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:
Dear
Lord and Father of Mankind – Normand Lockwood
This hymn’s origin is a paradox. John Greenleaf Whittier
(1807-1892) worshipped in the tradition of the Society of Friends, also known
as Quakers. Whittier was one of the most important of the 19th-century American
poets. The New Englander was a Quaker abolitionist, reared in a large farmhouse in the rural
setting of Merrimac Valley at East Haverhill, Mass. Traditionally, Quakers have not sung in
worship, but value silence, waiting for the “still, small voice” of God.
According to accounts Whittier had been reading in Max Müller’s The Sacred
Books of the East about the use of soma, a plant found in northwest India.
Soma was used to prepare an intoxicating drug that was ingested in religious
rituals, resulting in a state of frenzy. This hymn began as a part of a
long narrative poem, “The Brewing of Soma,” published in The Atlantic
Monthly in 1872. The poem describes Vedic priests going into the forest,
brewing a drink from honey and milk, and drinking themselves into a frenzy.
Whittier was critical of those who believed they might find God through
unbridled ecstasy, such as the hysterical camp meetings and revivals common in
his day. Whittier’s response was a
17-stanza poem, of which stanzas 12-17 have been excised to form the hymn as
found in many hymnals.
English hymnologist J.R.
Watson summarizes well the contribution of this hymn: “It is the opposite end
of the devotional spectrum from those hymns which encourage activity and
energy; but everyone experiences the need for quiet meditation at some time,
and this hymn encourages an almost mystical contemplation of the peace of God
‘which passes all understanding.’”
Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
Forgive our foolish ways!
Re-clothe us in our rightful mind
In purer lives thy service find,
In deeper reverence praise.
Drop thy still
dews of quietness
Till all our
strivings cease;
Take from our
souls the strain and stress,
And let our
ordered lives confess
The beauty of thy
peace.
Breathe through
the heats of our desire
Thy coolness and
thy balm;
Let sense be
dumb, let flesh retire;
Speak through the
earthquake, wind and fire,
O still small
voice of calm!
Normand Lockwood (March 19, 1906
– March 9, 2002) was an American composer born in
New York,
New York. He studied composition at the University
of Michigan and then traveled to Rome and studied composition under Ottorino Respighi and with
Nadia Boulanger in
Paris. He won a Prix de Rome in 1929.
He was a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an
international professional music fraternity. Lockwood returned to America, becoming
an associate professor of composition and theory at Oberlin
Conservatory, and won two Guggenheim
Fellowships. He taught at Columbia
University, Trinity
University (Texas), University
of Wyoming, University
of Oregon, and University
of Denver. Lockwood
composed works in many forms, but he was most well-known for his choral works,
which were mostly based on religious texts. He also composed operas, orchestral
symphonies and suites, and instrumental and vocal chamber music.
Vater unser in
Himmelreich – Dieterich Buxtehude
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.
6. All unsre Schuld vergib
uns, Herr, Forgive our sins, Lord, we implore,
Daß sie uns nicht betrübe mehr, Remove from us their burden sore,
Wie wir auch unsern Schuldigern As
we their trespasses forgive
Ihr' Schuld und Fehl' vergeben gern; Who by offenses us do grieve.
Zu dienen mach uns all' bereit Thus
let us dwell in charity
In rechter Lieb' und Einigkeit! And
serve our brother willingly.
Dieterich Buxtehude (c. 1637/39-1707)
was a Danish-German organist and composer of the Baroque period. His organ works represent a central part of the
standard organ repertoire and are frequently
performed at recitals and in church services. He composed in a wide variety of
vocal and instrumental idioms, and his style strongly influenced many
composers, including Johann Sebastian Bach. In 1705, J.S. Bach,
then a young man of twenty, walked from Arnstadt to Lübeck, a distance of more than 250 miles, and stayed nearly three
months to hear the “Abendmusik”,
meet the pre-eminent Lübeck organist, hear him play, and, as Bach explained,
"to comprehend one thing and another about his art". Today,
Buxtehude is considered one of the most important composers in Germany of the
mid-Baroque.
There are over 40 surviving chorale settings by
Buxtehude, and they constitute the most important contributions to the genre in
the 17th century. His settings include chorale variations, chorale ricercares,
chorale fantasias and chorale preludes. Buxtehude's principal contributions to
the organ chorale are his 30 short chorale preludes. The chorale preludes are
usually four-part cantus firmus settings of one stanza of the chorale; the melody is
presented in an elaborately ornamented version in the upper voice, the three
lower parts engage in some form of counterpoint (not necessarily
imitative). The ornamented cantus firmus
in these pieces represents a significant difference between the north German and
the south German schools; Johann Pachelbel and his pupils would almost always leave the chorale
melody unornamented.
