Barbara Verdile
I was Director of Music and Organist at Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church, Purcellville, Virginia for almost 20 years until moving to Washington, DC. I have Master of Music degrees from the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore and while an undergraduate at Douglass College, Rutgers University I studied organ with University Organist, David Drinkwater. But I consider myself mostly a student of my father, as I was his regular page-turner for the postlude each Sunday.
I’ve had a varied career teaching and performing in addition to my work in the area of church music ministry. While working in all combinations of church organist and choir director for the past 40 years, I have also been on the faculties of Northern Virginia Community College and Shenandoah Conservatory of Music along with teaching in my private studio. I founded a chamber music series in Purcellville and a community chorus, which grew into what is now the Loudoun Chorale. In addition to working as pianist and flutist with the Loudoun Symphony Orchestra and the Loudoun Wind Symphony I have performed in solo and chamber music recitals and accompanied a wide range of instrumentalists and vocalists, given organ recitals in Italy and served as organist for week-long residencies at the cathedrals of Canterbury, York and elsewhere in Great Britain and Ireland.
The Italian language and choral singing are my avocations. I thoroughly enjoy trying to speak Italian and discovering Italian literature, and as a choral singer (much simpler and easier than the language thing!) have continually been a member of choral groups ranging from chamber to symphonic in size. An exceptional result of my choral activity was that of meeting the man who became my husband. Bob and I met in our college chapel choir and we will soon celebrate our 49th wedding anniversary.
Currently I am Rehearsal Pianist for the Choir and Festival Chorus at Westmoreland Congregational United Church of Christ, and Rehearsal Assistant for the Thomas Circle Singers in Washington, DC. Bob and I both sing with this group. Maybe we can convince you to come to a concert!
We live in Foxhall Village in DC with our dachshund, Piccola and have two daughters, a son-in-law and a grandson soon to be four years old. All live close by in Virginia.
During the current upset created by COVID-19 I feel quite fortunate to be able to offer my part in combination with many others at RELC to provide comfort and hope during this pandemic. With all of you I look forward to the time when it will be safe to resume meeting together for services on Sundays, to continue getting to know you and make music together with you and the choir here at RELC!
With a voice of singing, Barbara
Hymn of the Day: “Jesus, Come! For We Invite You” ELW 312
Text: Christopher Idle (1938)
Tune: UNION SEMINARY, Harold Friedell (1905-1958)
In 1979 Christopher Idle, a priest of the Anglican Church, wrote “Jesus, come! for we invite you” to complement the story of Cana. In this splendid text, we ask to be transformed, to become a new creation, to receive more than we can imagine. The second stanza includes a reference to Christ’s gifts, which connects well with today’s second reading and at holy communion, in stanza 4, we ask to taste God’s love. (Gail Ramshaw)
Christopher Martin Idle was ordained in the Church of England. He recently returned to London, where he is involved in various hymnal projects. He is a prolific author of articles on the Christian's public responsibilities.
Harold Friedell was an American organist, choirmaster, teacher, and composer. After completing his studies he served as organist and master of the choir at Saint Bartholomew’s Church (New York). Friedell also taught on the faculty of the Union Theological Seminary School of Sacred Music. As a composer, Friedell composed works for organ, orchestra, and choir, as well as hymn tunes, descants, and music for solo voice. Friedell composed the choral anthem "Draw us in the Spirit's Tether" in 1949, from which the hymn tune "Union Seminary" was taken."
Offertory Anthem: “Star in the East” Frank Pesci (1974)
Many are familiar with this text, “Brightest and Best” found most frequently paired, as it is in the ELW, with MORNINGSTAR. Frank Pesci has chosen the text set to STAR IN THE EAST from Southern Harmony, 1835. Regardless of the tune, few hymns of merit have troubled compilers more than this one. Some have held that its use involved the worshipping of a star, whilst others have been offended with its meter as being too suggestive of a solemn dance. Cotterill gave it in the 8th edition, 1819, of his Selection and omitted it from the 9th, 1820; and Elliott, following the example in detail, had it in his 1st edition Psalms and Hymns, 1835, and dropped it from the 2nd, which others have done much the same. It has, however, survived these changes, and has become one of the most widely used of Reginald Heber’s hymns.
Born in Washington, D.C., Frank Pesci has studied composition with Luigi Zaninelli and John Heiss. His sacred works include three dozen motets, sacred songs, works for children, and three Mass settings. As a professional liturgical musician, he sang at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in D.C. and Trinity Church Boston, under Leo Nestor and Marilyn Keiser, and led music programs in Mississippi and Massachusetts. Frank has worked for education and performing arts non-profits throughout the mid-Atlantic and New England. He is currently the Executive Director of the New Hampshire Music Festival and Associate Artistic Director of Boston Opera Collaborative.
Cold on His cradle the dewdrops are shining;
Low lies His head with the beasts of the stall;
Angels adore Him in slumber reclining,
Maker and Monarch and Savior of all!
Brightest and best of the sons of the morning,
Dawn on our darkness and lend us Thine aid;
Star of the East, the horizon adorning,
Guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.
