Mvmt. 1 of The Pastoral Symphony - Handel
Lift Up Your Heads - Handel
He Shall Feed His Flock (Solo) - Handel
-Sop. Anne Shelley
Marcha Alla Handel - Alexandre Guilmant
Hymns: #544 Duke Street, #382 General Seminary, #73 St. Stephen
This week is Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday before Advent begins and so our music reflects this idea of Christ as the Shepherd King and we also hear the pomp and circumstance of the coming of the king. The music is all taken from or influenced by Handel's Messiah. This piece is one of the best known and loved pieces of the Classical canon. Whether you love Messiah or are sick of it, it is hard to argue that it is a well crafted piece of music that at its core is a comprehensive setting of various Biblical texts that make it useful throughout the Liturgical Year.
The prelude is movement 13, The Pastoral Symphony which Handel called Pifa probably referring to the Italian piffaro a double reed instrument of shepherds. I thought it appropriate to open the service with this short simple piece that evokes an image of shepherds on the hillside. This piece occurs in the oratorio at the transition into the Christmas story but with the idea of Christ as the Shepherd King in our minds, I think that it is a good introduction to the service and the transition to the last Sunday of the Liturgical Year.
The Communion Anthem continues the idea of Shepherd King with He Shall Feed His Flock. This text is taken from the Old Testament book of Isaiah and the Gospel of Matthew. This piece is often sung as a duet with the Old Testament text sung by an alto soloist and then the Gospel by the soprano. The first half is instructional. "He shall feed his flock" the second half is an invitation, "Come unto Him, take His yoke upon you and He will give you rest." We can hear the similarities in the music between the prelude and the communion anthem. Both are in compound meter and have a calm lilting feeling - almost like a rocking sensation to them.
The gradual anthem is Lift Up Your Heads, also from Messiah. The text for this piece is taken from the Psalms. The gates of the city are instructed to Lift up their heads to make way for the King of Glory, the Lord of Hosts. In the opening section of the chorus you can hear a dialogue between the high and low voices the first group (Sop. I/II and Alto I) instructs the gates to Lift up their heads to which the second group (Alto II, Tenor and Bass) responds "Who is this King of Glory" the two dialogue until the seem to come to the agreement that "He is the King of Glory, the Lord of Hosts." A small piece of trivia that I learned while researching this piece: This is the source for the hymn tune ANTIOCH which we usually sing as "Joy to the World" see if you can hear it passed around the choir in the opening phrase.
The postlude is the only piece that I chose this week not from Messiah. It is by the French organist and composer Alexandre Guilmant. The piece is called March alla Handel and it is quite clear from the outset what the piece is based on. You guessed it, the piece is based on Lift Up Your Heads. Guilmant's composition starts out as a simple march but does not stay that way. It then becomes a fugue that begins to grow as it becomes increasingly complex. The finale is a big restatement of the march played on full organ with octaves in the pedal and is certainly fit to send us on our way on this Christ the King Sunday.
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