Music for February 20, 2022 + The Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany

Vocal Music

• O Come, Ye Servants of the Lord – Christopher Tye (c. 1505 - c. 1572)

Instrumental Music

• Sing Praise to Our Creator – Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg (1718 – 1795)
• Communion – Richard Purvis (1837-1911)
• March – Arthur William Marchant (1850-1921)

Congregational Music (all hymns from The Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 390 - Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (LOBE DEN HERREN)
• Hymn 576 - God is love, and where true love is (MANDATUM)
• Hymn 295 - Sing praise to our Creator (CHRISTE, DER IST MEIN LEBEN)
• Hymn 304 - I come with joy to meet my Lord (LAND OF REST)
• Hymn 657 - Love divine, all loves excelling (HYFRYDOL)
• Psalm 37:1-12, 41-42 – Tone Va

The anthem today is by the English Renaissance composer Christopher Tye. He studied at Cambridge University and in 1545 became a Doctor of Music both there and at Oxford. Talk about an over-achiever! He was choirmaster and organist of Ely Cathedral from about 1543. He may have been music teacher to King Edward VI who reportedly quoted his father Henry VIII, as saying "England hath one God, one truth, one doctor hath for music's art, and that is Doctor Tye, admired for skill in music's harmony."

The anthem comes from Tye's Actes of the Apostles (1553), his setting of the first fourteen chapters of the Book of Acts in metrical verse, with a new musical setting for each chapter. These are short, strophic pieces, whose settings range in style from fairly homophonic to quite imitative; the final setting is a double canon at the fourth. It is from this collection that his most familiar piece is derived; the most common tune of "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks", hymn 94 in our hymnal (though not attributed to him.)

Our anthem comes from the fourth chapter (or movement) of this work, but with new words. The original text, the translation of the Latin scripture, is very difficult to understand to our modern ears

When that the people taught they had

There came to them doutles:

Priests and rulers as men nye mad,

And eke the Saduces.

Whome it dyd greve that they should move

The people and them leade:

That Jesus Christ, by powre above

Should ryse up from the deade.

What we are singing is an English translation of a Latin contrafactum for the original text. What is a contrafactum, you ask? It’s what you get when an existing tune is used with a new set of words. A well-known example is The Star-Spangled Banner, which is sung to the music of “The Anacreontic Song” popularly known as a drinking song. 

What I think is ironic is that Christopher Tye translated Latin words into English, which were then replaced with Latin words which have now been translated in English.

The opening voluntary is two variations of hymn 295 by Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg, a German music critic, music theorist and composer. During his life he published two volumes of chorale preludes, which contain his only known composition for the organ.

This hymn tune, CHRISTUS, DER IST MEIN LEBEN, is given two treatments. In the first, the melody is in the pedal, played on a 4’ reed. In the second, the melody is in canon between the right hand and the pedal. 

Richard Purivs

Some years ago, in Berkeley, California, theater-organ buffs discovered a wonderfully talented high school boy named Don Irving, who play fabulously for a while and then disappeared. It turns out, his real name was Richard Purvis, and he became well known in church music circles. After making his concert debut at age 13, he won a scholarship to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. From there he began concertizing and composing. His works certainly show a predilection for the lyrical style of the theater organ. 

While his music has fallen out of fashion, several of his works have entered classic status in American organ music of the 20th century. One of those is this work called “Communion,” which features a lush, slow chordal theme which serves as a backdrop to a simple melody reminiscent of Gregorian Chant. A distinct feature of this piece is the use of chimes. Since we do not have chimes, we’ll use a handbell for the tolling of the bell.