Vainly we offer each ample oblation,
vainly with gifts would his favor secure.
Richer by far is the heart's adoration,
dearer to God are the prayers of the poor.
Brightest and best of the sons of the morning,
Dawn on our darkness and lend us Thine aid;
Star of the East, the horizon adorning,
Guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.
Opening Voluntary: Soul, Adorn Yourself with Gladness--Aaron David Miller (1972)
“Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele” (Deck Thyself, My Soul) is a German Lutheran communion hymn, written by the poet Johann Franck and the composer Johann Crüger in 1649. Many composers have set the tune for organ, including J S. Bach, who in BWV 180 “adorns” the melody with ornamentation. Here the American organist and composer, Aaron David Miller, creates his own ornamented version of this tune.
The original of the beautifully ornamented tune represents a second collaboration of music and text by Johann Crüger and Johann Franck. Johann Crüger composed SCHMÜCKE DICH and first published the tune as a setting for the first stanza of the SCHMÜCKE DICH text by Johann Franck. The tune name is the incipit of the original German text. Johann S. Bach used this tune in his Cantata 180; he and many other composers have written organ preludes on the melody.
Aaron David Miller is noted for his highly imaginative and creative style, found in his performances, improvisations and compositions. He serves as the Director of Music and Organist at House of Hope Presbyterian Church in St. Paul, Minnesota and maintains an active recital schedule. He is a forensic musicologist for Donato Music in Scarsdale, NY.
Closing Voluntary: “Now”, Michael Helman (1956)
Today’s Closing Voluntary is based on the hymn tune, “Now” by Carl F. Schalk (1929 - 2021) He was professor of music at Concordia University, River Forest, Illinois, where he taught church music since 1965. Honored as a Fellow of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada in 1992, Schalk was editor of the Church Music journal (1966-1980), a member of the committee that prepared the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), and a widely published composer of church music.
Michael Helman is currently Director of Music/Organist at Faith Presbyterian Church in Cape Coral, Florida. He is an active composer of handbell, organ, and choral music with numerous pieces pieces in print.
Hymn of the Day: "When Jesus Came to Jordan" ELW 305
Text: Fred Pratt Green, 1903-2000
Tune: KING’S LYNN, English folk tune
The name of the Rev. F. Pratt Green is one of the best-known of the contemporary school of hymn writers in the British Isles. His name and writings appear in practically every new hymnal and "hymn supplement" wherever English is spoken and sung. And now they are appearing in American hymnals, poetry magazines, and anthologies.
Mr. Green was ordained in the British Methodist ministry and was pastor and district superintendent in Brighton and York, and then served in Norwich. There he continued to write new hymns "that fill the gap between the hymns of the first part of this century and the 'far-out' compositions that have crowded into some churches in the last decade or more."
Offertory Anthem: “All Who Believe and Are Baptized” J.S. Bach, harm. (1685-1750)
This is a setting of the choral “Es ist das Heil uns kommen her” with a harmonization by J. S. Bach. The composer of the tune is unknown.
This text by Thomas Kingo (1634-1703) was published in his En Ny Kirke-Psalmebog, Vinterparten (Odense, 1689) and , included in the official Danish Salmebog (1699), to be used after baptisms. It comes to Evangelical Lutheran Worship from The Lutheran Hymnary (1913) and a stream of twentieth-century Lutheran hymnals through Lutheran Book of Worship (1978). The translation is by George T. Rygh. With the exception of a slight change in The Lutheran Hymnal (1941), it remained untouched until Lutheran Book of Worship when it was cast into the third-person plural and modern English. Even then modifications were minor.
All who believe and are baptized shall see the Lord's salvation;
baptized into the death of Christ, they are a new creation;
through Christ's redemption they will stand among the glorious heavenly band of every tribe and nation.
With one accord, O God, we pray, grant us your Holy Spirit;
help us in our infirmity through Jesus' blood and merit;
grant us to grow in grace each day that as is promised here we may eternal life inherit.
Opening Voluntary: “How Brightly Shines the Morning Star,” Andreas Armsdorf (1670-1699)
"Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern” (How lovely shines the morning star) is a Lutheran hymn by Philipp Nicolai written in 1597 and first published in 1599. It continues to inspire musical settings to this day.
Andreas Armsdorff was a German composer and organist. He was born in Mühlberg, near Gotha, and studied music and law. At some point in his early life he moved to nearby Erfurt where he may have studied with Johann Pachelbel. A comparison of today’s Voluntary with Pachelbel’s organ composition of the same name, displays its many similarities.
