Service Music Listing - Past Services
May 13, 2012 + The Sixth Sunday of Easter
Holy Eucharist Rite I at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Youth and Adult Choirs
Organ: Prelude on 'Rhosymedre' ('Lovely') Ralph Vaughan Williams
Opening Hymn 292 O Jesus, crowned with all renown Kingsfold
Pascha nostrum: Hymn 417 This is the feast Festival Canticle
Anthem (sung by the Youth Choir): For the beauty of the earth John Rutter
Sequence Hymn 705 As those of old their first fruits brought Forest Green
Offertory anthem: Ye choirs of new Jerusalem C. Villiers Stanford
Sanctus S114 (Missa de Sancta Maria Magdalena) Healey Willan
Fraction anthem: Christ our Passover Jeffrey Rickard
Communion anthem: If ye love me Thomas Tallis
Communion Hymn 325 Let us break bread together Let us break bread
Closing Hymn 400 All creatures of our God and King Lasst uns erfreuen
Organ: Trumpet Tune in D Major Henry Purcell
Music Note: Charles Stanford, as professor of composition at London’s Royal Academy of Music, taught several generations of composers and did much to raise standards of church music in late Victorian England. His setting of a twelfth-century hymn by St. Fulbert, Bishop of Chartres, conveys the celebration of the Resurrection with jubilant “strains of holy joy” and “alleluia,” contrasted against darker musical descriptions of “devouring depths.” † Thomas Tallis flourished as a composer in Tudor England. He served the Chapel Royal from 1543-1585, composing and performing for four successive monarchs. He altered the language and style of his compositions according to the monarchs' greatly varying demands (primarily in Latin for Henry VIII, then English for Edward VI who established Protestantism in England, back to Latin for 'Bloody' Mary who restored Catholicism briefly, and finally English for Elizabeth I), also composing church music in French and Italian. Tallis was a teacher of William Byrd, and in 1575 Elizabeth granted to Tallis and Byrd an exclusive twenty-one year monopoly on music publishing. Were it not for these political considerations, sacred choral repertoire today might not contain such a gem as "If ye love me" or many other works from this elegant period.
May 6, 2012 + The Fifth Sunday of Easter
Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult Choir
Organ: Choral from Symphonie Romane Charles-Marie Widor
Opening Hymn 392 Come, we that love the Lord Vineyard Haven
Pascha nostrum: Hymn 417 This is the feast Festival Canticle
Sequence Hymn 513 Like the murmur of the dove's song Bridegroom
Offertory anthem: Blessed be the God and Father Samuel Sebastian Wesley
Sanctus S125 Richard Proulx
Fraction anthem: Christ our Passover Jeffrey Rickard
Communion anthem: The Father's Love Simon Lole
Communion Hymn 704 O thou who camest from above Hereford
Closing Hymn 379 God is love: let heaven adore him Abbot's Leigh
Organ: Hornpipe from Water Music George Frideric Handel
The second movement of Widor's tenth organ symphony is a calm, pastoral piece based on the Gregorian chant for Easter Day "Haec dies" (This is the day the Lord has made). A passage in the middle of the piece, for flutes played high on the keyboard, is possibly a description of the singing of Easter birds. † Samuel Sebastian Wesley was a grandson of the great hymn writer Charles Wesley, and he sang in the Chapel Royal as a boy. His middle name derived from his father's lifelong admiration for the music of Bach. Surely with this background he was destined to become a church musician; he became known as a virtuoso organist and his music endures today. He composed the offertory anthem to be sung on Easter Sunday, 1834, in Hereford Cathedral, England, where only a small number of trebles and a solitary bass (rumored to be the Dean's butler) were available to sing. Certainly the music makes the most of such resources! A lovely middle section (often excerpted) is a dialogue between a soprano soloist and all the sopranos, echoing clearly the theme of love running through today's music. † The communion hymn, first published in 1872, was written by S. S. Wesley to one of his grandfather's texts, specially for the Three Choirs Festival at Hereford Cathedral, from which it derives its name.
April 29, 2012 + The Fourth Sunday of Easter
Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Youth and Adult Choirs
Organ: Improvisation on 'Adoro te, devote' Paul Halley, transcribed by Peter Stoltzfus Berton
Opening Hymn 409 The spacious firmament on high Creation
Kyrie (Missa Gaia)
Sequence Hymn 708 Savior, like a shepherd lead us Sicilian Mariners
Offertory anthem: Canticle of Brother Sun (Missa Gaia)
Sanctus S125 Richard Proulx
Fraction anthem: Christ our Passover Jeffrey Rickard
Communion anthem: Agnus Dei (Missa Gaia)
Closing Hymn 646 The King of love my shepherd is Dominus regit me
Organ: Awake, thou wintry earth Johann Sebastian Bach
Music Note: Missa Gaia (Earth Mass), sung as part of today’s liturgical observance of Earth Day (April 22), was written in 1980-1981 by a consortium of musicians organized by renowned visionary jazz saxophonist Paul Winter, on a commission from the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. It was premiered at the Cathedral on Mother’s Day, 1981, and has since been sung there annually as part of a celebration of the Blessing of the Animals observing the feast of St. Francis of Assisi in early October. The St. John’s Choirs will travel to the Cathedral this October 7 as part of that celebration featuring hundreds of animals. Coincidentally, the Fourth Sunday of Easter is known as Good Shepherd Sunday, which is observed in today’s psalm and hymns.
Missa Gaia incorporates the traditional movements of Kyrie, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei, interspersed with anthems, solos and instrumental pieces. It was conceived for an enormous space but is adaptable to a variety of uses; this morning we hear four excerpts, to contain the experience to our standard service length. The music is of course contemporary, but grounded in traditional sources (texts and hymn tunes centuries old), as well as elements recorded from nature. Paul Winter writes:
”The Kyrie – a prayer for mercy – is undoubtedly the first co-composed by a wolf. She sings the same four-note howl seven times, with slight embellishment each time. Hers is for me a mystical melody. It includes the interval known as the tritone – three whole-steps – which is my favorite, and to me evokes the mystery of the living earth. The occurrence of the tritone in this wolf song and our usage of it in the Earth Mass are ironic. In the aesthetics of earlier centuries in Western culture, the tritone was regarded as the interval of the Devil. It was used by composers as recently as Wagner and Richard Strauss to express the diabolical. That we can now use this interval without evoking that kind of mind-set gives me hope that we might mature as a species…For just as we are now graduating from our inherited European fear of wolves and wilderness, so may other devils and dragons we conjure with our minds disappear, as we come to resonate, once again, with the greater community of life. This is the purpose of the Earth Mass.
