December 1, 2013 - Advent 1

Es ist ein Ros entsprunger - Johannes Brahms
Wake, Awake, for Night is Flying - F. Melius Christiansen
There Shall a Star of Jacob Come Forth
                                                               - Felix Mendelssohn
Messiah: "Overture" - G.F. Handel

Hymns: #59 Merton, #724 Besancon Carol, #57 Helmsley

The prelude is Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) setting of the chorale tune Es ist ein Ros entsprungen Op.122 No.8. This tune was first published in Alte Catholische Geisliche Kirchengasäng in 1599. The tune’s composer is unknown, the carol we have come to know as Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming was arranged by Michael Praetorius. The chorale preludes by Brahms were written in 1896 and published posthumously in 1902. The last piece in this collection is based on O Welt, ich muss dich lassen" ("O World, I Now Must Leave Thee") which some people believe to be Brahms making peace with the end of his life. This gentle setting alternates between manuals using the soft 8’ and 4’ stops of the organ and no pedals to paint a gentle picture of the blooming rose as the lines wind gently up and back down to where they began.

The postlude is the overture to Handel’s (1685-1759) Messiah. This piece is often performed at Christmas despite being written for a secular performance during Lent. The first section of the work deals with the prophesy and birth of Christ. Many of Handel’s oratorios begin with overtures. This one begins in the French overture style with angular dotted figures with the second half being a fugue. The dark mood of this overture captures the image of a world without hope, a world awaiting a savior and sets the tone for the dark prophesies of the cleansing that the world must undergo.

Wake, Awake for Night is Flying is a setting of the chorale tune Wachet Auf by the sixteenth century composer Philipp Nicolai. This setting is by the former director of the St. Olaf Choir, F. Melius Christiansen (1871-1955). Christiansen was born in Norway and moved to the United States in 1888. He studied at Augsburg College and in 1901 was recruited to work with the St. Olaf Choir making them one of the foremost a cappella choirs in the country. This arrangement uses texture and tone painting to illustrate the text of Nicolai’s Advent poem.

Mendelssohn’s (1809-1847) There Shall a Star of Jacob Come Forth also makes use of a chorale by Nicolai, Wie schon leuchtet der Morgenstern, called “The Queen of Chorale tunes” (Wachet Auf being the King). This chorus is taken from the unfinished oratorio Christus Op. 97 which is an oratorio, like Messiah based on the life of Christ. The anthem opens with a simple rising figure that then moves to a very dramatic middle section telling that this “star” shall destroy princes and cities. The work ends with a lush setting of the Nicolai chorale.

November 24, 2013 - Christ the King Sunday

Trumpet Tune - Flor Peeters
I Was Glad - Charles Hubert H. Parry
Requiem: "In Paradisum" - Gabriel Faure
Elegie - Louis Vierne

Hymns: #494 Diadmeta, #382 General Seminary,
              #598 Mis Freuden zart

This week’s music transitions from the majesty and glory of Christ the King toward the more solemn attitude of Advent and a world awaiting a Savior – which makes it a world without a Savior. The music this week is all European, a Belgian trumpet tune, an English coronation anthem and a French communion anthem and postlude. Perhaps a better uniting factor for the music this week is that each piece captures a very definite mood. They are, in essence, character pieces.

Charles Hubert H. Parry’s (1848-1918) setting of Psalm 122 is the gradual anthem this week. I Was Glad was written for the coronation of King Edward VII in 1902 and was revised in 1911 for the coronation of King George V. The setting by Parry is different from those preceding it by Boyce and Purcell in Parry’s use of strategically placed performing groups. The opening was sung by the Abbey choir with a 430 voice “General choir” joining at “Jerusalem is builded.” “O pray for the peace of Jerusalem” is sung by a smaller semi-chorus and the “vivet”s are sung by the King’s Scholars and the king and queen pass under the rood screen. The final triumphant statement of “plenteousness” is aptly sung by the combined forces.  Though Parry is remembered for this anthem and Jerusalem another contribution is the one he made as a teacher. Vaughan Williams, Howells, and Holst are among the students that Parry taught while at the Royal College of Music. This anthem captures all of the joy and hope that comes with a new monarch – Godly or earthly. I think that it is a fitting close to the church year as we begin the new liturgical calendar.