About the Handbell Music:
Gaelic Blessing – John Rutter
Jubilation
Ringers/Michele Anderson, soprano
John
Rutter (b. 1945) studied at Cambridge, where he wrote his first published
compositions and conducted his first recording while still a student. His compositional career has included both large
and small scale choral works, orchestral and instrumental pieces, a piano
concerto, two children’s operas, and music for television. In 1979, he formed the Cambridge Singers, a
professional chamber choir primarily dedicated to recording sacred choral
works, and he now divides his time between composition and conducting. In 1980, he was made an honorary Fellow of
Westminster Choir College, Princeton, and in 1988 a Fellow of the Guild of
Church Musicians. In 1996, the
Archbishop of Canterbury conferred a Lambeth Doctorate of Music upon him in
recognition of his contributions to church music.
A Gaelic Blessing was commissioned by the Chancel Choir of First United
Methodist Church, Omaha, Nebraska, as a parting gift for their choir
director. The text is translated from
old Gaelic runes.
Deep
peace of the running wave to you;
Deep
peace of the flowing air to you;
Deep
peace of the quiet earth to you;
Deep
peace of the shining stars to you;
Deep
peace of the gentle night to you.
Moon and
stars pour their healing light on you.
Deep
peace of Christ, the light of the world, to you.
Deep
peace of Christ to you.
About the Choral Music:
Father,
Forgive Us – Craig Courtney
A native of Indiana, Craig
Courtney received a Bachelors and a Masters degree in piano performance from
the University of Cincinnati. He served on the faculty of the Mozarteum in
Salzburg, Austria, serving as piano teacher and accompanist for the woodwind
and brass department. While serving in the music ministry of the Salzburg
International Baptist Church, Courtney began composing sacred choral music. In
1985, his compositions came to the attention of John Ness Beck through the
publication of his octavo, Thy Will Be Done, initiating a close working
relationship between the two men which continued until Beck’s death in 1987. In
making plans for the ongoing of Beckenhorst Press, Beck appointed Craig
Courtney staff composer and editor. Courtney’s published works include more
than two hundred choral octavos, nine vocal collections, two piano solo
collections and six extended works for choir and orchestra. Courtney combines
his background as pianist, cellist, vocal coach, accompanist and choral
director to create works in his unique style.
This moving anthem with text
by Pamela Martin and music by Craig Courtney was written and dedicated to the
victims of hurricane Katrina.
Father,
forgive us each time we close our eyes to a bruised and wounded world,
the shattered broken lives, empty ones who die alone, forsaken in their shame.
Every time we turn away, we crucify again.
Father,
forgive us each time that we disown mothers who have lost their sons,
the children with no home, thousands crying out in thirst, the prisoners in
pain.
Every time we turn away, we crucify again.
Father,
forgive us; our hearts remain unmoved by suffering and poverty.
We know not what we do.
When we fail to hear the voice of Christ in every cry,
when we do not recognize the Savior in their eyes,
We crucify again.
Father,
forgive us.
About the Hymns:
To God Be the Glory
Fanny
Jane Crosby (1820-1915), born in New York and died in Connecticut, wrote over
8,500 gospel hymns. In 1972, Hope Publishing Co. found over 1,000 unpublished
manuscripts. Her work defined what it meant to be a successful writer of gospel
hymns. By the age of six weeks, Fanny
Crosby was completely blind. She entered the New York School for the Blind at
age twelve. She began writing hymns and poetry at age twelve. Her collaborators in publishing gospel hymns
included the most successful and popular composers of her day, including
William Bradbury, William Doane, Robert Lowry, Ira Sankey, and William
Kirkpatrick. Crosby used numerous pen names in publishing her songs, including:
Ella Dale, Mrs. Kate Gringley and Miss Viola V. A. She married blind musician Alexander Van
Alstyne, and the British most often refer to her by her married name rather
than Fanny Crosby. She was a lifelong
Methodist and her contributions to
The United Methodist Hymnal (1989)
include: “Blessed Assurance,” “Close to Thee,” “I Am Thine, O Lord,” “Jesus,
Keep Me Near the Cross,” “Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior,” “Rescue the
Perishing,” and “To God Be the Glory.”
