May 26, 2019 + The Sixth Sunday of Easter

Rogation Sunday

Vocal Music

• Grant Us Thy Peace – Felix Mendelssohn

Instrumental Music

• Shalom (Peace) – Dan Locklair
• Prelude on “Shall We Gather at the River” – Gordon Young
• Fugue in C Major, BWV 531 – J. S. Bach

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

• Hymn 405 - All things bright and beautiful (ROYAL OAK)
• Hymn 490 - I want to walk as a child of the light (HOUSTON)
• Hymn 424 - For the fruits of all creation (EAST ACKLAM)
• Hymn 513 - Like the murmur of the dove’s song (BRIDEGROOM)
• Hymn - Shall we gather at the river (HANSON PLACE)
• Hymn 292 - O Jesus, crowned with all renown (KINGSFOLD)
• Psalm 67

Two themes run throughout the service today. The prevailing theme comes from Jesus' promise to his followers, found in today's Gospel of John:

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. - John 14:27

First is a contemplative organ piece by North Carolina composer Dan Locklair. Locklair is Composer-in-Residence and Professor of Music at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He has written symphonic works, a ballet, an opera, and numerous solo, chamber, vocal, and choral compositions, in addition to some important organ works.

Today's opening voluntary is from his Æolian Sonata, written in 2002 for a recital celebrating the 70th Anniversary of Duke University Chapel’s Æolian pipe organ. The second movement,  Shalom (Peace),  is marked “Serene and unhurried.” It is a quiet and simple movement that lyrically dialogues flute and clarinet sounds as it gently reflects on the Hebrew word for peace. Locklair prefaced this movement with the dedication:

In remembrance of the darkness of September 11 from which emerged hope for Peace and joy in Thanksgiving.

The other "peaceful" reference is the anthem Grant Us Thy Peace (Verleih uns Frieden gnädiglich), written by Felix Mendelssohn in a style inspired by Bach. It is one of the Opus 23, Sacred Choruses, written during the period following the Mendelssohn's first period of  public success with such undisputed masterpieces as the String Octet and the Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Based on a text by Martin Luther, which itself was inspired by the Latin text "Da Pacem Domine," Mendelssohn wrote it after a visit to the Vatican in 1831. It is for four-part choir and string orchestra with organ. The floating introduction leads  directly into the quietly contemplative first verse set for men alone. The women then sing the melody while the men provide a counter-melody.  Only the last verse utilizes the full forces available, and does so with a generous warmth of expression that leaves one in no doubt that ultimate peace cannot be far away.

The other theme running through the service is the blessing of agriculture, commerce, and the stewardship of creation. In addition to being the Sixth Sunday of the Easter Season, today is Rogation Sunday. Rogation Sunday is the day when the Church has traditionally offered prayer for God’s blessing on the fruits of the earth and the labors of those who produce our food. The word “rogation” is from the Latin rogare, “to ask.” Historically, the Rogation Days (the three days before Ascension Day) were a period of fasting and abstinence, beseeching God’s blessing on the crops for a bountiful harvest. Few of us today directly derive our livelihood from the production of food, yet it is good to be reminded of our dependence upon those who do and our responsibility for the environment.

The closing voluntary is noteworthy in that it is one of the earliest organ works by Bach, probably written when he was around 15 years old. Other than one entrance of the fugal subject, there is little for the pedal to do other than reinforce the bass line at cadences. And in contrast to his later fugues which were written for four (or more!) voice parts, this one rarely goes beyond three parts, more often existing happily in a two-part texture. But listen to the youthful exuberance! It is an example of perpetual motion as in every bar (except one) there are running sixteenth notes:

Music for May 19, 2019 + The Fifth Sunday of Easter

Senior Sunday

Vocal Music

• I Give You a New Commandment – Peter Aston (b. 1938-2013)

Instrumental Music

• Air – Gerre Hancock (1934-2012)
• Ubi Caritas – Gerald Near (b. 1942)
• When in Our Music God Is Glorified – Robert A. Hobby (b. 1962)

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

• Hymn 492 - Come, ye faithful, sing with gladness (FINNIAN)
• Hymn 529 - In Christ there is no East or West (MCKEE)
• Hymn 295 - Sing praise to our creator (CHRISTUS, DER IST MEIN LEBEN)
• Hymn 297 - Descend, O Spirit, purging flame (ERHALT UNS, HERR)
• Hymn 576 - God is love, and where true love is (MANDATUM)
• Hymn 324 - Let all mortal flesh keep silence (PICARDY)
• Hymn 296 - We know that Christ is raised and dies no more (ENGLEBERG)
• Psalm 148 - Simplified Anglican Chant by Jerome W. Meachen

