March 31, 2013 - Easter Day

Light's Glorious Morn Bedeck's the Sky - Horatio Parker
Rise Up, My Love, My Fair One - Healey Willan

Hymns:#207 Easter Hymn, #193 Puer Nobis, #182 Truro

The gradual anthem was written by Horatio Parker (1863-1919) who, like most American organists at that time was educated in Europe. Before going abroad he studied with George Chadwick and upon leaving for Munich he studied with Josef Rheinberger. In 1885 he returned to the US and was appointed to Trinity Church in NYC (1888-1893) and Trinity Church, Boston (1893-1901). In 1893 he was appointed professor of theory at Yale University. Like many composers from this time period, Horatio Parker’s music is largely been banished to obscurity. His oratorio Hora Novissima was widely performed at the time of its composition but has since fallen out of favor. Most of Parker’s output was very popular at the time it was written but today only a select few works are performed. His anthem Light’s Glittering Morn Bedecks the Sky is a setting of a seventh century Latin text translated by John Mason Peale. The piece opens with a festive organ fanfare followed by full choir in unison. After two verses of this celebratory text and organ trumpetings that could denote the end of the piece, the bass soloist enters with a more subdued melody in 6/8. This is followed by a quartet of soloists quietly singing of Christ the “King of gentleness.” The bass soloist starts again with his invocation for Christ to abide while the choir sings lines of The Strife is O’er softly underneath. The choir then bursts forth into an array of “Alleluias” which lead to the Doxology followed by another proclamation of Alleluias and a final Amen. This piece does everything that an Easter anthem should do. It is full and strong and filled with Alleluias.

The communion anthem is quite different from the bombastic gradual anthem. Healey Willan’s Rise Up, My Love, My Fair One is the fifth of eleven Liturgical Motets. Healey Willan (1880-1968) was a Canadian composer who began his musical career as a chorister and then devoted most of his musical life to the church. Willan is credited with bringing English plainchant to the Anglican Church. The Church forbade Latin and because of this did not have the Latin plainchants available to them. Willan went about setting, editing, arranging, and publishing his chant settings which added greatly to the musical language of the Anglican Church. Willan wrote music for choir, orchestra, and organ as well as a few chamber works but virtually nothing for the piano. The text for this anthem is taken from the second chapter of the Song of Solomon. It is the third in a set of three motets to Our Lady composed between 1928 and 1937 for the Church of St Mary Magdalene where Willan served as organist and choirmaster for over forty years. This piece is about renewal and spring. It is also a harbinger of the Ascension which is still to come.

March 30, 2013 - Easter Vigil

Messiah: "Oh Death, Where is Thy Sting?" - G.F. Handel
Prelude and Fugue in D Major BWV 532: "Fugue"
                                                                               - J.S. Bach

Hymns: #180 Unser Herrscher, #187 Straf mich nicht, 
              #192 Vreuchten

The postlude for the Easter Vigil and the Easter Day services is the fugue from J.S. Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in D Major BWV 532. This prelude and fugue is one of Bach’s early compositions and shows the composer as a young virtuoso heavily influenced by the music of Italy. The fugue is boisterous and flashy with a subject composed primarily of sixteenth notes. The fugue winds through a number of keys and when it returns to the home key of D major Bach then ends with a pedal cadenza. To me, this fugue manages to combine elements of playfulness and power. Bach teases us with the motive broken up in little pieces and then eventually gives a longer line that gives us the meat of the fugue. As the piece grows we get full chords that punctuate the more active melodic line and help to propel the piece forward. I picked this piece for the Easter because I think that the lightness is a nice contrast to the thick Romantic music that I have programmed through Lent, but also to contrast the loud full hymns and anthems for the morning. The joyful energy of this youthful composition seemed to be an appropriate choice. I also like the idea of tying this year together with last year. Last year during Lent I explored the compositions of J.S. Bach, programming a different piece for each service during Lent. It seemed fitting to play one of his compositions on Easter this year as well.   

