Music for August 28, 2016 + The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Rally Day

Vocal Music

• Bread of the World – Carlton Young, arr. (b. 1926)

Instrumental Music

• Gather Us In – arr. Donald M. Verkuilen III (21st C.)
• Let Us Break Bread Together - Charles Callahan (b. 1951)
• Shine, Jesus, Shine – David Blackwell, arr. (b. 1961)

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

Hymn 450 - All hail the power of Jesus’ name! (Coronation)

Hymn R37 - Father we love you  (Glorify your name )

Hymn 598 - Lord Christ, when first thou cam’st to earth (Mit Freuden zart)

Hymn 376 - Joyful, joyful, we adore thee (Hymn to Joy)

Hymn R149 - I, the Lord of Sea and Sky (Here I am, Lord)

Hymn R206 - Holy, holy (Holy holy)

Hymn R247 - Lord, the light of your love is shining (Shine, Jesus, Shine)

Psalm 112 - Beatus vir (Tone V)

For our first Sunday back after three months vacation we are singing a simple setting of a Southern melody. The tune CHARLESTON was first found in The United States Sacred Harmony in 1799; it's become very popular in the last 40 years as the tune for the text "All who love and serve your city," as found at hymn 571 in our hymnal. But it is the text for the communion hymn "Bread of the world in mercy broken," (Hymn 301 in our book) that Carlton Young pairs with this tune. He treats the first stanza with choir in unison, but on the second stanza, the tonality changes to a minor mode and the tenors and basses sing together in unison. The trebles join for the second half and at the conclusion of the second (and final) stanza, he has the choir return to the first stanza in the original major key in canon.

Carlton R. (Sam) Young

Carlton Young has had more influence on what the United Methodist have sung in the last half century than probably anyone since John and Charles Wesley started the movement in the 18th century. He has had the unique distinction of serving as editor of two revisions of the Methodist hymnal: THE METHODIST HYMNAL, 1966; and THE UNITED METHODIST HYMNAL, 1989. Dr. Young, known to his friends as "Sam", has served on the church music faculties at three major United Methodist Schools: Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University; Scarritt College; and Candler School of Theology, Emory University. Known more for his scholarly efforts than for his compositions, he has, however, arranged or written many hymns and choral pieces. His harmonization of "What Wondrous Love is This" is used in the accompaniment edition of our hymnal.

Donald Verkuilen III

The organ voluntaries today are proof that hymnody is not a dying tradition. I present two organ voluntaries on hymns written since 1980. Gather Us In is found in the Renew hymnal in our pews, and is a rollicking gathering song for worship. Marty Haugen, the writer of both tune and text, is an American who is a member of the United Church of Christ. His hymn is now in over 25 hymnals worldwide. This toccata is by Donald Verkuilen, the organist-choir master at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and was chosen for inclusion in Bayoubuchlein, a collection of organ works based on contemporary hymns published by and for the 2016 National Convention of the American Guild of Organists which was held here in Houston this past May.

The closing voluntary is an organ arrangement of one of our church's favorites, Shine, Jesus, Shine. It is arranged by the English organist and composer David Blackwell. He studied music at Edinburgh University, Scotland, and then pursued a career in music publishing, finishing his career as Head of Music Publishing at Oxford University Press. He now works as a freelancer composer, editor, and journalist.

Music for August 21, 2016 + The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Instrumental Music

• Trumpet Voluntary – Gordon Young (1919-1998)
• Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us – William Bradbury (1816-1868)
• The Wayfaring Stranger – Old Southern Melody
• Balm in Gilead – Negro Spiritual
• Praise Him! Praise Him! – Chester G. Allen (1838-1878)

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

• Hymn 8 - Morning has broken (Bunnessan)
• Hymn R250 - O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder (O Stor Gud)
• Hymn 368 - Holy Father, great Creator (Regent Square)
• Hymn 325 - Let us break bread together on our knees (Let Us Break Bread)
• Hymn 493 - O for a thousand tongues to sing (Azmon)
• Hymn 411-  Psalm 103, O bless the Lord, my soul (St. Thomas (Williams))       

