Music for April 19, 2015 + The Third Sunday of Easter

Music Appreciation Sunday

Vocal Music

• Hymn of Promise – Natalie Sleeth (1930-1992)
• Sing to the Lord – Ken Medema (b. 1943)

Instrumental Music

• Christians, We Have Met to Worship – arr. Sondra Tucker
• Beside Quiet Waters – Dan R. Edwards
• Choral Song - S.S.Wesley

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

• Hymn 492 Sing, ye faithful, sing with gladness (FINNIAN)
• Hymn 440 Blessed Jesus, at thy word (LIEBSTER JESU)
• Hymn 295 Sing praise to our Creator (CHRISTUS, DER IST MEIN LEBEN)
• Hymn R 202 Sing alleluia to the Lord (SING ALLELUIA)
• Hymn 182 Christ is alive! Let Christians sing (TRURO)

This Sunday, the church is honoring the music ministry of Good Shepherd with a Music Appreciation Day. It is humbling to be honored in such a way for the work that we do, week by week, to glorify our God and King. For this weekend, I have the St. Gregory Choir and the Good Shepherd Handbell Guild joining the Good Shepherd Choir in the music for Sunday. The St. Gregory Choir will sing an anthem of praise by Ken Medema, the composer of our Spring Music, The Story-Tellin' Man II, which we will present on May 10. Then the Good Shepherd Choir will join them in one of the kid's favorite anthems, Hymn of Promise, by Natalie Sleeth.

Ken Medema is a singer/pianist who has published many works for choirs, soloists, and pianists. Born nearly blind, he began playing the piano when he was five years old, and three years later began taking lessons in classical music through braille music, playing by ear and improvising in different styles. Through his work as a music therapist, he started writing songs while at Essex County Hospital. "I had a bunch of teenagers who were really hurting," he says, "and I started writing songs about their lives. Then I thought, 'Why don't you start writing songs about your Christian life?' So I started doing that, and people really responded."

In his anthem Sing to the Lord, you'll hear the main theme presented in a pop-rock style, before going to a new theme (the B section). He returns to the first theme (A section), and when it is sung, you are introduced to more musical material in the C section of the piece. The entire anthem ends with one more visit to the A section before ending with a coda, the last line of music sung three times. The text for the anthem is a compilation of familiar verses from several psalms.

The anthem Hymn of Promise, a favorite of our choir, was first conceived as an anthem in 1985 for a festival concert on Natalie Sleeth's music at the Pasadena Community Church, St. Petersburg, Florida. Since then, it has been included in at least 17 hymnals, with the number growing each year.

Sleeth was as native of Evanston, Illinois. She began piano study at the age of four and gained much of her musical experience by singing in choral ensembles during her earlier years. Studying music theory, piano, and organ at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, she received her B.A. in 1952.

Married to Ronald E. Sleeth, a United Methodist clergyman and professor of homiletics at Perkins School of Theology in Dallas in the late 60s and 70s, she served as music secretary at Highland Park United Methodist Church from 1969-1976. During this time, she studied music theory with Jane Marshall and audited a course in choral arranging taught by Lloyd Pfautsch at SMU. Her choral works for all ages number more than 200.

Sleeth had the ability to compose both texts and music. Hymn of Promise was written at a time when the author states that she was "pondering the ideas of life, death, spring and winter, Good Friday and Easter, and the whole reawakening of the world that happens every spring." Inspired by a T.S. Eliot line, the germ of the hymn grew from the idea "in our end is our beginning," the phase that begins the third stanza of the hymn.

While it carries the promise of spring and the hope of Easter in its beautiful metaphors, it is a very appropriate hymn for funeral and memorial services. Shortly after its composition, the composer’s husband was diagnosed with what turned out to be a terminal malignancy. Ronald Sleeth requested that Hymn of Promise be sung at his funeral service.

Michael C. Hawn, distinguished professor of church music at Perkins School of Theology, writes,

A wonderful child-like simplicity permeates "Hymn of Promise." Natalie Sleeth had a gift for composing texts on complex theological ideas that were still accessible to children. Her melodies seemed totally natural and therefore effortless for people to learn. "Hymn of Promise" is one of the most memorable hymns written by an American United Methodist in the last part of the twentieth century, and it promises to be sung for many years to come.