Armsdorff's early death was not an obstacle to the posthumous popularity of his music. His organ chorale preludes survive in numerous manuscript copies that circulated in Germany for decades after Armsdorff's death. Today, some 30 chorale preludes for organ are the only surviving pieces by Armsdorff, although there is evidence of lost vocal works, as well as numerous keyboard pieces
Closing Voluntary: “Dix” (As With Gladness) Wayne L. Wold (1954)
William Chatterton Dix, the son of poet John Ross Dix and named after Thomas Chatterton, would regularly write Christian poetry in his spare time. Dix wrote the text, "As with Gladness Men of Old", on 6 January 1859 during a months-long recovery from an extended illness, unable to attend that morning's Epiphany service at church. As he read the Gospel of Matthew's account of Epiphany in The Bible, he was inspired and started to reflect on the text. He then started to write about his thoughts and did so for the whole day with the eventual result being "As with Gladness Men of Old”. Dix kept the text private until a year later when it was published in Hymns for Public Worship and Private Devotion, which was written for St Raphael's Church in Dix's hometown of Bristol. It was also added to the trial version of Hymns Ancient and Modern before being included in the original publication of that hymnal in 1861. Most hymn writers in the Church of England at the time were clergymen, so Dix, a layman and marine insurance agent living in Glasgow, Scotland, was delighted that his carol was included. It was also self-published by Dix in his own Hymns of Joy and Love hymnal.
The editor of Hymns Ancient and Modern, William Henry Monk, adapted a tune by Stuttgart organist Conrad Kocher as the music for "As with Gladness Men of Old". Dix personally did not like the tune, which was ironic as it was later titled "Dix" as a tribute to him. Despite Dix's opinion of it, the tune became popular and is used for the majority of performances of the hymn. The same melody is also used in the hymn "For the Beauty of the Earth", an example of what is often considered to be a seasonal hymn melody given to a more general hymn text for use in Ordinary Time.
CHOIR ANTHEMS:
“Adam Lay Ybounden” Robert Powell (1932)
Adam lay ybounden relates the events of Genesis, Chapter 3. In medieval theology, Adam was supposed to have remained in bonds with the other patriarchs in the limbus patrum from the time of his death until the crucifixion of Christ (the "4000 winters"). The second verse narrates the Fall of Man following Adam's temptation by Eve and the serpent. John Speirs suggests that there is a tone of astonishment, almost incredulity in the phrase "and all was for an apple", noting "an apple, such as a boy might steal from an orchard, seems such a little thing to produce such overwhelming consequences. Yet so it must be because clerks say so. It is in their book (probably meaning the Vulgate itself)."
The third verse suggests the subsequent redemption of man by the birth of Jesus Christ by Mary, who was to become the Queen of Heaven as a result, and thus the song concludes on a positive note hinting at Thomas Aquinas' concept of the "felix culpa" (blessed fault). Paul Morris suggests that the text's evocation of Genesis implies a "fall upwards”. Speirs suggests that the lyric retells the story in a particularly human way: "The doctrine of the song is perfectly orthodox...but here is expressed very individually and humanly. The movement of the song reproduces very surely the movements of a human mind."
Adam lay ybounden, bounden in a bond,
Four thousand winter thought he not too long;
And all was for an apple, and apple that he took,
As clerkes finden written in their book.
Ne had the apple taken been, the apple taken been,
Ne had never Our Lady ybeen heavene Queen.
Blessed be the time that apple taken was:
Therfore we moun singen: Deo Gratias.
“A Spotless Rose” Graeme Morton (1933-1995)
"Es ist ein Ros entsprungen" is a Christmas carol and Marian hymn of German origin. It is most commonly translated into English as "Lo, how a rose e'er blooming" and is also called "A Spotless Rose" and "Behold a Rose of Judah". The rose in the German text is a symbolic reference to the Virgin Mary. It is unknown who wrote the words to this German hymn but it is thought to date back to the 16th century. Over the centuries verses have been added and different music composed, One of its most famous versions is the one by Herbert Howells, who arguably more than anyone influenced British church music in the 20th century, despite not himself a believer.
A wonderful addition to the Christmas repertoire, today’s setting of "A Spotless Rose" comes to us from Australian composer Graeme Morton.
A spotless Rose is blowing Sprung from a tender root, Of ancient seers' foreshowing, Of Jesse promised fruit; Its fairest bud unfolds to light Amid the cold, cold winter And in the dark midnight.
The Rose which I am singing, Whereof Isaiah said, Is from its sweet root springing In Mary, purest Maid; For through our God's great love and might The blessed babe she bare us In a cold, cold winter's night.
“Go Tell It On The Mountain” John Abdenour (1962)
The text of this beloved spiritual was first published in Folk Song of the American Negro (1907), a study of African American folk music by John Wesley Work, Jr. The song may date back to earlier sources, but evidently the original text was lost. According to Edith McFall Work, widow of John Wesley Work, III: the verses of these songs were published by John Work, II, in place of the original ones which could not be found. In 1940 John Work, III, had the songs copyrighted and published in his book American Negro Songs.”
In American Negro Songs and Spiritual (1940), John Wesley Work, III, attributes the newer text to his uncle Frederick J. Work. "He may have composed it" [the tune], wrote J. W. Work, III. "I know he composed the verses." John, III, recalled that when he was a child, the students at Fisk University began singing this before daybreak on Christmas morning, going from building to building. Later, his arrangement for use in choral concerts by the Fisk Jubilee Singers helped to popularize the spiritual.
