Archive: Epiphany through Pentecost 12, 2011
September 4, 2011 + The Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
Holy Eucharist Rite II at 9:00 a.m.
Prelude: Awake, awake to love and work Joseph M. Martin
Opening Hymn 376 Joyful, joyful, we adore thee Hymn to Joy
Sequence Hymn 593 Lord, make us servants of your peace Dickinson College
Offertory anthem: Et exultavit from Magnificat Johann Sebastian Bach
Margaret Beers, soprano
Communion anthem: Maria Wiegenlied Max Reger
Closing Hymn 541 Come, labor on Ora Labora
Organ: Praise to the Lord Vernon Butcher
August 28, 2011 + The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
This service was canceled due to Hurricane Irene.
Holy Eucharist Rite I at 9:00 a.m.
Prelude: Psalm-Prelude, "Out of the depths" Herbert Howells
Opening Hymn 401 The God of Abraham praise Leoni
Sequence Hymn 707 Take my life, and let it be Hollingside
Offertory anthem: Wir eilen from Cantata 78 Johann Sebastian Bach
Jennifer Berton, soprano; Peter Berton, alto
Music during communion: Adagio from Symphony No. 5 Charles-Marie Widor
Closing Hymn 644 How sweet the name of Jesus sounds St. Peter
Organ: Allegro from Symphony No. 5 Charles-Marie Widor
August 21, 2011 + The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
Holy Eucharist Rite II at 9:00 a.m.
Prelude: Choral No. 2 in B minor César Franck
Opening Hymn 427 When morning gilds the skies Laudes Domini
Sequence Hymn 304 I come with joy to meet my Lord Land of Rest
Offertory anthem: Sound the trumpet Henry Purcell
Carrie Hammond and Liz Hammond, sopranos
Communion anthem: Day by day Martin How
Closing Hymn 523 Glorious things of thee are spoken Abbot’s Leigh
Organ: Tu es petra Henri Mulet
August 14, 2011 + The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost
Holy Eucharist Rite I at 9:00 a.m.
Prelude: Prelude au Kyrie Jean Langlais
Opening Hymn 371 Thou, whose almighty word Moscow
Sequence Hymn 380 From all that dwell below the skies Old 100th
Offertory anthem: Come, let's rejoice John Amner
Helen Douglas, Frisha Hugessen, John Church, Stephan Christiansen, quartet
Communion anthem: O God, be merciful Christopher Tye
Closing Hymn 544 Jesus shall reign where’er the sun Duke Street
Organ: Rondeau from Sinfonie de Fanfares Jean-Joseph Mouret
August 7, 2011 + The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
Holy Eucharist Rite II at 9:00 a.m.
Prelude: Lotus William Thomas Strayhorn
Opening Hymn 390 Praise to the Lord! The almighty Lobe den Herren
Sequence Hymn 398 I sing the almighty power of God Forest Green
Offertory anthem: Ave, verum corpus Gabriel Fauré
Marjorie Hardge and Nancy Sichler, sopranos
Communion anthem: Pie Jesu from Requiem Andrew Lloyd Webber
Closing Hymn 414 God, my King, thy might confessing Stuttgart
Organ: Salvation unto us has come, S. 638 Bach
During the month of July 2011, services were said in the Cloister Garden.
June 26, 2011 + The Second Sunday after Pentecost
Baptism and Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult Choir
Prelude: Cantabile (Symphony No. 2) Louis Vierne
Opening Hymn 525 The church's one foundation Aurelia
Sequence Hymn 609 Where cross the crowded ways of life Gardner
Baptism Hymn 296 We know that Christ is raised and dies no more Engelberg
Offertory anthem: Laudate Dominum Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Sanctus S125 Richard Proulx
Fraction anthem: Christ our Passover Jeffrey Rickard
Communion anthem: I will not leave you comfortless Everett Titcomb
Communion Hymn 321 My God, thy table now is spread Rockingham
Closing Hymn 438 Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord Woodlands
Organ: Prelude in D Major, S. 532 Johann Sebastian Bach
Music Note: Mozart composed two complete settings of the vesper psalms in 1779-80, for use in the celebrated evening services of Salzburg cathedral. From the more well-known setting, Vesperae solennes de confessore (K. 339) comes the soprano aria "Laudate Dominum," written for the remarkable singer Maria Magdalena Lipp (the wife of composer Michael Haydn). Mozart composed many pieces for her, and this beguiling example, in which the choir enters for a doxology of serene simplicity, was a particular favorite of many nineteenth-century singers and arrangers. † 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 communion anthem, chosen in relation to the reassurance offered by God to Abraham thus sparing Isaac, is based on a plainchant hymn for Pentecost, Veni Creator Spiritus (Hymn 504), which may be heard in long note values in the bass part at the beginning of the second 'Alleluia' section.
June 19, 2011 + The First Sunday after Pentecost: Trinity Sunday
Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult Choir
Prelude: Amoroso Thomas Arne
Gigue and Adagio (Trio Sonata in C, S. 1037) Johann Sebastian Bach
Virginia Kramer, violin; Gabriel Remillard, viola; Kathy Schiano, cello
Opening Hymn 409 The spacious firmament on high Creation
Sequence Hymn 423 Immortal, invisible, God only wise St. Denio
Offertory anthem: Sanctus (from St. Cecilia Mass) Charles Gounod
Sanctus S125 Richard Proulx
Fraction anthem: Christ our Passover Jeffrey Rickard
Communion anthem: Sanctus (from Requiem) Gabriel Fauré
Communion Hymn 367 Round the Lord in glory seated Rustington
Closing Hymn 362 Holy, holy, holy! Lord God almighty! Nicea
Organ: Fugue in E-flat Major, S. 552 Johann Sebastian Bach
Music Note: The special string trio today in celebration of Trinity Sunday is made possible by the Ralph Valentine Music Fund at St. John's Church. † Charles Gounod, because of his great popularity (especially from his operas) and his stylistic influence on the next generation of composers, was a towering figure in French music in the mid-nineteenth century. For two years he studied theology, but chose not to take holy orders; still, he was often referred to as "l'Abbé (Father) Gounod." The Sanctus sung at the offertory is from his Mass dedicated to Saint Cecilia (the patron saint of music), written in 1855. † The genius of J. S. Bach manifested itself in many ways, including a fascination with numerology and symbolism. Bach's fugue associated with the hymn-tune "St. Anne" (O God, our help in ages past) is a testament to the Trinity, written in triple meter, with a key signature of three flats, and in three sections. The first section represents God the Father with the stately foundation stops of the organ; God the Son is depicted in the lighter second section; the exuberant conclusion evokes the power of the Holy Spirit. † Perhaps taking a cue from Bach's famous fugue, Gabriel Fauré, in the generation after Gounod, set the Sanctus from his 1887 Requiemsimilarly in triple time, in three flats. Instead of a tenor solo echoed by the full choir (Gounod's rather operatic construction), Fauré opts for a more universal and ecclesiastical dialogue between the upper and lower voices of the choir, in simple unison phrases inflected by gradually richer harmonies. The choir finally sings all together for the last word, softly, under a stratospheric solo violin.
