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Music Notes for November 24, 2024

Hymn of the Day: All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name! ELW 634
Text: Edward Perronet, 1726-1792, sts. 1-4; J. Rippon, A Selection of Hymns, 1787, sts. 5-6
Tune: CORONATION Oliver Holden, 1765-1844

The first stanza of this hymn was printed anonymously in the Gospel Magazine (November (1779). Six months later the Gospel Magazine (April 1780) printed it again, this time with seven more stanzas by Edward Perronet and the title "On the Resurrection, the Lord is King." The hymn appeared once more in A Selection of Hymns (London, 1787) by John Rippen (1751-1836), There some stanzas were altered or completely changed. The title was "The spiritual Coronation," with a reference to Song of Solomon 3:11. Seven stanzas follow with titles: Angels, Martyrs, Converted Jews, Believing Gentiles, Sinners of Every Age, Sinners of Every Nation, Ourselves." With only minor modifications Evangelical Lutheran Worship uses as its first four stanzas the first four of Perronet from the Gospel Magazine and as its last two the last two from Rippon ("Sinners of Every Nation" and "Ourselves").

As with "How sweet the name of Jesus sounds" (ELW 620), the name of Jesus is associated with the imagery of the church as the bride of Christ from the Song of Solomon, but here the crowning on the wedding day is emphasized.
Edward Perronet came from a family of Huguenots who had fled from France to Switzerland and then moved to England, where Edward's father was an Anglican priest who sympathized with the Wesleys. In 1746 Edward and his brother became itinerant Methodist preachers. However, against the Wesleys' wishes, as one of these preachers he administered communion. In 1757 he published The Mitre, an intemperate satire on the Church of England, which further angered the Wesleys. He left them in 1771 to become one of the ministers of Selina, the Countess of Huntingdon. His attacks were not welcome there either, and he became a Congregational minister of a church near Canterbury. He wrote three volumes of religious poems.

John Rippon was born in England, joined the Baptist church at the age of sixteen, and the next year began to study for the Baptist ministry at the Baptist Academy in Bristol. In 1772, when he was twenty-two, he became the interim pastor at the Carter Lane Baptist Church in London. A year later he was made permanent and stayed for the next sixty-three years, until he died.

Offertory Anthem: “The Royal Banners Forward Go” Robert Benson (1942)

This anthem gives us a taste of an ancient procession combined with the Vexilla regis proderunt chant melody.

Composer's Note:

Legend holds that on No­vem­ber 19, 568, St. Ra­de­gund pre­sent­ed to the town of Poi­ti­ers a frag­ment be­lieved to be the true Cross. Fortunatus (the author of the hymn) was the one chos­en to re­ceive the rel­ic on its ar­riv­al at Poi­ti­ers. Imagine then, that along its journey, the relic is being carried in a grand procession that passes through cities and villages, and throngs of believers gathered along the roadside to see this mighty symbol of the Passion.

The royal banners forward go,
The cross shines forth in mystic glow;
Where he, by whom our flesh was made,
In that same flesh, our ransom paid.

Where deep for us the spear was dyed,
Life’s torrent rushing from His side,
To wash us in that precious flood,
Where flowed the water and the blood.

Fulfilled is all that David told
In true prophetic song of old,
That God, the nation's King should be,
And reign in triumph from the tree.

O tree of beauty, tree most fair,
Ordained those holy limbs to bear:
Gone is your shame, each crimsoned bough
Proclaims the King of Glory now.

Blest tree, whose chosen branches bore
The wealth that did the world restore,
The price of humankind to pay,
And spoil the spoiler of his prey.

To you, eternal Three in One,
Our songs shall rise in unison;
Those whom you ransom and restore,
Preserve and govern evermore. Amen.

Opening Voluntary: Chorale Prelude on SONG 13 Healey Willan (1880-1968)

Orlando Gibbons (baptised 25 December 1583 – 1625) was an English composer, virginalist and organist of the late Tudor and early Jacobean periods. He was a leading composer in the England of his day. He composed SONG 13 in soprano and bass parts and used it as a setting for a text from the Song of Songs. The tune was published in George Withers' Hymnes and Songs of the Church (1623) as hymn number 13 (hence the tune name). As in other hymnals, the melody is presented in a simplified isorhythmic (all equal rhythms) form; the more rhythmically varied original also had more notes and was better suited to solo singing.

There are 99 published chorale preludes by Healey Willan, however most of them are not Lutheran in origin. This is the third of Willan's set of Six Chorale Preludes, composed in 1950, based on the hymn tune of Orlando Gibbons, often known in hymnbooks as SONG 13.

Closing Voluntary: “Our God Reigns” David Blackwell (1961)

Leonard E. Smith, Jr., (1942) a singer, songwriter and music publisher of pop, gospel, folk, and contemporary Christian music, composed this song in 1973 in Riverton, New Jersey. Educated at Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, where he received a BA in philosophy, Smith first taught in public high schools, but his evangelical efforts in the schools created problems, resulting in his dismissal. He then began painting houses to support his family. One night as he was reading Isaiah 52 he was overwhelmed by the conviction that God was in control of his life and of all creation; he wrote this song that night in just five minutes. The song was first sung at New Covenant Community Church, where Smith served as worship leader. Though not published for some time, it became known internationally when evangelist Bob Mumford included it in his crusades. It was first published in a Servant Publications hymnal, Songs of Praise (vol. 2, 1977). In 1978 Smith added four additional verses. This hymn celebrates the rule and reign of God over the affairs of men and nations. He rules, not like an earthly king, but more like a shepherd taking care of His sheep, or like a mother hen, gathering her chicks under her wings. We are and have always been perfectly safe and secure living in Him. WHAT were we thinking? "In Him we live, and move, and have our being" means exactly what it says.

David Blackwell is an award-winning composer and freelance arranger, writer and editor. Undoubtedly one of our finest educational writers, his music is published in the UK and US and performed worldwide.

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Music Notes for November 17, 2024

Hymn of the Day: Jerusalem, My Happy Home (ELW 628)
Text: F. B. P., 16th cent.
Tune: LAND OF REST, North American traditional; arr. hymnal version

This hymn is five stanzas - #11, 2, 17, 21 and 6 - taken from a twenty-six stanza English hymn found in a manuscript in the British Museum, c. 1616, where it is headed “A Song Mad [sic] by F:B:P. To the tune of Diana." Behind it lies the medieval Latin Liber Mediationum (which also lies behind "Ah, holy Jesus”). In Julian’s Dictionary William T. Brooke discusses this hymn at length. He gives the Latin, all twenty-six stanzas by F. B. P., points to a corrupted nineteen-stanza version from The Song of Mary the Mother of Christ (1601), and suggests a prior common but now unknown source. He gives another version of the hymn from The Glass of vain-glorie (1585). It has forty-four stanzas, most of which relate to the new Jerusalem, F. B. P., and the Liber Meditationum, but some of which paraphrase the Song of Solomon (which prompted "How sweet the name of Jesus sounds"). The best guess about the initials F. B. P. is that they may denote a Roman Catholic priest, and the "tune of Diana" is equally unclear.