The refrain theme comes from Old Testament passages in which praise to God for his acts of deliverance was often shouted, both literally and metaphorically, from the mountaintops (Isa. 42:11). While the three stanzas tell the essence of the Christmas story, the refrain underscores the missionary impetus of the Christian church: "go and make disciples of all nations" (Matt. 28:19). The "go, tell," which initially applied to the singers caroling on the university campus, is a signal for us to leave the comfortable confines of Christian worship and "go, tell" the message of Christ's redemption to the whole world.
John Abdenour has composed a sprightly new tune paired with the traditional text for “Go Tell It On the Mountain.” He sang as a boy in the choir of St. Paul's Cathedral in Detroit and began organ study at the cathedral. He subsequently received degrees in Organ Performance and American History from Oberlin College. After studying law at the University of Michigan and after pursuing a brief career as an attorney, he returned to his first love, sacred music. He undertook further study of Anglican choral training in 1996, when he spent a month in St Albans, singing with and studying the Choir of St Albans Cathedral, then directed by Barry Rose. John is the Director of Music at Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church in Fairfied, CT. He is a member of the Association of Anglican Musicians, has served as Dean of the Fairfield-West Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, and has served as a faculty member of the Bridgeport AGO Pipe Organ Encounter.
Go, tell it on the mountain, over hill and everywhere;
Go, tell it on the mountain the Jesus Christ is born.
While shepherds kept their watching o'er silent flocks by night,
Behold throughout the heavens there shone a holy light.
Go, tell it on the mountain, over hill and everywhere;
Go, tell it on the mountain the Jesus Christ is born.
The shepherds feared and trembled, when lo! above the earth
Rang out the angel chorus that hailed our Savior's birth.
Go, tell it on the mountain, over hill and everywhere;
Go, tell it on the mountain the Jesus Christ is born.
Down in a lowly manger the humble Christ was born;
And God sent us salvation that blessed Christmas morn.
Go, tell it on the mountain, over hill and everywhere;
Go, tell it on the mountain the Jesus Christ is born.
“In the Bleak Mid-Winter” Harold Darke (1888-1976)
The January 1872 edition of Scribner's Monthly was the first publication of Christina Rossetti's poem “A Christmas Carol.” The poem was later titled “In the Bleak Midwinter” after the opening line and published as a hymn in the English Hymnal in 1906. The full text has five stanzas, but the original third stanza (beginning “Enough for him”) is often omitted, and a few hymnals use the final stanza alone, titled “What Can I Give Him?”
As many other artists have done, Rossetti depicted the birth of Christ as taking place in a frozen, snowy English winter instead of the milder climate of Palestine where He was actually born. Despite the historical inaccuracy, her text effectively communicates the vast difference between the glory of heaven from which Jesus came and the reality of discomfort on earth, where He would eventually be crucified. The final stanza asks for an appropriate response to Christ's sacrifice of glory, and the answer is “give [him] my heart.”
Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830 – 1894) was an English writer of romantic, devotional and children's poems, including "Goblin Market" and "Remember". She also wrote the words of two Christmas carols well known in Britain: "In the Bleak Midwinter", later set by Gustav Holst, Katherine Kennicott Davis, and Harold Darke, and "Love Came Down at Christmas", also set by Darke and other composers. She was a sister of the artist and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti and features in several of his paintings.
In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.
Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him
Nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When He comes to reign:
In the bleak mid-winter
A stable-place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty,
Jesus Christ.
Angels and archangels
May have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim
Thronged the air,
But only His mother
In her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the Beloved
With a kiss.
What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a wise man
I would do my part,
Yet what I can I give Him,
Give my heart.
“Away in a Manger” Reginald Jacques, arr.
"Away in a Manger" is a Christmas carol first published in the late nineteenth century and used widely throughout the English-speaking world. In Britain, it is one of the most popular carols; a 1996 Gallup Poll ranked it joint second. Although it was long claimed to be the work of German religious reformer Martin Luther, the carol is now thought to be wholly American in origin.
The author of the first two verses is unknown. The third verse was added in 1904 by Dr. John McFarland, who lived in New York. Bishop William F. Anderson has given the story of the writing of the third stanza: When I was Secretary of the Board of Education, 1904–08, I wanted to use "Away in a manger", which I found with the designation "Martin Luther's Cradle Song", in the Children's Day program one year. It had but two stanzas. Dr. John T. McFarland, then Secretary of our Board of Sunday Schools, was my near neighbor in his office at 150 Fifth Avenue (New York). I asked him to write a third stanza. He went to his office and within an hour brought me the third stanza beginning, "Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay."
Thomas Reginald Jacques (1894 – 1969) was an English choral and orchestral conductor. His legacy includes various choral music arrangements, but he is not primarily remembered as a composer.
Jacques was born in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire and obtained his first degree from the University of Oxford under Sir Hugh Allen, where he later became organist (1926) and fellow (1933) of Queen's College. Dr Jacques occupied a succession of increasingly prestigious and influential posts in the music world, based mostly in Oxford and London. He conducted the Oxford Harmonic Society between 1923 and 1930 and the Bach Choir from 1932 to 1960. He founded the Jacques String Orchestra in 1936. He became music director of the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA) at its inception in January 1940.
