HUMBLED FOR A SEASON: Music for November 20, 2022 + Christ the King Sunday

Vocal Music

• O Jesus, King Most Wonderful – David Hogan
• Lord Jesus Christ, We Humbly Pray – Gilbert M. Martin

Instrumental Music

• At the Name of Jesus – Michael Burkhardt
• Concerto in D Minor: Adagio – Antonio Vivaldi, arr. Virgil Fox
• Toccata on “At the Name of Jesus” – Michael Burkhardt

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

• Hymn 494 Crown him with many crowns (DIADEMATA)
• Hymn R128 Canticle 16: Blest be the God of Israel (FOREST GREEN)
• Hymn 421 All glory be to God on high (ALLEIN GOTT IN DER HŐH)
• Hymn 495 Hail, thou once despised Jesus (IN BABILONE)
• Hymn 544 Jesus shall reign where’er the sun (DUKE STREET)

At the Name of Jesus

 

The last Sunday of the church year (remember, the church calendar begins with the first Sunday of Advent, which is next Sunday) is called Christ the King Sunday. Themes of this day are the glory and majesty of Christ, judgment, peace, eternal life, judgment, and mercy. Much festivity and solemnity is proper to this liturgy. However, with this year’s Gospel from the Passion account, it highlights the paradox of the benevolent shepherd-king, dying on the cross, offering Paradise to the repentant sinner.

With that in mind, I am playing two different settings of the hymn At the name of Jesus, written by a former classmate of mine at SMU, Michael Burkhardt. The text is perfect for this Sunday:

1 At the name of Jesus

ev'ry knee shall bow,

ev'ry tongue confess him

King of glory now;

'tis the Father's pleasure

we should call him Lord,

who from the beginning

was the mighty Word.

3 Humbled for a season

to receive a name

from the lips of sinners

unto whom he came,

faithfully he bore it

spotless to the last,

brought it back victorious

when from death he passed;

Ralph Vaughan Williams composed the tune, KING'S WESTON, for this text. The tune's title refers to a manor house on the Avon River near Bristol, England. For the opening voluntary, I am playing Michael's setting which presents the tune in a quieter vein, with moving, hovering chords in the left hand and a pizzicato bass line on the pedals, the melody is presented in segments. It reminds me of a journey, much like the one Christ endured while on earth. (see stanza three.)

The closing voluntary is much more dramatic  with a blazing perpetual motion in the manuals with the melody presented in the pedals. It is perfect for the last stanza

Christians, this Lord Jesus

shall return again

in his Father's glory,

with his angel train;

for all wreaths of empire

meet upon his brow,

and our hearts confess him

King of glory now.

Michael Burkhardt is presently is Artist-Professor of Organ at Eastern Michigan University, and Founder-Artistic Director of hearts, hands and voices Worship and Fine Arts Program for Children in Southeast Michigan. In addition, he is a prolific composer, writing for organ and choir.

O Jesus, King Most Wonderful

This is a new addition to our choir's library, written by the late composer David Hogan. David died much too young when he was flying back to France aboard TWA Flight 800 when it exploded off the coast of Long Island, killing all 230 passengers and crew on board. At 47, Hogan was a serious composer of choral and theater music as well as an accomplished pianist, organist, tenor and teacher. His most conspicuous achievement in this country was his Festival Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, choral pieces composed for and performed at the consecration of Washington's National Cathedral in September 1990.

This piece was written for his church choir in San Francisco when he was living there. It is a setting of a hymn tune by the early American composer Joshua Leavitt. In 1831 he compiled and published The Christian Lyre, the first hymnal to print music (melody and bass) for every hymn. It is in this hymnal that we find this tune, named HIDING PLACE. 

I am not sure, but I would guess that David Hogan had a good men's section, but that they weren't adept at singing harmony, because in this setting of the tune, the men always sing the melody in unison while the sopranos and altos provide a counter-melody. (Apparently THEY could read music.)  Many early American hymn tunes are in a minor mode, and that is the case with HIDING PLACE. After the third stanza, he changes the tonality to a Major mode, and the anthem ends on a bright note.

Concerto in D Minor: Adagio

What we have here is Virgil Fox's arrangement of Johann Sebastian Bach's arrangement of a movement from a Violin concerto by Antonio Vivaldi. And what happens is a complete change in the tenor of the piece. What is originally a simple, light, transparent baroque adagio is turned into a sumptuous, poignant romantic aria. It is almost lugubrious. Here is a recording of the original. 

