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
During February, Black History Month, we are celebrating each week the contribution African Americans have made to our worship either in our hymns, anthems, preludes or postludes, through musical compositions and/or texts rooted in this history and culture.
Today’s Opening Voluntary is an organ work by Florence Price.
Hymn of the Day: “God, Whose Almighty Word” ELW 673
Text: John Marriott (1780-1825)
Tune: ITALIAN HYMN, MOSCOW, Felice Giardini (1716-1796)
John Marriott was educated at Rugby, and Christ Church, Oxford. He was the second of two who obtained honors in the schools in 1802, the first year in which there was a public examination for honors at Oxford. He was also Student of Christ Church, and for about two years a private tutor in the family of the Duke of Buccleuch. The Duke presented him to the Rectory of Church Lawford, Warwickshire. This he retained to his death, although his wife's health compelled him to reside in Devonshire, where he was successively curate of St. Lawrence and other parishes in Exeter, and of Broadclyst, near Exeter, where he died March 31, 1825. His published works include a volume of Sermons which he issued in 1818, and a posthumous volume of Sermons, published by his sons in 1838. His hymns were never published by himself, nor in book form by any one. A few appeared in print during his lifetime, but without his permission.
The hymn, “Thou Whose almighty word”, or "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, and was printed with a digest of the speech in the Evangelical Magazine in 1825. It was probably copied from the Magazine into the Friendly Visitor of July, 1825, where it bore the title "Missionary Hymn," without signature.
Felice Giardini was born in Italy. When young, he studied singing, harpsichord and violin. By age 12 he was playing in theatre orchestras. In a famous incident about this time, Giardini, who was serving as assistant concertmaster during an opera, decided to show off his skills by improvising several bravura variations that the composer, Nicolò Jommelli, had not written. Although the audience applauded loudly, Jommelli, who happened to be there, went up and slapped Giardini in the face. Giardini, years later, remarked: "It was the most instructive lesson I ever received from a great artist." He became a composer and violin virtuoso. 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, but had little fortune there, where he died.
Giardini was a prolific composer, writing for virtually every genre which then existed. His two main areas, however, were opera and chamber music. Virtually all of his music is out of print with the exception of a few songs and works of chamber music. Giardini is known among Christian churches for his "Italian Hymn" or "Moscow", which often accompanies the text to the hymn "Come, Thou Almighty King" and also John Marriott's hymn "Thou whose almighty word".
Offertory: “Christ Is the World’s True Light” William Stanton (1891-1978)
The text, Christ is the World’s True Light, was penned in 1931 by George Wallace Briggs, a Canon of Worchester Cathedral. He wrote this text as a "missionary hymn" to emphasize one of the concepts of modern missions: “In Christ all races meet.” It was published in the Advent section of Oxford's Songs of Praise (1931) and in Briggs's Songs of Faith (1945), in which it was entitled "The Light of the World." The text begins by affirming Christ's own saying, "I am the Light of the world" (John 8: 12). Christ is the light and daystar who brings his people salvation from the darkness of sin. Borrowing one of Paul's memorable teachings in Galatians 3:28 and Jesus' prayer for unity in John 17, the text confesses the essential unity of all humanity and especially the oneness of the family of God. Only when the nations and all peoples submit to Christ's reign will our "groaning" world experience true peace and redemption.
Walter Kendall Stanton was educated at Choristers' School, Salisbury before undertaking an Organ Scholarship at Lancing College and was then at Merton College, Oxford, between 1909 and 1913. He was Director of Music at St. Edward's School, Oxford, from 1915-1924, and later at Wellington College, Berkshire from 1924-1937, and Reading University from 1927-1937. He was also Director of Music for the Midlands Region of the BBC from 1937-1945. He was Professor of Music at the University of Bristol from 1947 until 1958.From 1956 to 1958, he served as City Organist for the City of Bristol. From 1958 until 1960, he was Conductor of the Bristol Choral Society. Professor Stanton was active in a number of musical societies, and was President of the Incorporated Society of Musicians in 1953, as well as its treasurer from 1959 until 1971. He also served as President of the Union of Graduates in Music from 1953-1957. Professor Stanton was also examiner in Music for the Universities of Oxford, Durham and Edinburgh and the University of Wales. He was on the Management Board of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and served as its chairman from 1967-1968. As well as his numerous commitments to musical societies, he was Editor-in-Chief of the BBC Hymn Book.
Christ is the world's true light,
its Captain of salvation,
the Daystar clear and bright
of every land and nation;
new life, new hope awakes,
for all who own its sway:
freedom her bondage breaks,
and night is turned to day.
In Christ all races meet,
their ancient feuds forgetting,
the whole round world complete,
from sunrise to its setting:
when Christ is throned as Lord,
all shall forsake their fear,
to plough-share beat the sword,
to pruning hook the spear.
One Lord, in one great name
unite us all who own thee;
cast out our pride and shame
that hinder to enthrone thee;
the world has waited long,
has travailed long in pain;
to heal its ancient wrong,
come, Prince of Peace, and reign.
Opening Voluntary: “Adoration” Florence B. Price (1887-1953)
In 2009 a dusty treasure was uncovered during the renovation of a dilapidated home in St. Anne, Illinois. Workers discovered boxes containing music by Florence B. Price previously considered lost, including two violin concertos and her fourth symphony. Although the quality of her compositions was recognized during her lifetime, her works were not widely heard. Writing to Serge Koussevitzky, the conductor of the Boston Symphony, she plainly addressed the prejudice that stunted her career, “I have two handicaps – those of sex and race. I am a woman; and I have some Negro blood in my veins.” Now, 70 years later, the labor of activists, scholars, and performers has changed the musical landscape of the United States, and Price’s music is frequently heard in orchestra halls across the nation.
Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Price studied organ and piano at the New England Conservatory of Music, one of the only music institutions of the time that admitted Black students. She taught music at Black-serving institutions in the South after graduating. In 1912 she married and moved back to Little Rock. However, her hometown was not safe, and threats of racial violence compelled the family to flee to Chicago in 1927. Inspired by the culturally rich Black community in Chicago, Price renewed her study of music at the American Conservatory and the Chicago Musical College.
In 1932, she won the Wanamaker competition with her Symphony in E Minor, thus gaining national recognition. She is best known as a song composer, however, including her arrangement of the spiritual “My Soul’s been Anchored in de Lord” and a setting of Langston Hughes’ poem “Songs to the Dark Virgin.” Marian Anderson frequently sang her works and adopted Price’s arrangement of “My Soul’s been Anchored in de Lord” as a personal signature, often ending recitals with that spiritual. Price’s compositions combine a romantic vocabulary with African and African American musical traditions such as call and response and Juba dance rhythm patterns.
Published in 1951, Adoration was initially written as a short piece for organ in ABA form intended for use in church. It has proven attractive for arrangers, including Jim Gray, who has orchestrated it for solo violin and string orchestra.
Closing Voluntary: St. Denio (Immortal, Invisible) J. Bert. Carlson
“Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise" is a Christian hymn with words by the Free Church of Scotland minister, Walter Chalmers Smith, usually sung to the tune, "St. Denio", originally a Welsh ballad tune, which became a hymn. ST. DENIO is based on "Can mlynedd i nawr" ("A Hundred Years from Now"), a traditional Welsh ballad popular in the early nineteenth century.
Pastor J. Bert Carlson ministered to many congregations for over 50 years in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Indiana. He was also an accomplished musician and published composer.
Hymn of the Day: “Songs of Thankfulness and Praise” ELW 310
Text: Christopher Wordsworth, 1807–1885, alt.
Tune: SALZBURG, Jakob Hintze, 1622–1702; arr. Johann Sebastian Bach, 1685–1750
Christopher Wordsworth, nephew of the great Romantic poet William Wordsworth, wrote this hymn in five stanzas. It was published in his Holy Year (1862) John 3:13-17 with the heading "Sixth Sunday after Epiphany." Wordsworth described the text as follows:
"[It is a] recapitulation of the successive manifestations of Christ, which have already been presented in the services of the former weeks throughout the season of Epiphany; and anticipation of that future great and glorious Epiphany, at which Christ will be manifest to all, when he will appear again to judge the world."
The didactic text teaches the meaning of Epiphany–the manifestation of Christ in his birth (st. 1), baptism, miracle at Cana (st. 2), healing of the sick, power over evil, and coming as judge (st. 3). Originally the refrain line was "Anthems be to thee addressed, God in man made manifest." The revised refrain borrows Peter's confession, "You are the Christ!" (Mark 8:29), and makes that our corporate confession as we acknowledge the 'Word become flesh" who lived among us.
Wordsworth was a prolific author and the most renowned Greek scholar of his day. Included in his works are Memoirs of William Wordsworth (1851), Commentary on the Mole Bible (1856-1870), Church History (1881-1883), innumerable sermons and pamphlets, and The Holy Year (1862), which contained 117 of his original hymns as well as 82 others written for all the Sundays and Christian holy days according to the Book of Common Prayer. Wordsworth was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, England, where he distinguished himself as a brilliant student. He later taught at Trinity College and was headmaster of Harrow School (1836-1844). Ordained a priest in the Church of England in 1835, he was canon of Westminster in 1844, a country priest in Stanford-in-the-Vale, Berkshire (1850-1869), and then Bishop of Lincoln (1869-1885).