The Good Shepherd Handbell Choir will end it's choir season by playing two distinctly different pieces by two American composers. My friend Sondra Tucker has written an energetic piece for bells and percussion combining two Early American hymn-tunes, HOLY MANNA (Christians, We Have Met to Worship) and FOUNDATION (How Firm a Foundation). After a brief introduction you hear HOLY MANNA , then FOUNDATION as the drum drops out and the music becomes less rhythmic and more flowing. When the opening motif returns along with the drum, the two tunes are combined and played together. It's what the youth call a "mash-up."

• Sing, ye faithful, sing with gladness (FINNIAN) Though it first appeared in 1870 and was included in several hymnals of the time, our hymnal is the only major contemporary book that includes it. The tune was written in 1975 by Christopher Dearnley, an English organist, who served in Salisbury Cathedral and St Paul's Cathedral.
• Blessed Jesus, at thy word (LIEBSTER JESU) In this hymn, we acknowledge our need for the illumination of the Holy Spirit to fully understand God’s message to us. We also recognize and claim the promise of Christ concerning this help: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26 ESV).
• Sing praise to our Creator (CHRISTUS, DER IST MEIN LEBEN) Set to a tune from the 1500s, this hymn was written by Omer Westendorf, one of the leading Roman Catholic hymn writers since Vatican II. Born in 1916, Omer first got interested in church music after World War II, when he discovered the new Mass settings in Holland.
• Sing alleluia to the Lord (SING ALLELUIA) Immensely popular, this praise chorus has been included in hundreds of songbooks, both in North America and in other continents. Linda L. Stassen-Benjamin originally composed it rather instantaneously (while she was in the shower!) in June 1974. Following oral tradition, the Renew Hymnal joins Stassen's stanza with four other stanzas derived from early Christian liturgies and the "Easter Canticle," which quotes from 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 and 15:20-22.  
• Christ is alive! Let Christians sing (TRURO) Brian A. Wren wrote the hymn during April of 1968. It was written for Easter Sunday, two weeks after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Wren wrote: "I could not let Easter go by without speaking of this tragic event which was on all our minds. . . . The hymn tries to see God's love winning over tragedy and suffering in the world. . . . There is tension and tragedy in these words, not just Easter rejoicing."

Music for April 12, 2015 + The Second Sunday of Easter

Vocal Music

• Come, Ye Faithful – R. S. Thatcher (1888-1957)

Instrumental Music

• Organ Concerto in F Major, Op.4 No.5: IV. Presto (Gigue) - G. F. Handel (1685-1759)
• Rejoice, Beloved Christians - Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
• Good Christians All, Rejoice and Sing – Healey Willan (1880-1968)

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

• Hymn 193 That Easter day with joy was bright (PUER NOBIS)
• Hymn R 61 Lift Your Heart to the Lord (SALVE FESTA DIES)
• Hymn 490 I want to walk as a child of the light (HOUSTON)
• Hymn 178 Alleluia, alleluia! Give thanks (ALLELUIA NO. 1)
• Hymn 325 Let us break bread together (LET US BREAK BREAD)
• Hymn R-91 Open our eyes, Lord (OPEN OUR EYES)
• Hymn R-306 We are marching in the light of the Lord (SIYAHAMBA)

Easter wore us (the musicians and choirs) OUT! So, in what is something of a tradition, the choir and organist will repeat some of the music from the Easter Vigil for Low Sunday (the Sunday after Easter).

The anthem is by R. S. Thatcher, who ended a career in music as the Principal (Head) of the Royal Academy of Music in London (1949-1955). At one time he had been Organist and Choir Master at Worchester College, Oxford. This is a splendid hymn anthem in three verses. The entire choir sings stanza one in unison. Sopranos sing stanza two and Tenors and Basses sing stanza three while all four voices join on the Alleluias in harmony. This is a perennial favorite of the choir, as we sing it every two years for Easter.

Caricature of Handel playing a chamber organ -
Joseph Goupy, 1754

Handel wrote twelve organ concertos for chamber organ and orchestra in two different sets. Written as interludes in performances of oratorios in Covent Garden, they were the first works of their kind for this combination of instruments and served as a model for later composers.