June 12, 2011 + The Day of Pentecost
Baptism and Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult Choir
Prelude: Fanfares to the tongues of fire Larry King
Opening Hymn 225 Hail thee festival day! Salva festa dies
Sequence Hymn 511 Holy Spirit, ever living Abbot's Leigh
Baptism Hymn 516 Come down, O Love divine Down Ampney
Offertory anthem: Listen, sweet dove Grayston Ives
Sanctus S125 Richard Proulx
Fraction anthem: Christ our Passover Jeffrey Rickard
Communion anthem: Batter my heart Peter Stoltzfus Berton
Communion Hymn 504 Come Holy Ghost, our souls inspire Veni Creator Spiritus
Closing Hymn 507 Praise the Spirit in creation Julion
Organ: Final on 'Veni Creator Spiritus' Maurice Duruflé
Music Note: Pentecost, the fiftieth day after Easter, is celebrated in many parts of Christendom as a major festival whose significance surpasses that of Christmas and equals that of Easter. From the time of the earliest recorded sacred melodies, music for Christmas, Easter and Pentecost has proliferated more uniformly and survived longer than any other music associated with Christian worship. Much as the Latin hymn "Adeste Fidelis" (O Come, all ye faithful) is associated with Christmas in many different traditions, the ninth-century "Veni Creator Spiritus" (today's communion hymn, and basis of the prelude and postlude) is the hymn most universally associated with Pentecost. Throughout Christian history, the descending of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost has been portrayed in literature and art in one of two images: as a dove or in tongues of fire. The organ music today conveys the tongues of fire image primarily. Larry King was organist and Music Director of Trinity Church, Wall Street, New York from 1968 to 1989. The 1978 "Fanfares to the tongues of fire" is based on Acts 2:1-3: "When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them." The offertory anthem, by contrast, meditates on the image of the Holy Spirit as a dove, alongside a charming poetic image of the sun made jealous by the dazzling evangelism of the twelve apostles.
June 5, 2011 + The Seventh Sunday of Easter: The Sunday after Ascension Day
Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult Choir
Prelude: Prayer of Christ Ascending Olivier Messiaen
Opening Hymn 214 Hail the day that sees him rise Llanfair
Pascha nostrum: Hymn 417 This is the feast Festival Canticle
Sequence Hymn 483 The head that once was crowned with thorns St. Magnus
Offertory anthem: O clap your hands Ralph Vaughan Williams
Sanctus S125 Richard Proulx
Fraction anthem: Christ our Passover Jeffrey Rickard
Communion anthem: Coelos ascendit C. Villiers Stanford
Communion Hymn 219 The Lord ascendeth up on high Ach Herr, du allerhöchster Gott
Closing Hymn 494 Crown him with many crowns Diademata
Organ: Paraphrase on the Te Deum Marcel Dupré
Music Note: Messiaen's quietly ecstatic prayer of 'Christ ascending towards his Father' is from his 1932 Ascension Suite, described by the composer as "Four meditations for orchestra." He arranged it for organ the next year, and it is still one of his most frequently performed pieces. Over the course of some nine minutes the music takes on a radiant glow, using gradually ascending notes and progressively ascending sections, as part of a typically weightless, timeless experience created by very long note values and unpredictable rhythms. † Dating from 1920, Vaughan Williams's arrangement of Psalm 47 was originally orchestrated for organ, brass and percussion, and can be heard in arrangements for organ alone and for full orchestra. The joyous mood of the text is capitalized upon in a setting of extroverted jubilation. The brass and organ parts work fanfare-like counterpoints around the vocal lines. After an anticipated climax on "Sing praises unto our King," the music reaches a moment of quiet introspection. Here the vocal lines take on an almost speech-like quality that seems to pay homage to the tradition of Anglican chant. The moment, however, is quickly interrupted by the brass, and the energy of the music returns to the same joyous mood as the opening. This is a piece clearly designed to fill a space with a grand noise in praise of God. (Stephen Kingsbury) † Irish-born Stanford was teacher to Vaughan Williams among a host of other prominent composers over the course of two generations of teaching in London and Cambridge. His own compositions still hold a very high place in Anglican church literature and, after a long period of neglect, his many substantial orchestral works are enjoying a welcome revival. From a set of Three Latin Motets (1905), Coelos ascendit creates a merry noise echoing back and forth between two equal choirs, sung today from the transepts to more nearly generate the stereophonic excitement offered by the divided, facing placement of traditional choir-stalls in larger spaces. † Te Deum, laudamus (Prayer Book, page 52) is one of the most ancient hymns of praise. Authorship of the Te Deum is traditionally ascribed to Saints Ambrose and Augustine, on the occasion of the latter's baptism by the former in AD 387. The bold paraphrase of the plainsong tune associated with this hymn by French virtuoso Marcel Dupré was commissioned by his American publisher, H. W. Gray in 1945. The minor key of the tune, and the recent devastation of World War II, help to define the character of the rhythmically intense sections, which alternate with lyrical passages for relief (based on the more comforting sections of the text). It is, altogether, a fiery vision of angels resounding in praise.
