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: God, When Human Bonds Are Broken, ELW 603
Words: Fred Kaan (1929- 2009 )
Music: MERTON, William H. Monk (1823-1889)
Fred Kaan’s hymns include both original works and translations. He sought to address issues of peace and justice. He was born in Haarlem in the Netherlands in July 1929. He was baptized in St. Bavo Cathedral but his family did not attend church regularly. He lived through the Nazi occupation, saw three of his grandparents die of starvation, and witnessed his parents deep involvement in the resistance movement. They took in a number of refugees. He became a pacifist and began attending church in his teens.
Having become interested in British Congregationalism (later to become the United Reformed Church) through a friendship, he attended Western College in Bristol. He was ordained in 1955 at the Windsor Road Congregational Church in Barry, Glamorgan.
In 1963 he was called to be minister of the Pilgrim Church in Plymouth. It was in this congregation that he began to write hymns. The first edition of Pilgrim Praise was published in 1968, going into second and third editions in 1972 and 1975. He continued writing many more hymns throughout his life.
William H. Monk composed popular hymn tunes, including "Eventide", used for the hymn "Abide with Me", and "All Things Bright and Beautiful". He is best known for his music editing of Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861, 1868; 1875, and 1889 editions). He also adapted music from plainsong and added accompaniments for Introits for Use Throughout the Year, a book issued with that famous hymnal. Beginning in his teenage years, Monk held a number of musical positions. He became choirmaster at King's College in London in 1847 and was organist and choirmaster at St. Matthias, Stoke Newington, from 1852 to 1889, where he was influenced by the Oxford Movement. At St. Matthias, Monk also began daily choral services with the choir leading the congregation in music chosen according to the church year, including psalms chanted to plainsong. He composed over fifty hymn tunes and edited The Scottish Hymnal (1872 edition) and Wordsworth's Hymns for the Holy Year (1862) as well as the periodical Parish Choir (1840-1851).
Offertory: “Precious Lord” Roy Ringwald (1910 - 1995)
In 1932, a week after the death of his wife in childbirth and the subsequent death of his newborn son, Thomas Andrew Dorsey ( 1899-1993) wrote this text. He also arranged the George N. Allen tune PRECIOUS LORD to match his text. Dorsey is considered the "father" of the African American gospel tradition (in distinction from the spiritual tradition) and was an active writer in this style from the 1920s through the 1950s. "Precious Lord" is the most popular of the early group of gospel songs that arose in the United States. Martin Luther King, Jr., chose the hymn as one of the "freedom anthems" of the Civil Rights Movement; since that time it has been included in many hymnals.
Given the circumstances surrounding Dorsey's writing of this text, it is not surprising that it has the character of the Old Testament lament psalms: we confess our own helplessness (st. 1), and we utter a cry for divine help (st. 2), but even in the face of death we are confident of God's saving power (st. 3).
Born into a Baptist preacher's family, Dorsey moved to Atlanta when he was five. There he studied music and came under the influence of local blues pianists. He moved to Chicago in 1915, where he studied at the Chicago College of Composition and Arranging and played in nightclubs as "Georgia Tom" or "Barrelhouse Tom," accompanying blues singers such as Tampa Red, Ma Rainey, and Bessie Smith. Because of his skill as composer, arranger, and pianist, he was in great demand. He also formed his own band, Wildcat's Jazz Band. After suffering from a severe illness in 1926, Dorsey became more involved with the Pilgrim Baptist Church and in 1932 began a forty-year tenure as the church's choral director. He wrote at least two hundred gospel songs (his total works number more than a thousand), organized and was president of the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses, and frequently directed other ensembles, including the Gospel Choral Union. His gospel songs were popularized by singers such as Mahalia Jackson, Roberta Martin, and Clara Ward.
