Music for Sunday, September 12, 2021 + The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• The Mind of Christ – K. Lee Scott (b. 1950)

Instrumental Music

• Lord Jesus Christ, Be Present Now – Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
• God Extends an Invitation – Anne Krentz Organ (b. 1960)
• Trumpet Tune – Georg Philipp Telemann

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of  "I have decided" which is from Lift Every Voice and Sing.)

• Hymn 525 - The church’s one foundation (AURELIA)
• Hymn 675 - Take up your cross, the Savior said (BOURBON)
• Hymn - I have decided to follow Jesus (ASSAM)
• Hymn 473 - Lift high the cross (CRUCIFER)
• Psalm 116:1-8

K. Lee Scott

Birmingham, Alabama composer Lee Scott has taken the hymn "May the mind of Christ, my Savior" and set it to the tune BATTY for a lovely anthem.  The text is called a "catalog" hymn, which list different things the believer asks: "May the mind of Christ," the "word of God," the "peace of God," and the "love of Jesus." The hymn was first published in the London children's hymnbook Golden Bells (1925) and has gained popularity in recent hymnals.

This text is attributed to Kate Barclay Wilkinson, an English woman from the turn of the 20th century. Little is known about Wilkinson's life: a member of the Church of England, she was involved in a ministry to girls in London and a participant in the Keswick Convention Movement. She was married to Frederick Barclay Wilkinson.

The tune is a Moravian melody by the German composer Johann Christoph Kühnau

Anne Krentz Organ

The communion voluntary is a setting of a Brazilian hymn, Nuestro padre nos invita,  arranged for the piano by the Lutheran composer Anne Krentz Organ, the Director of Music Ministries at St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Park Ridge, IL.  She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from Valparaiso University, a Master of Music degree in Piano Pedagogy from the University of Illinois, and a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Church Music from Concordia University in River Forest, IL.

She came to a career in church music in a roundabout way.  She says,

I have a bachelor’s degree in piano performance, and a master’s degree in piano pedagogy. Piano teaching was my intended career. But the Spirit works in mysterious ways, and I began subbing for a Saturday evening service. Attendance was around 40-50 people, all of whom went up for communion at the same time, none of whom brought their hymnals along with them. There I would be, week after week, playing the communion hymn(s) verse by verse. That didn’t seem helpful, and at the same time, I was considering what to propose for my final project at Concordia [University]. It occurred to me that some “Reflections” on hymn tunes for holy communion might be useful. I arranged five communion tunes for piano, which were subsequently published by Augsburg Fortress as my first collection of piano arrangements.

Music for Sunday, September 5, 2021 + The Fifthteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• O Christ, the Healer, We Have Come – Richard W. Gieseke (b. 1952)

Instrumental Music

• Jesus, be in My Heart - Arranged by Kim Robertson
• What Wondrous Love is This - Arranged by Carol Kappus:
• Dance of the Fairy Folk - Carol Kappus
• Ned of the Hill , Ireland, arranged by Kim Robertson
• Fantasy on “Nun Danket All” – Aaron David Miller (b. 1972)
• Hymn 374, Come, let us Join Our Cheerful Songs

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

• Hymn 371 Thou, whose almighty word (MOSCOW)
• Hymn R266 Give thanks with a grateful heart (GIVE THANKS)
• Hymn 493 O for a thousand tongues to sing (AZMON)
• Psalm 146 - Tone VIIa

folk lever harp

This Sunday we welcome Kingwood resident Miriam Freiter to our 10:15 service. Miriam is a folk harpist who will be playing the harp before the service and during communion.

The folk harp is smaller than it's cousin, the orchestral harp. It's what you often hear when listening to Celtic Music. That's why you'll be hearing several pieces this weekend from Ireland, or written in that style. The pieces Mim will be playing are written by two of America's leading folk harpists.

Kim Robertson  is an American Celtic harp player from Wisconsin. Classically trained on piano and orchestral harp, her work encompasses over 20 album projects, several volumes of harp arrangements, instructional videos, and an international itinerary of concerts and retreats. 

Carol Kappus  is an award-winning Celtic harper and singer specializing in Scottish music including traditional songs, songs of Robert Burns, and songs in Scots Gaelic. Based in Michigan, she gives performances, teaches private lessons, and leads workshops.

The choir will be singing an original setting of the hymn Oh Christ, the Healer, We Have Come. It is written by Missouri composer Richard W. Gieseke. Gieseke attended Concordia Teachers College in River Forest, studying under Dr. Carl Schalk and Dr. Richard Hillert. Now retired, he  has served in several Lutheran congregations with smaller church choirs, providing the opportunity to write for unison and three-part choirs. 