May 29, 2011 + The Sixth Sunday of Easter
Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult Choir
Prelude: Prelude in E-flat Major, S. 552 Johann Sebastian Bach
Opening Hymn 705 As those of old their first fruits brought Forest Green
Pascha nostrum: Hymn 417 This is the feast Festival Canticle
Sequence Hymn 488 Be thou my vision Slane
Offertory anthem: The Holy City Alfred R. Gaul
Sanctus S125 Richard Proulx
Fraction anthem: Christ our Passover Jeffrey Rickard
Communion anthem: If ye love me Thomas Tallis
Communion Hymn 593 Lord make us servants of your peace Dickinson College
Closing Hymn 291 We plow the fields, and scatter Wir pflugen
Organ: Allegro from Sonata No. 3 in F Major Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Music Note: Bach's majestic Prelude in E-flat Major, and its accompanying Fugue (to be played as the postlude on Trinity Sunday this year, June 19), frame a large set of pieces based on hymn tunes of the Lutheran church, collectively known as "Clavierubung III" (Keyboard Practice). As in many other of his composition projects, Bach was the consummate multi-tasker, or multi-use composer. He sought simultaneously to educate students of keyboard technique, composition and improvisation, to provide music of practical utility in playing services, to create works of refined and lasting beauty, and certainly not least to make a theological statement in praise of God. The E-flat Prelude is known familiarly as the "St. Anne" because the subject of its accompanying fugue takes its first several notes from the hymn tune of that name (sung to the hymn "O God our help in ages past"). The prelude and fugue are bookends to about two hours of music, and if we calculated all the music heard in services between today's prelude and the postlude on June 19, we might come out about right. The exuberant writing was intended for students of either the organ or the pedal cembalo, a sort of harpsichord with a pedalboard. The delightful echoes and sectional contrasts brought into relief by the antiphonal placement of pipes at St. John's, would not be as characteristic on a pedal cembalo which, in addition to being a fine instrument in its own right, was a practical way for organists to practice without heating a church or paying someone to pump the bellows in the pre-electricity era. † Alfred Gaul spent his life as a church musician and music educator in Birmingham, England. He composed prolifically in a simple, melodious style influenced by Mendelssohn and Spohr, and his cantatas became very popular with provincial choirs in the Victorian era. His lovely solo The Holy City, written in 1882, is still sung today, although history has relegated most of his other music to the 'unfashionable' file. † Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was Johann Sebastian's fifth child and second (surviving) son. He was educated as a chorister at the St. Thomas Church Choir School in Leipzig, where his father was Cantor, and continued his education in the field of law at the University of Leipzig. However, at age 24 he gave up his law career and devoted himself to music, becoming an important transitional composer between the Baroque and Classical periods. In his light-hearted Sonata No. 3 one can hear the emerging style of Mozart and his generation. The work is scored for organ but without the use of pedals, making it ideal music for a holiday weekend when undue exertion is to be avoided (or, perhaps, for a Sunday after a skiing accident).
May 22, 2011 + The Fifth Sunday of Easter - Youth Sunday
Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult and Youth Choirs
Prelude: Psalm 100 Justin Heinrich Knecht
Opening Hymn: 484 Praise the Lord through every nation Wachet auf
Pascha nostrum: Hymn 417 This is the feast Festival Canticle
Sequence Hymn 405 All things bright and beautiful Royal Oak
Offertory anthem: Freedom Trilogy Paul Halley
Sanctus S125 Richard Proulx
Fraction anthem: Christ our Passover Jeffrey Rickard
Communion anthem: God be in my head H. Walford Davies
Communion Hymn 51 We the Lord's people, heart and voice uniting Decatur Place
Closing Hymn 432 O praise ye the Lord Laudate Dominum
Organ: Festival Voluntary Flor Peeters
Music Note: British-born Paul Halley was from 1977-1990 Organist and Choirmaster of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, where he directed the long-established intergenerational choir program and transformed the Cathedral's music program into a rich combination of classical and contemporary music. He then was founder and artistic director of Connecticut's acclaimed choirs, Chorus Angelicus and Gaudeamus, based in Torrington. He is winner of five Grammy awards for his contributions as a writer and performer on recordings by the Paul Winter Consort, of which he was a member for eighteen years. Since 2007 he has been Director of Music at St. George's Anglican Church and at the University of King's College Chapel, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In his Freedom Trilogy (1997), Halley freely integrates elements from a diversity of styles into a convincing new entity. † Welsh-born Henry Walford Davies grew up as a chorister at St. George's Chapel, Windsor, where he then became assistant organist. After serving at London's Temple Church from 1898-1917, as the first music director of the newly created Royal Air Force, and as a music professor, he returned to St. George's Chapel as organist in 1927. Following the death of Sir Edward Elgar in 1934, he was appointed Master of the King's Musick. His brief and effective setting of the sixteenth century prayer God be in my head was composed around 1930, a distillation of a long career into a profound meditation that sounds youthful. The successive phrases each begin alike in the soprano part, the repetition rising like a gentle litany. The text reminds us of God's presence at all times throughout life's journey. † During the 1960s and 1970s, "The Lord's People in the Lord's House on the Lord's Day for the Lord's Service" was a saying often quoted in the Church of England and used as a teaching device to try to express succinctly the essence of Christian liturgy. Today's communion hymn was the author's first, and based on that idea. The music was written specifically for the text for inclusion in The Hymnal 1982 by Richard Wayne Dirksen, former Organist and Choirmaster and Precentor of Washington National Cathedral. The tune name Decatur Place honors the Washington home of Paul Callaway, the composer's longtime friend and predecessor as Organist and Choirmaster of the Cathedral. (Hymn note by Raymond Glover and Russell Schulz-Widmar.)
