April 20,2014 - Easter

Prelude in C BWV 531 - J.S. Bach
If Ye Then Be Risen With Christ - C.V. Stanford
The Day Draws On With Golden Light - Edward Bairstow
Carillon-Sortie - Henri Mulet

Hymns: #207 Easter Hymn, #191 Lux eoi, #199 St. Kevin

As in previous years the Easter service will open with the music of J.S. Bach (1685-1750) which has been a constant throughout the season of Lent.  This piece embraces the joyful and celebratory nature of Bach’s writing. This early Prelude in C, BWV 531 resembles the music of Buxtehude and Bohm more than the more complex writing of Bach. The piece opens with an extended pedal solo which gives way to arpeggios and scales that are little more than broad sweeping gestures that lead from one harmony to another.  The freedom of this piece captures the improvisatory nature of Bach’s organ writing. Pieces like this were seldom conceived as literature to be presented in a church or concert setting and more as an example of an improvisation that the organist would perform. In fact, pieces like this were often designed to be played while the orchestra was tuning for a performance. The prolonged harmonies allow the players to tune to the organ while it is holding a static pitch.

The postlude is the Carillon-Sortie by Henri Mulet (1878-1967). Mulet was a rather eccentric composer who is all but forgotten. Of his 88 years of life he only composed for 15 and spent the last thirty years of his life in seclusion. It is difficult to imagine that such a reclusive man would have crafted such an overtly joyful piece.  Like many French carillons, the piece has a repeated figure on top of a broad and stately melody line. This piece builds rhythmically going from sixteenth notes as the accompanying figure to 32^nd notes. The piece captures all of the joy of Easter.

The choir anthems are both by English Romantic composers. The gradual anthem was written in 1883 by Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924). Stanford was born in Ireland to a Protestant lawyer. He was educated at Queen’s College Cambridge. In 1874 he traveled to Germany and then France but he still returned to England to conduct various projects. Staonford went on to teach music at Cambridge and composition at the Royal College of Music. Stanford wrote for every major idiom and counted such greats as Bridge, Holst, and Vaughan Williams. His writing has the influence of his German training and his Celtic upbringing synthesized into a well crafted and very singable piece. If Ye Then Be Risen with Christ takes the tune “Salisbury” as part of its thematic material. The piece opens with a lovely rising line that is passed through the choir. The sopranos then introduce the next section of the piece which is then taken up by the rest of the choir. The A section returns which is followed by a section of “Hallelujah”s  which takes us to the end of the piece.

The communion anthem is English organist Edward Bairstown (1874-1946). The Day Draws on With Golden Light . This hymn with has a text by Ambrose of Milan (340-397). The piece is a rather simple anthem in unison or two parts featuring the men of the choir and the women of the choir alternating between melody and harmony. The organs colorful accompaniment leads the choir through a lilting melody in ¾. The piece builds to the middle before tapering back to the quietness in which the piece began.