On that same note, I thought it fitting to open the service with a festive trumpet tune. This one is by the Belgian composer, Flor Peeters(1903-1986). Peeters is primarily known for his church music and organ compositions.  Trumpet tunes are a standard part of the organ literature. They usually involve a call and response of some sort between a solo trumpet stop on the organ and the full organ sound. This piece does just that. There is a trumpet solo with accompaniment that alternates with contrasting themes played on the other keyboards. The piece is bright and festive but also has a bit of crunch to the harmonies with quick modulations The piece is joyful and declamatory, everything you need before singing Crown Him With Many Crowns.

In Paradisum is the final movement of Gabriel Faure’s (1845-1924) Requiem Op. 48. Faure states that he began work on the Requiem “for the pleasure of it” but he had lost both his parents in the two years before he began work on the piece. This Requiem, unlike the Mozart from a few weeks ago is about peace. The work is not a full liturgical mass and this movement takes its text from the Burial Service. Its text is:

“May angels lead you into paradise; upon your arrival, may the martyrs receive you and lead you to the holy city of Jerusalem. May the ranks of angels receive you, and with Lazarus, once a poor man, may you have eternal rest.”

And is also included in Durufle’s setting of the Requiem. It is traditionally sung in procession from the final blessing of the corpse from the church to the graveyard where the burial takes place. This movement makes extensive use of the harp (for us a solo flute stop) to create a picture of the ranks of angels that the text references. This piece is about hope and rest.

The Elegie by Louis Vierne (1870-1937) is taken from his collection of 24 pieces in Free Style written fro organ or harmonium. The piece is dedicated to Georges Krieger (1885-1914) a colleague of Vierne’s who died at a very young age. The piece is typical of Vierne’s writing. It is very chromatic and quite expressive. I thought that this piece paired well with the hope of the Faure and served as an excellent transitionary piece to the more somber season of Advent.

November 17, 2013 - Proper 28

Aria - Dale Wood
Messiah: "Why Do the Nations?" - G.F. Handel
My Lord What a Morning - Harry Burleigh

Hymns: VF109 Earth and All Stars, #9 Morning Song,
              LEVAS #210 Riverside

Two of the pieces this week were written by American composers and the third is taken, yet again, from Handel’s Messiah.

It’s amazing to me how many times I have turned to that work for the perfect piece on a text for the day. The work covers the entire life of Christ and is familiar enough to perform on an “easy” Sunday but has enough seldom sung choruses and arias that it can add variety to the service. I can’t help but wonder where I would turn if this piece had never been written. Why Do the Nations? is what is known as a “rage aria” which is similar to his dramatic opera arias with extensive runs and tremolos in the strings. The language of the aria is somewhat antiquated. It is the story of David being established on the throne despite the efforts of his enemies. Handel, however, uses it as a commentary on Christ with the nations rebelling against his teachings. This aria is immediately followed by the chorus Let Us Break Their Bonds Asunder which basically states that this whole idea is ridiculous and God will triumph. Oddly enough, the aria is generally included in performance but the chorus is not.

The prelude is an Aria by Dale Wood (1934-2003). To say that Wood was an active church musician is a huge understatement. Wood served as organist and choirmaster of several churches throughout the US and has sold more than eight million copies of his music. In addition to these duties he was also an active researcher and writer, contributing to many journals and serving as an editor of many hymnals still in use today. This piece shows Wood’s ability to craft a lovely melody and to set it in a way that is both interesting and playable. This piece is an aria, a song, for organ with the melody “sung” by the cromorne, a soft buzzy reed stop accompanied by the strings of the swell.

