December 28, 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:

Shepherds – Wilbur Held

“Nesem Vám Noviny” (We are bringing you news) is a traditional Bohemian (Czech) carol.  It is sometimes titles “The Angels and the Shepherds.”  The English text was adapted by Helene Dickinson.

               Shepherds, O hark ye, glad tidings we bring,

               Peace and goodwill to the world now we sing.

                See in a manger Christ the Annointed

               Whom for your Saviour God hath appointed.

               Alleluia.

               In yonder manger behold now he lies

               Whom angel voices foretold from the skies.

                Seeking Thy mercy, we kneel before Thee.

               Singing Thy praises, humbly adore Thee.

               Alleluiah.

               Still through ages the song doth resound,

               Peace and goodwill on the earth shall abound.

               Bear we the tidings to every nation,

               Born is the Christ Child for man's salvation.

               Alleluia.

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.

Scherzino on a French Carol – David Paxton

The text for “Sing We Now of Christmas” comes from a 15^th century French Carol, Noël nouvelet. The English text was written by an unknown translator in the 17^th or 18^th century.  The lyrical structure of the carol takes us through the story of Christ’s birth. The text connects to two scripture passages—Luke 2:8-20, which tells the story of the angels and shepherds, and Matthew 2:1-12, which tells the story of the wise men and their gifts. The tune for this hymn comes from the same Traditional French Carol as the text.  The importance of this song is that it highlights several of the most important parts of Christ’s birth; from the rejoicing of heaven and earth (with shepherds and angels), to the fulfilling of prophecies (the coming of the wise men). It reminds us that Christ’s birth changed the world. It reminds us that God became man and took a weak body of flesh to become closer to us.

Sing we now of Christmas, Noel, sing we here!
Hear our grateful praises to the babe so dear.

Angels called to shepherds, "Leave your flocks at rest,
journey forth to Bethlehem, find the lambkin blest."  

In Bethlehem they found him; Joseph and Mary mild,
seated by the manger, watching the holy child.

Refrain:

Sing we Noel, the King is born, Noel!
Sing we now of Christmas, sing we now Noel!

David Paxton (b. 1934)  is retired and living in Arizona. He has been composing for nearly fifty years, and his compositions include choral, organ and piano pieces. He is a regular contributor to the Lorenz Corporation’s keyboard magazines The Church Pianist, The Organist, The Organ Portfolio, and The Sacred Organ Journal, as well as the choral magazines The SAB Choir and The Volunteer Choir.

Gloria – Anthony Giamanco

"Angels We Have Heard on High" is a Christmas carol of French origin. The song commemorates the story of the birth of Jesus Christ found in the Gospel of Luke, in which shepherds outside Bethlehem encounter a multitude of angels singing and praising the newborn child.  People began to chant the phrase "Gloria in excelsis Deo" in Christmas Eve worship services as early as 130 A.D. In medieval times, French shepherds had a Christmas Eve tradition of shouting "Gloria in excelsis Deo" to each other as they watched over their sheep flocks on their respective hills in southern France. A Latin chorale version may have inspired the traditional French Christmas carol 'Les Anges dans nos Campagnes,' which Edward Shippen Barnes used in the 1800s to arrange the first version of 'Angels We Have Heard on High'. The most common English version that was translated in 1862 by James Chadwick, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle, northeast England.  'Angels We Have Heard on High' was first published in English as part of an 1862 book called Crown of Jesus Music. But the version that has become popular worldwide was published later, in 1916, in the book Carols Old and Carols New.

Angels we have heard on high
Sweetly singing o'er the plains
And the mountains in reply
Echoing their joyous strains.

Shepherds, why this jubilee?
Why your joyous strains prolong?
What the gladsome tidings be
Which inspire your heavenly song?

Come to Bethlehem and see
Him whose birth the angels sing,
Come, adore on bended knee,
Christ the Lord, the newborn King.