The anthem for this service is taken from Handel’s Messiah. “Oh Death, Where is Thy Sting?” Although this recitative and aria do not refer to Christ but to us it seems like an appropriate selection for this service. The question asked by the alto and tenor is a reminder that just as Christ overcame death, so too will we overcome death. This duet goes directly into the chorus “But thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ.” The alto solo starts the piece and is quickly answered by the tenor. The two dance around almost as though they are taunting death. They then move on to explain that the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law. The two soloists seem to agree on this point because they end on a unison “c” and are then answered by the full chorus.

 

March 29, 2013 - Good Friday

Hermit Songs: "The Crucifixion" - Samuel Barber

Hymns: #172 Were You There, #329 Pange Lingua

The anthem for the Good Friday service is taken from Samuel Barber’s 1953 song cycle Hermit Songs. Barber (1910-1981) wrote his first piece at age seven, an opera at ten and entered the Curtis Institute at age fourteen. His father was a physician and his mother a pianist. His interest in the human voice likely stems from his aunt and uncle, Louise and Sidney Homer, a contralto and composer of art songs respectively. The Hermit Songs were commissioned by the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation. This set of ten songs takes its text from the writings of Irish Monks. They were premiered by Leontyne Price with Barber at the piano in 1953. The Crucifixion is the fifth in the set of ten songs. The text “At the cry of the first bird” is illustrated in all but 3 measures of the piece. There are two bird references in the text, the first to a bird whose cry signaled the beginning of the crucifixion; the second to Christ with at “cheek like a swan.” The text comes from The Speckled Book or Lebhar Breac. This is a collection of ecclesiastical writings in Latin and Irish including hymns, homilies, and legends. This piece delivers the mood of the service with its stark accompaniment and expressive vocal line. The beautiful and tragic images of Christ and the references to his mother Mary capture the many aspects of sadness that were part of that day.

March 28, 2013 - Maundy Thursday

Basso Ostinato Op. 129 No. 6 - Max Reger
Drop, Drop, Slow Tears
                                       - James L. Klein, Phineas Fletcher
In Monte Oliveti - Anton Bruckner

Hymns: #439 Wondrous Love, #315 Song 1, #163 Kedron

The prelude for tomorrow night’s service is Max Reger’s Basso Ostinato from his Op. 129 Neun Stücke. This is the conclusion of my Reger through Lent series. I picked this piece for Maundy Thursday because I feel that it effectively depicts the events of Holy Week. The piece starts off quietly with just the “basso ostinato,” a repeating bass line that is there through the whole piece. Above this the piece builds and grows in volume with note values becoming faster as the piece builds to the middle of its arch shape. From there the piece begins to taper and soften ending on a quiet major chord. When I think of this piece in the context of Holy Week it reminds me of the quiet journey to the garden of Gethsemane and the building intensity of the arrest and the crucifixion. The decrescendo is the time that Christ was dead and the major chord at the end is a glimmer of the hope of Easter.

Drop, Drop, Slow Tears is a setting of a text by the poet Phineas Fletcher (1582-1650). Fletcher was educated at Eton College and went on to become a priest. His poem The Locusts or Apollyonists is said to be the inspiration for Milton’s concept of Satan. This setting by James L. Klein (whom I found nothing about) is totally driven by the text. The piece is freely metered so that strong syllables and important words fall on the accented beats of the music. Much of the piece is in 5/4 which gives it an unsteady feeling. The “added” beat seems to lend the piece extra forward motion. The rich key of Db adds darkness and depth to the plaintive setting.

The communion anthem is Anton Bruckner’s motet for Holy Thursday, In Monte Oliveti, the first of the nine responses for Matins on Maundy Thursday. This piece is typical of Bruckner’s writing in that it is about dynamic contrast. Each phrase starts at a different dynamic level and the phrases are primarily in arch form with the high point being in the middle. The text tells the story of Christ on the Mount of Olives praying that the cup be taken from Him but resolving that God’s will must be done.