This Sunday, being the last real Sunday of Summer (School starts back in Kingwood on the 22nd), I am taking the Sunday off to go on holiday. No AGO convention, no choir camp, no music conference, just four days with friends in Mexico. In my absence we are fortunate to have Jill Kirkonis to play the organ for us. I made it easy on her and told her I would not be having a soloist on this last Summer Sunday without the choir, just her, playing an organ offertory. She has chosen to play an arrangement of the hymn-tune BRADBURY, the melody which 80% of hymnals use for the words Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us. (Not us Episcopalians, however. We've used the tune SICILIAN MARINERS for the tune since 1916.)

BRADBURY was written by William Batchelder Bradbury, a Baptist organist and choir director who was well know throughout the Protestant churches in the first part of the 20th century. In the 1914 book Biographies of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers, J. H. Hall wrote

The churchgoing people of today are generally familiar with the name Wm. B. Bradbury. Many have cherished that name from childhood. Most of us began our musical experiences by singing his songs, and as early experiences are the most lasting, we will carry these melodies, with their happy associations, through life.
William Batchelder Bradbury was born at York, York County, Maine, October 6, 1816. He came of a good family. He spent the first few years of his life on his father's farm, and rainy days would be spent in the shoe-shop, as was the general custom in those days. He loved music, and would spend his spare hours in studying and practicing such music as he could find. In 1830 his parents removed to Boston, where he saw and heard for the first time a piano and organ, as well as various other instruments. The effect was to lead him to devote his life to the service of music. Accordingly he took lessons upon the organ, and as early as 1831: had achieved some reputation as an organist.
After some months he was asked to preside at the organ of a certain church at a salary of twenty-five dollars per annum. On trying the organ he found it to be one of those ancient affairs which required the keys to be pulled up as well as pressed down, and he suggested that his pay should be at least fifty dollars, since the playing required this double duty. It was not long till a better paying situation was offered him — that of one hundred dollars a year.

Later there came a call to take charge of the music of the First Baptist Church of Brooklyn, New York. There was some opposition to the organ among the members, but

he took pains to play it so well, and in such good taste, that he speedily won all to favor its use. After a year's work here the important era in his career began. He took charge of the choir and organ of the Baptist Tabernacle, New York City, and in addition started a singing class for the young.

William Bradbury

William B. Bradbury, along with Drs. Lowell Mason and George F. Root, was responsible for the popularity of the singing schools that sprang up in American churches and Sunday Schools in the 19th century. He was unceasingly active, having edited fifty-nine books of sacred and secular music, a large part of which were his own work.

Despite his immense popularity in his lifetime, and the number of hymns and Sunday School songs he wrote (close to 200) only one of his hymn-tunes is included in our hymnal, but it is universally well known. It is WOODBURY, known to all of us as Just as I am. He also wrote the music for Jesus Loves Me.

Chester G. Allen, who wrote the stirring Gospel tune that is used for today's closing voluntary,  was also known as a teacher, composer and musical writer., though at a much lesser degree than Bradbury. He taught music in Cleveland, Ohio public schools. He also edited and compiled collections of music for schools and churches, containing many of his own compositions.

Music for August 14, 2016 + The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Open My Eyes – Clara H. Scott (1841-1897) Bruce Bailey, tenor

Instrumental Music 
Three Antiphons from Vêpres du commun des fêtes de la Sainte Vierge, Op.18 – Marcel Dupré (1886 – 1971)

• Antiphon I: While the King sitteth at his table (Song of Solomon 1:12)
• Antiphon III: I am black but comely, O Ye Daughters of Jerusalem (Song of Solomon 7:6)
• Antiphon V: How Fair and how Pleasant art Thou (Song of Solomon 1:5)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 366 - Holy God, we praise thy Name (Grosser Gott)
• Hymn 537 - Open your ears, O faithful people (Torah Song)
• Hymn 495 - Hail, thou once despised Jesus (In Babilone)
• Hymn 490 - I want to walk as a child of the light (Houston)
• Hymn 473 - Lift high the cross (Crucifer)
• Psalm 80:1-2, 8-18, Tone VIIIa, refrain by Jackson Hearn