The closing organ voluntary is a bold, splashy arrangement of hymn 374 (Come, Let Us Join Our Cheerful Songs) by another midwestern composer, Aaron David Miller. Miller serves as the Director of Music and Organist at House of Hope Presbyterian Church in St. Paul, Minnesota and maintains an active recital schedule. 

Aaron David Miller

Dr. Miller began his studies in organ performance under the guidance of Carlene Neihart in Kansas City and continued in Chicago with David Schrader. At this time, he attended the Chicago Academy for the Arts, where he studied composition with Bruce Horst. He received his Bachelor of Music degree in 1995 from the Eastman School of Music, studying organ performance with David Craighead, Russell Saunders, David Higgs, and Michael Farris, and composition with Samuel Adler and Joseph Schwantner. Dr. Miller completed his graduate studies at the Manhattan School of Music, earning his Master of Music degree in 1997 and his Doctor of Musical Arts in 1999. He studied composition and organ performance with McNeil Robinson.

Music for Sunday, August 29, 2021 + The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

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

Instrumental Music

• Flourish and Chorale – Michael McCabe (b. 1941)
• Vater Unser im Himmelreich – Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
• Allegro – Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924)

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

• Hymn 423 - Immortal, invisible, God only wise (ST. DENIO)
• Hymn 707 - Take my life, and let it be (HOLLINGSIDE)
• Hymn R145 - Lord, I want to be a Christian (I WANT TO BE A CHRISTIAN)
• Hymn 344 - Lord, dismiss us with thy blessing (SICILIAN MARINERS)
• Psalm 15 - Psalm tone VIIIa

The anthem is a rather simple setting of the one-stanza hymn found in our hymnal at hymn 301, "Bread of the world in mercy broken," using the same tune.

Written by the 19th century English Bishop Reginald Heber, the text, "Bread of the World" was first published posthumously in 1827, subtitled "Before the Sacrament." The first two lines of this hymn refer to the bread, representing Jesus' broken body, and to the wine, representing Jesus' shed blood. Later, the parallel structure of the lines referring to the broken heart and shed tears of repentant sinners emphasizes the sorrow of the believer over the sin that necessitated Christ's suffering. Through our confession of sin and participation in Communion, we remind ourselves that it is only “by Thy grace our souls are fed.”

The tune, RENDEZ À DIEU, was one of the tunes used in the Genevan Psalter, a hymnal published in 1551 that presented the psalms in a metrical form in French. It was created under the supervision of John Calvin for liturgical use by the Reformed churches of the city of Geneva.

Carlton "Sam" Young

Carlton R. Young,  a teacher, editor, composer, and conductor, set the hymn for a mixed choir of two parts. He has the unique distinction of serving as editor of two revisions of hymnals for Methodists: The Methodist Hymnal, 1966; and The United Methodist Hymnal, 1989.

Professor Young has served on the faculties and directed graduate studies in church music at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University; and Scarritt College; and is Emeritus Professor of Church Music, Candler School of Theology, Emory University. He was visiting professor of church music, Tainan Presbyterian College and Seminary, 1995-2004, and The Methodist School of Theology, Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia, 2004, and 2007.

Dr. Young is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church, East Ohio Conference. He is married to the former Marjorie Lindner. They have four children: Robert, James, Carol, and Richard; and six grandchildren: Brook, Rebecca, Dyami, Kirby, Lena, and Raymond.

The opening voluntary is an exhilarating piece by Nebraska composer and organist Michael McCabe. McCabe began his study of piano and organ as a child. As a student at Creighton University, McCabe was appointed university organist and choir director. During a 20 year military career, various assignments provided McCabe with unique opportunities to study with leaders in the field of Anglican church music, including Leo Sowerby, David McK. Williams, Thomas Matthews, and Dale Wood. McCabe has served numerous churches, including Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. As a published composer, McCabe was elected to ASCAP in 1972, and his ASCAP credits include NBC Television, foreign and domestic recordings, and the Stockholm and Stuttgart Music Festivals.

The communion organ voluntary is a quiet setting of the German chorale Vater unser im Himmelreich. The original text is Martin Luther's paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer. In our hymnal, this tune may be found at hymn 575 with the text “Before thy throne, O God, we kneel.” We encourage you to read and meditate on the words to this hymn in light of today’s Gospel reading. 