The tune SALZBURG, named after the Austrian city made famous by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, was first published anonymously in the nineteenth edition of Praxis Pietatis Melica (1678); in that hymnbook's twenty-fourth edition (1690) the tune was attributed to Jakob Hintze. Partly as a result of the Thirty Years' War and partly to further his musical education, Hintze traveled widely as a youth, including trips to Sweden and Lithuania. In 1659 he settled in Berlin, where he served as court musician to the Elector of Brandenburg from 1666 to 1695. Hintze is known mainly for his editing of the later editions of Johann Crüger's Praxis Pietatis Melica, to which he contributed some sixty-five of his original tunes.
Offertory: “Laudate Nomen Domini” Christopher Tye (1505-1572)
The musical source for this well-known piece is Tye’s 1553 publication The Actes of the Apostles, a rendering of that New Testament book in metrical verse together with a musical setting for each chapter. The music for ‘Laudate nomen’ is the setting for Chapter 4 in Tye’s version; however, the Latin text with which the music is now generally associated is a later anonymous contrafactum, or substitute text, being a paraphrase of the first verse of Psalm 112; an English translation of this, beginning ‘O come, ye servants of the Lord’, is also frequently encountered.
Laudate nomen Domini, vos servi Domini;
ab ortu solis usque ad occasum ejus.
Decreta Dei justa sunt, et cor exhilarant:
laudate Deum principes et omnes populi.
Translation:
Praise the name of the Lord, you servants of the Lord;
from the rising of the sun until the same setting.
The decrees of the Lord are just, and [their] heart is glad:
Praise the Lord you princes and all you people.
Opening Voluntary: “In dir ist Freude” Theodore Beck (1929-2003)
The chorale tune, IN DIR IST FREUDE, was composed by Giovanni G. Gastoldi (1582-1609) who served as a deacon and singer in the chapel of the Gonzaga family in Mantua. Gastoldi composed a considerable body of court music, such as madrigals, and some church music, but he is best known for his Balletti, which influenced composers such as Monteverdi, Hassler, and Morley.
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!
Theodore A. “Ted” Beck taught and composed music for the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod for more than 50 years and is remembered as a quiet and humble man who had a wry sense of humor and was a demanding but kind teacher. He taught music at Concordia Teachers College (which became Concordia University in 1998) in Seward, Nebraska, from 1953 until his full retirement in 2001. He also composed many pieces for organ as well as for church choirs. He taught at Concordia Teachers College (now Concordia University-Chicago) in River Forest, Ill., from 1950-1953.
Closing Voluntary: “Hyfrydol” Ralph Vaughn Williams
The tune "Hyfrydol", which means "cheerful" in Welsh, was first published in 1830 by Rowland H. Prichard. He was a Welsh composer born in 1811 just outside of Bala, North Wales; Graenyn, North Wales to be exact. The tune is often set to Charles Wesley's hymn text, "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling", Ralph Vaughn Williams' "Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus", and William C. Dix's "Alleluia! Sing to Jesus".
The tune HYFRYDOL, which means "cheerful" in Welsh, was first published in 1830 by Rowland H. Prichard. He was a Welsh composer born in 1811 just outside of Bala, North Wales, where he lived for most of his life serving as a loom tender's assistant in Holywell, North Wales where he eventually would pass away in 1887. It wasn't until 1844 that Prichard published his only known work Cyfaill Y Cantorion (The Singer's Friend). His most famous tune was HYFRYDOL, which is most commonly used with "Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus." The best known arrangement came from none other than English Composer Ralph Vaughn Williams. Vaughn Williams was known for his adaptations on several original hymn tunes, creating new arrangements for wind bands and for brass bands all across England.
In 1954, the 82-year old Ralph Vaughan Williams was taken to hear The International Staff Band. He was suitably impressed and agreed to write something which the Salvation Army could publish. The result was Prelude on Three Welsh Hymn Tunes, for which he re-worked and expanded material that had originally been published as two organ preludes – Calfaria and Hyfrydol. The setting of Ebenezer at the start was new and sets the tone for a work which despite its brevity, is characteristically expansive and festive.
Hymn of the Day: Go to the World! ACS 991
Text: Sylvia G. Dunstan, 1955–1993
Tune: SINE NOMINE, Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1872–1958
Sylvia Dunstan was a hymnwriter and a United Church of Canada pastor who died tragically of liver cancer at age thirty-eight. Alan Barthel, her mentor and collaborator, with less than a week’s notice commissioned a text built on the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20) for the 1985 Emmanuel College (Toronto) Convocation. Written to Ralph Vaughan Williams’s expansive SINE NOMINE (“For all the saints”), it gives this beloved tune an alternate text pairing.
Offertory: “Grant Us Thy Peace” Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
The original text for Mendelssohn’s beautiful motet was Martin Luther’s prayer for peace, "Verleih uns Frieden gnädiglich" ("Da nobis pacem, Domine"; also known as "Grant Us Thy Peace"). This composition has been published also as "Gebet nach Lutherschen Worten für Chor und Orchester" (librettist, Martin Luther). Mendelssohn originally scored the piece for SATB chorus, orchestra and Organ.
Grant us your peace, O loving Lord,
our Rock and firm foundation.
Our faith is in your excellent word,
speaking to every nation.
Your promise of sure salvation.
Opening Voluntary: “Let Us Ever Walk With Jesus”, Thomas Geischen (1931- 2006)
Thomas Geischen earned a B.S. in Education from Concordia Teachers College and a master’s and doctorate in music from Northwestern University.
Dr. Gieschen was a professor of music for 40 years at Concordia University in River Forest, where he served as department chair and head of the Music Department. He retired in 1993.
As Kapelle Choir director, he performed for President Lyndon Johnson at the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony, on a world tour for the King of Thailand, and at Orchestra Hall in Chicago.
As founder of OrganArt, he created designs for church organs throughout the Midwest. He was also a published composer, arranger and organ recitalist, and a member of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians and the American Guild of Organists.
In his spare time, he was an amateur locksmith and harpsichord builder. He also designed and built his island summer home in Door County, Wis.
Closing Voluntary: "Morning Star” Wayne L. Wold (1954)
"Brightest and Best" (occasionally rendered by its first line, "Brightest and Best of the Sons of the Morning") is a Christian hymn text written in 1811 by the Anglican bishop Reginald Heber to be sung at the feast of Epiphany. It appeared in Heber's widow's compilation of hymns entitled Hymns Written and Adapted to the Weekly Service of the Church Year in 1827. It can be sung to a number of tunes, including "Liebster Immanuel", "Morning Star" by James P. Harding, "Epiphany" by Joseph Thrupp, and "Star in the East" by William Walker. It appears in many hymnals across different Christian traditions. The Kentucky traditional singer Jean Ritchie often sang this and told of her childhood memory of her grandmother sitting by the fire and singing it quietly to herself on Twelfth Night; the Library of Congress collected it from her in 1951.
Wayne L. Wold taught at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, from 1990 to 2020 where he taught organ, harpsichord, composition, music theory, form and analysis, and humanities topics in the graduate school. Wold has performed widely on organ and harpsichord, with solo recitals across the United States and in Europe, and he has performed in ensembles including the Maryland Symphony Orchestra, Frederick Symphony Orchestra, Bach in Baltimore Orchestra and Hood Chamber Players. He is also in demand as a hymn festival leader featuring his own improvisations. Wold has been a church musician since the age of sixteen, serving churches in Minnesota, Ohio, and Maryland, including seventeen years as director of chapel music at Camp David, the presidential retreat.
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: “Consecration” Frederick Chatfield
This is a lovely, compelling setting of Frances Havergal's hymn-text "Take my life and let it be." Here is how author Frances Havergal describes the events that inspired the writing of this hymn: “I went for a little visit of five days. There were ten persons in the house, some unconverted and long prayed for; some converted, but not rejoicing Christians. He gave me the prayer: ‘Lord, give me all in this house.’ And He just DID! Before I left the house everyone had got a blessing. The last night of my visit, after I had retired, the governess asked me to go to the two daughters. They were crying, etc. Then and there both of them trusted and rejoiced. It was nearly midnight. I was too happy to sleep, and passed most of the night in praise and renewal of my own consecration; and these little couplets formed themselves and chimed in my heart one after another till they finished with ‘ever, only, all for Thee.’”
Frederick Chatfield 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.
Take my life, and let it be
consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days;
let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands, and let them move
at the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet, and let them be
swift and beautiful for Thee.
Take my voice, and let me sing
always, only, for my King.
Take my lips, and let them be
filled with messages from Thee.
Take my silver and my gold;
not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect, and use
every power as Thou shalt choose.
Take my will, and make it Thine;
it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is Thine own;
it shall be Thy royal throne.
Take my love, my Lord, I pour
at Thy feet its treasure store.
Take myself, and I will be
ever, only, all for Thee.