May 15, 2011 + The Fourth Sunday of Easter
Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult and Youth Choirs
Prelude: Sheep may safely graze Johann Sebastian Bach
Opening Hymn: 495 Hail, thou once-despised Jesus In Babilone
Pascha nostrum: Hymn 417 This is the feast Festival Canticle
Sequence Hymn 708 Savior, like a shepherd lead us Sicilian Mariners
Offertory anthem: The Lord is my shepherd John Rutter
Sanctus S125 Richard Proulx
Fraction anthem: Christ our Passover Jeffrey Rickard
Communion anthem: Brother James's Air arr. Gordon Jacob
Communion Hymn 343 Shepherd of souls, refresh and bless St. Agnes
Closing Hymn 646 The King of love my shepherd is Dominus regit me
Organ: Hornpipe from Water Music George Frideric Handel
Music Note: The Fourth Sunday of Easter, known as "Good Shepherd Sunday," is often filled with musical versions of Psalm 23, and today is no exception. 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. Initially a literary and then a musical pursuit, metrical psalmody led to 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 (for example, today's communion anthem and final hymn) are by nature paraphrases, adjusting the number of syllables per line into a formula determined by the meter of the music. This is the reverse of the process made possible by chant, such as our corporate singing of Psalm 23 today, which allows a familiar tune to fit the pre-existing syllables of irregular text. (We are singing the King James translation today, in observance of the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible this year.) Isaac Watts observed that when we hear the word of God read, God speaks to us; when we sing a Psalm, we speak to God. Through the Psalms "we are inspired to enter into a dialogue with God, hearing those ancient expressions of joy and sorrow and judgment and praise and making them our own petitions" (Michael Morgan). John Rutter's through-composed setting was incorporated a decade later as a movement of his Requiem, and makes appealing use of the 'pastoral' sound of the oboe, echoed by a flute playing passages suggesting running water. "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 communion 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."
May 8, 2011 + The Third Sunday of Easter
Order for Baptism and Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult and Youth Choirs
Prelude: Choral (from Symphonie Romane) Charles-Marie Widor
Opening Hymn: 492 Sing, ye faithful, sing with gladness Finnian
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: Surgens Jesus Peter Philips
Sanctus S125 Richard Proulx
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 296 We know that Christ is raised and dies no more Engelberg
Organ: Awake, thou wintry earth Johann Sebastian Bach
Music Note: The second movement of Widor's tenth organ symphony is a calm, pastoral piece based (as was the toccata from this symphony heard as the Prelude on Easter Day) 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. † Peter Niedmann is director of music at Church of Christ, Congregational in Newington, Connecticut. He is an active composer and a past member of the faculty of the Hartt School of Music and a past Dean of the Greater Hartford Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. His setting of Henry Lyte's hymn responds to the text's basis of Psalm 150. † Peter Philips was an English composer, organist and Catholic priest, who began his musical career as a boy chorister at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. Because of his religion, at the age of twenty he left England for good, as did many other English Catholics. He settled in Belgium, where after the death of his wife and child he became ordained and gained a court chapel position, through which he was able to meet many of the best musicians of his day. Thanks to his ability to publish music in exile, large portion of his prolific output survives today, consisting of hundreds of motets and madrigals, and instrumental and keyboard works. 'Surgens Jesus' describes the Resurrection in merry music for five part choir. Sections of imitative counterpoint are contrasted by a brief passage of quiet homophony (all parts singing together in the same rhythm) at the words of Jesus. † Today's postlude is a chorale (a German hymn-tune) from the Bach cantata "Praised be the Lord," transcribed for organ in the twentieth century by Homer Whitford. Phrases of the hymn are interspersed with the joyous motive of the accompaniment. The music is based on this text: "Awake, thou wintry earth, Fling off, fling off thy sadness. Ye vernal flowers, laugh forth, laugh forth your ancient gladness. A new and lovely tale Throughout the land is sped, It floats o'er hill and dale To tell that death is dead."
May 1, 2011 + 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: O filii et filiae arr. Franz Liszt; Volckmar Leisring
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. † '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. Although the melody is included in the compendium of chant Liber Usualis, it is one of the few melodies that appears in standard modern notation, instead of chant notation. Most likely it is a composed melody in chant-like style. (Hymn note by Jeffrey Wasson and Louis Weil.) Our hymnal includes one of each type of setting, at Nos. 203 and 206. It was included as a three-part chorus for women by Franz Liszt, late in his monumental, Messiah-length oratorioChristus completed in 1866. Its setting by the early 17th century German composer Volckmar Leisring echoes the upper and lower voices of the choir antiphonally. † 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.' † 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. 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 24, 2011 + 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: Final (from Symphonie Romane) Charles-Marie Widor
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: Ye choirs of new Jerusalem Charles Villiers Stanford
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 199 Come, ye faithful, raise the strain St. Kevin
Organ, brass and tympani: Toccata (from Symphonie V) Charles-Marie Widor
Music Note: The prelude is Widor's 'other' Easter toccata, from his tenth and last organ symphony, based on the day's traditional plainchant hymn Haec Dies ("This is the Day the Lord has made"). Widor describes this hymn as "a graceful arabesque...as difficult to fasten upon as the song of a bird...The rhythmical freedom of Gregorian chant clashes with our stern metronomic time...The only mode of fixing on the auditor's ear so undefined a motive is to repeat it constantly." In the symphony's triumphant conclusion, the energy of the toccata rises and falls several times before arriving at a crowning Resurrection hymn, which recedes into a rich texture suggesting the ringing of bells. † 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 text 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." † 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 17, 2011 + 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: Final (Symphony No. 7) Charles-Marie Widor
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. † In an apt comparison, Albert Reimenschneider compared the last movement of Widor's Seventh Symphony for organ (1885) with Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries for orchestra (1856). In the context of Palm Sunday this music could be considered a depiction of the swift and devastating events following Jesus's triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Various developmental ideas propel the energy of a sturdy main theme, including an unexpected cadenza near the end.
