Music for February 27, 2022 + The Last Sunday after Epiphany

Vocal Music

• Immortal, Invisible – Eric Thiman (1900-1975)

Instrumental Music

• Make Me an Instrument – Kevin McChesney (b. 1963)
• Meditation on “Beautiful Savior” – Cathy Moklebust (b. 1958)
• A Tune for the Tuba – Eric Thiman

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

• Hymn 427 - When morning gilds the skies (LAUDES DOMINI)
• Hymn 383 - Fairest Lord Jesus (ST. ELIZABETH)
• Hymn 135 - Songs of thankfulness and praise (SALZBURG)
• Hymn R201 - Be still, for the Spirit of the Lord (BE STILL)
• Hymn R247 - Lord, the light of your love is shining (SHINE, JESUS, SHINE)
• Psalm 99 – Tone Va

The Handbell Guild plays for the first time this year, offering two classic handbell pieces. 

The first is a song called "Make Me an Instrument of Thy Peace, composed by Kevin McChesney, one of the most prolific composers for handbell, in response to the tragedy at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., in 1999. Fifteen people lost their lives when two students began shooting students and teachers, and eventually themselves. The piece begins and ends with 15 chords for the 15 people who lost their lives, and is composed around the Prayer of St. Francis.

Obviously, we began rehearsing long before the threat of war in the Ukraine. We scheduled it as rumors of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia at the behest of Vladimir Putin were just being voiced. It is with the people of Ukraine (and the entire world) that we play this today.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console,

to be understood as to understand,

to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Kevin McChesney graduated with highest honors from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a BMus in Composition and Theory. A composer and arranger of handbell music, Kevin currently has over 900 titles in print and is one of the very few musicians who makes handbells a full‑time vocation. 

Kevin was a church music director in Methodist and Presbyterian churches for twelve years. Kevin is currently the handbell editor for Jeffers Handbell Supply and the RingingWord catalog. He directs an auditioned community handbell choir, the Pikes Peak Ringers. 

Kevin lives in Colorado Springs, CO, with his wife Tracy and their cats, Belle and Grace Note.

The other work is by Cathy Mokelbust, another prolific composer for bells working today. Since its publication in 1996, her "Meditation on Beautiful Savior" has become one of the all-time most popular pieces in the handbell repertoire, with approximately 50,000 copies sold as of 2012. 

Cathy Moklebust began her handbell journey at age 12 at her home church, First Lutheran Church in Brookings, South Dakota. She went on to get her B.A. and M.Ed. at South Dakota State University, in  Brookings, then began her career as a public school instrumental music instructor in South Dakota. She  has performed as principal or section percussionist with several professional and community bands and orchestras throughout the upper Midwest. Cathy has played in, conducted, and coached church and community handbell ensembles in South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa. Since 1989, she has worked in the music retail and publishing industry; currently she and her husband David operate a successful music preparation service in their hometown of Brookings.

Music for February 20, 2022 + The Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany

Vocal Music

• O Come, Ye Servants of the Lord – Christopher Tye (c. 1505 - c. 1572)

Instrumental Music

• Sing Praise to Our Creator – Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg (1718 – 1795)
• Communion – Richard Purvis (1837-1911)
• March – Arthur William Marchant (1850-1921)

Congregational Music (all hymns from The Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 390 - Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (LOBE DEN HERREN)
• Hymn 576 - God is love, and where true love is (MANDATUM)
• Hymn 295 - Sing praise to our Creator (CHRISTE, DER IST MEIN LEBEN)
• Hymn 304 - I come with joy to meet my Lord (LAND OF REST)
• Hymn 657 - Love divine, all loves excelling (HYFRYDOL)
• Psalm 37:1-12, 41-42 – Tone Va

The anthem today is by the English Renaissance composer Christopher Tye. He studied at Cambridge University and in 1545 became a Doctor of Music both there and at Oxford. Talk about an over-achiever! He was choirmaster and organist of Ely Cathedral from about 1543. He may have been music teacher to King Edward VI who reportedly quoted his father Henry VIII, as saying "England hath one God, one truth, one doctor hath for music's art, and that is Doctor Tye, admired for skill in music's harmony."