The inspiration for our Agnus Dei came from the words of Dr. Wilfred T. Grenfell, a medical missionary to Labrador in 1909: “It has not been easy to convey to the Eskimo mind the meaning of the Oriental similes of the Bible. Thus the ‘lamb of God’ had to be translated ‘kotik’ or young seal. This animal, with its perfect whiteness, as it lies in its cradle of ice, its gentle, helpless nature, and its pathetic innocent eyes, is probably as apt a substitute, however, as nature offers.” The voices in the distant background during the introduction and later in the middle of the piece are those of harp seal pups, recorded on the ice near the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.”
April 22, 2012 + The Third Sunday of Easter
Holy Eucharist Rite I at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Youth and Adult Choirs
Organ: Deck thyself, my soul, with gladness Johann Sebastian Bach
Opening Hymn 492 Sing, ye faithful, sing with gladness Finnian
Pascha nostrum: Hymn 417 This is the feast Festival Canticle
Anthem (sung by the Youth Choir): Praise the Lord, his glories show Peter Niedmann
Sequence Hymn 205 Good Christians all, rejoice and sing Gelobt sei Gott
Offertory anthem: Brother James's Air arr. Gordon Jacob
Sanctus S114 (Missa de Sancta Maria Magdalena) Healey Willan
Fraction anthem: Christ our Passover Jeffrey Rickard
Communion anthem: Up, up, my heart, with gladness Johann Sebastian Bach
Communion Hymn 334 Praise the Lord, rise up rejoicing Alles ist an Gottes Segen
Closing Hymn 182 Christ is alive! Let Christians sing Truro
Organ: Chaconne in C Dietrich Buxtehude
Music Note: The image of God as a shepherd was immensely appealing to the farming societies of Jesus's day, as well as before (the Psalter) and through to the present age. So many versions of Psalm 23 exist partly through this timeline of over two thousand years, and additionally because of the practice of "metrical psalmody" beginning with the Reformation in the 1500s. Metrical psalmody was created to permit the easy congregational singing of psalms to pre-existing familiar hymn tunes, such as Psalm 100 being paired with the tune of that name, "Old Hundredth" which we sing weekly at the presentation of the offering. Metrical versions of psalm texts are by nature paraphrases, adjusting the number of syllables per line into a formula determined by the meter of the music. "Brother James" is the familiar name ascribed to the spiritual leader James Macbeth Bain, born in Scotland in 1860. A somewhat eccentric personality of great popularity, he worked among the poor in London and wandered in nature for refreshment. He has been compared to St. Francis for his mystic insights combined with an irresistible charm and childlike trust of one who loves all people and all creatures. (Once when walking in the woods he caught his cast on a tree branch, and in freeing himself accidentally broke the branch, much to his annoyance. When asked to explain his annoyance, he responded "Man, I've just lost a real good friend. Many a fine cast have I found on that self-same branch.") The tune upon which the offertory anthem is based is one of many beautiful melodies which came to him spontaneously. It has, in its simplicity, something of that rare quality of appeal which Maurice Baring describes as "a wonderful tune--a tune that opened its arms."
April 15, 2012 + The Second Sunday of Easter
Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult Choir
Prelude: Death and Resurrection Jean Langlais
Opening Hymn 193 That Easter day with joy was bright Puer nobis
Pascha nostrum: Hymn 417 This is the feast Festival Canticle
Sequence Hymn 209 We walk by faith, and not by sight St. Botolph
Offertory anthem: Haec est dies Jacob Gallus
Sanctus S125 Richard Proulx
Fraction anthem: Christ our Passover Jeffrey Rickard
Communion anthem: Rise up, my love Healey Willan
Communion Hymn 212 Awake, arise, lift up your voice Richmond
Closing Hymn 208 Alleluia! The strife is o'er, the battle done Victory
Organ: Toccata on 'O filii et filiae' Lynnwood Farnam
Music Note: Today's organ prelude bears the inscription, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" (I Corinthians 15:55). One of Langlais's earliest works, it portrays a vision of the life hereafter. Death is heard in the somber opening melody in the pedals; eternal life is represented by a Gregorian chant, the Gradual from the Requiem Mass, announced by a trumpet. These two ideas are combined, significantly, not so much in a struggle as in a unified crescendo toward the work's victorious conclusion. † Healey Willan, often referred to as the 'Dean of Canadian composers' of church music, penned many ravishing miniatures. His 1929 motet "Rise up, my love" uses gentle flowing chords to describe flowers appearing in Eastertide, and ends with a reiteration of the invitation to 'come away.' † Following the communion hymn will be heard an echo of 'Nearer, my God, to thee,' the last music played by the musicians aboard the Titanic, which sank one hundred years ago this morning. † Lynnwood Farnam was an exceptional Canadian organ recitalist who moved to New York in 1918, first to Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church and then to the Church of the Holy Communion. His tremendous American touring career tragically was cut short by a brain tumor. His only composition is this brief Toccata, and reportedly he launched into it invariably as a test piece when trying out an instrument new to him. 'O filii et filiae' is a hymn tune of uncertain origin, assumed to be either a French folk melody probably dating from the late fifteenth century, or perhaps a tune which began as a chant melody. Speaking of Death and Resurrection, Farnam made several recordings onto automatic player rolls, and in 1953 the Austin Organ Company of Hartford arranged with St. John's organist Clarence Watters to transfer several of Farnam's rolls to long playing records. A roll-player mechanism was temporarily attached to the St. John's instrument, and the stops were selected by Watters, allowing Farnam, who had been deceased for 23 years, to "return" to "play" pieces by Bach, Handel and others. These can be heard on our website, in the section about the St. John's Organ. (Farnam recording note by Bill Uricchio.)