April 10, 2011 + The Fifth Sunday in Lent
Holy Eucharist Rite I at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult Choir
Organ: Psalm-Prelude, "Out of the depths" Herbert Howells
Opening Hymn 149 Eternal Lord of Love, behold your Church Old 124th
Kyrie S89 James McGregor, after Hans Leo Hassler
Sequence Hymn 457 Thou art the Way, to thee alone St. James
Offertory anthem: Out of the deep (from Requiem) John Rutter
Sanctus S117 James McGregor, after Hans Leo Hassler
Agnus Dei S159 Plainsong, Missa Marialis
Communion anthem: Let nothing ever grieve thee Johannes Brahms
Communion Hymn 314 Humbly I adore thee Adore devote
Closing Hymn 669 Commit thou all that grieves thee Herzlich tut mich verlangen
Organ: I call to thee, Lord Jesus Christ, S. 639 Johann Sebastian Bach
Music Note: Today's appointed Psalm is the inspiration for the prelude, Offertory anthem and postlude. One of the penitential Psalms, Psalm 130 is part of the prayers for the faithful departed in Western liturgical tradition, is recited as part of the High Holidays in Jewish tradition, and has inspired countless musical settings. Its Latin title, De profundis, is used as a title to poems by Alfred Tennyson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Charles Baudelaire, Christina Rossetti and C. S. Lewis, among others. In deep sorrow the psalmist cries to God (verse 1), asking for mercy (2-3). The psalmist's trust (4-5) becomes a model for the people (6-7). The experience of God's mercy leads the people to a greater sense of God. Herbert Howells created of it in 1938 a dark, brooding work building to a cry of great anguish, which is relieved and ends peacefully. John Rutter's setting from his 1985 Requiem features a solo cello and traces a similar journey, however ending where it began with a return to the opening text and music. Bach's beautiful trio for organ has been arranged for other instruments and is perhaps the most profound of the three. 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." In a related mood presaging that of his sublime Requiem, Brahms's communion anthem reinforces the message of God as guide, with a double canon, the tenor following the soprano and the bass the alto. This technique is employed at the dissonant interval of a ninth, its effect disguised by beautifully constructed harmony. The work ends with an especially lovely and prolonged Amen, which would not be found wanting on many a "desert island" list of essential favorite passages from choral music.
April 3, 2011 + The Fourth Sunday in Lent
Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult and Youth Choirs
Organ: Prélude funèbre Op. 4 Louis Vierne
Opening Hymn 646 The King of love my shepherd is Dominus regit me
Kyrie S86 David Hurd, New Plainsong
Anthem (Youth Choir): Thou, O Lord, art my hope Peter Stoltzfus Berton
Sequence Hymn 567 Thine arm, O Lord, in days of old St. Matthew
Offertory anthem: The secret of Christ Richard Shephard
Sanctus S124 David Hurd, New Plainsong
Agnus Dei S161 David Hurd, New Plainsong
Communion anthem: Lead, kindly light William H. Harris
Communion Hymn 490 I want to walk as a child of the light Houston
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 Youth Choir anthem was written in 1994 for training the junior class of boy choristers at the Saint Thomas Choir School in New York. Its sections therefore contain several deceptively difficult similarities to encourage reading music from the printed page rather than remembering it by rote; the successful navigation of the music may be one of the early trials described by the psalmist. 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. 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 communion anthem today. The Youth and Communion anthems are being sung this afternoon by over sixty singers as part of the Youth Choir Festival Evensong at Trinity Church, and will be sung next Sunday at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine as well. Brahms's setting of the final 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 27, 2011 + The Third 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
Opening Hymn 455 O Love of God, how strong and true Dunedin
Kyrie S89 James McGregor, after Hans Leo Hassler
Anthem (Youth Choir): Ex ore innocentium John Ireland
Sequence Hymn 665 All my hope on God is founded Michael
Offertory anthem: Sicut cervus Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Sanctus S117 James McGregor, after Hans Leo Hassler
Agnus Dei S159 Plainsong, Missa Marialis
Communion anthem: Hear my prayer, O Lord Henry Purcell
Communion Hymn 692 I heard the voice of Jesus say The Third Tune
Closing Hymn 690 Guide me, O thou great Jehovah Cwm Rhondda
Organ: Fantasie in C minor, S. 582 Johann Sebastian Bach
Music Note: Fleury's 1931 Prélude shows the influence of his teachers Vierne and Dupré in its rich chromaticism and sustained sense of melody. 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). The hymn before the Gospel is named for the composer's son, who died of polio at the age of nine. Of the over 300 motets from the pen of the Italian Renaissance master, Palestrina's 'Sicut cervus' is perhaps the most often performed. Its gentle counterpoint flowing from a very simple theme creates a signature atmosphere of meditative devotion. 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.) Bach's mournful Fantaisie is similarly 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.
