Friday, November 30, 2012

December 2, 2012 - Advent 1

Canonic Variations on "Divinum Mysterium"
                                                                     - John McCreary
Wake, Awake, For Night is Flying - Dale Wood
A Spotless Rose - Herbert Howells

Hymns: #59 Merton, #721 Ton-y-Botel, #66 Stuttgart

For the season of Advent we are examining the similarities between the ancient and the modern. Much of the music over the next month has been written within the last hundred years (with the exception of two Baroque gems). This music is contrasted with the ancient tunes and texts that many of the pieces draw their thematic material from. All three of the pieces for this week were written in the last century but have texts and tunes that predate these arrangements by hundreds of years.

The prelude and postlude are taken from Canonic Variations on “Divinum Mysterium” by John McCreary. John McCreary was a student of Marilyn Mason, this piece is part of the “Marilyn Mason Music Library,” a collection of works commissioned by Mason who is a tireless advocate of contemporary music. McCreary is Organist Emeritus of St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Honolulu, Hawaii. McCreary is known for his great sense of humor, another of his compositions is a piece for organ, orchestra, and chorus called Variations on Rubber Ducky. This set of variations is an arrangement of the tune Divinum Mysterium which was first published in the 1582 collection of Latin Songs Piae Cantiones. This piece is usually paired with the text, Of the Father’s Love Begotten, attributed to the 5th century poet Marcus Aurelius Clemens Purdentius. This prelude consists of the second and fourth variations. The second is a canon at the sixth between the right hand (played on an 8’ reed) and the pedal (played on an 8’ flue). This is accompanied by swirling triplets on the celeste stops (sets of pipes tuned slightly sharp so as to cause a shimmering effect when combined with other stops tuned at pitch.) The fourth variation again uses the celestes for accompaniment but places the melody on a solo 4’ flute in the pedal. The canon is less clear in this variation, it only hints at slight imitation rather than a true canon. The postlude is a romping toccata with the canon between the top voice in the right hand and the pedal played on full organ.

The gradual anthem is a setting of Philipp Nicolai’s (1556-1608) text Wake, Awake, For Night is Flying. This anthem was written by Dale Wood (1934-2003). Wood was one of the most influential organists and composers of the last century. His hymn tunes appear in dozens of hymnals and his music has been performed in over 60 countries. This anthem for trumpets, organ and choir (today the trumpet part will be played on the organ). The text is taken from the opening lines of each of the three verses of this apocalyptic chorale tune. The piece opens with the trumpets and choir alternating with forceful fanfare. The second verse diminishes to a seven part a cappella choral section on the gentler text imploring the Son of God to come. For the last verse, the trumpets return and are joined by strong unison singing in the choir.

The communion anthem is Herbert Howell’s A Spotless Rose. Herbert Howells is primarily remembered for his large output of Anglican Church Music. His life was marked by many challenges and tragedies including a diagnosis of Graves disease while studying at the Royal College of Music and the death of his nine-year-old son Michael from polio. This latter event colored most of Howell’s writing including his Hymnus Paradisi for the 1949 Three Choirs Festival, and his motet Take Him, Earth, for Cherishing, commissioned for the memorial service of John F. Kennedy.  This setting of the traditional German text Es ist ein ros is more commonly translated as Lo How a Rose. This setting by Howells for choir with baritone soloist is a mood piece. Like so much of Howell’s music it creates an effect with lines that easily fit in a number of chords making the piece harmonically ambiguous. The anthem has a lovely calming effect and is ideal for making us stop, listen, and breathe.

Monday, November 19, 2012

November 25, 2012 - Christ the King

Last Words of David - Randall Thompson
E'en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come - Paul Manz
God of Grace  - Paul Manz
Prelude on "Land of Rest" - Leo Sowerby

Hymns: #397 Nun Danket, #382 General Seminary,
              #598 Mit Freuden Zart

November has been a celebration of American music at St. David’s. This’s weeks selections come from three of the most influential composers of church music in the last century. Paul Manz and Leo Sowerby made their careers as church composers and musicians, although Sowerby also wrote a number of secular compositions and symphonic works it is for his advances in church music that he is best remembered today. Randall Thompson is among the most important choral composers of all time. Like Sowerby, he wrote for a variety of ensembles but his chief successes were in the world of academia and composition rather than as a church musician.

