June 2, 2013 - Proper 4

Slow Air for the Organ - Samuel Wesley
Zion's Walls - Aaron Copland
O Lord My God - Samuel Sebastian Wesley
Variaitions on "Holy Manna" - Charles Callahan

Hymns: #522 Austria, #321 Rockingham,
              #538 Lucerna Laudoniae

The music this week and next as the choir season ends looks ahead to summer and things to come. This week two of the selections are in the vein of Early American Folk hymns which is what the service music for summer is. The other two pieces are from a father and son, the son and grandson of one of the most prominent Methodist ministers ever.

Zion's Walls is a traditional Shaker tune that was arranged by Aaron Copland (1900-1990) (perhaps the quintessential American composer.) Copland 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." The lilting rhythms do not diminish the drive that this piece has throughout with its strong downbeats and interesting two against three cross-rhythms. There are also moments of sweet gentility. The second verse drops the lilting rhythms in favor of a more sustained line. One of my favorite parts of the piece is the unexpected modulation to distant keys that happens at phrase endings. The piece finishes with a big lush chord.

The postlude is Charles Callahan’s (b. 1951) setting of Holy Manna which is the fraction anthem for the next several weeks. This tune has been set to a myriad of texts. It is an old pentatonic hymn tune attributed to William Moore. This set of six variations allows for different ensemble colors to shine through. The piece opens with a simple statement of the theme while the second movement is a more subdued setting with the melody in the left hand on a buzzy reed stop. The third variation is a musette which is followed by a variation for the pedals. The fifth variation is a “meditation” with the melody in the pedal which leads into the closing finale on solo trumpet.

The prelude and the postlude are by father and son, Samuel Wesley (1766-1837) and Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810-1876). Samuel Wesley is the son of the Methodist minister and hymn writer Charles Wesley. He is credited with introducing the works of J.S. Bach to English audiences. His son, Sebastian Samuel Wesley held positions as organist at many prominent cathedrals in England and held the chair of music position at Edinburgh University. S. S. Wesley is best known for his anthems and organ music but during his lifetime was known as one of the best living organists. He had also developed a reputation for being difficult to work with. His anthem O Lord my God is a very simple prayer with colorful harmonies. It is the kind of anthem that is enjoyable for the singer and the listener. The Slow Air for the Organ is a simple piece that would have worked well on the English organs that the Wesleys knew. I have tried to imitate those sounds on the organ at St. David’s. This piece is quiet and contemplative with hints of the style of the younger Wesley. It is easy to see the progression from the writing of the father to the style of the son.

 

May 26, 2013 - Trinity Sunday/Memorial Day

Partita on "Holy, Holy, Holy" - Geoffrey Stanton
The Battle Hymn of the Republic - arr. Peter Wilhousky
Trinitarian Blessing - K. Lee Scott
Double Fugue on "My Country Tis of Thee"
                                                            - John Knowles Paine

Hymns: #362 Nicaea, #366 Grosser Gott, #608 Melita

In selecting music this week I tried to be sensitive to both observances taking place. This was Trinity Sunday according to the church year but also Memorial Day. It is my personal feeling that both are too important to ignore so the music was split evenly with the prelude and communion anthem celebrating the Trinity while the gradual anthem and postlude were selected for Memorial Day.

The prelude is an excerpt from Geoffrey Stanton’s Partita on “Holy, Holy, Holy” written as part of the Marilyn Mason music collection. Stanton is Director of Music at Bethlehem United Church of Christ in Ann Arbor, Michigan and a part time instructor at Eastern Michigan University. Stanton is an accomplished recitalist on organ and synthesizer. He is a respected authority on synthesizers and electronic music, a topic which he has written a book on and lectured on. The two movements that I chose for this service are very different. The first is a bluesy setting in 12/8 and in minor filled with grace notes and a very rhythmic pedal motif. The registration that he calls for evokes the sound of the Hammond organs of the 1960’s and 1970’s more than the classical pipe organ of today. The second partita is quiet and reflective with the pedal playing a beautiful ornamented melody while the hands sustain chords.

The communion anthem is Trinitarian Blessing by K. Lee Scott (b. 1950). Scott has served as adjunct faculty for The University of Alabama School of Music, The University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Music and Samford University School of Music. He has received numerous commissions and has over 300 works published including choral anthems and hymns. His Trinitarian Blessing opens with a gentle soprano solo and then moves into a lush four part setting. This is followed by a restatement of the opening solo for full choir with the men echoing the women before the final statements of “joy unending.”