March 24, 2013 - Palm Sunday

Valet will ich dir geben - Max Reger
Ride On, King Jesus - Alice Parker and Robert Shaw
Requiem: "Agnus Dei" - Giuseppe Verdi

Hymns: #154 Valet will ich der geben,
              #458 Love Unknown, #170 The Third Tune

Palm Sunday creates the need to capture the majesty and joy of the Triumphal entry and the sadness of the Passion story. The service starts with the pomp and circumstance of Max Reger’s setting of Valet will ich dir geben which is the processional hymn All Glory Laud and Honor. This setting by Reger is filled with contrast and sets the tone for the quick shift in mood that happens during the service. This chorale prelude does not bear Reger’s typical fluctuating dynamics but rather has terraced dynamics. This through back to the musical style of the Baroque is easily achieved on the organ by setting up each manual to play at different volumes. The piece still bears Reger’s characteristic harmonic style. The tune is clearly present in the soprano part with winding, chromatic alto and tenor parts. The pedal line jumps all over sometimes acting as a melodic line and sometimes providing rhythmic interest through jumping octaves.

In 1907 Max Reger(1873-1916) was appointed music director and professor at the Leipzig Conservatory.  He maintained his demanding concert schedule and resigned the post of Music Director in 1908. He retained the position as Composition professor until his death in 1916. In 1911 Reger took a position in the court of Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. He was one of the leading intellectuals of his time and the patron of Meiningen Court Orchestra, Europe’s leading orchestra. In 1915 Reger moved to Jena but made weekly trips to the Conservatory. He died of heart failure in 1916. He is primarily remembered as a composer of organ music but many of his choral and chamber works continue to receive regular performances.

Ride On, King Jesus is a traditional Spiritual arranged by Alice Parker(b. 1925) and Robert Shaw(1916-1999). Alice Parker has had an amazing career as a conductor, composer, and teacher. Her arrangements (often , as is the case with this piece arranged with Robert Shaw). She continues to run a non-profit group which helps fund her work as a conductor and clinician and directs a professional choir which has made numerous recordings. Robert Shaw is one of the most celebrated choral conductors of our time. Shaw has received every award and accolade available to a conductor including fourteen Grammy Awards, the first Guggenheim Fellowship awarded to a conductor and was a 1991 recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors. Shaw is one of the most influential choral conductors and teachers to date. His collaboration with Parker added a great deal to the concert repertoire. They first met when Parker was one of Shaw’s students at Julliard. Their arrangements of spirituals, hymns, and folk tunes are typically a cappella and very singable, free of difficult harmonic shifts and hard passage work. This arrangement has two verses and a refrain which is repeated and slightly varied. The first verse describes King Jesus on a “milk white horse” which is not the modest donkey which he rides in on at the triumphal entry but the steed of a king. The horse he will ride when he returns. The second verse tells us how to get to heaven – we must trod the gospel highway. The repeated phrase “no man can hinder me” serves as a reminder that it is our choice to follow God and no one can keep us from doing so.

Giuseppe Verdi(1813-1901) first began thinking about the text of the Requiem mass in 1868. Verdi and twelve other composers each submitted a movement for a Requiem mass in memory of Rossini. The project was completed but abandoned before the performance. Verdi again turned to the Latin Mass for the Dead when the Italian poet and novelist Alessandro Manzoni died Verdi decided to write a Requiem. He incorporated the Libera Me from the previous project in this new Requiem for Manzoni. This piece is not designed to be performed in the context of a liturgical service but instead as a concert work. It is essentially an “opera mass.” The fifth movement, Agnus Dei, opens with a haunting duet between the soprano and mezzo-soprano soloist in octaves, a cappella. The choir enters on the same melody in unison. The soloists and choir continue to trade back and forth before singing altogether on the last line of the text.