His first set, Opus 4., contained TWO concertos in the key of F Major. Today I am playing a solo organ arrangement of the final movement of the second of the two, Opus 4, Number 5. It is a lively, bright piece in the style of Gigue, or Jig, in 12/8 time. I employ the full organ for the parts played by the orchestra, and only one division of the organ for the solo portions.





Lots of hymns to sing this Sunday, from traditional high church to contemporary praise choruses.

• That Easter day with joy was bright (PUER NOBIS) - This hymn, attributed to St. Ambrose, was translated in 1852 by J. M. Neale. Its tune is used three times in our hymnal for Christmas, Epiphany, and this Easter text.
• Lift Your Heart to the Lord (SALVE FESTA DIES) - This 1982 hymn by Englishman John Bowers is set to a 1906 tune by Ralph Vaughan Williams, which is in our hymnal as Hail Thee, Festival Day. Bowers also wrote hymn 51 in The Hymnal 1982.
• I want to walk as a child of the light (HOUSTON) - Katheen Thomerson wrote both the text and tune for this popular hymn while in Houston for a visit at Church of the Redeemer in 1966, hence the tune's name.
• Alleluia, alleluia! Give thanks (ALLELUIA NO. 1) - Donald Fishel wrote this in 1972 as a response to Vatican II's encouragement of a more folk style in music. He was music director for a charismatic part of the Roman church, and he wrote it in about one hour.
• Let us break bread together (LET US BREAK BREAD) - This spiritual comes from the West African slave culture that developed in the coastal areas of South-Eastern America. It has strong Episcopal ties, as the slaves would attend church with their owners, taking communion while kneeling. We sing this in honor of First Communion Class.
• Open our eyes, Lord (OPEN OUR EYES) - The Apostle Thomas said, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put ... my hand in his side, I will not believe.” So we will sing "...we want to see Jesus, To reach out and touch Him..."
• We are marching in the light of the Lord (SIYAHAMBA) - We end this service of the resurrection with a spirited song of going out.

Music for the Easter Weekend, 2015

April 2 + Maundy Thursday

Vocal Music

• Ubi Caritas – Ola Gjielo (b. 1978)
• Ave Verum Corpus - W. A. Mozart (1756-1791)
• Go to Dark Gethsemane - T. Tertius Noble (1867-1953)
• Psalm 22 – Tone IVe

Instrumental Music

• Ubi Caritas– Charles Callahan (b. 1951)
• Ubi Caritas - Michael Larkin (b. 1951)

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

• Hymn 479 Glory be to Jesus (WEM IN LEIDENSTAGEN)
• Hymn 602 Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love (CHEREPONI)
• Hymn R 148 Brother, let me be your servant (THE SERVANT SONG)
• Hymn 313 Let thy blood in mercy poured (JESUS, MEINE ZUVERSICHT)

April 3 + Good Friday

Vocal Music

• Were You There? - Spiritual

Instrumental Music

• Ah, Holy Jesus– Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
• O sacred head, sore wounded– Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

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

• Hymn 158 Ah, holy Jesus, how hast thou offended? (HERZLIEBSTER JESU)
• Hymn 166 Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle (PANGE LINGUA)
• Renew Hymn 214:      Your only Son, no sin to hide (LAMB OF GOD)          

April 4 + Easter Vigil

Vocal Music

• Hallelujah - music by Leonard Cohen (b. 1934), Lyrics by Kelley Mooney
• Lord of the Dance – Sydney Carter (1915-2004)
• Come, Ye Faithful – R. S. Thatcher (1888-1957)

Instrumental Music

• That Easter Day with Joy Was Bright – Rudy Davenport
• At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing – Rudy Davenport
• Good Christian all, rejoice and sing – Healey Willan (1880-1968)

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

• Hymn 8 - Morning has broken (BUNESSAN)
• Hymn 648 - When Israel was in Egypt’s land (GO DOWN, MOSES)
• Hymn Renew 122 - Canticle 9: The First Song of Isaiah (Jack Noble White)
• Hymn 180 - He is risen, he is risen! (UNSER HERRSCHER)
• Hymn 187 - Through the Red Sea brought at last (STRAF MICH NICHT)

April 5 + Easter

Vocal Music

• Five Mystical Songs: No. 1. Easter – Ralph Vaughan Williams, Sean Elgin, baritone
• A Repeating Alleluia– Calvin Hampton
• Meine Seele Hört Im Sehen – G. F. Handel, Allison Gosney, soprano; Brittany Quinones, flute.

