Prelude on "Quicumque Christum Quaeritis"
- Lester H. Groom
Transfiguration - Craig Phillips
Heilig - Felix Mendelssohn
Hymns: #665 Michael, #137 Wareham, LEVAS #130
This Sunday the music bridges the gap between the Gospel
music that was featured during Epiphany to the music of the Romantic period
that will color the Lenten season. The spirituals this week are congregational
hymns rather than the music of the choir. The music this week depicts the
Transfiguration through the use of unsettled harmonies, ambiguous tonality and
sudden moments of clarity.
The prelude is a setting of Quicumque Christum Quaeritis, the final poem of the “Cathemerinon” of
Prudentius (348-ca.410). This setting by Lester H. Groom (1929-2000) pairs the
chant melody with a flowing accompaniment of 16th notes in the alto
and tenor voice while the pedal plays a descending chromatic line in whole
notes starting on “g” and walking down to the “E flat” where the piece cadences
at the end. Groom was born in Chicago and educated at Wheaton College and Northwestern
University. He went on to teach harpsichord and organ at Seattle Pacific
University where he stayed until his retirement in 1992. While serving at SPU
he was the organist of First Presbyterian Church of Seattle. His love of art
was not limited only to music. He was also a gifted photographer and enjoyed
watercolors.
In selecting a
gradual anthem it seemed like a logical choice to pick Craig Phillips’s Transfiguration.
This 2004 setting draws from the accounts of the Transfiguration from the
gospels of Mark and Luke but also the writings of the 13th century mystic
Mechtild of Magdeburg (1207-1294). Mechtild lived as a Beguine and claimed to
have her first Holy Spirit inspired vision at age twelve. Her confessor
convinced her to write down her visions which she did in seven volumes, the
last finished just before her death. In these visions Mechtild outlined a
vision of the structure of hell, purgatory and heaven which are likely to have
influenced Dante’s The Divine Comedy. It is believed by some scholars
that the character Matilda from The Purgatorio may by Mechtild. The
anthem by Craig Phillips (b. 1961), a highly sought after composer and organist
and recipient of the 2012 AGO distinguished composer award captures the mystery
and awe of this event. The piece opens with an organ introduction that sets the
tone for the rest of the piece. The choir enters singing of images about the
vastness and expansiveness of the vision. This is expanded as more flowery
prose is added describing the attributes of God. The organ begins to build and
the choir enters in unison with all of the forces of nature singing God’s
praise at the proclamation “This is my beloved Son.” The piece concludes with
some of the last “Alleluias” that will be heard before Easter and a forceful
organ coda to end the work.
The communion
anthem is Heilig by Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847). This piece was
composed in 1846 to be part of a larger work which was never completed. The
piece for double choir employs contrapuntal imitation as well as passages of
call and response. The opening builds from a single part singing “Holy” to the
full forces of both choirs proclaiming God’s holiness. The text is basically the
text of the Sanctus in German. This piece was to be part of his “German Liturgy,”
a project which never came to fruition. To me there is a great sense of mystery
about the chords that open the piece and lead to its concluding section. They
feel unsettled which they are but it isn’t until more parts are added that I
feel I truly know where the piece is going. Heilig, for me manages to
walk a delicate balance between assurance and uncertainty, a theme which
Mendelssohn later explored in his oratorio Elijah.
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