April 27, 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 and Handbell Music:

Now the Green Blade Riseth – Kevin  McChesney                                                         (Jubilation Ringers)

As we remember the narrative that takes us from Good Friday through Easter, the image of buried grain of wheat is an image of Christ, but the seed isn’t just a symbol of His death and rebirth from the grave, but a promise of future abundance and the coming harvest:  Jesus Himself is the “first fruits” of the new creation.  We are called not only to be workers for that harvest, but to be, like Him, the harvested grain.  As Christ entered into His glory through self-sacrifice, so we also give ourselves.  This combined image of death and renewal is the heart of John Crumb’s hymn “Now the Green Blade Riseth”, first published in 1928 in the Oxford Book of Carols and set to an old French Christmas carol tune (“Noel Nouvelet”).  A graduate of Oxford, Crum (1872-1958) was an Anglican priest who served as Canon of Canterbury.

Now the green blade riseth from the buried grain,                                                                             Wheat that in dark earth three days has lain.                                                                                            Love lives again, that with the dead has been;                                                                                   Love is come again, like wheat that springeth green.

In the grave they laid him, love whom we had slain,                                                                         Thinking that he’d never wake to life again,                                                                                         Laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen:                                                                                  Love is come again like wheat that springeth green.

Kevin McChesney (b. 1963) graduated with highest honors from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a BMus in Composition and Theory. A composer and arranger of handbell music, Kevin currently has nearly 1000 titles in print and is one of the very few musicians who makes handbells a full-time vocation. He has won numerous awards for his work, including winning American Guild of English Handbell Ringers Composition Contests and Jeffers Composer of the Year.  He is Music Director of the Pikes Peak Ringers and his work with that organization for over 20 years has brought them to national prominence, including a recording with world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Kevin is also Music Director of the Atlanta Concert Ringers.

Composers for the organ have written works on the subject of prayer for over 500 years.  As Andy presents his sermon series on Prayer, we will explore a variety of these pieces, both meditative and thought-provoking.

Prayer is the Soul’s Sincere Desire – Alexander Schreiner

In this setting, Schreiner uses a melody by George Careless, rather than the camp meeting tune that is found in our hymnal.  George Edward Percy Careless (1839-1932) was a prominent Latter-day Saint composer and conductor. Careless was born in London, England and  studied composition at the Royal Academy in London. In the early 1860s Careless joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and in 1864 he immigrated to Utah Territory. Shortly after coming to Salt Lake City, Careless became the conductor of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir as well as of the Salt Lake Theatre orchestra and Salt Lake Opera Company.

Alexander Schreiner (1901-1987) was one of the most noted organists of the Salt Lake Tabernacle. Born in Nuremberg, Germany, his parents joined the LDS church in 1903, and the local congregation held meetings in the family's home. Schreiner performed in public first at age five, and after he was baptized at age eight was almost immediately appointed as a Sunday School organist. In 1912 Schreiner moved with his family to Salt Lake City.  Schreiner first performed on an organ professionally during the fall of 1917 at the American Theater of Salt Lake City.  After study in Paris and work in California, in August 1938 Schreiner returned to Salt Lake City, where he resumed his position as Tabernacle Organist and chief organist at the Capitol Theatre.  From that time until 1977, Schreiner was closely involved with the Tabernacle Choir both at home and abroad. In the late 1940s, he was involved in a major rebuild of the Tabernacle Organ.

Vater Unser im Himmelreich – J. S. Bach

Martin Luther (1483-1546) was an Augustinian monk and priest who became a professor at the University of Wittenberg.  In 1517, he published his 95 Theses, proposing major reforms in the Roman Catholic Church.  These reforms were rejected by Papal Bull, resulting in the German Reformation and leading to the foundation of the Lutheran Church.  Luther translated the Bible into German (1521-1534) and had a huge influence on German hymnody, publishing nine hymnals containing German chorales written by Luther and others.

“Vater unser im Himmelreich” was included in Geistliche Lieder auffs neu gebessert (1539), in 9 stanzas of 6 lines, entitled "The Lord's Prayer briefly expounded and turned into metre" (apparently first as a broadsheet with the same title, in 1539.  Each of the first eight stanzas amplifies one of the clauses of the Lord's Prayer (omitting the doxology), and the ninth is on the Amen. It is a beautiful rendering, and has been by some regarded as Luther's finest hymn.  Virtually every German composer for organ has written a setting of this chorale.  This week, we hear one of several settings by Bach.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period.  He enriched established German styles through his skill in counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organization, and the adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from abroad, particularly from Italy and France.  Bach's compositions include the Brandenburg concertos, the Mass in B minor, The Well-Tempered Clavier, two Passions, keyboard works, and more than 300 cantatas, of which nearly 100 cantatas have been lost to posterity.  His music is revered for its intellectual depth, technical command, and artistic beauty.  Bach's abilities as an organist were highly respected throughout Europe during his lifetime, although he was not widely recognized as a great composer until a revival of interest and performances of his music in the first half of the nineteenth century.  During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, Bach was recognized by several prominent composers.  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven,  Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, and Felix Mendelssohn were among his admirers; they began writing in a more contrapuntal style after being exposed to Bach's music.  Beethoven described him as "Urvater der Harmonie", the "original father of harmony".  He is now generally regarded as one of the main composers of the Baroque period and as one of the greatest composers of all time.  A highly devout Christian, Bach signed all of his compositions “soli Deo Gloria”  (to God alone be the glory).  