A couple of weeks ago, Bruce Bailey came into my office inquiring about a hymn that he had sung growing up. Bruce and I share the same background of growing up in the Methodist Church, often singing out of the Cokesbury Worship Hymnal, a slim, brown hymnal from the Methodist Episcopal Church, South that contained many hymns and gospel songs that were popular in the middle of the twentieth century. (You can still buy a copy for $14!) The hymn in question was Open My Eyes, That I May See. I recalled that, as a teenager, we joked it was written by Fanny Crosby, a famous blind gospel song writer of the late nineteenth century. (And how a teenage boy in rural Tennessee knew about blind hymn writers of the 1800s is still a mystery.) My copy of the Cokesbury Hymnal lists Charles H. Scott as the composer. It turns out that is wrong.

Clara H. Scott

Open My Eyes, That I May See was written in 1895 by Clara H. Scott, a Midwesterner who taught music at the Ladies' Seminary, in Lyons, Iowa. She married Henry Clay Scott in 1861, and in 1882 published the Royal Anthem Book, the first volume of choir anthems published by a woman.

Horatio R. Palmer, an influential church musician in Chicago and later New York City, was a source of encouragement for Scott, and helped her publish many of her songs. This hymn first appeared in Best Hymns No. 2, by Elisha A. Hoffman & Harold F. Sayles in 1895. Three collections were issued before her untimely death, in a buggy accident cause by a runaway horse in Dubuque, Iowa.

Bruce will be singing it this Sunday in an arrangement of mine where I combine the melody by Scott with the accompaniment of Franz Schubert's Ave Maria, so if it sounds familiar when the piano starts, that's why. With some minor adjustments in harmony, the two go well together. Schubert will be turning over in his grave.

Marcel Dupré

The organ music is by the famed French organist, Marcel Dupré.  Dupré was the foremost French organ virtuoso of his time, an heir to the great tradition of Romantic French organ playing and composing. In addition to his technical prowess, Dupré was well known for his ability to improvise.

Ninety-seven years ago on August 15, 1919, Dupré was substituting for the regular organist at Notre Dame for Vespers. The office of Vespers includes five psalms, a hymn, and the Magnificat. An antiphon (a short scriptural text) is sung before each Psalm. Dupré improvised 15 organ responses to the Psalms, Ave maris stella, and Magnificat.

An Englishman, Claude Johnson, the General Managing Director of Rolls-Royce, was attending Vespers. A man of great vision and sensitivity, he was struck by the beauty of Dupré’s music and wanted to buy a copy of it.

On being told that it had been improvised, and therefore not written down, he at once persuaded Dupré to try to recapture his original inspiration and commissioned the set of 15 pieces. They appeared the following year. It is three of the five antiphons, based on verses from the Song of Solomon, that I am playing today.

Music for August 7, 2016 + The Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Panis Angelicus – César Franck (1822-1890) Richard Murray, baritone

Instrumental Music

• Variations on Holy Manna – Raymond H. Haan (b. 1938)
• Deck Thyself, My Soul, with Gladness – Mark Knickelbein (21st C.)
• Festive Trumpet Tune – David German (b. 1954)

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

• Hymn 636 - How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord (Foundation)
• Hymn R37 - Father we love you  (Glorify your name )
• Hymn 178 - Alleluia, alleluia! Give thanks to the risen Lord (Alleluia No. 1)
• Hymn 707 - Take my life, and let it be consecrated (Hollingside)
• Hymn 335 - I am the bread of life (I Am the Bread of Life )
• Hymn 494 - Crown him with many crowns (Diademata)
• Psalm 33 - Exultate, justi (refrain by Jacques Berthier)

Richard Murray sings one of the classics of sacred music this Sunday when he sings César Franck's Panis Angelicus. The text is part of the hymn Sacris solemniis written by Saint Thomas Aquinas. "Panis Angelicus" is often treated as a separate hymn and set to music, just as Franck did in his Messe solennelle in A major, Op.12. There it was written for tenor solo with cello, harp, and organ accompaniment. We will be singing the entire Messe solennelle in the spring.