Instrumental Music

• A Joyful Ring – Barbara B. Kinyon
• First Symphony: Final – Louis Vierne

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

• Hymn 179 - “Welcome, happy morning!” (FORTUNATUS)
• Hymn 207  - Jesus Christ is risen today (EASTER HYMN)
• Hymn 296 - We know that Christ is raised and dies no more (ENGLEBERG)   
• Hymn 205 - Now the green blade riseth (NOËL NOUVELET)
• Hymn 210 - The day of resurrection (ELLACOMBE)
• Psalm 118:1-2,14-24 - setting by Thomas Pavlechko

Music for March 29, 2015 + Palm Sunday

Vocal Music

• Hosanna – David W. Music
• Go to Dark Gethsemane - T. Tertius Noble (1867-1953)
• Were You There? – spiritual (Richard Murray, baritone, Bernice Satterwhite, piano)
• Gethsemane – Sally DeFord (b. 1959) (Bidkar Cajina, baritone)

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

• Hymn 154 – All glory, laud, and honor (VALET WILL ICH DIR GEBEN)
• Hymn 458 – My song is love unknown (LOVE UNKNOWN)
• Hymn R 227 – Jesus, remember me (Jacques Berthier)
• Hymn 168 – O sacred head, sore wounded (HERZLICH TUT MICH VERLANGEN [PASSION CHORALE])

The anthem this Sunday is a beautiful acapella setting of the Holy Week hymn, Go to Dark Gethsemane by the composer T. Tertius Noble. It was written in 1918 for the

T. Tertius Noble
prior to coming to America

choir of the Church of St. Luke and the Epiphany in Philadelphia for a service of Lenten music. Included on the program was an anthem written especially for this service by Dr. Noble, who was then the organist/choirmaster of St. Thomas Episcopal Church, New York City. Noble was an English-born organist and composer who had studied at the Royal College of Music. He served as Organist and Choirmaster at Ely Cathedral and York Minster prior to his last appointment at St Thomas, where he was responsible for establishing a choral tradition along Anglican cathedral lines. Noble also founded the Saint Thomas Choir School for boys in 1919.

Noble composed orchestral and chamber music, but is now remembered for his music for the Anglican church, particularly his Evening services in a A major, B minor and A minor, and his anthems Go to dark Gethsemane, Souls of the Righteous, and Grieve not the Holy Spirit.

The children's choirs will join the adults for the Blessing of the Palms out in the front yard at the beginning of the 10:15 service to sing a musical setting of Hosanna in the Highest by David W. Music, Professor of Church Music and Graduate Program Director in the School of Music at Baylor University, where he has taught since 2002.

Hymns for Sunday

• All glory, laud, and honor (VALET WILL ICH DIR GEBEN) - This well known hymn was written by St. Theodulph of Orleans in 820 while he was imprisoned in Angers, France, for conspiring against the King, with whom he had fallen out of favor. The text acts as a retelling of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. The tune was composed by Melchior Teschner in 1613 for "Valet will ich dir geben," Valerius Herberger's hymn for the dying. Though the tune is often named ST. THEODULPH because of its association with his text, is known in our hymnal, and especially in organ literature, as VALET WILL ICH DIR GEBEN.  
• My song is love unknown (LOVE UNKNOWN) - Though not as well known as today's opening hymn, it is a perfect hymn for Palm Sunday, for it tells the entire story of Holy Week, from Triumphal entry to the crucifixion. Samuel Crossman wrote the hymn in 1664, when only Psalms were allowed to be sung in public worship. It is a very personal expression of Christ's Love and our response. John Ireland composed LOVE UNKNOWN in 1918 for this text,  the tune was first published in The Public School Hymn Book of 1919. Ireland wrote LOVE UNKNOWN within fifteen minutes on a scrap of paper upon receiving the request to compose it from Geoffrey Shawfor the 1919 hymnal, The Public School Hymn Book. 
• Jesus, remember me (Jacques Berthier) Another of the short, repetitive chants from the the Taizé community, an ecumenical community in France, the text references Luke 23:42, where one of the robbers crucified with the Savior cried out, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Jesus responded, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise" (v. 43). This humble plea of a sinner for divine mercy is all the more poignant today as our Savior in heaven continues to pray for his people.
• O sacred head, sore wounded (HERZLICH TUT MICH VERLANGEN [PASSION CHORALE]) The original Latin poem addressed seven Aspects of the Crucifixion: feet, knees, hands, side, breast, heart, and face. Known as "crucifix hymns" they were designed for long, intense devotions while kneeling at the altar. Part seven, salve caput, was put into German by the famous hymn writed Paul Gerhardt, then translated into English by Robert Bridges for "O sacred head, sore wounded." The tune HERZLICH TUT MICH VERLANGEN has been associated with Gerhardt's text since they were first published together in 1656. The tune's first association with a sacred text was its attachment in 1613 to the funeral text "Herzlich tut mich verlangen" (hence the tune name). It was originally a court song by the great Renaissance composer Hans Leo Hassler in 1601.