Leo Sowerby (1895-1968) is closely associated with the city of Chicago where he spent the majority of his career. He was born in Grand Rapids, MI and began his piano studies at age seven but taught himself theory and organ. He served in the US Army as a clarinetist and bandmaster and in 1921 he was awarded the Prix de Rome and studied in Italy for three years. Upon his return to the US he was appointed choir director and organist of St. James Episcopal Cathedral where he served from 1927-1961. In 1932 he joined the composition faculty of the American Conservatory where he taught until 1962. He also helped to found and served as director of the College of Church Musicians in Washington D.C. until his death in 1968. Throughout the fall we have been using the tune “Land of Rest” as the Sanctus. This Prelude on “Land of Rest” is dedicated to Richard Wayne Dirksen (1921-2003), the then Assistant Organist at Washington National Cathedral. He was promoted to organist and choirmaster of the cathedral in 1977 and served in that capacity until 1988. This composition on Land of Rest passes the tune, often in canon between right or left hand and pedal throughout the many different stops of the organ. The registrations and solos called for in the piece would certainly show off the versatility of the large Skinner organ at Washington National Cathedral.

The gradual anthem is the chestnut of the choral literature (or warhorse depending on your feelings about the piece) The Last Words of David. Randall Thompson (1899-1984) was commissioned to write this by the Boston Symphony Orchestra for the 25th anniversary of Koussevitzky’s directorship. This is the second major commission associated with Koussevitzky, the first being the Alleluia written for the opening of the Berkshire Music Center at Tangle wood in 1940. One of the most admirable characteristics of Thompson’s writing is his connection to the texts that he chooses. The text for this anthem comes from 2 Samuel 23:3-4 and, as far as I know this is the only musical setting of this text. It seems odd that Thompson chose this text to honor a conductor – someone that “ruleth over men (musicians).” This is also a timely piece to come at the end of a long election year. It is a reminder of some of the Biblical tenants of leadership. Thompson’s use of text painting after the opening is a beautiful depiction of the images of nature that David paints. The piece ends with a peaceful “Alleluia, amen” which seems like an intentional reference to his own Alleluia written for Koussevitzky nine years earlier.

The postlude and communion anthem were written by Paul Manz (1919-2009). E’en So, Lord Jesus Quickly Come occupies a prominent place in choral literature. It was one of only a handful of anthems to be included regularly in the King’s College Lessons and Carols service. The piece was written in 1953 while Manz and his wife Ruth were at the bedside of their gravely ill three-year-old son, John. Ruth adapted the words from Revelations 22 and gave it to her husband to work on and he wrote this Advent anthem which was published after their son had recovered. The anthem reads like a psalm of praise until you get to the last few lines “E’en so, Lord Jesus, quickly come, and night shall be no more; they need no light nor lamp nor sun, for Christ will be their all.” It is easy to see why the Manz family would look to this text at a time of great personal difficulty. The text is filled with hope. Not in a bombastic triumphant way, but in a dark and quiet way; a way that conveys that we don’t know what the future holds or why things are the way they are but that they are alright.

Paul Manz is best known for his contributions to the world of liturgical organ music. Manz received a Fulbright Grant to study in Europe with the great organists and composers Flor Peeters and Helmut Walcha. Manz short “choral improvisations” bear a great deal of similarity to those of his teachers but have a uniquely American flare to them. Manz went on to become a tireless advocate of quality church music and creative hymn playing. He taught and served churches and universities in the Lutheran tradition for the majority of his career and was the recipient of several awards and honorary degrees. His setting of Cwm Rhonda features a bold and energetic pedal line as well as quotes from Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus at the opening. This original material alternates with the chorale tune being played in the tenor register on a big solo trumpet. It is a fun piece to play and hear and works well as a hymn introduction as well.