Frances
Jane Crosby’s hymns have historically been among the most popular songs sung by
Methodists. “To God be the glory” was
included in William Doane’s
Songs of Devotion in 1870. Ira Sankey probably saw the hymn in Doane’s
collection and incorporated it into the first edition of his
Sacred Songs
and Solos (1875). Dwight Moody and Ira Sankey helped to establish
the hymn’s popularity during their revivals in Great Britain in the late 19th
century. It also appeared in some
British hymnals including the
Methodist Hymn Book (1933).
However, it was not until the 1954 Billy Graham Crusade in Nashville that Cliff
Barrows introduced this song to congregations in the United States. Mr. Graham and Mr. Barrows had learned the
song during the 1952 revivals they had conducted in Great Britain.
Hymnologist William J. Reynolds, writing in his hymnal companion
Hymns of
Faith (1964), documented the return of this hymn to the USA: “It is most
extraordinary that this long-forgotten American gospel song should have been
imported from England and become immensely popular during the last
decade.”
Grace Greater than All Our Sin
Julia Harriet Johnston (1849-1919) was a Sunday
school teacher at First Presbyterian Church in Peoria, Illinois, and for 41
years was head of the infant class in the children’s department. For twenty years, Julia was president of the
Presbyterian Missionary Society of Peoria which had been founded by her mother.
Also a prolific author, she produced primary Sunday school lesson material for
the David C. Cook Publishing Co. of Chicago, IL, and had several of her own
works published, including School of the
Master in 1880, Bright Threads in
1897, Indian and Spanish Neighbors in
1905, and Fifty Missionary Heroes in
1913. Furthermore, Miss Johnston is credited with about 500 hymns, set to music
provided by a number of different composers.
"Grace Greater Than Our Sin" is dated 1910,
and the tune (Moody) was composed that same year by Daniel Brink Towner
(1850-1919), the director of the music department at the Moody Bible Institute
in Chicago, IL The first appearance of "Grace Greater Than Our Sin"
seems to have been in Towner’s Hymns
Tried and True, published in 1911 by the Bible Institute Colportage
Association of Chicago.
This “marvelous, infinite, matchless grace, freely
bestowed on all who believe,” finds a scriptural basis in Paul’s teaching of
justification by faith in Romans 5:1-2: “Therefore being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access
by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of
God.”
Paul continues in verses 14-16, “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses,
even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s
transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the
offence, so also is the free gift of grace. For if through the offence of one
many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by
one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that
sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the
free gift is of many offences unto justification.”
I Stand Amazed in the Presence
Charles Gabriel (1856-1932) grew up on an Iowa farm and
learned music by playing the reed organ in his home. He became one of the most
prolific composers of gospel songs of his day. Gabriel's musical activities
ranged from teaching in the singing schools that were so popular in the
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, to authoring texts, composing songs,
anthems, and cantatas, and editing song collections. He was associated with the
leading gospel song publishers of his day, including Homer Rodeheaver, Hope,
and E. O. Excell. Though self-trained,
he started leading singing school educational events as a teenager. He worked
with Grace Episcopal Methodist Church in San
Francisco from 1890-1892, and then moved to Chicago where he worked for Homer
Rodeheaver’s publishing firm. Gabriel is
credited with between 7000 and 8000 songs, thirty-five gospel song collections,
Sunday school song books, collections for men's and women’s choirs, numerous
cantatas, including 41 Christmas cantatas, and music education texts. He wrote
under numerous pseudonyms, making it often difficult to know the precise number
of songs he wrote.
The words of the
gospel hymn “I Stand Amazed” were written in 1905 when Gabriel was 49 years
old, after more than three decades into his life’s work in music. The hymn’s
words indicate he was not self-absorbed, as some with his talent over such a
long stretch of time might have been. Instead, Gabriel focused his attention on
the One who had gifted him musically. Gabriel’s composition shows he saw his
own faults (a sinner, condemned, unclean), but that’s not where he dwelt.
Gabriel evidently had emerged from his own struggles – including his father’s
death when Charles was still a teenager, and his failed first marriage - to
recognize the Lord’s work in his life. Look at Him, hold Him in awe, and open
your mouth in joyous response as you look forward to a face-to-face encounter.
That sums up Gabriel’s song-message. It’s not hard to find something amazing
about Him – you just have to look.