Music for March 22, 2015 + The Fifth Sunday in Lent

Vocal Music

• City Called Heaven - Josephine Poelinitz (1942?)
• Pange Linqua Glorioso – plainsong, mode 3

Instrumental Music

• Wondrous Love – Gordon Young (1919-1998)
• Largo from Trio Sonata in C Minor BWV 526 – J. S. Bach (1685-1750)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982)

• Hymn 495 - Hail, thou once despised Jesus (IN BABILONE)
• Hymn 439 - What wondrous love is this (WONDROUS LOVE)
• Hymn 479 - Glory be to Jesus, who in bitter pain (WEM IN LEIDENSTAGEN)
• Hymn 473 - Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim (CRUCIFER)

Josephine Poelinitz is an Elementary Music Specialist in the Chicago Public Schools. Her arrangement of City Called Heaven, a “sorrow song” performed in the style of “surge-singing,” has become a favorite of choirs of all ages. In it, Poelinitz salutes the American gospel heritage evident in the vocal spacing and piano accompaniment. While our soloist (the lovely and talented Simone McQuitty from Lone Star Kingwood) laments about life’s troubles, the choir and piano accompany with short, sighing pulses. These aspects in the context of the F minor sonority create a weary hopelessness overcome only by the hope to “make heaven my home.”

The organ prelude is on the Southern Hymn "What Wondrous Love Is This" that has been the focus of the Lenten Wednesday Night Study. Michigan composer Gordon Young used the hymn as inspiration, but did not make a literal arrangement of the tune. Fragments of the tune and/or harmonies from the chorale are use to create an 'impression' of the hymn.

The communion voluntary is a movement from one of the six trio sonatas Bach wrote for the organ during his first few years in Leipzig, where he lived from 1723 until his death in 1750. Written for the organ or pedal clavichord (a practice instrument for organists), these sonatas require the right and left hands to play independently melodic lines on separate keyboards, while the feet play the basso continuo. According to Paul Jacobs, organ professor at Julliard, “The organ sonatas are disarmingly attractive and immediately appealing to the listener, though they pose ferocious interpretive and technical demands for the player.” A significant challenge of performing these works is one of sheer coordination: playing three lines of music on two keyboards and pedal with all four limbs. “There isn't much for the performer to cling on to,” Jacobs said. “It’s a little like walking on eggshells.”  By contrast, in other weightier organ and keyboard works, Bach sometimes employs thicker four- or five-part counterpoint, offering a more idiomatically conceived keyboard texture. In other words, there is nothing for the organist to hide behind!

(I am delighted to be playing this on the day after J.S.Bach's 330th birthday, though, according to Wikipedia, Bach's birth date of March 21 is in the Old Style, which is March 31 in the New Style. This discrepancy corresponds to the difference between the Julian calendar [which was in use in Bach's time] and the newer Gregorian calendar. So I can celebrate for TEN WHOLE DAYS!)