Refrain:

Gloria, in excelsis Deo
Gloria, in excelsis Deo

Anthony Giamanco (b. 1958), born in Detroit, Michigan, has been a professional church musician since the age of 17. Currently he serves as music director at St. Mary Catholic Parish in Pinckney, Michigan, where he oversees an adult choir, two children's choirs, a handchime ensemble, instrumental ensembles, and two contemporary ensembles. Anthony's many choral, organ, and piano works are featured in the catalogs of numerous publishers, including GIA, for whom the octavo "Love Comes Trick-a-lin' Down" was a top ten seller in 2007. 

About the Vocal Music:

The Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth – Ian Fraser, Henry Onorati, Larry

          Grossman, Katherine Davis, Harry Simeone

                   John Stephenson & Dell Smith, duet

"The Little Drummer Boy" (originally known as "Carol of the Drum") was written by the American classical music composer and teacher Katherine Kennicott Davis (1892-1980) in 1941.  She studied at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Davis also studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. She taught music at the Concord Academy in Concord, Massachusetts, and at the Shady Hill School for Girls in Philadelphia.Many of her over 600 compositions were written for the choirs at her school. She was actively involved in The Concord Series, multiple-volume set of music and books for educational purposes.

In the lyrics the singer relates how, as a poor young boy, he was summoned by the Magi to the nativity where, without a gift for the infant Jesus, he played his drum with the Virgin Mary's approval, remembering "I played my best for Him" and "He smiled at me."  The story depicted in the song is somewhat similar to a 12th-century legend retold by Anatole France as Le Jongleur de Notre Dame (French: Our Lady's Juggler), which was adapted into an opera in 1902 by Jules Massenet. In the French legend, however, a juggler juggles before the statue of the Virgin Mary, and the statue, according to which version of the legend one reads, either smiles at him or throws him a rose.

The song was originally titled "Carol of the Drum" and was published by Davis as based upon a traditional Czech carol. Davis's interest was in producing material for amateur and girls' choirs: her manuscript is set as a chorale, the tune in the soprano with alto harmony, tenor and bass parts producing the "drum rhythm" and a keyboard accompaniment "for rehearsal only". It is headed "Czech Carol freely transcribed by K.K.D", these initials then deleted and replaced with "C.R.W. Robinson", a name under which Davis sometimes published.  The Czech original has never been identified,

"Carol of the Drum" appealed to the Austrian Trapp Family Singers, who first brought the song to wider prominence when they recorded it in 1955, shortly before they retired: their version was credited solely to Davis.  In 1957 it was recorded, with a slightly altered arrangement, by the Jack Halloran Singers for their album Christmas Is A-Comin' on Dot Records. Dot's Henry Onorati introduced the song to his friend Harry Simeone and the following year, when 20th Century Fox Records contracted him to make a Christmas album, Simeone, making further small changes to the Halloran arrangement and retitling it "The Little Drummer Boy", recorded it with the Harry Simeone Chorale on the album Sing We Now of Christmas. Simeone and Onorati claimed joint composition credits with Davis.

One of the more popular versions of the song was recorded for Bing Crosby's final holiday television special (Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas) as a medley titled "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy", which was a duet by the unusual pairing of Crosby and David Bowie. Bowie did not want to sing "Little Drummer Boy", so the new song was added for him. T he "Peace on Earth" tune and lyrics, written by Ian Fraser, Larry Grossman, and Alan Kohan, were added to the song specially for Bowie and Crosby's recording. According to co-writer Ian Fraser, Bowie balked at singing "Little Drummer Boy": "I hate this song. Is there something else I could sing?" Fraser recalls Bowie telling him. Fraser, along with songwriter Larry Grossman and the special's scriptwriter, Buz Kohan, then wrote "Peace on Earth" as a counterpoint to "Little Drummer Boy". Crosby performed "Little Drummer Boy", while Bowie sang the new tune "Peace on Earth", which they reportedly performed after less than an hour of rehearsal.