In the Gospel this Sunday, we will hear the first of a collection of passages known as the Farewell Discourse. Jesus is preparing the disciples for a life without his physical presence. More than offering comfort, Jesus is trying to reorient them toward their mission. He tells them

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." - John 13:34,35

Peter Aston

The anthem this morning is a simple setting of that very text, by the English composer Peter Aston
Aston's published compositions include chamber music, choral and orchestral works and a children’s opera, but he is best known as a composer of church music, much of which is performed regularly throughout the English-speaking world. As a conductor and lecturer, he directed many courses and workshops for composers in the UK and overseas, especially in the USA.  He was also a musicologist and baroque-music scholar.

Gerre Hancock

 The world lost an exceptional musician and gentleman with the death of Gerre Hancock in 2012 who, from 1971 to 2004, was master of the choristers at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in New York City and, more recently, professor of organ and sacred music at the University of Texas-Austin. He was renowned for his improvisatory skills at the organ, his work with the St. Thomas Boy Choir, and his compositions. The Air that is this morning's opening voluntary is one of his first published organ works, written in 1960 and dedicated to his future wife, Judith Eckerman.

Robert Hobby

The closing voluntary is an organ work based on the same tune as the closing hymn. "When in Our Music God Is Glorified," by American organist Robert Hobby,  is bright, rollicking setting of the tune we sing quite frequently. The melody will be heard in the bass clef, played by the left hand, while the right hand plays an infectious rhythm and the pedals punctuate the accompaniment with octave leaps on the weak beats.

Music for May 12, 2019 + The Fourth Sunday after Easter

Good Shepherd Sunday
Vocal Music

• I am His Child – Moses Hogan (1957-2003)
• And Still the Bread Is Broken – David Ashley White (b. 1944)

Instrumental Music

• Prelude on “Brother James’s Air” – Searle Wright (1918-2004)
• In Green Pastures – Harold Darke (1888-1976)
• Trumpet Tune in D – David N. Johnson (1922-1987)

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

• Hymn 182  - Christ is alive! Let Christians sing (TRURO)
• Hymn 208 - Alleluia! The strife is o’er, the battle done (VICTORY)
• Hymn 708 - Savior, like a shepherd lead us (SICILIAN MARINERS)
• Hymn 297 - Descend, O Spirit, purging flame (ERHALT UNS, HERR)
• Hymn 645 - The King of love my shepherd is (ST. COLUMBA)
• Hymn 343 - Shepherd of souls, refresh and bless (ST. AGNES)
• Hymn 366 - Holy God, we praise thy Name (GROSSER GOTT)
• Psalm 23 - Simplified Anglican Chant by Jerome W. Meachen

This Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Easter, is called the Good Shepherd Sunday, because of the scripture readings (John 10:11 - “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep") and the use of the 23rd Psalm, so it is the closest thing our congregation has to a Patronal Feast Day.

The Coventry Choir, our younger elementary children's choir, will sing this Sunday for the last time this choir year. They are singing a song by New Orleans native Moses Hogan. Until his untimely death in 2003, Hogan was one of the most celebrated contemporary directors and arrangers of classic spirituals. In addition to spirituals, he also wrote some original numbers, such as today's anthem, I Am His Child.

A graduate of the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) and Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio, Moses Hogan also studied at New York's Juilliard School of Music and Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. His many accomplishments as a concert pianist included winning first place in the prestigious 28th annual Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Competition in New York. Hogan was Artist In Residence at Loyola University in New Orleans.


Moses Hogan

In keeping with the Good Shepherd theme, I am opening the service with Searle Wright's setting of the tune BROTHER JAMES' AIR, which is most often used for the text, "The Lord's my shepherd." It was composed by James Leith Macbeth Bain, a Scottish healer, mystic, and poet known simply as Brother James. This well-loved tune is in bar form (AAB) with an unusual final phrase that ends on a high tonic note instead of a low note.

Wright has arranged this folk-like melody in three stanzas. For the first stanza he uses manuals only, with the melody in the soprano. The string stops on the organ are used. For the next stanza, he keeps the strings for the accompaniment, but puts the melody in the pedal on the English Horn. After a developmental section that goes through several minor keys before coming back to A Major, he presents the tune very much like the beginning, adding the bass notes in the pedal for the first A section of the tune, then putting the cantus firmus (the melody)in the tenor ranger with the crommorne for last half of the stanza.

