May 11, 2014 - Easter 4

Kilgore Suite: Prelude on "Jewels" - Charles Callahan
The King of Love My Shepherd Is - Edward Bairstow
Messiah: "How Beautiful are the Feet" - G.F. Handel
How Firm a Foundation - Carolyn Hamlin

Hymns: #213 Middlebury, #664 Resignation,
              #304 Land of Rest

This week the music is (with one exception) based on folk melodies. Edward Bairstow’s setting of the Irish tune, “St. Columba,” Charles Callahan’s setting of William Cushing’s hymn tune “Jewels” and Carolyn Hamlin’s setting of “Foundation” along with the hymns “Resignation,” “Middlebury” and “Land of Rest” create a bouncy and joyous service for Good Shepherd Sunday and Mother’s Day.

Charles Callahan(b.1951) is an American organist and composer. A graduate of the Curtis institute and Catholic University, Dr. Callahan has garnered many prominent commissions during his career including works for Harvard University and music for papal visits. In 1999 he was awarded the Papal Honor of Knighthood in the Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem. Prelude on “Jewels” is taken from Callahan’s Kilgore Suite, a set of four American folk songs commissioned by the First Presbyterian Church of Kilgore Texas in honor of Jimmie Culp’s twenty-fifth year as organist. The piece opens with soft chords in the manuals that are simple but full of color. An oboe solo introduces Cushing’s simple hymn tune. The chords return with strings added to create a lush full texture with a solo played on the great principal. The soft calm of the beginning returns as a solo flute line draws the piece to a close. The text of this hymn is fitting for the lessons this week, the second verse talks of Jesus gathering in the jewels (his people) as bright gems for his crown; much like a shepherd with gather his sheep.

The gradual anthem is Edward C. Bairstow’s (1874-1946) setting of the Irish folk melody, St. Columba with Sir Henry W. Baker’s poetic translation of the 23^rd psalm. The anthem is broken up into six distinct verses, each corresponding to one of the verses of the psalm. The first is sung in four part harmony with almost no accompaniment. The sopranos and tenors sing the second verse in canon with the sopranos “leading” the tenors. The third verse features the basses in unison above an angular, staccato accompaniment figure. Verse four is similar to the first verse. The choir sings in four parts mostly unaccompanied trading versets with the organ.  The sopranos sing a countermelody for the fifth verse while the organ plays the hymn tune. Perhaps this is to illustrate the idea of “going astray.” The final verse begins in a broad unison and splits into parts as it progresses before the very soft conclusion is reached.

The communion anthem, the only piece that is not based on a folk tune, is taken from Handel’s Messiah. This text from Romans 10 uses an image from Isaiah 52 to illustrate the central point of Christ’s command to go unto all the world and to preach the Gospel. Leonard Van Camp places this aria and the choruses that bookend it into “Scene Four of Part II: Spreading the Gospel.”  The chorus The Lord Gave the Word is set with the “company of the preachers” flying in all directions to preach the gospel. The aria follows and then is confirmed with the chorus Their Sound is Gone Out. This text was reset by Handel in three different versions, the first for solo soprano, the more extensive alto setting which you will hear today and a duet and chorus setting which he ultimately rejected. The lilting pastorale setting is reminiscent of He Shall Feed His Flock in part one and reflects quietly on the matters sung about so exuberantly in the previous chorus.

Carolyn Hamlin has spent much of her career as the organist at First Baptist Church in Easley, South Carolina. Her hymn arrangements exploit the many colorful sounds available on the organ and always set the hymns with the text in mind. This setting of the traditional Southern Harmony hymn tune is a solid but rousing illustration of the firm foundation of faith that is the result of the Handel aria’s messengers. The arrangement opens with large colorful chords and accented (as much as the organ is capable of accents) bass notes. The second verse begins on a slightly softer sound and builds placing the left hand sixteenth notes in the pedal as the piece builds to a climax played on full organ.