Opening Voluntary: “Prelude on MUNICH” Aaron David Miller
Aaron David Miller is noted for his highly imaginative and creative style, found in his performances, improvisations and compositions. Prize winner of several prestigious competitions, including the top prize at the AGO National Improvisation Competition, and the Bach and Improvisation prizes at the Calgary International Organ Festival Competition, he is also noted for his fine performances of repertoire spanning all periods. He has also received rave reviews when accompanying silent films. His recital performances have taken him across the country performing in concert halls, churches, and collaborating with ensembles of all sizes. Aaron 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: “Voluntary #4” Arlen Clarke (1954)
This is one of a group of 10 Voluntaries written during the COVID quarantine. Conductor, composer, and singer, Arlen Clarke was born in upstate New York. He graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from Belhaven College in Jackson, MS. After a year of graduate study with Lloyd Pfautsch at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX, he went on to receive his Masters Degree in Vocal Performance from Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX. Upon completion of six years of active duty as an officer in the US Army he was a singer and later, the composer-in-residence during the1989-90 season at Grace and Holy Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Kansas City, MO. Shortly thereafter, he was appointed to the post of Director of Choral Activities at his alma mater, Belhaven College. He currently lives in Greenville, SC and is the Director of Music at St. Mary's Catholic Church. In addition to composing, he maintains an active schedule as a conductor, singer and vocal coach, choral clinician, and adjudicator.
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 hymnwriters 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: “Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day” Richard Shephard (1949-2021)
This is a wonderful arrangement of the traditional English carol usually attributed as "traditional.” Its first written appearance is in William B. Sandys' Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern of 1833. However, it is almost certainly of a much earlier date; Studwell places it in the 16th century. Cahill based on the phrase "to see the legend of my play" speculates that the text may be based on an earlier version associated with a mystery play of the late medieval period. Numerous composers have made original settings of it or arranged the traditional tune, including Gustav Holst, John Gardner, Igor Stravinsky, David Willcocks, John Rutter, Philip Lawson, James Burton, Ronald Corp, Philip Stopford, Andrew Carter, Jamie W. Hall and Jack Gibbons. The verses of the hymn progress through the story of Jesus told in his own voice. An innovative feature of the telling is that Jesus' life is repeatedly characterized as a dance. This device was later used in the modern hymn "Lord of the Dance".
Tomorrow shall be my dancing day,
I would my true love did so chance
to see the legend of my play,
to call my true love to my dance;
Chorus
Sing O my love,
This have I done for my true love.
Then was I born of a virgin pure,
Of her I took fleshly substance.
Thus was I knit to man's nature,
to call my true love to the dance.
In a manger laid and wrapped I was,
So very poor; this was my chance,
Betwixt an ox and a silly poor ass,
to call my true love to my dance.
Then afterwards baptized I was;
The Holy Ghost on me did glance,
My Father’s voice heard from above,
to call my true love to my dance.
Opening and Closing Voluntaries: “Prelude and Postlude from Sixty Short Pieces” Flor Peeters (1903-1986)
The Sixty Short Pieces for Organ were composed in 1957 using Flor Peeters recognizable style of Renaissance polyphony combined with 20th century influences.
A renowned Flemish organist, composer, and music pedagogue, he was known for his exceptional skills as an organist and performed extensively throughout Europe and the United States, showcasing his virtuosity and musicality and promoting the organ as a solo instrument through his concerts and recordings.
Peeters’ compositions encompass a wide range of styles and genres, from solo pieces to large-scale symphonic works, showcasing his mastery of counterpoint, harmonic language, and innovative use of registration on the organ. Many of his organ pieces have become staples in the repertoire.
As a teacher at the Lemmens Institute in Belgium for over four decades, Peeters's impact extended beyond his performance career and compositions, influencing generations of young musicians who went on to become accomplished performers.
And here are some brief notes to catch up on last week’s organ pieces.
Opening Voluntary for 31 December: “With Peace and Joy I Now Depart” JS Bach
This is a chorale prelude from Bach’s Orgelbûchlein - German for “Little Organ Book.” “With Peace and Joy I Now Depart” is the chorale whose text is associated with the feast of the Presentation in the Temple, part of the Gospel reading.
As Johann Gotthielf Ziegler reported, "When playing chorales, my teacher, Kapellmeister Bach, who was still alive, taught me to never play chorales as is, but with the sentiment conveyed by the words." Since the congregation would have known the words of the chorale by heart (and not just the first verse), Bach was able to use this music in a highly suggestive manner. He would thus masterfully employ those hymns most likely to capture the congregation's imagination and move them. Every word, every interval, every interpretive choice was linked to key words, to a specific relationship between biblical and musical writing. In this way, the chorales became both the instrument used to convey the message and the means by which listeners, by actively participating in it, made that message their own.
Closing Voluntary: Prelude and Fugue on Tempus Adest Floridum” Richard Shephard
We don’t sing this carol much anymore, but the tune, better known as “Good King Wenceslas” is well known and easily recognizable.
Hymn of the Day: “O Lord, How Shall I Meet You?” ELW 241
Text: Paul Gerhart (1607-1676) tr. composite
Tune: WIE SOLL ICH DICH EMPFANGEN, Johann Cruger (1598-1662)
Paul Gerhardt, famous author of Lutheran evangelical hymns, wrote this German text in ten stanzas. The Psalter Hymnal contains three of those original ten stanzas inspired by Matthew 21:1-9, the Gospel reading for the first Sunday of Advent in the old Lutheran lectionary. Like so many of the psalms that use the first-person pronoun ("I"), this text moves from the personal welcome of the Savior (st. 1), to a confession of the reason for Christ's incarnation (st. 2), to the church's expectation of Christ's return (st. 3).
Gerhardt studied theology and hymnody at the University of Wittenberg and then was a tutor in Berlin, where he became friends with Johann Cruger. He experienced much suffering in his life; he and his parishioners lived in the era of the Thirty Years' War, and his family experienced incredible tragedy: four of his five children died young, and his wife died after a prolonged illness. In the history of hymnody Gerhardt is considered a transitional figure. He wrote at a time when hymns were changing from a more objective, confessional, and corporate focus to a pietistic, devotional, and personal one. Like other German hymns, Gerhardt's were lengthy and intended for use throughout a service, a group of stanzas at a time.
John Wesley and Catherine Winkworth both made famous English translations of Gerhardt's texts. As Paul Gerhardt was one of the chief German Lutheran hymn text writers, so Catherine Winkworth was the premier nineteenth-century English translator of German chorales. In 1855 and 1858 she prepared translations in two series called Lyra Germanica. In the second of these, she added a note to the preface in which she promised to respond to "inquiries... for tunes adapted to these hymns.” That led in 1863 to The Chorale Book for England, in which she made the translations fit the German meters and included the German tunes so they could be sung with the English texts. In 1869 she provided a substantial history of German hymns and poetry in Christian Singers of Germany.
Winkworth was educated privately while living with her father and sister in Manchester, England. An early champion of women's rights and the education of women, she was governor of the Red Maids' School in Bristol and supporter of the Clifton School for Girls.
Johann Crüger composed WIE SOLL ICH DICH EMPFANGEN for this text and published the tune in 1653; the tune name is the German incipit of Gerhardt's text. Enhancing a sense of personal and communal meditation, the tune gives the text reflective support. It is in isorhythmic form (all equal rhythms) as well as rounded bar form (AABA).
Offertory: “E’en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come” Paul Manz
E'en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come" is a 1953 motet composed by Paul Manz with lyrics adapted by Ruth Manz. The piece is adapted from text found in the Book of Revelation. It is known as Paul Manz's most notable composition and has been frequently performed by numerous ensembles and choral groups. Paul and Ruth Manz wrote "E'en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come" in 1953 during a time when their three-year-old son was critically ill. Reflecting on the time, Ruth Manz reported, "I think we'd reached the point where we felt that time was certainly running out so we committed it to the Lord and said, 'Lord Jesus quickly come'". During this time, she had prepared some text for Paul for a composition based on the Book of Revelation. While at his son's bedside, Paul Manz began drafting the composition, which later became the current piece. Their son did recover, which the couple attributed to the power of prayer.
Peace be to you and grace from him
Who freed us from our sins
Who loved us all and shed his blood
That we might saved be
Sing Holy, Holy to our Lord
The Lord, Almighty God
Who was, and is, and is to come
Sing Holy, Holy Lord
Rejoice in heaven, all ye that dwell within
Rejoice on earth, ye saints below
For Christ is coming, is coming soon
For Christ is coming soon
E′en so Lord Jesus, quickly come
And night shall be no more
They need no light nor lamp nor sun
For Christ will be their All!
Opening Voluntary: “Burleigh” (My Lord, What a Morning) Richard Billingham (1934)
William Farley Smith (1941–1997), arranger of most of the spirituals in The United Methodist Hymnal, ascribed the tune name BURLEIGH to this spiritual after Harry T. Burleigh (1866–1949) whose concert versions of African American spirituals helped bring the genre into mainstream performances (Young, 1993, 490). Most recent hymnals use this tune name.
