Elijah: "And then shall your light break forth"
- Felix Mendelssohn
If Ye Love Me - Thomas Tallis
Hymns: #601 St. Michael, #341 Omni Dei, #779 Dunedin
This week’s music fits together in a kind of if/then
relationship. The first anthem extols God’s name and his greatness while the
second is his message to his people. Stylistically the two pieces are quite
different. Both are contrapuntal but with varying styles of polyphony. From a
mood stand point they couldn’t be more different although both pieces are
uplifting they have very different messages.
The same Hutchison is a composer, hornist, and teacher
having served several universities including Houghton College here is New York.
His more than 160 works have been premiered at the Kennedy Center and Lincoln
Center as well as other prestigious venues around the world. could be said for
the prelude and postlude, Warner Hutchison’s
(b. 1930) Sonatina for Baritone. The
second movement reflects moments of uncertainty and searching while the third
movement, filled with repetition is resolute in its joyful nature. This
dichotomy is further explored in the choir anthems for today.
The final chorus in Felix Mendelssohn’s (1809-1847) monumental
oratorio Elijah brings the piece to a
powerful close. And then shall your light
break forth follows the quartet O
Come Every One that Thirsteth. This all takes place after Elijah has ascended
to heaven on a fiery chariot and his mantle has been passed to the prophet
Elisha. Mendelssohn seems to be telling us that if we come to him (God) that
our “light will break forth,” “our health shall speedily spring forth,” and “the
glory of the Lord will reward us.” The choir then breaks out into a giant fugue
of praise about the excellence of the name of the Lord. This culminates in a huge “Amen” at the end
of the piece. This moves well into the
communion anthem by Tallis.
If Ye Love Me reminds us of God's promise to us to bring us
comfort through His Spirit in our time of need and throughout our life. I think
that Thomas Tallis's (1505-1585) setting is interesting because the first
phrase "If ye love me keep my commandments" is only heard at the
beginning of the piece. It is more about reinforcing the idea that we shall be
comforted and that God's Spirit will "bide with you forever." This is
in some way a follow up to the Mendelssohn because we end praising His name and
these are His instructions to us, but instructions that again end with a
reward, a promise. There are times when
I feel that Elijah could have benefited from a message like this, and in fact
got them from the various angelic figures in the story. The statement made by
this piece is no less powerful than the large accompanied fugal writing of the
gradual anthem but it manages to make its statement with soft, unaccented vocal
lines that gently rise and fall in a very unassuming way toward the hollow open
fifth that ends the piece.
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