Music Notes

Hymn of the Day: “You Have Come Down to the Lakeshore,” ELW 817
Text: Cesáreo Gabaráin (1936-1991)
Tune: PESCADOR DE HOMBRES, Cesáreo Gabaráin (1936-1991), Madelaine Forell Marshall (1946), tr.

Cesáreo Gabaráin was a Spanish priest with degrees in theology, journalism and musicology. He served Roman Catholic parishes in Spain and was involved in liturgical renewal following Vatican II. He became an important Spanish composer of congregational music. First published around 1979, this hymn has been translated into many languages and is sung all over the world. It can be found in 14 hymnals.

Musical Meditation: “How Can I Keep From Singing”
Lanii Smith (1934 – 2015)

Lani Smith was an American organist best known for his church music compositions. He served as an editor, composer, and arranger on the Lorenz Publishing editorial staff between 1967 and 1982. During this time, he received composing and arranging credits for over 1000 works. He was such a prolific composer/arranger that he published under at least seven names: his own, plus the pseudonyms Tom Birchwood, Edward Broughton, Christopher Gale, David Paxton, Gerald Peterson, and Franklin Ritter. "How Can I Keep From Singing?" (also known by its incipit "My Life Flows On in Endless Song") is an American folksong originally composed as a Christian hymn by American Baptist minister Robert Wadsworth Lowry. The song is frequently, though erroneously, cited as a traditional Quaker or Shaker hymn. Though it was not originally a Quaker hymn, Quakers adopted it as their own in the twentieth century and use it widely today.

Choir Anthem: “Amazing Grace”
Arlen Clarke (1954)

A lyrical, tender setting of the John Newton text with an original tune.

Conductor, composer, and singer Arlen Clarke 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.

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!

The Lord has promised go,Od to me,
His Word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.

Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
‘Tis grace that brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we first begun.