March 20, 2011 + The Second Sunday in Lent
Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult Choir
Organ: Choral No. 2 in B minor César Franck
Opening Hymn 401 The God of Abraham Praise Leoni
Kyrie S86 David Hurd, New Plainsong
Sequence Hymn 635 If thou but trust in God to guide thee Wer nur den lieben Gott
Offertory anthem: God so loved the world John Stainer
Sanctus S124 David Hurd, New Plainsong
Agnus Dei S161 David Hurd, New Plainsong
Communion anthem: Lift thine eyes Felix Mendelssohn
Communion Hymn 152 Kind maker of the world, O hear A la venue de Noë
Closing Hymn 448 O love, how deep, how broad, how high Deus tuorum militum
Organ: Andante con moto (Sonata V) Felix Mendelssohn
Music Note: César Franck did much to return dignity to organ-lofts in nineteenth century France, where during typical church services, organists routinely provided battle and storm pieces, or improvised upon popular tunes of the day. As professor at the Paris conservatory he taught primarily works by the then unappreciated J. S. Bach. His influence as a composer and improviser led others, especially his contemporary Charles-Marie Widor and his star pupil Louis Vierne, to adopt a cultured, highly expressive and organized musical language, which formed the basis of France's preeminance in the organ world well into the twentieth century. The Three Chorals are Franck's final compositions, his musical last will and testament. The poignant circumstances of their composition have often been discussed. They were written while he was already in frail health recuperating from a traffic accident suffered three months earlier; he deteriorated rapidly right after he completed them and died less than two months later. Because of his infirmity he was unable to take the scores to an organ; except for one occasion, when he played through the Chorals on the piano in a private session (with a pupil playing the pedal part), he never publicly performed the works or had the opportunity to teach them to his pupils. So, paradoxically, Franck himself never heard the music played on an organ. It is left for us to be the ones to hear it. Largely a piece in variation form (interrupted by a central improvisatory outburst), the second Choral is a profound revelation of the composer's unmistakable soul. His music expresses at once the searching uncertainty of the human condition, where strength and hope grapple with yearning and despair; and spiritual triumph, courage, and trust. (Includes writings of Brian Du Sell and Karl Schrock.) The two excerpts from oratorios sung today have been sung by choirs all over the world and help to sustain the interest in the larger works from which they come. Stainer's Passion meditation The Crucifixion (1887) dates from his years at St. Paul's Cathedral, London and is his main work still performed; Mendelssohn's Elijah (1846) is reckoned to be the second most widely known and sung work in this genre (after Handel's Messiah). 'God so loved the world' and 'Lift thine eyes' share a disarming simplicity combined with the essence of inspiration found in Franck's music, assuring their enduring appeal and effectiveness.
March 13, 2011 + 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
Opening Hymn 150 Forty days and forty nights Aus der Tiefe rufe ich
The Great Litany S67
Anthem (Youth Choir): Day by Day Martin How
Sequence Hymn 147 Now let us all with one accord Bourbon
Offertory anthem: Wash me throughly Samuel Sebastian Wesley
Sanctus S117 James McGregor, after Hans Leo Hassler
Agnus Dei S159 Plainsong, Missa Marialis
Communion anthem: Call to remembrance Richard Farrant
Communion Hymn 313 Let thy blood in mercy poured Jesus, meine Zuversicht
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 beginning of the journey of Lent is aided by several familiar hymns of the season, whose origins are quite diverse. 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?" 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 tune is pentatonic (based on a scale of five notes) and first appeared in a four-part version in the shape-note tunebook Beauties of Harmony (Pittsburgh, 1814), where it was printed with stanzas from Isaac Watts's metrical version of Psalm 143, beginning "Look down in pity, Lord and see." The tune name Bourbon may have come from an association with Bourbon County, Kentucky, the site of the famous Cane Ridge meeting of August 1801. This large camp meeting, using music from shape-note hymnals, drew thousands of Methodists, Baptists and Presbyterians and was a precursor of popular "revival" meetings. 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 notes compiled 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 setting dates from 1977.
March 6, 2011 + The Last Sunday after the Epiphany
Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult and Youth Choirs
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 137 O wondrous type! O vision fair Wareham
Offertory anthem: The Transfiguration Larry King
Sanctus S129 Powell
Agnus Dei S163 Powell
Communion anthem: O lux beatissima Howard Helvey
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 9) as a bookend to the especially long observance of the season this year, owing to the late date of Easter. 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. Larry King was organist and choir director of Trinity Church, Wall Street in New York City from 1968 to 1989. He composed several works incorporating pre-recorded synthesized sounds alongside traditional organ and choral writing, of an iconoclastic yet deeply spiritual nature. Today's offertory anthem is one of these, and there is little that could be said to prepare the listener for the experience, intentionally as mystifying and bizarre and hopefully transcendent as the event it describes in music. The pre-recorded part is coordinated with the live performance using a stopwatch. It includes not only sounds from a synthesizer, but also echoing filtered sounds of the choir of Trinity Church, Wall Street. Howard Helvey is organist-choirmaster of Calvary Episcopal Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, and a prolific composer and concert pianist. O lux beatissima creates the effect of shimmering light with close harmonies and gentle pacing. If today's modern choral music is disquieting, hopefully it is in a positive way, allowing us to think about past miraculous events in new ways. Its effect might be offset somewhat by the C Major organ music, although if it is ultimately disagreeable, one can adopt the attitude some take concerning weather in New England...just wait twenty minutes! During Lent there will be a good deal of traditional music for the season.
Choral Evensong March 6 at 5:00 p.m.
Sung by the St. John's Adult Choir and Trinity Church Adult Choir combined, at Trinity Church, Hartford.