Music for August 22, 2021

Vocal Music

• Love the Lord – arr. Mark Schweizer (1956-2019)

Instrumental Music

• Prelude and Fugue in G – attr. J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
• Meditation on “Simple Gifts” – Michael Larkin (b. 1951)
• Rondeau – Henry Purcell (1659-1695)

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

Hymn 440 - Blessed Jesus, at thy word (LIEBSTER JESU)
Hymn 561 - Stand up, stand up for Jesus (MORNING LIGHT)
Hymn R232 - There is a Redeemer (Keith/Melody Green)
Hymn R233 - Glory be to Jesus (CASWALL)
Hymn 460 - Alleluia, sing to Jesus (HYFRYDOL)
Psalm 34:15-22 - Tone VIIIa

I have programmed two pieces written by men born in the 1950s, and two men born in the last half of the 17th century. First the contemporary pieces.

Mark Schweizer

The choir sings a setting of a tune from the Sacred Harp, a ubiquitous and historically important tunebook, first published in 1844, which was the backbone of the Sacred Harp singing schools that originated in New England and later perpetuated and carried on in the American South. The tune is both rugged and vigorous, changing between slow and quick sections. The text is one that we usually associate with Lent, but with the upbeat refrain which compares Jesus to no other, it is perfect for any time of the year.

This arrangement is by Mark Schweizer, a native of Florida who received music degrees from Stetson University in Deland, Florida and the University of Arizona including a doctoral degree in vocal performance. He returned to teach at Stetson University from 1982 to 1985 followed by eight years on the music faculty of Louisiana College. Mark lived in North Carolina where he served as editor of St. James Music Press. He is also the author of fifteen “Liturgical Mystery” novels, as well as other books, and several opera and musical librettos.

The communion voluntary is a meditation on another American folk tune from the Shaker tradition, "Simple Gifts." It is by the Delaware composer and musician, Michael Larkin, who serves as organist and director of music ministry at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Wilmington, Delaware.  

The opening voluntary is the fifth installment of my playing the complete (so-called) Eight Little Preludes and Fugues, which were attributed for years to J.S. Bach, but now thought to be by one of his pupils. 

This week it's the Prelude and Fugue in G. The prelude is a "miniature toccata" which, after a stately, big chordal introduction, evolves into freely-composed improvisatory passages which just ripple over the keyboard. It reflects the musical influence of Johann Kuhnau, Johann Sebastian Bach, and J. K. F.. Fischer. 

The English composer Henry Purcell wrote incidental music for a revival of the play Abdelazer, or The Moor's Revenge in the summer of 1695, including the movement entitled Rondeau. A Rondeau is an instrumental musical form in which a principal theme (sometimes called the "refrain") alternates with one or more contrasting themes, generally called "episodes." The form is outlined such as A - B - A - C - A.

Purcell's Rondeau was used by Benjamin Britten as the theme for his set of variations The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (1946).

Music for August 15, 2021 + Rally Day

Vocal Music

• For the Beauty of the Earth – David Ashley White (b. 1944)

Instrumental Music

• Galliard on Gather Us In – James Biery (b. 1956)
• I Have Decided to Follow Jesus – Arr. David Gale (21st c.)
• Carillon de Longpont – Louis Vierne (1870 - 1937)

Congregational Music (all numbered hymns are from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of those marked “R” which are from Renew. Everything else is from other sources)

• Hymn  Jesus in the morning (African-American Spiritual)
• Hymn R37  Father, we love you (GLORIFY YOUR NAME)
• Hymn Let  There Be Peace on Earth (WORLD PEACE)
• Hymn 711  Seek Ye first the kingdom of God (SEEK YE FIRST)
• Hymn R147  Here I am, Lord (HERE AM I LORD)

The choir returns to our services after a brief summer break, singing a simple setting of a familiar hymn hymn with new music by Houston composer David Ashley White. David is Professor of Composition and the C. W. Moores, Jr. Endowed Professor of Music in the Moores School of Music, University of Houston, and Composer-in-Residence at Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church. He served as Director of the Moores School from 1999-2014.

He wrote this charming setting of For the Beauty of the Earth for his parent's 50th wedding anniversary. It includes a flute solo and handbells.

A galliard was a popular dance from the Renaissance period. It was an athletic dance, characterised by leaps, jumps, hops and other similar figures. Similarly, the music was just as athletic, providing an exuberant tune for dancing. The term is borrowed from the Anglo-French word gaillard, which means "vigorous, lively."

