedal is treated entirely obligatory'. 

The English translation of the title is "Christ lay in death's bonds." It's an Easter hymn by Martin Luther with a melody is by Luther and Johann Walter. The melody as set by Luther (with help from Walter) seems to have strong correlations with parts of the Easter chant, Victimae paschali laudes. It's in a minor key, but it's joyful 16th-note motif in the accompaniment helps to give this work a sort of dignified elation.

Michael Larkin

Michael Larkin, Director of Music Ministry St. Mary Anne's Episcopal Church in North East, MD, has written a contemplative piano piece called Chorale which I am using as a communion voluntary today. In addition to his church work, he is chairperson of the vocal/choral department and a voice teacher at the Wilmington Music School in Wilmington, DE. He also is founder and music director of the New Ark Chorale of Newark, DE. In addition, Dr. Larkin is Eastern Division Chairperson for Music and Worship for the American Choral Directors Association. He is known nationally as a clinician and adjudicator in various aspects of vocal/choral music as well as the church music profession, especially the subjects of liturgy, worship planning, and musical and professional concerns for the church musician.

While you may not recognise the name Jean-Joseph Mouret, you'll surely recognize his music. Mouret  was a French composer whose dramatic works made him one of the leading exponents of Baroque music in his country. Even though most of his works are no longer performed, Mouret's name survives today thanks to the popularity of the Rondeau from his first Suite de symphonies, which has been adopted as the signature tune of the PBS program Masterpiece and is a popular musical choice in many modern weddings. It is the closing voluntary this morning.

Music for August 22, 2021

Vocal Music

• Love the Lord – arr. Mark Schweizer (1956-2019)

Instrumental Music

• Prelude and Fugue in G – attr. J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
• Meditation on “Simple Gifts” – Michael Larkin (b. 1951)
• Rondeau – Henry Purcell (1659-1695)

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 561 - Stand up, stand up for Jesus (MORNING LIGHT)
Hymn R232 - There is a Redeemer (Keith/Melody Green)
Hymn R233 - Glory be to Jesus (CASWALL)
Hymn 460 - Alleluia, sing to Jesus (HYFRYDOL)
Psalm 34:15-22 - Tone VIIIa

I have programmed two pieces written by men born in the 1950s, and two men born in the last half of the 17th century. First the contemporary pieces.

Mark Schweizer

The choir sings a setting of a tune from the Sacred Harp, a ubiquitous and historically important tunebook, first published in 1844, which was the backbone of the Sacred Harp singing schools that originated in New England and later perpetuated and carried on in the American South. The tune is both rugged and vigorous, changing between slow and quick sections. The text is one that we usually associate with Lent, but with the upbeat refrain which compares Jesus to no other, it is perfect for any time of the year.

This arrangement is by Mark Schweizer, a native of Florida who received music degrees from Stetson University in Deland, Florida and the University of Arizona including a doctoral degree in vocal performance. He returned to teach at Stetson University from 1982 to 1985 followed by eight years on the music faculty of Louisiana College. Mark lived in North Carolina where he served as editor of St. James Music Press. He is also the author of fifteen “Liturgical Mystery” novels, as well as other books, and several opera and musical librettos.

The communion voluntary is a meditation on another American folk tune from the Shaker tradition, "Simple Gifts." It is by the Delaware composer and musician, Michael Larkin, who serves as organist and director of music ministry at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Wilmington, Delaware.  

The opening voluntary is the fifth installment of my playing the complete (so-called) Eight Little Preludes and Fugues, which were attributed for years to J.S. Bach, but now thought to be by one of his pupils. 

This week it's the Prelude and Fugue in G. The prelude is a "miniature toccata" which, after a stately, big chordal introduction, evolves into freely-composed improvisatory passages which just ripple over the keyboard. It reflects the musical influence of Johann Kuhnau, Johann Sebastian Bach, and J. K. F.. Fischer. 

The English composer Henry Purcell wrote incidental music for a revival of the play Abdelazer, or The Moor's Revenge in the summer of 1695, including the movement entitled Rondeau. A Rondeau is an instrumental musical form in which a principal theme (sometimes called the "refrain") alternates with one or more contrasting themes, generally called "episodes." The form is outlined such as A - B - A - C - A.

Purcell's Rondeau was used by Benjamin Britten as the theme for his set of variations The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (1946).