The communion anthem is Harry Burleigh’s (1866-1949) setting of My Lord What a Morning. Burleigh devoted his life to music. He was born in Erie, Pennsylvania and attended the National Conservatory of Music. It was here that he met Antonin Dvorak, the director of the school, and became his copyist. He frequently sang spirituals for Dvorak – possibly leading to the composition of Symphony 9. After graduation Burleigh went on to serve as a soloist in the 1904 premiere of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's musical Hiawatha's Wedding Feast. He served as an arranger, lecturer, church musician, and composer for the remainder of his life elevating spirituals to the level of art song. This beautiful song is both sad and hopeful at the same time. Sad in that the world is ending but hopeful (especially considering that it originated as a song sung by slaves) because it tells of leaving this world for heaven. This is the story of someone assured in their faith and future. It is a piece of personal promotion and reassurance rather than a piece warning others of the impending end of the world.

November 10, 2013 - Proper 27

Chorale Prelude on "Stuttgart" - Lee Hastings Bristol Jr.
Messiah: "And He Shall Purify" - G.F. Handel
Requiem: "Lacrymosa" - W.A. Mozart
Concerto in g minor: "Allegro" - G. F. Handel

Hymns: #414 Stuttgart, #413 Rendez a Dieu,
              #404 Old 124th

The music this week is primarily British, with the exception of the Lacrymosa from the Mozart Requiem which is one last “leftover” of our performance last week. This week also marks the beginning of the choir’s next project, Part I of Messiah.

And He Shall Purify ends what Leonard Van Camp calls “Scene Two: The Purifying Messiah is Prophesied.” The chorus is preceded by the bass recitative, Thus Saith the Lord and the alto aria But Who May Abide which tells us that he will be “like a refiner’s fire” and that is how “he shall purify.” The text for this movement is taken from Malachi 3 which, in a rather frightening way describes the process by which the people of God will be redeemed from the wicked lives they are leading. It is hard to imagine that this movement is actually a repurposed love duet for two sopranos from an Italian opera but Handel originally composed this for the text “Life is a flower; it comes with the morning and dies with the spring of a single day. The chorus sails along alternating between light and bouncy melismatic lines and big chordal sections. This chorus, for me, has always offered a continued picture of the flames of the “refiner’s fire” purifying the “sons of Levi” (priests) and provides a fitting close to this scene and a “fiery” transition in to the much calmer and infinitely more pleasant scene to come.

The postlude is also by G.F. Handel (1685-1759) but the arrangement is from the organist William T. Best. It is the final movement of Handel’s Opus 4 No. 3 Concerto in g minor. These concerti are the most authentically Handel of the fifteen that he wrote. Their primary function was as part of an oratorio performance. The six concerti in this group were published in 1738. This concerto was probably written to be played as part of Handel’s Esther with the composer playing the solo keyboard part. The arrangement that I am playing today is for organ only and was arranged by the English organ virtuoso William T. Best(1826-1897). Best was a church organist, composer, and recitalist who was highly respected for his technical prowess and his knowledge and understanding of the literature. This arrangement is very different from the original, with its added pedal cadenza that would have hardly been possible on the limited pedal boards of an English organ. The same fire that is heard in the Messiah chorus can be found here in the winding pedal line of this dramatic finale.

The prelude is a setting of the opening hymn by Lee Hastings Bristol Jr. (1923-1979). Bristol was educated at Hamilton College and Trinity College of Music in London. He worked in public relations for the Bristol-Meyers Company and served as president of Westminster Choir College. In addition to his life as a musician, composer, and business man he was also a lay preacher in the Episcopal Church.  This Chorale Prelude on “Stuttgart” is a beautiful and contemplative piece that has a great deal of forward motion in the line without ever feeling like it is rushing. The hymn tune is attributed to Christian F. Witt because of its appearance in Psalmodia Sacra (1715), a collection compiled and edited by Witt which contained many tunes written by him. This lilting setting in 6/8 occasionally sends the listener searching for the tune as it is passed around alternating with a freely composed ritornello. It is a chance to explore some of the different “pastorale” sounds of the instrument.

