Music for November 1, 2015 + All Saints Sunday

Vocal Music

• And I Saw a New Heaven – Malcolm Archer (b. 1952)
• O Sacred Feast – Healey Willan (1880-1968)

Instrumental Music

• Blessed Are Ye Faithful Souls Departed – Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
• Requiem Aeternum/In Paradisum – Charles Callahan (b. 1951)
• Hymn Prelude on “Darwall’s 148th” – Percy Whitlock (1903-1946)

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 625 - Ye holy angels bright (Darwall’s 148th)
• Hymn 620 - Jerusalem, my happy home (Land of Rest)
• Hymn 618 - Ye watchers and ye holy ones (Lasst uns erfrueun)

This Sunday is All Saints Day, a solemn holy day of the church celebrated annually on November 1. Originally, the Catholic church dedicated this day to the saints of the Church, that is, all those who were beatified by the church, and remembered all other faithful departed on All Souls' Day on November 2. As Anglicans, we view All Saints' Day as incorporating the observance of All Souls' Day and it serves to "remember those who have died", in connection with the theological doctrines of the resurrection of the body and the Communion of Saints. That is why we remember our family and friends who have died as well as all the saints at this service.

Our beautiful All Saints anthem is by the English composer Malcolm Archer, Director of Chapel Music at Winchester College in England, where he trains and conducts the choirs and teaches organ. He has enjoyed a distinguished career in cathedral music, which has taken him to posts at Norwich, Bristol, and Wells Cathedrals, as well as Director of Music at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.

This anthem begins with the sopranos singing the first verse of Revelation 21, our Epistle reading for today:

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and first earth had passed away, and there was no more sea. 

The rest of the choir joins the sopranos as they repeat that lovely, peaceful melody. At the words "And I, John, saw the holy city," the men of the choir take the melody. At the end of the anthem, the words "and the former things are passed away," are repeated section by section, like an echo that fades away.

Malcolm Archer at St. Paul's Cathedral, London

The communion anthem is a motet written by Healey Willan. It is the fourth of six motets he wrote in 1924 for his choir at the Church of St. Mary Magdalen in Toronto. The text is an English translation of the Latin hymn, O Sacrum Convivium. You may wonder what is the difference between an anthem and a motet. A motet a short piece of sacred choral music, typically polyphonic and unaccompanied. An anthem is also a choral composition, often based on a biblical passage, for singing by a choir in a church service. It can be accompanied by organ or piano, and can sometimes be as long as ten minutes, as are the English verse anthems 17th and 18th centuries.

The opening voluntary is one of the The Eleven Chorale Preludes, Op. 122, that Johannes Brahms composed a year before he died. They were published posthumously in 1902.

The eleven pieces are relatively short and are based on selected verses of nine separate Lutheran chorales. They were written in the summer of 1896 after Clara Schumann’s death (some may have been conceived earlier), and it is highly probable that Brahms was already aware of his own illness at that point; several are associated with texts about death and eternity, such as our organ voluntary today. This setting, with its beautiful 12/8 flow and major/minor vacillation, is the shortest.  The prelude is mostly in D minor, but the first line is almost entirely in the “relative” major key of F.  The piece is mostly played on manuals only. The 12/8 meter creates a pastoral mood in the flowing voices under the chorale melody, which is heard in the soprano (top) voice.  Brahms marks it dolce (sweetly).

Blessed are ye, faithful souls departed;
Death awakened you to life immortal.
You are delivered
of all cares that hold the world in bondage.

(English Translation by Michel-Dmitri Calvocoressi)

Music for September 27, 2015 + St. Michael and All Angels

Vocal Music

• Mass in the Lydian Mode - Richard Webster (b. 1952)
• Abide With Me - Richard Webster

Instrumental Music

• Improvisation on "St. Clement" - Gerre Hancock (1934-2012)
• Improvisation on “Picardy” –Charles Callahan (b. 1951)
• Hymn-Prelude on “Darwall’s 148th” - Percy Whitlock (1903-1946)

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 535 - Ye servants of God, your Master proclaim (PADERBORN)
• Hymn 324 - Let all mortal flesh keep silence (PICARDY)
• Hymn 625 - Ye holy angels bright (DARWALL’S 148TH)

ON Sunday Afternoon, at 5 PM, Good Shepherd will celebrate the Feast of St. Michael with a choral eucharist. 

The Feast of Michael and All Angels, or Michaelmas, is celebrated on the 29th of September every year. As it falls near the equinox, the day is associated with the beginning of autumn and the shortening of days; in England, it is one of the “quarter days”.

There are traditionally four “quarter days” in a year (Lady Day (25th March), Midsummer (24th June), Michaelmas (29th September) and Christmas (25th December)). They are spaced three months apart, on religious festivals, usually close to the solstices or equinoxes. They were the four dates on which new servants were hired or land was exchanged and debts were paid. This is how it came to be for Michaelmas to be the time for the beginning of university terms. We use this service to mark the beginning of service for a new class of acolytes at Good Shepherd and the rededication of 81 members of our Acolyte Guild.

St Michael is one of the principal angelic warriors, protector against the dark of the night and the Archangel who fought against Satan and his evil angels. As Michaelmas is the time that the darker nights and colder days begin - the edge into winter - the celebration of Michaelmas is associated with encouraging protection during these dark months. It was believed that negative forces were stronger in darkness and so families would require stronger defences during the later months of the year.

The music for this year's service is written by Richard Webster, Director of Music and Organist at Trinity Church, Copley Square, Boston. His hymn arrangements for brass, percussion, organ and congregation are heard across the English-speaking world.

A native of Nashville, Mr. Webster studied organ with Peter Fyfe, Karel Paukert and Wolfgang Rübsam. He was a Fulbright Scholar to Great Britain, as Organ Scholar at Chichester Cathedral under the late John Birch.

Richard loves running, and has completed 26 marathons, including eleven Boston Marathons.