Richard Billingham worked for many years as Associate Professor of Music at the University of Illinois and Organist at the First Methodist Church, Chicago. BURLEIGH is a fairly old hymn tune, originating as an African-American spiritual written during the time of slavery in the Untied States. It is currently published in 22 hymnals.
Closing Voluntary: “Prepare the Royal Highway” Paul Manz
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: “Comfort, Comfort Now My People” ELW 256
Text: Johann G. Olearius(1631-1711) tr. Catherine Winkworth (1827-1878)
Tune: FREU DICH SEHR
The text for the Hymn of the Day 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.
The original German hymn text was written by Johannes Olearius in 1671 for St. John the Baptist's Day, June 24. He published it in his huge collection of hymns, Geistliche Singe-Kunst. The collection contained more than twelve hundred hymns in its first edition and it is considered one of the largest and most important German hymn-books of the 17th century. The hymns may best be described as useful, being for times and seasons previously overlooked and filling up many gaps in the various sections of the German hymn-books. They are mostly short, many of only two verses, simple and easy to comprehend, often happy in expression and catching, and embodying in a concise form the leading ideas of the season or subject. Many were speedily adopted into German hymn-books, and a considerable number are still in use.
The tune associated with this hymn text has two names: GENEVAN 42 and FREU DICH SEHR. The title that 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 (1510-1559) either composed or adapted this tune for the Genevan Psalter. 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).
Catherine Winkworth translated the text into English in 1863. Winkworth is well known for her English translations of German hymns; her translations were polished and yet remained close to the original. Educated initially by her mother, she lived with relatives in Dresden, Germany, in 1845, where she acquired her knowledge of German and interest in German hymnody. A pioneer in promoting women's rights, Winkworth put much of her energy into the encouragement of higher education for women.
Offertory: “Come Quickly, Lord Jesus” Mark Schweizer (1956-2019)
A native of Florida, Mark Schweizer received music degrees from Stetson University in Deland, Florida and the University of Arizona including a doctoral degree in vocal performance. He returned to teach at Stetson University from 1982 to 1985 followed by eight years on the music faculty of Louisiana College. Mark lived in North Carolina where he served as editor of St. James Music Press. He is the author of fifteen “Liturgical Mystery” novels, as well as other books, and several opera and musical librettos. His musical compositions can be found in the catalogs of many publishers.
The text is by the composer, referencing the "O Antiphons."
O come now Lord Jesus, our Dayspring, our Cheer,
And lift up our spirits by your Advent here.
The herald is calling, his cry we obey,
In deserts and valleys, “Prepare God a way.”
O come, Root of Jesse, O come now and free
Your people, Your children, from death’s tyranny.
The poor and the needy who suffer great wrong
Give strength and give justice and bid them be strong.
O come Key of David, our hearts open wide.
Our path, guard with safety and lead us on high.
Make straight what was crooked and rough places plain,
Make hard hearts be humble for God’s holy reign.
Come quickly Lord Jesus, as dawn follows night,
Creator, Redeemer, the people’s true light,
Let all things on earth and in heaven adore,
And own you as Savior and King evermore.
Opening Voluntary: “Once He Came in Blessing” (Gottes Sohn ist kommen) John Leavitt (1956)
Michael Weiss, 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, GOTTES SOHN IST KOMMEN is set above a lilting counter melody based on “Of the Father’s Love” The repetitive motives and ornamental figures are a recognizable element of John Leavitt’s compositional style.
A composer, performer, and clinician for church and school music literature, John Leavitt continues to teach, lecture, and guest conduct numerous workshops, festivals, and symposia.
Closing Voluntary: "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland” (Savior of the Nations, Come), Paul Siefert (1586-1666)
"Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland” is first documented as a Roman Catholic Latin hymn based upon Gregorian chant in manuscript form. This setting is one of a set of variations by Paul Siefert, who was a German composer, organist and music theorist. He was a prolific composer, who was always quarreling with the Kapellmeisters for not doing justice to the performance of his works.
Hymn of the Day: “Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending” ELW 435
Text: Charles Wesley, 1707–1788, alt.
Music: HELMSLEY, Thomas Olivers, 1725–1799
“Lo! He comes with clouds descending" is a Christian hymn by Charles Wesley, based on an earlier hymn, "Lo! He cometh, countless Trumpets" by John Cennick (1718–1755). Most commonly sung at Advent, the hymn derives its theological content from the Book of Revelation relating imagery of the Day of Judgment. Considered one of the "Great Four Anglican Hymns" in the 19th century, it is most commonly sung to the tune HELMSLEY, first published in 1763.
The tune HELMSLEY is usually attributed to Thomas Olivers, a Welsh Methodist preacher and hymn-writer. Anecdotal stories about the tune's composition suggest Olivers heard the tune whistled in the street and derived his melody from that; the most likely source is an Irish concert song "Guardian angels, now protect me". George Arthur Crawford, in A Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1900), discusses the origin:
This tune claims a notice on account of the various opinions that have been expressed respecting its origin. The story runs that Thomas Olivers, the friend of John Wesley, was attracted by a tune which he heard whistled in the street, and that from it he formed the melody to which were adapted the words of Cennick and Wesley's Advent hymn...The source from whence 'Olivers' was derived seems to have been a concert-room song commencing 'Guardian angels, now protect me,' the music of which probably originated in Dublin.
Offertory: “Savior of the Nations, Come” Georgiann Toole (1958)
The tune, NUN KOMM DER HEIDEN HEILAND, is a chorale derived from a chant. Among the simplest of the Lutheran repertoire, it is framed by identical lines l and 4. Ambrose, its original Latin author, strongly promoted the practice of singing the hymn with antiphonal groups and this is duplicated in this choral setting.
The tune dates from a twelfth- or thirteenth-century Einsiedeln manuscript. Presumably by Johann Walther, the adaptation of the tune was published in the 1524 Erfurt Enchiridia. Johann S. Bach used the tune for preludes in the Clavierübung and Orgelbüchlein and in his cantatas 36 and 62.
Georgiann Hinchcliffe Toole is a West Virginia native who currently resides in Sharpsburg, Maryland. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education from Shepherd College (Shepherdstown, WV), a Master of Music in Conducting from the Shenandoah Conservatory (Winchester, VA), and a Ph.D. in Music Education from The University of North Carolina-Greensboro. She has taught choral and general music in public and private schools, and music education courses at Shepherd, Shenandoah, and UNCG. A strong proponent of the value of musical performance activities for people of all ages and ability levels, she has served as singer or conductor for many church music programs and community and professional theater groups. She has served as clinician, adjudicator, conductor, and/or composer for county and regional honors choruses in West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Currently, Dr. Toole is on the education faculty at Shepherd University, and is the founder and artistic director of the Antietam Women’s Ensemble.
Savior of the nations, come;
Virgin’s Son, make Earth your home,
Marvel now, O heaven and earth,
That the Lord chose such a birth.
From the Godhead forth you came
And return unto the same,
Captive leading death and hell
High the song of triumph swell!
You, the chosen Holy One,
Have o'er death the victory won.
Boundless shall your kingdom be;
When shall we its glories see?
Brightly does your manger shine,
Glorious is its light divine.
Let not hate o’ercloud this light;
Ever be our faith so bright.
Opening Voluntary: “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” George Lachenauer (1950)
VENI IMMANUEL was originally music for a Requiem Mass in a fifteenth-century French Franciscan Processional. Thomas Helmore (1811-1890) adapted this chant tune and published it in Part II of his The Hymnal Noted (1854).
George Lauchenauer studied at Muhlenberg College and Union Theological Seminary and is currently choir director at First Presbyterian Church in Roselle, New Jersey. Melody is from a Fifteenth Century French Processional.
Closing Voluntary: “On Jordan’s Bank” Charles Callahan (1951)
This piece is part of a collection of Advent hymn settings by Charles Callahan, well-known as an award-winning composer, organist, choral conductor, pianist, and teacher. He is a graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, Pa., and The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC. He presently resides in Vermont, and is the Director of the Vermont Conservatory of Music.
John the Baptist's announcement "Prepare the way for the Lord" is the primary basis for this Advent hymn. Stanzas 1 and 2 apply that message to people today; stanza 3 is a confession by God's people of their need for salvation; stanza 4 is a prayer for healing and love; stanza 5 is a doxology. This much-loved Advent text is laced with various scriptural phrases.
Charles Coffin (1676-1749) wrote this text in Latin (“Jordanis oras praevia”) for the Paris Breviary (1736), a famous Roman Catholic liturgical collection of psalms, hymns, and prayers. Coffin was partially responsible for the compilation of that hymnbook. Latin remained the language of scholarship and of the Roman Catholic liturgy in the eighteenth century. Working in that tradition, Coffin was an accomplished Latin scholar and writer of Latin poems and hymns.
The English translation is a composite work based on a translation by John Chandler who published it in Hymns of the Primitive Church (1837). (Chandler thought it was a medieval text!) Since 1837, various hymnal editors have revised the text in attempts to bring the translation closer to Coffin's original.
