June 14, 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:

Herr Jesu Christ, mein Lebens Licht - Georg Kauffman

The text of the chorale “Herr [or “O”] Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht” has been handed down and recorded with several distinct, widely differing variants, some having a different total number of verses or with a different sequence of verses.  The oldest version is an anonymous broadside containing only two chorale texts (one on each side). There is no indication of where it was published; however, the year is established as 1608.  The same text as the latter with a few changes appears in Martin Behm’s collection published in Wittenberg in 1611.  It is clear that Martin Behm was not the author/poet of this chorale text. He simply included the older, already existing text in his collection of chorales. The fourth line of the first verse is exactly like the oldest version from 1608.

Lord Jesus Christ, light of my life,
my refuge, comfort, and confidence,
on earth I am but a guest
and by sin's burden sore oppressed.

In your departure, Lord, I place my trust—
on it I rely for my last journey home.
Open wide heaven's gate for me,
when I complete my life's course.

How joyful then I shall be,
I shall sing with the angels
and with your chosen flock
forever behold your face clearly.

Georg Friedrich Kauffmann (1679-1735) was a Baroque composer and organist from southern Germany who composed primarily sacred works for the organ and voice.  Late in his life, Kauffmann started to publish a complete edition of his organ chorales; however, he died of consumption before they had been completely published. His widow completed the publication of the Harmonische Seelenlust.  While they did not make a great first impression, over the next century they became one of the most significant achievements in German organ music, and remained in high demand well into the 19th century. They consisted of ninety-eight preludes on sixty-three chorales.

Machs mit mir Gott, nach deiner Gut – Sigfried Karg-Elert

Johann Hermann Schein (1586-1630) was son of a minister and teacher. At the age of seven, when his father died, he moved with his family to Dresden, where within six years he joined the choir of the Elector of Saxony as a boy soprano. In addition to singing in the choir, he received a thorough musical training with Rogier Michael, the Kapellmeister, who recognized his extraordinary talent. He went on to study at the University of Leipzig (1603), from 1603 to 1607 he studied at Pforta (or Schupforta near Naumburg), and finally, from 1608 to 1612, attended again the University of Leipzig, where he studied law in addition to liberal arts.  Upon graduating, Johann Hermann Schein was employed briefly by Gottfried von Wolffersdorff as the house music director and tutor to his children. Due to his demonstrated abilities, he became Kapellmeister at Weimar, and shortly thereafter became Kantor at the Thomasschule (and Thomaskirche) in Leipzig, a post which he held for the rest of his life. He preceded J.S. Bach in this post by more than a century.  He wrote many chorale texts and their melodies.

Deal with me, God, according to your kindness, help me in my suffering; when I call to you, do not deny me: when my soul departs, then take it , Lord, in your hand; all is good, if the end is good.
I shall follow you willingly, dearest Lord, you will not let me perish. Ah,you are not far from me, even if I must die here at once, forsake my dearest friends who sincerely love me.

Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877 -1933) was a German composer of considerable fame in the early twentieth century.  The cultural climate in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s was very hostile to the internationally oriented, French-influenced Karg-Elert; and although his works were admired outside Germany, especially in the U.K. (the Organ Music Society of London held a ten-day festival in his honour in 1930) and in the U.S.A., in his home country his music was almost completely neglected.  Karg-Elert regarded himself as an outsider. Notable influences in his work include composers Johann Sebastian Bach (he often used the B.A.C.H. motif in Bach's honour), Edvard Grieg, Claude Debussy, Max Reger, Aleksandr Scriabin, and early Arnold Schoenberg. In general terms, his musical style can be characterised as being late-romantic with impressionistic and expressionistic tendencies. His profound knowledge of music theory allowed him to stretch the limits of traditional harmony without losing tonal coherence.

His favorite instrument to compose for was the Kunstharmonium, a versatile reed organ that allowed him the range of colors he preferred.  He created one of the most significant and extensive catalogs of original works for this instrument. Encouraged by the organist Paul Homeyer, he reworked several of these harmonium compositions for organ.  He also composed many works for organ, piano and small chamber ensembles.