The anthem comes from Tye's Actes of the Apostles (1553), his setting of the first fourteen chapters of the Book of Acts in metrical verse, with a new musical setting for each chapter. These are short, strophic pieces, whose settings range in style from fairly homophonic to quite imitative; the final setting is a double canon at the fourth. It is from this collection that his most familiar piece is derived; the most common tune of "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks", hymn 94 in our hymnal (though not attributed to him.)

Our anthem comes from the fourth chapter (or movement) of this work, but with new words. The original text, the translation of the Latin scripture, is very difficult to understand to our modern ears

When that the people taught they had

There came to them doutles:

Priests and rulers as men nye mad,

And eke the Saduces.

Whome it dyd greve that they should move

The people and them leade:

That Jesus Christ, by powre above

Should ryse up from the deade.

What we are singing is an English translation of a Latin contrafactum for the original text. What is a contrafactum, you ask? It’s what you get when an existing tune is used with a new set of words. A well-known example is The Star-Spangled Banner, which is sung to the music of “The Anacreontic Song” popularly known as a drinking song. 

What I think is ironic is that Christopher Tye translated Latin words into English, which were then replaced with Latin words which have now been translated in English.

The opening voluntary is two variations of hymn 295 by Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg, a German music critic, music theorist and composer. During his life he published two volumes of chorale preludes, which contain his only known composition for the organ.

This hymn tune, CHRISTUS, DER IST MEIN LEBEN, is given two treatments. In the first, the melody is in the pedal, played on a 4’ reed. In the second, the melody is in canon between the right hand and the pedal. 

Richard Purivs

Some years ago, in Berkeley, California, theater-organ buffs discovered a wonderfully talented high school boy named Don Irving, who play fabulously for a while and then disappeared. It turns out, his real name was Richard Purvis, and he became well known in church music circles. After making his concert debut at age 13, he won a scholarship to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. From there he began concertizing and composing. His works certainly show a predilection for the lyrical style of the theater organ. 

While his music has fallen out of fashion, several of his works have entered classic status in American organ music of the 20th century. One of those is this work called “Communion,” which features a lush, slow chordal theme which serves as a backdrop to a simple melody reminiscent of Gregorian Chant. A distinct feature of this piece is the use of chimes. Since we do not have chimes, we’ll use a handbell for the tolling of the bell.

Music for February 13, 2022 + The Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany

Vocal Music

• Blessed Is the Man – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

Instrumental Music

• If Thou But Trust in God to Guide Thee – Georg Böhm (1661–1733)
• Hymn 635 in The Hymnal 1982
• Holy Manna – arr.Charles Callahan (b. 1951)
• Hymn 580 in The Hymnal 1982
• Erhalt Uns, Herr – Gerald Near (b. 1942)
• Hymn 191 in Renew

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

• Hymn 48 - O day of radiant gladness (ES FLOG EIN KLEINS WALDVOGELEIN)
• Hymn R191 - O Christ, the healer, we have come (ERHALT UNS, HERR)
• Hymn 635 - If thou but trust in God to guide thee (WER NUR DEN LIEBEN GOTT)
• Hymn R127 - Blest are they, the poor in spirit (BLEST ARE THEY)
• Hymn 493 - O for a thousand tongues to sing (AZMON)
• Psalm 1 – Tone Va

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was arguably, one of Russia's greatest composers. After his triumphant tour of America in 1891, and being awarded an honorary doctorate at Cambridge University in 1893, he was accepted as a world figure, not a merely national composer but one of universal significance. In 1891 the Carnegie Hall program booklet proclaimed him, together with Brahms and Saint-Saëns, to be one of the three greatest living musicians, while music critics praised him as "a modern music lord".

He wrote several works which still enjoy popularity, including the ballets Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, the 1812 Overture, his First Piano Concerto, several symphonies, and the opera Eugene Onegin. But he also wrote many smaller works, including an Album for the Young, op. 39. Robert Schumann wrote a similar book some years earlier, under the same title. Schumann wrote his collection because there wasn’t much good piano material at an easier level, and Tchaikovsky likely wrote his own collection for the same reasons.

In this collection, Tchaikovsky wrote pieces inspired by Russia, his travels, dances, and various children’s concepts (like "The Sick Doll"). It’s a really diverse collection both in emotion and content.

Today's anthem is an adaptation of one of those pieces, titled "In Church." The text comes from different scripture sources, including the psalm appointed for today, Psalm 1.