March 17, 2013 - Lent 5

Variations on a Shape Note Hymn - Samuel Barber
Wondrous Love - Paul J. Christiansen
Let Nothing Ever Grieve Thee - Johannes Brahms
Zwolf Stucke: "Toccata" - Max Reger

Hymns: #1 Christe Sanctorum, #474 Rockingham,
              #610 Beach Spring

This week’s music combines the German Romantic with the American folk tradition. The gradual anthem is a setting of an American folk hymn from the Sacred Harp tradition, Wondrous Love. This hymn has the feel of a spiritual with the modality and text of an Appalachian Folk tune. The arrangement is by Paul J. Christiansen, the son of the famed F. Melius Christiansen, conductor of the St. Olaf Choir. Paul J. spent the bulk of his career developing the Concordia Choir into one of the world’s finest a cappella undergraduate choirs. Christiansen was known for his rigorous two hour daily rehearsals working to get the exact shape of the phrase and the exact tone that he wanted on each chord. Christiansen was recognized as a foremost authority on the application of artistic discipline to choral work. The arrangement is simple. The hymn tune is sung first as a solo and then the choir enters in a simple four part chorale setting of the second verse. The piece closes with a coda starting with a soprano solo and ending as it started with a tenor solo.

The prelude is also based on this hymn tune. The American composer Samuel Barber (1910-1981) wrote Wondrous Love: Variations on a Shape-Note Hymn for the inauguration of a three manual Holtkamp being built for Christ Church in Grosse Point, Michigan. The piece is dedicated to Richard Roecklein, the organist at the church who gave Barber a book of Bach’s chorale preludes so that he could view these as an example for the piece to be written. The work opens with a statement of the chorale in four parts and is followed by four variations. The first and the third are very lyrical and gentle while the second has the feeling of a fuguing tune – very typical of the Sacred Harp style and reminiscent of early American writing. The final variation is very beautiful and highly chromatic with a descending fourth motif throughout. This piece makes use of many of the softer ensemble sounds available on the organ and transports the modal language of this folk hymn to the modern language of the American composition school.

The communion anthem and postlude are both from the German Romantic School. For the postlude, I have again gone to the Op. 59 Zwolf Stucke. This central movement of the suite is a dramatic toccata paired with a typical Reger crescendo fugue. As with most of Reger’s writing the dynamics are constantly fluctuating. The piece grows and blooms into arpeggiated chords on full organ.

In 1901 Reger moved to Munich where his career took off. It was here that he gained notoriety both as a performer and a composer. He was a highly sought after collaborative pianist and organist. This also served as a highly creative period for him as a composer. He was able to write virtually uninterrupted. In 1905 Reger’s father died. Despite this personal tragedy, an even brighter future lay in store for Reger in Munich.

The communion anthem is Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) Lass dich nichts nicht dauren (Let Nothing Ever Grieve Thee). This piece is typical of Brahms early choral writing. It is in ABA from and shows Brahms grasp of contrapuntal writing. The piece is in 4/2 – likely an homage to the older style of counterpoint which this piece is imitating. The piece ends with an extended “Amen” which is beautiful enough to warrant programming the piece closes the work on a plaintive and meditative note that leaves the listener with a great feeling of peace despite the text which precedes it. Although the text is about comfort I can’t help but think when I listen that if I am being comforted there must be a reason – something has clearly happened which makes me need to be comforted. The amen gives peace and tranquility after a more plaintive but lovely “amen.”

 

March 10, 2012 - Lent 4

Neun Stucke Op 129: "Intermezzo" - Max Reger
Requiem: "Thou Knowest, Lord" - Bob Chilcott
The Crucifixion: "So Thou Liftest Thy Divine Petition"
                                                                 - Sir John Stainer
Wer nur den lieben Gott lasst walten - Georg Bohm

Hymns: #467 St. Bees, #469 St. Helena,
              #690 Cwm Rhonnda

This week’s music comes from two separate but not necessarily disparate schools. The anthems this week are both excerpted from larger works from the English Choral tradition. Bob Chilcott’s Thou Knowest, Lord is the sixth movement of his Requiem published in 2010 while the duet So Thou Liftest Thy Divine Petition is from Sir John Stainer’s 1887 oratorio, The Crucifixion.

