May 25, 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:

Prière – Otto Malling

In the 19^th century many composers for the organ wrote meditative pieces titled “prayer” for use at quiet times in worship, as an introduction or following prayer.  This Prayer is by Otto Valdemar Malling (1848 –1915), a Danish composer, the cathedral organist in Copenhagen and Director of the Royal Danish Academy of Music, Copenhagen. Malling wrote the first Danish textbook in orchestration, along French conservatory lines. His scores of organ music brought him some reputation abroad, but after his death he was soon forgotten in his native country, as musical tastes changed.

Prayer: Make us eternal truths receive – Vincent Persichetti

Vincent Ludwig Persichetti (1915 –1987) was an American composer, teacher, and pianist.  An important musical educator and writer, Persichetti was a native of Philadelphia. He was known for his integration of various new ideas in musical composition into his own work and teaching as well as for training many noted composers in composition at the Juilliard School.  Though neither of his parents were musicians, his musical education began early. From the young age of two years old, Vincent Persichetti was fascinated with learning how to produce music on both the piano and the organ. Persichetti enrolled in the Combs College of Music at the age of five, where he studied piano, organ, double bass and later music theory and composition with Russel King Miller, whom he considered a great influence. By the time he reached his teens, he was paying for his own education by accompanying and performing. He continued to do so throughout high school, adding church organist, orchestral player and radio staff pianist to his experience. His first public performance of his own original works came at the age of 14. In addition to his musical talents, the young Persichetti attended art school and remained an avid sculptor until his death.

Persichetti is one of the major figures in American music of the 20th century. His own style was marked by use of two elements he refers to as "graceful" and "gritty": the former being more lyrical and melodic, the latter being sharp and intensely rhythmic. He frequently used polytonality and pandiatonicism in his writing and his music could be marked by sharp rhythmic interjections, but his embracing of diverse strands of musical thought makes characterizing his body of work difficult.  He frequently composed in his car, sometimes taping staff paper to the steering wheel.  In addition to his frequent appearances as lecturer on college campuses, for which he was noted for his witty and engaging manner, he wrote the famous music theory textbook Twentieth Century Harmony: Creative Aspects and Practice.

This 20^th century prayer is part of the Dryden Liturgical Suite, Op. 144, written in 1980.  The title refers to John Dryden, an English poet of the 17^th century, who was involved in the liturgical debates that raged within the Anglican church led by Ulrich Zwingli, who purported that Christ was not actually present in the elements of communion, but that the bread and wine served only as reminders.  As stated by Gardiner:  “The hallmark of Zwingli had been to juxtapose the Ascension of Christ with the Real Presence and declare that the two doctrines were contradictory. In his view, the ascended Christ was localized millions of miles away at the right hand of the Father and could not, even if he wanted to, occupy two places at once. The ‘outward signes’ of bread and wine, therefore, were intended only to stir us up ‘to weigh and consider more diligentlye the grace of God geven us by the death of Christ.’ Whereas Calvin and his Anglican followers Richard Hooker, Lancelot Andrewes, and John Donne had spoken of a hidden miracle in the sacrament, of the Holy Spirit's bringing the real substance of Christ's body into the soul of the worthy receiver at the very moment of communion, Zwingli had taught that there was no such Presence to the communicant's soul at the Lord's Supper.”  This constituted a major break from fundamental Christian doctrine.  Persichetti’s contemporary harmonies express this dichotomy of belief, the discord it creates, and the mystery of the sacrament.

 

Vater unser im Himmelreich – Georg Telemann

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. 

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hildesheim, Telemann entered the University of Leipzig to study law, but eventually settled on a career in music. He held important positions in Leipzig, Sorau, Eisenach, and Frankfurt before settling in Hamburg in 1721, where he became musical director of the city's five main churches.  Telemann was one of the most prolific composers in history, composing more than 3,000 pieces, and was considered by his contemporaries to be one of the leading German composers of the time—he was compared favorably both to his friend Johann Sebastian Bach, who made Telemann the godfather and namesake of his son Carl Philipp Emanuel, and to George Frideric Handel, whom Telemann also knew personally.  Telemann's music was one of the driving forces behind the late Baroque and the early Classical styles. Starting in the 1710s he became one of the creators and foremost exponents of the so-called German mixed style, an amalgam of German, French, Italian and Polish styles. Over the years, his music gradually changed and started incorporating more and more elements of the galant style, but he never completely adopted the ideals of the nascent Classical era: Telemann's style remained contrapuntally and harmonically complex, and already in 1751 he dismissed much contemporary music as too simplistic.  Equally important for the history of music were Telemann's publishing activities. By pursuing exclusive publication rights for his works, he set one of the most important early precedents for regarding music as the intellectual property of the composer.

