July 20, 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:

Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier – Max Drischner

Essentially a prayer asking for illumination by the Holy Spirit as the Christian community gathers around the Lord's Word, "Blessed Jesus" is a pre-sermon hymn by Tobias Clausnitzer (1619-1684). It was first published in the Altdorffisches Gesang-Buchlein (1663) and first attributed to Clausnitzer in the Nüremberg, Germany, Gesangbuch (1676). Catherine Winkworth translated the text and published it in English in her Lyra Germanica (2nd series, 1858).

Clausnitzer graduated from the University of Leipzig and became a chaplain in the Swedish army. He preached two sermons at memorable occasions: when Queen Christina ascended the Swedish throne in 1645 and when the Peace of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years War, was celebrated in 1648. Clausnitzer became a pastor in Weiden in 1648, where he remained until his death.

The tune was written by Johann Rudolph Ahle (1625-1673), who was born in Mühlhausen, Thuringia.  In 1648 he published the Compendium per tenellis, a theoretical treatise on choral singing which was reprinted several times during his lifetime and for a last time 50 years later by his son Johann Georg.  In 1654 Ahle assumed the post of organist at the Church of St. Blasen/Blasius in Mühlhausen.  Much of his compositional output consists of sacred choral and vocal works, instrumental music, and organ music.  He wrote over 400 sacred arias, from which hymn tunes have been adapted.

Blessed Jesus, at your word
we are gathered all to hear you.
Let our hearts and souls be stirred
now to seek and love and fear you.
By your gospel pure and holy,
teach us, Lord, to love you solely.

Max Drischner (1891-1971) was a German composer, Kantor, organist, and harpsichordist.  Drischner was born in Silesia. After completing his secondary education, he pursued studies in theology in Leipzig and Breslau, beginning in 1910. By 1914, however, he had decided to quit his theological studies in favor of studying music. At this time, Drischner relocated to Berlin, and was enrolled in the Berlin University of the Arts, where he studied harpsichord.  In 1924, Drischner was named Kantor and organist of St. Nicholas Church in Brieg.  While in Brieg, Drischer built a reputation for himself as a choirmaster, as well, organizing and directing many successful events, and founding a youth choir. This earned him a renown that stretched beyond Brieg. His efforts earned him the title of Kirchenmusikdirektor ("Church music director"), a very high honor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Pastel on “Jerusalem, My Happy Home” – Charles Callahan

The authorship of this text is unclear.  The fact that two versions are known, both dating from the latter part of the 16th century, (those of F. B. P. and W. Prid), points naturally to a common source from whence each was taken.  Some hymnals claim the original author is St. Augustine and that F. B. P.’s text in a 16^th or 17^th century manuscript was based on the Augustine text.  Other hymnals say Joseph Bromehead is the author. Still other hymnals attribute the text to James Montgomery.  Although the first stanza is similar to the first stanza of the hymn “Jerusalem, my happy home, O how I long for Thee” from Southern Harmony (1835), the chorus and some other stanzas are not shared by any of the F. B. P. text.

For some centuries the volume known to us as The Meditations of St. Augustine (Liber Meditationum) had been popular, and had widely influenced the thought of the Church. At the time of the Reformation, Roman Catholic and Protestant alike vied in translations of it, in whole or in part. In many editions Cardinal P. Damiani's hymn on Paradise, "Ad perennis vitae fontem," is given as a part of the Manual, and has thus become frequently ascribed to Stanza Augustine. A passage in the Liber Meditationum [ed. Divi Aurelii Augustini Hipponensis Episcopi Meditationes, Soliloquia et Manuale, Venice, 1553, c. 25], …together with Card. P. Damiani's hymn, seems to have been the source of the hymn by F. B. P., as it is certainly of that by W. Prid. 

The version by F. B. P. is in a manuscript book in the British Museum. The manuscript is undated, but is of the latter part of the 16th or the beginning of the 17th century.  In 1601, this hymn, abbreviated to 19 stanzas, was printed in The Song of Mary the Mother of Christ... with the Description of Heavenly Jerusalem (1601). These two versions, if the latter is not derived from the former, must have had one common source, and suggest the possibility of an earlier and probably printed version of the hymn now unknown being the source of both.

W. Prid's hymn on The New Jerusalem is contained in  The Glasse of vaine-glorie: Faithfully translated (out of S. Augustine his booke, intituled Speculum peccatoris) into English by W. P.[rid] (1585).  W. Prid translated direct from the work known to us as St. Augustine's Meditation; and it is highly probable that F. B. P. derived his directly from the same source, or indirectly through the translation of another.

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.

Jerusalem, my happy home,
Oh how I long for thee!
When will my sorrows have an end?
Thy joys when shall I see?