The communion anthem is, as previously stated, a remnant of last Sunday’s performance. The Lacrymosa from W.A. Mozart’s (1756-1791) Requiem in d minor K626 is perhaps one of the most beautiful melodies in the Western canon. The Lacrimosa is the penultimate portion of the Dies Irae text, and in this setting combines the final two sections. Mozart brilliantly set the text for this “day of weeping” with a beautiful line that soars up and over to die away quietly. This movement is often shrouded in mystery and myth, not only is it a beautiful piece but Mozart died having completed only the first nine bars and sketches for the rest. In the 1960’s sketches for an “Amen” fugue to be placed at the end of the Sequence were found. Some scholars said that this was for another unfinished mass but recent scholarship suggests that it is likely that this fugue was meant to go at the end of this movement so that each major section of the work ended in a fugue.

November 3, 2013 - All Saint's

Requiem K626 - W. A. Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria in 1756 to Leopold, a musician and composer and Anna Maria Pertl. He demonstrated musical abilities at an early age and by the time he was six his father had taken him and his talented sister Nannerl to play in the courts of Bavaria and Vienna. 1763 was a busy year for the young prodigy. His father took him on an extended tour of Europe where he met several important musicians and composers including Johann Christoph Bach (son of Johann Sebastian). It was also the year that Mozart’s first compositions were published. In 1769 Mozart embarked on the first of three tours of Italy to learn to compose Italian opera, something which at the time was an essential skill for a composer. The final tour ended in 1773 at which point Mozart was truly beginning to flourish as a composer. He returned to Salzburg and took a position as court composer. In 1777 he decided to leave Salzburg but ultimately returned to a better post than the one he had left. In 1781 after the very successful premier of Idomeneo in Munich, Mozart was summoned to Vienna. It was here that Mozart met his wife, Constanze, a soprano and the daughter of old family friends. Though Mozart continued to compose, his concert appearances grew less frequent and despite artistic success the young family was very poor. Mozart was forced to borrow money from family and friends and began to make journeys to Dresden and Berlin in search of opportunities. 1791 brought with it the successful performance of The Magic Flute which the composer conducted just after returning from Prague. This premier was somewhat overshadowed by Mozart’s illness. The sickness progressed and Mozart died in his home on December 5, 1791 leaving the Requiem unfinished.

The Requiem K626 has long been shrouded in mystery. It was commissioned by Count Franz von Walsegg, a rather unscrupulous musician and nobleman who had a habit of anonymously commissioning works and passing them off as his own. Mozart never knew who had commissioned the work; he was approached by a stranger and in such dire financial straits that he didn’t question it. Stories that Mozart believed he was “writing his own Requiem” are just that, stories. He was very busy during his final year with two operas and his clarinet concerto and only after conducting the premier of The Magic Flute was he able to again focus on his commission. Unfortunately, Mozart died before the work was finished. He wrote the Introit and Kyrie but only the vocal parts, figured bass and sketches of the orchestration for the Sequence and Offertory. It was not, as Amadeus would suggest, completed by Salieri. Mozart’s friend Franz Xaver Sussmayr who had studied with the composer was contacted by Constanze to complete the work from Mozart’s sketches so that she could receive the money from the commission. Sussmayr completed the Lacrymosa, Sanctus and Benedictus as well as an unknown amount of the Agnus Dei. The final Communion portion is entirely by Sussmayr but is just a reworking of the opening music. The piece has gone on to occupy a very important place in the canon of choral literature and is frequently performed. Efforts have been made in recent years to find a more authentic reading of the piece, restoring a large fugal “Amen” to the Lacrymosa and completing it with bits of other works. The version presented today is the traditional version with Sussmayr’s work completing the piece. 