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
Music: 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 (1726-1792) and the title "On the Resurrection, the Lord is King." The hymn appeared once more in A Selection of Hymns (London, 1787) by John Rippon (1751-1836). Many argue that the hymn has experienced continued popularity due to the hymn tune MILES LANE which appeared with it in Gospel Magazine and the tunes CORONATION and DIADEM which have accompanied the text since that time. The use of this hymn in various forms and many languages is very extensive. A rendering in Latin, "Salve, nomen potestatis," is given in Bingham's Hymnologia Christiana Latina, 1871. In the number of hymnbooks in which it is found in one form or another, it ranks with the first ten in the English language.
Like MILES LANE, CORONATION was written for this text. Oliver Holden composed the tune in four parts with a duet in the third phrase. The tune, whose title comes from the theme of Perronet's text, was published in Holden's Union Harmony (1793). It is the one eighteenth-century American tune that has enjoyed uninterrupted popularity–from the singing schools of that era to today's congregational worship.
CORONATION is a vigorous marching tune with many repeated tones that delighted Holden's contemporaries. The tune requires the jubilant repetition of the last couplet of text for each stanza.
Holden was reared in a small rural community and had only a minimal formal education–a few months in a "common school" in Groton, Massachusetts. He worked as a carpenter and was involved in community service in Charlestown, holding posts in the Anti-Slavery Society and serving in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. In addition he worked very profitably as a merchant and real estate dealer, and served as a Puritan lay preacher. Very interested in music, Holden became a composer and singing-school teacher in the tradition of William Billings. He was involved in publishing various tune books, including The American Harmony (1792), The Massachusetts Compiler (1795), Plain Psalmody (1800), and The Charlestown Collection of Sacred Songs (1803).
Offertory: "How Can I Keep From Singing" Sarah Quartel
How Can I Keep From Singing?" (also known by its first line "My Life Flows On in Endless Song") is an American folksong originating as a Christian hymn. The author of the lyrics was known only as 'Pauline T', and the original tune was composed by American Baptist minister Robert Lowry. The song is frequently, though erroneously, cited as a traditional Quaker or Shaker hymn and the song has often been attributed to "early" Quakers, but Quakers did not permit congregational singing in worship until after the American Civil War (and many still do not have music regularly). But learning it in social activist circles of the fifties and hearing Pete Seeger's (erroneous) attribution endeared the song to many contemporary Quakers, who have adopted it as a sort of anthem. It was published in the Quaker songbook Songs of the Spirit, and the original words, were included in the much more ambitious Quaker hymnal project, Worship in Song: A Friends Hymnal in 1996.
Canadian composer and educator Sarah Quartel is known for her fresh and exciting approach to choral music. Deeply inspired by the life-changing relationships that can occur while making choral music, Sarah writes in a way that connects singer to singer, ensemble to conductor, and performer to audience. Her works are performed by choirs across the world, and she has been commissioned by groups including the American Choral Directors Association, the National Children's Chorus of the United States of America, and New Dublin Voices. Since 2018 she has been exclusively published by Oxford University Press, and she continues to work as a clinician and conductor at music education and choral events at home and abroad.
Opening Voluntary: “Chorale Prelude on Liebster Jesu, Wir Sind Hier,” Gerald Near (1942)
Gerald Near, an alumnus of the University of Michigan, has an extensive catalog of well-crafted, published, choral and organ music. His early position as choirmaster at Calvary Church, (an Anglo-Catholic parish) Rochester, Minnesota, afforded him the opportunity to hone his craftsmanship for the special choral requirements of that unique community of worshippers. Later, he was appointed a lay Canon Precentor (Director of Music and Organist) of St. Matthew’s Cathedral, Dallas, Texas, before becoming composer-in-residence at the Cathedral of St. John, Denver, CO. Currently he is a freelance composer, and Choral Director and Cantor at Holy Faith Episcopal Church, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
This beautiful, lyrical setting of “Liebster Jesu wir Sind hier” is one of my favorites. A Lutheran hymn with text by Tobias Clausnitzer in 1663, it is a prayer for illumination, regularly found in Protestant and Catholic hymnals, with German and English translations. The tune was composed by Johann Rudolph Ahle (1625 –1673), a German composer, organist, theorist, and Protestant church musician.
Closing Voluntary: Chorale Prelude on “Nun danket alle Gott” op. 65, no. 59, Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877-1933)
Of his 66 Chorale Improvisations, this exultant march is one of Karg-Elert's most cherished works for the organ. It refers to the 17th-century text written by Lutheran hymnist Martin Rinkart, which in English is "Now thank we all our God," and it is widely used at this time of year. We also celebrated Karg-Elert's birthday this past Tuesday: November 21, 1877!
Hymn of the Day: “Voices Raised to You” #845
Text: Herman G. Stuempfle, Jr. (1923-2007)
Tune: SONG OF PRAISE, Caroline Jennings (1936)
This hymn was commissioned by the ALCM for its tenth anniversary and first sung on Reformation Sunday in the fall of 1996.
Rev. Dr. Herman G. Stuempfle, Jr. lived most of his life in Gettysburg, PA. He served as President of the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg and was the author of several books and numerous articles and lectures on preaching, history, and theology. He was also among the most honored and respected hymn writers of the 20th and 21st centuries. Rev. Dr. Stuempfle was known for his leadership in community and civic projects. Always taking an active stance on social issues, he participated in the creation of day care centers, served on the Gettysburg interchurch social action committee, helped create and support prison ministries and a homeless shelter, and tutored young people in the after school program of Christ Lutheran Church, where he was a long time member.
Carolyn Jennings is a Professor Emerita of Music at St. Olaf College where she taught for many years and also served in administrative roles, including Chair of the Music Department and Associate Dean for the Fine Arts. She also served as a church musician for over thirty years, at St. John's Lutheran Church in Northfield, Minnesota.
Over many years she has been active in promoting the use of inclusive language in texts for singing, and has worked to heighten awareness of how language shapes as well as expresses thought.
Her compositions and arrangements include works for voices, orchestra, and piano. She particularly enjoys composing for voices.
Offertory: Song of Thanksgiving,” Malcom Archer (1952)
With a text by John Milton, paraphrasing Psalm 136, today’s anthem is rhythmic and joyful with fun syncopations.
Malcolm Archer is much in demand internationally as a conductor, composer and organist, and has given many recitals in the USA as well as conducting concerts and directing leading choral courses there. His career has taken him to several English Cathedrals as Director of Music, including Wells and St. Paul’s, and for eleven years he was Director of Chapel Music at Winchester College. He has over 250 published works, which include organ and choral works, a one act opera, instrumental and orchestral pieces and two musicals.
Let us with a gladsome mind
Praise the Lord, for he is kind;
For his mercies ay endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure.
Let us blaze his name abroad,
For of gods he is the Lord,
For his mercies ay endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure.
He the warm and golden sun
Causes in its course to run,
And the moon to shine at night,
mid her starry sisters bright.
All things living he doth feed,
his full hand supplies their need.
For his mercies ay endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure.
Opening Voluntary: Schmucke dich (Deck Thyself, My Soul) J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
This text is often considered the best and most popular of the Lutheran chorales for the Lord's Supper. The dominant tone is one of deep joy enhanced by a sense of awe. We express joy and praise for "this wondrous banquet" (st. 1), and we show reverence in receiving Christ (st. 2). Thankful for "heavenly food" and drink (st. 3), we rejoice in Christ's love for us and in its power to unite us (st. 4).
Johann Cruger composed the hymn tune specifically for the text. Johann S. Bach used this tune in his Cantata 180; he and many other composers have written organ preludes on the melody.
Closing Voluntary: Fanfare from Five Pieces for Organ, Healey Willan (1880-1968)
James Healey Willan was born on October 12, 1880, in Balham, Surrey, England. He had a wide experience as a composer of a full-length opera, a symphonic work, countless organ and choral works, as a music educator, a choral director, and a church musician. He played his first service at the age of eleven in 1891 and his last service on Christmas Eve, 1967, just two months before he died on February 16, 1968.
Having served churches in England, Willan left for Canada in 1913 to serve as organist and choirmaster at St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Toronto as well as head of the Theory Department at the Toronto Conservatory of Music. In 1921, he accepted the position of organist-choirmaster at St. Mary Magdalene Church, an Anglo-Catholic parish in Toronto, where he was to remain for the rest of his life. During his tenure there, Willan also accepted in 1938 the position of Professor in the Music Faculty at the University of Toronto.
Most of his hymn-based motets and organ preludes came into existence after his retirement from the University of Toronto in 1950, the most prolific compositional period of his life. Willan is probably best known for his sacred and liturgical music, especially that written for St. Mary Magdalene Church. His anthems, hymns, motets, mass settings, and carol settings contributed to his reputation as the “dean of Canadian composers.”
Written in 1959 for the dedication of a new organ in St. Matthew's Church, Ottawa, this festive piece recalls the joy of a congregation rejoicing in the sound of their new instrument.