April 8, 2012 + The Sunday of the Resurrection: Easter Day
at 8:00 a.m. sung by the Adult Choir
and at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult and Youth Choirs, with brass and tympani
Prelude: Improvisation Gerre Hancock
from Concerto in C for two trumpets and organ: Largo, Allegro Antonio Vivaldi
Opening Hymn 207 Jesus Christ is risen today Easter Hymn
Pascha nostrum: Hymn 417 This is the feast Festival Canticle
Sequence Hymn 180 He is risen, he is risen! Unser Herrscher
Offertory anthem: Light's glittering morn Horation Parker
Sanctus S125 Richard Proulx
Fraction anthem: Christ our Passover Jeffrey Rickard
Communion anthem: Alleluia Randall Thompson
Communion Hymn 305 Come, risen Lord Rosedale
Postcommunion anthem: Hallelujah (from Messiah) George Frideric Handel
Closing Hymn 210 The day of resurrection Ellacombe
Organ, brass and tympani: Toccata (from Symphonie V) Charles-Marie Widor
Music Note: The prelude is a transcription of an organ improvisation recorded in 1994 at St. Thomas Church, new York, capturing the legendary genius of Dr. Gerre Hancock who passed away earlier this year. It offers in spontaneous creation a glimpse of the resurrection, out of a solemn theme possibly derived from the Maundy Thursday hymn "Ubi caritas," evolving in its third section into an Easter sunrise. † Massachusetts native Horatio Parker was organist at Trinity Church, Wall Street and Trinity Church, Boston before becoming a professor and later Dean of the School of Music at Yale University. His joyous Easter anthem remains a staple of modern choral usage given its charming middle section for bass soloist and quartet (reminiscent of much American choral music in the 19th century before the Oxford movement brought the English choral tradition to this country), and incorporation of the hymn ‘The strife is o’er.” † Randall Thompson's "Alleluia," surely established as one of the most beloved American choral compositions, was written in 1940 for the opening of the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood. Composed during wartime, the piece's many moods around a single word of acclamation express the totality of the Easter message.
April 6, 2012 + Good Friday
7:30 p.m. sung by the combined Youth and Adult Choirs of St. John's Church and St. James's Church, West Hartford Center
Psalm 22 Plainsong, Tone IV.1
Hymn 158 Ah, holy Jesus! Herzliebster Jesu
Anthem: God so loved the world (from The Crucifixion) John Stainer
Hymn 166 Ah, holy Jesus! Pange Lingua
Anthem: Crucifixus Antonio Lotti
Hymn 168 O sacred head, sore wounded Herzlich tut mich verlangen
Organ: O sacred head, sore wounded Johann Sebastian Bach
Music Note: Excepting two years in Dresden producing operas, Antonio Lotti spent his entire career at St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, first as an alto singer, then as assisting assistant organist, assistant organist, main organist, and finally music director for the final four years of his life. Bach and Handel knew his work and may have been influenced by it. His 8-part setting of a brief text is justifiably famous, for its lavish dissonances and other expressive qualities so well suited to the event described.
April 5, 2012 + Maundy Thursday
7:30 p.m. sung by the Youth Choir
Prelude The celestial banquet Olivier Messiaen
Opening Hymn 304 I come with joy to meet my Lord Land of rest
Sequence Hymn 325 Let us break bread together on our knees Let us break bread
Offertory anthem: Ex ore innocentium John Ireland
Sanctus S124 David Hurd, New Plainsong
Fraction anthem S170 Whoever eats this bread Mode 1 melody; adapt. Mason Martens
Communion anthem: Ave verum corpus Edward Elgar
Music Note: The text of "Ex ore innocentium" ("From the mouths of innocents") does not limit the view of Christ's sacrifice to a child's perspective, but invites all to consider the meaning of the cross through its vivid imagery, accompanied by compelling music. Its author, Bishop William Walsham How, was known for his ministry to children and was commonly called the children's bishop. In addition to publishing several volumes of sermons he wrote a good deal of verse, including such well-known hymns as "Jesus! Name of wondrous love!" (the Hymnal 1982, No. 252),"O Christ, the Word Incarnate (632), and "For all the Saints" (287).
April 1, 2012 + The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday
The Liturgy begins in the Cloister at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult and Youth Choirs
Choral Prelude: Hosanna to the Son of David Thomas Weelkes
Opening Hymn: Ride on! ride on in majesty! Winchester New
Processional Hymn 154 All glory, laud, and honor Valet will ich dir geben
Sequence Hymn 474 When I survey the wondrous cross Rockingham
Offertory anthem: Jerusalem (from Gallia) Charles Gounod
Sanctus S117 James McGregor, after Hans Leo Hassler
Agnus Dei S159 Plainsong, Missa Marialis
Communion anthem: Crucifixus Antonio Lotti
Communion Hymn 458 My song is love unknown Love unknown
Closing Hymn 158 Ah, holy Jesus! Herzliebster Jesu
Organ: Ah, holy Jesus! Johannes Brahms
Music Note: French composer Charles Gounod, along with many others, turned to programmatic subjects in musical response to France's military defeat in the Franco-Prussian War (1870). Dating from 1871, and written in England, the oratorio Gallia is thought to draw a parallel between the then national situation and that of Jerusalem stunned by the reversal of fate upon its Messiah. The concluding section asks the populace to consider its own affliction and to turn to God for forgiveness, with an almost barbaric opening, a tender solo sung by the Youth Choir, and a rousing choral expansion of the solo. † Excepting two years in Dresden producing operas, Antonio Lotti spent his entire career at St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, first as an alto singer, then as assisting assistant organist, assistant organist, main organist, and finally music director for the final four years of his life. Bach and Handel knew his work and may have been influenced by it. His 8-part setting of a brief text is justifiably famous, for its lavish dissonances and other expressive qualities so well suited to the event described.