Sir John Stainer (1840-1901) was an English born organist and composer whose works, save for The Crucifixion and an organ method book are all but forgotten. Stainer’s musical training began with his father, a self-taught musician and a cabinet maker by trade. He built a small chamber organ in their home which John and his sister Ann would play. At age 10 he became a chorister at St. Paul’s Cathedral and soon became principal soloist. Stainer held numerous church positions while studying at Oxford and in 1860 was appointed organist at Magdalen College. His work there aided him in his studies and bolstered his creativity. The almost brand new organ fostered his development as a keyboardist and the choir which he over saw gave him opportunity to write and rehearse new compositions. In 1861 he added to his list of duties with the post of University Organist at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin. Upon completion of his doctorate he became an examiner for Oxford musical degrees and with the resignation of John Goss in 1871 was appointed organist of St. Paul’s Cathedral in 1872; a position he held until 1888 when eye strain forced him to resign the post. He died unexpectedly of a heart attack in 1901 while on holiday in Verona.

The Crucifixion is perhaps the only work of Stainer’s still regularly performed even though the work has been dismissed (even by its composer) as being overly emotional and of poor quality. The piece is a prime example of Victorian Choral music with its impassioned and occasionally over-the-top imagery. The libretto was written by W. J. Sparrow Simpson (1859-1952), an Anglican priest who served as chaplain at St. Mary’s Hospital, Great Ilford. Simpson collaborated with Stainer on two earlier works, The Daughter of Jairus and Mary Magdalene. This duet follows Christ’s plea “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”  The tenor and bass soloists then proceed to comment on Christ’s death on the cross and his reason for doing so. They echo the words of the famous chorus from this work (God So Loved the World) that it “twas love in love’s divinest feature” that caused Him to die for “each low fallen creature.”

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. The Requiem was commissioned by the Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church, Dallas, Texas in honor of Cynthia Cole Finley and The Oxford Bach Choir. 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. The only movement of the piece in English, Thou Knowest, Lord paints a beautiful picture with a text taken from the Order for the Burial of the Dead from The Book of Common Prayer. The piece is unsettling and opens with a quiet but intense plea followed by a more fervent supplication. This gives way to a gentle rocking theme first sung by the men and then the full choir. The music builds toward another climax but stops just short with a descending line on the words “to fall” before ending on a quiet cadence.

The prelude is Max Reger’s (1873-1916) Intermezzo from Neun Stücke Op. 129. Written in 1913, this set of pieces reflects a turn away from the thick dense writing that he is normally associated with and a movement toward a clearer more transparent style. Reger wrote these short pieces in Kolberg while on summer vacation. An intermezzo is generally a piece that is played in-between things. In opera it is “incidental music” between larger arias or played during a set change. In instrumental music it is often the movement in a multi-movement work that connects two larger movements. In this set of pieces it comes before the final prelude and fugue which act as a unit and end the piece. The piece is very chromatic but gentle and intimate feeling. It fluctuates between 3 and 4 giving it a feel of 7.  The “Regeresque” fluctuation of dynamics is still present but as with everything else about this piece it is on a smaller stage.

In 1898 Reger returned home to his family because of illness. Here he experienced an incredibly productive period. It was during his time in Weiden that he composed all of his large chorale fantasias, many pieces for piano, choir, voice and chamber ensemble and some of his large organ works without chorales. In 1901 Reger moved with his parents to Munich where he stayed for six years.

The psalm setting during Lent uses the tune Wer nur den lieben Gott last walten. This setting of the chorale by Georg Böhm (1661-1733) is a seven movement partita for manuals only that could easily be adapted for the harpsichord. This piece allows the organ to show off its colors in small combinations. The fourth partita uses the sparkling higher pitched stops of the organ while the next adds the color of the cromorne, a buzzy reed stop that adds richness to the texture of the flute stops. The subsequent two bounce back and forth with a few different combinations including a single flute stop with a gentle tremolo added. It is interesting to hear the difference between the setting of the chorale by Reger and this setting by Böhm the Reger is dark and heavy but filled with interesting counterpoint – something the two pieces have in common while the Böhm is light and playful in terms of the registration.