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Hymn of the Day: “Rejoice, Rejoice, Believers” ELW 244
Text: Laurentius Laurenti (1660-1722) tr. Sarah B. Findlater (1823-1907)
Tune: HAF TRONES LAMPA FARDIG, Swedish Folk Tune
Considered to be one of the finest hymn writers of the Pietistic period, Laurentius Laurenti wrote the text for this hymn based on the parable of the wise and foolish maidens (Matt. 25: 1-13). Stanzas 1 and 2 focus on the expected coming of the bridegroom; stanza 3 is a prayer for Christ's return to complete the work of redemption and to set his people free. Born Lorenz Lorenzen (1660-1722) in Schleswig, Laurenti studied at the University of Rostock and in Kiel. In 1684 he moved to Bremen, where he was appointed music director and cantor in the Lutheran Cathedral Church. He is a well known writer of German hymns in the Pietist tradition, and based most of his hymn texts on the gospel lessons for the church year. They were published in Evangelia Melodica (1700).
Sarah Borthwick Findlater translated the text into English and published it in Hymns from the Land of Luther (1854), a collection of 122 hymns translated by her (53 hymns) and her sister Jane. Findlater was a fine linguist, and as a translator of German chorales, she is considered second only to Catherine Winkworth. As an author, Sarah wrote fiction, juvenile works, music scores, anthems, and musical parts.
There are quite a number of different tunes published in combination with this text. In the ELW we find the setting, HAF TRONES LAMPA FÄRDIG, a Swedish Folk tune. It is one of the 3 most used.
Offertory: Awake My Heart and Render, Jane Marshall (1924- 2019)
Text: Paulus Gerhardt, Translation: Winfred Douglas
This marvelous anthem won the American Guild of Organists prize in 1958. It was and has continued to be a stalwart anthem of the church. The effect for morning, evening worship and any festive worship day is as thrilling as ever.
In the early 1950s, Jane Marshall was a young homemaker and Methodist church choir member, albeit one with an unusually strong music background. She decided to write an anthem. The grand slam result was “My Eternal King,” published in 1954 by Carl Fischer Music. It became one of that venerable sheet music company’s all-time bestselling anthems and remains popular with choirs across denominations.
Marshall would go on to write more than 200 anthems, hymns and other sacred music works. A revered figure among fellow United Methodist musicians as well as the broader church music world, she was one of the most sensitive and text-oriented hymn tune composers of the late 20th century.
Awake, my heart, and render
to God - thy sure defender,
thy maker, thy preserver
A song of love and fervor.
Confirm my deeds and guide me:
my day, with thee beside me -
beginning, middle, ending -
will all be upward tending.
My heart shall be thy dwelling,
with joy and gladness swelling;
thy word, my nurture;
given to bring me on toward heaven.
Opening Voluntary: Schmucke dich (Deck Thyself, My Soul) J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
This text is often considered the best and most popular of the Lutheran chorales for the Lord's Supper. The dominant tone is one of deep joy enhanced by a sense of awe. We express joy and praise for "this wondrous banquet" (st. 1), and we show reverence in receiving Christ (st. 2). Thankful for "heavenly food" and drink (st. 3), we rejoice in Christ's love for us and in its power to unite us (st. 4).
Johann Cruger composed the hymn tune specifically for the text. Johann S. Bach used this tune in his Cantata 180; he and many other composers have written organ preludes on the melody.
Closing Voluntary: Fanfare from Five Pieces for Organ, Healey Willan (1880-1968)
James Healey Willan was born on October 12, 1880, in Balham, Surrey, England. He had a wide experience as a composer of a full-length opera, a symphonic work, countless organ and choral works, as a music educator, a choral director, and a church musician. He played his first service at the age of eleven in 1891 and his last service on Christmas Eve, 1967, just two months before he died on February 16, 1968.
Having served churches in England, Willan left for Canada in 1913 to serve as organist and choirmaster at St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Toronto as well as head of the Theory Department at the Toronto Conservatory of Music. In 1921, he accepted the position of organist-choirmaster at St. Mary Magdalene Church, an Anglo-Catholic parish in Toronto, where he was to remain for the rest of his life. During his tenure there, Willan also accepted in 1938 the position of Professor in the Music Faculty at the University of Toronto.
Most of his hymn-based motets and organ preludes came into existence after his retirement from the University of Toronto in 1950, the most prolific compositional period of his life. Willan is probably best known for his sacred and liturgical music, especially that written for St. Mary Magdalene Church. His anthems, hymns, motets, mass settings, and carol settings contributed to his reputation as the “dean of Canadian composers.”
Written in 1959 for the dedication of a new organ in St. Matthew's Church, Ottawa, this festive piece recalls the joy of a congregation rejoicing in the sound of their new instrument.
Hymn of the Day: “Jerusalem My Happy Home” ELW 422
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). As we have it, the tune is hexatonic but only slightly so: the fourth degree of the scale is used twice, once as a passing tone at measure 5 and once in a more accented fashion four notes from the end. The seventh degree is not present (E in this key that is otherwise F major), which gives the tune an open, rustic flavor. 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: “And We’ll All Sing Hallelujah” Harold Stover
“O what are all my sufferings here compared to life above?" This Charles Wesley text is set to a sturdy tune by William Walker, compiler of shape-note books such as Southern Harmony. It celebrates our joining with the saints and finding eternal rest. The music has rhythmic drive and a real sense of jubilation.
And let this feeble body fail,
And let it faint or die;
My soul shall leave the realms of earth,
And soar to worlds on high;
Refrain:
And I’ll sing hallelujah and you’ll sing hallelujah,
and we’ll sing hallelujah when we arrive at home.
I’ll join the disembodied saints,
And find my long sought rest,
The happiness for which I long
And life among the blest. Refrain
O what are all my sufferings here,
Compared to life above,
With all the glorious heavenly host
To live with God in love? Refrain
Give joy or grief, give ease or pain,
Take life or friends away,
But let me find them all again
In that eternal day. Refrain
Communion Anthem: “O Quam Gloriosum” Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611)
Tomás Luis de Victoria was the most famous Spanish composer of the Renaissance. His surviving works, unlike that of his colleagues, are almost exclusively sacred and polyphonic vocal music, set to Latin texts. “O quam gloriosum” is an All Saints Antiphon to the Magnificat, Second Vespers, published in 1572.
O quam gloriosum est regnum,
in quo cum Christo gaudent omnes Sancti!
Amicti stolis albis, sequuntur Agnum,
quocumque ierit.
O how glorious is the kingdom
in which all the saints rejoice with Christ!
Clothed in white robes, they follow the Lamb,
wherever He goes.
Opening Voluntary: Land of Rest” Richard Proulx (1937 - 2010)
Richard Proulx was one of the most important composers of liturgical music in the twentieth century. Modern Liturgy Magazine called him the "most significant liturgical composer of the last twenty years." He has more than 300 published works, including congregational music in every form, sacred and secular choral works, song cycles, two operas, and instrumental and organ music.
Closing Voluntary: Sine Nomine, Arthur Hutchings (1906–1989)
Arthur James Bramwell Hutchings was an English musicologist, composer, and professor of music successively at the University of Durham and the University of Exeter. He wrote extensively on topics as varied as nineteenth-century English liturgical composition, Schubert, Purcell, Edmund Rubbra, and baroque concertos; but his most famous book was the Companion to Mozart's Piano Concertos, published in 1948 and often reissued since. Among his other books are The Invention and Composition of Music and Church Music in the Nineteenth Century. His compositions include the Seasonal Preludes for organ, the overture Oriana Triumphans, the opera Marriage à la Mode, and the operetta The Plumber's Arms. Among his choral works are Hosanna to the Son of David, God is Gone Up, Grant Them Rest, and the Communion Service on Russian Themes. Hutchings served for many years as a director of the English Hymnal Company and three of his tunes were included in the 1986 New English Hymnal.
With our music this Reformation Sunday we celebrate with a service filled with music sung corporally, beginning with the German Singmesse and including the Offertory anthem, with verses 1 and 3 to be sung by all. So, today we are all members of the Choir- enjoy!
Today’s Choral Service Music: The German Singmessse or Liedmesse
In western Europe before the Reformation, cathedrals in cities and the larger churches in towns had choirs, often made up of schoolboys, that could sing the congregation’s parts of the Latin High Mass for the main services on Sunday and feasts.
But in small villages and the smaller churches in towns and cities, a choir was not always available. It became customary for the priest and the altar server to say all the parts of Low Mass quietly, in Latin, facing East away from the people, behind the rood screen, while the people did… whatever.
The people were still expected to attend Mass every Sunday. They could meditate, say prayers, or sing hymns while the priest said Mass, and if they could read and afford to buy them, Primers were popular books to aid individual devotions in some areas, such as England.
But in Germany, it became customary, as early as the 12th century, for the congregation to sing specific hymns that paraphrased, in German, the main unchanging songs of the Mass (Kyrie Eleison, Gloria in Excelsis, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei) while the priest said them in Latin. This was the type of service that Dr. Luther was writing about in Deutsche Messe und Ordnung des Gottesdeinsts (German Mass and Order of Divine Service) in 1526. This practice remained the custom even in Roman Catholic parishes in German-speaking countries even into the 20th century and is still influential in the worship of the Evangelical Church in Germany.