This "originally pentatonic tune" was paired with "O land of rest, for thee I sigh!" in the 1836 Appendix of Samuel Wakefield's shape-note tune book called The Christian Harp (Pittsburgh, 1832). Herbranson linked his hymn with John Dahle's tune LUTHER SEMINARY, found in the Service Book and Hymnal (1958). In Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) it was paired with a more pensive tune by Leo Sowerby (1895-1968) called PERRY, for which Kevin Norris wrote a chorale concertato. In Evangelical Lutheran Worship it gets a third tune. More than the first two, LAND OF REST highlights the motion and physicality of the text. If one finds such things significant, it also has a compound background beat whose three can be seen as reflecting or underscoring the trinitarian Three in whose name the church baptizes.

Offertory Anthem: “Unless You Lead Me, Love” Thomas Keesecker

Thomas Keesecker's setting of poetry by 13th cent. mystic Mechtild of Magdeburg invites us to dance and sing with the love that created the world. The music is not simplistic in its message or writing, and this anthem is a wonderful combination of metaphor, poetry, and beautiful melodic writing.

Mechthild of Magdeburg’s ideas are inspiring in their own right, but are all the more amazing considering the era she lived in (1207-1282) – a time from which women’s voices are mostly lost in the mists of time. What seems today as a literary jewel, was a “stone of offence” back then, because a FEMALE Beguine composed writings with a theological content in vernacular German and not in Latin, and she referred to a divine authorization for her mission. Her criticism of church dignitaries, religious laxity and claims to theological insight aroused so much opposition that some called for the burning of her writings. How fortunate we are that her words survive so we can bask in her reflected light.

Thomas Keesecker has served as a musician in Lutheran and Roman Catholic parishes in Virginia, Montana, and Maryland. His award-winning choral music has been published by several publishers. His studies at the Berklee College of Music in Boston and the Catholic University School of Music in Washington, D.C. prepared him for a career in which he has mixed classical technique and jazz improvisation. During the last decade, he has explored the nexus of creativity and healing and its implication for liturgical musicians.

I cannot dance, Lord,
unless you lead me.
If you want me to leap with abandon,
You must intone the song.
Then I shall leap into love,
From love into knowledge,
From knowledge into enjoyment,
And from enjoyment
beyond all human sensations.
There I want to remain,
yet want also to circle higher still.

Opening Voluntary: “Melody” Richard Purvis (1913-1994)

Richard Purvis was an American organist, composer, conductor and teacher. He began playing the organ publicly at the age of 14 in churches and in the Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. In addition to recitals and church services, Purvis played nightly recitals broadcast on the 7-rank style "E" Wurlitzer organ at the Chapel of the Chimes over local radio station KRE. His stage name was Don Irving and his theme song was “I'll Take an Option on You”.

He was admired as one of the finest organ improvisateurs in the U.S. In an era when so-called "romantic" music was out of favor with most composers, and atonal, serial music was considered the hallmark of serious composition, he was not afraid to write tuneful, accessible, richly colored, and even whimsical compositions that possessed commercial viability. He is especially remembered for his expressive recordings of the organ classics and his own lighter compositions for the instrument.

Closing Voluntary: “Puer nobis nascitur” David Schelat (1955)

PUER NOBIS is a melody from a fifteenth-century manuscript from Trier. However, the tune probably dates from an earlier time and may even have folk roots. PUER NOBIS was altered in Spangenberg's Christliches Gesangbüchlein (1568), in Petri's famous Piae Cantiones (1582), and again in Praetorius's Musae Sioniae (Part VI, 1609), which is the basis for the triple-meter version used in the 1987 Psalter Hymnal. Another form of the tune in duple meter is usually called PUER NOBIS NASCITUR. The tune name is taken from the incipit of the original Latin Christmas text, which was translated into German by the mid-sixteenth century as "Uns ist geborn ein Kindelein," and later in English as "Unto Us a Boy Is Born." The harmonization is from the 1902 edition of George R. Woodward's Cowley Carol Book. PUER NOBIS is a splendid tune with strong ties to both Christmas and Easter texts. So, if you might be asking yourself if I have been influenced by the commercial holiday decorations we now see everywhere, the answer is: no, the text I consider pertinent today is one based on the writings of Hildegard von Bingen, “O Holy Spirit, Root of Life”

David Schelat, recently retired Director of Music at First & Central Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, Delaware, is president and artistic director of Market Street Music (MSM), a non-profit corporation that creates musical experiences for audiences and musicians in the Delaware Valley. For MSM, he produces Thursday Noontime Concerts and Festival Concerts, as well as conducts Center City Chorale (a community choir of downtown workers), and Mastersingers of Wilmington (a concert choir of professional and amateur singers). Committed to new music, Mr. Schelat has facilitated commissions by Bruce Neswick, Gerald Near, and James Bassi and has conducted a number of Delaware premieres of recent compositions. In addition, he has explored a significant amount of secular and cross-cultural choral literature with the choral ensembles of First & Central and MSM.

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Music Notes for November 10, 2024

Hymn of the Day: Lord of Glory, You Have Bought Us (ELW 707)
Text: Eliza S. Alderson (1818-1889)
Tune: HYFRYDOL, Rowland H. Pritchard (1811-1887)

Eliza S. Alderson wrote this text about tithing, sent it to the committee working on an addition to Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861) and requested that, if it were chosen, her brother John B. Dykes would be asked to write a tune for it. It was chosen, and he wrote the pleasant and not memorable CHARITAS.

Rowland H. Pritchard was a textile worker and an amateur musician. He had a good singing voice and was appointed precentor in Graienyn. Many of his tunes were published in Welsh periodicals. He composed this most loved Welsh tune when he was only nineteen. It was published with about forty of his other tunes in his children's hymnal Cyfaill y Cantorion (The Singers' Friend) in 1844. HYFRYDOL means delightful, beautiful, sweet, melodious, etc. The “H” in the tune name is pronounced, both the ‘y’s are sounded like the ‘u’ in ‘nut’ and the ‘f’ is voiced like ‘v’. This tune can be found published with at least 91 different texts. This is probably because HYFRYDOL is not only a tune that is quite friendly to congregations but one that accommodates many texts very well.

Offertory Anthem: “O Taste and See” Ralph Vaughn Williams (1872-1958)

Ralph Vaughan Williamsnwas an English composer in the first half of the 20th century, and the founder of the nationalist movement in English music. He composed "O Taste and See" for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. The piece is a short motet for choir and organ, setting a text from Psalm 34. It reflects Vaughan Williams' deep interest in English choral traditions and his ability to blend simplicity with profound expressiveness. The work is characterized by its lyrical melody and harmonic richness, typical of Vaughan Williams' style, which often incorporated elements of English folk music and modal harmonies. His compositions frequently aimed to evoke a sense of English identity and spirituality, which is evident in "O Taste and See" through its serene and contemplative nature.