M. Searle Wright was a composer, teacher and master of both classic and theater pipe organ. He died in his hometown of Binghamton, N.Y. when he was 86.

The Organ voluntary at communion is a quiet little piece by the English composer Harold Darke. He is best known among church musicians for his 1911 setting of Christina Rosetti's poem "In the Bleak Mid-Winter", which has become one of the most widely performed and recorded Christmas carols ever written. In fact, this short work, with its haunting melody, has appeared on more than 100 recordings over the years, in performances given by some of the leading singers: Roberto Alagna, Ian Bostridge, Thomas Hampson, Jessye Norman, Kiri Te Kanawa, and many others.

Darke was perhaps better known in his lifetime as an organist than composer. He was regarded as one of the greatest organists of his time, and as such appeared regularly in concert, often performing his own works, works that were tonal, conservative but imaginative, and well-crafted. 

Music for May 5, 2019 + The Third Sunday of Easter

Vocal Music

• Thy Perfect Love – John Rutter (b. 1945)

Instrumental Music

• Inception – Jason W. Krug (b. 1978)
• Joyance – Ron Mallory (b. 1973)
• Processional – William Mathias (1934-1992)

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

• Hymn 182 - Christ is alive! Let Christians sing (TRURO)
• Hymn 374 - Come, let us join our cheerful songs (NUN DANKET ALL UND BRINGET EHR)
• Hymn 307 - Lord, enthroned in heavenly splendor (BRYN CALFARIA)
• Hymn R202 - Lift up your hearts unto the Lord (SING ALLELUIA)
• Hymn R232 - There is a Redeemer (GREEN)
• Hymn 535 - Ye servants of God, your Master proclaim (PADERBORN)
• Psalm 30 - Simplified Anglican Chant by Jerome W. Meachen

This Sunday we will hear the Good Shepherd Handbell Guild play two selections in our 10:15 service, which brings their 2018-2019 season to a close. To say that I appreciate the talent and hard work these women bring to rehearsal each week would be a gross understatement, as I know personally the sacrifice and the commitment they show week in and week out. In a time where it is getting harder and harder to get people to commit to anything, these folks are always here. Not counting the time the spend on their own preparing their part, we figure more than 411 hours have been spent this year rehearsing and preparing the music that you hear at Church and the Live Nativity. Our members range from teenagers to women in their 60s. So take a minute this Sunday to say thanks to those who play our bells.

Jason Krug

The Handbells will begin the service with Jason Krug's exciting original work Inception. This up-tempo piece has a repeating rhythmic accompaniment played on the bells with mallets, supporting the spacious, soaring melody in the higher bells. Later, the upper bells take up that same motif while the lower bells carry the melody. Because of its intricate rhythms and bell changes, we are only using three of our five octaves.

Krug is a native of Indianapolis, Indiana.  He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2000 with a degree in Music.  He is currently a freelance composer, arranger, clinician, and teacher. 

Krug's handbell career began in 2001 when he began ringing with and arranging music for the Wagner Memorial Bell Choir at Irvington United Methodist Church, and in 2005, he took over as the choir's director.  Since his first publication in 2006, he's had over 300 handbell compositions released, with more on the way.  His pieces have been featured at numerous local, state, and regional festivals and workshops, both in the United States and abroad, and he has been guest clinician at handbell events from coast to coast. 

Ron Mallory

The offertory, Joyance, is a winner of the Handbell Musicians of America Area 2 Festival Conference Composition Contest. Using all five octaves of bells and our 3 octaves of handchimes, this catchy and rhythmic original piece is a festive offertory for this Easter season. It is written by Ron Mallory, a church musician at Resurrection Lutheran Church in Bellevue, Washington.

Mallory has a master's degree in choral conducting from the University of Washington and a bachelor's degree in music composition from California State University, Long Beach. He has been playing, directing, and composing for handbells since his college days. He has published more than 100 handbell pieces and has won composition contests sponsored by Bells of the Sound and Handbell Musicians of America.