March 25, 2012 + The Fifth Sunday in Lent
Holy Eucharist Rite I at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult and Youth Choirs
Organ: Prélude (Prélude, Andante et Toccata) André Fleury
Kyrie S89 James McGregor, after Hans Leo Hassler
Sequence Hymn 441 In the Cross of Christ I glory Rathbun
Anthem (Youth Choir): Ex ore innocentium John Ireland
Offertory anthem: Lead, kindly light William H. Harris
Sanctus S117 James McGregor, after Hans Leo Hassler
Fraction anthem S170 Whoever eats this bread Mode 1 melody; adapt. Mason Martens
Communion anthem: Hear my prayer, O Lord Henry Purcell
Communion Hymn 314 Humbly I adore thee Adore devote
Closing Hymn 337 And now, O Father, mindful of the love Unde et memores
Organ: Prélude (Trois Pièces) Gabriel Pierné
Music Note: Fleury's 1931 Prélude shows the influence of his teachers Vierne and Dupré in its rich chromaticism and sustained sense of melody. † John Ireland excelled particularly at writing for piano and solo voice; his few pieces of church music date mostly from the turn of the last century, when both he and Vaughan Williams were students at London's Royal College of Music. The text of "Ex ore innocentium" ("From the mouths of innocents") does not limit the view of Christ's sacrifice to a child's perspective, but invites all to consider the meaning of the cross through its vivid imagery, accompanied by compelling music. Its author, Bishop William Walsham How, was known for his ministry to children and was commonly called the children's bishop. In addition to publishing several volumes of sermons he wrote a good deal of verse, including such well-known hymns as "Jesus! Name of wondrous love!" (the Hymnal 1982, No. 252),"O Christ, the Word Incarnate (632), and "For all the Saints" (287). † William Harris served the Chapel Royal in Windsor Castle from 1933 until 1961, where he had very productive years as a composer for choir festivals and two Coronations. Several of his anthems and canticles are still in regular use, as well as his hymn-tune "Alberta" often sung in England to the text arranged as the offertory anthem. † Although it is apparent from the autograph that Purcell originally intended to add to the anthem 'Hear my Prayer,' it seems quite likely that having written it he realized how difficult it would be to match its brilliance, and deliberately wrote no more. What makes the music so outstanding is not so much its skillful construction for eight parts out of the most economical of means, namely two simple phrases and their inversions (one based on two notes only and the other on a short chromatic scale), but its strong sense of climax in the final bars. Not only is this prepared in gradually increasing intensity, but the reservation of the full eight-part texture, and the restrained range of the parts up to the last few bars, gives this climax the maximum effect. Then, very quickly and inevitably, the music comes to rest as the sonoroties clarify, and resolve into a simple four-part chord. (Purcell note by Christopher Dearnley.)
March 18, 2012 + The Fourth Sunday in Lent
Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Youth Choir and the Men of the Adult Choir
Organ: Prélude funèbre, Op. 4 Louis Vierne
Kyrie S89 James McGregor, after Hans Leo Hassler
Anthem (Youth Choir): God so loved the world Joel Martinson
Sequence Hymn 690 Guide me, O thou great Jehovah Cwm Rhondda
Offertory anthem: Wilt thou forgive DG Mason
Sanctus S124 David Hurd, New Plainsong
Fraction anthem S170 Whoever eats this bread Mode 1 melody; adapt. Mason Martens
Communion anthem: If ye love me Thomas Tallis
Communion Hymn 489 The great Creator of the worlds Tallis' Ordinal
Closing Hymn 339 Deck thyself, my soul, with gladness Schmücke dich
Organ: Deck thyself, my soul, with gladness Johannes Brahms
Music Note: Louis Vierne, the organist of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris from 1900 until 1937, composed his early and profound "funeral prelude" in 1896 while serving as assistant to Charles-Marie Widor at the church of Saint-Sulpice. † The Offertory anthem, sung by the men of the choir, was written in 2002 for an Ash Wednesday service at Worcester Cathedral, England. The text was conceived not as a hymn but as a poem, and a great deal of its universal appeal derives from its unabashed particularity. John Donne calls attention to himself not only by punning on his own surname but also by making it the basis of the two rhymes running through all three stanzas. Less obvious, but no less important, is the second rhyme-word that concludes every stanza: more. This is the surname of Donne's wife, whose maiden name was Ann More, who had died six years before. Perhaps one reason for the enduring immediacy of this poem is that, despite its particular references and its somewhat veiled theological concerns with original and habitual sin, it manages to convey a convincing sense of assurance. (Carl P. Daw, Jr. and Jeffrey Wasson.) The music amplifies this assurance with its strong final cadence, after the unresolved cadences ending the first two verses. † Brahms's setting of the closing hymn is from a set of eleven chorale preludes based on Lutheran hymns, his final compositions. Written in the same year as Vierne's prelude, and published posthumously in 1902, they are considered a final statement on Brahms's life and pending death.
March 11, 2012 + The Third Sunday in Lent
Holy Eucharist Rite I at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult Choir
Organ: Fantasie in C minor, S. 652 Johann Sebastian Bach
Kyrie S89 James McGregor, after Hans Leo Hassler
Sequence Hymn 685 Rock of ages, cleft for me Toplady
Offertory anthem: The secret of Christ Richard Shephard
Sanctus S117 James McGregor, after Hans Leo Hassler
Fraction anthem S170 Whoever eats this bread Mode 1 melody; adapt. Mason Martens
Communion anthem: I heard the voice of Jesus say Thomas Tallis, arr. Donald Busarow
Communion Hymn 152 Kind Maker of the world, O hear A la venue de Noel
Closing Hymn 574 Before thy throne, O God, we kneel St. Petersburg
Organ: Andante con moto (Sonata V) Felix Mendelssohn
Music Note: Bach's mournful Fantasie is based on sparse musical materials: a descending minor figure which begins with an ornament. The latter detail makes the theme easily recognizable within the five-part texture. A flourish of faster notes brings the searching music to rest at last on a hopeful major chord. † Richard Shephard is Director of Development and former Headmaster of the Choir School of York Minster in northern England. He has always had a dual career as an administrator and composer; many of his compositions have become popular in America, for which work he was awarded an honorary doctorate from The University of the South in Tennessee. Through the Offertory anthem we are invited to take encouragement for our pilgrimage through Lent. † The melody of the communion anthem was revived in the twentieth century by Ralph Vaughan Williams's orchestral Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. It was first matched to the text heard today in the Hymnal 1940. Originally, Tallis wrote the tune in four parts for the publication in 1567 of Matthew Parker's The Whole Psalter translated into English Metre. (Parker was Queen Elizabeth's first Archbishop of Canterbury.) It appears there for Psalm 2, whose prose opening we know as "Why do the nations so furiously rage together." Parker's opening, metricized, reads: "Why fum'th in sight : the Gentiles' spite, in fury raging stout? Wht tak'th in bond the people fond, vain things to bring about? The kings arise, the lords devise, in counsels met thereto: Against the Lord with false accord, against his Christ they go." Not surprisingly, perhaps, Tallis chose this psalm for a demonstration of the "Third" or "Phrygian" mode, which Parker in a preface had described as manifesting "anger and sharp reviling." (Raymond Glover and John Wilson.) While its sudden shifts from major to minor do create an unsettling effect, twenty-first century ears (perhaps especially aided by Vaughan Williams's treatment) may find in the music's sense of eventual resolution also an ideal "resting place" well suited to the Lenten journey. Busarow's arrangement for flute, organ and choir gives this journey a yet more unexpected, and resolved, extended final cadence.