When it comes to patriotic choral music the first piece that comes to mind for me is Peter Wilhousky’s (1902-1978) arrangement of The Battle Hymn of the Republic. This hymn written in 1862 by Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910) a very well educated woman at a time when this was neither encouraged nor celebrated. Howe married in 1843 but the marriage was not a happy one. Her husband was oppressive and did not want her work to go public. In 1852 the couple separated and Howe published her work which shed light on “the intimate affairs of a ‘real’ man and women.” She became an abolitionist and was heavily involved with John Brown’s revolution. She went on to be a well-respected theologian and writer. Wilhousky’s arrangement of the Battle Hymn is one of the best loved and most widely performed settings of this hymn. In addition to this piece he also added English text to the Carol of the Bells.

The postlude is a double fugue ( a form in which there are two fugue subjects each individually developed and then combined) on My Country Tis of Thee by the American composer John Knowles Paine (1839-1906). Paine was born into a musical family and spent time in Europe as a student. Upon returning he made a name for himself as a recitalist before being appointed Harvard’s first professor of music. This piece is typical of Paine’s writing. Paine combines spritely passages for the manuals and fast pedal passages including a solo for the pedals. The work reaches a climax and the theme is played on the first restatement of the theme.

 

May 19, 2013 - Pentecost

I Will Not Leave You Comfortless - William Byrd
Credo - Jane M. Marshall

Hymns: #516 Down Ampney, #507 Julion,
              #511 Abbot's Leigh

The two anthems for this week's service both deal with Pentecost but not as the fiery rushing wind that I grew up hearing about. Instead the main idea of these anthems is the comfort that we were left with in the form of the Holy Spirit. These two pieces focus on different aspects of comfort and where we can find it.

 

William Byrd (1540-1623) was an English composer and organist that basically created the English madrigal. His organ and virginal music put England on the map with keyboard music. Byrd was educated by the great choral composer Thomas Tallis. The two were granted a monopoly on print music by Elizabeth I. He began his career as an organist in London but in 1577 moved to Harlington. As a devout Catholic, Byrd preferred to be a bit further away from the government that persecuted many of his

Catholic brethren. Byrd’s compositional style has two very separate styles. The music that he composed for the Catholic mass is highly polyphonic and very complex where as the Anglican anthems focus on the text and are simpler having a more homophonic texture. This anthem for the Proper of the Sunday after Ascension for five part choir weaves text from John 14:18 throughout a tapestry of “Alleluias” and builds to a climax on the line “And you heart shall rejoice.” The cascading Alleluias simulate the “rushing wind” that the apostles encountered on Pentecost in the upper room.

 

Jane Marshall’s (b. 1924) Credo is not the setting of the traditional creed but is instead a setting of an inscription found in a Cologne cellar where Jews hid during World War II mixed with Mark 9:24 “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” The text is beautiful for its simplicity but the source of the text adds a whole other dimension to the feel of the piece. We have all had times in our lives when “the sun is not shining” but to think of that family hiding in the cellar not knowing what would happen to them. Jane M. Marshall is one of the leaders of church music in the United States. Her anthems My Eternal King and None Other Lamb are in the repertoire of almost every choir in America. Marshall graduated from Southern Methodist University and has made her career as a composer and teacher in the Dallas area. In addition to her choral compositions, several of Marshall’s hymn tunes have made their way into congregational worship throughout the world. The anthem begins with the choir stating their beliefs in unison. This is followed by a four part a cappella section and a restatement of the opening. All of the melodies are combined at the end of the work and layered on top of one another to form a wall of sound which gets progressively softer as the piece ends.

 

 

 

May 5, 2013 - Celebration of the Arts

Israel in Egypt - G.F. Handel

G.F. Handel is known to us today primarily for his oratorios, the most notable one being Messiah. It is commonly accepted that Handel turned to oratorio when opera was not an option. In May of 1738 the sale of season tickets was opened and by July the season had to be called off due to lack of subscriptions. Handel realized that he had to rethink his plans and began writing Saul and Israel in Egypt.

The work came together rather quickly and was composed from back to front. Handel first composed what we know today as Part 2, The Song of Moses. Musicologist Richard Streatfeild believes that this was initially to be a stand-alone anthem. He then composed Part 1, the Exodus in four days. In the original composition these served as parts 2 and 3 with part 1 being a reworking of a Funeral Anthem written for the death of Queen Caroline which became Lamentations of the Israelites for the Death of Joseph. The text for this work is taken directly from scripture, primarily the books of Exodus and Psalms. Some researchers believe the libretto to have been assembled by Charles Jennens who also assembled the text for Messiah.

