April 19, 2015 - Easter 3

Hear My Prayer - Felix Mendelssohn

Hymns: #174 Salzburg, #82 Divinum Mysterium, 

              #212 Richmond

The anthem this week is one of Felix Mendelssohn’s best known English choral works after Elijah. Hear My Prayer is a cantata for soprano, mixed choir and organ or orchestra written in 1844.The text was written by William Bartholomew (1793-1867) (who also collaborated with Mendelssohn on Elijah) an English librettist, composer and writer that made a living as a chemist. The work was premiered by Ann Mounsey, Bartholomew’s wife. The work has enjoyed a great deal of popularity because of a very successful 1927 recording by boy soprano Ernest Lough . The cantata is in two parts. The first is a recitative-esque call and response section. The second part is a lovely lyric aria filled with rolling triplets that evokes the gentle “wings of the dove” which also points toward the coming day of Pentecost.

April 12, 2015 - Easter 2

Duetto III - J.S Bach

b minor Mass: "Christe Eleison" - J.S. Bach

Messe Solennells: "Sanctus" - Charles Gounod

Grand Triumphal Chorus in A - Alexandre Guilmant 

Hymns: #210 Ellacombe, #193 Puer Nobis, 
              #209 St. Botolph

This week the music is two Bach duets and two French Romantic pieces. Both of the Bach duets are incredibly melismatic with imitation and interesting harmonic progressions. Gounod and Guilmant were both Catholic French Romantic organists skilled at improvisation. Both of these pieces are on the simpler side and geared more towards the smaller parish and the musicians that can’t improvise or didn’t write their own music for their programs.

The gradual anthem and prelude are two duets by J.S. Bach. The prelude is one of four duets from the Clavierubung III, Bach’s “Organ Mass.”  The prelude consists primarily of broken chords which makes it reminiscent of the trio sonatas and the third Brandenburg Concerto.  The gradual anthem is the “Christe Eleison” from the b Minor Mass for two sopranos. The piece is so interesting in the way that it works through harmonic progressions that are completely removed from the key that they appear to be in. This duet is very tender and beautiful piece that shows the intimate nature of the “God the son” personage of the Trinity.

The postlude is Guilmant’s “Grand Triumphal Chorus in A” from the “Practical Organist” a collection designed to teach organist not particularly inclined toward improvisation. These pieces and (overall) fairly simple pieces are in various different styles that illustrate the various portions of the Catholic Mass. The march acts as a pseudo trumpet tune that functions as a Rondo form march with the theme played on solo trumpet.

The communion anthem and postlude were written by the French composer Charles Gounod. Gounod is perhaps best known for his setting of the Ave Maria which uses the Bach C Major prelude from the Well Tempered Clavier as accompaniment. This music was introduced to him by Felix’s sister Fanny. Gounod’s music is often seen as less serious in nature than that of his contemporaries but some of that could be due to the popularity of it. Most of us recognize his Funeral March of the Marionette as the theme song of the Alfred Hitchcock Show. The anthem is taken from the Messe Solennelle for SATTBB choir and STB soli. The Sanctus alternates between a solo tenor aria and the full choir. The B section stacks dissonant parts and obscures the key before leading to a restatement of the theme, this time by the full choir. 

April 5, 2015 - Easter Sunday

Sing Ye to the Lord - Edward Bairstow

I Have Seen the Lord - Alan Hovhaness

Hymns: #207 Easter Hymn, #205 Gelobt sei Gott, 

              #199 St. Kevin

The anthems this week are both very personal statements of faith. The first is Edward C. Bairstow’s setting of Miriam’s song, Sing Ye To the Lord and the communion anthem I Have Seen the Lord by Alan Hovhaness an account of the events at the tomb after the resurrection of Christ.  Both of these detail very base very genuine accounts of the joy of Easter day.

The gradual anthem was written by the English organist Edward C. Bairstow (1874-1946). Bairstow served as the organist at York Minster from 1913 until his death. He was known for being a rather terse and blunt individual (perhaps a reason I find him appealing.)Most of Bairstow’s compositions are for the church. Having composed nearly 30 anthems for the Anglican Church he is enjoyed a successful career. The piece goes back and forth between a strong declamatory section and some slightly more meditative sections. The piece is announced with trumpets before the choir’s first entrance. The meter changes to a flowing section in three that is still full lauding the “Mighty Victim from the sky.” The dynamics drop to pianissimo with a sequence that rises in dynamics and pitches at the idea that Christ has opened Paradise and the Saints shall rise. The triple meter theme returns in unison and builds to a return of the opening fanfare for a final “Alleluia, Amen.”

Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000) was born in Somerville, Massachusetts. His father was an Armenian chemistry professor at Tufts College. His love of music began at an early age. He started piano lessons at age 7 and decided on a career in music by age 14. He studied at Tufts College and later at the New England Conservatory. He was greatly influenced by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius whom he visited in 1935. Later in his career he experienced some artistic disappointments which lead him to embrace the Armenian heritage his mother had tried to minimize. Over the course of his career he composed more than 500 pieces in various styles and mediums. I Have Seen the Lord is an Easter anthem for Soprano solo, mixed voices, Organ, and trumpet written in 1964. The anthem depicts the events in the garden on Easter morning. It opens with a trumpet solo which evokes images of the sun rising. The soprano soloist sings as both the angel and Mary while the choir acts as narrator. The trumpet returns this time without the organ underneath leading to the ending in 7/8 singing in the mode which the trumpet introduced during the interlude. In the final five measures the trumpet, choir and organ all join for a triumphal conclusion.

These two pieces speak in a vastly different musical language but both capture the joy and hope of the resurrection while not overlooking the mystery of the whole event. Both deal with the mystical images in the musical language (Hovhannes) and the text (Bairstow). The majesty and mystery of the day are captured in these two anthems.