October 5, 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:

In Christ There is no East or West – Healey Willan

William Arthur Dunkerley (1852-1941) was a prolific English journalist, novelist and poet. He was born in Manchester, spent a short time after his marriage in America before moving to Ealing, west London, where he served as dea­con and teach­er at the Ealing Con­gre­ga­tion­al Church from the 1880s, and he then moved to Worthing in Sussex in 1922, where he became the town's mayor.  He wrote under his own name, and also as John Oxenham for his poetry, hymn-writing, and novels. His poetry includes Bees in Amber: a little book of thoughtful verse (1913) which became a bestseller. He also wrote the poem "Greatheart." He used another pseudonym, Julian Ross, for journalism. Dunkerley was a major contributor to Jerome K. Jerome's The Idler magazine.

The poem, “In Christ There is no East or West”, was originally part of a libretto, “Darkness and Light,” prepared in 1908 for an exhibition for the London Missionary Society on the theme “The Orient in London.” He then included this poem in his collection, Bees in Amber (1913). This popular volume was rejected by publishers; when Oxenham self-published it, the book sold 285,000 copies. From here the hymn found its way into many English-language hymnals, beginning with England’s Songs of Praise (1931).  English literary scholar and hymnologist J.R. Watson states that the hymn takes its opening idea from Rudyard Kipling’s famous lines, “Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet” from “The Ballad of East and West,” published in Barrach-Room Ballads, and Other Verses (1892). However, Oxenham’s hymn is the antithesis of Kipling’s verse.   As UM Hymnal editor Carlton Young observes, “The theme of Oxenham’s hymn, one of the most durable hymnic statements of Christian unity in the twentieth century, is from Galatians 3:28: ‘There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ.’” 

Healey Willan (1880-1968) was an Canadian organist and composer.  He composed more than 800 works including operas, symphonies, chamber music, a concerto, and pieces for band, orchestra, organ, and piano, but is best known for his religious music.  Willan was born in England, and he began musical training at age eight, with studies at St. Saviour's Choir School in Eastbourne.  He earned, by examination in organ playing, harmony, counterpoint, history and orchestration, the Royal College of Organists' Associateship in 1897 and Fellowship in 1899. The Anglo-Catholic Tractarian movement led to an Anglican revival of plainsong, and in 1910, Willan joined the London Gregorian Association (which strove to preserve and revive "plain-chant").  In 1913, Willan emigrated to Canada.  In 1921, he become Precentor of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene (Toronto), where he remained until his death.  St. Mary Magdalene, under Willan, became a North American mecca for choral and Anglican church musicians.  In 1920, the Toronto Conservatory (now the Royal Conservatory of Music) appointed Willan Head of its Theory Department.  In 1934, he founded the Tudor Singers, which he conducted until it disbanded in 1939.  From 1937 to 1950, Willan was University of Toronto Professor of Music and Organist. When the Order of Canada was established in 1967, it named Willan a Companion. In Britain, it was customary for the Archbishop of Canterbury to occasionally grant very distinguished English cathedral musicians the Lambeth Doctorate, Mus. D Cantaur; in 1956, Willan, "the Dean of Canadian composers", became the first non-English church musician to be so honoured.  People who remember Willan from his time at St Mary Magdalene's like to moderate his somewhat dourly pious public image by quoting him: "English by birth; Canadian by adoption; Irish by extraction; Scotch by absorption."

Fanfare I for Strings and Organ – Robert Powell

Robert Powell (b. 1932) is an American composer, organist, and choir director.  Powell earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Louisiana State University with a focus on organ and composition. He studied with Alec Wyton at Union Theological Seminary in New York, and he was also Wyton's assistant at The Episcopal Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. For three years (1965–1968), he served St. Paul's School (Concord, New Hampshire) as Director of Music. Later, Powell was Director of Music and Organist of Christ Church (Episcopal) of Greenville, South Carolina from 1968 to 2003. He has composed in nearly all genres common to church music, including anthems, service music, hymn concertatos, organ music, music for handbell choir, and large-scale oratorios. Powell's conservative, neo-Romantic style stems from his practical approach to composition. According to Powell himself, he writes for "choirs of twenty-five because that's what most choirs are. When you come right down to it, most choirs are not of cathedral ability or size. My pieces are all practical things and useful for specific occasions." His publications appear in The Hymnal 1982 as well as in the catalogs of most of the significant American publishers of church music. According to publisher GIA, Powell is "a composer whose output bridges denominational boundaries and who is able to serve the larger Church. He has made ecumenical sharing a reality–-and always with a genteel touch."  Powell is an active member of the Association of Anglican Musicians and is a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists.