Music for the Triduum 2018

THE TRIDUUM is a fancy word meaning the Three (tri) Days (duum) that bring Holy Week to a close. Here are the music lists for the Maundy Thursday Service (7 PM March 29), Good Friday Service (Noon on Friday March 30) and the Easter Vigil (7 PM on Saturday, March 31)

March 29, 2018 + Maundy Thursday + 7 P.M.

Vocal Music

• Drop, Drop, Slow Tears – Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) 
• Ave Verum - Robert Lucas de Pearsall (1795-1856) 

Instrumental Music 

• Deck Thyself, My Soul, With Gladness – Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg (1718-1795) 
• Ubi Caritas - Michael Larkin (b. 1951) 

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

• Hymn 439 -  What wondrous love is this (WONDROUS LOVE) 
• Hymn 576 - God is love, and where true love is (MANDATUM) 
• Hymn R148 - Brother, let me be your servant (THE SERVANT SONG) 
• Hymn 602- Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love (CHEREPONI) 
• Hymn R226 - Ubi caritas et amor (Jacques Berthier) 
• Hymn 479 - Glory be to Jesus (WEM IN LEIDENSTAGEN) 
• Hymn 171 - Go to dark Gethsemane (PETRA) 
• Hymn R169 - Stay with me (Jacques Berthier) 

Drop, drop, slow tears is a devotional anthem which we will sing during the foot washing. Like The King of love and Let all mortal flesh, Ralph Vaughan Williams ‘married’ a poignant text by the Jacobean poet and clergyman Phineas Fletcher (1582-1650) to one of Orlando Gibbons’s hymn tunes (Song 46, published in 1623) for The English Hymnal in 1906. Interestingly, poet and composer are linked by their connection with King’s College, Cambridge, where Gibbons was a chorister and Fletcher a student. 

March 30, 2018 + Good Friday + Noon 

Vocal Music 

• The Crucifixion – Samuel Barber
• Christine Marku, soprano 
• Were You There? - Spiritual 
• Richard Murray, baritone

Instrumental Music 

• O Sacred Head – Pamela Decker (b. 1955)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982.) 

• Hymn 441 - In the cross of Christ I glory (RATHBUN) 
• Hymn 158 - Ah, holy Jesus, how hast thou offended (HERZLIEBSTER JESU) 
• Hymn 474 - When I survey the wondrous cross (ROCKINGHAM) 

Christine Marku will be singing the haunting solo, "The Crucifixion", by Samuel Barber as part of our Good Friday service. Barber wrote this solo as part of his song cycle, Hermit Songs, which he wrote for the American soprano Leontyne Price in 1953, when she was barely 27, a recent graduate of Julliard. Hermit Songs takes as its basis a collection of anonymous poems written by Irish monks and scholars from the 8th to the 13th centuries. "The Crucifixion" is from the 12th century collection The Speckled Book, translated by Howard Mumford Jones. Listen for the bird's cry in the piano accompaniment.

At the cry of the first bird
They began to crucify Thee, O Swan!
Never shall lament cease because of that.
It was like the parting of day from night.
Ah, sore was the suffering borne
By the body of Mary's Son,
But sorer still to Him was the grief
Which for His sake
Came upon His Mother.

Ms. Marku will present a vocal recital in our nave on April 22, 2018.

The beautiful Passion Hymn, O Sacred Head, Once Wounded, is arranged in a meditative setting for organ by Pamela Decker, Professor of Organ/Music Theory at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona, and organist at Grace St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Tucson. She is also active as a composer and organ recitalist.

March 31, 2018 + Easter Vigil + 7 P.M.

Vocal Music 

• Come, Ye Faithful – R. S. Thatcher 

Instrumental Music 

• Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands – Johann Ludwig Krebs 
• Good Christians All, Rejoice and Sing – Healey Willan 

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

• Hymn 580 - God, who stretched the spangled heavens (HOLY MANNA) 
• Hymn 648 - When Israel was in Egypt’s Land (GO DOWN, MOSES) 
• Hymn R9 - As the deer pants for the water (Marty Nystrom) 
• Hymn 880 - Christ our Passover (SINE NOMINE) 
• Hymn 174 - At the Lamb’s high feast we sing (SALZBURG) 
• Hymn 187 - Through the Red Sea brought at last (STRAF MICH NICHT) 

The title of the communion organ voluntary sounds like its more appropriate for Good Friday, and the minor key of the chorale would lead you to think you were right, but the text reveals the true meaning of the hymn, written by Martin Luther.