O taste and see how gracious the Lord is: blest is the man that trusteth in him.

Opening Voluntary: “Hyfrydol” David Cherwien

David Cherwien is a prominent musician who serves as the Cantor at Mount Olive Lutheran Church in Minneapolis and is the Artistic Director of the National Lutheran Choir. He holds degrees in Choral Music Education, Organ Performance, and Music Theory and Composition, and has extensive experience in church music across various cities, including Chicago, Seattle, and Berlin.

Closing Voluntary: “Trio #4” from Ten Trios for the Organ, Op. 49 Josef Rheinberger (1839-1901)

Josef Gabriel Rheinberger was an organist and composer, born in Liechtenstein and resident in Germany for most of his life. Young Josef showed exceptional musical talent at an early age. When only seven years old, he was already serving as organist of the Vaduz parish church, and his first composition was performed the following year. In 1849, he studied with composer Philipp M. Schmutzer (1821–1898) in Feldkirch, Vorarlberg. In 1851, his father, who had initially opposed his son's desire to embark on the life of a professional musician, relented and allowed him to enter the Munich Conservatorium. Not long after graduating, he became professor of piano and of composition at the same institution. When this first version of the Munich Conservatorium was dissolved, he was appointed répétiteur at the Court Theatre, from which he resigned in 1867.
Rheinberger married his former pupil, the poet and socialite Franziska "Fanny" von Hoffnaass (eight years his senior) in 1867. The couple remained childless, but the marriage was happy. Franziska wrote the texts for much of her husband's vocal work.

The stylistic influences on Rheinberger ranged from contemporaries such as Brahms to composers from earlier times, such as Mendelssohn, Schumann, Schubert and, above all, Bach. He was also an enthusiast for painting and literature (especially English and German).

In 1877 he was appointed court conductor, responsible for the music in the royal chapel. He was subsequently awarded an honorary doctorate by Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. A distinguished teacher, he numbered many Americans among his pupils, including Horatio Parker, William Berwald, George Whitefield Chadwick, Bruno Klein, Sidney Homer and Henry Holden Huss. Other students of his included German composers Engelbert Humperdinck and Richard Strauss and the conductor (and composer) Wilhelm Furtwängler. When the second (and present) Munich Conservatorium was founded, Rheinberger was appointed Royal Professor of organ and composition, a post he held for the rest of his life.

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Music Notes for November 3, 2024

Hymn of the Day: “Let Streams of Living Justice” ELW 710
Text: William Whitla (1934)
Tune: THAXTED, Gustav Holst (1874-1934)

William Whitla wrote this hymn text in 1989. It was published in Sing Justice! Do Justice! (1998), a collection of hymns that "grew out of a formal search for hymns on justice sponsored by the organizations Alternative for Simple Living and The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada. It had four stanzas.

Evangelical Lutheran Worship, not the only hymnal to do so, prints three of the four by omitting the second. Whitla is "not very keen" on this move, which he views as "cutting out both the too incarnational and the too feminine images." Here is what he says about the hymn:

"I wrote the hymn in 1989 just after the events in Tiananmen Square, and when the Mothers of the Disappeared in Argentina were bringing their campaign to the conscience of the world. At the same time, the religious and racial disputes in Ireland, Israel-Palestine, the Congo and other parts of Africa, and in Canada and many other countries over First Nation or Aboriginal rights all seemed impossible to solve. Unfortunately, similar events are still replayed, and only too-similar images in the Near East, Irag, Afghanistan, and now Somalia- not to mention the school shootings at home-recur and are now extended well beyond those earlier sad happenings. So I used some images from those events, especially in verse two, seen through echoes of the holocaust, to tell of the bad news before the Good News of verses three and four. Subsequent events only sharpened those images, alas. To me all of these parts are needed for a full expression of the biblical promises of hope and justice so long awaited, including the too-common images of both the child with the gun and the old ones dreaming for peace."

Here is stanza 2:

The dreaded disappearance of family and friend;
the torture and the silence- the fear that knows no end;
the mother with her candle, the child who holds a gun,
the old one nursing hatred- all seek release to come.
Each candle burns for freedom; each lights a tyrant's fall;
each flower placed for martyrs gives tongue to silenced call.

The tune, THAXTED, was originally set to the text "I vow to thee, my country" and then used for others. That it is a splendid melody is clear. Whether it is a congregational one is less clear. Like Parry's JERUSALEM (#711-for which Whitla has written "O dream of peace,") is the melody more orchestral than congregational, with problems of length, range and Anglophilia?

Choral Music for All Saints: REQUIEM, for Choir, Soprano and Baritone solo Eleanor Daley

Eleanor Daley (1955) is a Canadian composer of choral and church music, a church choir director, choral clinician and accompanist. She lives and works in Toronto, Ontario. Among her best-known works are The Rose Trilogy and Requiem. Eleanor Daley began composing as a result of practical need. “I fell into composing quite by accident. I was sick and tired of the one book of introits that was available for the church choir, and so I began writing my own.” As she did not intend to compose, her formal study is limited to one required class during her time at university. Daley found that she greatly enjoyed writing for her choir, and decided to write a new introit every week. This evolved into the composition of descants, psalm settings and pieces for full choir. Despite several awards and over 100 pieces in print, she humbly describes herself as self-taught and still learning.

Set to texts by poets Clare Harner (“Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep”) and Carolyn Smart (“The Sound Of The Birds”), and passages from the Hebrew and Christian Bibles, her Requiem serves as a celebrative exploration of life.

Daley is the recipient of numerous commissions. Her compositions have been widely performed, recorded, and aired throughout North America, Great Britain, Europe, South Africa, and the Far East.

Daley’s awards include the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors’ 1994 and 2004 National Choral Award for Outstanding Choral Composition of the Year, as well as three first place awards in the Amadeus Choir Carol Competition. She is the first Canadian composer to be commissioned by the American Choral Director’s Association Regional Conventions (2008), and her works have been featured on award winning recordings.