Roy Ringwald was born in Helena, Montana, he grew up in Santa Monica, California and resided in the Palos Verdes Hills at the time of his death. Choir leaders everywhere rated Roy Ringwald as one of the most accomplished arrangers of our time. Before joining Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians as a singer and arranger in 1935, Roy Ringwald was associated with Earl Burnett, Raymond Paige and Andre Kostelanetz. His exclusivity with Shawnee Press began when the firm was founded in 1939. In the early 1940's, at Fred Waring's request, Mr. Ringwald arranged the poem ""The Battle Hymn of the Republic,"" which was written by Julia Ward Howe. The arrangement was performed by Waring's Pennsylvanians on radio June 22, 1943. Fans inundated Mr. Waring's New York office with letters of praise. By 1962, one million copies of the SATB arrangement had been sold and it continues to be a steady seller today. Roy Ringwald's studies in the field of music were limited to the elementary courses he received in parochial and public schools. Thereafter, he studied on his own and learned ""the hard way."" He was playing the piano at paid engagements with a dance group by the age of 12. While in high school, he studied voice, piano, organ, sight-singing, harmony, score reading and history of music. He organized dance bands and pit bands for silent motion pictures; he served as school organist and student director of the glee club; and he played viola with a classical string quartet (rehearsing at 6:30 a.m. before school), which also played paid engagements. Following high school, he went directly into a professional career as performer and arranger, organizing his own professionally successful groups. When he joined Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians in 1935, he soon retired from performing and devoted his entire attention to writing. His work as an arranger and composer has an individuality of style that has retained its freshness over many years. Battle Hymn of the Republic; Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor; God Bless America; and No Man Is An Island are but a few of the hundreds of his stirring arrangements. His larger works such as Song of America and Song of Christmas are further evidence of his talent. Roy Ringwald continued to write music until his death July 11, 1995 at the age of 84.
Precious Lord, take my hand
Lead me on, let me stand
I'm tired, I'm weak, I'm lone
Through the storm, through the night
Lead me on to the light Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home.
When my way grows drear precious Lord linger near
When my light is almost gone
Hear my cry, hear my call
Hold my hand lest I fall
Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home.
When the darkness appears and the night draws near
And the day is past and gone
At the river I stand
Guide my feet, hold my hand
Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home
Opening Voluntary: “Precious Lord” Jack Schrader, arr.
Jack Schrader, arranger, composer, conductor, vocalist, and organist/pianist, is past editor with Hope Publishing Company, retiring in January of 2009. 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: “Prelude on DEO GRACIAS” HEALEY WILLAN (1880-1968)
Born in London in 1880, Willan was a prolific composer of some 800 works, including operas, symphonies, concerti and keyboard music. As a teenager, he gained both ARCO and FRCO diplomas and for 10 years, held the position of organist at St John the Baptist Church, Holland Road, London. In 1913, Willan emigrated to Canada, where he lectured in music at Toronto University. In 1921, he became precentor at the Church of St Mary Magdalene, where he remained until his death.
Willan left a substantial body of organ music, and this Prelude on the tune 'Deo Gracias' is the fourth piece of the second set of hymn preludes, first published in 1957. Willan prefaces the score with the hymn tune written out (dated 1415) and in his harmonization, there is a robustness and dignified sense of drive as the music unfolds, working up to a powerful climax on full organ. In 3/4 time, the music is not dissimilar in spirit to Whitlock's 'Allegro risoluto' from the Plymouth Suite, and it would be interesting to know if Willan was influenced by the rhythmic energy and restrained grandeur of Whitlock's style.
Hymn of the Day: Let Justice Flow Like Streams ELW 717
Text: Jane Parker Huber (1926- 2008)
Music: ST. THOMAS, Aaron Williams (1731-1776)
Jane Parker Huber was born in China but grew up in Hanover, Indiana where her parents, Albert & Katharine, were the college president and first lady for 29 years. She married her Hanover born childhood sweetheart, Bill Huber, who was founding pastor at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis where they lived for 33 years before retiring in 1988 to Hanover.
Her hymn writing began in 1975 when planning a United Presbyterian Women’s gathering at Purdue. Starting in 1976, Huber wrote new hymn texts, mostly set to familiar hymn tunes. Two books with over 125 of her hymns were published in 1987 and 1996. Eleven hymns made their way into the Presbyterian hymnal published in 1990. She wrote about 200 hymns, for special celebrations & conferences, to update with more inclusive language, and to fill in gaps in the hymnody about Pentecost and baptism or provide more emphasis on God’s beautiful creation, the equality of God’s people, and our peacemaking mission as Christians.
