February 2, 2014 - Epiphany 4

Simple Gifts - Virgil Fox
My Soul's Been Anchored in the Lord - Moses Hogan
St. Paul: "For So Hath the Lord" - Felix Mendelssohn
Voluntary - William Selby

Hymns: #574 St. Petersburg, #593 Dickinson College,
              #554 Simple Gifts

The music this week is mostly American, drawing on the folk traditions of our country for the music. The one piece that is not is a duet from Mendelssohn’s oratorio St. Paul.  The music along with the closing hymn Simple Gifts captures the essence of American folk songs and the idea of taking a simple folk melody and arranging it for choir or organ.

The prelude is Virgil Fox’s arrangement of Simple Gifts. This piece was commissioned by Keyboard Magazine for the 80^th birthday of Aaron Copland.  Virgil Fox (1912-1980) was kind of the Liberace of the organ world.  He was trained at the Peabody Institute and along with E. Power Biggs was one of the most famous concert organist in the world. His flashy costumes and playing style stood in stark contrast to the more scholarly, reserved playing of Biggs. This arrangement is a bit on the schmaltzy side but exploits some of the sweeter sounds of the organ including the strings and flute celestes.  The arrangement is a bit distant from the simple Shaker melody but captures the beauty of the tune and the lush registrations available on the American Classic organ.

The postlude is another American piece but this one is from much earlier than Fox’s arrangement.  William Selby(1738-1798) was born in England and came to the US in 1774 and served at King’s Chapel.  The Revolution forced him to take a position as a storekeeper but he returned to his liturgical duties once the war ended added to his responsibilities by becoming a teacher. He also gave one of the first Sacred music concerts in Boston. The piece opens with a bold introduction and then moves to a lighter fugue that becomes increasingly faster before drawing to a close. This piece uses no pedal. American organs were similar to English organs of the day (see last week’s article) in that they had no independent pedal division until later in their development.

The gradual anthem is Moses Hogan’s (1957-2003) setting of My Soul’s Been Anchored in the Lord.  Moses Hogan was known for his arrangements of spirituals. He was educated at Oberlin, Julliard, and Louisiana State University. As is typical of many of Hogan’s arrangements the piece is repetitive but uses large multi-note chords that require a fairly large ensemble. After the opening declamatory introduction the work moves into  the meat of the piece after this with an energetic refrain driven by an accented bass line. The bridge is a set of calls and responses with the men of the choir supplying the call while the women sing the line back. The arrangement build and builds to a climax that drives the piece to its conclusion.

For So Hath the Lord from Felix Mendelssohn’s (1809-1847) oratorio St. Paul  occurs after Paul and Barnabas announce that they are leaving and leads up to the sacrifice at Lystra. The tenor and bass sing of the command that the Lord has given the instructions to go and be a light to the Gentiles. The tenor and bass seem to chase each other through this duet proclaiming that they must bring the message of salvation unto the whole earth. It is a gentle but majestic telling of this story that utilizies creative orchestrations that also chase one another. The piece closes with lovely suspensions as the tenor and bass give and take as the end the piece.