1. Requiem aeternam I

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine.
Grant them rest eternal, Lord our God, we pray to Thee.
— From Missa pro defunctis

Each night I listened for your call, when your call stopped I held my breath, suspended,
I'd grow accustomed to a dialogue with silence,
then wait for the sounds of night
you, dying,
and I but witness to the end
— From The Sound of the Birds*

2. Out Of The Deep

Out of the deep have I called unto Thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice.
O let Thine ears consider well: the voice of my complaint.
If Thou Lord wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss: O Lord, who may abide it?
For there is mercy with Thee: therefore shalt Thou be feared.
I look for the Lord: my soul doth wait for Him: and in His word is my trust.
My soul fleeth unto the Lord; before the morning watch, I say, before the morning watch.
O Israel, trust in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy: and with Him is plenteous redemption.
And He shall redeem Israel from their sins.
— Psalm 130

3. And God Shall Wipe Away All Tears

I heard a voice out of heaven saying, "Behold, the dwelling of God is with all people and God shall dwell with them and they shall be God's people. God shall be with them and the voice of weeping shall no more be heard; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away."
— Revelation 21:3,4

Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine.
Light eternal shine upon them, Lord.
— From Missa pro defunctis

I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
— From the Burial Service
1662 Book of Common Prayer

4. In Remembrance

Do not stand at my grave and weep. I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow, I am the diamond glint on snow, I am the sunlight on ripened grain, I am the gentle morning rain.
And when you wake in the morning's hush, I am the sweet uplifting rush of quiet birds in circled flight. I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry, I am not there, I did not die.
— Anonymous

5. I Heard A Voice From Heaven

I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me,
"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, for they rest from their labours: even so saith the spirit."
— From the Burial Service
1662 Book of Common Prayer

6. Thou Knowest, Lord

In the midst of life we are in death.
Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts; shut not Thy merciful ears to our prayer; but spare us, Lord most holy, O God most mighty, O holy and merciful Saviour, Thou most worthy Judge Eternal, suffer us not, at our last hour, for any pains of death to fall from Thee.
— From the Burial Service
1662 Book of Common Prayer

7. Requiem aeternam II

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, dona eis sempiternam requiem.
Grant them eternal rest, Lord our God, we pray to Thee, grant them everlasting rest.
— From Missa pro defunctis

The stillness is a room I've moved into, and you are not here, you are gone
the dark heart of a night without song
— From The Sound of the Birds*

8. In paradisum

Go forth upon Thy journey from this world, O Christian soul, in the name of God the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit, in company with the blessed angels and archangels and all the heavenly host. May Thy portion this day be in peace and Thy dwelling place in Jerusalem.
— From a Russian Benediction

In paradisum deducant angeli, in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Jerusalem. Chorus angelorum te suscipiat, et cum Lazaro quondam paupere, aeternam habeas requiem.
May the angels receive Thee in paradise. At Thy coming may the martyrs receive Thee and bring Thee into the Holy city Jerusalem. May the choir of angels receive Thee and with Lazarus, once a beggar, may Thou have eteral rest.
— From Missa pro defunctis

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, dona eis sempiternam requiem.
Grant them eternal rest, Lord our God, we pray to Thee, grant them everlasting rest.
— From Missa pro defunctis

* The Sound of the Birds appears in Carolyn Smart's The Way To Come Home, Brick Books, London. Ontario. 1992

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Music Notes for October 27, 2024

Hymn of the Day: God Whose Almighty Word ELW 673
Text: John Marriott (1780-1825)
Tune: ITALIAN HYMN, Felipe Giardini (1716-1796)

This hymn, beginning "Thou Whose eternal word," was quoted by the Rev. Thomas Mortimer, M.A., Lecturer of St. Olave's, Southwark, and afternoon Lecturer at St. Leonard's, Shoreditch, at the meeting of the London Missionary Society in Great Queen Street Chapel, London, on Thur., May 12, 1825, and was printed with a digest of the speech in the Evangelical Magazine, June 1825. It was probably copied from the Magazine into the Friendly Visitor of July , 1825. Written, his son says, "about 1813." It was printed in The Friendly Visitor, July, 1825, in 4 st. of 11., with the Title "Missionary Hymn," and without signature. This text differs only in two or three words from the original as supplied by the author's son to Dr. Rogers and published by him in his Lyra Brittanica, 1867, p. 395. Two texts are known which are received as original, the first the undoubted text in Lyra Brittanica, and the second that given by Lord Selborne from the Collection of Dr. Baffles, Congregational Minister of Liverpool.

When young, Felice Giardini studied singing, harpsichord, and violin and became a composer and violin virtuoso. By age 12 he was playing in theatre orchestras. His most instructive lesson: While playing a solo passage during an opera, he decided to show off his skills by improvising several bravura variations that the composer, Jommelli, had not written . Although the audience applauded loudly, Jommelli, who happened to be there, went up and slapped Giardini in the face. He learned a lesson from that. He toured Europe as a violinist, considered one of the greatest musical artists of his time. He served as orchestra leader and director of the Italian Opera in London, giving concerts. He tried to run a theatre in Naples, but encountered adversity. He went to Russia, had little fortune there but remained until his death.

Offertory: “Psalm 46” Peter R. Hallock (1924-2014)

Psalm 46 is the 46th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble". In Latin it is known as "Deus noster refugium et virtus". The song is attributed to the sons of Korah. The psalm forms a regular part of Jewish, Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and other Protestant liturgies. According to Charles Spurgeon, Psalm 46 is called a "song of holy confidence"; it is also known as "Luther's Psalm", as Martin Luther wrote his popular hymn "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" using Psalm 46 as a starting point. Luther's hymn has been quoted in many musical works, both religious and secular, including Bach's cantata Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, BWV 80.

2024 is the centenary of Peter Hallock’s birth. Peter Hallock’s compositions are rooted in the experience of the spiritual — especially through the acoustical space of Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle, Washington, where he spent the major part of his working life. Organist/choirmaster at Saint Mark’s for 40 years (1951-1991) and founder and director of The Compline Choir (1956-2009), Hallock produced works that have greatly enriched the sacred repertoire. He also made a number of pioneering contributions to local and national church music traditions in the United States, promoting such things as the tracker-action organ, the countertenor voice, Easter services with brass and percussion, modern liturgical dramas and processions, and performances with historically-informed instruments. But his most notable gift to the church was the creation of a choir that sings the Office of Compline at St. Mark’s every Sunday evening, attracting attendees in the hundreds, and thousands listening each week to the broadcast — reviving interest in this last of the Divine Hours.

1. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
2. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be moved, and though the mountains be toppled into the depths of the sea;
3. Though its waters rage and foam, and though the mountains tremble at its tumult.
5. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.
6. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be over-thrown; God shall help her at the break of day.
7. The nations make much ado, and the kingdoms are shaken; God has spoken, and the earth shall melt away.
9. Come now and look upon the works of the Lord, what awesome things he has done on earth.
10. It is he who makes war to cease in all the world; he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear, and burns the shields with fire.
11. “Be still, then, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth.”

Opening Voluntary “Amazing Grace” Jack Schrader, arr. (1942)

Part of our American heritage, Amazing Grace is a hymn everyone knows, and this arrangement in a slow, gospel style adds a richness to the melody and power to the message.

Jack Schrader, arranger, composer, conductor, vocalist, and organist/pianist, is past editor with Hope Publishing Company, retiring in January of 2009. His association with Hope began in 1978. A 1964 graduate of Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, where he majored in Voice and Organ, he also received the Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Nebraska (1966). Further studies in theology culminated in Jack's ordination by the Evangelical Free Church of America (1975). Born in St. Louis, Missouri, he now resides in Florida.