She also wrote studies for These Days and articles for Horizons magazine, and a column titled “Ask Jane” for that publication for several years.
ST. THOMAS is actually lines 5 through 8 of the sixteen-line tune HOLBORN, composed by Aaron Williams (1731- 1776) and published in his Collection (1763, 1765) as a setting for Charles Wesley's text "Soldiers of Christ, Arise". The harmonization is by Lowell Mason. Williams was a singing teacher, music engraver, and clerk at the Scottish Church, London Wall. He published various church music collections, some intended for rural church choirs. Representative of his compilations are The Universal Psalmodist (1763) – published in the United States as The American Harmony (1769) – The Royal Harmony (1766), The New Universal Psalmodist (1770), and Psalmody in Miniature (1778). His Harmonia Coelestis (1775) included anthems by noted composers.
Offertory Anthem: Have You Heard God’s Voice, Frederick Chatfield (1950)
Frederick Chatfield has arranged this haunting tune and lyrics by Jacqui Jones into an anthem for our time. He has served as Director of Music and Organist of Christ United Methodist Church in Kettering, Ohio, a position he held for thirty years. Mr. Chatfield holds a Bachelor of Music in Organ from New England Conservatory in Boston and a Master of Arts in Religion (Music and Worship) cum laude from Yale University where he was named the 1985 Hugh Porter Scholar. One of his great enjoyments is his 1982 BMW R100RS motorcycle which he restored in the spring of 2006.
Have you heard God's voice; has your heart been stirred? Are you still prepared to follow?
Have you made a choice to remain and serve, though the way be rough and narrow?
Will you use your voice; will you not sit down when the multitudes are silent?
Will you make a choice to stand your ground when the crowds are turning violent?
Will you walk the path that will cost you much and embrace God's love and sorrow?
Will you trust in One who entrusts to you the disciples of tomorrow?
Will you watch the news with the eyes of faith and believe it could be different?
Will you share your views using words of grace? Will you leave a thoughtful imprint?
In your city streets will you be God's heart? Will you listen to the voiceless?
Will you stop and eat, and when friendships start, will you share your faith with the faithless?
We will walk the path that will cost us much and embrace God's love and sorrow?
Will you trust in One who entrusts to you the disciples of tomorrow.
Opening Voluntary: “Houston” (I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light), Wayne L. Wold (1954)
The Voluntary this week is an arrangement by Wayne Wold of Kathleen Thomerson’s hymn “I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light”, written in the summer of 1966 during a visit to Houston, Texas, the location providing the tune name "Houston". Wayne is Director of Music at First Lutheran Church in Ellicott City, MD, and Adjunct Associate Professor of Music (organ) at Shenandoah University.
Closing Voluntary: Postlude on “RATISBON” from Epiphany Suite Charles Callahan (1951-2023)
This piece is based upon the hymn tune RATISBON (Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies). Charles Callahan was a delightful, quirky, reclusive composer living in remote Vermont with a mission to write organ music for services that was accessible for organists and meaningful to congregations.
Hymn of the Day: “Will You Come and Follow Me?” ELW 798
Text: John Lamberton Bell (1949)
Tune: KELVINGROVE, traditional Scottish melody
Though he is not certain of it, John Bell is "fairly confident" that this text was written “for the sending out of one our youth volunteers. This was a scheme sponsored by the lona Community whereby young people gave a year or two to live in impoverished parts of Scotland, on the dole, and work out their discipleship in hard places. When they finished, my colleague and I would often write a song for their farewell ceremony always held in the house where they had been working. The words of this song therefore reflect the experience of the volunteer concerned. But we only wrote it for one-off use. It probably goes back to around 1986-87.” Bell then adds, "If I had kept a record of people who have spoken of how a particular line in this affected their life, I could have published a book of very moving testimonies by now, but I'm glad I didn't."