Friday, November 16, 2012

November 18, 2012 - Proper 28

"The Sacred Harp":Jerusalem - William Walker
Merrick - John Newton, arr. Genensky/Hellauer
Where We'll Never Grow Old - James C. Moore
I've Got That Old Time Religion in My Heart
                                                     - Hurdist Milsap

Hymns: Dix, #380 Old Hundredth, Marching to Zion

This month we have been celebrating American music. This Sunday’s music is taken from the shape note tradition. The prelude and postlude come from the later seven note (Aiken) tradition while the two choral anthems are taken from the older four note or, fasola tradition.

Fasola or “Sacred Harp” singing takes its name from the 1844 publication The Sacred Harp by Benjamin White. The title of this book is a bit misleading but many early hymnals were referred to as “harp” and the sacred harp of the title is the human voice. This style of singing is not a concerted performance to be observed but a participatory tradition. Singers get together for “singings” which typically last all-day (with dinner on the ground.) The singers form a hollow square with one voice part on each side with space in the center for the leader. Anyone is welcome to lead a song at these events. The leader calls out the number and which verses are to be sung and he or she beats time while facing the tenors – the melody is typically found in the tenor part in this tradition.

One of the unique and to some confusing things about this tradition is the actual print music, the shapes. Fasola singing is so named because it makes use of only four syllables, fa-sol-la-fa-sol-la-mi makes up a scale. This methodology was used to teach sight reading. In a scale there is always a half step before the syllable “fa.” Each syllable has its own shape: fa is a right triangle, sol is a round note, la is a rectangle, and mi a diamond. This simplified way of teaching sight-singing was looked down on by the musical elite and so this music became relegated to rural communities. As time went on the music grew in popularity and is still sung today in much the same way that it was first presented 200 years ago. Here in New York there are active singing communities in Rochester, Ithaca, New York City, and Utica. There are large singings held annually and new members are always welcome.

Jerusalem was written by (or possibly collected by) William Walker (1809-1875). Walker is credited with the composition of many tunes from his 1835 publication Southern Harmony but it is possible that many of them were actually collected during his travels throughout the South. He and his brother-in-law, Benjamin White (publisher of The Sacred Harp) traveled throughout the Appalachians and the South collecting folk tunes and ballads to preserve what up to that point was a primarily oral tradition. Merrick is a setting of John Newton’s (1725-1807) text, Savior Visit Thy Plantation. This arrangement was written by Marsha Genesky and Susan Hellauer of the group Anonymous 4. It features the ladies of the choir in beautiful four part harmony.

The piano music gave me a chance to draw on my personal history. For this I have taken two classics from the seven note (Aiken) tradition. In this tradition each syllable of the scale has its own shape. Those of the fasola tradition are the same with the addition of “do”, an equilateral triangle, “re” a semi-circle and “ti” an ice cream cone shaped note.  This style of music can into popularity in the South at the turn of the Twentieth century. Publishing companies like Stamps-Baxter and James D. Vaughan would release books two to six times a year and congregations would meet to sing through the latest music. The companies would send out quartets to promote their new books and they would sponsor “Singing schools” where students would go to learn the rudiments of music and have the opportunity to study voice and piano. As a teenager I was lucky enough to attend one of these schools in Nashville, TN. This school is still held every summer on the campus of Belmont University. We received instruction in theory, sight-singing, conducting, private piano, and arranging. And we sang - every day for four to six hours. The singing would sometimes last long into the night. This is also the first experience that I had with polyphonic music and counterpoint. It seems strange but the music of G.T. Speer and Luther Presley led me to Mendelssohn, Bach and Handel.

The prelude is James C. Moore’s Never Grow Old, a song that I have known for many years. This is probably his best known composition despite the fact that he has over 500 songs to his credit. The music paints a lovely picture of heave – as do many of these songs, as a land where we will never grow old. The piece has been recorded by hundreds of performers in the gospel field as well as artists like Johnny Cash, Jim Reeves, and Patty Griffin.

