May 27, 2012 - Pentecost

Reflection on Down Ampney - Alice Jordan
Gloria: "Cum Sancto Spiritu" - Antonio Vivaldi
Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt BWV 68:
                                    "My Heart Ever Faithful" - J.S. Bach
Komm, Gott, Schopfer, heiliger Geist - J.S. Bach

Hymns: #513 Bridegroom, #516 Down Ampney,
              #347 Litton

This week’s music with the exception of the prelude is all taken from the Baroque era. To me, the light high energy feeling of the melismatic writing of Bach and Vivaldi perfectly captures the image of the Holy Spirit descending on the day of Pentecost.

The prelude is a setting of the beautiful English hymn tune Down Ampney written by Ralph Vaughan Williams(1872-1958) and arranged for organ by Alice Jordan (1916-2012). Ms. Jordan was a lifelong resident of Iowa and in 2002 was inducted into the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame. She was an avid patron of the arts and served on the board of several arts organizations. During her long career she composed more than 250 choral and organ works, many of which were commissions. This setting of Down Ampney makes use of the organ’s ability to hand off the melody and accompaniment from hand to hand, changing the character but not the quality of the sounds. The melody remains primarily in the middle register of the reed solo, somewhat evoking the sound of and English horn. It is accompanied by the flute stops before giving way to a lush rich coda played on all of the celeste stops on the organ. This piece is taken from the Marilyn Mason Music Library, a collection of pieces commissioned by and dedicated to Marilyn Mason, the longtime organ professor at the University of Michigan.

The Gradual anthem is the final movement of Vivaldi’s(1678-1741) Gloria (RV 589). Antonio Vivaldi composed three known settings of the Gloria, one of which has been lost and is identified only in catalogs of his works. Of his two surviving settings the two works have a great deal of similarities. The two works were probably composed while he was employed by Pio Ospedale della Pietà, and seem to draw inspiration from one another. The text “Cum sancto spiritu in Gloria dei Patris, Amen” (with the Holy Spirit in the glory of God the Father, may it be so) is set as a stile antico double fugue. This type of writing is a nod to the counterpoint of such Renaissance masters as Palestrina. Usually the movement is written using long note values, in the case of Cum Sancto Spiritu the piece is in 4/2.  The piece exists in another form in the lesser known RV 588 Gloria. It appears to be an arrangement of a piece by the lesser known composer Giovanni Maria Ruggieri whom Vivaldi greatly admired. There are some truly spectacular moments in this powerful fugue not the least of which is the powerful closing statement with the altos, tenors and basses singing the spirited dotted figure against the sopranos who seem to float above all of this on the opening theme.

The communion anthem is My Heart Ever Faithful taken from J.S. Bach’s Cantata No. 68,  Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt. This aria is actually borrowed from one of Bach’s secular cantatas, his Cantata 208 the Weimar Hunting Cantata. This piece opens with a statement of pure joy first in the ritornello (the melodic figure that introduces the piece and is repeated throughout). The more turbulent middle section contains drastic harmonic shifts and a more active accompaniment before the return of the theme of joy. The contrast of mood is even more evident when one considers the placement of this aria in the cantata. The opening chorus which precedes this is in a minor key and is rather dark. This piece then bursts forth adding greatly to the feeling of joy that is evident from the opening ritornello through the final concertato.

The postlude also comes from the pen of J.S. Bach. This time, it is his setting of the chorale Komm, Gott Schopfer, heiliger Geist, BWV 667. The chorale text is:

Come Holy Ghost, creator blessed
Come Almighty God, Holy Ghost
Come God, Creator, Holy Ghost
Come gracious spirit, heavenly dove

And is a setting of the familiar hymn Veni Creator. This piece begins with a rhythmic motive in the hands and the pedal playing on the third eighth note of each group, probably representing that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. The chorale tune is first presented in the soprano before being introduced in the pedal. This chorale is light and flowing despite the full registration that it seems to warrant. This piece is one of the “18 Leipzig chorales” and as with the aria of Cantata 68, captures the lightness but also the joy of the “spirit” (pun fully intended) of the day of Pentecost.