All of the organ music today is based on hymn tunes, two of which are being sung in the service today. The opening voluntary is a set of two variations of the tune WER NUR DEN LIEBEN GOTT, which we will sing at the presentation of the offering. The hymn in our hymnal is in 3/4 time, while the setting by the German composer Georg Böhm, is in 4/4 time.

Georg Böhm was one of the leading organists and organ composers in North Germany in the years around 1700. He is notable for his development of the chorale partita and for his influence on the young J. S. Bach. The opening voluntary is from one of his chorale partitas, large-scale compositions consisting of several variations on a particular chorale melody. He effectively invented the genre, writing several partitas of varying lengths and on diverse tunes. Later composers also took up the genre, most notably 

Bach. Böhm's chorale partitas feature sophisticated figuration in several voices over the harmonic structure of the chorale. His partitas generally have a rustic character and can be successfully performed on either the organ or the harpsichord.

Music for February 6, 2022 + The Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

Vocal Music

• Day by Day – Martin How (b. 1931)

Instrumental Music

• Meditation on “How Bright Appears the Morning Star” – David Bednall (b. 1979)
• Von Gott will ich nicht lassen [I will not forsake the Lord], BWV 658 – Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
• Wie Schön Leuchtet – David Cherwein (b. 1957)

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

• Hymn 362 - Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty (NICEA)
• Hymn R269 - Let all that is within me (Melvin Harrell)
• Hymn - Santo, santo, santo (Unknown)
• Hymn R149 - I, the Lord of sea and sky (HERE I AM, LORD)
• Hymn 537 - Christ for the world we sing (MOSCOW)
• Psalm 138 – Tone Va

The anthem today is a setting of the prayer by Richard of Chichester, the 13th century bishop and saint, who wrote the prayer

Thanks be to thee, our Lord Jesus Christ,

for all the benefits which thou hast given us,

for all the pains and insults which thou hast borne for us.

O most merciful Redeemer, Friend, and Brother,

may we know thee more clearly,

love thee more dearly,

and follow thee more nearly. Amen.

The prayer has been a hymn in the Episcopal church since its inclusion in The Hymnal 1940, though it's greater popularity has come from it's inclusion in the Broadway musical Godspell. Alas, the tune we are singing today is neither from the hymnal nor the musical, but a 1978 setting by Scottish-born organist Martin How. 

Martin How

The son of John How, a former Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway and the Primus of Scotland, Martin spent most of his career with the Royal School of Church Music where he was known principally as a choir trainer specializing in the training and motivation of young singers. In this capacity he initiated and developed the RSCM Chorister Training Scheme which has since been used in various forms in many parts of the world. He also inaugurated the RSCM Southern Cathedral Singers, a group which has broadcast frequently on BBC Radio's Choral Evensong from Canterbury Cathedral and elsewhere. He was awarded the MBE for 'Services to Church Music' in the 1993 New Years Honours List. 

Since his retirement from the RSCM he has returned to organ playing as an honorary member of the music staff at Croydon Minster.

David Bednall

The opening and closing voluntary are both based on the same hymn, the German chorale Wie Schön Leuchtet, which is found in our hymnal as hymn 496, “How Bright Appears the Morning Star” In the opening voluntary, David Bednall has given it a rather mystical treatment, with a slow, flowing triplet pattern accompanying a slow presentation of the cantus firmus. (Latin for "fixed melody", used to designate a pre-existing melody.)

English organist David Bednall is one of the leading choral composers of his generation. He is a Teaching Fellow and Organist of The University of Bristol, Sub Organist at Bristol Cathedral and Director of The University Singers. David Bednall has been Organ Scholar at The Queen's College, Oxford and at Gloucester Cathedral where he also served as Acting Director of Music and Acting Assistant Organist and served Wells Cathedral as assistant organist.

David Cherwien

The closing voluntary is a brilliant toccata on the same tune by the American organist David Cherwien.  Cherwien is currently serving as Cantor at Mt. Olive Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, MN, and in 2002 was appointed Artistic Director for the National Lutheran Choir, also based in the Twin Cities. He is a prolific composer with over 150 publications of choral and organ music, with several publishers including MorningStar Music, and is the 2007 winner of the Raabe Prize for Excellence in Sacred Composition for his piece, "The Souls of the Righteous."