Christ lay in death's bonds
handed over for our sins,
he is risen again
and has brought us life
For this we should be joyful,
praise God and be thankful to him
and sing allelluia,
Alleluia

Krebs was one of the prized pupils of J. S. Bach. Although it is impossible today to view Krebs outside of the shadow of his musical mentor, Krebs established an independent reputation as a virtuoso organist, organ expert, and organ teacher. When Bach died, Krebs was immediately considered as his possible successor at Leipzig. Like Bach, Krebs perpetuated his career through his children: his son succeeded him as organist at the church in Altenburg, Germany, as did his grandson.

This piece comes from The Clavier-Übung of Krebs, a collection of 39 pieces based upon 13 favorite chorales of the 18th century.  In this setting of the Easter chorale, we hear the melody clearly, played in the left hand on a pungent reed stop, while the right hand plays a lilting, almost dance-like obbligato in triplets. The pedal furnishes a walking bass line. 

Music for October 23, 2016 + The Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• If Ye Love Me – Thomas Tallis (c.1505-1585)

Instrumental Music

• Prelude on “Fight On, My Soul” – Robert J. Powell (b. 1932)
• Ubi Caritas and Adoro Te Devote - Michael Larkin
• Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing – Emma Lou Diemer (b. 1927)

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

• Hymn 557 Rejoice, ye pure in heart (Marion)
• Hymn 552 Fight the good fight with all thy might (Pentecost)
• Hymn 429 I'll praise my maker while I've breath (Old 113th)
• Hymn R122 Surely it is God who saves me (First Song of Isaiah)
• Hymn R188 Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord (Bob Hudson)
• Hymn 637 How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord (Lyons)
• Psalm 65 (Tone 5a)

I'm adding two new pieces to my organ repertoire this week, and both by living, American composers. And one of them (GASP!) is a woman! At this rate, no telling where gender equality goes. We might even have a woman run for president!

Let's talk about the closing voluntary first. It's an organ setting of the old hymn-tune EBENEZER, used for the Southern hymn Come thou Fount of Every Blessing. The composer, Emma Lou Diemer, has put the melody in the pedal for the first exposition of the melody, with the manuals accompanying with rippling 16th note broken chords. After one presentation of the hymn, the whole piece transposes to the key of F (from D), but a new element is added: the melody is now in a canon at the fourth, meaning the pedal plays the melody in F, and the top of note of the accompaniment is playing the melody in B-flat. What fun!

Emma Lou Diemer

Emma Lou Diemer is a native of Kansas City, Missouri. She studied piano from an early age, wrote little piano pieces as a child, and began to play the organ in church at age 13. She determined to be a composer about that time with a strong interest also in piano. Her degrees in composition are from the Yale School of Music (BM,1949; MM, 1950) and from the Eastman School of Music (Ph.D.,1960), and she studied composition further in Brussels on a Fulbright Scholarship and at the Berkshire Music Center.

From 1954-1965 she taught in several schools and was organist in area churches. In 1965 she joined the faculty of the University of Maryland as an assistant professor of theory and composition. In 1971 she was appointed to a similar position at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and subsequently became a full professor and, since 1991, professor emeritus. Her present position as organist is at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Barbara.

The opening voluntary is an organ setting of an old Southern Harmony hymn by J. P Reese from 1859, Fight on, my soul.

Fight on, my soul, till death
Shall bring thee to thy God

Robert Powell

Even if you knew this old tune, you might not recognize the melody as it is hidden in the left hand of the manual parts. It is not until the quieter B section that you can clearly hear the melody played by the oboe stop of the organ against a flute accompaniment. The rollicking open theme returns, but this time the melody is clearly stated in the pedal part with the trumpet. On the fourth repetition of the tune, the melody is a again heard in the top line as the full organ declaims the tune.

Robert J. Powell retired in 2003 as organist and choirmaster at Christ Church in Greenville, S.C., a position he had held since 1968. Previously he served as director of music at St. Paul's School in Concord, N.H.; organist and choir director at St. Paul's Church in Meridian, Miss.; and associate organist at Cathedral of St. John the Divine in N.Y.C. Powell's music was first published in 1959, and he has written over 200 works for chorus, solo voice, organ and brass.

The life of Thomas Tallis is a mirror of the musical effects of the Anglican Reformation in England. He served in the Chapel Royal for some 40 years, composing under four Monarchs with widely differing religious practices. Tallis was among the first to set English words to music for the rites of the Church of England, although most of his vocal music was written in Latin. A composer of great contrapuntal skill, his works show intense expressivity and are cast in a bewildering variety of styles.