During the reformation era, Protestant pastors saw this as a quick way to transform the Mass into language that the ordinary people could understand, and if they had musical talent, as many did, composed German hymns in this genre. Several of these hymns can be found, translated into English, in Evangelical Lutheran Worship.
Kyrie (Lord have mercy) Hymn 409
Kyrie! God, Father in Heaven Above is set to the tune Kyrie Gott Vater in Ewigkeit, adapted from a 9th century Gregorian chant in the Latin Mass II Fons Bonitatis Pater Ingenite for solemn feasts. The German hymn was published in Wittenberg in 1541 and might be by Pastor Johann Spangenberg (1484-1550)
Gloria (Glory to God in the Highest) Hymn 410
All Glory be to God on High is set to the tune Allein Gott in der Höhe sei Ehr adapted from a 10th century Gregorian chant in Latin Mass I Lux et Origo for the Easter season. The German hymn was published in Brunswick in 1523 by Pastor Nikolaus Decius (1485-1550).
Credo (We believe in one God) Hymn 411
We All Believe in One True God is set to the tune Wir Glauben All an Einen Gott adapted by Dr. Luther. and his music publisher Johann Walter (1496-1570) in 1524 from a 14th century tune. It was later included in Deutsche Messe 1526.
Sanctus (Holy, Holy, Holy) Hymn 868
Isaiah in a Vision is set to the tune Jesaiah dem Propheten adapted by Dr. Luther from an 11th century chant (Mass XVII for Sundays in Advent and Lent?) and published in Deutsche Messe 1526.
Lord’s Prayer Hymn 746
Our Father God in Heaven Above is set to the tune Vater Unser in Himmelreich. Dr. Luther wrote the words with a different tune in mind, but printer Valentin Schumann (1520-1559) published it with this tune in 1539. The hymnal version was shortened to four verses from nine. The longer version is Hymn 747.
Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) Hymn 357
Lamb of God, Pure and Sinless is set to the tune O Lamm Gottes, Unschuldig adapted by Pastor Nikolaus Decius from a 13th century chant in 1525.
— Tom VanPoole
Hymn of the Day: “Salvation unto Us Has Come” ELW 590
Text: Paul Speratus (1484-1551)
Tune: ES IST DAS HEIL, Etlich christlich Lieder, Wittenberg, 1524
This hymn by Paul Speratus was published in what is sometimes called the first hymnal of the Reformation, Etlich christlich Lieder (the "Achtliederbuch," 1524). One of the oldest "Lutheran" hymns, Speratus probably wrote it in 1523 when he was jailed at Olmütz for his evangelical preaching. In the "Achtliederbuch" it had fourteen stanzas and was headed "A hymn of law and faith, powerfully expounded by holy scripture." "Powerfully expounded by holy scripture" referred to two pages of smaller print that followed the hymn. There "reports from scripture" about how the hymn "was grounded on all sides" were given in sets of biblical references, one set for each of twelve of the fourteen stanzas. Brief comments formed a kind of study guide.
The hymn was one of the Lutheran Kernlieder- central "kernel" or "core" hymns-for more than a century after the Reformation, but there have been those, especially but not only among Rationalists and Pietists, who have regarded it as didactic rhymed doctrine and not a hymn at all. It certainly sets out the essence of things from the very outset. With its point of departure Romans 3:28, it says clearly that salvation has come to us by God's free grace and favor.
Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) printed stanzas 1, 3, 5, 10, and 13 from Speratus's original German. Evangelical Lutheran Worship prints one additional stanza and uses 1, 2, 6, 10, 13, and 14 from the original. Both translations make modifications, but they rely on The Lutheran Hymnal (1941), which relied on the Evangelical Lutheran Hymn Book (1912). It should be noted that stanza 13, now stanza 5 in Evangelical Lutheran Worship's numbering, begins with doxology. Hymnals, like Lutheran Book of Worship, have tended therefore to make it final, but its last three lines begin the Lord's Prayer. The hymn is thus incomplete without Speratus's final stanza, which is the rest of the Lord's Prayer in a metrical version. Evangelical Lutheran Worship wisely included Speratus's last two stanzas. They complete and contextualize what goes before them, and they modify criticism. Doxology and the Lord's Prayer cannot be construed as didactic rhymed doctrine. When they are present the rest of the hymn finds its focus in God and not in human systems.
Paul Speratus was born near Ellwangen in Württemberg, Germany. He probably is the person who in 1503 went to the University of Freiburg as "Paul Offer de Ellwangen." His name was either Offer (or Hoffer) before he Latinized it to Speratus. He also studied in Paris and Vienna, earning doctorates in philosophy, Jurisprudence, and theology. In 1506 he was ordained a priest and faithfully served for the next twelve years or so in Salzburg, Dinkelsbühl, and Würzburg. He even wrote a hymn text praising Johann Eck, who in 1518 opposed Luther's Ninety-Five Theses. Around 1519 Speratus began to adopt evangelical views. One of the first priests to break his vow of celibacy, he married Anna. Forced to leave Würzburg, he enrolled at the University of Vienna in 1520 and earned one of his degrees, Doctor of Divinity, there. On January 12 of 1522 at the Cathedral of St. Stephen in Vienna he preached a sermon supporting marriage and justification by grace through faith. The faculty of the University of Vienna condemned him. He went to Moravia, where he continued to preach about justification. This time it got him imprisoned at Olmütz for three months on bread and water and almost burned at the stake. He went to Wittenberg in 1523, where he helped Luther with the "Achtliederbuch" and translated Luther's Formula Missae into German. In 1525 he became court preacher in East Prussia for Duke Albrecht, in 1526 helped formulate the Kirchenordnung (the liturgy and regulations) for East Prussia, and from 1530 to the end of his life was a devoted and faithful bishop in poverty-stricken Pomerania So far as is known, this is one of only five hymn texts he wrote.
This tune was one of four printed in the Etlich christlich Lieder (the "Achtliederbuch,"1524). It was paired with two texts there, Paul Speratus's hymn (ELW 590), for which it is named, and Martin Luther's (ELW 263) paraphrase of Psalm 22, "Ach Gott vom Himmel sieh darin." Also in 1524 it was printed in Walter's Geistliche Gesangbüchlein and in the Erfurt Enchiridia. Its composer is unknown. It probably was in circulation by the fifteenth century and can be found in later Catholic hymnals with the text "Frue dich, du werte Christenheit."
This is a tune in bar form, with potent but graceful drive. Without alterations, as given in Zahn, Die Melodien der deutschen evangelischen Kirchenlieder (1889-1893), it is Mixolydian. However, the G sharps and C sharps in Evangelical Lutheran Worship were inserted already in the sixteenth century. The version we sing today is a more original rhythmic version.
Offertory: “God Whose Giving Knows No Ending” David Cherwien (1957)
First of all, many thanks to Nathan Bastuscheck for sharing his music with us today!
C. Hubert H. Parry's RUSTINGTON was first published in the Westminster Abbey Hymn Book (1897) as a setting for Benjamin Webb's "Praise the Rock of Our Salvation." The tune is named for the village in Sussex, England, where Parry lived for some years and where he died. This distinguished melody has been paired with at least 35 texts. “God Whose Giving Knows No Ending” by Robert L. Edwards (1915-2006) is probably the most popular pairing.
This celebratory anthem of praise is commissioned from David Cherwien, celebrating RELC’s 75th Anniversary and dedicated to the Choir and Roy Guenther, Organist/Choirmaster.
Opening Voluntary: Sonata op.65 No. 6, Chorale and Variations 1-3 on "Vater unser im Himmelreich," Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
The organ music of Felix Mendelssohn represents an approach gesturing not towards the future but towards the glorious past of German composition and the work of J.S. Bach in particular. (Liszt once called him “Bach reborn.”) The stark dissimilarity in compositional approach between Mendelssohn and Liszt was heralded by the coolness of their personal relationship, manifested for instance at a soirée when Mendelssohn drew a picture of Liszt playing the former’s music with five hammers, rather than fingers, on each hand. (This somewhat childish action is perhaps understandable given Liszt’s description of preceding events: “The truth of the matter is that I only played his Concerto in G minor from the manuscript, and as I found several of the passages rather simple and not broad enough…I changed them to suit my own ideas.”) Inherently conservative in character, Mendelssohn formed a profound aversion to the iconoclastic work of Liszt and kindred spirits such as Berlioz, of whose work Mendelssohn remarked: “one ought to wash one’s hands after handling one of his scores.” Mendelssohn was undoubtedly a Romantic composer, but his Romanticism was often of the Biedermeier kind; he was capable of composing dramatic and inventive works such as the Hebrides Overture, yet his individual musical poetry emerged perhaps most strongly in miniatures such as the Songs without Words for piano and in those works (e.g. the Quartet in F minor) wherein he recaptured the youthful genius that had burst forth so forcefully in the Octet and Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture.
