Music for the Christmas Services

Monday, December 24: Christmas Eve

(4:00 PM) The Coventry Choir

Vocal Music

• What Child Is This? – English Carol, arr. Jackson Hearn (b. 1958)
• Candlelight, Burning Bright – Helen Kemp (1918-2015)
• How Far Is It to Bethlehem – arr. Jackson Hearn

Instrumental Music

• The Alfred Burt Carols – Arr. Mark Hayes (b. 1953)
• Caroling, Caroling
• The Star Carol
• Some Children See Him
• Come, Dear Children
• Bells of Christmas – arr. Patricia Sanders Cota (b. 1954)
• Come, All Ye Faithful
• Angels We Have Heard on High
• Away in a Manger
• Joy to the World
• Carillon On A Ukrainian Carol - Gerald Near (b. 1942-)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal.)

• Hymn 83 -  O come, all ye faithful (ADESTE FIDELES)
• Hymn 96 - Angels we have heard on high (GLORIA)
• Hymn 100 -  Joy to the world! (ANTIOCH)
• Hymn 87 - Hark! the herald angels sing (MENDELSSOHN)
• Hymn 111 - Silent night, holy night  (STILLE NACHT)                     
• Hymn 99 - Go, tell it on the mountain (GO, TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN)

(6:30 PM) The Good Shepherd Choir

Vocal Music

• My Dancing Day –Alice Parker (b 1925)
• A Great and Mighty Wonder – Michael Praetorius (1571-1621)
• Ding Dong, Merrily on High – Charles Wood (1866-1926)
• And There Were Shepherds (from Christmas Oratorio) – J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
• Lully, Lulla, Lullay – Philip Stopford (b. 1977)
• Falan Tidings – Donald Pearson (b. 1959)
• The Little Road to Bethlehem – Michael Head (1900-1976), Allison Gosney, soprano

Instrumental Music

• Noel X – Louis-Claude Daquin (1694-1772)
• Lo, How a Rose Is Springing  – Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
• Carillon On A Ukrainian Carol - Gerald Near (b. 1942)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 83 -  O come, all ye faithful (ADESTE FIDELES)
• Hymn 96 - Angels we have heard on high (GLORIA)
• Hymn 100 - Joy to the world! (ANTIOCH)
• Hymn 87 - Hark! the herald angels sing (MENDELSSOHN)
• Hymn 111 - Silent night, holy night  (STILLE NACHT)                     
• Hymn 79  - O little town of Bethlehem (ST. LOUIS)
• Hymn 89 - It came upon a midnight clear (TUNE)
• Psalm 96  - (setting by Thomas Pavlechko)

British composer Philip Stopford composed this version of the Coventry Carol in 2008.

The original Coventry Carol dates from the 16th century and was traditionally performed in Coventry as part of a mystery play called The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors. The rocking lullaby tells the story of the Massacre of the Innocents — when King Herod ordered all male infants under the age of two to be killed.

It's sung though from a mother's perspective, as a beautiful lament for her doomed child.

(10:00 PM) Allison Gosney, soprano

• Jesu Bambino – Pietro Yon (1886-1943)
• The Little Road to Bethlehem – Michael Head (1900-1976)

Instrumental Music

• Noel X – Louis-Claude Daquin (1694-1772)
• Lo, How a Rose Is Springing  – Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
• Carillon On A Ukrainian Carol - Gerald Near (b. 1942)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal.)

• Hymn 83 -  O come, all ye faithful (ADESTE FIDELES)
• Praise 96 - Angels we have heard on high (GLORIA)
• Hymn 87 - Hark! the herald angels sing (MENDELSSOHN)
• Hymn 79 - O little town of Bethlehem (ST. LOUIS)
• Hymn 89 - It came upon a midnight clear (TUNE)
• Hymn 111 - Silent night, holy night  (STILLE NACHT)                     
• Hymn 100 - Joy to the world! (ANTIOCH)

Tuesday, December 25: Christmas Day (10:00 AM)

Organ music and hymns

Instrumental Music

• Noel X – Louis-Claude Daquin (1694-1772)
• Lo, How a Rose Is Springing  – Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
• The Alfred Burt Carols – Arr. Mark Hayes (b. 1953)
• I. Caroling, Caroling
• II. The Star Carol
• III. Some Children See Him
• IV. Come, Dear Children
• Carillon On A Ukrainian Carol - Gerald Near (b. 1942)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal.)