Closing Voluntary: “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” Wilbur Held (1914-2015)

Wilbur Held was born in the little Chicago suburb of Des Plaines. Dr. Held’s mother was an accomplished violinist, and there was always music in his home and his church. But piano lessons were poorly practiced, and the decision to get serious about music didn’t happen until after graduation from high school when he enrolled at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, studying organ with Frank van Dusen and theory/composition with John Palmer. After getting serious he did pretty well, and midway in his studies he became Leo Sowerby’s assistant at St. James Church–an association that lasted seven years. He received a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the conservatory.

In 1946 he joined the faculty at the Ohio State University, where he became Professor of Organ and Church Music and head of the keyboard department. He remained in this position for over 30 years, and for most of that time was also organist-choirmaster at Trinity Episcopal Church in Columbus, Ohio.

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Music Notes for October 20, 2024

Hymn of the Day: O Christ, What Can It Mean for Us (ELW 431)
Text: Delores Dufner, OSB, (1939)
Tune: ALL SAINTS NEW, Henry S. Cutler, (1824–1902)

This hymn tune was first published in Delores Dufner’s collection The Glimmer of Glory in Song (2003). Dufner, the author of the hymn text, says this about it:

The question is, “What can it mean for us to claim Christ as our king?” My answer: It means that we may not wield poower over others as the world does, letting might take precedence over right. The way of love is opposite the way of power and, as followers of Jesus, we are called to take the way of love. Love shows itself in other-centered service rather than self-centeredness. The fact that we are wealthy and powerful as individuals, and as a nation, places on us a special responsibility to care for those who are poor and weak.

In this hymn she “tried to reflect that humbler image of Christ, a ‘different kind of king’ whom we are invited to imitate.”

Henry Stephen Cutler composed ALL SAINTS NEW in 1872 for Reginald Heber's text "The Son of God Goes Forth to War," and the two were published together in Hymnal with Tunes, Old and New (1872). That text refers to "the glorious band" of God's people, helping to explain the chosen tune title. The NEW is to distinguish this tune from others that are also called ALL SAINTS. ALL SAINTS NEW has a processional or martial character, inherited no doubt from Cutler's love for the British cathedral tradition of choir processions.

Cutler studied music in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1844. He moved to England, where he listened with interest to the cathedral choirs and came under the influence of the Oxford Movement. Returning to Boston in 1846, Cutler became organist of the Episcopal Church of the Advent and formed a choir of men and boys, to whom he introduced the wearing of liturgical robes. When he took a position at Trinity Church in New York City, he removed women from the choir and used the occasion of a visit by the Prince of Wales to the church to introduce his newly vested men and boys' choir. He also moved the choir from the gallery to the chancel and initiated the chanting of the psalms and the singing of part of the worship service. Cutler compiled The Psalter, with Chants (1858) and published The Trinity Psalter (1864) and Trinity Anthems (1865).

Offertory Anthem: “O For A Closer Walk With God” Charles Stanford (1852-1924)
Text: William Cowper (1731-1800)
Tune: CAITHNESS (anonymous tune, Scottish Psalter, 1635)

Today’s anthem is a beloved setting by Sir Charles Villiers Stanford of the Anglican hymn, “O For A Closer Walk With God,” its text written by William Cowper and set to an anonymous tune from the Scottish Psalter, 1635.

William Cowper (pronounced “Cooper”) is regarded as one of the best early Romantic poets. To biographers he is also known as "mad Cowper." His literary talents produced some of the finest English hymn texts, but his chronic depression accounts for the somber tone of many of those texts. Educated to become an attorney, Cowper was called to the bar in 1754 but never practiced law.

William Cowper wrote this text on December 9, 1769, during the illness of his long-time friend and housekeep­er, Mrs. Unwin. In a letter written the next day Cowper voiced his anxieties about her condition and about what might happen to him if she died. Saying that he composed the text "to surren­der up to the Lord" all his "dearest comforts," Cowper added,

Her illness has been a sharp trial to me. Oh, that it may have a sanctifying effect! . . . I began to compose the verses yesterday morning before daybreak, but fell asleep at the end of the first two lines; when I awoke again, the third and fourth were whispered to my heart in a way which I have often experienced.

Although Cowper frequently battled depression, doubt, and melancholy, this text speaks of a very intimate walk with the Lord. This song reminds us of the reality that we, though being children of God, do still wander from him, lose the sense of his presence, and need to return.

For the last two decades of his life Cowper lived in Olney, where John Newton became his pastor. There he assisted Newton in his pastoral duties, and the two collaborated on the important hymn collection Olney Hymns (1779), to which Cowper contributed sixty-eight hymn texts.

O for a closer walk with God, a calm and heavenly frame,
a light to shine upon the road that leads me to the Lamb!

Return, O holy Dove, return, sweet messenger of rest!
I hate the sins that made Thee morn and drove Thee from my breast.

So shall my walk be close with God, calm and serene my frame;
so purer light shall mark the road that leads me to the Lamb.

Opening Voluntary “Marching to Zion” Robert Buckley Farlee

To set the tone for the Gathering Hymn, I’ve chosen a setting of the hymn tune ”Marching to Zion” by Robert Lowry (1826 – 1899), an American preacher who became a popular writer of gospel music in the mid-to late 19th century. Some of his music includes “Shall We Gather at the River” and “How Can I Keep From Singing”.

Closing Voluntary “Carillon” Phillip M Young (1937)

Philip M. Young is a native of Greenville, South Carolina. He received his education at North Greenville University, Furman University, and the Graduate School of Music of Florida State University. In 1987 he was awarded the honorary Doctor of Letters from Campbell University.

He served as Minister of Music of The First Baptist Church of Henderson, NC from 1959 to his retirement in 2004, when he was named the church's Composer in Residence.

As a composer he has received numerous awards and commissions. He is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, having won numerous ASCAP standard compositions annual awards.

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Music Notes for October 13, 2024

Hymn of the Day: God of Grace and God of Glory (ELW 705)
Text: William Williams, 1717-1791
Tune: CWM RHONDDA, John Hughes, 1873-1932

The original text of this hymn was written in Welsh by William Williams, a circuit-riding preacher, in 1745, and given the original title, “A prayer for strength to go through the wilderness of the world.” It has since been translated in seventy-five languages. It was translated into English by Peter Williams (no relation) in 1771. Most modern hymnals now use the first verse of Peter’s translation, and the last two from William’s own translation into English.
The notion of “the wilderness” or “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.

CWM RHONDDA is a popular hymn tune written by John Hughes in 1907. The tune name is taken from the Welsh name for the Rhondda Valley. It is usually used in English as a setting for William Williams' text "Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer" (or, in some traditions, "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah"), originally Arglwydd, arwain trwy’r anialwch ("Lord, lead me through the wilderness") in Welsh. The tune and hymn are often called "Bread of Heaven" because of a repeated line in this English translation.