Music for May 6, 2018 + The Sixth Sunday of Easter

Vocal Music

• Thanks be to God – Andreas Hammerschmidt (1611–1675)
• The Peace of God – John Rutter (b. 1945)

Instrumental Music

• Prelude on Dunedin – David Dahl (b. 1937)
• Communion – Richard Purvis (1913-1994)
• Finale and Fughetta in C– Johann Kaspar Ferdinand Fischer (1656 – 1746)

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

• Hymn 8 - Morning is broken (BUNESSAN)
• Hymn 455 - O love of God, how strong and true (DUNEDIN)
• Hymn 705 - As those of old their first fruits brought (FOREST GREEN)
• Hymn R249 - Great is thy faithfulness (FAITHFULNESS)
• Hymn 400 - All creatures of our God and King (LASST UNS ERFREUEN)
• Psalm 98:1-6 Cantate Domino – Tone IIa

We have two totally different choral offerings this morning. The first is an extroverted, almost bouncy anthem of thanksgiving by the German Bohemian composer and organist Andreas Hammerschmidt. Musicologists regard Hammerschmidt as the most representative composer of middle 17th century German church music, but his works are hardly known today, as he is overshadowed by the towering figure of Heinrich Schütz, whom he greatly admired and who once wrote a laudatory poem for one of Hammerschmidt's publications.

Hammerschmidt was born in Brüx in Bohemia, where his family belonged to the Protestant community. During the Thirty Years War Bohemia became Catholic again, and Hammerschmidt's father decided to move to Freiberg in Saxony. Very little is known about his musical education.

This happy looking man is Andreas Hammerschmidt. He's still mad that Schutz gets more attention.

In 1635 Hammerschmidt was appointed organist at the Petrikirche, and in 1639 he moved to Zittau, where he became the organist of the Johanniskirche. It was his last position, and here he composed the largest part of his music. The position of organist was increasingly important, as he was responsible for composing and performing all church music and directing the soloists from the school choir and the instrumental ensemble of town musicians. His activities as composer and performer not only made him a man of reputation, but also brought him considerable wealth.  His tombstone calls him the Orpheus of Zittau.

The other anthem which will be sung at communion is the lovely, lyrical The Peace of God by the English composer John Rutter. His gift of melody and captivating harmonies is evident in this quiet little peace based on a prayer from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.

The peace of God which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be amongst you and remain with you always. Amen.

The opening voluntary is the Chorale Prelude on DUNEDIN, by Washington composer David Dahl. I'm playing it because this is the tune of the hymn prior to the Gospel this morning. This work was commissioned in 2016 by the Houston American Guild of Organist's National Convention, and had its premier at Christ Church Cathedral in  Houston.

David P. Dahl

You'll hear the tune three times. First, it is played on the oboe stop (left hand) against a obbligato on the flute (right hand.) Then the tune is heard in canon (like a round) with the right hand playing on a combination of flute sounds at different pitches, and the left hand coming in a measure later using the principals. The third and final reiteration combines the melody, this time played by the feet on a loud trumpet sound, while the hands play bold, fanfare-like interjections.

David P. Dahl is Professor of Music and University Organist Emeritus from Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, WA, retiring in 2000 after thirty-five years of teaching. In August, 2010, he retired as Director Emeritus of Music Ministries at Christ Episcopal Church, Tacoma, where served for forty years. 

Here's a NERD ALERT. When I was a teenager, and first interested in the organ, my grandmother had a Reader's Digest Record Collection called "The Organ Plays Golden Favorites," four LPs of four well-known American organist of both the legit (classical) and theatre organ worlds. One of the artists I was introduced to was Richard Purvis, the long-time organist of Grace Cathedral in San Franciscon. One of the things that intrigued me about Purvis was the story on the album sleeve that, years ago, as a high school boy, he was well known as a theatre organist under the name "Don Irving." Don Irving dissappeared, but Richard Purvis went on to study at the Curtis Institue of Music in Philadelphia. It also said he was well known as a composer, particularly famous for two compositions, his setting of "Greensleeves" and "Communion." I've heard several people play "Greensleeves" over the years, but the only person I know that plays "Communion" is me!

"Communion" is a quiet, contemplative piece, with a melody in the style of Gregorian Chant, accompanied by sustained chords played on the strings. This work was no doubt written for the organ at Grace Cathedral, an Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ with over 7000 pipes, with a string division larger than most normal-sized church organs!

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."