• Hymn 83 -  O come, all ye faithful (ADESTE FIDELES)
• Praise 96 - Angels we have heard on high (GLORIA)
• Hymn 89 - It came upon a midnight clear (TUNE)
• Hymn 87 - Hark! the herald angels sing (MENDELSSOHN)
• Hymn 100 - Joy to the world! (ANTIOCH)

Music for August 4, 2019

Vocal Music

• O Be Joyful – Philip Stopford (b. 1977), Bruce Bailey, baritone

Instrumental Music

• Aria – Charles Callahan (b. 1951)
• Prelude on Michael – Charles Callahan
• Prelude and Fugue in C – attr. J. S. Bach (1685-1750)

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

• Hymn R 49 - Let the whole creation cry (LLANFAIR)
• Hymn 529 - In Christ there is no East or West (MCKEE)
• Hymn 302 - Father, we thank thee who hast planted (RENDEZ A DIEU)
• Hymn - One bread, one body (ONE BREAD ONE BODY)
• Hymn R 136 - Alleluia (ALLELUIA)
• Hymn 594 - God of grace and God of glory (CWM RHONDDA)
• Psalm 49:1-11 - Tone VIIIa

Bruce Bailey is singing the offertory this Sunday, using an anthem that the choir sang back in June. Click here to read about the piece composed by the English composer Philip Stopford who now lives and works in New Jersey.

Stopford

Two of the organ works come from the pen of Charles Callahan, an extremely prolific American composer of sacred music for organ and choir. He has a way of writing a piece that sounds as if it is being improvised at the spot. The piece for communion is based on the hymn-tune MICHAEL by Herbert Howells. It's a tune (and text!) that I want our congregation to learn and embrace.

Callahan

The tune was written in 1930 by Howells in response to a request from his friend, Dr Thomas Percival (TP) Fielden, looking for a new tune for the text "All my hope on God is founded." In 1935, Howell's son, Michael, died unexpectedly at age nine from spinal meningitis. When Felden published the hymnal The Clarendon Hymn Book in 1936, he chose to include the hymn with Howells' tune. In tribute Howells rechristened the tune MICHAEL. The hymn's popularity increased in consequence as it became more widely known, and it is now found in over 60 hymnals, including ours.

Here are the first two lines of the hymn by Joachim Neander in 1680 and translated from German by Robert Bridges in 1899.

1 All my hope on God is founded;
he doth still my trust renew,
me through change and chance he guideth,
only good and only true.
God unknown, he alone
calls my heart to be his own.

2 Mortal pride and earthly glory,
sword and crown betray our trust;
though with care and toil we build them,
tower and temple fall to dust.
But God's power, hour by hour,
is my temple and my tower.

The closing voluntary is a short prelude and fugue which has for centuries been attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach, but are now believed to have been composed by one of Bach's pupils, possibly Johann Tobias Krebs or his son Johann Ludwig Krebs. Since we don't know for sure, I'm just going to leave it as attributed to...

Bach

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 March 26, 2017 + The Fourth Sunday in Lent

Vocal Music

• O Jesus, Every Moment – Philip Stopford (b. 1977)

Instrumental Music

• Psalm Prelude, Set1, No.3 - Herbert Howells (1892-1983)
• Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort - Johann Walther (1684-1748)

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

• Hymn 7 - Christ, whose glory fills the skies (RATISBON)
• Hymn 645 - The King of love my shepherd is (ST. COLUMBA)
• Hymn R191 - O Christ, the healer, we have come (ERHALT UNS, HERR)
• Hymn 533 - How wondrous and great thy works, God of praise! (LYONS)
• Hymn R189 - Amazing grace! how sweet the sound (NEW BRITAIN)
• Hymn 149 - Eternal Lord of love (OLD 124TH)

A beautiful old Irish prayer provides the text for today's anthem. Philip Stopford has taken great care to write a simple melody and to treat this meaningful prayer with tender lyricism. Renowned for his beautiful choral music, Stopford is a British composer who is currently Director of Music at Christ Church, Bronxville, New York. This energetic 40 year old started life as a church musician as a chorister at Westminster Abbey in London. Since then, he has worked at Canterbury Cathedral, Chester Cathedral, St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, UK, before coming to the states. He's written much beautiful choral music, much of which can be heard on his YouTube channel, including this Sunday's anthem, under his direction. 