Franck

Unlike many musicians whose parents had other aspirations for their children, César Franck was encouraged by his father to pursue a career as a virtuoso pianist. But at the Paris Conservatoire he failed to achieve the necessary distinction as a performer, so he turned his attention to composition and the organ. (Can’t play piano? Be an organist!) It was a smart move, for he became famouse in Paris as organist at the newly built church of Ste Clotilde, with its Cavaillé-Coll organ. He drew to himself a loyal and devoted circle of pupils and in 1871 became organ professor at the Conservatoire.

 As a composer, his best known orchestral works are the Symphonic Variations for solo piano and orchestra and the Symphony in D minor. Though he was best known in his day as a very distinguished organist, Franck wrote remarkably little for the instrument on which his improvisations had won him fame and pupils. The Organ pieces he did write, however, form the backbone of French Romantic organ literature, and have never gone out of style.

Raymond Haan

The variations on the hymn Holy Manna (used twice in the Hymnal 1982 - #238 and #580) were written by a public school educator to whom music was just a sideline. Raymond H. Haan was born in Falmouth, Michigan in 1938. As a boy, his piano teacher told him he'd never be a musician.Though it was his dream, he realized there was no way he could support himself as a musician in his denomination, the Christian Reformed Church and, as he says "...at that time leaving my church was not an option." So despite his desire to write music, he never took a music course of any kind.

Instead he became a middle school, then a high school English teacher and wrote music in his spare time-while also playing the organ, directing several choirs and being a father to four children. He became the Director of Music for the Cutlerville East Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids when he was 22, and had this position for over 50 years.

Even in his spare time, he was able to write more than 500 compositions published by 24 music companies. Retired from teaching, his children grown, Haan can now give his music more attention. He still lives in Cutlerville, Michigan and his hobbies include bicycling, tennis and golf.

Mark Knickelbein

From a new collection of piano pieces based on hymns of Baptism and Holy Communion we find the communion voluntary by the young Lutheran composer Mark Knickelbein. Each piece in this volume highlights specific stanzas and uses effective text painting to feature each theme. This piece based on the German chorale Schmücke dich begins in a very similar way to the famous Canon in D by Pachelbel before adding the chorale melody. This neo-Baroque style continues through the first verse, and then, when the second stanza (from the Lutheran Hymnal, "Hasten as a bride to meet Him") begins, he switches to a Renaissance Dance rhythm, 123, 123, 12, 12 for a lively, hastening feel.

Mark Knickelbein is the editor of music/worship at Concordia Publishing House and an active composer and church musician. He has a Bachelor of Science in Education from Martin Luther College, New Ulm, MN and Master of Arts in Music from Concordia University Chicago. He previously worked as an organist and choir director in Lutheran churches.

Music for July 31, 2016 + The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• O Saviour, Hear Me– Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787), arr. Dudley Buck; Jennifer Wright, Mezzo-soprano

Instrumental Music

• Sonata in A for Oboe: II. Andante – Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
• Versets for the Kyrie (Messa della Domenica) – Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643)
• Trumpet Tune in D – Georg Philipp Telemann

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 408 - Sing praise to God who reigns above (Mit Freuden zart)
• Hymn 510 - Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove (St. Agnes)
• Hymn 533 - How wondrous and great thy works, God of praise! (Lyons)
• Hymn 325 - Let us break bread together on our knees (Let Us Break Bread)
• Hymn 594 - God of grace and God of glory (Cwm Rhondda)
• Psalm 49:1-2, 4-10 - Audite haec, omnes – tone II

Gluck

Christoph Willibald Gluck was a composer that bridged the Baroque period (Bach and Handel) and the Classical Period (Haydn and Mozart). It was during this time that Italian opera really began to dominate the opera world, and Gluck became one of the major players in that scene. He wrote over 40 operas, and of these, Orfeo ed Euridice is the best known. It is a treatment of the story of the legendary musician Orpheus and his journey to the Underworld to bring back his beloved Eurydice—an ancient illustration of the power of music.