He collaborated with Sir David Willcocks in compiling the popular first volume of Carols for Choirs (1961), which incorporates several of his better known arrangements. He was the first director of CEMA, the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts, forerunner of the Arts Council.
Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head.
The stars in the sky looked down where he lay,
The little Lord Jesus asleep in the hay.
The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes,
But little Lord Jesus no crying he makes.
I love Thee, Lord Jesus, look down from the sky
And stay by my cradle til morning is nigh.
Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever, and love me, I pray.
Bless all the dear children in thy tender care,
And take us to heaven, to live with Thee there.
Hymn of the Day: Good Christian Friends, Rejoice ELW 288
This is the oldest German macaronic ("mixed language," usually vernacular and Latin) hymn we know about. In this case the vernacular is a German dialect from the area of Mainz and Worms, mixed with Latin. The earliest printed source for both the text and the tune comes from around 1400 in a manuscript at Leipzig University, but it is mentioned by Heinrich Seuse (known as "Suso" [c. 1295-1366]) in his autobiography from 1328. The English version in Evangelical Lutheran Worship is by John Mason Neale, from his Carols for Christmastide (London, 1853), slightly modified to make it more inclusive, as in the substitution of "friends" for "men." Thomas Helmore made a mistake transcribing the tune, and Neale had to add "News! News!" ("Joy! Joy!" and "Peace! Peace!" for the second and third stanzas) in the middle. That is corrected here, though some versions still retain the quaint addition. This hymn can be mistaken for the Easter hymn which begins with the same four words. The two form a compelling pair for Christmas and Easter.
IN DULCI JUBILO
The tune tied to this text may bear some relation to dance. That it has been used with dancing is clear, but whether it began that way is not. This is a catchy melody that bounces along in triplicate rhythms and repetitions, easily sung and danced. The fundamentally stepwise motion is at first broken only by a rising third and a downward fifth, which prepare the delightful swing of the upward fifth in the second last phrase. The melody outlines the tonic chord, if one can use that terminology in this early music, with a hint at the relative minor as the phrase with the upward leap begins.
The setting here comes from an arrangement Robert L. Pearsall (1795-1856) made in 1834 and 1836. After a stroke in 1825, Pearsall gave up law and devoted himself to history, genealogy, and other pursuits, mostly music.
An Anglican with Roman Catholic proclivities and an interest in German music and the Caecilian movement, he wrote service and hymn settings, an oratorio, a Requiem, a Te Deum, anthems, part-songs, madrigals, and instrumental pieces.
Hymn of the Day: My Soul Proclaims Your Greatness ELW 251
Text: With One Voice, 1995, based on the Magnificat
Tune: KINGSFOLD, English folk tune; arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1872-1958
This is a paraphrase of Mary’s song, the Magnificat, in Luke 1:46-55, with its characteristically prophetic motifs: dashing the proud, exposing scheming hearts, and casting aside the ruthless.
Thought by some scholars to date back to the Middle Ages, KINGSFOLD is a folk tune set to a variety of texts in England and Ireland. The tune was published in English Country Songs sic: English County Songs, an anthology compiled by Lucy E. Broadwood and J. A. Fuller Maitland. After having heard the tune in Kingsfold, Sussex, England (thus its name), Ralph Vaughan Williams introduced it as a hymn tune in The English Hymnal (1906) as a setting for Horatius Bonar's "I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say". Shaped in classic rounded bar form (AABA), KINGSFOLD has modal character and is both dignified and strong.
Offertory Music: Thanks to Suzanne Tsitsibelis for her efforts renewing the Bell Choir!
Communion Anthem: “Adam Lay Ybounden” Robert Powell (1932)
Adam lay ybounden relates the events of Genesis, Chapter 3. In medieval theology, Adam was supposed to have remained in bonds with the other patriarchs in the limbus patrum from the time of his death until the crucifixion of Christ (the "4000 winters"). The second verse narrates the Fall of Man following Adam's temptation by Eve and the serpent. John Speirs suggests that there is a tone of astonishment, almost incredulity in the phrase "and all was for an apple", noting "an apple, such as a boy might steal from an orchard, seems such a little thing to produce such overwhelming consequences. Yet so it must be because clerks say so. It is in their book (probably meaning the Vulgate itself)."
The third verse suggests the subsequent redemption of man by the birth of Jesus Christ by Mary, who was to become the Queen of Heaven as a result, and thus the song concludes on a positive note hinting at Thomas Aquinas' concept of the "felix culpa" (blessed fault). Paul Morris suggests that the text's evocation of Genesis implies a "fall upwards”. Speirs suggests that the lyric retells the story in a particularly human way: "The doctrine of the song is perfectly orthodox...but here is expressed very individually and humanly. The movement of the song reproduces very surely the movements of a human mind."
Adam lay ybounden, bounden in a bond,
Four thousand winter thought he not too long;
And all was for an apple, and apple that he took,
As clerkes finden written in their book.
Ne had the apple taken been, the apple taken been,
Ne had never Our Lady ybeen heavene Queen.