You can hear the lively vigor in today's opening voluntary, an arrangement of the contemporary hymn, Gather Us In, by Marty Haugen (b.1950) It is found in the Renew Hymnal at no. 14. Its energetic text is personified by a rolicking romp for organ and trumpet. Here are the words; they are perfect for Rally Day:

1. Here in this place new light is streaming,

Now is the darkness vanished away,

See in this space our fears and our dreamings,

Brought here to you in the light of this day.

Gather us in' the lost and forsaken,

Gather us in' the blind and the lame;

Call to us now, and we shall awaken,

We shall arise at the sound of our name.

2. We are the young' our lives are a myst'ry,

We are the old' who yearn for your face,

We have been sung throughout all of hist'ry,

Called to be light to the whole human race.

Gather us in' the rich and the haughty,

Gather us in' the proud and the strong;

Give us a heart so meek and so lowly,

Give us the courage to enter the song.

3. Here we will take the wine and the water,

Here we will take the bread of new birth,

Here you shall call your sons and your daughters,

Call us anew to be salt for the earth.

Give us to drink the wine of compassion,

Give us to eat the bread that is you;

Nourish us well, and teach us to fashion

Lives that are holy and hearts that are true.

4. Not in the dark of buildings confining,

Not in some heaven, light years away, 

But here in this place the new light is shining,

Now is the Kingdom, now is the day.

Gather us in and hold us for ever,

Gather us in and make us your own;

Gather us in' all peoples together,

Fire of love in our flesh and our bone.

Text: Marty Haugen, © 1982, GIA Publications, Inc.

For communion, I am playing a piano setting of the Indian folk tune, I have decided to follow Jesus. It is arranged by David Gale, a composer, arranger, pianist and choir director from Tucson, Arizona. His education includes a bachelor's and master's degrees from Texas Tech University, and a doctorate in music composition from Northwestern University. Retired from 26 years at Flowing Wells Junior High School, Dr. Gale is currently in his 24th year as music director for First Christian Church in Tucson, where he focuses on creating music for the church service including piano arrangements and choir pieces.

The closing voluntary is a carillon by Louis Vierne. At the beginning of the 20th century, Vierne was the organist of Notre Dame of Paris.  A great friend of the Montesquiou family, he was regularly invited to the Château in Longpont in the month of August.  The 15th August was an especially important religious festival.  There was a grand procession through the village, and through the grounds of the Château.  Louis Vierne naturally contributed to the festivities.  A harmonium (reed organ) was fixed to a cart pulled by two donkeys; safely installed on this mobile stage, he accompanied the singing, and added brilliant improvisations.

On hearing the church bells on the 15th August 1913, Louis Vierne was inspired to write the Carillon de Longpont.  It was later dedicated to his brother René Vierne, killed on the 29th May 1918, not far from Longpont. The pedal part is a repeated ostinato of eighth notes under big, crashing chords on the manuals.

Music for August 1, 2021 + The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 522 Glorious things of thee are spoken (AUSTRIA)
• Hymn 527 Singing songs of expectation (TON-Y-BOTEL)
• Hymn 690 Guide me, O thou great Jehovah (CWM RHONDDA)

I am away this week on vacation with my family, so there will be no choir or organ music this Sunday. Thanks to Karen Silva for playing the piano for the voluntaries and accompanying the hymns.

There are three great hymns this week. Here are some notes on them, taken from the website Hymnary.org

John Newton

Our first hymn is Glorious things of thee are spoken, written by John Newton It is written on Isaiah 33:20-21, but there are plenty of clear references to other Scriptures, which Newton cited in footnotes, such as Psalm 87 (the first two lines of the hymn are nearly a direct quote of Ps. 87:3) and Isaiah 4:5-6 (which is closely paraphrased in the third stanza). This hymn has been called one of Newton's finest hymns, and it is certainly one of his most popular, along with “Amazing Grace” and “How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds.”

The most common tune for this text is Franz Joseph Haydn's famous melody AUSTRIA (which is also called AUSTRIAN HYMN, GERMAN HYMN, HAYDN, or VIENNA). This association was a very strong one until after World War II. The German national song “Deutschland über alles” (written in the mid-nineteenth century by Hoffmann von Fallersleben), paired to this tune, was used by the Nazis in World War II, and added some very painful associations to this music. The question of whether to banish this popular tune completely or retain it because of it pre-1940s history is well-answered by Paul Westermeyer: “Though it is … a tune that needs to be in hymnals for future generations, there are many circumstances where, because of its associations, this tune still should not and cannot be sung” (Hymnal Companion to Evangelical Lutheran Worship, p. 700).