Hymns for Sunday

• Hail, thou once despised Jesus (IN BABILONE) The author, John Bakewell, lived to be 98,  and was an English Methodist minister in whose home Thomas Olivers wrote "The God of Abraham praise." To the original two stanzas, others were added by Martin Madan, who became chaplain to the Lock Hospital (an institution for the "restoration of unhappy females.") It can best be described as rhymed theology.
• What wondrous love is this (WONDROUS LOVE) - The melody for this hymn shows signs of Celtic influences, and the unusual meter of the text is that of an old sea chantey about Captain Kidd! The tune first appeared in the valleys of the Southern Appalachians, where William Walker wrote it down and included it in his historic hymnbook Southern Harmony. Each stanza has a single thought which is  underscored by repetition, but it is the haunting melody which has made this hymn so popular. 
• Glory be to Jesus, who in bitter pain (WEM IN LEIDENSTAGEN) This devotional hymn on the crucified Christ is thought to be eighteenth-century Italian in origin. It appears in the Hymnal in a much altered form, matched with a very accessible German tune from the 19th century. The tune's name comes from the funeral text that was first associated with the tune in 1874. ("O let him whose sorrow no relief can find")
• Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim (CRUCIFER) Here is another hymn which owes its popularity to its tune (with its stirring refrain) than to any great merit of the text-- which is a revision of original lines by George Kitchin, an Anglican who published works in the history, biography, and archaeology. It is related to "Onward Christian Soldiers" and "For all the saints" in its symbolism of marching in the ranks of the soldiers of the crucified. It is the crucified Christ and his cross which we follow, and his love e proclaim to the world.

Music for March 15, 2015 + The Fourth Sunday of Lent

Vocal Music

• God So Loved the World – John Stainer (1840-1901)
• O God, Have Mercy – Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

Instrumental Music

• Récit du chant Pange Linqua Gloriosum - Nicolas de Grigny (1672-1703)

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

• Hymn 686 - Come, thou fount of every blessing (NETTLETON) 
• Hymn R 132 - As Moses Raised the Serpent Up (THE GIFT OF LOVE)
• Hymn 671 - Amazing Grace! how sweet the sound (NEW BRITAIN)
• Hymn 690 - Guide me, O thou great Jehovah (CWM RHONDDA)

The Gospel reading this week is one of the most familiar pieces of scripture in the world. It sums up the Gospel message  - "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whoso believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." I felt called to once again use the familiar anthem by John Stainer, from his famous oratorio, The Crucifixion, as the choir's communion motet today. Stainer had been the organist-choir master at St. Paul's, London in the late 1800s and wrote a large amount of organ and choral music, as well as a popular treatise on organ playing.

Portrait of Mendelssohn
by the English miniaturist
James Warren Childe, 1839

Richard Murray is also singing a fitting solo for the season of Lent, from the oratorio St. Paul by Felix Mendelssohn. During his lifetime, St. Paul was a popular and frequently performed work. However, compared with such oratorios as Handel's Messiah, Bach's Christmas Oratorio and St Matthew Passion or even Mendelssohn's own Elijah, it has failed to maintain its place in the choral repertory and is now infrequently performed in its entirety. I think that is a shame, as it is full of beautiful, dramatic music, and tells the story of Paul, beginning with the stoning of Stephen, the conversion of  Saul (Paul), and ending with the apostle’s subsequent career. This aria comes after Saul is left blinded by the light on the road to Emmaus, and he breathes out this prayer ("O God, have Mercy upon me").

The opening voluntary is a 17th century French organ work by Nicolas de Grigny. He died young and left behind a single collection of organ music, which together with the work of François Couperin, represents the pinnacle of French Baroque organ tradition. J.S. Bach so admired it that he transcribed (by hand!) the entire volume for his own use. As with most of de Grigny's music, this prelude is based on a familiar chant (No. 166 in our hymnal, Sing, My Soul, the Glorious Battle). His treatment of the melody, however, is so ornate and complex, that it would be hard to recognize it, regardless of how well known it might be!

As this is the fourth Sunday of Lent, otherwise known as Refreshment Sunday in England. On this day, the Lenten fast is allowed to be relaxed, so I am taking a break from the more somber Lenten chants and have chosen some well known hymns which still fit the readings of today quite well.