Blessed be the time that apple taken was:
Therfore we moun singen: Deo Gratias.
Opening Voluntary: “Gabriel’s Message” Paul Manz (1919-2009)
Gabriel's Message" or "The angel Gabriel from heaven came" is a Basque Christmas folk carol about the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary by the archangel Gabriel that she would become the mother of Jesus Christ the Son of God. It quotes the biblical account of the Annunciation (Luke, Chapter 1, verses 26–38) and Mary's Magnificat(Luke 1.46–55) with the opening lines:
The angel Gabriel from heaven came, his wings as drifted snow, his eyes as flame;
"All hail", said he, "thou lowly maiden Mary,most highly favored lady." Gloria.
A Basque folk carol, originally based on Angelus ad virginem, a 13th or 14th Century Latin carol, it was collected by Charles Bordes and then paraphrased into English by Sabine Baring-Gould, who wrote several novels and hymns (including 'Onward Christian soldiers’) and had spent a winter as a boy in the Basque country. The tune is called "Gabriel's Message". An arrangement by Edgar Pettman was first published in his 1892 book Modern Christmas Carols. The use of the lilting phrase "Most highly favored lady" made it the favorite carol of Richard Harries, Bishop of Oxford.
Closing Voluntary:“Savior of the Nations, Come” Helmut Walcha (1907-1991)
Helmut Walcha is mainly known as a great interpreter of the organ works of J. S. Bach. His recordings are celebrated. His registration and articulation are legendary for bringing clarity of line to works that, up to that time, many organists had played for the effect of massive smears of sound. Walcha, who became blind as a teenager, relied on perfect pitch and a practically phonographic memory to learn Bach's music rapidly, by heart. It is clear from his compositions that he also had a very powerful musical imagination.
In "Nun komm der Heiden Heiland" (Savior of the Nations, Come), Walcha’s use of a pedal ostinato anchoring a canon at the interval of a 2nd with the title tune sounding above it all, blends into a memorable effect.
Opening Voluntary: “Light One Candle to Watch for Messiah,” (Omage to César Franck) Wayne L. Wold (1954)
The hymn, “Light One Candle to Watch for Messiah,” is based on a Yiddish folk tune, TIF IN VELDELE. The title means “Deep in the Forest” and comes from the first line of the love song that goes with this tune. This is the organ prelude that Wold composed, based on his own hymn tune. Written below the title in the organ score is "Homage to César Franck.” Mr. Wold, in his inimitable tongue-in-cheek way, has cleverly paralleled Franck's "Prelude, Fugue, and Variation in B minor," a well-known standard of the organ repertoire. Wold's piece uses Franck's composition as a stylistic template. Like Franck's, it begins with a "Prelude" section with its plaintive melody played on the oboe stop, accompanied by soft flutes on the other manual and pedals.
Offertory Anthem: “Comfort, Comfort Now My People” Michael Larkin (1951)
This text is a versification of Isaiah 40:1-5, the passage that opens the final large group of prophecies in Isaiah 40-66. Many of these prophecies express consolation and hope that Judah's exile in Babylon is almost over. That is certainly the tone of 40: 1-5: words of comfort forecasting a new reign but also words that call for proper preparation–that is, repentance. Johannes Olearius (1611-1684) originally versified the passage in German in honor of Saint John the Baptist Day and published it in his Geistliche Singe-Kunst (1671), a collection of more than twelve hundred hymns, three hundred of them by Olearius himself. Born into a family of Lutheran theologians, Olearius wrote a commentary on the entire Bible, published various devotional books, and produced a translation of the Imitatio Christi by Thomas a Kempis. In the history of church music Olearius is mainly remembered for his hymn collection, which was widely used in Lutheran churches.
Dr. Michael Larkin is chairperson of the vocal/choral department and an artist/faculty voice teacher at the Wilmington Music School in Wilmington, DE. He also is Director of Music Ministry St. Mary Anne's Episcopal Church in North East, MD and is founder and music director of the New Ark Chorale of Newark, DE. In addition, Dr. Larkin is Eastern Division Chairperson for Music and Worship for the American Choral Directors Association. He is known nationally as a clinician and adjudicator in various aspects of vocal/choral music as well as the church music profession, especially the subjects of liturgy, worship planning, and musical and professional concerns for the church musician.
“Comfort, comfort now my people; Tell of peace!” So says our God.
Comfort those who sit in darkness Mounrning under sorrows load.
To God’s people now proclaim That God’s pardon waits for them!
Tell them that their war is over; God will reign in peace for ever!
For the herald’s voice is crying In the dessert far and near,
Calling us to true repentance, Since the Kingdom now is here.
Oh, that warning cry obey! Now prepare for God alway!
Let the valleys rise to meet him, And the hills bow down before him.
Straight shall be what once was crooked, And the rougher places plain!
Let your hears be true and humble, As befits his holy reign!
For the glory of the Lord Now on earth is shed a broad,
And all flesh shall see the token That God’s word is never broken!
“Comfort, comfort now my people; Tell of peace!” So says our God.