March 11 at 5:00 p.m.: Choral Evensong for Lent (with Tea at 4:00 p.m.)
Sung by the St. John's Adult Choir
Organ: Cantabile Cesar Franck
Introit: Through the day thy love has spared us Philip Moore
Preces and Responses William Smith
Psalm 34 Anglican Chant by Richard W. Knapp
Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis Orlando Gibbons (Short Service)
Anthem: Miserere (Psalm 51) Gregorio Allegri
Organ: Hymn Tune Fantasy on "St. Clement" Cark McKinley
At the conclusion of Evensong: Organ Recital
Cheryl Wadsworth, United Methodist Church of Hartford
March 4, 2012 + The Second Sunday in Lent
Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Youth Choir and the Women of the Adult Choir
Organ: Prelude on 'Aus der Tiefe rufe ich' Johann Christoph Bach
Kyrie S89 James McGregor, after Hans Leo Hassler
Sequence Hymn 401 The God of Abraham praise Leoni
Offertory anthem: Wash me throughly George Frideric Handel
Sanctus S124 David Hurd, New Plainsong
Fraction anthem S170 Whoever eats this bread Mode 1 melody; adapt. Mason Martens
Communion anthem: Ave verum corpus Edward Elgar
Communion Hymn 328 Draw nigh and take the body of the Lord Song 46
Closing Hymn 150 Forty days and forty nights Aus der Tiefe rufe ich
Organ: I call to thee, Lord Jesus Christ, S. 643 Johann Sebastian Bach
Music Note: In the minds and experience of most Episcopalians, 'Forty days and forty nights' is forever associated with the tune matched to the words since 1861. The original text for this hymn was described as "impossible for public worship" in 1637, and included stanzas recalling the trials of Christ's temptation and the many ways that Christians are drawn into sin: "Sunbeams scorching all the day, Chilly dewdrop nightly shed, Prowling beasts about thy way, Stones thy pillow, sand thy bed? And shall we in silken ease, Festal mirth, carousals high,–All that can our senses please,–Let our Lenten hours pass by?" † Bach's postlude trio has been arranged for other instruments. It is from his book of teaching pieces entitled "Little Organ Book" which instructs the student in techniques of both playing and composition, while also serving as a collection of music for church services and a religious statement. In the words of humanitarian and Bach scholar Albert Schweitzer, "Here Bach has realized the ideal of the chorale prelude. The method is the most simple imaginable and at the same time the most perfect. Nowhere is the Dürer-like character of his musical style so evident as in these small chorale-preludes. Simply by the precision and the characteristic quality of each line of the contrapuntal motive he expresses all that has to be said, and so makes clear the relation of the music to the text whose title it bears."
February 26, 2012 + The First Sunday in Lent
Holy Eucharist Rite I at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult Choir (first anthem sung by Youth Choir)
Organ: Prélude au Kyrie (Hommage à Frescobaldi) Jean Langlais
Kyrie S89 James McGregor, after Hans Leo Hassler
Anthem (Youth Choir): Day by Day Martin How
Sequence Hymn 147 Now let us all with one accord Bourbon
Offertory anthem: Call to remembrance Richard Farrant
Sanctus S117 James McGregor, after Hans Leo Hassler
Fraction anthem S170 Whoever eats this bread Mode 1 melody; adapt. Mason Martens
Communion anthem: Miserere mei, Deus Gregorio Allegri
Closing Hymn 143 The glory of these forty days Erhalt uns, Herr
Organ: So now as we journey, aid our weak endeavor Marcel Dupré
Music Note: The hymn before the Gospel pairs a nineteenth-century rural American tune with an anonymous text which is likely to be at least a thousand years older. The closing hymn is a Reformation chorale, believed by some to be the work of Martin Luther himself, based on a twelfth century plainsong tune. It appears in our hymnal as harmonized by Johann Sebastian Bach. (Hymn note from writings of Carol Doran, Marion Hatchett and Carl Schalk.) † Composer and church musician Martin How is the son of a former Primate of the Episcopal Church in Scotland. He spent most of his career with the Royal School of Church Music where he initiated and developed the chorister training scheme used in many parts of the world. St. Richard of Chichester is supposed to have recited the popular prayer ascribed to him on his deathbed, written down in Latin by his confessor. The first English translation to use the rhyme "clearly, dearly, nearly" is thought to be one from 1913; the first including the phrase "day by day" followed in 1931. The prayer became especially popular in America following its adaptation for the musical Godspell in 1971. Martin How's version dates from 1977. † Allegri's famous setting of Psalm 51 was written in the 1630s for use in the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday and Friday of Holy Week, for tenebrae services dating back to 1514. At some point, it became forbidden to transcribe the music and it was allowed to be performed only at those particular services, adding to the mystery surrounding it. Writing it down or performing it elsewhere was punishable by excommunication. According to the popular story (backed up by family letters), the fourteen-year-old Mozart was visiting Rome when he first heard the piece during the Wednesday service. Later that day, he wrote it down entirely from memory, returning to the Chapel that Friday to make minor corrections. Some time during his travels, he met a British historian who obtained the piece from him and took it to London, where it was published in 1771. Once the piece was published, the ban was lifted; Mozart was summoned to Rome by the Pope only instead of excommunicating the boy, the Pope showered praises on him for his feat of musical genius. (Wikipedia.) The setting contrasts two choirs interspersed with traditional plainchant verses. The second choir is traditionally placed at some distance from the first for an ethereal echo effect, and sings a particularly poignant, ornamented passage with a high soprano C.