Vater unser im Himmelreich,                Our Father in Heaven,                                                              der du uns alle heissest gleich               who calls us all to be                                                         Brüder sein, und dich rufen an,             brothers and to call on you;                                                   und willt das Beten von uns han:          and who desires prayer from us:                                             gib, dass nicht bet allein der Mund,      grant that we do not pray just with our mouths;                    hilf, dass es geh von Herzengrund.       Help our prayer to come from the bottom of our hearts.

 

About the Hymns:

Easter People, Raise Your Voices

Following in the tradition of many pastors who write hymns, William Marceus James (1913-2013) wrote "Easter People, Raise Your Voices" for his congregation at Metropolitan Community United Methodist Church in New York City.  Born in Meadville, Mississippi, and educated at Mt. Beulah College, Butler University, and Drew University, the Rev. James received his license to preach in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1936 and was ordained an elder in 1940.  In 1944, he was appointed to the Trinity (Morrisania) Methodist Church in the Bronx, a church he founded with no members. In only eight years, it grew into a 900-member congregation. In an interview with the United Methodist Interpreter, James noted, "It was during that time I learned to minister to gangs and street people."  In 1952 he began serving Community Methodist Church in Harlem, which later became the Metropolitan Community United Methodist Church in 1971. The Rev. James ministered to this congregation for 33 years until "retiring" in 1985, but he continued his ministry to young people and to the Harlem community.

The author of more than fifty hymns, James noted to this writer in 2005 that "I wrote hymns for my congregation whenever I needed one. 'Easter People' is not the greatest hymn I have, but it took better than the others. Most of my hymns have themes around the social gospel." Originally in five stanzas, the hymn first appeared in the United Methodist collection, Songs of Zion (1981), in its present form.  The triumph of the Resurrection over evil is the theme of "Easter People." In stanza two, the poet reminds us that the "fear of death" cannot stop us from doing all we can to overcome evil "here below." The final stanza insists: "Every day to [Christians] is Easter" because our God is one who "rights the wrong."

What a Friend We Have in Jesus

Irish born Joseph M. Scriven (1819-1896) was 25 years old, in love and to be married. The day before his wedding his fiance died in a tragic drowning accident. Heartbroken, Joseph sailed from his homeland to start a new life in Canada. While in Canada working as a teacher, Joseph received word from Ireland that his mother was ill. He could not go to be with her, so he wrote a letter of comfort and enclosed one of his poems entitled “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”.
Many years later a friend was sitting with Joseph, as he was very ill. During this visit, the friend was very impressed when he ran across his poems, including “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”. As a result of this visit, almost 30 years after his letter of comfort to his mother, Joseph's poems were published in a book called Hymns and Other Verses. Soon thereafter, noted musician Charles C. Converse (1834-1918) put music to “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”. Well-known musician and revivalist Ira D. Sankey (1840-1908) was a great admirer of Joseph Scriven. In 1875, Sankey came upon the music and words for “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” and included it as the last entry in Sankey's Gospel Hymns Number 1.

The hymn also has many versions with different lyrics in multiple languages, such as the Japanese version "Itsukushimi Fukaki" (lit. "Deep Affection"), or a version sung during World War I with the line "When this bloody war is over" in place of the original title.  The Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal notes, "In spite of the fact that this hymn, with its tune, has been criticized as being too much on the order of the sentimental gospel type, its popularity remains strong, and the hymn retains a place in modern hymnals."

Prayer is the Soul’s Sincere Desire

James Montgomery (1771-1854), a Moravian minister, wrote this hymn at the request of the Rev. E. Bickersteth, for his Treatise on Prayer. It was first printed in 1818, together with three other hymns by Montgomery on Prayer ("Thou, God, art a consuming fire," "Lord, teach us how to pray aright," and "What shall we ask of God in prayer?"), on a broadsheet, for use in the Sunday Schools of Sheffield. In 1819, it was published simultaneously in Bickersteth's Treatise on Prayer and the eighth edition of Cotterill's Selections.

As a writer of hymns, Montgomery ranks in popularity with Wesley, Watts, Doddridge, Newton, and Cowper.  His finest lyrics are "Angels from the realms of glory," "Go to dark Gethsemane," "Hail to the Lord's Anointed," and "Songs of praise the angels sang." His "Prayer is the soul's sincere desire," is an expanded definition of prayer of great beauty.  The secrets of his power as a writer of hymns were manifold. His poetic genius was of a high order, higher than most who stand with him in the front rank of Christian poets. His ear for rhythm was exceedingly accurate and refined. His knowledge of Holy Scripture was most extensive. His religious views were broad and charitable. His devotional spirit was of the holiest type. With the faith of a strong man he united the beauty and simplicity of a child. Richly poetic without exuberance, dogmatic without lacking charity, tender without sentimentality, elaborate without diffusiveness, richly musical without apparent effort, he has bequeathed to the church wealth which could only have come from a true genius and a sanctified heart.