During the reign of King Edward VI (1547-1553) it was mandated that the services be sung in English, and that the choral music be brief and succinct "to each syllable a plain and distinct note." If Ye Love Me is the classic example of these new English anthems: mainly homophonic, but with brief moments of imitation. Like many early Anglican anthems, it is cast in ABB form, the second section repeated twice.

Music for June 14, 2015 + The Third Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Be Still, My Soul – Jean Sibelius (1865 - 1957), arr. Sally DeFord (b. 1959)

Instrumental Music

• Come, Holy Ghost, Lord God – Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
• Prayer/Prelude in E-flat Major – Michael Larkin (b. 1951)
• Prelude on “Hyfrydol” – Healey Willan (1880 -1968)

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

• Hymn 252  - The Church’s on foundation (AURELIA)
• Hymn 533 -  How wondrous and great (LYONS)
• Hymn 178 -  Alleluia, alleluia! Give thanks to the risen Lord (ALLELUIA NO. 1)
• Hymn R 206 - Holy, holy (HOLY HOLY)
• Hymn 657 -  Love divine, all loves excelling (HYFRYDOL)

Jean Sibelius, looking rather serious
(as usual)

Jean Sibelius (1865 - 1957) was a Finnish violinist and composer from the first half of the 20th century who became the musical emblem of Finland. Meant by his family to become a lawyer, he switched to music in his twenties, mainly to become a violin virtuoso, but found himself increasingly drawn to composition. His music contributed to the development of a feeling of national identity in Finland where he is now celebrated as the country's greatest composer.

In 1899 Sibelius wrote a musical score for six historical tableaux in a pageant that celebrated and supported the Finnish press against Russian oppression. In 1900 Sibelius revised the music from the final tableau into FINLANDIA, a tone poem for orchestra. The chorale-like theme that emerges out of the turbulent beginning of this tone poem became the hymn tune FINLANDIA.

FINLANDIA was first used as a hymn tune in the Scottish Church Hymnary (1927) and the Presbyterian Hymnal (1933). This tune was  set to the hymn text of Katharina Von Schlegel, "Stille, mein Wille, dein Jesus hilft siegen" (Be Still, My Soul, The Lord Is On Thy Side) which we hear today in a solo setting by Sally DeFord, an American composer from Eugene, Oregon. It will be sung by Bidkar Cajina.

2015 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Sibelius.

The opening voluntary is two chorale preludes for manuals only (no pedals) by the German Baroque composer Georg Philipp Telemann. A contemporary and friend of both G. F. Handel and J. S. Bach (he was god-father to one of Bach's sons), he was one of the most prolific composers in history. Like Sibelius, he entered the University of Leipzig to study law at his mother's insistence, but eventually settled on a career in music. He held important positions in Leipzig, Sorau, Eisenach, and Frankfurt before settling in Hamburg in 1721, where he became musical director of the city's five main churches.

We open the service singing one of my most favorite hymns, The church's one foundation. In the mid-nineteenth century, Bishop John William Colenso of Natal raised a ruckus in the Catholic Church when he challenged the historicity and authority of many of the Old Testament books. Bishop Gray of Capetown wrote a stirring response of defense, which, in 1866, inspired Samuel Stone, to write this beloved hymn, basing his text on Article 9 of the Apostle’s Creed: “The Holy Catholic (Universal) Church; the Communion of Saints; He is the Head of this Body.” Now an affirmation of Christ as the foundation of our faith, we sing this hymn with those who have gone before us and with Christians around the world, declaring that beyond any theological differences, cultural divides, and variances in practice, we are all part of the same body, the body of Christ. 

The tune that most often accompanies this text is AURELIA, composed in 1864 by Samuel S. Wesley and first published as a setting for “Jerusalem the Golden.” It was paired with Stone’s text shortly after, to the chagrin of some: Dr. Henry Gauntlett was apparently very annoyed by this match-up, as he thought Wesley’s tune was “inartistic, secular twaddle.” Dr. Gauntlett was not to have the last word however, and the tune has stuck.