• Come, thou fount of every blessing (NETTLETON) In 1752, a young Robert Robinson attended an evangelical meeting to heckle the believers and make fun of the proceedings. Instead, he listened in awe to the words of the great preacher George Whitefield, and in 1755, at the age of twenty, Robinson responded to the call he felt three years earlier and became a Christian. Another three years later, when preparing a sermon for his church in Norfolk, England, he penned the words that have become one of the church’s most-loved hymns: “Come, thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace.”
• As Moses Raised the Serpent Up (THE GIFT OF LOVE) This is a poetic setting of John 3:14-17, part of Jesus' nighttime discourse with Nicodemus and includes that famous profession of faith "God so loved the world. . . ," one of the best-known and most frequently memorized verses in the entire Bible. Marie J. Post prepared the versification in 1985 for use with the tune O WALY WALY for the Christ­ian Re­formed Church’s Psal­ter Hymnal. She said this versification was one of her easiest assignments: “The lines simply fell into the music!” O WALY WALY is a traditional English melody which Hal H. Hopson adapted and arranged as an anthem in 1971 for his setting of 1 Corinthians 13, "Gift of Love"; his version became known as GIFT OF LOVE. 
• Amazing Grace! how sweet the sound (NEW BRITAIN) When John Newton was just eleven, he joined his father and began a tumultuous life at sea, eventually becoming captain of a slave ship. In a period of four years, however, his life was drastically turned around: he nearly drowned, he married a very pious Mary Catlett, and he read through Thomas à Kempis’ Imitation of Christ. In 1754 he gave up the slave trade and joined forces with the great abolitionist, William Wilberforce. A number of years later, he was ordained for ministry, and soon after wrote this great text, declaring that we are saved only the grace of God. Newton wrote, “I can see no reason why the Lord singled me out for mercy…unless it was to show, by one astonishing instance, that with him 'nothing is impossible'”
• Guide me, O thou great Jehovah (CWM RHONDDA) The great circuit-riding preacher/poet William Williams wrote the original Welsh text "Arglwydd, arwain trwy'r anialwch"–"Lord, Lead Me Through the Wilderness." It was published in 1745 with the title, "A prayer for strength to go through the wilderness of the world." Translated into some seventy-five languages, Williams's text has become universally popular in Christendom. The English translation by Peter Williams ("Guide me, O thou great Jehovah,") was published in 1771.   

The popularity of Williams's text is undoubtedly aided by its association with CWM RHONDDA, composed in 1905 by John Hughes during a church service for a Welsh Baptist song festival.  Hughes had little formal education, but he composed two anthems, a number of Sunday school marches, and a few hymn tunes, of which CWM RHONDDA is universally known.

Music for March 8, 2015 + The Third Sunday of Lent

Vocal Music

• Wilt Thou Forgive That Sin - John Hilton (ca. 1599 – 1657), arr. Peter Crisafulli
• Let Thy Blood in Mercy Poured - Johann Cruger

Instrumental Music

• These are the Holy Ten Commandments, BWV 679 – J. S. Bach
• Balm in Gilead - Timothy Shaw

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

• Hymn 143 The glory of these forty days (ERHALT UNS, HERR) omit stanza 5
• Hymn R 75 Praise the Lord! O heavens adore him (AUSTRIA)
• Hymn 676 There is a balm in Gilead (BALM IN GILEAD)
• Hymn 149 Eternal Lord of love, behold your church (OLD 124TH)

The choir is singing two unfamiliar hymns from the Hymnal 1982 this Sunday as part of their weekly offering. The anthem to be sung at the offertory is a contemporary arrangement of a 17th century hymn by the poet and priest, John Donne (1573-1631). He was dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, when he wrote the poem "Hymn to God the Father", which is the text of today's anthem. I am including it here, for I think the listener would do well to read and meditate on this text before and after hearing it sung in church.

from Hymns of the Christian Centuries, (1903) page 95

Izaak Walton says, in his Life of Donne (1670),

I have the rather mentioned this hymn for that he [Donne] caused it to be set to a most grave and solemn tune, and to be often sung to the organ by the Choristers of St. Paul's [Cathedral] Church in his own hearing, especially at the evening service, and at his return from his customary devotions in that place, did occasionally say to a friend, 'the words of this hymn have restored to me the same thoughts of joy that possessed my soul in my sickness, when I composed it. And, O the power of Church-music! that harmony added to this hymn has raised the affections of my heart, and quickened my grace of zeal and gratitude; and 1 observe that I always return from paying this public duty of prayer and praise with an unexpressible tranquillity of mind, and a willingness to leave the world.'

