February 22, 2015

Each week, you may find information here about the music 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:

Aus meines herzens grunde - Max Drischner

This chorale was written by David Wolder (d. 1604) and first published in Neu Catechismus Gesangbüchlein, Hamburg, 1598.

            In the depths of my heart Your name and cross alone

            Shine every moment and hour so that I can be blessed.

            Appear to me for comfort in my need.

Max Drischner (1891-1971) was a German composer, Kantor, organist, and harpsichordist.  Drischner was born in Silesia. 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.

Rhosymedre – Ralph Vaughn-Williams

“Our Father by Whose Name” was written by Francis Bland Tucker. (1895-1984). The son of a bishop and brother of a Presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, he was was ordained a priest

in 1920, after having served as a private in Evacuation Hospital No.15 of the American

Expeditionary Forces in France during World War I. He was rector of John Wesley's parish in

Georgia, old Christ Church, Savannah. In "Reflections of a Hymn Writer", he speaks of never

having a thought of writing a hymn until he was named a member of the Joint Commission on

the Revision of the Hymnal in 1937 which prepared the Hymnal 1940, and was then named to

the Joint Commission on Church Music of the Episcopal Church where he served from 1946 to

1958. Subsequently he served on the Theological Committee which reviewed material for the

successor to The Hymnal 1940. There his poetic talent was most adept at providing new phrases

in older hymns where the original lines were too obsolete or sexist for late-twentieth-century

users of the hymnal.  Several of the hymns which he wrote for The Hymnal 1940 have been

adopted by hymnals of other denominations throughout the English-speaking world. At its

annual convocation, Princeton, New Jersey, 1980, Fr. Tucker was named a Fellow of the Hymn

Society of America.

Our Father, by whose name  All fatherhood is known,
In love divine you claim Each fam'ly as your own.
Bless mothers, fathers, guarding well,
With constant love as sentinel,
The homes in which your people dwell.

O Christ, yourself a child Within an earthly home,
With heart still undefiled You did to manhood come.
Our children bless in ev'ry place
That they may all behold your face
And, knowing you, may grow in grace.

O Holy Spirit, bind Our hearts in unity,
And teach us how to find The love from self set free.
In all our hearts such love increase
That  ev'ry home by this release
May be the dwelling-place of peace.

John David Edwards (1805-1885) was educated at Jesus College, Oxford, England, and ordained an Anglican priest in 1833. He served parishes in Rhosymedre and Llanddoget and published a collection of hymn tunes, Original Sacred Music for use in Anglican churches in Wales.  RHOSYMEDRE was published in the 1836 collection. The tune's title is derived from the Welsh parish where Edwards was pastor for some years after 1843. In Wales, this tune is associated with Easter and is thought of as a jubilant hymn tune. Outside of Wales, however, it often receives a more devotional treatment.

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1982-1958) is arguably the greatest composer Britain has seen since the days of Henry Purcell. In a long and extensive career, he composed music notable for its power, nobility and expressiveness, representing, perhaps, the essence of ‘Englishness’.

Vaughan Williams was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. Later he was a pupil of Stanford and Parry at the Royal College of Music, after which he studied with Max Bruch in Berlin and Maurice Ravel in Paris. Vaughan Williams volunteered to serve in the Field Ambulance Service in Flanders for the 1914-1918 war, during which he was deeply affected by the carnage and the loss of close friends such as the composer George Butterworth. For many years Vaughan Williams conducted and led the Leith Hill Music Festival, conducting Bach's St Matthew Passion on a regular basis. He also became professor of composition at the Royal College of Music in London. Vaughan Williams received the Order of Merit in 1938.  His ashes are interred in Westminster Abbey, near Purcell.

At the turn of the century he was among the very first to travel into the countryside to collect folk-songs and carols from singers.As musical editor of The English Hymnal he composed several hymns that are now world-wide favorites (For all the Saints, Come down O love Divine). Later he also helped to edit The Oxford Book of Carols.  In a long and productive life, his compositions included nine symphonies, five operas, film music, ballet and stage music, several song cycles, church music and works for chorus and orchestra.

Vater unser in Himmelreich – Johann Christoph Bach

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. 

            Vater unser im Himmelreich,                    Our Father in Heaven,                                                             der du uns alle heissest gleich                    who calls us all to be                                                             Brüder sein, und dich rufen an,                  brothers and to call on you;                                                   und willt das Beten von uns han:               and who desires prayer from us:                                             gib, dass nicht bet allein der Mund,           grant that we do not pray just with our                                                                                                   mouths;                                                                 hilf, dass es geh von Herzengrund.            Help our prayer to come from the bottom                                                                                                      of our hearts.

