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.
Corporis
Mysterium – Gian Domenico Cattenacci
Pange
Lingua Gloriosi Corporis Mysterium is a hymn written by St Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274)
for the Feast of Corpus Christi (now called the Solemnity of the Holy Body and Blood of
Christ), which St. Thomas drew up
in 1263, at the request of Pope Urban IV. This
hymn is considered the most beautiful of Aquinas' hymns and one of the great
seven hymns of the Church. The rhythm of the Pange Lingua is said to have come
down from a marching song of Caesar's Legions: "Ecce, Caesar nunc
triumphat qui subegit Gallias." There are two plainchant settings of the
Pange Lingua hymn. The better known is a Phrygian mode tune from the
Roman liturgy, and the other is from the Mozarabic liturgy from
Spain. The Roman tune was originally part of the Gallican Rite. It is found
in the Roman (Venice, 1478; and again, untouched, in 1632); Mozarabic
of 1502, Sarum, York, Aberdeen, Paris of 1736, and many other
Breviaries. Pange Lingua has been
translated into many different languages for worship throughout the world.
However, the Latin version remains the most popular.
Tell, tongue, the mystery
of the glorious Body
and of the precious Blood,
which, for the price of the world,
the fruit of a noble Womb,
the King of the Nations poured forth.
The Word as Flesh makes true bread
into flesh by a word
and the wine becomes the Blood of Christ.
And if sense is deficient
to strengthen a sincere heart
Faith alone suffices.
Thomas of Aquino, confessor and doctor,
commonly called The Angelical Doctor, “on account of," says Dom Gueranger,
"the extraordinary gift of understanding wherewith God had blessed
him," was born of noble parents, his father being Landulph, Count of Aquino,
and his mother a rich Neapolitan lady, named Theodora. The exact date of his
birth is not known, but most trustworthy authorities give it as 1227. At the
age of five he was sent to the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino to
receive his first training, which in the hands of a large-hearted and
God-fearing man, resulted in so filling his mind with knowledge and his soul
with God, that it is said the monks themselves would often approach by stealth
to hear the words of piety and wisdom that fell from the lips of the precocious
child when conversing with his companions.
St. Thomas was a most voluminous writer, his principal
work being the celebrated Summa Theologiae, which, although never
completed, was accepted as such an authority as to be placed on a table in the
council-chamber at the Council of Trent alongside of the Holy Scriptures and
the Decrees of the Popes. But it is outside the province of this work to
enlarge on his prose works. Though not a prolific writer of hymns, St. Thomas
has contributed to the long list of Latin hymns some which have been in use in
the services of the Church of Rome from his day to this. They are upon the
subject of the Lord's Supper. The best known are:—Pange lingua gloriosi
Corporis Mysterium; Adoro te devote latens Deitas; Sacris sollemniis juncta
sint gaudia; Lauda Sion Salvatorem; and Verbum supernum prodiens. The 1st,
3rd, and 5th of these are found in the Roman Breviary, the 2nd, 4th,
and 5th in Newman's Hymni Ecclesiae; the 4th in the Roman Missal;
all of them appear in Daniel; the 2nd and 4th in Mone; and
the 2nd, 4th, and 5th in Königsfeld.
Of these hymns numerous translations have been made from time to time,
and amongst the translators are found Caswall, Neale, Woodford, Morgan, and
others.
Gian
Domenico Cattenacci (c.1735-c.1800) was a Franciscan monk at St. Angelo’s,
Milan. He wrote a number of organ works,
including 24 sonatas. This piece is one
of a set of versets based on the Pange Lingua, which were used as incidental or
interlude music in the mass or in alternatum with the singing of the chant.