The arrangement of I’ve Got That Old Time Religion In My Heart by Hurdist Milsap is a combination of an introduction that I learned from Rosa Nell Speer, an arrangement by Sidney Ryan Hicks and an ending by Stan Whitmire with a healthy dose of my own ideas throw in. This joyful piece is a perennial favorite at singings and with quartets and continues to be sung in churches throughout the South to this day.

 

Friday, November 9, 2012

November 11, 2012 - Proper 27

An American Sonata - Charles Callahan
How Can I Keep From Singing? - Bradley Ellingboe
Give Me Jesus - Larry L. Fleming

Hymns: #686 Nettleton, #705 Forest Green, Slane


The music through the month of November is taken from different traditions in American music. This week the prelude and postlude are taken from Charles Callahan’s American Sonata, a setting of several traditional American hymn tunes. Staying in this vein, the gradual anthem is a setting Robert Lowry’s How Can I Keep From Singing? The communion anthem is a setting of the Spiritual Give Me Jesus.

The prelude and postlude are taken from An American Sonata by Charles Callahan, one of the leading composers of organ music in the country. He is a graduate of the Curtis Institute and the American Catholic University. He is a noted expert on church music and organ buildings with two books on the latter to his record which have become standards in the field. The prelude, Canticle: Meditative, is a quiet setting of the hymn He Leadeth Me. The flute takes the melody while the organ plays sustained colorful chord underneath. The piece just kind of sits and creates a nebulas image of calm peacefulness.

The Finale: Joyful is just a fun romp. It combines the spiritual Now Let Us Sing (Robeson) with the more traditional Charlestown (All Who Love and Serve Your City). This allows the chance and the challenge to combine two disparate styles of music into a cohesive piece. For this movement I am trying to make the organ sound like a Hammond B3 and then a Victorian Era American Organ. The end of the movement combines the two sounds and ends with full on theatre organ style tremolo.

The gradual anthem is a setting of How Can I Keep From Singing? written by the Baptist minister and hymn writer Robert Lowry.  This arrangement is from the pen of Bradley Ellingboe, a singer/conductor/teacher/composer. He is known for his choral arrangements and has had a successful career in academia serving at the University of New Mexico since 1985. He has received several honors and commissions from many noted choral organizations. This arrangement creates a dialogue between the flute, organ and choir. The repeated refrain builds in confidence each time leading to the climax that then dissipates and ends with the flute and voices “singing”. This text serves as a reminder that throughout everything singing is something that provides comfort. It begs the question “What can keep me from singing?” because Love is lord of heaven and earth. This is a gentle reminder that in all things we can find joy and we can find song.

The communion anthem is a plaintive arrangement of the spiritual Give Me Jesus. The arrangement by Larry L. Fleming (1936-2003) is filled with quiet subtle detail. The dynamics within a phrase sometimes range from pianissimo to fortissimo in the span of two measures. The thick, rich writing creates a grounded supported sound that helps anchor the soring soprano line of the last verse. It also creates a smooth texture that feels very comforting. The message of the piece is simple as are the harmonies. To me this is what makes this piece so beautiful. It feels like the kind of thing that would be sung by someone alone and afraid, looking for solace and choosing to sing their prayer. Like the prelude there are parts of the piece that just sit there and create a mood. I think that is what three out of the four musical offerings this week have in common. They are simple and provide comfort because of the text but also the simple harmonies that are easy to hear and easy to follow.

Friday, November 2, 2012

November 4, 2012 - All Saints Day and A Concert of Remembrance

Requiem - Bob Chilcott
I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes - Howard Boatwright
Psalm 117 - Brian Israel
Suite Gothique - Leon Boellmann


Bob Chilcott (b.1955) is an active composer and conductor Chilcott began his involvement in choral music as a chorister at King’s College, Cambridge. He later went on to be named Choral Scholar and then to sing with and compose for the King’s Singers. Chilcott left the King’s Singers in 1997 to pursue a career as a full time composer. Among his compositions are several commissioned works including The Angry Planet which was commissioned for the BBC Proms and was premiered on August 5, 2012. Since 2002 Chilcott has served as Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Singers and continues to remain active as a clinician throughout the world.