The organ voluntary at Communion comes from J. S. Bach's great collection of 18 Chorale Preludes. The choral Von Gott will ich nicht lassen (I will not forsake God), BWV 658, set in the rare key of F minor (associated with tenderness and tranquility), harnesses with child-like innocence the Christian image of God. Bach sets the melody in the tenor voice (played in the pedal) sounding from within the flowing legato texture in the hands

Music for Sunday, January 30, 2022 + The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

Vocal Music

• The Gift of Love – Hal H. Hopson (b. 1933)

Instrumental Music

• Pastorale on “Abbot’s Leigh” – Joel Martinson (b. 1961)
• Rhapsody – Daniel Elder (b. 1986)
• Fughetta on “Abbot’s Leigh” – Joel Martinson

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

• Hymn 379 - God is Love, let heavens adore him (ABBOT’S LEIGH)
• Hymn 598 - Lord Christ, when first thou cam’st to earth (MIT FREUDEN ZART)
• Hymn - Through north and south and east and west (LASST UNS ERFREUEN)
• Hymn R218 - Broken for me (BROKEN FOR ME)
• Hymn 530 - Spread, O spread, thou mighty word (GOTT SEI DANK)
• Psalm 71:1-6 – Tone Va

The opening and closing voluntaries are from a set of short pieces by Dallas composer and friend, Joel Martinson. He has held the position of Director of Music and Organist at The Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration in Dallas, Texas, since June 2004. He coordinates the musical life of this vibrant parish, including choral and instrumental ensembles for all ages, as well as the music series Transfigured Nights. He led Transfiguration’s new organ project, which culminated in a 3-manual, 47-stop organ by the firm of Richards, Fowkes & Co. dedicated in 2010. 

An active composer, Joel Martinson has been commissioned by a wide array of churches, musical organizations and individual performers across the United States. In 2007 he was commissioned to write his work Four Short Journeys to ABBOTT'S LEIGH, the tune of our opening hymn this Sunday. What I like about the work is that there are four very different pieces which are inspired by the tune, not just another straight-forward presentation of the melody. You will hear fragments which will remind you of the familiar hymn-tune, but is also an organ work in its own right.

The opening voluntary is his Pastorale. It takes its inspiration from the first three notes of the hymn-tune, and octave arpeggio found in in the last line of the hymn. It also exploits a juxtaposition of the minor and major tonalities found in the third phrase of the hymn.

The closing voluntary, Fughetta, is a lively fugal piece with a subject based on the first four bars of the tune. After a few excursions to various keys, it ends with a short refrain of the hymn followed by a final presentation of the subject.

The anthem is a well-known and loved setting of the English folk-tune, O WALY WALY, coupled with a paraphrase of 1st Corinthians 13 by another Dallas composer, Hal Hopson. Since published as an anthem in 1972, it has since become popular as a hymn, appearing in 24 hymnals, including RENEW which we have in the pews.

Hopson is a prolific composer, arranger, clinician, teacher and promoter of congregational song, with more than 1300 published works, especially of hymn and psalm arrangements, choir anthems, and creative ideas for choral and organ music in worship. Born in Texas, with degrees from Baylor University (BA, 1954), and Southern Baptist Seminary (MSM, 1956), he served churches in Nashville, TN, and most recently at Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas. 

The communion voluntary is written by the young American composer Daniel Elder. A native of Georgia, he earned his BM degree from the University of Georgia in 2010, and his Masters of Music from Westminster Choir College 2012. He now divides his time between Los Angeles and Nashville, Tennessee. He has written in both choral and instrumental idioms, and has made quite a name for himself in his short life. 

Music for January 23, 2022 + The Third Sunday after Epiphany

Vocal Music

• Christ, Whose Glory – Rachel Aarons (b. 1984)

Instrumental Music

• Psalm XIX: The Heavens Declare the Glory of God – Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739)
• In Viam Pacis – Charles Callahan (b. 1951)
• Intrada on “Abbot’s Leigh” – Rebecca Groom te Velde (b. 1956)

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

• Hymn 475 - God himself is with us (TYSK)
• Hymn 576 - God is love, and where true love is (MANDATUM)
• Hymn 632 - O Christ, the Word Incarnate (MUNICH)
• Hymn R-226 - Ubi Caritas (Jacques Berthier)
• Hymn 539 - O Zion, haste (TIDINGS)
• Psalm 19 – Tone Va

This Sunday is a bit unusual in that of all the composers featured, only one is a dead white guy, and 50% of the composers are women!

