March 9, 2014

Each week, you may find information here about the organ music and hymns in the traditional worship services at First United Methodist Church in Lewisville, Texas.  Some of this information is original; much of it is "borrowed" from other sources such as Wikipedia, GBOD, and hymnary.org.  It is my hope that this information will enhance your understanding and enrich your worship experience.  

About the Organ Music:

Beautiful Savior – Charles Ore

“Beautiful Savior” is thought to have originated as early as 1607, possibly written by German Jesuits, and called “Schön­ster Herr Je­su“. It first appeared in print in 1677, in the Mün­ster Ge­sang­buch, with author unknown. It was translated and the fourth stanza was added by Lutheran pastor and theologian, Joseph A. Seiss in 1873.  Originally this song was most likely sung to a Gregorian Chant by the Jesuit monks. The music that was most popular with 17th Century German peasants was a tune from an ancient Silesian folk song.  The tune and the German text were printed together for the first time in 1842 by August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben and Ernst Richter under the name “Schönster Herr Jesu” (Most beautiful Lord Jesus). In 1850 the Danish hymnwriter B. S. Ingemann wrote “Dejlig Er Jorden”, which he set to the same melody. An English translation by Jens C. Aaberg was published as “Fair Is Creation”.  Apart from their musical setting, the Danish and German lyrics are unrelated.  According to some accounts, “Fairest Lord Jesus” is called "Crusader's Hymn" because it was sung by German Crusaders as they made their way to the Holy Land.

Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nature,
O Thou of God and man the Son,
Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor,
Thou, my soul’s glory, joy and crown.

 In addition to being an accomplished organ recitalist, Dr. Charles Ore (b. 1936) composes organ and choral music, and is a leader in the use and development of improvisation in organ playing. He is organist at First Presbyterian Church in Lincoln, Neb.

 Voluntary on “Olivet” – Gordon Young

Ray Palmer (1808-1887) wrote “My Faith Looks Up to Thee” up­on re­ceiv­ing a vi­sion of Christ short­ly af­ter his grad­u­a­tion from Yale Un­i­ver­si­ty, while work­ing as a tu­tor at a New York school. The author says concerning its composition, "I gave form to what I felt, by writing, with little effort, the stanzas. I recollect I wrote them with very tender emotion, and ended the last line with tears." How­ev­er, he kept them to him­self un­til meet­ing Low­ell Ma­son on a street in Bos­ton, Mas­sac­hu­setts. When Ma­son asked him to write some­thing for a new hymn­al, Palm­er dug out his old notes and pro­duced these lyr­ics, writ­ten two years ear­li­er. Af­ter tak­ing the lyr­ics home and read­ing them, Ma­son com­posed this tune. Sev­er­al days lat­er he saw Palm­er again and said:  “You may live ma­ny years and do ma­ny good things, but I think you will be best known to pos­ter­i­ty as the au­thor of My Faith Looks Up to Thee”.  In 1831, it was published in Spiritual Songs for Social Worship: adapted to the use of Families, &c. Words and Music arranged by Thomas Hastings, of New York, and Lowell Mason of Boston.

My faith looks up to thee, thou Lamb of Calvary, Savior divine!
Now hear me while I pray, take all my guilt away;
O let me from this day be wholly thine.

Gordon Young (1919-1998) was born in McPherson, Kansas, and during his lifetime was recognized as one of this country's great church organists. He was a prolific and talented composer for both organ and choir, with nearly 1000 published works.  During the course of his career, he was a radio organist in Tulsa, a music critic and columnist for daily newspapers in Oklahoma and Pennsylvania, and choirmaster in churches in Philadelphia and Kansas City. Mr. Young taught organ in conjunction with Wayne State University and for 15 years was organist and choir director at the First Presbyterian Church in Detroit.

From All That Dwell Below the Skies – Charles Callahan

Isaac Watts (1674-1748)  is said to have shown remarkable precocity in childhood, beginning the study of Latin at age four, and writing respectable verses at the age of seven. The number of Watts' publications is very large. His collected works, first published in 1720, embrace sermons, treatises, poems and hymns. His "Horae Lyricae" was published in December, 1705. His "Hymns" appeared in July, 1707. The first hymn he is said to have composed for religious worship, is "Behold the glories of the Lamb," written at the age of twenty. It is as a writer of psalms and hymns that he is everywhere known. Some of his hymns were written to be sung after his sermons, giving expression to the meaning of the text upon which he had preached. Montgomery calls Watts "the greatest name among hymn-writers," and the honor can hardly be disputed. His published hymns number more than eight hundred.

Dr. Isaac Watts wrote based the first two stanzas of this hymn on Psalm 117.  It was first published in his Psalms of David in 1719.  All four stanzas were printed in the “York” Pocket Hymn Book, which was was edited and published in 1781 by Robert Spence, a Methodist class leader and bookseller residing in York, England.  The author of the last two stanzas is unknown, but may have been written by Spence.  He has, however, succeeded wonderfully in imitating Watts’ style and so completed one of the finest hymns in the language. John Wesley published this hymn again in 1786 in a new edition of the York book.  This “York” book was very popular in its day, and was adopted by Bishops Coke and Asbury as the official hymn book of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America.

From all that dwell below the skies,
Let the Creator’s praise arise;
Let the Redeemer’s Name be sung,
Through every land, by every tongue.