 After studying with Herbert Brewer at Gloucester Cathedral as a teenager, Herbert Howells moved to London to study at the Royal College of Music, where his teachers included Charles Villiers Stanford, Charles Wood, and Hubert Parry. Diagnosed with Graves’ disease in 1915, Howells was given six months to live, but survived after doctors treated him with radium injections, a previously untried treatment. The first set of Psalm-Preludes dates from this time and his illness may be the reason the second Psalm-Prelude is inspired by the fourth verse of the 23rd Psalm,‘Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death...’

Johann Gottfried Walther, student of J. Bernhard Bach (a second cousin of THE Bach), was an accomplished organist and composer of the Baroque period, In 1702, at the age of eighteen, he was made organist of the Thomaskiche in Erfurt. At twenty-three he was appointed Weimar town organist and music master to the ducal children. In 1721 he became a court musician.

Walther wrote much organ music; his compositions explore stylistic elements from across Europe. He is placed next to Bach as a composer of the chorale variation (he and Bach became friends while Bach lived in Wiemar). Outside of his organ music, Walther was also known for his book, Musikalishe Lexikon oder Musicalisches Bibliotek (Leipzig, 1732), the first dictionary/encyclopedia of music.

Music for June 21, 2015 + The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost + Confirmation

Confirmation Sunday

Vocal Music

• O Thou Who Camest from Above – Philip W. J. Stopford (b. 1977)
• Gracious Spirit, Dwell With Me – K. Lee Scott (b. 1950)

Instrumental Music

• Symphony No. 5: IV. Adagio– Charles Marie Widor (1844-1937)
• Symphony No.5: V. Toccata – Charles Marie Widor

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

• Hymn 688 A mighty fortress is our God (EIN FESTE BURG)
• Hymn 297 Descend, O Spirit, purging flame (ERHALT UNS, HERR)
• Hymn 608 Eternal Father, strong to save (MELITA)
• Hymn 535 Ye servants of God, your Master proclaim (PADERBORN)

The choir makes a rare summer appearance this Sunday as Bishop Andy Doyle visits Good Shepherd to confirm new members to Christ's church.  We'll be singing two anthems based on hymns dealing with the Holy Spirit.

Our offertory anthem is a well-known text by Charles Wesley set to an original new tune by English composer Philip W. Stopford. Listen for the interval of a rising fourth (the same notes as "Here Comes the Bride") sung as an opening motif which is used throughout the piece. The men of the choir sing the first stanza in unison. The treble voices join the men on stanza two, still in unison, but in the second half of the piece you'll hear a deviation from the original melody, taking us to the feeling of a higher key. At the phrase "in humble prayer and fervent praise." the organ drops out and the choir sings in four-part harmony for the first time in this piece. Stanza three starts with the women singing the motif in unison to be joined by the men for four part harmony, a capella, while they modulate to a new key. The final stanza starts with choir in unison except for a soaring descant from the sopranos.

We sang this just a month ago, but are repeating it now as the third stanza speaks so well to the confirmands:

Jesus, confirm my heart's desire
to work and speak and think for thee;
still let me guard the holy fire,
and still stir up thy gift in me.

K. Lee Scott wrote the communion anthem, a pairing of the text "Gracious Spirit, Dwell in Me" with the Gregorian chant tune "Adoro te devote."  We sang this anthem on Pentecost, but since it has great relevance to confirmation (and Pentecost was on Memorial Day weekend, when half of you weren't here), we are singing it again.

Scott was born in Langdale, Alabama and earned his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Choral Music from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He later became the Director of Choral Music there. Today he is still on the faculty at the university as a part-time instructor as his work as a freelance composer keeps him busy. He has had over 100 of his works published, through 11 different publishing companies.

Our opening hymn, A Mighty Fortress is Our God, is often referred to as “the battle hymn” of the Reformation. Many stories have been relayed about its use. Albert Bailey writes,

It was, as Heine said, the Marseillaise of the Reformation…It was sung in the streets…It was sung by poor Protestant emigres on their way to exile, and by martyrs at their death…Gustavus Adolphus ordered it sung by his army before the battle of Leipzig in 1631…Again it was the battle hymn of his army at Lutzen in 1632…It has had a part in countless celebrations commemorating the men and events of the Reformation; and its first line is engraved on the base of Luther’s monument at Wittenberg…An imperishable hymn! Not polished and artistically wrought but rugged and strong like Luther himself, whose very words seem like deeds. (The Gospel in Hymns, 316)

As you can see, this is a hymn close to the hearts of Protestants and Lutherans, a source of assurance in times of duress and persecution. The text is not restricted, however, to times of actual physical battles. In any time of need, when we do battle with the forces of evil, God is our fortress to hide us and protect us, and the Word that endures forever will fight for us.

