March 22, 2015 - Lent 5

An Wasserflussen Babylon - J.S. Bach
By the Waters of Babylon - Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Behold the Saviour of Mankind - Frances Williams
An Wasserflussen Babylon - Sigfrid Karg-Elert

Hymns:#709 Dundee, #474 Rockingham,
             #439 Wondrous Love

The theme for this week’s music was largely taken from Psalm 137 which is not the psalm for the day but one that fits in with the themes of Lent as we approach the events of Holy Week. The other source is a text by Samuel Wesley (1662-1735) set to music by the Welsh born composer Frances Williams (1904-1978). These texts lead us directly into the highly emotional events of Holy Week and Easter.

An Wasserflüssen Babylon (By the Rivers of Babylon) was written in 1525 by Wolfgang Dachstein (1487-1553). Dachstein was a German monk that joined the Reformation cause in 1525 and was appointed organist and assistant preacher of St. Thomas’ Church. The two settings presented today are vastly different in style but use similar textures to create the effect of the flowing rivers. The setting by J.S. Bach (1685-1750) BWV 653 from the “Great Eighteen Chorales” places the chorale tune in the tenor register as an ornamented solo. The piece is a ritornello chorale prelude with a second composed theme that is presented inbetween phrases of the chorale theme. The piece is a sarabande – a slow dance in 3 with falling lines and increased chromaticism as the work progresses. This helps to draw out the mournful nature of the text. The second setting is by the German composer Sigfrid Karg-Elert and is taken from his 66 Chorale-Improvisations. This setting is also intended to be played tenderly in a lilting 3 with a solo and accompaniment structure. In this setting the accompaniment is filled with creeping chromatic lines that descend in a weeping winding manner. The final phrase changes everything with a rising line played not on the reed solo of the beginning but on a solo flute accompanied by the soft string stops of the swell.

The choir also presented a setting of Psalm 137 for the gradual anthem. This setting was written by the Afro-British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912). He was born in Holborn, London the son of Alice Hare Martin, a British woman, and Dr. Daniel Peter Hughes Taylor of Sierra Leone. The two never married because Taylor returned home to Africa unaware that Martin (herself an illegitimate child) was pregnant. Martin’s brother was a professional musician and guided Coleridge-Taylor to an education at the Royal College of Music where he studied violin as well as composition by C.V. Stanford. In 1899 he married Jessie, a former RCM student. Her parents were against the major because of Coleridge-Taylor’s mixed race heritage. The couple had two children, Hiawatha (probably named for the title character in his most famous composition) and Gwendolyn. Upon the success of his cantata Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast, a setting of Longfellow’s poem, he embarked on a tour of the United States. He became very interested in the Pan-African movement and was well received by the African American community. His setting of By the Waters of Babylon starts as a very typical setting of this well-known text. The difference is that he sets the entire psalm which takes a rather grim turn toward the end. The psalm is a poignant psalm of lamentation. The text tells the story of an oppressed people held captive. Their enemies are taunting them (There is a great deal of parallel here with the trial and crucifixion of Christ) telling them to “sing one of the songs of Zion” but they refuse because they cannot sing it in a foreign land. A quartet sings verses 5 and 6 stating that they would rather be silent than to sing to these songs to the false gods of their captors. This is taken up by the full choir who remind the listener of the way that the Edomites razed Jerusalem. In the last verse we see the wrathful God of the Old Testament stating that “Blessed shall he be that taketh thy children, and throweth them against the stones.” This – although difficult to hear does capture the anger of an enslaved people. It is interesting that Coleridge-Taylor set this text in this way. I think that it is a text that may have resonated with him as he thought of his African heritage, the ending of slavery, and British imperialism.

The communion anthem is Frances Williams’ setting of Samuel Wesley’s text Behold the Saviour of Mankind. This short and simple a cappella motet is a meditation on the Crucifixion and the prophecy of what is to come after. Williams was born in Wales and emigrated to Seattle, WA with her family in 1913. She was educated at Julliard where she studied piano and composition. Throughout her career she was very devoted to her Welsh roots. The last project that she was working on when she died was editing the Jubilee Edition of the Welsh National Gymanfa Ganu Association Hymnal. The tune by Williams embodies the many moods of this short text but this text is often paired with the hymntune “New Britain” better known as “Amazing Grace.”