October 27, 2013 - Proper 25

Vater unser im Himmelreich - Samuel Scheidt
The Pharisee and the Publican - Heinrich Schutz
Memorial: "Kyrie" - Rene Clausen
Baroques: "Voluntary" - Seth Bingham

Hymns: #656 Franconia, #507 Julion,
              #679 Thomas Merton

The music this week is German and American with the Baroque period being well represented. The prelude and communion anthem are by two giants of the pre-Bach era in Germany, the postlude pays homage to E. Power Biggs and the organ reform movement and the communion anthem is a lush and haunting piece by a contemporary American composer.

The prelude is Samuel Scheidt’s (1587-1654) setting of Martin Luther’s Vater unser im Himmelreich. Samuel Scheidt was born in Halle (also the birth place of Handel) and studied in Amsterdam with the great Sweelinck. Scheidt brought much of what he learned of the style of the Netherlands to his appointment as Kappellmeister to the Margrave of Brandenburg. When the Thirty Years War broke out Scheidt was permitted to retain his employment – with no pay. In 1628 he was appointed Music Director of three churches in Halle which he served for ten years until his position as Kappellmeister was reinstated. This was after a bit of personal tragedy, when the plague of 1636 hit Germany his four children all died. This blow did not prevent him from becoming the first internationally successful organ composer of the North German School. His setting of the Lutheran version of the Lord’s Prayer is rather austere to today’s audience but is filled with delicate imitation as the piece’s rhythmic intensity waxes and wanes. The tension is also evident with a masterful use of push and pull through consonance and dissonance. This is clearly a prayer through the pen of someone who has known both sorrow and joy.

The communion anthem is also a prayer of sorts. Kyrie from René Clausen’s (b. 1953) Memorial is a haunting cry to God from a battered and broken people. This 2003 commission from the American Choral Director’s Association was written in response to the tragedy of September 11, 2003. The piece by Concordia professor, Clausen is difficult if not even painful to listen to, especially accompanied by the video footage from that day. This setting of the traditional mass text also contains echoes of the English translation “Lord have mercy” and the Hebrew name for God, “Adonai.” This setting with its lush harmonies and overlapping takes on penitence is a powerful statement even when separated from the rest of the work. As with the prelude, it is clear that the composer understood tragedy and wished to incorporate that into the piece. The major sevenths that are sung on the text “Adonai” remind me of Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and I can’t help but to think that Clausen had this somewhere in his ear as he was writing the piece. Its complex thickly textured sound is a fitting outcry of a bereft nation.

The gradual anthem is a The Pharisee and the Publican, a setting of Luke 18 by the German composer, Heinrich Schutz (1585-1672). This piece tells the story of a Pharisee who loudly proclaims his “prayer” in public, extolling the fact that he is not a sinner like other men – especially not like the publican while the publican (tax collector) simply asks for mercy. These two individuals are portrayed as solos, the Pharisee, a bass and the publican, a tenor. The story of these two souls is introduced by the ladies of the choir, and all join after the duet to tell the lesson of the story: “He that exalts himself shall be humbled and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.” Schutz and Scheidt were contemporaries but took rather different paths. Schutz studied with Giovanni Gabrieli in Venice and brought the Italian style of composition back to the court of the Elector of Saxony in Dresden where he spent the rest of his career and most of his life. Unlike Scheidt his position was unaffected by the Thirty Years War, he left for Venice and met Monteverdi while the war was going on and returned when it had ended. This piece, like the previous two is about prayer, pleading because the publican feels unworthy, a sentiment that I’m sure resonates with all of us.