Charles Callahan (b. 1951) is one of America’s leading organist-composers.  A native of Cambridge, Massachusetts, he is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and Catholic University of America.  In recognition of his service to the church and his commissioned compositions for Papal visits to the U.S., he was awared the Papal Honor of Knighthood in the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem in 1999.  In addition to compositions and performances, Charles Callahan is a noted educator and author whose two books on American organ-building have become standard reference works.

About the Hymns:

Come, Thou Almighty King

This well-known hymn, now of uncertain authorship, was attributed to Charles Wesley in Methodist hymnals published in the United States until 1905.  “Come, Thou Almighty King” appeared in a tract with a Wesley hymn, Jesus, Let Thy Pitying Eye,” a combination that led to the false assumption of Wesley’s authorship. It appeared as early as 1755 in the 22nd edition of George Whitfield’s Collection of Hymns for Social Worship.  The poetic meter of this hymn, however, was not one used by Charles Wesley in any of his hymn and is the same meter used for the famous British national hymn, “God Save the King” and was originally sung to that tune.  Though widely considered the oldest text in this unusual meter, for obvious reasons it could not be sung in England to the same tune as the British national hymn. Martin Madan, in his 1769 Collection of Psalm-Tunes never published before, paired “Come, Thou Almighty King” to the tune Italian Hymn, written for the text by Felice de Giardini. Though British Methodists have never included this hymn in their hymnals, it has been found in American Methodist hymnals since 1914. 

This is a classic Trinitarian hymn full of biblical metaphors for deity, starting in the first stanza: “King,” “Father” and “Ancient of Days” (Daniel 7:9, 13, 22). In stanza two the second person of the Trinity is represented by the “incarnate Word” (John 1:1; I John 5:7). The third person of the Trinity has several names: “Spirit of holiness” (Romans 1:4), “holy Comforter,” (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7) and “Spirit of Power.” The Trinity itself is symbolized by “the great One in Three.”

Love Lifted Me

Author John Rowe (1865-1933) was born in Ireland and immigrated to the United States in 1889. Rowe went to work for several music publishers, including Trio Music Company in Waco, Texas; A. J. Showalter Music Company of Chattanooga, Tennessee; and James D. Vaughan Music Company of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. Late in life, Rowe moved to Vermont where his daughter was an artist. He worked with her, writing greeting card verses.  Composer Howard E. Smith (1863-1918) was a church musician and organist in Connecticut.  Rowe and Smith collaborated to write this song in Saugatuck in 1912.  According to Rowe’s daughter, “Howard E. Smith was a little man whose hands were so knotted with arthritis that you would wonder how he could use them at all, much less play the piano.  I can see them now, my father striding up and down humming a bar or two and Howard E. playing it and jotting it down.”  It gained popularity among United Methodists as one of the most frequently sung songs in The Cokesbury Hymnal.

Rowe's text uses images from two biblical stories. The first is found in Matthew 14:22-33, where the disciples were in a boat in the midst of a terrifying storm. They saw Jesus walking on the sea. He commanded Peter to join him, and Peter also began walking on the water toward Jesus. The storm frightened Peter and he began to sink, calling out to Jesus to save him. Jesus caught Peter by the hand and lifted him up as they got into the boat.  The second story is Matthew 8:23-27, in which Jesus is asleep in the boat while the disciples are terrified by the fierce storm threatening to plunge them all into the sea. They wake Jesus and appeal to him. Jesus rebukes the wind and sea, and there is calm.  Rowe's text skillfully draws on both stories, using sinking or being swamped into the sea as an image for "sinking deep in sin…sinking to rise no more." Jesus, "Master of the sea," hears our cry for help, reaches out to us in love, and lifts us up into the safety of salvation.

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

Helen H. Lemmel (1863-1961) wrote the words and music of “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” in 1922, to be sung at Billy Sunday evangelical meetings. The inspiration for the hymn, originally titled “The Heavenly Vision”, came from the writings of author and artist Lilias Trotter (1853-1928).  Lilias Trotter was a brilliant artist whose talent opened the doors to wealth and influence. Her other love was missions. After struggling in prayer for two years, Trotter came to the conclusion that she must lay down her love of art in order to fix her eyes solely on Jesus, and on His calling to the mission field. She subsequently served for more than 38 years as a missionary to Muslims of Algeria. She also authored several books and tracts. The following is an excerpt from her tract, Which Passion Will Prevail?

Never has it been so easy to live in half a dozen harmless worlds at once -- art, music, social science, games, motoring, the following of some profession, and so on. And between them we run the risk of drifting about, the good hiding the best." It is easy to find out whether our lives are focused, and if so, where the focus lies. Where do our thoughts settle when consciousness comes back in the morning? Where do they swing back when the pressure is off during the day? Dare to have it out with God, and ask Him to show you whether or not all is focused on Christ and His Glory. Turn your soul's vision to Jesus, and look and look at Him, and a strange dimness will come over all that is apart from Him.

Christ is the World’s Light

The Reverend Fred Pratt Green (1903 – 2000) was a British Methodist minister and hymnwriter.  His hymns reflect his rejection of fundamentalism and show his concern with social issues. They include many that were written to supply obvious liturgical needs of the modern church, speaking to topics or appropriate for events for which there were few traditional hymns available. His hymns appear in hymn books of various denominations, but most notably in Hymns and Psalms, the hymn book of the Methodist Church of Great Britain, and the United Methodist Hymnal used in the United States.