October 5, 2014 - Proper 22

Sonata No. 6: "Andante" - Felix Mendelssohn

The Creation: "Achieved is the Glorious Work"

                                                                            - F.J. Haydn

Teach Me, O Lord - Thomas Attwood

The Creation: "Chaos" - F.J. Haydn

Hymns: #628 St. Ethelwald, #431 Aldine, 

              #598 Mit Freuden Zart

The gradual anthem and postlude are both taken from Franz Joseph Haydn’s (1732-1809) monumental oratorio The Creation. Written between 1796 and 1798 this was Haydn’s response to hearing performances of Handel’s oratorios during his visits to England between 1791 and 1795. The text for the oratorio is taken from Genesis, Psalms and John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Haydn was given a poem by Johann Peter Salomon but the actual author is unknown. Haydn turned the text over to Baron van Swieten who wrote both an English and German version of the libretto.  The work is in three acts with the first two depicting the six days of Creation and the third part takes place in the Garden of Eden with soloists singing the roles of Adam and Eve.

The postlude is the famous overture “Chaos” which depicts the universe prior to the six days of creation.  The piece creates a great deal of tension by delaying cadence points at phrase endings.  The gradual anthem,  “Achieved is the Glorious Work” is the final movement of part 2. The stately opening of this chorus is actually sung two movements before and followed by a trio for the three angel soloists. This iteration opens with the stately opening theme and then quickly moves into a large double fugue. The movement brings the first and second part to a close stating that the creation of the world is completed and that God alone reigns on high. During Arthur Poister’s time at Hendrick’s Chapel the choir would launch into this triumphal chorus anytime he played the opening Bb arpeggio.

The communion anthem was written by Thomas Attwood(1765-1838). Attwood received his early training as a chorister in the Chapel Royal and later traveled to Vienna to study with Mozart. In 1796 he was appointed organist of St. Paul’s Chapel and composer to the Chapel Royal. In 1823 he was appointed professor at the Royal Academy of Music. Among his student was John Goss, another English church composer. Attwood’s style and influence can be seen in the compositions of Goss. This simple setting of Psalm 119 is a prayerful request for God to teach us his ways that we will “keep them unto the end.”

The prelude is the final movement of the final sonata of Mendelssohn’s (1809-1847) Mendelssohn and Attwood were friends. Mendelssohn dedicated his three preludes and fugues to the London organist.  This meditative movement is a bit of a strange way to end a sonata but when you consider the genesis of these works it makes sense. These pieces were not conceived as sonatas by the composer but were grouped that way by Mendelssohn’s London publisher to make them more appealing to British audiences.