Let Us Break Bread Together – Charles Callahan

Some of the stanzas of this African American spiritual may date back to the eighteenth century. Other stanzas have been added by oral tradition. A look through modern hymnals will reveal an array of variations on the text. The most notable alteration in the Psalter Hymnal is the phrase "to the Lord of life" in place of the original "to the rising sun," in which "rising sun" was a metaphor referring to the Son rising. The song's use at communion services probably dates from after the American Civil War. Miles Mark Fisher notes in Negro Slave Songs in the United States (1953),

            [Originally the hymn] relates hardly at all to holy communion, which does not necessarily                    require early morning administration or a devotee who faces east.  It was a signal song of                    Virginia slaves during the eighteenth century who used it and similar ones to convene                          their secret meetings.

The text describes participation in the Lord's Supper as a humble act in which we not only eat the bread and drink the wine, but also praise our God  "on our knees." The refrain ends with a prayer for mercy, an African American Kyrie  that reminds us of the tax collector's prayer in Luke 18:13.

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.

Jesus Shall Reign – John Hatton

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 is said to have composed for religious worship, is "Behold the glories of the Lamb," written at the age of twenty. It is as a writer of psalms and hymns that he is everywhere known. 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.

Isaac Watts based this hymn text on Psalm 72:12-19 and referred to verses 5 and 8 of the psalm as well. Originally in eight stanzas entitled "Christ's Kingdom among the Gentiles," the text was published in Watts' Psalms of David, Imitated (1719).  In this hymnal, he paraphrased many of the Psalms, but in a very different style than many of his predecessors. The order of the day was to keep any paraphrase as close to the text as possible. Watts decided to do otherwise, and his interpretations of the psalms are quite loose, in an effort to write something new while keeping the spirit of the Psalm. His versification of Psalm 72 is no different. He interprets the psalm using a Christological lens. The king referenced in the psalm is Christ, and could be no one else. Watts understood that the Old Testament makes sense in light of the New, and vice versa.

G. J. Stevenson’s Notes on the Meth­od­ist Hymn Book re­lates:

Perhaps one of the most in­ter­est­ing oc­ca­sions on which this hymn was used was that on which King George, the sa­ble, of the South Sea Is­lands, but of bless­ed mem­o­ry, gave a new con­sti­tu­tion to his peo­ple, ex­chang­ing a hea­then for a Christ­ian form of gov­ern­ment. Un­der the spread­ing branch­es of the ban­yan trees sat some thou­sand na­tives from Ton­ga, Fi­ji, and Sa­moa, on Whit­sun­day, 1862, as­sem­bled for Di­vine wor­ship. Fore­most amongst them all sat King George him­self. Around him were seat­ed old chiefs and war­ri­ors who had shared with him the dan­gers and for­tunes of ma­ny a battle—men whose eyes were dim, and whose pow­er­ful frames were bowed down with the weight of years. But old and young alike re­joiced to­ge­ther in the joys of that day, their fac­es most of them ra­di­ant with Christ­ian joy, love, and hope. It would be im­poss­i­ble to de­scribe the deep feel­ing man­i­fest­ed when the sol­emn serv­ice be­gan, by the en­tire au­di­ence sing­ing Dr. Watts’ hymn…

Who so much as they could real­ize the full mean­ing of the po­et’s words? For they had been res­cued from the dark­ness of hea­then­ism and can­ni­bal­ism and they were that day met for the first time un­der a Christ­ian con­sti­tu­tion, un­der a Christian king, and with Christ Him­self reign­ing in the hearts of most of those pre­sent. That was in­deed Christ’s king­dom set up in the earth.

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Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
does its successive journeys run,
his kingdom stretch from shore to shore,
till moons shall wax and wane no more.

People and realms of every tongue
dwell on his love with sweetest song,
and infant voices shall proclaim
their early blessings on his name.

Let every creature rise and bring

the highest honors to our King,

angels descend with songs again,

and earth repeat the loud amen.

About the Choral Music:

Bread of the World – Austin Lovelace

Written by Reginald Heber, "Bread of the World" was first published posthumously in his Hymns written and adapted to the Weekly Church Service of the Year (1827); it was subtitled "Before the Sacrament."  Heber indicated it was to be sung as part of the service of confession and forgiveness or during the communion liturgy as a substitute for the traditional singing of the Agnus Dei. The text is a prayer asking Christ to look on us with mercy and to feed us with his grace. Though written in two stanzas, it is one continuous thought. A devotional text with strong poetic images–"bread of the world" and "wine of the soul"–this hymn invites confession of sin and the acceptance of divine grace.