The work was premiered at the King’s Theatre on April 4, 1739 along with a new organ concerto. The piece did not meet with popular approval because, unlike an opera, this work relies almost entirely on the chorus but was defended as a spiritual experience.

Part 1 is essentially divided into two scenes; the first depicting the plagues and the second scene depicting the actual exodus. The plagues choruses illustrate beautifully (and terribly) the tragedy brought on the Egyptians because of their refusal to obey God. Handel illustrates the plague of frogs in the alto aria with a hopping violin figure, and you can hear the buzzing flies in the chorus He Spake the Word. Scene 2 evokes equally vivid images with crashing water being represented by thundering timpani rolls in But the Waters Overwhelmed Their Enemies. These dramatic renderings are part of what gives the work its enduring quality.

Part 2 is Exodus 15, The Song of Moses. This tells almost no story at all. It is merely the Israelites (choir and soloist both) reflecting on what God has done for them by leading them out of Egypt. Each aria and duet is a different person reflecting on the experience that he or she had in leaving the bonds of slavery. Part 2 contains the bulk of the solo writing in this oratorio including the aria Thou Didst Blow in which the wind back-up the soprano soloist with winding sixteenth notes and the martial The Lord is a Man of War for two basses. The triumphal ending of this work ties everything together as Miriam recounts the story and the Israelites erupt with The Lord Shall Reign and then fly into a repeat of I Will sing Unto the Lord.

This magnificent work for two choirs, orchestra and two organs is among the most popular of Handel’s oratorios due to the large role that the chorus plays in the telling of the story. The six soloists highlight the dramatic events and assist the chorus by giving their perspective of the events of Part 1. This work  a true masterpiece for the way that in one short chorus Handel can grab your attention, convey an idea and then move on to something completely different which all flows together to tell this highly dramatic tale.

May 5, 2013 - Easter 6

The Five Mystical Songs - Ralph Vaughan Williams,
                                                text by George Herbert

The Five Mystical Songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) were written between 1906 and 1911 for the Three Choirs Festival, one of the oldest classical choral festivals in the world. The work for baritone soloist, chorus and orchestra was premiered on September 14, 1911 with Vaughan Williams conducting. This was his second commission for the Three Choirs Festival, the first being Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.

Vaughan Williams, a self-proclaimed atheist turned to the poetry of George Herbert (1593-1633) for these Five Mystical Songs. The four poems are taken from Herbert’s 1633 collection Temple Poems. The four poems split into five movements showcase Herbert’s writing style including the conflict between God and soul. This shows what his wife Ursula said of him, that as he aged he mellowed into “cheerful agnosticism.”

The work is a set of five songs with the first four featuring the baritone soloist while the choir plays a supporting role. The final movement is for the choir and allows them to shine through in one of Vaughan William’s most celebratory choruses ever. The piece combines Medieval plainchant with lush romantic harmonies and a full orchestra.

The opening movement is the first half of Herbert’s Easter, and sets the tone for the work. The soloist gives an exhortation to himself as much as to the choir and the listener. This movement does not shy away from the tragedy that is part of the Easter story. The choir joins the soloist to reinforce his song of praise which is interspersed with reflections of the tragedy that Christ went through and the ways in which this was still done in praise to God.

The second movement, I Got Me Flowers is the second half of the poem Easter. This movement is primarily for the soloist with the choir providing back-up as the soloist asks his question. They join in on text with “There is but one, and that one ever.” Answering the question the soloist asks about the numbering of days. This beautiful but sparsely orchestrated piece in what is to me one of the darkest keys, Eb minor, bridges the gap between the first movement’s constant back and forth and the third movement’s sadness and ultimate resignation.

In Love Bade Me Welcome, the soloist wrestles with that sense of unworthiness that I think we all feel at one time or another in our lives when we think of the sacrifice of Christ. The opening two verses supported by undulating strings are a dialogue between the soloist and “Love” with the soloist explaining we he is undeserving of this love and “Love” explaining why it doesn’t matter. The music becomes more agitated as the soloist makes one final appeal to “Love” while “Love” says that he has borne the blame and will serve. The choir enters intoning the Eucharistic hymn O Sacrum Convivium and the soloist is invited to partake.

The Call has become a standard in the vocal repertoire and in the canon of hymnody. This time the soloist is on his own, but this is also his big finale as the final movement is left for the choir alone. The beautiful solo oboe and flute lines that are interspersed help to give this music an almost pastorale quality. The soloist’s modal melody shows Vaughan Williams’s masterful ability to mix chant and chant-like melodies with lush harmonies in a way that both seem to fit exactly together as though the melody was always meant to be harmonized like that.