Closing Voluntary: “Veni, Emmanuel” Robert J. Powell (1932)
Robert J. Powell was born in Benoit, Mississippi. Since 1958 he has published over 300 compositions for organ, choir, handbells and instrumental ensembles with leading American and English church music publishers. Robert Powell grew up in sacred music, beginning his training in the 5th grade and starting to compose in 7th grade. By age 18, he was providing piano and organ music for worship services, something he continued through his years in college and as a chaplain’s assistant in the U.S. Army. Mr. Powell holds a Bachelor of Music in Organ and Composition from Louisiana State University (1954) and a Master of Sacred Music from Union Theological Seminary in New York (1958), where he studied under Alec Wyton. He was Assistant Organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York from 1958 to 1960, Organist/Choir director at St. Paul’s in Meridian, MS from 1960 - 1965, and Director of Music at St. Paul’s School in Concord, N.H. from 1965-1968. He held the position of Organist and Choir Director at Christ Church in Greenville, SC from 1968 to 2003.
Hymn of the Day: Prepare the Royal Highway ELW 264
Text: Frans Mikael Franzén, 1772-1847; tr. Lutheran Book of Worship
Tune: BEREDEN VÄG FÖR HERRAN, Swedish folk tune, 17th cent.
The hymn begins with allusions to Isaiah 40:3-5, where a highway for the King of kings is made straight. By the third stanza the King is welcomed with gates flung open as in Psalm 24:7-10. Palms strew the way with hosannas as at Christ's entry into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1-9, Mark 11:1-10, and Luke 19:28-38), and peace, freedom, justice, truth, and love with sounding praise reflect Isaiah 40 and the following chapters. We encounter here a jubilant Scandinavian contribution to the church's hymnic heritage by Frans Mikael Franzén. This translation was prepared for Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) by the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship.
Franzén was a Swede born in Finland. In 1785 he was admitted to the Abo Academy. His father died two years later, and Frans followed his profession as a salesman. He returned to Abo, earned a master's degree, and then went to Uppsala to study. In 1794 he became the librarian at Abo, edited the newspaper Abo Tidnin-gar, and in 1798 became professor of the history of literature. Ordained in 1803, he became a pastor at Pemars and in 1810 at the rural parish of Kumla. There his skill as a hymn writer developed. He worked with Archbishop Johan Olof Wallin on the Svenska Psalm-Boken (1819), to which he contributed twenty-nine hymns. In 1825 he became pastor of the Klara Church in Stockholm, and from 1834 until his death he was bishop of the diocese of Härnosand, which included part of Lapland.
Offertory Anthem:: “Advent Hymn” Martin Jean (1960)
This is an elegant yet simple short motet on a text written by the composer.
Dr. Jean is Professor of Organ and Church Music and Director of the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale University.
Oh, come, Lord Jesus, quickly come, and loose the chains of guilt and fear.
Our souls are bound by sins so great and yearn your drawing near.
We look for hope. We pray for peace of mind and troubled heart.
Salvation comes from you alone, and we deserving not.
Through ancient prophets God revealed the promise of salvation near
From heaven’s throne our Lord bent down, his love our gift so dear.
Come with me now to see the throne, the manger where our Savior lies.
Kneel down in awe before his crib and kiss the feet of God.
Our hope is here. The peace he brings will draw us to that place,
where we shall sing in perfect praise and dwell in endless day.
Opening Voluntary: “Gottes Sohn ist kommen (Once He Came in Blessing)” Earnst Pepping (1901-1981)
Michael Weiss (1480-1534), a pastor among the Bohemian Brethren and a contemporary with Luther, composed the tune GOTTES SOHN IST KOMMEN (Once He Came in Blessing) and also wrote the text. A well-known hymn tune, in this setting by Earnst Pepping GOTTES SOHN IST KOMMEN is played by the pedals while the hands are kept busy creating a weave based on melodic fragments that complement the tune. Though the pedals often play the lowest sounding pitches, here the pedal chorale tune emerges from the texture of the music played on the manuels.
Ernst Pepping was a German composer of classical music and academic teacher. He is regarded as an important composer of Protestant sacred music in the 20th century. Pepping taught at the Spandauer Kirchenmusikschule and the Berliner Hochschule für Musik. His music includes works for instruments, the church, and collections including the Spandauer Chorbuch and the three volume Großes Orgelbuch, which provides pieces for the entire liturgical year.
Closing Voluntary: “Consolation” (The King Shall Come) David N. Johnson (1922-1987)
CONSOLATION is a folk tune that has some resemblance to the traditional English tune for "Old King Cole." The tune appeared anonymously as MORNING SONG in Part II of John Wyeth’s Repository of Sacred Music (1813). In 1816 it was credited to "Mr. Dean," which some scholars believe was a misprinted reference to Elkanah K. Dare, a composer who contributed more than a dozen tunes to Wyeth's Repository. In the original harmonization the melody was in the tenor. To keep everyone on their toes, the tune is also known as KENTUCKY HARMONY, its title in Ananias Davisson's Kentucky Harmony (1816), where it was paired with the text "Once More, My Soul, the Rising Day."