Music by the combined Adult Choirs:
Introit: O nata lux Thomas Tallis
Preces and Responses Paul Halley
Psalms 114 and 115 Anglican Chants by George Thalben-Ball and Michael Camidge
Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis Herbert Murrill in E
Anthem: Evening Hymn H. Balfour Gardiner
February 27, 2011 + The Eighth Sunday after the Epiphany
Holy Eucharist Rite I at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult and Youth Choirs
Organ: Deck thyself, my soul, with gladness, S. 654 Johann Sebastian Bach
Opening Hymn 398 I sing the almighty power of God Forest Green
Gloria S202 Healey Willan
Anthem (Youth Choir): Amani, utupe Patsy Ford Simms
Sequence Hymn 711 Seek ye first the kingdom of God Seek ye first
Offertory anthem: The Lord is my light Stephen Sturk
Sanctus S114 Willan
Agnus Dei S158 Willan
Communion anthem: Jesu, joy of man's desiring Johann Sebastian Bach
Communion Hymn 309 O Food to pilgrims given O Welt, ich muss dich lassen
Closing Hymn 559 Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us Dulce carmen
Organ: Allegro maestoso e vivace (Sonata No. 2) Felix Mendelssohn
Music Note: The text of today's first hymn first appeared for use by Episcopalians in the 1874 edition of The Hymnal. It was dropped from subsequent editions until its restoration in The Hymnal 1982. Written as a song for children, this text by Isaac Watts was printed in his Divine Songs attempted in Easy Language for the use of Children (London, 1715) under the heading "Praise for Creation and Providence." (The title of the collection was changed to Divine and Moral Songs in 1795.) The text was first paired with the much-loved English folk melody by the editors of the Methodist Hymnal (Nashville, 1964). This melody first appeared in The English Hymnal, arranged as in our hymnal by Ralph Vaughan Williams, who transcribed it from the singing of a Mr. Garman of Forest Green near Ockley, Surrey, in December 1903. It is a typical ballad tune and was sung to "The ploughboy's dream." The doubling of the note value at the beginning of the seventh line of the poem is by the arranger and appears to be an attempt to give the tune a little poise at that point. (Hymn note by Carol A. Doran, Alan Luff, Raymond Glover and Thomas Remenschneider.) The Youth anthem is dedicated to the Menya family and their homeland, Kenya, Africa; the Offertory anthem was commissioned in honor of Mildred Buttrey by a San Diego area composer for a conference of the Association of Anglican Musicians in New Haven, CT in 1988). These two anthems are settings, in basic terms, of the same text. The Bach Communion anthem, a perennial favorite, is from a cantata (No. 147) written originally in Weimar in 1716 for the fourth Sunday of Advent. Later in Bach's career he found it impossible to perform in Leipzig, because that city observed "tempus clausum"...literally "closed time," a time of silence, for the last three Sundays of Advent. Thus he expanded and revised it for the feast of the Visitation, where it was first performed in Leipzig in July, 1723. On many occasions Bach recycled and revised his own music, sometimes as a result of genuine inspiration, sometimes to create meaningful connections between pieces, and sometimes simply to find a practical solution to avoid inutility of a movement as beautiful as 'Jesu, joy of man's desiring.'
February 20, 2011 + The Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany
Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult Choir
Organ: Duo, Basse de cromorne, Récit de nazard Louis-Nicolas Clérambault
Opening Hymn 518 Christ is made the sure foundation Westminster Abbey
Gloria S280 Robert Powell
Sequence Hymn 674 Forgive our sins as we forgive Detroit
Offertory anthem: Grieve not the holy spirit of God T. Tertius Noble
Sanctus S129 Powell
Agnus Dei S163 Powell
Communion anthem: We have seen his star Everett Titcomb
Communion Hymn 337 And now, O Father, mindful of the love Unde et memores
Closing Hymn 379 God is Love, let heaven adore him Abbot's Leigh
Organ: Caprice sur les grands jeux - Clérambault
Music Note: A prolific composer and esteemed teacher of the French Baroque period, Louis-Nicolas Clérambault was organist of the church of St. Sulpice in Paris, where later Charles-Marie Widor and Marcel Dupré were to have similar impacts on the field. His sprightly, ornamented organ works bear titles indicating the stops used to produce the sounds he intended, hence: basse de cromorne (the bass register of a pungent clarinet),récit de nazard (recitative for the nazard stop, which sounds two and a half octaves higher than written), and grands jeux (full organ). This music can be created with great authenticity with the French colors of the instrument here at St. John's. T. Tertius Noble became a "British import" to the American church music scene when, after serving at Ely Cathedral and York Minster, he moved to New York in 1913 to establish a choir program along Cathedral lines at then-newly-rebuilt Saint Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue. In 1919 Dr. Noble founded the Saint Thomas Choir School to educate the parish's boy choristers, an institution that continues to thrive today as the only remaining such school in America(enrolling solely church-affiliated choristers), and one of only four remaining in the world. The much-beloved anthem 'Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God' was published in 1915, and is dedicated to Noble's friend and colleague Arthur S. Hyde, who in 1908 succeeded Leopold Stokowski as organist and choirmaster of nearby St. Bartholomew's Church, Park Avenue. Hyde had been a pupil of Charles-Marie Widor; in the music of the anthem one can hear the influence of Edward Elgar (in the harmonies and the long phrases), and perhaps also Widor (in the organ interludes when a solo tone blending into the bass register recalls textures from the French master's organ symphonies). 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.
February 13, 2011 + The Sixth 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: 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
Anthem (Youth Choir): The Birds Benjamin Britten
Sequence Hymn 593 Lord, make us servants of your peace Dickinson College
Offertory anthem: Now there lightens upon us Leo Sowerby
Sanctus S114 Willan
Agnus Dei S158 Willan
Communion anthem: Deep River Gerre Hancock
Communion Hymn 304 I come with joy to meet my Lord Land of Rest
Closing Hymn 344 Lord, dismiss us with thy blessing Sicilian Mariners
Organ: These are the holy ten commandments, S. 635 Johann Sebastian Bach
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. Leo Sowerby is considered among the twentieth century's finest American composers of choral music for the church. Raised in Chicago and first American recipient of the coveted Prix de Rome for composition, Sowerby devoted the last six years of his life to founding and directing a College of Church Musicians at the National Cathedral, Washington, DC. The offertory anthem conveys both the joy and the mystery of Epiphany, and makes a passing musical reference to the Eastern origins of the star before its serene conclusion. Bach the numerologist-symbolist is much in evidence in the postlude, where an accompanimental motive of repeated notes (taken from the first notes of the Lutheran hymn tune on which the piece is based), occurs exactly ten times in its original melodic structure. As observed by musicologist Russell Stinson, this sturdy motive is followed in imitation many times over to symbolize obedience to divine law (that is, man 'following' God).