In Welsh the tune is most commonly used as a setting for a hymn by Ann Griffiths, Wele'n sefyll rhwng y myrtwydd ("Lo, between the myrtles standing"), and it was as a setting of those words that the tune was first published in 1907.
John Hughes wrote the first version of the tune, which he called "Rhondda", for the Cymanfa Ganu (hymn festival) in Pontypridd in 1905, when the enthusiasm of the 1904–1905 Welsh Revival was quite high. The present form was developed for the inauguration of the organ at Capel Rhondda, in Hopkinstown in the Rhondda Valley, in 1907. Hughes himself played the organ at this performance. The name was changed from RHONDDA to CWM RHONDDA by Harry Evans, of Dowlais, to avoid confusion with another tune, by M. O. Jones.

Besides being sung at churches and concerts (all-male choirs particularly seem to love this tune), CWM RHONDDA is heartily sung at rugby matches and royal weddings in Wales. The tune has been praised for its ability to stir up hwyl, a strong feeling of passion, by those who sing it. This is due in no small part to the climbing melody in the tune’s third phrase (“bread of heaven, bread of heaven, feed me till I want no more”) which reaches its climax on a dominant seventh chord.

Offertory Anthem: “Even When God is Silent” Sumner Jenkins (1962)

This is a beautifully set, powerful and moving testament to faith. The anonymous text found written on a basement wall in Cologne, Germany had been written by someone hiding from the Gestapo during the Nazi holocaust. 
Mr. Jenkins holds degrees in Church Music and Organ Performance from Shenandoah Conservatory of Music in Winchester, VA. and has done additional study with Dr. Wilma Jensen and Diane Meredith Belcher. He is an active member of the Association of Anglican Musicians and the American Guild of Organists. Sumner joined St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Lynchburg, VA in September, 2016. 

I believe in the sun even when it isn't shining.
I believe in love even when feeling it not.
I believe in God even when God is silent.
I believe in the silence.

Opening Voluntary: “Jesus, Our Divine Companion” Robert Hebble (1934–2020)

This piece is a setting of PLEADING SAVIOR. It was composed by Joshua Leavitt (1794-1873) who was born in Heath, MA, earned a degree from Yale College, practiced law in Putney, VT, was graduated from Yale Seminary, was ordained and served as a Congregational minister at Stratford, CT for four years before he moved to New York City to serve as Secretary of the American Seamens’ Friend Society. He was for many years musical advisor to the most famous revivalist of the Second Great Awakening, Charles Grandison Finney. In 1831 he compiled and published The Christian Lyre, the first hymnal to print music (melody and bass) for every hymn.

American organist and composer Robert Hebble was a graduate of Yale University and the Juilliard School, where he studied with Vittorio Giannini and Roger Sessions. He also spent a year in Paris in private study with Nadia Boulanger. For over thirty years, Hebble's career was closely linked with the famed organist Virgil Fox. Fox was one of the first to recognize Hebble's creative gifts, appointing Hebble as his assistant at New York's Riverside Church at the age of sixteen.

Closing Voluntary: “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah (ZION)” Herbert Colvin, arr. (1924 - 2011)

I found this setting of William Williams’ text set to the tune ZION composed by Thomas Hastings, and give it here today for an interesting comparison with the Hymn of the Day. In fact, the pairing of this text and ZION is found in more hymnals than CWM RHONDDA.

Thomas Hastings was born at Washington, Lichfield County, Connecticut. In 1786, the family moved to Clinton, Oneida Co., N. Y. There, amid rough frontier life, his opportunities for education were small; but at an early age he developed a taste for music, and began teaching it in 1806. Seeking a wider field, he went, in 1817, to Troy, then to Albany, and in 1823 to Utica, where he conducted a religious journal, in which he advocated his special views on church music. In 1832 he was called to New York to assume the charge of several Church Choirs, and there his last forty years were spent in great and increasing usefulness and repute. He died at New York, May 15, 1872. His aim was the greater glory of God through better musical worship; and to this end he was always training choirs, compiling works, and composing music. His hymn-work was a corollary to the proposition of his music-work; he wrote hymns for certain tunes; the one activity seemed to imply and necessitate the other. If we take the aggregate of American hymnals published during the last fifty years or for any portion of that time, more hymns by him are found in common use than by any other native writer. Not one of his hymns is of the highest merit, but many of them have become popular and useful.

Herbert Colvin was Professor of Music Theory and Chair of the Theory Department at Baylor University. His compositions include both organ and choral literature. He was organist at Seventh and James Baptist Church in Waco, Texas. When Baylor University acquired a carillon, Dr. Colvin became the University Carillonneur until he retired from that position in 2006.

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Music Notes for September 29, 2024

Hymn of the Day: Holy God, We Praise Your Name, ELW 414
Text: source unknown; tr. Clarence A. Walworth, 1820–1900
Tune: GROSSER GOTT, TE DEUM Katholisches Gesangbuch, Vienna, 1774

Translators are hymn writers too, and they contribute significantly to Christian hymnody. Translating hymn texts for singing is even more challenging than translating prose. The translator must honor the content of the original poetry, while writing a version that fits the meter and word accent of a pre-existing tune. Then the words should sing as naturally as possible in the new language. In many ways, translating a hymn text for singing is like writing a new hymn text.

Clarence Augustus Walworth studied for the ministry at Union College (1838), considering a vocation as an Episcopal priest. Then, following his father’s bidding, he studied law, passed the bar, and became an attorney in 1841. Abandoning law, he continued his study at General Theological Seminary, New York City. According to his obituary, Walworth decided to become a Roman Catholic priest while in New York, entered the Order of Redemptorists and, under their direction, continued his study in Belgium for five years. He served in England for two years before returning to the United States. In 1858 he collaborated with others to form the Order of Paulists. Following a severe bout with malaria, he became a pastor of St. Mary’s Church, Albany, New York, from 1866-1892. He died in Albany in 1900. In addition to publishing a number of works, he was an amateur geologist, developing an extensive knowledge of the geological topography of New York State.

Also known as: FRAMINGHAM, GROSSNER, GROSSER GOTT, HALLE, HUNGARIAN MELODY, LAUDAMUS, PARIS, PASCHAL, STILLORGAN. GROSSER GOTT was set to the German versification in the Katholisches Gesangbuch. Variants of the tune abound.

Offertory Anthem: “Eternal Light Shine in My Heart” K. Lee Scott (1950)

K. Lee Scott has emerged as one of America’s foremost composers of music for the church during the past two decades. His hymns are found in eight hymnals including A New Hymnal for Colleges and Schools (Yale University Press), Voices United (The United Church of Canada), and With One Voice (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America).

The text by Christopher Idle is based on Corinthians 4:6.

Eternal light, shine in my heart; Eternal hope, lift up my eyes;
Eternal pow'r, be my support; Eternal wisdom, make me wise.

Eternal life, raise me from death; Eternal brightness, help me see;
Eternal Spirit, give me breath; Eternal Savior, come to me:

Until by your most costly grace, Invited by your holy word,
At last I come before your face To know you, my eternal God.

