June 1, 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:

Sweet Hour of Prayer – Wihla Hutson

William W. Walford (1772-1850), a blind preacher of England, is the author of the hymn beginning "Sweet hour of prayer." This hymn first appeared in print in the New York Observer September 13, 1845.  Rev. Thomas Salmon, who was settled as the pastor of the Congregational Church at Coleshill in 1838, is believed to have been the contributor who says of the hymn: " During my residence at Coleshill, Warwickshire, England, I became acquainted with W. W. Walford, the blind preacher, a man of obscure birth and connections and no education, but of strong mind and most retentive memory. In the pulpit he never failed to select a lesson well adapted to his subject, giving chapter and verse with unerring precision, and scarcely ever misplacing a word in his repetition of the Psalms, every part of the New Testament, the prophecies, and some of the histories, so as to have the reputation of knowing the whole Bible by heart.I rapidly copied the lines with my pencil as he uttered them, and send them for insertion in the Observer if you think them worthy of preservation."

Wihla Hutson was born in 1901 in East Gary, Indiana. In 1929, when she was 28 years old, Wihla became the organist at All Saints Church in Pontiac, Michigan, about 25 miles from Detroit. The pastor at All Saints was the Rev. Bates Burt, Alfred Burt’s father. Wihla retained her residence in Detroit, and drove from there to Pontiac for music rehearsals and services. However, when weather was poor, and at Christmas (when there was both a Christmas Eve service and a morning prayer service), she stayed at the rectory with the Burt family. In so doing, she became like a member of the family, many of whom called her “Aunt Wihla.” She and her mother enjoyed vacations with the Burts at their summer home in Marquette, Michigan.

At his father’s invitation, Al Burt began writing the music for the Burt family Christmas cards in 1942, with Bates continuing to supply the lyrics. (From 1922 to 1941, Rev. Bates Burt had produced both the words and the music). The new collaboration ended in 1948, when Bates Burt died of a heart attack.  In 1950, Wilha began writing the lyrics for Al’s tunes.  Because Al’s work as a trumpet player and arranger for some of the big bands of the day required extensive travel, Wihla arranged to mail the lyrics for each year’s card to wherever the Burts happened to be.