Rachel Aarons

Let me start with telling you about the anthem. The familiar hymn Christ, whose glory fills the skies (no. 7 in our hymnal) has been given a new tune by Virginia composer Rachel Aarons. A native of Laramie, Wyoming, Aarons has played piano since the age of four. While in college, she studied piano, voice, and composition while pursuing a B.A. in French Language and Literature. Aarons composes for her church choir where she is happy to be a "Back Row Alto." She lives in Virginia with her husband, and her two dogs, and stays busy as a real estate agent.

In this setting, there are actually two different tunes. The first verse, sung by the trebles, is set to a jaunty tune in 6/8 time, one that would be easy to skip to. Verse two is totally different, in a restrained 4/4 meter, sung by the men. Then on the final stanza, the original tune reappears, this time in canon between the trebles and the basses. It is a refreshing take on these old words.

Rebecca Groom
te Velde

The other work by a female composer is the closing voluntary by Rebecca Groom te Velde. She is a third-generation professional organist, following both parents and her grandfather. She graduated summa cum laude from Seattle Pacific University where she studied organ and composition with her father, Lester H. Groom. In 1982, she received the M.Mus in organ literature and performance from the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. For the academic year 1980-81 she received a full grant from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) to study with Michael Schneider at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Cologne, Germany. In 1991 she assumed her present position as organist of First Presbyterian Church in Stillwater, OK. She is an active performer, composer, clinician, and adjunct instructor of music at Oklahoma State University.

te Velde has published several collections of works based on hymn tunes, including this "Intrada" or introduction to the tune ABBOT'S LEIGH (which we sing with the words "God is here, and we his people," "Lord, you give the great commission," and "God is Love, let heaven adore him," which we will sing at 10:15 next week.

Music for January 16th + The Second Sunday after Epiphany

Vocal Music

• Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring – J. S. Bach (1685-1750)

Instrumental Music

• Deck Thyself, My Soul, with Gladness, BWV 654 – J. S. Bach
• Deck Thyself, My Soul, with Gladness – Anne Krentz Organ (b. 1960)
• Praeludium in A Minor, BWV 559 – J. S. Bach

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 R90 - Spirit of the Living God (Daniel Iverson)
• Hymn 135 - Songs of thankfulness and praise (SALZBURG)
• Hymn R136 - Alleluia (ALLELUIA)
• Hymn 371 - Thou, whose almighty Word (MOSCOW)
• Psalm 36:5-10 - Tone IIa

This Sunday the choir sings one of Bach's most famous choral pieces. “Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring” is the English title of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Jesus bleibet meine Freude” from BWV 147 Cantata 147. “Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben”. Johann Schop (1590-1664) composed the movement's underlying chorale melody, “Werde munter, mein Gemüthe”. Bach's contribution was to harmonize and orchestrate it. Written during his first year in Leipzig, Germany, this chorale movement is one of Bach's most enduring works.The English version is attributed to the poet Robert Bridges. It is not a translation of the stanzas used within Bach's original version, but is inspired by stanzas of the same hymn that Bach had drawn upon: "Jesu, meiner Seelen Wonne", the lyrics of which were written in 1661 by Martin Janus.

Another of Bach's great organ works is his chorale prelude on the communion hymn Deck Thyself, My Soul, with Gladness, which is found in our hymnal at hymn 339. The original German title, “Schmücke dich, O liebe Seele,” is best translated as "Adorn yourself, O dear soul." It approaches the Eucharist more as a joyous feast than as a lamentation. The melody is attributed to Johann Crueger (1598-1662), and true to the first word of its title, Bach has “adorned” it with ornaments and melismas to the point of being difficult to recognize. It was one of the organ preludes for Prince Philip's funeral in April of this past year.

The same tune is the basis for the contemporary piano setting of the hymn by Lutheran composer Anne Krentz Organ. It's amusing to me that a composer with the surname "Organ" would arrange this as a piano piece, but her undergraduate degree was in piano performance, and a master’s degree in piano pedagogy. Piano teaching was her intended career. But, as she says,

 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. 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.

Organ is the Director of Music Ministries at St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Park Ridge, IL., where her responsibilities include worship planning, service playing, and the direction of the choral and instrumental music program which includes adult, youth, and children's choirs, handbell choirs, and a variety of instrumental ensembles.