Music for Sunday, November 7, 2021 + The Commemoration of All Saints Day

Vocal Music

• Requiem – Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)

Instrumental Music

• Elegy – George Thalben-Ball (1896-1987)
• O Love, That Wilt Not Let Me Go – arr. Hal H. Hopson (b. 1933)
• Allegro Vivo e Maestoso - Paul Benoit (1893-1979)

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 R-276 -  Soon and very soon (SOON AND VERY SOON)
• Hymn 293 -  I sing a song of the saints of God (GRAND ISLE)
• Hymn 618 -  Ye watchers and ye holy ones (LASST UNS ERFREUEN)
• Psalm 24 - Simplified Anglican chant by Jerome Meachem

This Sunday is All Saints Sunday - All Saints is actually November 1, of course, but we can transfer the day anytime after within the week. We'll commemorate all the saints of God, and remember those of our church family who have joined the church eternal. 

The choir will sing a short work by Giacomo Puccini, called Requiem, which was written at the request of the Italian Music publisher G. Ricordi to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the death of Guiseppi Verdi, who had died in 1901. Both Verdi and Puccini were composers whose operas were published by Ricordi, (Verdi: Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, La Traviata, and Aida; Puccini: La Bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, Gianni Schicchi, and Turandot.) Verdi was also idolized by the Italian People, who loved his operas as much as they loved his politics. He was a national hero.

Puccini at his piano

Puccini himself was the last of a musical dynasty that had been prominent in the life of Lucca for several generations. The fifth of seven children, he lost his father at the age of six. His maternal uncle taught him the rudiments of music, and he then continued his studies with Carlo Angeloni, director of the Istituto Musicale “Pacini”, and played the organ in churches in Lucca and the surrounding area. He did not tackle composition until he was about sixteen, but in 1876 he showed the progress he had made with a Preludio sinfonico, followed the next year by a cantata for solo voices and orchestra. 

His church background showed up in his next compositions, but it was the theatre that particularly attracted him (a performance of Aida in 1876 was a revelation for the young composer); he moved to Milan in 1880 in pursuit of a more intense musical life where he enrolled at the Conservatory. He graduated in 1883 with the Capriccio sinfonico whose theme he was later to use in La bohème.

In the same year he wrote his first opera, Le Villi, for a competition, but he did not win.  However, his friends put together a performance at the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan the next year where the publisher Ricordi  immediately acquired the rights of the score, commissioned a second opera from Puccini for La Scala, and provided him with a monthly stipend of 200 lire for a year. After that, his career took off.

George Thalben-Ball

The opening voluntary is a work by the the English organist George Thalben-Ball. He was born in Australia, but lived in the UK for most of his life, becoming well-known as something of a “showman” recitalist in the grand late Victorian/Edwardian style. He became Director of Music at the Temple Church in London. He dedicated his Elegy, apparently conceived as an improvisation to fill in time at the end of a BBC-recorded service during the war, to Walford Davis who preceded him as organist at the Temple Church. 

This piece is quintessential English. It has a beautiful melodic line, beginning softly, building to full organ and then diminishing again; ending with a fragment of the melody in a whisper. It’s an appropriate piece for Remembrance or All Soul's services, and was played during Princess Diana’s funeral.

The Communion voluntary is based on a hymn not found in either of our hymnals. The hymn, "O Love that wilt not let me go" has appeared in 58 hymnals since 1979, and was written in 1883 by George Matheson, a minister in the Church of Scotland. The tune, ST. MARGARET, was written for this hymn for its inclusion in the Scottish Hymnal of 1884. The tune was arranged for piano and viola by Dallas composer Hal. H. Hopson.

The closing voluntary includes, as the theme in the pedal, the chant used at Vespers on All Saints Day in the Roman church. It is by Paul Marie-Joseph Benoit, OSB, a Benedictine monk, organist, and composer. Born in Nancy, France, Benoit first began to feel called to the vocation of a Benedictine monk during World War I,. After the Armistice of 1918, he entered a retreat at the Benedictine Abbey of St. Maurice and St. Maur, at Clervaux in Luxembourg, and he joined the abbey in 1919, taking his vows in 1921 and being ordained into priesthood in1926.