Music for April 28, 2019 + The Second Sunday of Easter

Vocal Music

• Now the Green Blade Riseth – Ken Heitshusen (c. 1950)

Instrumental Music

• For the Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord: O angelos evoa – Gerald Near (b. 1942)
• (The angel cried out to Lady of grace)
• O Sons and Daughters, Let Us Sing – Denis Bédard (b. 1950)
• Good Christians All, Rejoice and Sing – Paul Manz (1919-2009)

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 206 - O sons and daughters, let us sing (O FILII ET FILIAE)
• Hymn 432 - O praise ye the Lord (LAUDATE DOMINUM)
• Hymn R271 - Alleluia, alleluia! Give thanks  (ALLELUIA NO. 1)
• Hymn R91 - Open our eyes, Lord (OPEN OUR EYES)
• Hymn R258 - To God be the Glory (TO GOD BE THE GLORY)
• Hymn R119 - Psalm 150: Hallelujah, praise the Lord (ORIENTIS PARTIBUS)

It's the second Sunday of Easter, traditionally called "Thomas Sunday." The day commemorates the appearance of Christ to his disciples eight days after Easter, when Thomas was present and proclaimed "My Lord and my God" upon seeing the hands and side of Christ. (Today is also called Quasimodo Sunday, having nothing to do with Hunchbacks nor Notre Dame, but coming from the Latin text of the traditional Introit for this day, which begins "Quasi modo geniti infantes..." from 1 Peter 2:2, roughly translated as "As newborn babes [desire the rational milk without guile]...". Literally, quasi modo means "as if in [this] manner".

To commemorate Thomas Sunday, we will sing the hymn O sons and daughters, let us sing, which contains the stanzas

4 When Thomas first the tidings heard
that some had seen the risen Lord,
he doubted the disciples' word.
Lord, have mercy! 

5 At night the apostles met in fear;
among them came their Master dear
and said, "My peace be with you here."
Alleluia! 

6 "My pierced side, O Thomas, see,
and look upon my hands, my feet;
not faithless but believing be."
Alleluia!  

7 No longer Thomas then denied;
he saw the feet, the hands, the side.
"You are my Lord and God!" he cried.
Alleluia! 

8 How blest are they who have not seen
and yet whose faith has constant been,
for they eternal life shall win.
Alleluia! 

Thomas Sunday is particularly important among Orthodox Christians. So the quirky thing is that today is NOT Thomas Sunday in the Orthodox Church, but, instead, is Easter Day! In observance of  that, I am playing a setting of a Paschal hymn from the Orthodox tradition, as found in the collection 

Meditations on Byzantine Hymns by Gerald Near. The melody is a chant, much like the Gregorian Chant of the Early Roman church. 

Music for Easter - April 21, 2019

Vocal Music

• Achieved Is the Glorious Work – Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
• Magdalena – Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
• Most Glorious Lord of Life – William H. Harris (1883-1973)

Instrumental Music

• Prelude in D Major, BWV 532 – Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
• Fifth Symphony: Toccata  – Charles-Marie Widor (1844 –1937)
• Prière à Notre-Dame – Léon Böellmann (1862 – 1897)

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 - Sing with all the saints in glory (HYMN TO JOY)
• Hymn - I come to the garden alone (IN THE GARDEN)
• Hymn 174 - At the Lamb’s high feast we sing (SALZBURG)
• Hymn 193 - That Easter day with joy was bright (PUER NOBIS)
• Hymn 210 - The day of resurrection (DIADEMATA)
• Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 - setting by Hal Hopson

Just a few notes about the music you will hear on Easter Sunday.

The first anthem is not really an Easter anthem. In fact, it is from Haydn's oratorio The Creation, found at the end of the third part, about the end of the sixth and final day of creation. It is a joyful and celebratory piece, and, as you can see from the text, not at all inappropriate for the service celebrating the Resurrection.

Achieved is the glorious work; The Lord beholds it and is pleased.
In lofty strains let us rejoice, Our song let be the praise of God.

The Offertory anthem is an English anthem by William H. Harris, who for years was organist and choirmaster at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. He  was involved in the musical education of the teenage Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, while they spent the wartime period at Windsor Castle. The story goes that every Monday he would direct madrigal practice in the Red Drawing Room at Windsor, where the two Princesses sang alongside four of the senior choristers with the lower voices augmented by Etonians, Grenadier Guards and members of the Windsor and Eton Choral Society.

The communion anthem is a four-part acapella setting of a German Folk song by the great Romantic composer Johannes Brahms. It is interesting in that it focuses on Mary Magdalena's part in the resurrection story.

My opening voluntary is the great Prelude in D Major by Johann Sebastion Bach. I like to play it on Easter because it (1) is in the bright, celebratory key of D Major, and (2) it opens with the ascending D major Scale in the pedal, symbolizing (for me) the rising of the Son of God.

I am playing an organ work during communion as a musical dedication to the indomitable spirit of the Notre-Dame de Paris, and the Paris people. Though the title refers not to the church of Notre Dame, and the composer, though French, was never on staff at the Cathedral (he worked down the street at St. Sulpice), I still wanted to do something to express my concern and relief that the fire was not as bad as it could have been.