About the Choral Music:




Prayer of St. Francis – Rene Clausen

René Clausen (b. 1953) is an American composer, conductor of The Concordia Choir, and professor of music at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota.  Clausen's compositional style is varied and eclectic, and put to sacred as well as secular texts.  He has created compositions and arrangements that range over many artistic media including choral, orchestral, wind ensemble, film, video, and solo voice.  Clausen's most popular harmonies are mostly based on close dissonances such as the major and minor second.  These chords based on dissonance are also called "tone clusters".  His style is sometimes classified as Neo-Romantic but this term can mean many things.  All of his works are unmistakably tonal yet they push the boundaries of chordal language.  The traditional functions of choral progression are blurred by his use of tone clusters.

About the Hymns:

Crown Him with Many Crowns

The song was originally penned in 1851 by Matthew Bridges (1800-1894), an Anglican scholar who once wrote a book condemning Roman Catholic theology, and then later converted to Catholicism. Bridges wrote six stanzas, based upon Revelations 19:12, “...and on His head were many crowns.”  The text of this hymn was first published 1852 in The Passion of Jesus, a Collection of Original Pieces Corresponding with the Five Sorrowful Mysteries in the Rosary of Our Blessed Lady, a collection of devotional poetry.  The prayers of the rosary are said in sets of ten, each focused on a "mystery" concerning the life of Christ; the mysteries themselves are in groups of five: the "Joyful Mysteries" concerning Christ's birth and childhood, the "Sorrowful Mysteries" concerning His death, and the "Glorious Mysteries" concerning the Resurrection and events following. (In the 20th century the "Luminous Mysteries" of Christ's earthly ministry were added.) Bridges's collection was dedicated to the five Sorrowful Mysteries: Christ's agony in Gethsemane, His scourging, the crown of thorns, Christ carrying His cross, and finally the Crucifixion itself. "Crown Him with many Crowns," therefore, was a reflection on the central mystery of the original 15 mysteries of the rosary. Bridges employs an unexpected approach to the topic, however, taking the cruel mockery intended by that original crown and turning it on its head by contemplating the glorious coronation of Christ in heaven.  Each verse of Bridge’s poem was to describe of a different kind crown (Many Crowns, Virgin’s Son, Lord of Love, Lord of Peace, Lord of Years, and Lord of Heaven).

Godfrey Thring (1823-1903) was a devout Anglican clergyman who was concerned that this popular hymn was allowing Catholic theology to be sung by protestant congregations. Thring wrote an entirely new hymn of six verses to serve as a substitute for that of Bridges, using the same meter and basic plan of successive stanzas extolling Jesus' lordship over various domains. It was decided to keep the two versions separate but publish them both in 1874 in Thring’s hymnbook: Hymns and Sacred Lyrics. Thring’s version was also published in the Church of England Hymn-Book. The 12 stanzas have been mixed and matched down through the years. Of the following four verses found in our hymnal, three were written by Bridges (vs 1,3,and 4) and one by Thring (vs 2).

