Music for May 19, 2019 + The Fifth Sunday of Easter

Senior Sunday

Vocal Music

• I Give You a New Commandment – Peter Aston (b. 1938-2013)

Instrumental Music

• Air – Gerre Hancock (1934-2012)
• Ubi Caritas – Gerald Near (b. 1942)
• When in Our Music God Is Glorified – Robert A. Hobby (b. 1962)

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

• Hymn 492 - Come, ye faithful, sing with gladness (FINNIAN)
• Hymn 529 - In Christ there is no East or West (MCKEE)
• Hymn 295 - Sing praise to our creator (CHRISTUS, DER IST MEIN LEBEN)
• Hymn 297 - Descend, O Spirit, purging flame (ERHALT UNS, HERR)
• Hymn 576 - God is love, and where true love is (MANDATUM)
• Hymn 324 - Let all mortal flesh keep silence (PICARDY)
• Hymn 296 - We know that Christ is raised and dies no more (ENGLEBERG)
• Psalm 148 - Simplified Anglican Chant by Jerome W. Meachen

In the Gospel this Sunday, we will hear the first of a collection of passages known as the Farewell Discourse. Jesus is preparing the disciples for a life without his physical presence. More than offering comfort, Jesus is trying to reorient them toward their mission. He tells them

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." - John 13:34,35

Peter Aston

The anthem this morning is a simple setting of that very text, by the English composer Peter Aston
Aston's published compositions include chamber music, choral and orchestral works and a children’s opera, but he is best known as a composer of church music, much of which is performed regularly throughout the English-speaking world. As a conductor and lecturer, he directed many courses and workshops for composers in the UK and overseas, especially in the USA.  He was also a musicologist and baroque-music scholar.

Gerre Hancock

 The world lost an exceptional musician and gentleman with the death of Gerre Hancock in 2012 who, from 1971 to 2004, was master of the choristers at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in New York City and, more recently, professor of organ and sacred music at the University of Texas-Austin. He was renowned for his improvisatory skills at the organ, his work with the St. Thomas Boy Choir, and his compositions. The Air that is this morning's opening voluntary is one of his first published organ works, written in 1960 and dedicated to his future wife, Judith Eckerman.

Robert Hobby

The closing voluntary is an organ work based on the same tune as the closing hymn. "When in Our Music God Is Glorified," by American organist Robert Hobby,  is bright, rollicking setting of the tune we sing quite frequently. The melody will be heard in the bass clef, played by the left hand, while the right hand plays an infectious rhythm and the pedals punctuate the accompaniment with octave leaps on the weak beats.

Music for May 10, 2015 + The Sixth Sunday of Easter

Vocal Music

• The Story Tellin' Man II - Ken Medema 
• I Give You a New Commandment – Peter Aston (1938-2013)
• Give Ear unto Me – Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739)

Instrumental Music

• Rejoice, Beloved Christians – Johann Ludwig Krebs (1713-1780)
• Praeludium in F Major – Johann Ludwig Krebs

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

• Hymn 400 All creatures of our God and King (LASST UNS ERFREUEN)
• Hymn 455 O Love of God, how strong and true (DUNEDIN)
• Hymn R 226 Ubi caritas et amor (Jacques Berthier)
• Hymn 610 Lord, whose love through humble service (BLAENHAFREN)

Quick Pop Quiz: What is the greatest commandment?

• A. Thou Shalt honor thy father and mother.
• B. Love thy neighbor as yourself
• C. Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart.
• D. Thou shalt not wear white until after Memorial Day.

The answer is C, though B comes in a close second, and A has special relevance this Sunday. (It's Mother's Day - a gentle reminder from your music ministry.) We will make no comment about D.

I bring this up because this Sunday's Gospel from John 15 reminds us what Jesus said about commandments: If we love him, we will keep his commandments. “This is my commandment", he says, "that you love one another as I have loved you". It's about love. So all of our vocal music centers on that theme.

