I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes - Leo Sowerby
Justorum animae - Camille Saint-Saens
Wir danken dir, Herr Jesu Christ BWV 623 - J.S. Bach
Hymns: #401 Leoni, #489 Tallis' Ordinal, #147 Bourbon
The music this week is eclectic drawing from the American
school, the French Romantic period and, of course, the music of J.S. Bach. The
pieces have a bit of give and take with contrasting sections that illustrate
the drama that is inherent in the text but always return to the simple
calmness. A fitting message for our busy lives; that despite the storm we are
currently facing there will be a return to the calm that we once knew.
The prelude and communion anthems are by the French Romantic
composer, Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921). Saint-Saëns is perhaps best known as
an orchestral composer having written such treasures as Carnival of the Animals and Danse
Macabre; but spent much of his career as a church organist at La Madeleine
in Paris. Justorum animae is an
offertory piece for the Feast of All Saint’s. The text is taken from chapter 3
of the Book of Wisdom and is a very comforting text. The A section has the
choir singing in lush four part homophonic writing on the text which translates
as: “The souls of the just are in the hand of God and the torment of death
shall not touch them.” The organ is playing a simple bass line in the pedals undergirding
the voices. The tenors introduce the B section stating that “In the sight of
the unwise they seemed to die.” The organ plays a bit more hear as the choir
wanders far away from the home key of F major ending in the key of Db. The
choir cuts off and the organ continues with a rather awkward pedal line which
does not really help the choir to find F major again for the return of the A
section where the choir again brings comfort with the line “but they are in
peace.”
Saint-Saens wrote very few pieces for the organ and the
prelude for today, Meditation, is taken
from a set of three pieces not for the organ but for its cousin, the harmonium.
The harmonium is a reed organ which, like the pipe organ has stops and is
capable of playing different sounds based on the stops the performer chooses.
The harmonium is also capable of very subtle dynamic shading based on a pair of
knee levers that control the volume. This piece exploits the harmoniums ability
to add all of the stops with the pulling of one lever and to then illicit
various degrees of shading based on the manipulation of the knee levers. The
opening of the piece utilizes the harmonium’s split keyboard. Unlike the organ,
the harmonium has only one manual like the piano but the performer can choose
to have the same sound across the compass of the keyboard or to use contrasting
stops to allow for two distinct voices. The piece goes through sections of loud,
chromatic lines and dulcet tonal phrases before winding to a peaceful close.
The gradual anthem is by the great American organist and
church music composer, Leo Sowerby.
Sowerby (1895-1968) studied at the American Conservatory of Music and
from 1927-1962 served as organist at St. James’ Episcopal Church (in 1955 named
a cathedral). In 1946 he received the Pulitzer Prize in music for his cantata Canticle of the Sun. After retiring from
St. James’ he went to Washington DC to direct the newly founded College of Church
Musicians. His choral music is often very demanding, haven been written for
some of the top church choirs in the country. This setting of Psalm 121 for
choir and organ opens with an alto solo that before the choir comes in on the
third verse of the psalm. After the choir sings the fourth verse, the entire
alto section takes up the opening solo line while the other sections provide an
organ-like accompaniment. The sopranos then take up the second half of the
theme as the altos rejoin the rest of the ensemble. A faster B section sets verses
five and six before the alto soloist returns with a slightly altered version of
the original melody sung at the opening and a final choral “amen.”
This week the postlude is J.S. Bach’s chorale from the Orgelbüchlein, Wir danken dir, Herr Jesu
Christ BWV 623. This chorale is one in thanksgiving for the sacrifice of
Christ which, though a little premature at this stage is applicable to the gospel
lesson for the day. This brief setting shows Bach’s use of motif in his use of
a recurring lower neighbor tone (think do-ti-do) in the lower three voices’
accompaniment of the chorale tune. The final line of the chorale is one asking
for solace in our final hour. This piece is a happy conclusion to the service
but it is understood that the happiness and comfort was borne through pain and
suffering.
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