Music for September 28, 2014 + The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost + St. Michael and All Angels

Vocal Music

• Wondrous Love – Robert Shaw/Alice Parker (1916-1999/b. 1925)

Instrumental Music

• Prelude on “Wondrous Love” – Gordon Young (1919-1998)
• Choral – Michael Larkin (b. 1951)
• Voluntary on “Engelberg” – Charles Callahan (b. 1951)

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

• Hymn 492 - Sing, ye faithful, sing with gladness (FINNIAN)
• Hymn 435 - At the Name of Jesus (KING'S WESTON)
• Hymn R173 - O Lord hear my prayer (Jacques Berthier)
• Hymn R228 - Jesus, remember me (Jacques Berthier)
• Hymn 477 - Al praise to the, for thou, O King divine (ENGLEBERG)
• Psalm 25:1-8 - Tone Ig

5:00 P.M.  – Choral Eucharist for St. Michael and All Angels

Vocal Music

• Behold Now, Praise the Lord – Everett Titcomb (1884-1968)
• Call to Remembrance – Richard Farrant (c. 1525-1580)

Instrumental Music

• Basse des Trompette – Jean-François Dandrieu (1682-1738)
• Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence – Charles Callahan (b. 1951)
• Rigaudon - André Campra (1660 –1744)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982)

• Hymn 618 – Ye watchers and ye holy ones (LASST UNS ERFREUEN)
• Hymn 282 – Christ, the fair glory of the holy angels (CAELITES PLAUDANT)
• Hymn 625 – Ye holy angels bright (DARWALL’S 148TH)

The scripture readings for today reminded me of the wondrous love that God in Christ has for us. Especially poignant is this passage from the epistle reading for today from Philippians 2:

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.

That is indeed a wondrous love, so I was lead to use the hymn What wondrous love is this, O my soul as the choir’s offering today. The hymn is taken from one of the early American shape note books, hymnals (or song books) in which the note heads are printed in one of seven different shapes to indicate a place on the scale. These compositions are folk hymns, using secular tunes for the setting of religious texts. Wondrous Love was first found in The Southern Harmony, a compilation of hymns, tunes, psalms, and songs published by William Walker in 1834. Wondrous Love also is found in the most famous of these shape note books, The Sacred Harp, first published by Benjamin White in 1844. Both of these compilations still are published today.

Alan Lomax, noted folk song authority, relates the secular background of the tune:

This hymn is a member of the “Captain Kidd” family, so called because the ballad of Captain Kidd is set to one form of the tune. The ‘Captain Kidd’ type has for several centuries been responsible for a very large number of beautiful songs, including The Wars of Germany, Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ye, Sam Hall and Sugar Babe.” Captain William Kidd (1645-1701), an English sailor, was commissioned by New York and Massachusetts to hunt pirates. He supposedly turned pirate himself and killed one of his crew, an action for which he was hanged in 1701. The following ballad appeared soon after his death. You will find that the words easily fit the tune for Wondrous Love.

My name is William Kidd, as I sailed, as I sailed
My name is William Kidd, as I sailed
My name is William Kidd, God’s laws I did forbid
And most wickedly I did, as I sailed, as I sailed.

This arrangement is one of the many hymns and folk songs that Alice Parker arranged in collaboration with Robert Shaw. Shaw early achieved recognition as a consummate choral conductor while still in college. Fred Waring, the popular musician, bandleader and radio personality, enlisted Shaw to move to New York and direct his group, “The Pennsylvanians” in 1937. Four years later, Shaw founded and directed the Collegiate Chorale, a highly dedicated amateur New York chorus of 185 singers that grew into a significant symphonic chorus under his leadership. After intense studies with Julius Herford, Shaw formed the Robert Shaw Chorale, which toured the United States and later performed in thirty countries throughout Europe, the Soviet Union, the Middle East, and Latin America under the auspices of the U.S. State Department. The Robert Shaw Chorale was signed to an exclusive recording contract by RCA Victor. Shaw wished to record only choral masterworks, but RCA Victor also wanted recordings of the Shaw Chorale performing light popular music, in the hope that these would sell well to the American public. Shaw enlisted one of his former students, Alice Parker to do research and create choral arrangements for the new touring and recording ensemble. This resulted in a collaboration that lasted over 17 years, producing many settings of American folksongs, hymns and spirituals which have for many years been standard repertoire for high school, college, and community choruses, and are to this day widely performed.

The St. Michael Window at Good Shepherd, Kingwood

The opening voluntary is also based (loosely) on Wondrous Love. In this arrangement, Gordon Young takes liberties with the notes in the melody, changing it just enough to make the listener familiar with the hymn to go "Huh?" and wonder if the organist has missed a note. He has not.