February 19, 2012 + The Last Sunday after the Epiphany
Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult Choir
Organ: Prelude and Fugue in C Major, S. 545 Johann Sebastian Bach
Opening Hymn 135 Songs of thankfulness and praise Salzburg
Gloria S280 Robert Powell
Sequence Hymn (insert): Blessed Assurance Assurance
Offertory anthem: Prayer for Transfiguration Day John Weaver
Sanctus Craig Phillips
Fraction anthem: Christ our Passover Phillips
Communion anthem: O nata lux Morten Lauridsen
Communion Hymn 312 Strengthen for service, Lord Malabar
Closing Hymn 460 Alleluia! sing to Jesus! Hyfrydol
Organ: Fugue in C Major ("Jig") Dietrich Buxtehude
Music Note: The first hymn today is repeated from the first Sunday after the Epiphany (January 8) as a bookend to the observance of the season. The last Sunday after the Epiphany, or Transfiguration Sunday, is the last before the beginning of Lent and thus is the last opportunity until Easter to say or sing the word Alleluia. The prelude and postlude reflect this spirit of joyful enthusiasm, by both the nature of the music and the "radiant" key of C Major. In the Baroque period of their composition, keyboard instruments were tuned in such a way that some keys sounded more pure than others. Much music was written in keys with few sharps or flats, to avoid the out of tune "wolf" when playing in keys with many flats or sharps. Even after an "equal tempered" system of tuning made all keys sound more or less in tune, C Major continued to be particularly associated in the Classical period with festivity and grandeur, and has always been a triumphant key in organ music owing to C being the lowest note on the pedalboard, thus playing the largest, lowest available pipes. † The Fraction Anthem and Sanctus, being introduced throughout Epiphany, come from a new festival setting of the Eucharist commissioned for the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, to commemorate the ministry of the Most Rev. Frank Tracy Griswold III as the 25th Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church. Craig Phillips is Music Director of All Saints' Episcopal Church, Beverly Hills, California.
February 12, 2012 + The Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany
Holy Eucharist Rite I at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Youth and Adult Choirs
Organ: Gospel Prelude on "What a friend we have in Jesus" William Bolcom
Opening Hymn: What a friend we have in Jesus
Gloria S202 Healey Willan
Sequence Hymn 545 Lo! What a cloud of witnesses St. Fulbert
Offertory anthem: I hear a voice a-prayin' Houston Bright
Sanctus S114 Willan
Fraction anthem: Christ our Passover Craig Phillips
Communion anthem: Deep River Gerre Hancock
Communion Hymn 304 I come with joy to meet my Lord Land of Rest
Closing Hymn 482 Lord of all hopefulness Slane
Organ: Prelude on 'Slane' Hancock
Music Note: Absalom Jones (1746-February 13, 1818) was the first African-American ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church (1804). In the Episcopal calendar of saints he is listed on February 13 as "Absalom Jones, Priest, 1818." Jones was born into slavery in Philadelphia. By 1778 he had purchased his wife's freedom so that their children would be free, and in another seven years he was able to purchase his own. Tired of relegation to a gallery as was the custom in interracial congregations, Jones and his followers founded the first black church in Philadelphia which petitioned to become an Episcopal parish. Jones was also part of the first group of African Americans to petition the U.S. Congress, in criticism of the 1793 Fugitive Slave Act. Originally a poem, "What a friend we have in Jesus" was never intended by the hymn writer, Joseph Scriven, for publication. Upon learning of his mother's serious illness and unable to be with her in faraway Dublin, he wrote a letter of comfort enclosing the words of the text. Some time later when he himself was ill, a friend who came to see him chanced to see the poem scribbled on scratch paper near his bed. The friend read it with interest and asked if he had written the words. With typical modesty, Scriven replied, "The Lord and I did it between us." (Hymn note by Kenneth J. Osbeck.) In 1869 a small collection of his poems was published, entitled Hymns and Other Verses, and the musical setting soon followed which launched the enduring popularity of the pairing. In the prelude, University of Michigan composer William Bolcom captures the verve of a gospel hymn improvisation with the tune heard in very long note values. † Houston Bright, son of a Methodist minister, grew up in West Texas and spent his entire career there as a composer and music educator. The most popular of his some 100 original compositions remains the 1955 spiritual heard today: unexpected fare, perhaps, from the pen of one whose Ph.D. dissertation was "The Early Tudor Part-song from Newarke to Cornyshe," and revealing of a diverse and largely unknown talent. † Another West Texan, one internationally known in Anglican circles is Gerre Hancock, from 1971-2004 Organist and Master of Choristers at Saint Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue, New York. His postlude on the final hymn "previews" each phrase of the melody with imitative counterpoint in the manner of early Baroque hymn-tune composers, then disguises the tune somewhat by doubling its note values, all in the context of modern harmony. A second verse of the hymn is treated as an exciting build-up of the instrument with a reflective ending, reminiscent of the composer's legendary improvisations following Evensong. Dr. Hancock passed away this past January 21. His beloved setting of Deep River was sung at Evensong at Saint Thomas Church on January 22 in his memory. † The Fraction Anthem, being introduced throughout Epiphany, come from a new festival setting of the Eucharist commissioned for the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, to commemorate the ministry of the Most Rev. Frank Tracy Griswold III as the 25th Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church. Craig Phillips is Music Director of All Saints' Episcopal Church, Beverly Hills, California.
February 5 at 5:00 p.m.: Choral Evensong for Candlemass (with Tea at 4:00 p.m.)