By far the best known excerpts from any of Gluck's operas is the ‘Dance of the Blessed Spirits’ from the French version of Orfeo. This tune (for it was not an aria) constantly appears among lists of the favorite melodies from classical music. (It was the last selection played each night when WKNO-FM, the classical music station in Memphis, went off the air at midnight - back when stations went OFF the air at night!)

Dudley Buck

In 1880, Dudley Buck, the most influential American organist and church musician of that time, wrote sacred lyrics and arranged this piece for alto solo. It has since become a staple of sacred classical solo repertoire. The calm, graceful melody which was originally played on the flute is perfect for the pleading, penitential text that Buck wrote. It's always been a favorite of mine, and this Sunday we are fortunate to have Jennifer Wright, our alto section leader, sing it for us. She last sang in June for the Dvorak Mass in D when we sang it in the Eucharist.

Music for July 24, 2016 + The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Precious Lord, take my hand– Thomas A. Dorsey (1899-1993)(Margie VanBrackle, soprano)

Instrumental Music

• Largo from "Xerxes" - Georg Frederich Handel (1685-1759)
• Give Thanks - Henry Smith, arr. by Phillip Keveren
• Hornpipe from "Water Music" - Georg Frederich Handel

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 410 - Praise, my soul, the King of heaven (Lauda Anima)
• Hymn 488 - Be thou my vision (Slane)
• Hymn 707 - Take my life, and let it be consecrated (Hollingside)
• Hymn 711 - Seek ye first the kingdom of God (Seek Ye First)
• Hymn 615 - “Thy kingdom come!” (St. Flavian)
• Psalm 138 - Confitebor tibi - Kevin R. Hackett, based on In Babilone 

Below are pictures of Tommy Dorsey and Thomas A. Dorsey. Both were musicians.  Both were active in the first part of the 20th century. And both are considered pioneers in their chosen field. But despite these similarities, they are still two very different people. Whereas Tommy Dorsey was one of the first to promote swing music (at least among the white population), Thomas Dorsey was the creator of gospel music -- the African American religious music which married secular blues to a sacred text.

Tommy

Thomas

Dorsey was working as a Blues pianist in Chicago when, at twenty-six, his hectic and unhealthy schedule led to a nervous breakdown, leaving Dorsey unable to play music. After a three year recovery, he committed himself to composing sacred music. Then Dorsey’s life was thrown into crisis when his wife and son died during childbirth. In his grief, he turned to the piano for comfort. The tune he wrote, “Take My Hand, Precious Lord,” came, he says, direct from God, and became a Gospel standard.

The communion voluntary is a piano piece based on the song Give Thanks With A Grateful Heart. It is arranged by Phillip Keveren, a prolific arranger, pianist, orchestrator and producer. His work is featured in numerous instrumental recordings, church choral, educational piano and Christian artist releases. His arrangements and compositions appear on recent projects by Sandi Patty, Travis Cottrell, Sara Groves and Ronan Tynan.

Mr. Keveren holds a Bachelor of Music in Composition from California State University, Northridge, and a Master of Music in Composition from the University of Southern California. He and his wife Lisa live in Brentwood, Tennessee and are parents of two children, Lindsay and Sean. 

Many, many thanks to Margie VanBrackle for singing and  Karen Silva for playing the organ in my absence while I am at the Mississippi Conference for Church Music and Liturgy this week. Good Shepherd is blessed to have some very talented members of our family.

