Offertory Anthem   Zion’s Walls    Aaron Copland (1900-1990)

Come fathers and mothers, come sisters and brothers, come join us in singing the praises of Zion.
O fathers, don’t you feel determined to meet within the walls of Zion?
We’ll shout and go round the walls of Zion.

In the 1930s and ‘40s, Brooklyn-born and Paris-trained Aaron Copland produced orchestral ballets such as Billy the Kid, Rodeo, and especially Appalachian Spring, which illustrated his firm belief that American composers should write on American themes. To aid him in fashioning a uniquely “American” sound, the definition of which is still argued by musicologists today, Copland extensively researched nineteenth-century musical Americana such as minstrel-show songs, traditional ballads, children’s songs, political campaign tunes, and Revivalist hymns such as Zion’s Walls. Copland sets Zion’s Walls—a gathering-song which first appeared in the 1855 tune-book Sacred Harp—as alternately raucous or contemplative, but always heartfelt.

Sanctus S128    William Mathias

Fraction Anthem S166  Agnus Dei     Gerald Near (b. 1942)

Communion Anthem    Lay up for yourselves    Ned Rorem (b. 1923)
Words: Matthew 6: 20-21

Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt,
And where thieves do not break through and steal.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Hymn in Procession 601    O day of God, draw nigh    St. Michael

Voluntary    Fugue in E-flat Major, BWV 552 (“St. Anne”)    Johann Sebastian Bach

The Fugue in E-flat is loaded with 3s – three sections with distinct themes, representing the strength of God the Father, the youth of God the Son, and the joyful dancing of God the Holy Spirit. There are three distinct meters, yet they all “work together,” suggesting unity of the three parts. It gets much more complicated than that, and I’ll be happy to show you some very daunting formulas that show how Bach literally embedded theological meaning into the notes. It is a coincidence (or is it?) that the Father section echoes the hymn-tune for O God, our help in ages past.