The closing voluntary is an improvisation by Charles Callahan on the hymn tune ENGELBERG. Charles V. Stanford composed ENGELBERG as a setting for William W. How's "For All the Saints" in 1904 edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern but lost out as the definitive tune for that text when Ralph Vaughan Williams published the New English Hymnal in 1906, using his own tune, SINE NOMINE for that text. ENGELBERG came into its own, however, when it was used as the tune for today's closing hymn. You will also remember it as the tune for "When in our music God is glorified" and "We know that Christ is raised," both hymns that we sing regularly at Good Shepherd.

In his improvisation, Callahan uses several of the attractive, energetic motives in his composition. Listen for the "Alleluia" and "All praise to thee" motives used over and over (and over) again.

Music for August 24, 2014 + The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Built on a Rock the Church Doth Stand - Ludwig Lindeman, arr. David N. Johnson

Instrumental Music

• Concerto: I. Allegro – Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)  Bennie Wemh, trumpet
• Ubi Caritas/Adoro te Devote – Michael Larkin (b. 1951)
• Thou Art the Rock – Henri Mulet (1878-1967)

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

• Hymn 525        The Church’s one foundation (AURELIA)
• Hymn R 37       Father, we love you (Glorify your name)
• Hymn 707        Take my life and let it be (HOLLINGSIDE)
• Hymn 220        Let the hungry come to me (ADORO TE DEVOTE)
• Hymn R 226     Ubi caritas et amor (Taizé)
• Hymn R 306     We are marching in the light of the Lord (SIYAHAMBA)

Summer's over, the Good Shepherd Choir returns to the loft the Sunday, and it couldn't happen to a better set of scripture.
One of my favorite organ pieces to play is Henri Mulet's toccata, Thou Art the Rock. I have loved it since I first heard Virgil Fox's recording of it on the Wanamaker Organ in Philadelphia. I learned it as a junior in college, and it is perfect for this week's Gospel lesson from Matthew 16. 

15[Jesus] said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.

Mulet's actual title was long, and in Latin, taken directly from the 18 verse of Matthew 16. Tu es petra et portae inferi non praevalebunt adversus te. You are Peter (the Rock), and the gates of Hell will not prevail against you. It is fast and furious, with a sense of conviction about it. The main theme will be heard in the pedal, coming in rather softly on page two of the music. Mulet was a French organist and composer who served as choirmaster of the basilica of Sacré-Coeur, Paris. Thou Art the Rock is from a collection of ten pieces called "Esquisses byzantines," half of them inspired by various parts of the Sacré-Coeur basilica. In 1937 Mulet burnt his manuscripts and left Paris for Provence. He was cathedral organist in Draguignan until 1958 and died there in 1967. He spent 30 of his 89 years in seclusion. He had no children, and died in a convent.

The Choir's anthem is a hymn setting with trumpet by David N. Johnson. It's a strong, sturdy tune which fits the text perfectly. It's a staple among Lutheran hymnody, and is also a perfect fit for today's scripture.

Built on a Rock the Church Doth StandEven when steeples are falling;Crumbled have spires in every land,Bells still are chiming and calling;Calling the young and old to rest,Calling the souls of men distressed,Longing for life everlasting.
Not in our temples made with hands,God, the almighty, is dwelling;High in the heavens his temple stands,All earthly temples excelling;Yet He who dwells in heavens aboveDeigns to abide with us in love,Making our bodies his temple.
We are God’s house of living stones,Built for his own habitation;He fills our hearts, his humble thrones,Granting us life and salvation;Were two or three to seek his face,He in their midst would show his grace,Blessings upon them bestowing.
Through all the passing years, O LordGrant that, when the church bells are ringing,Many may come to hear God’s wordWhere he this promise is bringing:“I know Mine own, Mine own know Me;Ye, not the world, My face shall see.My peace I leave with you.” Amen.

The piano meditation at communion is what the kids nowdays call a "mash up," mixing two, often disparate pieces of music together. The two tunes that Michael Larkin, a composer/musician from Wilmington, Delaware, has chosen to meld together in one are both Gregorian chants that have become hymns in modern hymnals. First we hear the chant, "Ubi caritas et amor" (hymn 606 in The Hymnal 1982) played in the treble (high end) of the keyboard. After a declaration of that tune, we hear "Adoro te devote" (hymn 314 in The Hymnal 1982, as well as hymn 357 and the hymn we will sing during communion from Renew, R220, Let the hungry come to me.) Then the pieces wraps up as it began, with a verse of "Ubi Caritas." Note that the chant "Ubi Caritas" is not the same as the Taizé piece "Ubi Caritas" that we will also be singing during communion.