About the Hymns:

Angels from the Realms of Glory

This hymn was written by James Montgomery (1771-1854), who was born in Scotland of Irish parents.  His father, John Montgomery, was a Moravian pastor - apparently the only Moravian pastor serving in Scotland at the time. James Montgomery was just six years old when heard of the death of both his parents who had been in Barbados on a missionary trip. He spent the remainder of his childhood being raised within the school system in Ireland, where he did not excel academically. As a teenager, James was placed in an apprenticeship position to a baker. He grew frustrated with that position and so ran away to Sheffield, England. There he took on various jobs to support himself, while trying to find his niche.

In his early 20s, James was hired to work for a politically active newspaper, the Sheffield Register. James found that he loved to write, and that he was good at it. When the owner of the paper had to flee the country in order to avoid imprisonment, James purchased the newspaper, after which he himself was imprisoned twice for political articles that did not sit well with the governing authorities.

Throughout all his ups and downs, James remained a devout Christian. He remembered well the lessons taught to him by his missionary parents. He chose to follow in their footsteps and to champion the cause of Christ. His newspaper was his pulpit to speak out against social and moral injustice. And in that same paper he published his original hymns of praise. Angels From the Realms of Glory appeared in print on Christmas Eve, 1816.

The tune associated with this hymn is "Regent Square", written by Henry Smart (1813-1879), an English organist and composer, in 1867.  Smart named the tune after the Regent Square Presbyterian Church in London.  Smart was quite influential in persuading the Anglican Church to adopt congregational singing of hymns.  Luther (1483-1546) had introduced congregational singing much earlier in Germany, and had even written a number of hymns.  Isaac Watts (1674-1748) had written hundreds of hymns and had popularized hymn singing in non-conforming English churches. Charles Wesley (1707-1788) had done the same for Methodist Churches.  The Anglican Church, however, resisted hymn singing until quite late.  But Smart was a man of substantial energy and reputation, and was able to turn the tide and to persuade the Anglican Church to adopt hymn singing.

The First Noel

Although no Christmas season would be complete without this tuneful carol, very little is known about its origin. It is believed to have had its rise in France during the fifteenth century. Noel is a French word originating from Latin meaning "birthday." The song is thought to have been brought across the channel to England before 1823 by the wandering troubadours. The carol under the English form, "Nowell," became a great favorite for Christmas Eve, especially in the west of England. This was when the entire village gathered for singing and celebrating the bringing in of the Yule log. At this time carols were thought of as popular religious songs meant to be sung outside the church rather than within.

"The First Noel" portrays in vivid narrative style the story of the birth of Christ. All stanzas are needed to complete the entire event when the hymn is sung. The sixth stanza, which has been omitted from our current hymnal, urges us to join together to sing praises to God for the marvels of His creation and for the salvation provided through Christ's shed blood and reminds us that Christ came to redeem the whole world.

Then let us all with one accord sing praises to our heav'nly Lord,

that hath made heav'n and earth of naught, and with His blood mankind hath bought.

Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us

The text of "Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us" first appeared in Hymns for the Young, 1830, which was edited by Dorothy Ann Thrupp (1779-1847). Although no author's name appears with the text, it is thought that Thrupp wrote it, since she often published hymns anonymously, under the pseudonym "Iota," or simply using her initials “DAT”.   The tune we sing today was written by William Bradbury expressly for this text and appeared in his Sunday School collection, Oriola, 1859. Bradbury was a protege of the great music educator, Lowell Mason. Bradbury sang in Mason's Bowdoin Street Church choir and Boston Academy of Music as a youth, and later started similar church and school music programs in New York where he served as organist at First Baptist Church. Beyond his work as an educator and church musician, Bradbury studied composition in Europe, founded the Bradbury Piano Company with his brother, and edited a number of music books. Bradbury is probably most famous for writing the music to "Jesus Loves Me."