The 1950 carol was “This Is Christmas,” sometimes also referred to as “Bright, Bright the Holly Berries, which is the first line of the lyric.” In 1951, Wihla wrote “Some Children See Him,” one of the most beloved of the Burt carols. With the U.S. engaged in the Korean War--following so closely after the Second World War with Germany and Japan--the simple but moving lyric of this carol affirmed that children of any nationality could imagine Jesus to be like them, with the underlying message that love is more important than any claim of race or nationality.  Wihla’s 1952 lyric was also about children. “Come, Dear Children”.   Among other lyrics, she wrote “O Hearken Ye”, “We’ll Dress the House”, “Caroling, Caroling”, and “The Star Carol.”  “The Star Carol” graced the final Burt Christmas card in 1954. Al realized that death was near, and he was no longer concerned with all the hustle and bustle of this world. He was closer to spiritual things. ‘The Star Carol’ reflects his state of mind at that time. It is so beautiful and pure.” In “The Star Carol,” Wihla Hutson’s tender, sensitive lyrics are combined with one of Al Burt’s most perfect melodies. He labored over the song right up until his death. A few years after Al’s death, Wihla Hutson began to write her own Christmas carols, for which she also composed the music. Eighteen of those carols were printed in 1982. In 1994, she wrote the lyrics for a melody composed by Steven SeGraves called “Away to the Piney Wood.” It carries the dedication “In memory of Alfred Burt.” Wihla Hutson died March 24, 2002 in Southfield, Michigan, just a few days short of her 101st birthday. Largo, from “New World Symphony” – Antonín Dvořák Antonín Leopold Dvořák (1841-1904) was a Czech composer. Following the nationalist example of Bedřich Smetana, Dvořák frequently employed features of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia.  He graduated from the organ school in Prague in 1859. In the 1860s, he played as a violist in the Bohemian Provisional Theater Orchestra and taught piano lessons. In 1873, he married Anna Čermáková, and left the orchestra to pursue another career as a church organist.  After the premiere of his cantata Stabat Mater (1880), Dvořák visited the United Kingdom and became popular there; his Seventh Symphony was written for London. After a brief conducting stint in Russia in 1890, Dvořák was appointed as a professor at the Prague Conservatory in 1891. In 1892, Dvořák moved to the United States and became the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America in New York City, where he also composed. However, shortfalls in payment of his salary, along with increasing recognition in Europe and an onset of homesickness made him decide to return to Bohemia. From 1895 until his death, he composed mainly operatic and chamber music. At his death, he left several unfinished works. Dvořák's main goal in America was to discover "American Music" and engage in it, much as he had used Czech folk idioms within his music. Shortly after his arrival in America in 1892, Dvořák wrote a series of newspaper articles reflecting on the state of American music. He supported the concept that African-American and Native American music should be used as a foundation for the growth of American music. He felt that through the music of Native Americans and African-Americans, Americans would find their own national style of music. Here Dvořák met Harry Burleigh, his pupil at the time and one of the earliest African-American composers. Burleigh introduced Dvořák to traditional American spirituals.  The symphony was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, and premiered on December 16, 1893, at Carnegie Hall conducted by Anton Seidl. A day earlier, in an article published in the New York Herald on December 15, 1893, Dvořák further explained how Native American music had been an influence on this symphony:  “I have not actually used any of the [Native American] melodies. I have simply written original themes embodying the peculiarities of the Indian music, and, using these themes as subjects, have developed them with all the resources of modern rhythms, counterpoint, and orchestral colour.” The theme from the Largo was adapted into the spiritual-like song "Goin' Home", often mistakenly considered a folk song or traditional spiritual, by Dvořák's pupil William Arms Fisher, who wrote the lyrics in 1922. This is part of what Fisher wrote in the published sheet music of his song, "Goin' Home":  “The Largo, with its haunting English horn solo, is the outpouring of Dvorak's own home-longing, with something of the loneliness of far-off prairie horizons, the faint memory of the red-man's bygone days, and a sense of the tragedy of the black-man as it sings in his "spirituals." Deeper still it is a moving expression of that nostalgia of the soul all human beings feel. That the lyric opening theme of the Largo should spontaneously suggest the words 'Goin' home, goin' home' is natural enough, and that the lines that follow the melody should take the form of a negro spiritual accords with the genesis of the symphony.”  Dorian Trumpet on the Agincourt Hymn – John Barr The Agincourt Carol (sometimes known as the Agincourt Song, the Agincourt Hymn, or by its chorus and central words, Deo gratias Anglia) is an English folk song written some time in the early 15th century. The carol is one of thirteen on the Trinity Carol Roll, probably originating in East Anglia.  The tune has been given various texts over centuries, beginning with the Latin original through to one of its more often used translations by Benjamin Webb (1819-1885), "O Love, How Deep How Broad, How High!" Other texts include one titled "God of our fathers, known of old" by Rudyard Kipling, 1897, as well as titles such as "Jehovah, my God, on Thy Help I Depend" (1912) and "O God, thy soldiers' great reward".  In recognition of Ascension Sunday, it has been selected today for the text:           A hymn of glory let us sing           New hymns throughout the world shall ring           By a new way none ever trod           Christ takes His place, the throne of God! John Barr (b. 1938) studied organ and composition at Manchester College and Union Theological Seminary. Dr. Barr was music teacher at Hillcrest School for Missionary Children in Jos, Nigeria, 1962-65.  He later became Professor of Organ and Piano at Bridgewater College, Bridgewater, VA, until his retirement. He is organist at Bridgewater Church of the Brethren. About the Hymns: Holy, Holy, Holy Reginald Heber  (1783-1826) wrote this text for Trinity Sunday, the day for which lectionary in the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer prescribes the reading of Revelation 4. Using reverent and apocalyptic language, "Holy, Holy, Holy!" alludes to Revelation 4:6-11; 5:13; 15:2-4; and Isaiah 6:1-3 to sing the great majesty of the triune God. Note the cosmic scope of the text: human beings (st. 1), saints and angels in glory (st. 2), and all creation (st. 4) praise the name of the Lord. Though God's holiness, love, and purity are cloaked in mystery, we can still experience God's mercy and mighty power, and we can participate in praising God.  It references the Sanctus, which is often called the "Holy holy holy" in English. The name is a tribute to the First Council of Nicaea which formalized the doctrine of the Trinity in 325. It was first published in the third edition (1826) of  A Selection of Psalms and Hymns for the Parish Church of Banbury  and was also published posthumously in Heber's Hymns Written and Adapted to the Weekly Church Services of the Year (1827). The unusual single rhyme (all on the "ee" sound) and the uneven number of syllables in some lines have not detracted from the hymn's popularity.  It was soon adopted by hymn-book compilers, and is the best known and most widely used of the author's hymns. I Come with Joy “I Come with Joy” was written in 1971 by Brian Wren (b. 1936), Emeritus Professor of Worship, Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia. He is a writer, preacher, worship and workshop leader, and internationally published hymn-poet, with entries in most recent denominational hymnals in North America, Britain and Australia. Some of his hymn-poems have been translated into Finnish, French, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish and Korean. Brian holds undergraduate and doctoral degrees from Oxford University. He is a Minister of the United Reformed Church (UK). His publications include What Language Shall I Borrow? - God-Talk in Worship: A Male Response to Feminist Theology (1989 and 2009), Praying Twice: The Music and Words of Congregational Song (2000), Advent, Christmas and Epiphany: Liturgies and Prayers for Public Worship (2008), Hymns for Today (2009) and seven hymn collections totaling 250 hymns. One Bread, One Body John Foley, S. J. (born 1939) is an American composer of Catholic liturgical music and a professor of liturgy at St. Louis University.  Written in 1978, “One Bread, One Body” is based on I Corinthians 10:16-17, ”Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.”