God, who commanded the light to shine in the darkness, Has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledg Of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Opening Voluntary: Aria on “Jewels” Dale Wood (1934-2003)

“Jewels” is a hymn tune and text written by George F. Root, who was born at Sheffield, Massachusetts, and named after the German composer George Frideric Handel. Root left his farming community for Boston at 18, flute in hand, intending to join an orchestra. He worked for a while as a church organist in Boston, and from 1845 taught music at the New York Institute for the Blind, where he met Fanny Crosby with whom he would compose fifty to sixty popular secular songs. At least two of his children, Frederic Woodman Root and Grace W. Root, also became composers. He was a romantic American composer, who found particular fame during the American Civil War, with songs such as "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!" and "The Battle Cry of Freedom". He is regarded as the first American to compose a secular cantata. Four of his hymns are in I. D. Sankey's Sacred Songs & Solos, 1878. Although he wrote over 400 hymns texts and tunes, he is much more widely known as a composer of popular music than as a hymn writer. He died Aug. 6, 1895.

Dale Wood was known throughout the musical community as a master of melody, and "the difficult art of simplicity." In addition to his prolific volume of published choral works and hymn tunes, his compositions for handbells, harp, and organ are performed on a regular basis throughout the world. Every Christmas, Easter, and Sunday morning, one can expect to hear his music being sung or played somewhere by small church choirs, renowned organists, symphony orchestras, and choral groups as large and well-known as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, which has performed and recorded many of his works.

Closing Voluntary: “Archangel Suite: I Michael” Craig Phillips 

“Michael" is a trumpet processional with a martial opening in trumpet-tune style portraying St. Michael, the chief angelic adversary of Satan.

Craig Phillips is a distinguished and popular American composer and organist and Director of Music at All Saints' Church, Beverly Hills. His choral and organ music is heard Sunday by Sunday in churches and cathedrals across the United States, and many of his works have been performed in concert throughout North America, Europe and Asia. He was named the American Guild of Organists Distinguished Composer for 2012, the seventeenth recipient of this special award. In 2015 Dr. Phillips was named an honorary canon of the Cathedral Center of St. Paul, Diocese of Los Angeles, at a gala event at Walt Disney Concert Hall, and in 2016 he was awarded an honorary Doctorate from Virginia Theological Seminary.

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Music Notes for September 22, 2024

Hymn of the Day:  Lord, Whose Love in Humble Service ELW 712
Text: Albert F. Bayly, 1901-1984
Tune: BEACH SPRING, The Sacred Harp, Philadelphia, 1844.

Albert F. Bayly wrote this text in response to a Hymn Society of America search for new hymn texts dealing with social welfare. It was chosen as the theme hymn for the Second National Conference on the Churches and Social Welfare held in Cleveland, Ohio, October 23-27, 1961. The Hymn Society published the text in Seven New Social Welfare Hymns (1961). The text begins with recognition of Christ's ultimate sacrifice on the cross and then points to the continuing needs of the homeless, the hungry, the prisoners, and the mourners. Bayly's words remind us of modern refugees, AIDS patients, and famine victims who are as close as our doorstep or who are brought to our attention via the news media. The final two stanzas encourage us to move from Sunday worship to weekday service; such integrity in the Christian life is truly a liturgy of sacrifice, pleasing to God.

Albert F. Bayly was born in Bex­hill on Sea, Sus­sex, Eng­land. He received his ed­u­cat­ion at Lon­don Un­i­ver­si­ty (BA) and Mans­field Coll­ege, Ox­ford. Bayly was a Congregationalist (later United Reformed Church) minister from the late 1920s until his death in 1984. His life and ministry spanned the Depression of the 1930s, the Second World War, and the years of reconstruction which followed. Af­ter re­tir­ing in 1971, he moved to Spring­field, Chelms­ford, and was ac­tive in the local Unit­ed Re­formed Church. He wrote sev­er­al pageants on mis­sion themes, and li­bret­tos for can­ta­tas by W. L. Lloyd Web­ber.

Offertory: “Children of the Heavenly Father” Paul Sjolund (1935)

Caroline W. Sandell Berg (1832- 1903), is better known as Lina Sandell, the "Fanny Crosby of Sweden." "Lina" Wilhelmina Sandell Berg was the daughter of a Lutheran pastor; she wrote hymns partly to cope with the fact that she witnessed his tragic death by drowning. Many of her 650 hymns were used in the revival services of Carl O. Rosenius, and a number of them gained popularity particularly because of the musical settings written by gospel singer Oskar Ahnfelt. Jenny Lind, the famous Swedish soprano, underwrote the cost of publishing a collection of Ahnfelt's music, Andeliga Sänger (1850), which consisted mainly of Berg's hymn texts. This hymn promises amazing life and hope from a woman who lived in great pain and anguish. Much like Horatio Spafford’s timeless hymn, “When Peace like a River,” Lina Sandell-Berg’s “Children of the Heavenly Father” was written under the influence of incredible grace amidst heart-wrenching pain. The gorgeous tune is just as comforting as the lyrics, lifting the soul and calming the spirit. The tune for this hymn is called TRYGGARE KAN INGEN VARA. The exact composer is unknown, but the tune is probably a Swedish folk song— although variations on the tune are known to have been in Germany in the early 1800’s.

Paul Sjolund is a leading composer of American church and choral music. The range of his style includes a wide spectrum of majestic anthems, fanfares and festival hymns, poignant children's music, and exhilarating range of spirituals and folksongs.

Children of the heav'nly Father, safely in His bosom gather;
nestling bird nor star in heaven such a refuge e’er was given.

God His own doth tend and nourish; in His holy courts they flourish.
From all evil things He spares them; in His mighty arms He bears them.

Neither life nor death shall ever from the Lord His children sever;
unto them His grace He showeth, and their sorrows all He knoweth.

Tho' He giveth or He taketh, God His children ne’er forsaketh;
His the loving purpose solely to preserve them pure and holy.

Opening Voluntary: “Morecambe,” Pamela Decker (1955)

Frederick Atkinson (1841-1897) wrote the Victorian tune MORECAMBE, named after a town in England’s Midland district. His intent was to provide a musical setting for Henry Francis Lyte’s famous text, “Abide with me, fast falls the eventide”. Indeed the rhythm is identical between EVENTIDE, the tune associated with “Abide with me,” and MORECAMBE. There is, however, no doubt that MORECAMBE is well suited to the text “Spirit of God.” In the first stanza, a descending melody accompanies the words, “descend upon my heart.” Likewise an ascending melody in the third line allows the words “mighty as thou art” to blossom. This rising figure works amazingly well with the text of each stanza. The final three notes of the melody, all on the same pitch, do not end on the customary tonic, home tone or first degree of the scale, but on the third degree. By concluding the melody on the third degree of the scale, there is a floating quality to the ending of each stanza, reminiscent of the hovering of the descending Dove, one of the metaphors of the Spirit.