The popularity of  William Williams's text (Guide me, O thou great Jehovah) is undoubtedly aided by its association with CWM RHONDDA, composed in 1905 by Welshman John Hughes during a church service for a Baptist Cymanfa Ganu (song festival) in Capel Rhondda, Pontypridd, Wales. Hughes received little formal education; at age twelve he was already working as a doorboy at a local mining company in Llantwit Fardre. He eventually became an official in the traffic department of the Great Western Railway. Much of his energy was devoted to the Salem Baptist Church in Pontypridd, where he served as both deacon and precentor. Hughes composed two anthems, a number of Sunday school marches, and a few hymn tunes, of which CWM RHONDDA is universally known.

At first widely disseminated in leaflet form, CWM RHONDDA gradually was adopted into various hymnals. The tune is named after the valley of the Rhondda River, a coal mining area in Wales. Though composed with simple melodic means, CWM RHONDDA is a vigorous melody in major tonality (contrary to the popular belief that most Welsh tunes are minor). 

The notion of “the unknown” is not an idea we’re overly fond of. Part of us would love to know how the future plays out - what to prepare for, what to let go because it won’t be successful anyway. C. S. Lewis alludes to this desire in Prince Caspian, in this conversation between Lucy and Aslan. “Please, Aslan!” said Lucy, “am I not to know?” “To know what would have happened, child?” said Aslan. “No, nobody is ever told that.” “Oh dear,” said Lucy.”

Not knowing what the future holds brings a certain uneasiness to our lives. And yet, in a strange kind of way, there is comfort in the fact as well. Whatever happens to us or our loved ones is out of our hands; we simply couldn’t know anything about it if we tried. There is a common phrase: “Let go, and let God.” In this hymn by William Williams, we are given the words to express our prayer that God would guide us as we walk through a life of unknowns. At the end of her conversation with Aslan, Lucy, her head previously buried into Aslan’s mane, suddenly sits up and says, “I’m sorry, Aslan…I’m ready now.” Let us pray that we are always ready to go with God wherever He takes us, songs of praises ever on our lips.

Music for Sunday, July 25, 2021 + The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• I waited for the Lord – Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
• Christine Marku and Matthew Donley, soloists

Instrumental Music

• Prelude and Fugue in F – Attr. to J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
• Sonata Pathetique: II. Adagio cantabile – Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
• Sortie in E-flat – Louis Lefébure-Wély (1817-1869)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of the middle hymn which is from Lift Every Voice and Sing.)

• Hymn 414 God, my King, thy might confessing (STUTTGART)
• Hymn Break thou the bread of life (TUNE)
• Hymn 304 I come with joy to meet my Lord (LAND OF REST)
• Psalm 145 – Tone VIIIa

Felix Mendelssohn

In 1840 Germany was in the midst of preparations to celebrate the quadricentennial of Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press. Felix Mendelssohn was no exception, and he wrote his Lobgesang (Song of Praise), A Symphony-Cantata after words of the Holy Scripture.  It consists of three purely orchestral movements followed by 10 movements for chorus and/or soloists and orchestra.

The sixth movement, a duet for two sopranos with chorus, gained immense popularity as a standalone anthem in Victorian times in its English version, which we'll hear today as a soprano and tenor duet. The text is from Psalm 40.

J.S. Bach
(or is it?)

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you may remember that I have played several organ works during the first three months of the year that had been "attributed" to J. S. Bach. I had begun a monthly series of playing the "Eight Little Prelude and Fugues" which bear Bach's name but were probably written by his friend Krebs. I got interrupted in April, but I'm back on track with the fourth prelude and fugue in that collection in the key of F Major. It's bright and cheerful.

Lefébure-Wély

If you had been in attendance at mass at L'église de la Madeleine in Paris in the 1850s, you would no doubt heard the fabulous Cavaillé-Coll organ played by their organist, Louis James Alfred Lefébure-Wély. Lefébure-Wély was one of the leading organists of his day, with a reputation as a virtuoso. He was followed at la Madeleine by such renowned organists as Camille Saint-Saëns, Théodore Dubois, and Gabriel Fauré. He also was in charge of the music for the funeral of Frédéric Chopin, when he transcribed some of Chopin's piano works for the organ, attracting critical praise.

I'm playing his Sortie in E-flat for the closing voluntary. With this, you'll get an idea of the type of music the wealthy Parisian congregation would hear as they left the Sunday Service. It's definitely not somber!