Mendelssohn’s posthumous reputation in the country of his birth suffered from Wagner’s pen (this time through the faintest of praise rather than vitriol) and, in due course, the Nazi regime’s efforts to expunge his name from musical history. In England, where Mendelssohn had made a strong impression on musical life over the course of ten visits, his stock remained considerably higher. Mendelssohn enjoyed particular success with his organ recitals in the late 1830s and early 1840s, leading the publishers Coventry and Hollier to commission a set of six “voluntaries” from him in 1844. The planned voluntaries soon became Mendelssohn’s six Organ Sonatas Op 65, with the term sonata here implying the Bachian sense of the term—i.e. suites of varied pieces which are played instrumentally, as opposed to sung cantatas—rather than works exhibiting classical sonata form. The Organ Sonata No 6 in D minor (1845) demonstrates Mendelssohn’s consummate craftsmanship and mastery of organ texture in a set of variations upon the Lutheran Bach chorale Vater unser im Himmelreich (BWV416). Following a five-part harmonisation of the Chorale, which pervades the sonata as a whole, Mendelssohn presents four variations of increasing brilliance before a restatement of the Chorale. Today’s Closing Voluntary is the final variation. The sonata concludes with a substantial fugue and the finale in D major, whose quiet religiosity symbolises the completion of a journey from stern Lutheranism to an essentially English brand of sentiment. In this work and its companion sonatas, Mendelssohn revitalised the then-moribund European organ tradition, spurred English organ-builders to new heights, and, through his particular blend of chorale, counterpoint and domestic spirituality, substantially augmented the organ repertoire for the first time since Bach. Musing on his passion for structural innovation, Liszt once remarked that “new wine demands new bottles”; Mendelssohn here demonstrates the continued potency of an older brew.
Closing Voluntary: “Ein feste Berg,” David Cherwien (1957)
David Cherwien, artistic director of the National Lutheran Choir, is a nationally known conductor, composer, and organist. Recognized for his contributions to the field of church music and liturgy, he is in demand as a clinician and hymn festival leader across the country.
Hymn of the Day: “Sing Praise to God the Highest Good” (ELW 871)
Text: Johann J. Schütz, 1640-1690; tr. Francis E. Cox, 1812-1897, adapt.
Tune: LOBT GOTT DEN HERREN, IHR, Melchior Vulpius (1570-1615)
Johann J. Schütz wrote this hymn text in nine stanzas and published it in his Christliches Gedenckbüchlein, zur Beförderung eines anfang-endes neues Lebens (Frankfurt, 1675). Almost two centuries later Frances E. Cox (1812-1897) translated the first eight stanzas. They were published in Lyra Eucharistica (1864), which Orby Shipley edited. In her own Hymns from the German in the same year (1864), Cox left out the eighth stanza (and made a slight change at the beginning of stanza 5: “But through” to “Throughout”. Four years later the Church Book (1868) used her first, second, fourth, and seventh stanzas, altering one word: “my” to “me” in the third stanza. Evangelical Lutheran Worship uses her first, third, fourth, and eighth stanzas with substantial modifications, among them addressing God to avoid third-person male pronouns and using the third-person plural for humanity. Cox’s translation began “Sing praise to God Who reigns above” Catherine Winkworth (#241) also made a translation. It began “All praise and thanks to God most high” in Lyra Germanica, second series (1858) and her Chorale Book for England (1863). A composite version of nine stanzas, probably by August Crull (#323), began “To God the Father of all love” and was included in the Evangelical Lutheran Hymn Book (1889). The conflations and modifications have produced multiple first lines, making it not easy to find.
Johann Jacob Schütz was born in Germany at Frankfurt am Main. He studied law at Tübingen University and became a lawyer in his hometown. A learned man of piety, he was a friend of Philipp Jakob Spener (1635-1705), the champion of Pietism. He suggested to Spener that he begin his prayer meetings, called “Collegia Pietatis.” Joachim Neander was part of the same circle. Like Neander, Schütz separated himself from Lutheran worship and stayed away from communion. Also like Neander in his “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty”, Schütz in this hymn shows none of his separatism, but wrote a potent catholic hymn of praise. Five of his hymns were included in his Christliches Gedenckbüchlein, and he also wrote Christliche Lebensregeln (1677).
Frances E. Cox was born at Oxford, England, the daughter of George V. Cox. She became a skillful translator of German hymns. John Julian says forty-nine of her translations were published in her Sacred Hymns from the German (London, 1841) and the number increased to fifty-six (the number I also count) with revisions and notes in her Hymns from the German (1864). C. T. Aufdemberge says her translations number eighty.
LOBT GOTT DEN HERREN, IHR
This is one of the dance-like tunes by Melchior Vulpius. It gets its name from an Epiphany hymn of Joachim Sartorius (c. 1548-1600) that is based on Psalm 117 and for which Vulpius wrote it, “Lobt Gott den Herren, ihr Heiden all.”; Vulpius published it with that hymn in his Ein schön geistliche Gesangbuch (Jena, 1609).
A bar-form tune that swings along with a three-phrase group in the Aufgesang and leads nicely
to the repeated line “To God all praise and glory,” it is a most fitting match for this text. The
wedding of the two seems quite recent, however, possibly first in the Evangelical Lutheran
Hymn Book with Tunes (1912).
Offertory: “Cantate Domino,” Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612)
Born at Nuremberg, Germany, he came from a family of famous musicians and received early education from his father. He then studied in Venice, Italy, with Andrea Gabrieli, uncle of Giovanni Gabrieli, his friend, with whom he composed a wedding motet. The uncle taught him to play the organ. He learned the polychoral style and took it back to Germany after Andrea Gabrieli’s death. He was a prolific composer but found his influence limited, as he was Protestant in a still heavily Catholic region. A Lutheran, he composed both for Roman Catholic liturgy and for Lutheran churches. He produced two volumes of motets, a famous collection of court songs, and a volume of simpler hymn settings. He published both secular and religious music, managing to compose much for the Catholic church that was also usable in Lutheran settings. Hassler was not only a composer, but also an active organist and a consultant to organ builders. Hassler stepped into the world of mechanical instrument construction and developed a clockwork organ that was later sold to Emperor Rudolf II. Hassler is considered to be one of the most important German composers of all time. His use of the innovative Italian techniques, coupled with traditional, conservative German techniques allowed his compositions to be fresh without the modern affective tone. His songs presented a combined vocal and instrumental literature that did not make use of the continuo, or only provided it as an option, and his sacred music introduced the Italian polychoral structures that would later influence many composers leading into the Baroque era.
Cantate Domino canticum novum; cantate Domino omnis terra
Cantate Domino, et benedicite nomini ejus; annuntiate de die in diem salutare ejus
Annuntiate inter gentes gloriam ejus; in omnibus populis mirabilia ejus
Quoniam magnus Dominus, et laudabilis nimis: terribilis est super omnes deos
Sing to the Lord a new song;
Sing to the Lord, all the earth!
Sing to the Lord, bless his name;
Tell of his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous works among all the peoples!
Opening Voluntary: “You Satisfy the Lonely Heart” Charles Callahan
Robert E. Kreutz (1922-1996) carefully crafted BICENTENNIAL for this text GIFT OF FINESTWHEAT in Denver, Colorado, in 1976. Kreutz received a bachelor’s degree from the American Conservatory of Music, Chicago, and a master’s degree from the University of Colorado, Denver. He also studied composition with Arnold Schoenberg, Leo Sowerby, and Norman Lockwood. A resident of Golden, Colorado, Kreutz worked for many years for the Gates Rubber Company as a development engineer and also directed the choir at St. Bernadette Church in Lakewood, Colorado, for more than twenty-five years. He published some three hundred choral and instrumental compositions, including many psalm settings and other liturgical music.
Charles Callahan is a well-known composer, organist, choral conductor, pianist and teacher. He is a graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, Pa., and The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC.
Closing Voluntary: “Gather Us In” John H. Behnke (1953)
The composer of the tune GATHER US IN, Marty Haugen (b. 1950) is perhaps the most prolific and influential composer of liturgical music of his generation. His hymns, psalm settings and paraphrases, services set to music, and anthems are widely used in both Protestant and Roman Catholic congregations around the world. “Gather Us In” (1982) represents Mr. Haugen’s skill both as a poet and composer. Mr. Haugen describes his inspiration for this hymn in an e-mail: “‘Gather Us In’ was written after I first heard the wonderful [former Jesuit Dutch theologian and poet Huub] Oosterhuis (b. 1933) text ‘What Is This Place?’ I wanted to craft something that might say a similar message to North American ears. I deliberately wrote it in second person to avoid gender issues and to more directly sing ‘to’ God rather than ‘about’ God. Ironically, that has been at times a problem for some, who would like God more carefully circumscribed and named.”
Dr. John A. Behnke enjoys composing and arranging having nearly 500 compositions in print with nineteen different publishers in the United States, Germany, and Taiwan. He is Emeritus Professor of Music at Concordia University, where he taught for 29 years. He was the organist and choir director at Historic Trinity Ev. Lutheran Church in downtown Milwaukee, from 1990 until 2019, and the director of the Milwaukee Handbell Ensemble and Music Editor of AGEHR Publishing – Handbell Musicians of America from 2003 until 2019.