Music for June 9, 2019 + The Day of Pentecost

Vocal Music

• O Be Joyful in the Lord – Philip Stopford (b. 1977)
• O Thou Who Camest From Above – Philip Stopford

Instrumental Music

• Fantasy on “Nun Danket all” – Aaron David Miller (b. 1972)
• Veni Creator Spiritus – Dom Paul Benoit (1893 – 1979)

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

• Hymn 225 - Hail thee, festival day (SALVA FESTA DIES)
• Hymn 509 - Spirit divine, attend our prayers (NUN DANKET ALL UND BRINGET EHR)
• Hymn R234 - Now Holy Spirit, ever one (WAREHAM)
• Hymn R248 - O Let the Son of God enfold you (SPIRIT SONG)
• Hymn R90 - Spirit of the living God (IVERSON)
• Hymn R168 - If you believe and I believe (ZIMBABWE)
• Hymn 511 - Holy Spirit, ever living (ABBOTT'S LEIGH)
• Psalm 104:25-35, 37 – setting by William Crotch

For our Pentecost celebration we are singing two anthems by the (relatively) young English composer, Philip Stopford. Stopford has quite the musical pedigree. He began his musical career as a Chorister at Westminster Abbey under the direction of both Simon Preston and Martin Neary. After winning a major Music Scholarship to Bedford School, while still a teenager, he became Organ Scholar at Truro Cathedral. While in Truro, Stopford composed a setting of the Responses which later won the Federation of Old Choristers' Composition Prize.

Philip Stopford

After leaving Bedford School, Stopford studied music at Keble College, Oxford. Upon graduating, he was appointed Organ Scholar at Canterbury Cathedral before moving to Chester Cathedral as Assistant Organist. In 1999 to 2000 Stopford was appointed Organ Scholar at Canterbury Cathedral, and then moved to Chester Cathedral as Assistant Organist. In 2003, at the age of 25, Stopford was appointed Director of Music at St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast, becoming the youngest Anglican Cathedral Organist at the time.

In January 2016 Stopford was appointed Director of Music at Christ Church, Bronxville following a four month period as Composer in Residence, working with the Church Choir and Young At Arts children's choral and theatrical program.

Our offertory anthem, O Be Joyful, was composed for the Enthronement of the Bishop of Belfast Cathedral in 2007. While not strictly a piece for Pentecost, this setting of Psalm 100 from our Book of Common Prayer sparkles with radiance with its buoyant vocals and soaring phrases over the lively organ accompaniment.

The other anthem, a setting of O Thou That Camest From Above by Charles Wesley, is a prayer for the Holy Spirit. Its gentle, lilting melody begins in the men's voices. On stanza 2 the treble voices enter, building to a climax at the fourth stanza which resolves to a quiet, fervent amen.

The opening voluntary is a setting of this morning's hymn before the Gospel by Aaron David Miller organist at House of Hope Presbyterian Church, St. Paul, Minnesota. The tune, composed by early Baroque musician Johann Crüger, was first published in the 1647 edition of Crüger's hymnal, Praxis Pietatis Melica. The rhythmic structure of Crüger's tune has the second and fourth phrases beginning with a quarter rest and quarter note. This bit of syncopation has been emphasized in Miller's arrangement which begins with a bold fanfare and improvisation before heading into a dance-like treatment of the tune. It's perfect for the party we call Pentecost.

Miller was the featured artist at the National AGO convention held in Houston, in 2016. 

The closing voluntary is an improvisatory toccata on the traditional Pentecost chant, Veni Creator Spiritus, as played by the French monk and organist, Paul Benoit. Dom Paul lived as a member of the Benedictine community at the Abbey of St. Maurice et St. Maur, at Clervaux, in Luxembourg.  Largely self-taught, Benoit's compositions never leave the realm of tonality, albeit often modal. Dom Paul acknowledged the influence of the French impressionist works of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel upon his organ compositions.  As a result, Dom Paul's works are somewhat unique for the organ in bearing a pervasive imprint of impressionism.

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.