Music for May 3, 2015 + The Fifth Sunday of Easter

Vocal Music

• O Thou Who Camest from Above – Philip Stopford (b. 1977)

Instrumental Music

• Communion – Richard Purvis (1913-1994)
• Sonatina in C Major, Op. 13, No. 1: Andantino – Dmitri Kabalevsky (1904-1987)
• Come, O Come, Thou Spirit of Life – Max Reger (1873-1916)

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

• Hymn 47 - On this day, the first of days (GOTT SEI DANK)
• Hymn 379 - God is love: let heaven adore him (ABBOT’S LEIGH) 
• Hymn R 145 - Lord, I want to be a Christian (I WANT TO BE A CHRISTIAN)
• Hymn 344 - Lord, dismiss us with thy blessing (SICILIAN MARINERS)

This week the choir is singing a new (to us) anthem by the young English composer Philip Stopford. It is a setting of the well-known text by Charles Wesley with an original new tune that brings a fresh approach to this great hymn. An effective motif is introduced in the beginning with the gentle, pulsating chords in the organ accompaniment and the repetitive "falling" motif in the opening of the melody.

Philip Stopford

Born in 1977, Stopford began his musical career as a Chorister at Westminster Abbey. After winning a major Music Scholarship to Bedford School, he became Organ Scholar at Truro Cathedral, playing the organ for services and taking probationer chorister rehearsals. Stopford went on to study music at Oxford University. He was on the music staff of Canterbury and Chester Cathedrals as Assistant Organist, before being appointed Director of Music at St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast, in January 2003. He now lives in Chester and devotes his time to composition.

Three of Stopford's works appeared in the Classic FM Hall of Fame 2014, after he made his first appearance on the chart in 2013.

The opening voluntary is by Richard Purvis—organist/choirmaster at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral—who (along with Alexander Schreiner, E. Power Biggs, and Virgil Fox) made mid-20th century American organ music popular with the masses through records, recitals, and the press. But unlike his colleagues, Purvis was also a writer and performer of original music for the organ, who engaged church and concert audiences everywhere with daring harmony, colorful registration, and evocative emotion of compositions that won him instant acclaim. Hollywood noticed, but Purvis turned down offers to leave Grace to write for the movies. It was said that Purvis wrote "film music for the Episcopal church." This prelude is no exception. Communion is from a collection from 1941 called Five Pieces on Gregorian Themes. A quiet and contemplative composition, with a melody in the style of an old Gregorian chant, with big, sustained chords in the accompaniment.

• On this day, the first of days (GOTT SEI DANK) - This generic hymn of praise  is a 1861 translation by Anglican, Sir Henry W. Baker of the Latin hymn: 'Die parente temporum' which first appeared in the Carcassion Brievary in 1745. In this volumn, 'Dei parente temporum' is indicated for use on the Sunday at Nocturns from Pentecost to Advent. It is set to the tune GOTT SEI DANK, first published in Freylinghausen's Gesangbuch (1704). 
• God is love: let heaven adore him (ABBOT’S LEIGH) -This tune just missed making it into The Hymnal 1940.  It appears three times in the current Hymnal and is an immensely popular tune. It was written by Cyril Vincent Taylor during the Battle of Britain as a replacement tune for Glorious things of thee are spoken, which used the tune AUSTRIA – which happened to be the German national anthem.  (Both tunes currently appear to the text in our hymnal.)  Soprano and bass lines both feature octave leaps.  
• Lord, I want to be a Christian (I WANT TO BE A CHRISTIAN) - Though originating in the 1750s, both text and tune were first published in Folk Songs of the American Negro (1907), compiled by brothers Frederick Work and John W. Work, Jr.  This music is an example of the repetitive text with a slow, sustained, long-phrased tune found in a number of African American spirituals. This music is intended to be reverent, with little, if any, accompaniment (perhaps piano)
• Lord, dismiss us with thy blessing (SICILIAN MARINERS) - As we opened the service, we close it, too, with a generic hymn of blessing. The tune SICILIAN MARINERS has been around for centuries and may have actually originated in Sicily.  If you double the note values, you get the tune for a Christmas carol, "O Sanctissima" which, with its original Latin text, was first published in London in 1792 and in 1794 in the United States. Today, the opening bars are familiarly known for their use in the song "We Shall Overcome."