David N. Johnson was an American organist, composer, educator, choral clinician, and lecturer. He studied organ and composition at Curtis Institute of Music. Johnson's Trumpet Tune in D (1962) is the opening and closing theme for the weekly radio show “With Heart and Voice”. Johnson's Trumpet Tune in D was also the first of two processionals used for the 1971 wedding of Tricia Nixon.
Hymn of the Day: “Wake, Awake, For Night is Flying” ELW #436
Text: Phillip Nicolai (1556-1608)
Tune: WACHET AUF, Phillip Nicolai
This hymn text was based on the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins in Matthew 25:1-13. The opening stanza calls the followers of Christ to be roused and alert for His Second Coming. Stanza 2 describes the joyous scene when the Bridegroom returns and takes His bride, the church, in to the wedding feast. Finally, the third stanza adores the Lamb of God and describes the glorious scene in heaven, as given in Revelation 19 and 21, where the saints will worship in song forever. The text contains a reverse acrostic to Nicolai’s deceased student and friend, William Ernst, with the letters beginning each of its three stanzas: WGZ, Graf zu Waldek (Count of Waldeck).
The WACHET AUF tune is usually regarded as composed by Philipp Nicolai, but he may have borrowed parts of the tune from other sources such as the melody “Silberweise” by Hans Sachs (1494-1576) or the fifth Gregorian psalm tone. It was published with this text, for which it is named, in Nicolai's Freuden-Spiegel in 1599. Like many German chorale tunes, WACHET AUF has two versions for the rhythm. The original version is called the rhythmic version, because it retains the variety of note values as the composer wrote them, while in the isorhythmic version, the notes are adjusted to a more regular rhythm, often by making all notes of equal value.
Offertory Anthem: “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus” Marty Wheeler Burnet
For countless Christians around the world, “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus” signals the beginning of Advent. It was first published in 1744 in Charles Wesley’s Hymns for the Nativity of Our Lord, a little collection so popular that it was reprinted 20 times during Wesley’s lifetime. Published in two eight-line stanzas, this hymn is now generally sung in the Advent season rather than during the nativity of Christ as the title of the collection indicates. The Wesleys published several small collections of hymn texts that were affordable for a wider number of people. They were usually on themes associated with a particular season of the Christian year or the sacraments. These volumes offered a way to disseminate Methodist theology and enhance the personal devotional life of those in the Society. The collections also provided a corpus of songs to sing together when the Society gathered.
Interestingly enough, “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus” appeared in an American Methodist hymnal in 1847, nearly 30 years before it was included in a British Methodist hymnal. Only the rare North American hymnal omits this hymn now. It is part of the fabric of our preparations for the Incarnation. Burnett led and coordinated the music ministry at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Omaha, Nebraska. As Canon Precentor, she conducted the Cathedral Choir, Schola Cantorum, Requiem Choir, and Summer Choir, and served as director of the children’s and youth choir program, Cantate Choral Academy. In addition, she oversaw the Handbell Ensemble and coordinated concerts and special music events. An award-winning educator, Burnett previously served as Director of Fine Arts and Associate Professor of Music at College of Saint Mary in Omaha. She currently serves as president of the Association of Anglican Musicians, an organization of musicians and clergy serving the Episcopal Church.
Come, thou long expected Jesus,
Born to set thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in thee.
Israel’s strength and consolation,
Hope of all the earth thou art;
Dear desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.
Born thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a king,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us, raise us to thy glorious throne.
Opening Voluntary: “Comfort, comfort Now My People” Egil Hovland (1924-2013)
Egil Hovland was a Norwegian composer who wrote in diverse styles, including Norwegian-Romantic, Gregorian, neo-classical, twelve-tone, aleatoric, and serial. He was one of the most noted church composers of Norway and certainly a most productive contemporary Norwegian composer.
The hymn tune associated with this voluntary has two names: GENEVAN 42 and FREU DICH SEHR. Which title is used depends on the church tradition through which a particular hymnal acquired the tune. Those from a Reformed background call it GENEVAN 42, because it was used for Psalm 42 in the French Genevan Psalter. It is likely that Louis Bourgeois either composed or adapted this tune for the Genevan Psalter. It first appeared here in 1551. Lutherans call the tune FREU DICH SEHR because those are the opening words of a funeral hymn that this tune was paired with in Rhamba's Harmoniae sacrae (1613). J. S. Bach also used this tune in seven of his cantatas.
Closing Voluntary: Chorale Improvisation, Set 10 “Wachet auf” Paul Manz (1919-2009)
Paul Otto Manz was an American choir and organ composer. Also a performer, Manz was most famous for his celebrated hymn festivals. Instead of playing traditional organ recitals, Manz would generally lead a "festival" of hymns from the organ, in which he introduced each hymn with one of his famously creative organ improvisations based on the hymn tune in question. The congregation would then sing the hymn with his accompaniment. Many volumes of these neo-Baroque chorale prelude improvisations have been written out and published and are among his most famous organ works, played by church organists throughout the world. Today’s Voluntary is one of those improvisations.
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.
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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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.
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
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.
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.