The Requiem was commissioned by the Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church, Dallas, Texas in honor of Cynthia Cole Finley and The Oxford Bach Choir. The UK premiere took place at the Sheldonian Theatre on March 13, 2010. The US premiere followed on March 21. Although the Requiem is a commissioned work it bears the dedication “In loving memory of Samantha Verschueren (1985-2009),” the composer’s niece who died while the composer was writing the piece. The composition combines the traditional text of the Latin Mass for the Dead with sentences from the funeral service in the Book of Common Prayer. Noticeably absent from the composition is the Dies Irae section making for a more contemplative and reflective work that provides comfort and peace for both performer and listener.

Chilcott taps into the human side of the Latin texts for an intimate work that honors those who have died and consoles those of us that have been left behind. The work in seven movements opens with a quiet Introit and Kyrie reminiscent of the Durufle and Faure Requiems. It then moves from a fiery Offertorio to a simple and beautiful Pie Jesu featuring the soprano soloist. The dance like Sanctus is a sharp contrast to the quiet tenor solo of the Agnus Dei. The only movement of the piece in English, Thou Knowest, Lord paints a beautiful picture with a text from The Book of Common Prayer which opens with a fervent cry and then moves into a quiet plea. The work closes just as it opened with a simple and peaceful Lux Aeterna which closes with a final appeal for “rest eternal.”

The prelude and postlude by Leon Boëllmann (1862-1897) are taken from his Op. 25 Suite Gothique. Boëllmann was educated at L'École Niedermeyer where he studied piano, organ, composition, and counterpoint. After graduating he was hired as substitute organist at St. Vincent-de-Paul. After six years he was named organist titulare, a position he held until his death. The Suite Gothique is perhaps his most well-known composition. The work opens with a Chorale played on full organ followed by a Menuet Gothique. The prelude for this week is the third movement, Prière à Notre-Dame, a beautiful soft movement played on the string and flute stops of the organ. The final movement and this week’s postlude is the fiery Toccata. The piece opens with running sixteenth notes in the right hand accented by chords on the beat in the left hand. The theme is then introduced in the pedal. This theme sounds like something out of an old black and white horror film (perfect for the Sunday following Halloween) the movement begins to build and concludes with four crashing chords played on full organ.

Howard Boatwright (1918-1999) was well known as a violinist, composer and professor. Born in Newport News, Virginia, he played a New York debut recital on violin and the age of 24 and subsequently joined the faculty of the University of Texas and then went to Yale University to study composition with Paul Hindemith. After receiving his master’s degree at Yale, he taught at Yale for many years and was also a conductor of the Yale Symphony, concertmaster of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, and first violinist of the Yale String Quartet. In 1964 he became Dean of the Syracuse University School of Music and remained there until he retired from teaching in 1988. He is well remembered as the author of several books on music theory. Howard and his wife, the well-known soprano Helen Boatwright, were long-time members of St. David’s Church.

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 its musical direction and the demands on the singers. It is a beautiful piece that I have grown to love.

Brian Israel (1951-1986) was a faculty member as the Syracuse University School of Music from 1975-1986 and a noted composer of symphonies, chamber, choral and solo works. Born in the Bronx, New York, he received his MFA and DMA from Cornell University. His final work, Symphony No. 6 for soprano, baritone, and orchestra was premiered three days before his death. St. David’s member Donna Miller was the soprano soloist from this premiere. Brian had many friends at St. David’s; his works were often performed by Donna Miller and James Shults. Today’s work was commissioned by St. David’s Church and first performed at the Church the Sunday following his death and again at his Memorial Service. Brian was married to Christine Day, a priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York. His ashes are interred in St. David’s Memorial Garden.

Notes on Howard Boatwright and Brian Israel provided by James Shults.