The final movement is one of Vaughan Williams’s most exciting pieces of choral writing. Antiphon opens with running eighth notes which give way to crashing chords that evoke the pealing of cathedral bells before the choir breaks into “Let all the world in every corner sing.” This movement is entirely free of the questioning spirit that was present in the first three. The fourth movement functions as the soloist coming to terms with everything that he has learned in the first three movements; and this finale is the chorus again reinforcing what he has learned almost functioning as the “heavenly Greek chorus” which comments and helps to get him back on track concluding in celebration at his lesson learned.

May 12, 2013 - Easter 7 (Ascension)

Suite in F Op. 28 No. 2: "Song Without Words "I'll Love My Love"                                                     - Gustav Holst
12 Humbert Wolfe Songs: "Envoi" - Gustav Holst
The Heart Worships - Gustav Holst
The Planets: "Jupiter:Chorale" - Gustav Holst

Hymns: #218 Deo Gracias, Thaxted, Valiant Hearts

This week’s music is centered on the parish of Thaxted and the music of Gustav Holst (1874-1934). Holst did not write an enormous amount of music and much of what he wrote has fallen into obscurity today. The four pieces by Holst that you will hear today are representative of a few of the different mediums that Holst wrote for. Holst was taken by the piano at an early age but because of crippling neuritis in his right hand he found practicing to be too painful and instead took up the trombone. This allowed Holst a different perspective as a composer because he was able to experience the inner working of the orchestra.

The prelude is taken from Holst’s Second Suite in F Op. 28 No. 2 for wind band. This Song Without Words: “I’ll Love my Love” is a short but beautiful movement transcribed today for organ. Holst also used this piece as one of the songs in his collection of Nine Folk Songs. The beautiful oboe solo is reproduced well by the organ. For the cornet solo I have chosen a slightly larger reed stop against a fuller supporting sound. Holst’s interest in British folk songs can clearly be heard in this modal melody which weaves in and out of the countermelody played on the light foundation stops of the organ.

The gradual anthem is a beautiful song for soprano and piano taken from Holst’s Op. 48 12 Songs these are settings of the poems of Humbert Wolfe (1885-1940). Wolfe was born in Milan and grew up in Britain. Although Wolfe was one of the most popular writers of the 1920s he is seldom read today.  The text of Envoi reads:

When the spark that glittered   flakes into ash, and the spirit unfettered is done with flesh,

 

when all that wonder, this loveliness of heart lies under the sleepy grass,

 

and slow are the swift, and dark the fair, and sweet voices lift,  not on the air,

 

when the long spell of dust lies on all that was well bethought upon,

 

of all that lovely,  of all those brief hopes that went bravely  beyond belief,

 

of life's deep blazon  with love's gold stain passing all reason doth aught remain?

 

What need of answer?  Bird chaunting priest, dawn swings her censer of bloom-white mist,

 

noon from her shoulder  lets her sun-shawl half loose, half hold her,  and drifing fall,

 

and evening slowly  by hill and wood perfects her holy solitude,

 

unasked, undaunted  by love, or what the heart has wanted, and wanteth not.

 

Unasked? Say rather that these will startle tomorrow other hearts with mortal

 

beauty they had  from us, as we inherited  that legacy.

 

Undaunted? Yes, since death can lend to loveliness only an end

 

that with the beginning  is one designed, one shape, one meaning  beyond the mind.

 

This “envoi” serves as a series of explanations for poems that precede it and also for the questions that the singer is asking. It is a beautiful commentary that asks and answers a series of questions without actually presenting definitive answers. Something that I think every good poem is capable of doing.

The communion anthem is the choral version of Holst’s The Heart Worships originally written for solo voice and piano. The text for this lovely anthem was written by Alice Buckton (1867-1944) the writer and social activist responsible for the work of Chalice Well which contributed to the arts and educational climate of Glastonbury where her influence continues to be felt. This anthem extols the virtue of silence in heaven, on earth and within. Something that after the loud and exhausting music of last Sunday we would all do well to remember.

The postlude is the chorale section of Jupiter from The Planets. This stately theme has been combined with the poem I Vow to Thee My Country as well as several other texts including the offertory hymn. This triumphal melody builds and grows, seemingly out of the silence of the previous anthem into a full crashing climax evoking a celestial image to end the Sunday after the Ascension.