Sing My Tongue – Wilbur Held
This setting
of the Pange Lingua features the Gregorian chant melody prominently. WILBUR C. HELD (b. 1914) was
born in Des Plaines, Illinois, and received his B.M. and M.M. degrees at the
American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. He then attended Union Theological
Seminary in New York City where he earned his S.M.D. A member of the Episcopal
Church, for many years Dr. Held was Professor of Organ and Church Music at The
Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. He remained in
this position for over 30 years, and for most of that time was also
organist-choirmaster at Trinity Episcopal Church in Columbus, Ohio. Dr. Held started composing little pieces for
the organ because he felt there was a lack of teaching material aimed at
developing style and registration, especially for the romantic use of the
instrument. Having written several suites primarily for pedagogical use, he
turned his attention to broadening the repertoire for church use,
continuing to stress modest technical requirements and flexibility of
registration. To date he has published 325 organ works. He has
served on the national councils of both the AGO and the Hymn
Society of America, and has appeared as recitalist at their national
conventions.
My Shepherd Will Supply My Need – Alice Jordan
Isaac Watts (1674-1748) was the son of a schoolmaster and
was born in Southampton. He is said to have shown remarkable precocity in
childhood, beginning the study of Latin, in his fourth year, and writing
respectable verses at the age of seven. At the age of sixteen, he went to
London to study in the Academy of the Rev. Thomas Rowe, an Independent
minister. In 1698, he became assistant minister of the Independent Church,
Berry St., London. In 1702, he became pastor.
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 composed for religious worship, "Behold
the glories of the Lamb," was written at the age of twenty. 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. There is a monument to
his memory in the South Choir of Westminster Abbey. The inscription reads, "Happy will be that
reader whose mind is disposed, by his verses or his prose, to imitate him in
all but his non-conformity, to copy his benevolence to men, and his reverence
to God."
Psalm 23 has inspired numerous paraphrases and hymn
texts, including this text by Isaac Watts. Watts included it in his large 1719
collection of psalm paraphrases, The Psalms of David Imitated. Psalm 23 remains the most well-loved
and often recited psalm, and Isaac Watts' powerful paraphrase, coupled with the
peaceful yet strong American folk tune, make this hymn a moving rendition of
that psalm. Watts’ interpretation of the last line of psalm, “and I will dwell
in the house of the LORD forever,” gives a new understanding to the original
psalm: “No more a stranger or a guest, but like a child at home.” Watts gives
us a concrete image of dwelling – a child, knowing he or she is safe and
secure, and in a place of love and comfort – to help us understand what it is
we hope for. The same peace we find in the pasture and by the stream, we find
in the house of the LORD, to which our Shepherd is leading us day by day.
Alice Jordan (1916-2011) is known for her widely published
choral and organ compositions which are regularly used in churches, schools and
colleges in this country and abroad. Some of her compositions have won
recognition in national competition. She
was the
recipient of over 40 commissions from across the United States.
Fuge
- Jan Křtitel Vaňhal
A fugue is
a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (theme) that is introduced at
the beginning in imitation (repetition at
different pitches) and recurs frequently in the course of the composition. The English term fugue originated in
the 16th century and is derived from the French word fugue or the
Italian fuga. This in turn comes from Latin, also fuga, which is
itself related to both fugere ("to flee") and fugare
("to chase"). Variants include fughetta (literally, "a
small fugue") and fugato (a passage in fugal style within another
work that is not a fugue). A fugue usually has three sections: an exposition, a
development, and a recapitulation containing the return of the subject in the
fugue's tonic key, though not all
fugues have a recapitulation. In the Middle
Ages, the term was widely
used to denote any works in canonic style; by the Renaissance, it had come to denote
specifically imitative works. Since the 17th century, the term fugue has
described what is commonly regarded as the most fully developed procedure of
imitative counterpoint.