Music for the Triduum + April 18-20, 2019

April 18, 2019 + Maundy Thursday (7 PM)

Vocal Music

• Ave Verum – Stephanie Martin (b. 1965)
• Ubi Caritas – Ola Gjielo (b. 1978)

Instrumental Music

• Récit du chant de l'hymne precedent: Pange, lingua, gloriosi  Nicolas de Grigny (1672-1703)
• Ubi Caritas et Amor – Charles Callahan (b. 1951)

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

• Hymn R116 - What shall I render to the Lord? (ROCKINGHAM)
• Hymn 576 - God is Love, and where true love is (MANDATUM)
• Hymn R148 - Brother, let me be your servant (THE SERVANT SONG)
• Hymn R289 - Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love (CHEREPONI)
• Hymn R226 - Ubi caritas (Jacques Berthier)
• Hymn 439 - What wondrous love is this (WONDROUS LOVE)
• Hymn 171 - Go to dark Gethsemane (PETRA)
• Hymn R170 - Stay here and keep watch with me (Jacques Berthier)
• Psalm 116:1, 10-17 Tone IIa 

April 19, 2019 + Good Friday (NOON)

Vocal Music

• Were You There? - Spiritual, Richard Murray, soloist

Instrumental Music

• Ah, Holy Jesus – arr. John A. Behnke (b. 1953)
• Come, Sweet Death – Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of that marked LEVAS which is from Lift Every Voice and Sing II.)

• Hymn 158 - Ah, holy Jesus, how hast thou offended (HERZLIEBSTER JESU)
• Hymn 441 - In the cross of Christ I glory (RATHBUN)         
• Hymn LEVAS - On a hill far away (OLD RUGGED CROSS)

April 20, 2019 + Easter Vigil (7 PM)

Vocal Music

• Now the Green Blade Riseth – Ken Heitshusen (c. 1950)
• Psalm 122: I Was Glad – Peter Hallock (1924-2014)

Instrumental Music

• O Sons and Daughters, Let Us Sing – Denis Bédard (b. 1950)
• Good Christians All, Rejoice and Sing – Paul Manz (1919-2009)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of those marked LEVAS which are from Lift Every Voice and Sing II.)

• Hymn  - Within Our Darkest Night (Taize), 
• Hymn LEVAS - He’s Got the Whole World In his Hands (Whole World)
• Hymn LEVAS - Wade in the Water (Spiritual)
• Hymn 296 - We know that Christ is raised and dies no more (ENGLEBERG)
• Hymn 187 - Through the Red Sea brought at last (STRAF MICH NICHT)
• Hymn 174 - At the Lamb’s high feast we sing (SALZBURG)
• Hymn 199 - Come, ye faithful, raise the strain (ST. KEVIN)

Three holy days enfold us now
in washing feet and breaking bread,
in cross and font and life renewed:
in Christ, God’s firstborn from the dead. (1)

From early times Christians have observed the week before Easter as a time of special devotion. As an early Christian pilgrim, Egeria, recorded in the late fourth century, Jerusalem contained many sacred places that were sites for devotion and liturgy. Numerous pilgrims to the holy city followed the path of Jesus in his last days. They formed processions, worshipped where Christ suffered and died, and venerated relics. From this beginning evolved the rites we observe today on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. 

The three holy days, or Triduum, of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday are at the heart of the Holy Week observance. We observe these days with three special services, which, in turn, call for seasonal music. (2)

The choir, cantors, and organist provide much of what supplements the hymns that the congregation sings. Of particular interest this year are the anthems to be sung at the Maundy Thursday service, the Handbell music at the Good Friday Service and Richard Murray's annual singing of "Were You There," and the spirituals that will accompany the readings on Saturday at the Vigil.

In mid-April, 2011, the Norwegian composer Ola Gielo spent 3 days on the Central Washington University Campus for a project in which he joined the choir in recording 3 of his compositions. Gjeilo would add an improvised accompaniment  to his a capella choral music. One particular improvisation, his setting of the Ubi Caritas text, garnered so much attention on YouTube  that he figured it would made sense to publish a score that was as close to the original performance as he could notate. We will be singing that collaboration during communion on Maundy Thursday.

(1) Three holy days enfold us now, Words by Delores Dufner, OSB (b. 1939) © 1995, Sisters of St. Benedict.

(2) from https://www.episcopalchurch.org/library/glossary/holy-week, accessed April 17, 2019