Hymn of the Day: I Am the Bread of Life ELW 485
Text: Suzanne Toolan, RSM, (1927)
Music: Suzanne Toolan, RSM
Tune: I Am the Bread, Bread of Life (Toolan)

Sr. Suzanne Toolan was born in Lansing, Michigan. She joined the Sisters of Mercy in Burlingame, California, in 1950, where she taught at Mercy High School. One day in 1964 Toolan wrote the hymn during her free period. She claims to have discarded the original copy before being inspired to keep it by a student who overheard her working on it. She originally presented the hymn at a diocesan music educators' conference in 1966. The popularity of the hymn coincided with the use of vernacular languages following the Second Vatican Council.

Along with its use in the Worship hymnal for the Catholic Church, the hymn also appears in the Episcopal Church's The Hymnal 1982 and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Evangelical Lutheran Worship.

The hymn text is a close paraphrase of John 6:35, 44, 51, and 53. With the exception of stanza 5, it is the words of Jesus. Putting the words of God or Jesus in the congregation's mouth has some historical precedent in a writer like Paul Gerhardt or a hymn like "How firm a foundation", but the connective links are more obscure in the twentieth century and subtly join its temptation for humanity to play God. That is clearly not the author's intention.

It is more interesting to me that musically, the attributes necessary for a hymn to support communal singing are very weak or almost absent in the verses of this tune. The verses are not metric, the syllables of each are set in constantly changing ways and, although the refrain is more melodically friendly and its high range expresses “raising up”, the vocal shifts from the low notes of the verse to the high range of the refrain and back down again, are awkward for many.

Still, this hymn is much loved by many who find hope and consolation in these words of Jesus.

Offertory: “Piano Improvisation on Let Us Break Bread” Charles Callahan 

Here is another hymn tune setting by Charles Callahan, this time a short meditation for piano. This hymn is a traditional spiritual, probably from the antebellum period in the American south. It may have been used by slaves to signal a secret gathering, since such assemblies were illegal. In that case, perhaps the original version of the song consisted of only the final stanza and the refrain. Some writers are of this opinion, and add that after the Civil War, the first two stanzas were added in order to make it a Communion hymn. However, an understanding of certain aspects of church history and tradition present another theory.
In the antebellum South, many slaves were required to attend church every Sunday at an early morning service, while their white owners attended the later service. The song text refers to kneeling during Communion, which is common in certain liturgical traditions. It also refers to having one's “face to the rising sun.” Horace Boyer has pointed out that “it is an old tradition for Christian Churches to be aligned on an East-West axis so that early morning communion was always 'into the sun.' This was the tradition of Anglican church buildings almost universally until about 1800” . Therefore, it is possible that this song was first sung by slaves in Episcopal Virginia for whom the experience of taking Communion would have involved kneeling toward the rising sun.

Opening Voluntary: Cantilène, Gabriel Pierné (1863-1937)

Gabriel Pierné has been called the most complete French musician of the late Romantic/early Twentieth
Century era. Pierné’s compositional style can be described as very traditional and classical in form while possessing a modern spirit. He was able to eloquently balance his own personal language with the elements of both discipline and instinct. Evidence of his studies with both Massenet and Franck are very apparent. From Massenet he acquired a sense of melody and lightness, while from Franck he developed a sense of structure and consciousness of art, and an inspiration for religious music. Though much of his music is overshadowed by other French composers from his day, it is because his time was devoted primarily to conducting.

One of my favorite pieces to play in summer, Cantilène is the second of Trois Pieces, Op. 29.

Closing Voluntary: “Scherzo” Alan Ridout (1934-1996)

Last Sunday’s Congregational Meeting at the end of the service has resulted in the rescheduling of Alan Ridout’s “Scherzo” to this Sunday.

Alan Ridout studied briefly at the Guildhall School of Music before commencing four years of study at the Royal College of Music, London with Herbert Howells and Gordon Jacob. He was later taught by Michael Tippett, Peter Fricker and (under a Dutch government scholarship) Henk Badings.

He went on to teach at the Royal College of Music, the University of Birmingham, the University of Cambridge, the University of London, and at The King's School, Canterbury. He also broadcast musical talks on the radio.
He lived for much of his life in Canterbury, but after a serious heart attack in 1990 he moved to France.

Ridout was a prolific composer; the complete list of his works runs to 100 pages. His style is mostly tonal, though in younger life he wrote some microtonal works. His works include church, orchestral and chamber music, often intended for amateurs and children. Much of the church music came out of a collaboration between Ridout and Allan Wicks, organist and master of the choristers at Canterbury Cathedral which began in 1964.