John Lamberton Bell is a Scottish hymn-writer and Church of Scotland minister. He is a member of the Iona Community, a broadcaster, and former student activist. He works throughout the world, lecturing in theological colleges in the UK, Canada and the United States, but is primarily concerned with the renewal of congregational worship at the grass roots level.
Kelvingrove is a place in Glasgow, Scotland, perhaps best known for the museum with that name. The tune that bears the name KELVINGROVE is a traditional Scottish one linked with a text by Thomas Lyle (1792-1859), "Let us haste to Kelvin Grove, bonnie lassie, O," published in The Scottish Minstrel (1811) as KELVIN WATER. Before that in the eighteenth century it was paired with "Bonnie Lassie-O (The Shearing's Nae for You)," which is about a young woman being raped. The tune, darkly, paradoxically, works very well with this text by John Bell, and one has to believe that the irony of such a tune for a story of rape was not lost on those who sang it in the eighteenth century.
Offertory: “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” Frank Pesci
A strophic setting of the hymn tune Nettleton, composed by John Wyeth (1770-1858). This piece was completed on December 3, 2007, in Newton, Massachusetts, and revised two years later. It, like many choral works between 2005 and 2009, was premiered at Grace Episcopal Church in Newton, MA. The first and third stanzas present the tune in the choral part. Stanza two inverts the tune's presentation - the melody in the organ part is accompanied by four-part chorus.
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.
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet, Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! Oh, fix me on it, Mount of God’s unchanging love.
Here I find my greatest treasure; Hither by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure, Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger, Wandering from the fold of God; He,
to rescue me from danger, Interposed His precious blood;
O to grace how great a debtor Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love; Here’s
my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above.
Opening Voluntary: “Repton” (He Comes to Us ) Robert J Powell (1932-2025)
We join the church world in mourning the death of composer, Robert J. Powell. It is difficult to think of what church music might have been in the last 50 years without Robert’s music. He was a prolific composer with over 1200 pieces in print. We give thanks for Robert’s friendship and support over many years. Robert J. Powell was born in Benoit, Mississippi. He 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.
Closing Voluntary: “Angelic Songs” (O Zion Haste) Mark Sedio
Mary Ann Thomson (1834-1923), wrote about forty hymn texts, which have appeared mostly in the Churchman, New York, and in the Living Church, Chicago. Four of her hymns are found in the Protestant Episcopal Hymnal, 1892. Of the origin of the missionary hymn "O Zion, haste," she writes as follows: I wrote the greater part of the hymn, "O Zion, haste," in the year 1868. I had written many hymns before, and one night, while I was sitting up with one of my children who was ill of typhoid fever, I thought I should like to write a missionary hymn to the tune of the hymn beginning "Hark, hark, my soul, angelic songs are swelling," as I was fond of that tune; but as I could not then get a refrain I liked, I left the hymn unfinished, and about three years later I finished it by writing the refrain which now forms part of it. By some mistake 1891 is given instead of 1871 as the date of the hymn in the (Episcopal) Hymnal. I do not think it is ever sung to the tune for which I wrote it. Rev. John Anketell told me, and I am sure he is right, that it is better for a hymn to have a tune of its own, and I feel much indebted to the composer of the tune "Tidings" for writing so inspiring a tune to my words.
Hymn of the Day: “In his temple now behold him” ELW 417
Text: Henry John Pye (1827-1903)
Tune: REGENT SQUARE, Henry T. Smart (1813-1879)
The hymn especially designed for this day is “In his temple now behold him”. We are the redeemed who praise God in this day for the salvation brought us by Christ, who is the incarnate God Most High (st. 2). This hymn was written in the mid-nineteenth century by the Anglican priest Henry Pye. Pye was married to the granddaughter of William Wilberforce, the eminent abolitionist. The language of redemption perhaps meant a great deal to this family, who were so closely connected with the end of the slave trade. (Gail Ramshaw)
Henry T. Smart composed REGENT SQUARE for the Horatius Bonar doxology "Glory be to God the Father." The tune was first published in the English Presbyterian Church's Psalms and Hymns for Divine Worship (1867), of which Smart was the music editor. The tune is named after the text editor of that hymnal, James Hamilton, minister of the Regent Square Church, the "Presbyterian cathedral" of London. The text,"Angels, from the realms of glory", is also usually associated with this tune.