The Gift of Love

Among the most prominent New Testament texts is the discourse on love found in I Corinthians 13. Hal H. Hopson has paraphrased part of this beautiful text in what has become one of the most popular late 20th-century hymns, appearing in many major hymnals published in the U.S. since 1980. "The Gift of Love" first appeared as a very popular anthem in 1972. Both the text and the music are effective paraphrases -- the text of I Corinthians 13:1-3 and the melody as an adaptation of the beautiful folk melody "O Waly, Waly." The original tune was collected by American folksong specialist Cecil Sharp and published in his Folk Songs from Somerset (1906).  "The Gift of Love" is very flexible and, according to Hope Publishing Co., is Mr. Hopson's most popular composition -- widely used as an anthem, solo and as a hymn. Speaking of the popularity of his hymn, Hopson said: "The first 'Gift of Love' was a two-part choral arrangement. Years later, at the suggestion of  George Shorney at Hope Publishing Company, I cast it in a form to be used as a congregational hymn. Since then it has become a standard hymn to be included in many hymnals. It is noteworthy that The United Methodist Hymnal, 1989, was the first hymnal that included 'The Gift of Love.' I was once surprised to be introduced at a seminar as the Gift-of-Love-Man."

Mr. Hopson (b. 1933) is a native of Mound, Texas, and now resides in Dallas. He has an international reputation as a clinician and composer, and has published more than 1,300 compositions, which comprise almost every musical form in church music. With a special interest in congregational song, he continues to make a significant contribution to the new repertoire of hymn tunes and responsorial psalm settings as evidenced by the proliferation of his settings that are included in newly published hymnals and psalm collections.

This is My Song

This is of the most stirring tunes in the United Methodist Hymnal. The melody comes from a symphonic tone poem by Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) by the name of “Finlandia”, Op. 26. It was adapted for the 1933 hymnal of the Presbyterian Church in the United States to be sung to the text “Be Still, My Soul”.  Not only is the spirit of the music appropriate for “This Is My Song,” but the history of Sibelius’ composition also adds meaning. He wrote “Finlandia” as a patriotic offering in 1899. The composition was performed as the last of seven musical pieces that accompanied a series of tableaus, each reflecting portions of Finnish history. Out of agitated and tumultuous opening music symbolizing the struggles of the Finnish people, the serenity of the hymn-like melody emerges, symbolizing hope and resolution.  In February 1899, a manifesto from Tsar Nicholas II declared Russia’s right to rule Finland without the consent of local legislators. Sibelius’ choice of “Finlandia” as a title for the composition served as a subtle form of protest against Russian censorship; however, that censorship was so intense that it couldn’t be performed publically as “Finlandia”, so other titles were devised including “Happy Feelings at the Awakening of Finnish Spring.”

Lloyd Stone (1912-1993), an American public school teacher who lived in Hawaii, authored 10 books of poetry and two children’s books. He wrote the first two stanzas of “This Is My Song” for its inclusion in the collection, Sing a Tune (1934). During the brief time of peace between two world wars, it was a song of hope for all nations—“for lands afar and mine.” The poet acknowledges love for his own country, but balances that with the love that others feel around the world for their nations.  The second stanza begins by alluding to the blue skies, the ocean, sunlight, “cloverleaf and pine” of Stone’s own country, but then acknowledges that in other countries, “skies are everywhere as blue as mine.” The stanza concludes: “O hear my song, O God of all the nations, a song of peace for their land and for mine.”

Methodist theologian Georgia Harkness (1881-1974) added a third stanza at the request of Marion Norris, then executive secretary of the Wesleyan Service Guild of the Methodist Church. Harkness related: “[Marion Norris] wrote me that they had been using the first two verses but wanted something with a more distinctly religious note as a supplement to them. I cannot tell you exactly how long ago this was, but since I can recall writing the stanza at my desk when I was teaching at Mount Holyoke 1937-39, it was within this period.”  The hymn was adopted as the official hymn of the Wesleyan Service Guild and was widely sung throughout the former Methodist Church.

Harkness, one of the first women ordained in the Methodist Church and a leading ecumenical theologian of her day, added two additional stanzas, the second of which appears in our hymnal as the final stanza of the hymn. It is a prayer to the “Lord of all earth’s kingdoms.” Harkness skillfully ties the reference to “earth’s kingdoms” to a petition found in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come; on earth thy will be done.” Christ becomes the central figure in Harkness’ stanza, as one who will unite us in service to each other and help us to “learn to live as one.” Her stanza ends with a personal dedication: “Myself I give thee; let thy will be done.”  In this stanza, Harkness transforms a hymn of peace with vague religious overtones into a prayer for peace that comes from the author of peace, Jesus Christ.