We're marching through Emmanuel's ground;
We soon shall hear the welcome trumpet sound,—
Oh, there we shall with Jesus dwell,
And never part again:
What, never part again?
No, never part again,
No, never part again,
No, never part again,
Oh, there we shall with Jesus dwell,
And never part again.

 

 

Fugue in C minor – Jean Jacques Charpentier

In music, 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.

Jean-Jacques Beauvarlet-Charpentier (1734-1794) was a celebrated French organist and composer. From 1763, he was a member of the Académie des Beaux Arts de Lyon (now École des Beaux-Arts). Then, from 1783 to 1793, he was organist at the Notre Dame de Paris.

(sermon tease)

About the Hymns:

Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah

William Williams (1717-1791) is considered by many to be the father of Welsh hymnody.  In 1738, Williams heard a sermon by the revivalist preacher Howell Harris, a fiery Welsh layman who had been influenced by the Methodist movement in England. It was through this sermon that Williams discerned his calling to go into the ministry.  Williams first pursued becoming an Anglican priest (in the Church of Wales) and entered as a deacon in 1740. However, he soon came to discover that his heart was with Harris and his itinerant work, and before long he left his small curacy in the mountains to join with the traveling Methodist preachers.

The revivalists realized that the Welsh language was lacking in hymns—the church in Wales was still primarily singing metrical psalms in their worship services. In order to promote the creation of hymns, Harris put together a hymn-writing competition between the different preachers.  As Louis Benson relates, “the prize fell easily to Williams Williams, who had the poet’s passion and a gift of verse-writing. Therefore it was not very long before he was recognized as poet laureate of the Welsh revival.”

Williams would go on to write many hymns in both Welsh and English. “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah” appeared in Welsh in 1745. Twenty six years later, in 1771, a Rev. Peter Williams translated the first verse into English, prompting William Williams to translate the rest of it into English as well.  It is fitting that Williams should be the author of a hymn about the Christian’s pilgrimage on earth since as a traveling Methodist preacher, he was a pilgrim in both the spiritual and physical sense.

Williams made an extraordinary record as an itinerant evangelist. He took the whole of Wales for his parish. His travels for forty-three years are said to make an average of 2230 miles a year, at a time when there were no railroads and few stage-coaches. In this way the greater part of Williams’ life was spent, not in a preacher’s study, but in the great world of out of doors. 

Where He Leads Me

Earnest W. Blan­dy, a Sal­va­tion Ar­my of­fi­cer, wrote this song in 1890, af­ter choos­ing be­tween a com­fort­a­ble post at an es­tab­lished church, and an al­ter­nate as­sign­ment to the New York Ci­ty wa­ter­front and slum called "Hell’s Kitch­en." He chose the lat­ter.  No other biographical information on Rev. Blandy has survived.  The text is based on Matthew 16:24:  “Then Jesus said to his disciples, If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.”

The melody was composed by pastor and evangelist John S. Norris, who died in 1907.  Norris was born on the Isle of Wight, which is in the English Channel off the southern coast of England. His family emigrated to Canada. In 1868, a few years after the Civil War ended, he was ordained into the Methodist Church ministry. However, 10 years later he joined the Congregational Church and pastored churches in Canada and the United States. Little is known of his ministry. His only legacy is the soulful tune of this simple song of invitation and consecration.

Be Thou My Vision

"Be Thou My Vision" (Old Irish: Rop tú mo baile or Rob tú mo bhoile) is a traditional hymn from Ireland. The most well known English version, with some minor variations, was translated by Eleanor Hull and published in 1912. In 1919, the lyrics were set to the tune of the Irish folk tune "Slane", to which the song is sung to this day, both in English and Irish. The song dates from at least the eighth century, though the text dates to the sixth-century.

The original Old Irish text, "Rop tú mo Baile" is often attributed to Saint Dallán Forgaill in the 6th century. Eochaid Mac Colla (c. 530 – 598), better known as Saint Dallan or Dallán Forgaill (Old Irish: Dallán Forchella; Latin: Dallanus Forcellius), was an early Christian Irish poet whose writings include the "Amra Choluim Chille" ("Elegy of Saint Columba") and "Rop Tú Mo Baile" ("Be Thou My Vision").  Saint Dallan was Chief Ollam of Ireland (similar to poet laureate), as well as a scholar of Latin scriptural learning. He helped to reform the Bardic Order at the Convention of Drumceat.  He reputedly wrote Amra Choluim Chille, which he completed shortly after the death of Saint Columba in 597, because Columba had successfully saved poets from expulsion from Ireland at the assembly of Druim Cett in 575. The “Amra Choluim Chille,” is the earliest Irish poem that can be dated.

"Rop tú mo Baile" had been a part of Irish monastic tradition for centuries before its setting to music. It was translated from Old Irish into English by Mary Elizabeth Byrne in Ériu (the journal of the School of Irish Learning), in 1905. The English text was first versified by Eleanor Hull, in 1912, and is now the most common text used.