Seth Bingham (1882-1972) is a composer that is little known to us today outside of his organ compositions and many of those are relegated to obscurity. Bingham studied at Yale and then in Paris with Widor, d’Indy, and Guilmant. He went on to a career as a church musician and professor teaching at Columbia, Yale, and Union Seminary while playing at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church.  Baroques is a five movement suite dedicated to the organist E. Power Biggs and reflects his position in the organ reform movement. This was a movement that departed from the decadence of the American symphonic organs and returned to the more austere traditions of the Baroque period which is reflected in the piece. This movement, Voluntary is in the style of the English voluntaries of John Stanley but uses Bingham’s harmonic language. Strong, stately sections are contrasted with lighter fugal interjections. The piece builds to a rousing finish.

The first three pieces primarily reflect an attitude of prayer while the finale is offered up in thankful praise, possibly for a prayer answered, I like to think so.

October 20,2013 - Proper 24

Auf Meinen lieben Gott - Dietrich Buxtehude
Coronation Anthem No. 2: "Let Justice and Judgment"
                                                                        - G. F. Handel
I to the Hills Lift Up Mine Eyes - Jean Berger

Hymns: #372 Leoni, #586 Pleading Savior, #797 It's Me

This week’s music comes from the pens of three German composers. Two of the pieces are seldom heard gems of the Baroque period and the third is a lovely choral psalm setting. These three pieces come together to give the service a gentle and almost melancholy attitude of prayer.

The gradual anthem is the middle portion of G.F. Handel’s (1685-1759) Coronation Anthem Let Thy Hand Be Strengthened. The second (or third depending on the numbering system you use) anthem of four was written for the coronation of King George II in 1727. One of the final acts of King George I was to declare Handel, who was of German birth, a British citizen. The anthem, in three parts, takes its text from Psalm 89 and was set for the 1685 coronation of James II by John Blow. This section speaks of justice and judgment surrounding the King and mercy going before him. The somewhat antiquated (even in Handel’s day) feel of this lilting anthem complements the triumphal opening and the closing “Alleluia.” The performance of this was a huge musical event that included 47 singers and 160 musicians.

The prelude is a setting of Auf meinen lieben Gott by Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707) which is a dance suite for manuals only, probably intended to be used at home on harpsichord or chamber organ rather than in the context of a worship service. The chorale is set in the dance forms of the day, single and double allemande, sarabande, courante and gigue. Buxtehude draws on both the Italian and French style of writing for these intimate pieces. The text translates as “In my beloved God I trust in anxiety and trouble” a fitting text to complement Handel’s Let Justice and Judgment and, coincidentally the two pieces are in the same meter and key. Another interesting tidbit that, I must confess was in the back of mind is that Handel applied met Buxtehude toward the end of his life and was offered the position of organist at the Marienkirche in Lubeck but turned it down because one of the stipulations was that he would have to marry Buxtehude’s oldest daughter who was, apparently not much of a catch. This setting allows the organist to show off some of the quieter combinations of the organ. It helps to create an atmosphere of prayer in the quiet time before the service starts.

The communion anthem was written by Jean Berger (1909-2002) a German born composer that immigrated to France during the Nazi occupation of Germany and in 1948 to the US as he began his career in academia. This modal setting of Psalm 121 begins with a chant like melody that starts with the sopranos and adds the altos on a beautiful descending line before moving to a homophonic section filled with unsettled seventh chords that never seem to resolve. Berger’s setting uses the text from the Bay Psalm Book rather than the Book of Common Prayer which gives the piece a slightly more old-fashioned feel to the text. Again, this piece is a very calm, very intimate feeling setting of a much beloved psalm of comfort that reminds us of where we should turn for help, a sentiment that likely rang true with the Jewish Berger in occupied Germany.

The music this week is all very calm, very melancholy. It captures the nature of the penitent heart and draws on the attributes of God for comfort. It uses a harmonic language that reminds us of the human suffering from which these emotions are sometimes born but not great tragedies, more day to day sadness. These are pieces for a day when things are just not what you hoped for, not where you wanted to be. They act as words of encouragement.