May 20, 2012 - Easter 7/Sunday after the Ascension

Ten Pieces in Style Libre: "Larghetto"
                                                             - Charles Tournemire
O Be Joyful in the Lord (Jubilate Deo) - Leo Sowerby
Peace I Leave With You - Walter L. Pelz

Hymns: #460 Hyfrydol, #307 Bryn Calfaria, #481 Gopsal

The gradual anthem is a setting of O Be Joyful in the Lord, or Jubilate Deo by the American composer and church musician, Leo Sowerby (1895-1968). Sowerby spent most of his career playing and teaching in Chicago. He was born in Grand Rapids, MI he began his piano studies at age seven but taught himself theory and organ. He served in the US Army as a clarinetist and bandmaster and in 1921 he was awarded the Prix de Rome and studied in Italy for three years. Upon his return to the US he was appointed choir director and organist of St. James Episcopal Cathedral where he served from 1927-1961. In 1932 he joined the composition faculty of the American Conservatory where he taught until 1962. He also helped to found and served as director of the College of Church Musicians in Washington D.C. until his death in 1968. Sowerby’s church music is demanding for both the organist and the choir. This setting of the Jubilate Deo is one of the easier compositions from the choir’s point of view but offers its share of challenges. There are some tricky skips in the choral line as well as many difficulties in fitting the rather dissonant organ part in with the unison choir line. The choir and the organ trade lines back and forth including lines featuring the trumpet stop playing a spirited melody.

The communion anthem is from the pen of Walter L. Pelz(b. 1926), a recitalist and Professor Emeritus of music at Bethany College. This setting of John 14:27 in ABA form is a simple and gentle setting of this beloved text. The piece opens and closes with chordal writing for the choir with flowing lines in the inner parts. The B section contains the only imitative writing in the work with a more active theme that is introduced by the altos and then handed off through the rest of the choir but the imitation is short lived. The choir joins together after each part has had its turn on the text, “Let not your heart be troubled.” The work closes with the hushed assurance that “my peace I give unto you” cascading through the choir from the sopranos down.

The prelude is by the French Romantic composer Charles Tournemire (1870-1939). This Larghetto is the fourth of Ten Pieces in Free Style composed for the organist Joseph Bonnet. Tournemire studied the organ with Franck and Widor at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1898 he was appointed organist of St. Clotilde, a position previously occupied by Gabriel Pierne and his teacher Cesar Franck. This piece features the Vox Celeste stop. This stop is actually a stop made up of two pipes per note. The first is the main pipe, a narrow scaled soft voice “string pipe” (meant to imitate the sound of orchestral strings). The second pipe is tuned slightly sharp to intentionally create an “out-of-tune” undulating effect that causes the stop to shimmer.

May 13, 2012 - Easter 6: Celebration of the Arts

Chichester Psalms - Leonard Bernstein
MASS: "Simple Song" - Leonard Bernstein
Hymns: #412 Earth and All Stars, #292 Kingsfold,

              #787 Siyahamba

Chichester Psalms was commissioned in December 1963 by Dean of Chichester Cathedral, Rev. Dr. Walter Hussey for performance at the annual Southern Cathedrals Festival of 1965. Hussey had a great interest in contemporary arts and said of himself: “I’m not a frustrated artist. Really, I’m very happy as I am. But it’s always been my endeavor to get live, vigorous contemporary art in the service of the church.” He asked for a piece for the choir of men and boys that used a modest instrumental ensemble (strings and perhaps brass consort and piano or organ) and suggested a setting of Psalm 2 with a “hint of West Side Story.” What he got was a three movement set of Psalms scored for a choir of men and boys and an instrumental ensemble consisting of strings, brass, two harps and “the most elaborate battery of percussion ever to be heard in a cathedral.” The work received its premiere not at the Southern Cathedrals Festival, but instead in an all Bernstein performance at Philharmonic Hall in New York City with Bernstein conducting on July 15, 1965. The Southern Cathedrals Festival is regarded as the “true premiere” because it was the first performance with a choir of men and boys, as Bernstein intended.