Peter Aston

The Good Shepherd choir sings a setting of a text from John 13 by English composer, Peter Aston. Though best known as a composer of church music, Aston's career combined teaching and conducting as well as composing. He held posts at the University of York and University of East Anglia,and conducted leading British orchestras and various international choirs. He was a founder of the Norwich Festival of Contemporary Church Music and was a Lay Canon of Norwich Cathedral. He died a month before his 75th birthday near Norwich, U.K., on September 13, 2013.

Benedetto Marcello

At communion the St. Gregory Choir will sing Benedetto Marcello's two part anthem Give Ear unto Me, with a text paraphrased from Psalm 17. Even this psalm concentrates on our following the commandments:

Give ear unto me, Lord, I beseech Thee,
for I have walked in Thy commandments,
Let me be judged with righteous judgment,
O let my sentence, come from Thy presence.

Marcello was an Italian composer, writer, and teacher, best known today for his church music and instrumental works. He was a younger contemporary of Antonio Vivaldi, and, indeed, his musical style closely resembles that of the Venetian master.

Ken Medema

However, the main musical offering this Sunday is the presentation of the musical, The Story Tellin' Man II, by Ken Medema. Every Spring the St. Gregory Choir presents a short musical presentation of a Biblical story in our 10:15 worship service.

One of the first musicals written in a contemporary vein for children was The Story Tellin' Man. Written in 1975, it was a collection of several of the parables, or stories, told by Jesus (the Story Tellin' Man) and has become a classic. Medema used several different musical styles to tell the different stories. Kids love singing the music, but the entire musical is 45 minutes long - we Episcopalians don't have patience for long sermons on Sunday morning, much less long musicals! - so I have devised a way to divide the work into TWO musicals - the first one focusing on the "lost" parables (lost coin, lost sheep, lost son) and the second one telling the story of the Good Samaritan. It's that story that we tell this Sunday as we hear the scripture about "Love One Another." I think it's a perfect fit.

Be sure to read about Ken Medema's inspiring story here.

The opening and closing voluntaries are by Johann Ludwig Krebs, German organist and composer noted for his organ music. He began his musical studies under his father and was later a favorite pupil of the composer Johann Sebastian Bach at Leipzig. (Bach held him in high regard, punning on both their names (Krebs [crab] and Bach [brook]) by saying "He is the only crab in my brook."
Krebs's organ music is composed in the forms used by Bach and leans heavily on Bach’s style. It is technically very accomplished. Krebs also wrote trio sonatas, sonatas for flute and harpsichord, and some sacred vocal music.

About the hymns:

• All creatures of our God and King (LASST UNS ERFREUEN) We are singing this hymn, the "Canticle of the Sun" by St. Francis of Assisi, in a nod to Rogation Sunday, the sixth Sunday before Easter, the day when the Church has traditionally offered prayer for God’s blessings on the fruits of the earth and the labors of those who produce our food. The word “rogation” is from the Latin rogare, “to ask.” It is good to be reminded of our dependence upon those who produce our food and our responsibility for the environment. We will omit those stanzas with an asterisk.
• O Love of God, how strong and true (DUNEDIN) The love of God lies at the heart of the Christian message, and that love is not an abstract idea but an act of redemption. William Temple points out that the essence of Christianity is not "God is love" but "God so loved that he gave," and this love is the theme of Horatio Bonar's great hymn.
• Ubi caritas et amor (Jacques Berthier) One of the most loved and familiar of the songs from the Taizé Community in France, it was written by Jacques Berthier, the organist at St-Ignace, the Jesuit church in Paris from 1961 until his death in 1994.
• Lord, whose love through humble service (BLAENHAFREN) This hymn was written in 1961 and is a reminder that, as Christians, we should follow the example of Christ, whose life was spent serving others. Our worship in church is in vain unless it is followed by concerns for others.