Sung by the Youth and Adult Choirs:
Organ: Fugue on 'How brightly shines the morning star' Max Reger
My soul doth magnify the Lord, S. 643 Johann Sebastian Bach
Introit: O nata lux Thomas Tallis
Preces and Responses William Smith
Psalms 48 and 87 Anglican Chants by Edward Elgar and Jonathan Battishill
Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in D George Dyson
Anthem: When to the temple Mary went Johannes Eccard
Organ: Lord God, now open wide thy heaven, S. 617 Bach
At the conclusion of Evensong: Organ Recital
Graham Schultz, The Cathedral of All Saints, Albany, NY
February 5, 2012 + The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany
Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult and Youth Choirs
Organ: How bright appears the morning star Dietrich Buxtehude
Opening Hymn 381 Thy strong word did cleave the darkness Ton-y-Botel
Gloria S280 Robert Powell
Anthem (Youth Choir): The Birds Benjamin Britten
Sequence Hymn 423 Immortal, invisible, God only wise St. Denio
Offertory anthem: Sing we merrily Sidney Campbell
Sanctus Craig Phillips
Fraction anthem: Christ our Passover Phillips
Communion anthem: We have seen his star Everett Titcomb
Communion Hymn 300 Glory, love, and praise, and honor Benifold
Closing Hymn 493 O for a thousand tongues to sing Azmon
Organ: How bright appears the morning star Paul Manz
Music Note: The prelude is essentially a treatment of two stanzas of the Epiphany hymn "How bright appears the morning star," although owing to the repeated phrases in the melody and its overall length, the composition unfolds rather like a set of variations, with color and texture matching the mood of the stanzas. (Dietrich Buxtehude was the outstanding composer of organ music in North Germany in the generation before J. S. Bach; at the age of twenty, Bach famously walked some 250 miles each way from Arnstadt to Lubeck to hear Buxtehude play, and outstayed his authorized absence from his church post by several months! According to legend, both Bach and George Frideric Handel wanted to become amanuesis (assistant and successor) to Buxtehude, but neither wanted to marry his daughter, which was a condition for the position). The postlude presents the same hymn tune in a light, whimsical mood, employing quiet high-pitched stops. † Belloc's beguiling poem "The Birds'" published in 1910, has inspired at least twenty-five musical settings. That by Benjamin Britten (dating from 1929 when the composer was sixteen) sets the action of the birds into the colorful accompaniment, and also into the way the range of the voices takes flight. The concluding prayer comes back to earth with disarming simplicity, both profound and childlike. † Virtuoso Sidney Campbell served successively as organist of Southwark Cathedral, Canterbury Cathedral, and St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. His joyous setting of Psalm 81 treats the voice in a nimble instrumental manner, similar to the choral and solo vocal writing of J. S. Bach. † Everett Titcomb served for fifty years as Director of Music of the church of St. John the Evangelist in Boston, beginning in 1910. Many of his organ and choral compositions are based on plainchant themes or pay stylistic homage to the works of former periods. † The Fraction Anthem and Sanctus, being introduced throughout Epiphany, come from a new festival setting of the Eucharist commissioned for the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, to commemorate the ministry of the Most Rev. Frank Tracy Griswold III as the 25th Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church. Craig Phillips is Music Director of All Saints' Episcopal Church, Beverly Hills, California.
January 29, 2012 + The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult and Youth Choirs
Opening Hymn 616 Hail to the Lord's anointed Es flog ein kleins Waldvogelein
Gloria S280 Robert Powell
Anthem (Youth Choir): Light of the world John Dankworth
Sequence Hymn 567 Thine arm, O Lord, in days of old St. Matthew
Offertory anthem: When to the temple mary went Johannes Eccard
Communion anthem: O nata lux Thomas Tallis
Communion Hymn: 336 Come with us, O blessed Jesus Werde munter
Closing Hymn 460 Alleluia! sing to Jesus! Hyfrydol
Music Note (archival): This service was conducted in the absence of the Music Director who was ill. Some of the scheduled music was changed; what appears above is what was heard in the service. Thanks to Richard Knapp and Ben Rechel, organists, and John Janeiro, choir director, for filling in on short notice. † Sir John Dankworth, known in his early career as Johnny Dankworth, was an English jazz musician and the husband of jazz singer Cleo Laine. †
January 22, 2012 + The Third Sunday after the Epiphany
Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:00 a.m. sung by the Adult and Youth Choirs (followed by the Annual Parish Meeting)
Prelude: Meditation Johann Sebastian Bach and Charles Gounod
Whitney Perrine-Dziura, flute
Opening Hymn 537 Christ for the world we sing Moscow
Gloria S280 Robert Powell
Sequence Hymn 549 Jesus calls us; o'er the tumult St. Andrew
Offertory anthem: Christ, whose glory fills the skies T. Frederick H. Candlyn
Sanctus Craig Phillips
Fraction anthem: Christ our Passover Phillips
Communion anthem: They cast their nets in Galilee Michael McCabe
Communion Hymn 321 My God, thy table now is spread Rockingham
Closing Hymn 653 Dear Lord and Father of mankind Repton
Organ: Variation on 'Rockingham' George Thalben-Ball
Music Note: The prelude is a curiosity in musical history--a collaboration between two great composers whose lives did not overlap! In 1840, Gounod met Mendelssohn's sister, who introduced him to some of Bach's then long-dormant keyboard works including the Prelude in C, the first piece in the Well-Tempered Clavier (1722). A decade later, Gounod spent many evenings at the home of his fiancee Anna Zimmerman and one evening her father, an accomplished musician overheard Gounod improvising a beautiful melody over Bach's Prelude in C. As Gounod played, Zimmerman wrote the melody down, and later organized a concert where the piece was played with piano and violin. The work appears to have been published in 1853 under the title "Meditation on the First Prelude of Bach." Gounod set words to his melody only later, possibly not until 1859 when it was published with the text Ave Maria; the rest is history. Curiously, the first text Gounod chose was a short French poem instead. (Adapted from an essay by Tom Potter.) † Thomas Frederick Handel Candlyn was an English-born church musician who spent twenty-eight years at St. Paul's Church, Albany, New York, and the final ten of his career at St. Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue, New York. The offertory anthem is an enduring favorite of his some two hundred works, and contains a splendid example of text-painting at the beginning of the second verse. "Day-spring" is the beginning of dawn; "Day-star" is the morning star. "Sun of Righteousness" is an attribute spoken of Christ in Malachi 4:2 (referring to God's blessings on the good): "But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall." This reference also underscores the double-meaning of "Sun" as "Son" in the context of Epiphany. † The Fraction Anthem and Sanctus, being introduced throughout Epiphany, come from a new festival setting of the Eucharist commissioned for the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, to commemorate the ministry of the Most Rev. Frank Tracy Griswold III as the 25th Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church. Craig Phillips is Music Director of All Saints' Episcopal Church, Beverly Hills, California. † Michael McCabe is a former pupil of Leo Sowerby and the elder composer's influence can be heard in the dissonance of "head down was crucified," along with a slightly jazzy rhythm. † The closing hymn's quiet call to bold evangelism is echoed in the brief postlude by George Thalben-Ball, organist of London's famous Temple Church for fifty-nine years (1923-1982). The 'still small voice of calm' heard as a sustained note in the hymn's descant continues in the hands, then in the feet; this musical device is known as a "pedal point" from the way it is typically executed on the organ.
