Music for Sunday, August 30, 2020 + The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Psalm XXIII – Paul Creston (1906-1985), Amy Bogan, soprano

Instrumental Music

1. Symphony No. 4 in C Minor: II. Andante – Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
2. Prelude in C, BWV 547– J. S. Bach (1678-1750)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982)

• Hymn 675 - Take up your cross, the Savior said (BOURBON)
• Song of Praise S-236 – Canticle 13: Glory to You – John Rutter (b. 1945)

For the opening voluntary this week, I am playing a piano transcription of the first theme of the second movement of the fourth symphony of Franz Schubert. (I tried to get a "third" in there somewhere, but I just can't. You'll have to read on further to get to a"three.") The second movement of the classic symphony form is usually the slow, lyrical movement, 

This second movement Andante is no different. It is a beautifully Schubertian poem – yearning, melodic, full of rays of tenderness and hope. I thought it would be a nice, quiet, peaceful way to prepare for worship.

Franz Schubert about the time he wrote Symphony 4

Franz Schubert was just 19 years old when he wrote his Fourth Symphony. He was really beginning to hit his stride as a composer, but it was not yet his sole profession. He unhappily endured his working hours as an assistant teacher at his father’s school in the Säulengasse in Vienna. 

It is hard to imagine how Schubert balanced his teaching duties with his passion for composition. During two years as a teacher, he wrote 382 pieces of music, including his Second, Third, and Fourth Symphonies; four Singspiels (operas); great quantities of dances for solo piano; a fair amount of chamber music; lots of sacred music, including three complete Masses; and an abundant stream of songs, including such enduring favorites as Erlkönig, Heidenröslein, and Litanei auf das Fest Aller Seelen. Then, too, he was enjoying a full social life and was taking composition lessons twice a week from Antonio Salieri. It is a remarkable output for a man who died just twelve years later.

The closing voluntary is a prelude in C Major by Johann Sebastian Bach. In this piece, Bach plays with both movement and motionlessness. The 9/8 time signature of the Prelude evokes a rocking motion, which is underlined in the first bar by the clear division into three groups of three notes. (Here is where the elusive "three" from the first paragraph comes in.) From the opening of the Prelude onwards, a world of movement unfolds. The hands start to play faster notes and the pedal enters below with a hop, step and jump.

Bach plays with motionlessness as well. Towards the end of the Prelude, we hear long, motionless notes in the pedal and at a certain moment the movement seems to falter to a halt in a series of chords that go off the harmonic rails, after which the pedal comes to rest on the home base with a throbbing low C, while the rest of the parts run the final stretch.

Music for May 3, 2020 + The Fourth Sunday of Easter

Vocal Music

• Psalm XXIII – Paul Creston (1906-1985), Amy Bogan, soprano

Instrumental Music

• The King of Love My Shepherd is – Healey Willan (1888-1968)
• Fugue in G (Gigue) BWV 577 - J. S. Bach (1685-1750)

Congregational Music (hymns from the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 708- Savior, like a shepherd lead us (SICILIAN MARINERS)

This Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Easter, is what's known as Good Shepherd Sunday. Look at all the readings for this Sunday Psalm, Epistle, and Gospel all talk about the Shepherd. Likewise, the music also focuses on the Lord as our Shepherd.

Today's musical offering is a luxurious setting of the 23rd Psalm by the American composer Paul Creston.

As a composer, Creston was about as self-made as he could be. Born Giuseppe Guttoveggio in New York City in 1906, Creston chose his professional surname from a high school play he'd been in, adopting "Paul" simply because it appealed to him. He taught himself composition and music theory while working full-time to support his family, meaning his style was independent of any outside influence. His work is noted for its complex and shifting rhythms, while retaining a distinctly modern American tonal sound.

Paul Creston

Early performances of his music by the avant-garde American pianist Henry Cowell led to a 1938 Guggenheim fellowship. In 1941, Creston's Symphony No. 1 received the annual award from the New York Music Critics' Circle. His music was championed by a number of important conductors, including Arturo Toscanini, Eugene Ormandy, and Leopold Stokowski.

From his earliest years as a composer, Creston maintained a post as organist of St. Malachy's Church in New York City (1934-1967). There is a distinct religious sensibility to much of his music that is clearly evident in such works as the Symphony No. 3 ("Three Mysteries"; 1950) and the orchestral meditation Corinthians: XIII, Op. 82 (1963).

His setting of Psalm 23 (The Lord is my Shepherd) is more musically demanding and technically difficult than some of the well-known choral settings, yet obtains an even greater feeling of tranquility. It will be sung by our soprano soloist, Amy Bogan.

The organ music includes Healey Willan's pastorale setting of the Irish tune, ST. COLUMBA. You’ll often hear The King of Love My Shepherd Is sung with this tune – but only because the publishers of the 1906 English Hymnal couldn’t secure the copyrights to the British tune that was originally written for The King of Love (DOMINUS REGIT ME). The publishers used the Irish hymn tune instead and it’s become a favorite.

ST. COLUMBA is named for (obviously) St. Columba – an Irish abbot and missionary credited with spreading Christianity to the area we now know as Scotland. (As legend has it, he may have also been the first person to have spotted the Loch Ness Monster!) Today St. Columba is one of the three patron saints of Ireland alongside St. Brigid of Kildare and – naturally – St. Patrick.

I end with the Fugue à la Gigue by Bach. It is a fun, lighthearted dance piece with a lively recurring tune that appears in every voice part (soprano, alto, tenor and bass) and interwoven in increasing complexity.