Proper 23 - October 9th, 2011

Zion's Walls - Aaron Copland
My Shepherd Will Supply My Need - Virgil Thompson
O For A Closer Walk With God - Leon Verrees (Postlude)

A little into programming this week. The prelude, postlude, both Choir anthems and service music are all American folk tunes or pieces composed by American composers.

Zion's Walls is a traditional Shaker tune that was arranged by Aaron Copeland (perhaps the quintessential American composer.) Copeland wrote two sets of these folk songs for solo voice and piano. They were reworked for soloist and orchestra and then arranged for choir and piano or orchestra and have become standards of the choral and solo repertoire. The piece is essentially a call to worship. An invitation to the people of God to "join us in singing the praises of Zion."

My Shepherd Will Supply My Need and the prelude Beside Still Waters are both settings of the 23rd Psalm. Each illustrate the text in a way that shows the comforting aspects of the text. The Thomson setting mentions our "Walk through the shades of death" but focuses on the comfort that the Shepherd brings. Both of these compositions feature American folk tunes as the basis for the arrangements.

The postlude this week (I apologize in advance it is on the long side) is an improvisation of the hymn O For a Closer Walk With God by Leon Verrees. Verrees was the professor of organ and cello at SU in the 1930s and 1940s before Arthur Poister came to Syracuse. I had the privilege of studying with one of Verrees's students. She was my first organ teacher and introduced me to this piece. It is one of my favorites to play. The text of the hymn is scattered throughout the score:
"O for a closer walk with God a calm and heavenly frame; a light to shine upon the road that leaves me to the Lamb."

It wasn't until I stopped to think about the long weekend that I realized that all of this American music has been programmed on and around Columbus Day weekend. Quite a happy coincidence.