Pamela Decker is Professor of Organ/Music Theory at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona and she also serves as organist at Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Tucson.  She has won prizes in national and international competitions for organ and composition.

Closing Voluntary: KIRKEN DEN ER ET (Built on a Rock) Wilbur Held (1914-2015)

Composed for this text by Ludwig M. Lindeman (1812-1887), KIRKEN was published in Wilhelm A. Wexel's Christelige Psalmer (1840). A bar form (AAB) tune in the Dorian mode, it is a suitably rugged, folk-like tune for this text, with a satisfying climax in the final line.

KIRKEN (also called LINDEMAN) was the first hymn tune Lindeman wrote. Born into a family of musicians, Lindeman received his early organ training from his father, for whom he became a substitute organist at the age of twelve. Although he studied theology in Oslo (then called Christiana), after 1839 he turned to a career in music. He was the organist of the Church of the Savior in Oslo (1839-1887) and became a virtuoso performer. In 1871 he was invited to come to London to give inaugural recitals on the new organ in Albert Hall. Lindeman published hymn collections and organ works as well as the influential Koralbog (1877), which contained tunes (restored to rhythmic shape) for Landstad's hymnal of 1869. He was also an excellent teacher and founded an organ school (later the Oslo Conservatory) with his son in 1883. A scholarly collector of Norwegian folk music, Lindeman traveled the country collecting folk songs, which he published in a series of volumes (1853-1867) and which influenced the works of composer Edvard Grieg.

Wilbur Held was born in the little Chicago suburb of Des Plaines. Dr. Held’s mother was an accomplished violinist, and there was always music in his home and his church. But piano lessons were poorly practiced, and the decision to get serious about music didn’t happen until after graduation from high school when he enrolled at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, studying organ with Frank van Dusen and theory/composition with John Palmer. After getting serious he did pretty well, and midway in his studies he became Leo Sowerby’s assistant at St. James Church–an association that lasted seven years. He received a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the conservatory. In 1946 he joined the faculty at the Ohio State University, where he became Professor of Organ and Church Music and head of the keyboard department. He remained in this position for over 30 years, and for most of that time was also organist-choirmaster at Trinity Episcopal Church in Columbus, Ohio.

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Music Notes for September 8, 2024

Hymn of the Day: Healer of our ev'ry ill ELW 612
Text: Marty Haugen, 1950
Tune: HEALER OF OUR EV’RY ILL, Marty Haugen

Marty Haugen wrote this meditative song during the winter of 1985-86. During this time, his family was staying at Holden Village, a retreat center in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State. On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger crashed shortly after takeoff. According to Haugen:

In addition to the loss of seven astronauts, this crash was a symbolic loss for Americans. At Holden we had very infrequent communication with the outside world, so we did not know of the disaster for a couple of days. When we got some information, we held a service in the evening together, and “Healer of our Every Ill” was written as an expression for our community to grieve together (Daw, 2016, 795, quoting Westermeyer, 2010, 451).

Haugen uses the text of this hymn as a prayer for healing, not only of the body but also of the mind and spirit. The refrain, “Give us peace beyond our fear, and hope beyond our sorrow,” is a powerful prayer and helps us express thoughts we find difficult to put into words. This hymn is also about joy, as evidenced in stanza two with the words, “your grace is still unfolding.” Stanza three’s text, “Give us strength to love each other,” uses language that urges us, even in times of sorrow and fear, to show love and kindness to our sisters and brothers in Christ. The last verse of the hymn asks us to teach Christ’s way of healing and to fill each heart with compassion.

Marty Haugen was born in Wanamingo, Minnesota. Haugen studied piano, violin, trombone, and organ through high school, and he played organ in the Lutheran church where his family attended. He holds degrees from Luther College and United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, and participated in graduate work in Pastoral Studies at what is now Luther Seminary and the St. Paul School of Divinity of the University of St. Thomas (Canterbury Dictionary). His hymns have become very popular and can be found in many hymnals today, including the Chalice Hymnal and Evangelical Lutheran Worship. The majority of his compositions are published by GIA publications, including two settings of the liturgy for Lutheran use, “Holden Evening Prayer” and “Now the Feast and Celebration.” He has also composed settings of the Catholic Mass, including the “Mass of Creation.” Haugen has composed numerous choral arrangements, sacred songs, and hymns, including “Gather Us In,” “Eye Hath Not Seen,” “Canticle of the Sun,” “We Are Many Parts,” “We Remember,” “Shepherd Me, O God,” and “Awake!” Currently, he writes contemporary hymns and liturgies for the Lutheran church and holds a position as composer in residence at Mayflower Community Church in Minneapolis.

Offertory: Sing a New Song Michael Praetorious (1571-1621), Mark Schweitzer, arr.

This is the famous cannon offered today in 3 parts with a dance-like arrangement by Mark Schweitzer and a text based on Psalm 96. Michael Praetorius was a German composer, organist, and music theorist. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of musical forms based on Protestant hymns. His family name in German appears in various forms including Schultze, Schulte, Schultheiss, Schulz and Schulteis. Praetorius was the conventional Latinized form of this family name, Schultze meaning "village judge or magistrate" in German. The Latin Praetorius means "magistrate-related or one with the rank of a magistrate."

Sing a new song, sing to God with a voice of triumph,
Make his praises known to all the nations,
Sing the honor of his name.

Opening Voluntary: “Prelude” from Suite Breve Craig Phillips (1961)

Craig Phillips is a distinguished and popular American composer and organist and Director of Music at All Saints’ Church, Beverly Hills. His choral and organ music is heard Sunday by Sunday in churches and cathedrals across the United States, and many of his works have been performed in concert throughout North America, Europe and Asia. He was named the American Guild of Organists Distinguished Composer for 2012 — the seventeenth recipient of this special award. Dr. Phillips joins an illustrious list that includes past honorees Virgil Thomson, Ned Rorem, Daniel Pinkham, Stephen Paulus and David Hurd.

Closing Voluntary “Herr Jesu Christ! dich zu uns wend” Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877–1933)

The text Herr Jesu Christ! dich zu uns wend, was first published in 1648. Whoever the composer was, the hymn soon became justly popular, and in 1678 it was formally directed to be sung in all the churches in Saxony on all Sundays and festivals. It is a simple and forcible hymn, which survived the Rationalistic period, and text and tune are currently found together in 136 hymnals.

The chorale improvisation based on this hymn, is one of my favorites by Sigfrid Karg-Elert, who composed primarily for small ensembles or solo instruments like organ, piano and harmonium. The 66 Chorale Improvisations on Evangelical Church Hymns Op. 65, are his first organ works composed directly for this instrument. And I find it interesting he wrote 30 Caprices for Flute specifically for a friend, a flautist bound for service in the war. These short exercises were designed to challenge linear one-staff thinking and in short, keep the friend from becoming bored. They are now a standard set of technical, dynamic, and phrasing exercises for young flute students all over the world.

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