March 3, 2013 Lent 3 (St. David's Day)

Like as the Hart - Herbert Howells
Timor et Tremor - Francis Poulenc

Hymns: #401 Leoni, #152 A la Venue de Noel,
              #145 Quittez, Pasteurs

This week’s music is a mix of very new and very old. Bells and Motley consort will be joining me for the prelude and postlude (or rather I will be joining them) in some traditional Welsh hymn tunes in honor of St. David’s day. Favorites like “Cwm Rhonnda” and “Hyfrydol” will be heard on harp, hurdy gurdy, bombarde and bagpipe. The duo will present a concert in the afternoon giving us an even more complete picture of the music of this tradition and of their vast collection of instruments.

The choir music is on the other end of the musical spectrum. The gradual anthem is Herbert Howell’s (1892-1983) Like as the hart desireth the waterbrooks. This is the third anthem in a set of four written in 1941 and dedicated to Sir Thomas Armstrong, the organist at Christ Church, Oxford. Herbert Howells is primarily remembered as a composer of music for organ and choir. His life was marked by many challenges and tragedies including a diagnosis of Grave’s disease while studying at the Royal College of Music and the death of his nine-year-old son Michael from polio. Howell’s interest in music showed at an early age. His father was, among other things, the organist of a small church in town. Howell’s filled in for his father showing great promise as a musician before being sent to the local Anglican parish as a choir boy and deputy organist. In 1912 he was awarded a scholarship to the Royal College of Music. He returned to the RCM as a teacher in 1920 when poor health forced him to relinquish his post at Salisbury Cathedral. This setting of Psalm 42 draws on lush harmonies and to depict the longing of for God. The anthem’s simplicity is a likely contributor to its success as is the influence of jazz and blues harmonies. The piece has a simple two part texture throughout most of it which expands to four and five part textures to illustrate the speaker’s questions: “When shall I come?” and “Where is now my God?” A light soprano solo floats above the choir’s final iteration of the question “When shall I come to appear before the presence of God?” a question which Howell’s leaves unanswered.

The communion anthem is also one of a set of four late Romantic pieces. This set is by the French composer, Francis Poulenc (1899-1963). Timor et Tremor is the first in the composer’s set Quatre motets pour un temps de pénitence (Four motets for a time of penance) written in 1939. Like Howells, Poulenc’s first musical instruction was at home. Poulenc’s mother, Jenny was an amateur pianist and gave him his first lessons. He later went on to meet the composers Milhaud and Satie as well the virtuoso pianist Ricardo Viñes whom he studied with. Poulenc with Georges Auric, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger,  Darius Milhaud, and Germaine Tailleferre became known as “Les Six,” a group of contemporary French composers thought to be in opposition to the Impressionistic writing of composers like Debussy. This name was rather arbitrarily bestowed upon this group by the critic Henri Collet because they all knew each other.

The text for Timor et Tremor comes from various verses of Psalms being strung together and is translated:

Fear and trembling have come upon me
and darkness has seized my soul. Have mercy on me, O Lord,
have mercy upon me, for in you have I put my trust.

Hear my prayer, O my God,
for you are my refuge and my strong helper.
I have called upon you, O Lord, that I not be confounded.

This setting, like the more famous setting by Lassus uses texture and harmony to illustrate the text. The opening phrase is sung fortissimo on one pitch until the word “tremor” which causes the choir to tremble. The words “et caligo cecidit” (and darkness fell) are sung pianissimo with the choir jumping down a fifth from the previous line. The sopranos followed in quick succession by the other voices burst forth with a cry for mercy. The next phrase is pure Poulenc, his characteristic harmonic writing shows for the first time in the phrase “quoniam in te confidit” (for my soul trusts in you). This again gives way to the choir’s plea for God’s attention with dynamics waxing and waning from fortissimo to piano and always changing very suddenly and drastically with repeated statements of “non confundar” (I shall not be confounded). Like the Howells, the longing for God and his presence is evident through a very unsettled and unsettling musical landscape that keeps the singer and listener on edge. This illustrates some of the unsettled nature of faith – the seeking that we must do, and the lack of certainty that we will find what we seek and that it is even there. These anthems embody musically the mood of Lent.