We Are Marching in the Light of God – Robert Farlee

The history of South Africa under white British rule is marked by the existence of one of the most brutal systems of racial segregation that the world has ever known. A system by the name of “Apartheid”, literally meaning “separateness” in the Afrikaans language, made Africans of color aliens in their homeland. The laws of Apartheid forced millions to live in impoverished townships where they were denied the most basic human rights. Apartheid, under which the white minority held power over the entire population, was met with strong internal and external resistance, prompting global boycotts of sales and trade with South Africa. The most powerful form of resistance, however, was the refusal of South African blacks to remain prisoners in their own land.  Throughout every stage of the struggle, the “liberation music” both fueled and united the movement. Song was a communal act of expression that shed light on the injustices of apartheid, therefore playing a major role in the eventual reform of the South African government.

Siyahamba is a South African hymn that became popular in North American churches in the 1990s. The title means "We Are Marching" or "We are Walking" in the Zulu language.  It is said to have been composed around 1950 by Andries van Tonder, an elder of the Judith Church.   The original composition was in Afrikaans (with the title "Ons marsjeer nou in die lig van God") and was subsequently translated into Zulu by Thabo Mkhize.

Siyahamba ekukhanyen' kwenkhos
(We are marching in the light of God)

About the Choral Music:

Amazing Grace – John Coates

"Amazing Grace" was written by the English poet and clergyman John Newton (1725–1807).  With the message that forgiveness and redemption are possible regardless of sins committed and that the soul can be delivered from despair through the mercy of God, "Amazing Grace" is one of the most recognizable songs in the English-speaking world.

Newton wrote the words from personal experience. He grew up without any particular religious conviction, but his life's path was formed by a variety of twists and coincidences that were often put into motion by his recalcitrant insubordination. He was drafted into the Royal Navy, and after leaving the service became involved in the Atlantic slave trade. In 1748, a violent storm battered his vessel so severely that he called out to God for mercy, a moment that marked his spiritual conversion. However, he continued his slave trading career until 1754 or 1755, when he ended his seafaring altogether and began studying Christian theology.

Ordained in the Church of England in 1764, Newton became curate of Olney, Buckinghamshire, where he began to write hymns with poet William Cowper. "Amazing Grace" was written to illustrate a sermon on New Year's Day of 1773. It was first printed in 1779 in Newton and Cowper's Olney Hymns, but settled into relative obscurity in England. In the United States however, "Amazing Grace" was used extensively during the Second Great Awakening in the early 19th century. It has been associated with more than 20 melodies, but in 1835 it was joined to a tune named "New Britain" to which it is most frequently sung today.

            Amazing grace! How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me!

            I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.

            ‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved;

            How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed!

            Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come;

            ‘Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace wil lead me home.

            When we’ve been there ten thousand years, Bright shining as the sun,

            We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we first begun.

A fixture at the Deer Head Inn in Pennsylvania's Delaware Water Gap for over 25 years, John Coates, Jr. (b. 1938) has been creating worthy music for several decades in general obscurity. He started playing piano quite young, studied at Mannes College of Music and the Dalcroze School of Music, and thought seriously of becoming a concert pianist. But after he discovered jazz, he changed his direction. In 1955, at the age of 17, Coates recorded a set for Savoy (Portrait), and toured with Charlie Ventura from 1956 to 1958. After graduating from Rutgers in 1962, he worked for a music publisher in Delaware Water Gap as a composer/arranger and started performing regularly at the Deer Head Inn. 

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.” 

Have Thine Own Way, Lord

Jeremiah 18:3-6 sets the scene for this hymn:  "Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel."

The hymn was inspired in 1902 by a simple prayer of an elderly woman at a prayer meeting: "It really doesn't matter what you do with us, Lord -- just have your way with our lives . . .."   The author, Adelaide A. Pollard (1862-1934) was born in Iowa.  She moved to Chicago where she became a teacher in girls' schools. In addition, she developed a fine reputation as an itinerant Bible study teacher. Later, she worked with two evangelists, one who developed a healing ministry, and the other who focused on the imminent return of Christ.  Pollard had a strong desire to be a missionary in Africa. When this plan was not fulfilled, she taught at a Missionary Training School at Nyack-on-the-Hudson. She finally made it to Africa for a brief period before World War I, but she spent the war years in Scotland. After returning to the United States, she continued her ministry even though she was in poor health.

"Have Thine Own Way, Lord" was composed during a time when Miss Pollard was trying to raise funds to make a trip to Africa. Her unsuccessful attempt to do this left her experiencing a "distress of soul." This crisis of the soul and the simple prayer of an elderly lady provided a setting for personal reflection on the will of God for her life. After the prayer meeting, she returned home and wrote the hymn as we sing it today.

I Stand Amazed

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.