Many organ composers have set this chorale tune.  Today’s setting is by J. C. Bach.  Johann Sebastian Bach’s life was surrounded by Johann Christophs:  an uncle, a cousin, an older brother, and a son.  Here we have a chorale prelude by his 1st cousin once removed, who became the town organist in Eisenach in the year 1665 and court chamber musician there in 1700.  Prior to Johann Sebastian, Johann Christoph (1642-1703) would have been considered the most famous musician of the Bach family. His work is of the highest quality and, in some instances, has been improperly attributed to Johann Sebastian himself (e.g. the motet Ich lasse dich nicht). Johann Christoph composed choral works (motets and cantatas) and works for organ (preludes and fugues). Johann Sebastian described his cousin as "the great and expressive composer," and performed his works often as did Carl Philipp Emanuel.

About the Choral Music:

The Lord’s Prayer – Benjamin Harlan

Perhaps the most recognized passage in all scripture, “The Lord’s Prayer” has been set to music thousands of times in many languages and styles. Singing is an excellent way to pray, because it can give voice to the deepest desires of our hearts, and these will lead us to a greater love of God. Harlan’s setting promises to stir the hearts and souls of choir and congregation alike.  The lyrical choral lines along with the classical style piano accompaniment embrace this powerful text and never over-shadow the message.

Benjamin Harlan is a Professor of Church Music at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is an internationally known arranger and composer of choral, keyboard and handbell works. He has received awards from ASCAP annually since 1990. Dr. Harlan is a member of ASCAP, American Choral Directors Association and the Southern Baptist Church Music Conference.

            Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.

            Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

            Give us this day our daily bread,

            And forgive us our sin as we forgive each sinner.

            And lead us not to temptation but deliver us from evil,

            For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever.

            Amen.

About the Hymns:

This is My Father’s World

This is My Father's World was written by Maltbie Davenport Babcock (1858-1901), a minister from New York. When Babcock lived in Lockport, he took frequent walks along the Niagara Escarpment to enjoy the overlook's panoramic vista of upstate New York scenery and Lake Ontario, telling his wife he was "going out to see the Father's world". Shortly after his death in 1901, she published a compilation of Babcock's writings entitled Thoughts for Every-Day Living that contained the poem "My Father's World." The original poem contained sixteen stanzas of four lines each. In 1916, Franklin Sheppard chose only three verses of the sixteen when he set the poem to music to a tune entitled "Terra Beata" (Latin for "Blessed Earth"). Most sources state that Sheppard adapted the music from a traditional English melody that he learned from his mother as a child.

Scripture references in the original poem include Psalm 33:5 "He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love." and Psalm 50:12 "For the world is mine, and all that is it."  In ancient times, people believed that as the planets revolved in the universe, they made music or harmony. This is the belief Maltbie Babcock referred to in the line, “and round me rings the music of the spheres.” Though this belief has since been disproven, we know that objects in space do in fact emit sounds. Even more amazing, the ocean is also making noises at its very lowest and darkest depths - sounds which scientists are still unable to identify. The whole universe is singing a song of its creation, revealing something to us about He who created it.  The author shifts his focus in the final stanza from describing the visual and aural beauty of nature to the reality that all is not right with the world. Babcock observes “that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.” The closing couplet, posing and answering a question, offers hope: “Why should my heart be sad?... God reigns, let the earth be glad.”

Children of the Heavenly Father

The author of this text, Caroline W. Sandell Berg (1832-1903), is better known as Lina Sandell, the "Fanny Crosby of Sweden." Originally in Swedish ("Tryggare kan ingen vara"), the text was first published in Sandell-Berg's Andeliga daggdroppar (1855). Ernst W. Olson (1870-1958) prepared the English translation for the 1925 Hymnal of the Lutheran Augustana Synod.  The four-stanza text is a confession of humble but confident trust in God's providence in the lives of his people. It reflects the Heidelberg Catechism: “in life and in death I belong to my faithful Savior.”

"Lina" Wilhelmina Sandell Berg was the daughter of a Lutheran pastor to whom she was very close; she wrote hymns partly to cope with the fact that she witnessed his tragic death by drowning. Many of her 650 hymns were used in the revival services of Carl O. Rosenius, and a number of them gained popularity particularly because of the musical settings written by gospel singer Oskar Ahnfelt.  Jenny Lind, the famous Swedish soprano, underwrote the cost of publishing a collection of Ahnfelt's music, Andeliga Sänger (1850), which consisted mainly of Berg's hymn texts.


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.