January 15, 2012 + The Second Sunday after the Epiphany
Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult Choir
Organ: Aria Flor Peeters
Opening Hymn 599 Lift every voice and sing Lift Every Voice
Gloria S280 Robert Powell
Sequence Hymn 707 Take my life, and let it be Hollingside
Offertory anthem: Lord, you have searched me out Peter Stoltzfus Berton
Sanctus Craig Phillips
Fraction anthem: Christ our Passover Phillips
Communion anthem: Eternal light Leo Sowerby
Communion Hymn 319 You, Lord, we praise in sings of celebration Gott sei gelobet
Closing Hymn 477 All praise to thee, for thou, O King divine Engelberg
Organ: Tuba Tune in D Major Craig Sellar Lang
Music Note: In the Episcopal Church's calendar, Common Saints are a general category of lesser saints such as martyrs, missionaries, pastors, theologians, monastics and teachers, whose personal qualities or traits include heroic faith, love, goodness of life, joyousness, service to others for Christ's sake, and devotion. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is so recognized, with feast days on both his birth on January 15 and death on April 4. The opening hymn is sung in celebration of tomorrow's holiday. This hymn was composed at the request of a group of young black men who sought to pay tribute to the President of the United States who had signed the Emancipation Proclamation. It was first sung in Jacksonville, Florida, on February 12, 1900, by a chorus of schoolchildren at the all-black Stanton School at a special assembly in honor of the birthday of Abraham Lincoln. It became an immediate favorite of schoolchildren throughout Florida, and by the late 1940s was being sung by black Americans throughout the United States as the 'Negro National Anthem.' The song became a multiracial favorite after its use as a freedom song in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and has since been adopted by various groups of other races who seek liberation from opression. While the text is clearly addressed to freedom, it unfolds without anger and admonishes both the Christian and the oppressed to "march on till victory is won." (Note by Horace Boyer.) † In the offertory anthem, searching is symbolized by the powerful pull between major and minor tonality heard in the opening triplet motive of the accompaniment. A variety of textures and moods suits the wide emotional range of Psalm 139 and pays homage to the long history of musical settings of the psalms, with solo, choral and chant sections. In the chant section, a duet between an adult and a child is based on the interval of the descending minor third, which research shows to be a remarkably constant first musical utterance of children around the world regardless of native cultural tradition. Is it not amazing that God would know us before we are born, each in our individualities, and also give us a common first voice? † Alcuin of York, author of the text of the communion anthem, became a leading scholar and teacher of the Carolingian Renaissance, as part of the court of Charlemagne. His final decade was spent as Abbott of Marmoutier Abbey in France. In addition to his religious texts and poetry, he is known for a mathematical textbook containing clever word puzzles, several involving river crossings such as the famous problem of the wolf, the goat and the cabbage. Alcuin is also recognized as a Common Saint in the Episcopal Church's calendar; his feast day is April 20. † The Fraction Anthem and Sanctus, being introduced throughout Epiphany, come from a new festival setting of the Eucharist commissioned for the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, to commemorate the ministry of the Most Rev. Frank Tracy Griswold III as the 25th Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church. Craig Phillips is Music Director of All Saints' Episcopal Church, Beverly Hills, California.
January 8, 2012 + The First Sunday after the Epiphany
Holy Eucharist Rite I at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult Choir (first Anthem sung by Youth Choir)
Organ: Prelude on the Introit for Epiphany Maurice Duruflé
Opening Hymn 135 Songs of thankfulness and praise Salzburg
Gloria S202 Healey Willan
Anthem: Brightest and best Malcolm Archer
Sequence Hymn 121 Christ, when for us you were baptized Caithness
Offertory anthem: Tomorrow shall be my dancing day John Gardner
Sanctus S114 Willan
Fraction anthem: Christ our Passover Craig Phillips
Communion anthem: Epiphany Skinner Chávez-Melo
Communion Hymn 339 Deck thyself, my soul, with gladness Schmücke dich
Closing Hymn 448 O love, how deep, how broad, how high Deus tuorum militum
Organ: In thee is gladness, S. 615 Johann Sebastian Bach
Music Note: Today's service begins with an ancient plainchant hymn for Epiphany heard in the trumpet voice of the prelude. The sparkling accompaniment to the trumpet suggests the bright light symbolic of the season. The French composer Maurice Duruflé was highly self-critical and published very little music, of very high quality; this gem is typical of his refined service improvisations. On February 19, the Sunday of The Transfiguration or the last Sunday after Epiphany, we will again sing today's opening hymn, which summarizes the entire life of Christ with emphasis on the Epiphany season of the revelation of Christ's divine majesty through miraculous works and events. The offertory anthem makes a similar summary in the guise of a carol text full of larger meaning, narrated by Christ himself. As commonly interpreted by St. Paul from the biblical imagery of the Song of Songs, "My true love" is the one holy, catholic, apostolic church. "Tomorrow" is any time after the resurrection, which allows the disciples to look back at Jesus' baptism, life, suffering, and death through the filter of the resurrection. And the "dancing day" is the entire feast of salvation in the New Testament era. The theme of the dance is unique among traditional carols and is set by John Gardner in a lighthearted medieval-renaissance style, perhaps inspired by the medieval parallels among many fifteenth-century "cradle prophecy" carol texts, in which the infant Christ foretells his future to his mother while seated in her lap. (Anthem note adapted from the New Oxford Book of Carols by H. Keyte/A. Parrott; and J. Miller.) † The Fraction Anthem comes from a new festival setting of the Eucharist commissioned for the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, to commemorate the ministry of the Most Rev. Frank Tracy Griswold III as the 25th Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church. It will be used throughout Epiphany; next week the Rite II Sanctus from this setting will also be introduced. Craig Phillips is Music Director of All Saints' Episcopal Church, Beverly Hills, California.
Sunday, January 1, 2012 + The Holy Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ
Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult Choir
Organ: Meditation on 'Picardy' Leo Sowerby
Opening Hymn 248 To the Name of our salvation Oriel
Gloria S278 William Mathias
Sequence Hymn 644 How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds St. Peter
Offertory anthem: It came upon the midnight clear arr. Barry Rose
Sanctus S130 Franz Schubert
Fraction anthem: S 155 Christ our Passover Gerald Near
Communion anthem: O magnum mysterium Near
Closing Hymn 497 How bright appears the Morning Star Wie schon leuchtet
Organ: Infant Holy, infant lowly Keith Chapman
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