March 4, 2012 - Lent 2/St. David's Day

Prelude on Cwm Rhondda - James Jacka Coyle

Because It Must - Owain Glandon

I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes - Howard Boatwright

Chorale Prelude on Aberystwyth

 

Hymns: #594 Cwm Rhondda, #675 Bourbon, #699 Aberystwyth

 

This week we are celebrating St. David's Day. Because of this, our music is Welsh themed. The prelude is based on the Welsh hymn tune, Cwm Rhondda. The tune is named for the Rhondda River, a coal mining area in Wales. The Psalter Hymnal Handbook comments that "this tune draws into question the belief that most Welsh hymn tunes are minor." This tune is sometimes known as the "Welsh Rugby Hymn" and has been used at many state events and funerals. This setting by James Jacka Coyle is in 10/8 and features the melody in the left hand played on a reed stop while the right hand plays eighth notes (grouped 3+3+4). The uneven rhythm somehow works despite the normally foursquare hymn tune. The meter fluctuates with measures in 4/4, 11/8, and one measure of 14/8 (which I'm not sure I've seen before.) It is a light piece and a good way to start out the service.

 

The gradual anthem, Because It Must,  is a setting of 1 Corinthians 15:52-57 and is subtitled A Remembrance Anthem. One day I received a letter from a woman in Phoenix, NY that had seen a write up in the paper about a program that I was giving or had given and she had this piece of music. The piece was written by her (great?)grandfather and she wanted an organist to record it. She had the piece translated from the original Welsh but didn't think that it had ever been performed in the US. I recorded the piece on the organ at SU and premiered the work with a choir I was working with at the time. The piece works reasonably well as an organ solo. The anthem is quite traditional and very sectional. It opens with a dark homophonic section followed a short imitative passage and then returning to homophonic texture. The tempo quickens for the text "Death has no victory" and then slows drastically for "O death where is thy sting?" The final statement of praise and thanksgiving bring the piece to an exciting close. One of the challenges with this piece is that the English translation pays little attention to word stress resulting in unaccented syllables being placed on accented beats and vice versa. Enjoy this little known gem of the Welsh choral tradition.

 

For the communion anthem rather than turning to another Welsh piece I chose a piece that has St. David's church connections. I picked Howard Boatwright's setting of Psalm 121 I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes Unto the Hills. I had programmed this piece in the fall but changed it so that we could devote a bit more time to the sensitivity required by the piece. As with much of Boatwright's choral music, this is likely a product of his time in New Haven. The piece is for SSATB choir a cappella. The piece opens with imitative entrances on the text "I will lift up mine eyes" before coming together on "unto the hills." Another imitative phrase leads us into the B section. This section features the men in unison on the melody with the ladies floating above in three part harmony. For me this is reminiscent of Mendelssohn's setting of this text in Elijah for a ladies trio. It is possible that Boatwright had this in the back of his mind but who can say. The imitation comes back and the piece closes with a quiet but initially unsettling Amen. The piece is very specific in it's musical direction and the demands on the singers. It is a beautiful piece that I have grown to love.

 

 The postlude is a setting of Aberystwyth by T. Tertius Noble. This hymn tune was written by Joseph Parry, and is perhaps his best known hymn tune. Parry began working in steel mills at age 9. His family immigrated to the US in 1854. Here Parry's musical talents flourished. Several interested community members paid for him to study music. He went on to compose cantatas, oratorios, instrumental music and more that 400 hymn tunes. Aberystwyth is named for the seaside school that Parry taught at when he wrote the tune in 1876. T. Tertius Noble is a name that most of us have seen but may not be able to place. Noble is primarily remembered as an organist, choirmaster and composer of Anglican music. He is perhaps best known today for having edited the G. Schirmer edition of Handel's Messiah. Noble studied at the Royal College of Music and served as assistant organist at Trinity College, Cambridge. He later held positions at Ely Cathedral and York Minster. In 1913 he moved to New York City as organist at St. Thomas where he established a boy's choir and choir school. Noble composed orchestral and chamber music but is best remembered for his Anglican church music and anthems including Evensong services in b minor and a minor. This setting of Aberystwyth shows off Noble's pedal technique with fast moving scale passages in the pedal. The piece is back and forth between sections played on the full organ and the hymn tune being played on a solo reed stop accompanied by swirling toccata like figures in the manuals. The piece is strong and imposing throughout growing to a finish played on full organ.