John Donne

The special sickness during which this hymn was composed fell upon the author during the earlier part of his life. It was sung at St. Paul's Cathedral, at intervals from 1621 to 1631, when Donne died.
Gregory Benoit notes that Donne puns on his own name in this poem, ending the first two stanzas by saying to God, “When you have done forgiving this sin, you still don’t have Donne — for I have more sins to address.” Each stanza addresses a specific class of sin, rather than specific actions which he has committed.

The music is by English composer and organist, John Hilton. He received the B. Mus. from Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1626, and became organist of St Margaret's, Westminster in 1628. It is highly possible that this is the tune that Donne commissioned for his text which was sung at St. Paul's

The opening voluntary is a hands-only organ piece (called manualiter) by J. S. Bach from the Clavier-Übung III, which has been referred to as the German Organ Mass.  It is a collection of compositions for organ which Bach published in 1739. It is considered his most significant and extensive work for organ, containing some of his musically most complex and technically most demanding compositions for that instrument. The purpose of the collection was fourfold:

1. an idealized organ program, taking as its starting point the organ recitals given by Bach himself in Leipzig.
2. a practical translation of Lutheran doctrine into musical terms for devotional use in the church or the home; 
3. a compendium of organ music in all possible styles and idioms, both ancient and modern, and properly internationalized.
4. a didactic work presenting examples of all possible forms of contrapuntal composition, going far beyond previous treatises on musical theory.

Albert Schweitzer compared it to the Greater and Lesser Catechism of Martin Luther:

Luther, however, had written a greater and a smaller catechism. In the former he demonstrates the essence of the faith; in the latter he addresses himself to the children. Bach, the musical father of the Lutheran church, feels it encumbent on him to do likewise; he gives us a larger and smaller arrangement of each chorale ... The larger chorales are dominated by a sublime musical symbolism, aiming simply at illustrating the central idea of the dogma contained in the words; the smaller ones are of bewitching simplicity.  - Albert Schweitze, "J. S. Bach, Le Musicien-Poète", (Leipzig 1905).

This setting of the German chorale based on the Ten Commandments is the second, smaller setting of which Schweitzer speaks. It is a fughetta on a paraphrase of the first line of the chorale, in the rhythm of a gigue, and with bouncing leaps and an almost playful mood of high spirits! Not quite what we think of as LENTEN music!

Hymns -

• The glory of these forty days (ERHALT UNS, HERR) The Latin hymn Clarum decus jejunii may have been written by Pope Gregory I, and was translated from the Latin by Maurice F. Bell for The English Hymnal, 1906. It is a Lenten hymn that reminds us of the necessity for fasting and prayer as exemplified by Moses, Elijah, Daniel, and John the Baptist. We will omit stanza 5 during the processional as we are singing that stanza as the presentation hymn after the offertory.
• Praise the Lord! O heavens adore him (AUSTRIA) This hymn, based on Psalm 148, is by an anonymous author, and has been around since around 1801. A post-exilic hymn, Psalm 148 maintains that God's glory displayed in creation and redemption is so great that the praise on Israel's lips needs to be supplemented by a chorus from all creation. This echos the sentiment found in today's Psalm, Psalm 19 (The heavens declare the glory of God.)
• There is a balm in Gilead (BALM IN GILEAD) In the Old Testament, Gilead was the name of the mountainous region east of the Jordan River. This region was known for having skillful physicians and an ointment made from the gum of a tree particular to that area. Many believed that this balm had miraculous powers to heal the body. In the New Testament, God answers the suffering of His people by sending His own son to take our place. Jesus becomes our “balm in Gilead.” It is Him we are called to turn to in our times of trial for healing and comfort. We sing this song with that assurance: no matter our hardships or supposed shortcomings, Jesus loves us enough to take our suffering upon Himself.
• Eternal Lord of love, behold your church (OLD 124TH) A relatively new hymn, found only in about four hymnals, it is another hymn for the Lenten season, this time comparing our Lenten pilgrimage with the pilgrimage of the Israelites in escaping Pharoah (Cloud by day, fire by night).