Music for July 10, 2016 + The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Give Me Jesus – Mark Hayes (b. 1953), Mitchell Hutchins, tenor

Instrumental Music

• Jubilation 2: Variant on “Every time I Hear the Spirit"– Dennis Janzer (b. 1954)
• Aria – John S. Dixon (b. 1957)
• Postlude in C Minor – George Blake (1912-1986)

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

• Hymn 390 Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (Lobe den Herren)
• Hymn 660 O Master, let me walk with thee (Maryton)
• Hymn R266 Give thanks with a grateful heart (Give Thanks)
• Hymn 602 Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love (Chereponi)
• Hymn 609 Where cross the crowded ways of life (Gardiner)

During these slow summer months I've been going through the choir's choral library, categorizing each title as to its place in musical history. So far I have these categories:

• Chant-based (Medieval c.1150 - c.1400)
• Renaissance (c.1400 - c.1600)
• Baroque (c.1600 - c.1750)
• Classical (c.1750 - c.1830) 
• Early Romantic (c.1830 - c.1860)
• Late Romantic (c.1860 - c.1920)
• Modern (1920 - present)
• Hymn-based
• Spiritual and folk based
• Contemporary (anything in the style of music from the 60's to the present)
• Traditional (anything that doesn't fit squarely in the last four categories.)

Mark Hayes

One classification I haven't used is "easy listening." You know what it is. It usually consists of covers of popular music from the 40s to the present day. There is a lot of church music out there that could fall into that category. One composer who does work well in this genre is Mark Hayes, an internationally known composer, arranger, concert pianist and conductor from Kansas City, Missouri, with over 1000 publications in print. (The catalog of his works has over 160 pages.) He has written and arranged songs for choir, piano, soloists, instrumentalists, organ and handbells, and travels extensively performing and leading workshops in churches of all denominations, including Episcopal. Surprisingly, we don't have any of his anthems in our library.

This Sunday, however,  we get to hear one of his arrangements when Mitchell Hutchins sings his arrangement of the spiritual, "Give Me Jesus." Mitchell was a choral scholar here at Good Shepherd back when he was a student at Lone Star Kingwood. He has since moved on to Stephen F. Austin to study Music Education, and sings in the choir at First Presbyterian Church, Kingwood. He's a favorite among many here at Good Shepherd, and you will love hearing him sing this setting of the familiar spiritual.

Two of the organ pieces are by composers who attended the recent convention of the American Guild of Organists held here in Houston (I was chair of Hospitality for this national meeting that brought more than 1200 organists from all over the globe to our city.) The first is the opening voluntary, a "jubilation" on the spiritual, Every Time I Feel the Spirit. It is a bright, rollicking little piece (only lasting 1'30") that reminds me of a Bach Invention. (The Inventions are a collection of short pieces J. S. Bach wrote for pedagogical purposes. These fifteen two-part works, each named 'inventio', along with fifteen three-part pieces, named 'sinfonia', were written as technical exercises for the independence of two hands, but are also beautiful works of art.) This piece by Dennis Janzer, organist-choir master at St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Memphis, is also written in just two parts, requiring an independance between the left and right hand.

The other piece is a lovely Aria by an John Dixon, an Englishman with an MBA from Harvard who is now the organist and composer-in-residence at a Presbyterian Church in Virginia Beach.

The closing voluntary is by a little known organist from New Jersey, George Blake. In 1926, at age fourteen, Blake began to play the theater organ professionally at the Franklin Theatre in Nutley, New Jersey. His father having died when he was very young, Blake quickly became the primary supporter of his family through his performing, and he lived with his mother in New Jersey for many years until her death. His younger brother was the cartoonist Bud Blake (of the popular comic strip "Tiger.") George Blake served as principal organist for a number of theaters in New Jersey and New York City, including the New Roxy (later the Center Theatre) in Rockefeller Center. He was also a regular performer on several radio programs of the day, including the "Lucky Strike Hour." As the age of the cinema organist ended, Blake focused primarily on sacred music. He was organist at several churches in New Jersey including St. Andrew's Episcopal (South Orange) and Grace Episcopal (Nutley).