February 6, 2011 + The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany
Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult and Youth Choirs
Organ: Prelude on "Slane" Gerre Hancock
Opening Hymn 488 Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart Slane
Gloria S280 Robert Powell
Sequence Hymn 707 Take my life, and let it be Hollingside
Offertory anthem: I hear a voice a-prayin' Houston Bright
Sanctus S129 Powell
Agnus Dei S163 Powell
Communion anthem: Lord, you have searched me out Peter Stoltzfus Berton
Closing Hymn 555 Lead on, O King eternal Lancashire
Organ: Tuba Tune in D Major Craig Sellar Lang
Music Note: 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. A West Texan 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 prelude on today's first 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. The prayer of the hymn, "Be thou my vision," is from the Irish monastic tradition and may be as ancient as the year 700. It is one of two examples in our hymnal of the Celtic lorica or breastplate, almost a sort of incantation to be recited for protection, arming oneself for physical or spiritual battle. (The other lorica is "St. Patrick's Breastplate," No. 370.) (Hymn note by May Daw.) It is in this context that today's concluding hymn is selected, with "deeds of love and mercy" joining those of a long-standing military allegory. Given just two examples from West Texas, what may some day be contributed to the Christian tradition by youth of West Hartford? In the communion 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?
February 6 at 5:00 p.m.: Choral Evensong
Sung by the Youth and Adult Choirs:
Introit: O nata lux Thomas Tallis
Preces and Responses Plainsong
Psalms 87 and 48 Anglican Chants by Jonathan Battishill and Edward Elgar
Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis David Hogan (Washington Service)
Anthem: When to the temple Mary went Johannes Eccard
Organ: Lord God, now open wide thy heaven, S. 617 Johann Sebastian Bach
Organ: Fugue on 'How brightly shines the morning star' Max Reger
January 30, 2011 + The Fourth 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 477 All praise to thee, for thou, O King divine Engelberg
Gloria S280 Robert Powell
Sequence Hymn 542 Christ is the world's true light St. Joan
Offertory anthem: O nata lux Thomas Tallis
Sanctus S129 Powell
Agnus Dei S163 Powell
Communion anthem: The Beatitudes Russian Orthodox, arr. Richard Proulx
Communion Hymn 324 Let all mortal flesh keep silence Picardy
Closing Hymn 497 How bright appears the morning star Wie schön leuchtet
Organ: Fugue on "Wie schön leuchtet" Max Reger
Music Note: The Epiphany hymn "How bright appears the morning star," heard on January 2 as an accompanimental background to a solo about the Three Kings, has been found in countless other choral and organ compositions. The prelude today is essentially a treatment of two stanzas of the hymn, though 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, who at age 20 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. Generations later, the German Romantic Max Reger set the hymn as a densely written twenty-minute chorale-fantasy describing some five stanzas of the hymn, with the text included in the score. The brilliant concluding fugue combines an exuberant original subject with the hymn tune which appears in long note values. If it has been said of Mozart's music that there are "too many notes," it is all the more justly said of Reger's music that there are so many notes, it would be most economical to print merely the spaces between them, using white ink on black paper! In both settings, the final text clearly being kept in mind by the composers is "Sing! Leap! Be jubilant, Rejoice! Thank the Lord; Great is the King of Glory."
January 23, 2011 + The Third Sunday after the Epiphany
Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult and Youth Choirs
Organ: Benedictus Max Reger
Opening Hymn 525 The Church's one foundation Aurelia
Gloria S280 Robert Powell
Sequence Hymn 126 The people who in darkness walked Dundee
Offertory anthem: Christ, whose glory fills the skies T. Frederick H. Candlyn
Sanctus S129 Powell
Agnus Dei S163 Powell
Communion anthem: They cast their nets in Galilee Michael McCabe
Communion Hymn 321 My God, thy table now is spread Rockingham
Closing Hymn 539 O Zion, haste, thy mission high fulfilling Tidings
Organ: A Joyous March Leo Sowerby
Music Note: The serene opening and closing music of the German Romantic composer Max Reger's Benedictus suggests the title text "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord," while the exuberant contrapuntal middle section proclaims "Hosanna in the highest!" Sir John Dankworth, known in his early career as Johnny Dankworth, was an English jazz musician and the husband of jazz singer Cleo Laine. 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. 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. Sowerby's postlude bears the infectious flavor of the American popular musical scene following World War I, during which the composer served as an army bandmaster.
January 16, 2011 + The Second Sunday after the Epiphany
Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult Choir
Organ: Adagio (Sonata I) Felix Mendelssohn
Opening Hymn 7 Christ, whose glory fills the skies Ratisbon
Gloria S280 Robert Powell
Sequence Hymn 607 O God of every nation Llangloffan
Offertory anthem: I waited for the Lord Mendelssohn
Sanctus S129 Powell
Agnus Dei S163 Powell
Communion anthem: Eternal light Leo Sowerby
Communion Hymn 336 Come with us, O blessed Jesus Werde munter
Closing Hymn 535 Ye servants of God, your master proclaim Paderborn
Organ: Allegro maestoso (Sonata II) Mendelssohn
Music Note: 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 recognized as a Common Saint in the Episcopal Church's calendar; his feast day is April 20. 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 also so recognized, with feast days on both his birth on January 15 and death on April 4. The hymn before the Gospel today is sung in celebration of tomorrow's holiday. The closing hymn combines a popular eighteenth century tune (a folk song which found its way into usage at the Catholic Cathedral in Paderborn, Germany) with a text first published in John and Charles Wesley's Hymns for Times of Trouble and Persecution (London, 1744). The first among "Hymns to be sung in a tumult," the imagery is from the Book of Revelations; the original contained additional stanzas filled with maritime references, such as "The waves of the sea Have lift up their voice, Sore troubled that we In Jesus rejoice; ... Their fury shall never Our steadfastness shock, The weakest believer Is built on a Rock." Anglican and even Methodist hymnals have been willing to drop such imagery for the sake of a more general use of the hymn. The Hymnal 1982 contains the first appearance of this text and tune in an Episcopal hymnal. (From a note by Geoffrey Wainwright and Alec Wyton.) With another revision of the hymnal of the Episcopal Church under consideration, in is interesting to wonder what contemporary references will pass the muster of editors shaping the imagery of our future common worship.
January 9, 2011 + 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
Agnus Dei S158 Willan
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: The season of Epiphany is especially long this year given the late date of Easter. It runs from January 6 until Shrove Tuesday, March 8. 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 March 6, 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.)
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