Video of the Vivaldi

THESE ARE DIFFICULT TIMES - Music for Sunday, October 16, 2022 + Day School Sunday

Vocal Music

• Jesus, Jesus – Sunday School Song
• Shalom – Hebrew Melody

Instrumental Music

• Prelude on “Liebster Jesu” – Timothy Albrecht (b. 1950)
• Autumn – Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
• Serenade for Organ, Opus 22 – Derek Bourgeois (1941-2017)

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

Hymn 372 - Praise to the living God! (LEONI)
Hymn 631 - Book of books, our people’s strength (LIEBSTER JESU)
Hymn 535 - Ye servants of God, your Master proclaim (PADERBORN)
Hymn 711 - Seek ye first the kingdom of God (SEEK YE FIRST)
Hymn 530 - Spread, O spread, thou mighty word (GOTT SEI DANK)

This Sunday we will hear from the children of Good Shepherd School, lead by their music teacher Karen Silva. You will be amazed at what children ages 3-5 can do when it comes to vocal and instrumental music. We  are very fortunate to have the school here at our church, and they are lucky to have Karen teaching them about pitch, rhythm, and instruments.

Autumn from The Four Seasons    

One of the most amazing things they'll be doing is an instrumental number arranged from the first movement of Vivaldi's AUTUMN from "The Four Seasons." Intead of strings (like the original), the children will be using chimes and Boomwhackers®, color-coded, plastic, pitched, percussion tubes, designed to be 'whacked' against any surface, for a focused sound. Imagine playing music on empty rolls of wrapping paper. 

Prelude on Liebster Jesu and Serenade

There is a meme floating around musical circles that says

THESE ARE DIFFICULT TIMES

Most beginner musicians start with the simple meter of common time, or four beats per measure.

For some reason (fate? masochism?) I have chosen not just one but TWO organ voluntaries written in something one could call 'difficult times.'  Take a look at the time signature for the opening voluntary, a prelude based on hymn 631:

That means 10 beats per measure, with the 8th note getting the beat. Here is how the composer, Timothy Albrecth, organist emeritus of Emory Universoty, explains it:

SO I need to feel it in a group of 1, a group of 2, a group of three, then a group of four. This makes for a fun time, let me tell you!

But that is nothing in comparison with the closing voluntary, a piece called Serenade. Look at this time signature:

It starts out as 3+3+2+3, but later on he changes it to 13 beats to a measure. The composer wrote this for his own wedding in 1965 to be played by the organist as the guests left the ceremony. Not wishing to allow them the luxury of proceeding in an orderly 2/4, the composer wrote the work in 11/8, and in case anyone felt too comfortable, he changed it to 13/8 in the middle! The work has now been released in a number of different orchestrations of the original version for organ. This delightful miniature has entered the repertoire throughout the world.

Music for July 26, 2020 + The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Be Thou My Vision– Irish Folk Tune, Margie VanBrackle, soprano, Hans VanBrackle, guitar

Instrumental Music

• Allegro from Concerto No. 3 in F major, Op. 8, RV 293, "Autumn" (L'autunno)– Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
• Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee – arr. Carolyne Taylor (21st C.)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 615  "Thy kingdom come" (ST. FLAVIAN)
• Hymn of  Praise S-236 – Canticle 13: Glory to You – John Rutter (b. 1945)

The best-laid schemes of mice and men
Go often askew,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy! - To a Mouse, by Robert Burns

I had every intention of including a virtual choir anthem by the Good Shepherd Choir in the July 26 Worship service, but a gremlin in the system (or one of the submitted videos) made it an almost impossible task. As I am away this week in Memphis, my laptop computer didn't want to fully cooperate, so the Anthem this week is a beautiful setting of the Irish folk tune, SLANE, with the familiar words, Be Thou My Vision. Margie and Hans VanBrackle recorded this for us back in April for one of our earlier services. It was so lovely I included it again this week.

I DID get to use the choir in singing this Sunday's hymn, which goes along well with both the Epistle and the Gospel readings. So sing along with the choir on "Thy kingdom come, on bended knee."

November 4, 2018 + All Saints Sunday

Vocal Music

• By All Your Saints – Joel Martinson

Instrumental Music

• Here I Am, Lord – Daniel Schutte
• Concerto in A Minor (First Movement) – Antonio Vivaldi

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 labor rest  (SINE NOMINE)
• Hymn 286 - Who are these like stars appearing (ZEUCH MICH, ZEUCH MICH)
• Hymn 822 - Through North and South and East and West (LAAST UNS ERFREUEN)
• Hymn 620 - Jerusalem, my happy home (LAND OF REST)
• Hymn 293 - I sing a song of the saints of God (GRAND ISLE)
• Hymn 618  - Ye holy angels bright (DARWALL’S 148TH)
• Psalm 24

All Saints Day is November 1. (Which is why we have All Hallow's Eve - Halloween - on October 31.) All Saints’ Day is when the church honors all Holy Ones, known and unknown. Our English word “saint” literally means “holy.” The next day, November 2, is All Soul's Day, the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed. In other cultures the celebration is known as Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos in Spanish-speaking countries.)

Here at Good Shepherd we combine the two and observe them on the Sunday following. That's why we sing all the good old All Saints hymns (For All the Saints is regularly voted as one of the favorites of the congregation to sing) and read the list of names of those dear to us who have died. (This would be a good time for you to watch the animated movie Coco. (I think its the best of the Disney movies, able to be enjoyed by children and adults alike).

I am out of the country this week, so my good friend Rob Carty will be playing the organ for me in my absence.