Offertory: “Simeon’s Song” Bradley Ellingboe
The song is based on the New Testament passage in Luke 2 which describes Jesus' parents bringing Him to the temple to dedicate their firstborn son as required by the Mosaic Law.
Lord, now you let your servant go in peace. Your word has been fulfilled. My own eyes have seen the salvation of your people: To be a light to lighten the nations and the glory of Your people Israel. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost. As it was, is now and will be forever. Amen.
Opening Voluntary: Mit Fried' und Freud'ich fahr'dahlin, J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
Taken from the Orgelbüchlein collection, this gentle and intimate piece by Bach is based on a metrical arrangement by Martin Luther of the Nunc Dimittis, the song sung by Solomon when the infant Christ was presented in the temple. This is celebrated on the Feast of the Presentation, also known as Candlemas, on 2nd February each year. This beautiful selection never fails to create an excellent impression. The tenor and alto parts are dominated by the joy motive rhythm and the bass proceeds in the step motive portraying faith. A comment in the Novello Edition describes this as: "One of the most intimate of Bach's works, this prelude is a perfect expression of the joy of the Nunc Dimittis.”
Closing Voluntary: “Oh Love, How Deep,” Stephen Gabrielsen
Retired Professor of Music at Augsburg College, Stephen Gabrielsen taught music theory and organ performance and was the college organist. He is a co-founder of "Exultate," the Twin Cities-based chamber choir and orchestra, and is a published composer of organ and choral music.
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?
Offertory: “King Jesus Hath a Garden” Richard Shephard.
A historically significant sacred text often sung at Christmas, springing from a traditional Dutch carol, "Heer Jesus heeft een Hofken" from Geestlijcke Harmonie, Emmerich, 1633. It is translated by Rev. George R. Woodward, and in this setting by Richard Shephard, the accompaniment echos the flowers quoted in the text with some great musical references!
1. King Jesus hath a garden, full of divers flowers, Where I rejoice with great delight, all times and hours.
Refrain:
There naught is heard but Paradise bird, Harp, dulcimer, lute,
With cymbal, trump and tymbal, And the tender, soothing flute.
2. The Lily, white in blossom fair, is Chastity: The Violet, with sweet perfume, Humility.
3. The bonny Damask-rose is known as Patience: The blithe and thrifty Marygold, Obedience.
4. The Crown Imperial bloometh too in yonder place, Tis Charity, of stock divine, the flower of grace.
5. Yet, 'mid the brave, the bravest prize may claim The Star of Bethlehem — Jesus — bless'd be his Name!
6. Ah! Jesu Lord, my heal and weal, my bliss complete, Make thou my heart thy garden-plot, fair, trim and neat.
Opening Voluntary: “In dir ist Freude” J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
The earliest record of this text is found in Johannes Lindemann’s 1594 collection of 20 Christmas carols appearing as the German sacred text replacing Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi’s Italian secular text from a collection of vocal dance songs. No wonder this chorale invites one to dance!
Bach sets the chorale melody accompanied by motivic accompaniment and an almost ostinato pedal, creating a web of thematic allusion in which the whole melody only gradually becomes audible. The main melody is presented first in the soprano and is followed by the other voices, sometimes even in pairs as a support and answer to the presentation of the chorale melody. This setting of “In dir its Freude” is more than its parts: its varying but unified texture, its momentum, its irrepressible gusto, even its repetitions, are found nowhere else.
Closing Voluntary: “Psalm XIX, The Heavens Declare the Glory of God”, Benedetto Marcello (1686 - 1739)
Benedetto Marcello's “Psalm XIX, The Heavens Declare the Glory of God”, is a triumphant and majestic composition. Benedetto Marcello was a Venetian composer, writer, magistrate, teacher, and nobleman. He is known for his concertos in the style of Vivaldi and his sacred vocal and instrumental works, among them his Estro poetico-armonico, a musical setting of the first fifty Psalms for voices, figured bass and occasional solo instruments.
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.
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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.