Jan
Křtitel Vaňhal (1739-1813),
also known as Johann Baptist Wanhal,
was born bonded to a local nobleman; he received his first musical training
from his family and local musicians, excelling at the violin and organ from an
early age. From these humble beginnings he was able to earn a living as a
village organist and choirmaster. He was also taught German from an early age,
as this was required for someone wishing to make a career in music within the Habsburg empire. He went to Vienna in 1760 and was so
successful as a teacher of voice, violin, and piano that he was able to buy his
freedom. He toured Italy in preparation
for a position at the Dresden court of Baron Ignaz Wolfgang Reisch, but backed
out of the job and returned to Vienna where he promptly suffered a mental
collapse. During the 1760s and '70s, he composed more than 70 symphonies, but
afterwards concentrated on keyboard music and sacred music. He remained in
Vienna until his death, an important contributor to the development of the
Viennese classical style.
Vaňhal composed 100 string quartets, at
least 73 symphonies, 95 sacred works, and a large number of instrumental and
vocal works. Many of Wanhal's symphonies
are in minor keys and are considered highly influential to the "Sturm und Drang"
movement of his time. Around 1780, Vaňhal stopped writing
large-scale instrumental music, and rather contented himself with writing piano
music for the growing middle class, and church music. He was also the most prolific writer of
Masses and other Catholic church music of his generation in Vienna. Despite this, it appears that he was never in
the employ of any religious institution.
About the Hymns:
Praise
to the Lord, the Almighty
The melody used by Neander, first published in 1665, is probably based on a folk tune. The common name given to this melody is "Lobe den Herren". Several variants were published with various secular texts between 1665 to 1680, when Joachim Neander published his German hymn, Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren, using its meter. The text paraphrases Psalm 103 and Psalm 150.
Near to the Heart of God
Clcland B. McAfee (1866-1944) is known for this one hymn, his “one-hit-wonder”. McAfee wrote “Near to the Heart of God” in 1903, after two daughters of his brother Howard died os diphtheria within 24 hours of each other. The choir of Park College went to Howard McAfee’s quarantined house and sang it outside the window to encourage the grieving family. McAfee was at Park College, Parkville, MO, for almost 20 years, serving on the faculty and as college chaplain and choir director. He then pastored in Chicago, IL and Brooklyn, NY. He was also on the faculty at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago and directed the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions.
Great is Thy Faithfulness
A native of the small Kentucky town of
Franklin, Thomas Obediah Chisholm (1866-1960) was born in a log cabin. He
lacked formal education. Nevertheless, he became a teacher at age sixteen and
the associate editor of his hometown weekly newspaper, the “Franklin Advocate”, at age
twenty-one. Though he was ordained a Methodist
minister in 1903, he served only a single, brief appointment at Scottsville,
Kentucky, due to ill health. He wrote
more than 1200 poems, 800 of which were published. They often appeared in
religious periodicals such as the “Sunday
School Times”, “Moody Monthly”,
and “Alliance Weekly”. Many of
these were set to music.
Chisholm had sent a number of his poems
to the Rev. William H. Runyan (1870-1957), a musician with the Moody Bible
Institute and one of the editors of Hope Publishing Company in Chicago. Runyan wrote of the hymn: "This
particular poem held such an appeal that I prayed most earnestly that my tune
might carry over its message in a worthy way, and the subsequent history of its
use indicates that God answered prayer.
It was written in Baldwin, Kansas, in 1923, and was first published in
my private song pamphlets." A
phrase in Lamentations 3:22-23 provides a basis for the refrain: "The
steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they
are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."
George Beverly Shea (1909-2013), the
famous Canadian-born singer of the Billy Graham Crusades, introduced this hymn
to those attending the evangelistic meetings in Great Britain in 1954. It immediately became a favorite. This hymn appeared in many evangelical
hymnals and song collections, but was not chosen for an official Methodist
hymnal until The United Methodist
Hymnal (1989), even
though the author was a Methodist. It
was a very popular hymn of the former Evangelical United Brethren Church and
had been included in their hymnals.
According to Carlton
Young, "Great is thy faithfulness" was second only to "In the
garden" as the most requested hymn for inclusion in The United Methodist Hymnal. A
survey conducted in 2000 by Dean McIntyre, Director of Music Resources, General
Board of Discipleship, revealed that "Great is thy faithfulness"
remains one of the favorite hymns among United Methodists.
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