Leonard Bernstein took a sabbatical to focus on composition from 1964-1965. It was his intention during this time to write a musical called The Skin of Our Teeth based on the 1941 Thorton Wilder play. This project never panned out but some of the music for this abandoned project went into Chichester Psalms. In fact most of the thematic material for Chichester Psalms comes from sketches of discarded music from West Side Story and The Skin of Our Teeth. This no doubt accounts for the theatrical nature of the piece as well as the popular style that Hussey was looking for with the commission.

The work is organized into three movements with the second and third being played without break. Each movement is a setting of one complete psalm and a fragment of another complementary psalm. In a letter dated May 11, 1965 Bernstein describes the work:

Movement 1: Opens with a chorale (Ps.108:3) evoking praise; and then swings into Ps. 100    

                      complete, a wild and joyful dance in the Davidic spirit.

Movement 2: Consists mainly of Ps. 23 complete, featuring a boy solo and his harp, but

interrupted savagely by the men with threats of war and violence (Ps. 2:1- 4). This movement ends in unresolved fashion with both elements, faith and

         fear, interlocked.

Movement 3: Begins with an orchestral prelude based on the opening chorale, whose

                      assertive harmonies have now turned to painful ones. There is a crisis; the tension    
                      is suddenly relieved, and the choir enters humbly and peacefully singing Ps. 131,   
                      complete, in what is almost a popular song (although in 10/4 time!). It is something like
                      a love duet. In this atmosphere of humility, there is a final chorale coda, (Ps. 133:1) – a 
                      prayer for peace.

The work was also orchestrated in a version for organ, harp and percussion, the version that will be presented today – probably at the request of Bernstein’s publisher. This piece is perhaps the only work in the standard choral literature that is entirely in Hebrew. The piece reflects Bernstein’s heritage, his penchant for drama and a quest for peace, both in the world and on a personal level. Dr. Hussey said of the artists that he worked with “I don’t ask them to say a Creed, but I do insist they have a blazing sincerity.” Bernstein’s sincerity shines through especially in the concluding chorale on the text:

Hineh mah tov, umah naim, Shevet ahim gam yahad. Amen.

Behold how good, and how pleasant it is, For brothers to dwell together. Amen.

Bernstein’s MASS was commissioned for the 1971 dedication of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Bernstein had long had a connection with John F. Kennedy. His Third Symphony, Kaddish is dedicated to him; indeed he was orchestrating the third movement when he received news of the assassination. Bernstein had also been chosen to consult and conduct the music for the funeral. The work is subtitled “A Theatre piece for Singers, Players, and Dancers, and deals with, as does much of Bernstein’s oeuvre, a crisis of faith. The backbone of the piece is the Catholic liturgy. There are interspersed throughout hymns and psalm texts, some by the lyricist and composer Stephen Schwartz who had recently risen to notoriety for his musical, Godspell. In MASS a young man called only “the Celebrant” who wrestles with the deterioration of his faith. Simple Song comes from Bernstein’s preoccupation with St. Francis of Assisi. Bernstein had been approached by Franco Zeffirelli to compose the soundtrack for his biopic on St. Francis, Brother Sun, Sister Moon. The listener can hear the bird song (played by the solo flute stop on the organ) that is often associated with this saint. Bernstein also identified the Celebrant as an extension of himself. Humphrey Burton writes in his biography of Leonard Bernstein, “When he [the Celebrant] sings ‘A Simple Song’ he must be not only St. Francis and the Celebrant but also an incarnation of Bernstein himself – the child inside the man who, like his image of Beethoven, ‘never grew up and to the end of his life remained a creature of grace and innocence and trust.’”

May 6, 2012 - Easter 5

Symphony in g minor: "Adagio Cantabile"