Reginald Heber (1783-1826) was a bright youth, translating a Latin classic into English verse by the time he was seven, entering Oxford at 17, and winning two awards for his poetry during his time there. After his graduation he became rector of his father's church in where he remained for 16 years. He was appointed Bishop of Calcutta in 1823.  Most of his 57 hymns, which include "Holy, Holy, Holy," are still in use today.

Austin C. Lovelace (1919-2010) was called by many the Dean of American Church music. Over many years he worked at a number of Methodist and Presbyterian churches in Colorado, North Carolina, Illinois, and Nebraska. He also worked at Union Theological Seminary in N.Y.C. and Garrett Theological Seminary in Evanston, Ill. He traveled widely as a Director of Music for general conferences, lecturer, and consultant. He was the organist for the Assembly of the World Council of Churches in 1954. He was a prolific writer and composer with over 700 compositions for church in print, as well as numerous articles and books on church hymnody.

            Bread of the world in mercy broken,              Look on the heart by sorrow broken,

Wine of the soul in mercy shed,                     Look on the tears by sinners shed;

By whom the words of life were spoken,       And be the feast to us the token

And in whose death our sins are dead.           That by Thy grace our souls are fed.

About the Hymns:

O Church of God United

"O Church of God, United" was composed for a hymn search conducted by The Hymn Society of America (now The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada) for the Second Assembly of the World Council of Churches, meeting in Evanston, Illinois, on the campus of Northwestern University, August 15-31, 1954, on the theme, "Jesus Christ – the Hope of the World." This contest attracted nearly 500 submissions. Though the hymn did not win the competition, its merit was recognized, appearing in the July 1954 issue of The Hymn, the journal of the Society, and included in a small collection entitled Eleven Ecumenical Hymns; written at the invitation of The Hymn Society of America in recognition of the Second Assembly of the World Council of Churches, Evanston. Illinois. August, 1954.

The author, Frederick B. Morley (1884-1969) was born in Canada and educated at Syracuse University and Boston University School of Theology. He was ordained as a Methodist minister in 1915 and served churches in New Jersey and New York.

All Who Love and Serve Your  City

If we listed the guiding lights of classical hymnody in the last half of the 20th century, without a doubt, many people would rank Erik Routley (1917-1982) at the top. There is no doubt that he was one of the most well-rounded churchmen, church musicians and scholars of his era.   The Rev. Carlton Young, editor of the UM Hymnal,  notes that, “Routley was considered the most influential hymnologist of his generation.”

Routley’s influential books on church music are numerous. A few of the titles give some idea of the scope of his prolific scholarship: The Church and Music (1950), The English Carol (1958), Church Music and Theology (1959), Music Sacred and Profane (1960), Hymns Today and Tomorrow (1964), Exploring the Psalms (1975) and his final volume published posthumously, Christian Hymns Observed (1982). Dr. Young describes the last publication as “an eloquent and characteristically opinionated history of congregational song.” 

“All Who Love and Serve Your City” (1969) follows in a line of important hymns about ministry in the urban context following the Industrial Revolution. Two familiar predecessors of our hymn include “O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee” (1879) by Washington Gladden  and “Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life” (1903) by Methodist churchman Frank Mason North.   These hymns were inspired in part by the social gospel of Walter Rauschenbusch (1861-1918). Rauschenbusch believed that the kingdom of God should be advanced not by evangelistic preaching of the revivals of this era, but by becoming more Christ-like. He believed that we could experience heaven on earth by loving our neighbors and creating healthy social conditions, meeting the needs of the poor.

Our text was written for a historic  gathering in Dunblane, Scotland in 1966 where composers of texts and tunes assembled to write new compositions for congregational singing. Routley had intended to compose a tune, but instead was inspired to write a text to a tune by fellow Englishman Peter Cutts.

Routley noted, “The contrast between the peacefulness of the Scottish country town [of Dunblane] and the conditions of the cities in America and elsewhere evoked this text.” It was published in the second collection to result from the gathering, Dunblane Praises II (1967).

Episcopal hymn scholar Ray Glover notes, “The poet sees the city as a place over which the Risen Lord reigns as Judge and Glory. He challenges the city dweller, in the midst of strife and stress, to seek the Lord, the source of life. Though surrounded by ‘wealth and plenty, wasted work and wasted play,’ he reminds us that, in the words of Jesus, ‘I must work while it is day.’”