                                                               - Edwin H. Lemare

Greater Love Hath No Man - John Ireland

My Eyes For Beauty Pine - Herbert Howells

Festival Toccata - Percy Fletcher

Hymns: #296 ENGELBERG, #487 THE CALL, #182 TRURO

For this week’s music I have turned to the English Romantic School. These four composers made important contributions to choir and organ repertoire despite never being regarded as major composers. As is often the case with organist/composers, their output largely remains confined to works for the church or for their own instrument, the organ. This is certainly the case with the virtuoso organist Edwin H. Lemare(1866-1934). Lemare began his life and career in England at the Royal Academy of Music in 1876. Ten years later he obtained his F.R.C.O. and served for a short period as an organ professor and examiner for the Royal School. In 1900 he left for a hundred recital tour of the US and Canada and stayed in the States to make a career as a concert organist. He served as Civic organist for the cities of San Fransisco,CA; Portland, ME; and Chattanooga,TN. His best known composition is his Andantino in Db which gained even greater popularity when Ben Black and Charles N. Daniels added words to the tune and it became known as Moonlight and Roses. The prelude today comes from Lemare’s Opus 35 Symphony in g minor (1899). As is true of most of Lemare’s writing, he makes use of the orchestral resources of the large symphonic organs that he plays. In this piece a very simple but elegant melody is passed between the flute, string and solo diapasons of the organ. He then introduces a countermelody which does the same. The two themes are combined and again passed between hands and stops. The piece ends, in typical Lemare fashion, with the organist “thumbing down” a solo flute note on the Great while holding sustained chords on the strings of the Swell.

The postlude is by the English composer Percy Fletcher (1879-1932). Fletcher is remembered primarily as a composer of “light” music for the theatre. Much of his short career was spent as a music director in London where he served several different theatres before being appointed to the post at Her Majesty’s Theatre in 1915, the post he retained for the rest of his life. Fletcher wrote for all mediums including church music, part-songs, keyboard compositions and perhaps most famously brass bands. In 1913 he was commissioned to write a piece for brass band. Fletcher’s Labour and Love and Epic Symphony set a new and higher standard for brass band compositions that led to works by other major British composers. The Festival Toccata exploits the unique tonal characteristics of the English Romantic organ, making use of the “full Swell” and the solo Tuba. The work goes back and forth between alternating chords between the hands to sweeping scalar gestures to brassy chords on the Swell reeds and the solo Tuba before combing all of these into a grand finale truly befitting a festive occasion. I thought this would be a good piece to kick off the Celebration of the Arts week.

The gradual anthem is Greater Love Hath No Man. This anthem by John Ireland (1879-1962) draws its text from the Song of Solomon and the Gospel of John. The anthem combines the image of Christ laying down His life for us but also makes reference to the idea of laying down your life for another. It is a common motet for times of remembrance. John Ireland was a lifelong bachelor with the exception of a very short marriage from 1926-1928. He was educated at the Royal School of Church Music where he later became a teacher himself. In addition to his teaching responsibilities he served as organist and choirmaster at St. Luke’s Church, Chelsea. This position was likely the reason for much of his sacred output which includes the hymn tune My Song Is Love Unknown as well as several other anthems and a Communion Service in C which is still performed today. He led a quiet and uneventful life and was very critical of his early compositions, most of which he destroyed. John Ireland retired in 1953 and spent the rest of his life living in a converted windmill in Sussex. This year marks the 50^th anniversary of his death.

The communion anthem is My Eyes for Beauty Pine by Herbert Howells(1892-1983). Today the setting will be performed as a solo (it can also be done with SATB choir – primarily in unison). Herbert Howells is primarily remembered for his large output of Anglican Church Music. His life was marked by many challenges and tragedies including a diagnosis of Graves disease while studying at the Royal College of Music and the death of his nine-year-old son Michael from polio. This latter event colored most of Howell’s writing including his Hymnus Paradisi for the 1949 Three Choirs Festival, and his motet Take Him, Earth, for Cherishing, commissioned for the memorial service of John F. Kennedy. The text of My Eyes is by the British poet laureate from 1913-1930 Robert Bridges (1844-1930). Bridges received his education at Eton College and Corpus Christi College, Oxford. It was his intent to practice medicine until age forty and then devote his life to poetry. Lung disease, however forced him to retire from medicine two years earlier than planned. He published his first collection of poems in 1873. Bridge’s faith is evident in much of his work as a writer. Unlike his contemporaries, his poetry and literary criticism is filled with restraint, purity and precision. Bridges did not achieve much notoriety until shortly before his death. His contribution to literary analysis of Milton and his hymn texts, along side his Testament of Beauty are his most lasting contributions. This setting by Howells marries Bridges text with a wandering melody which for illustrates the singers longing for the beauty that is then found in the concluding verse of the text.