June 21, 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:

St. Peter – Healey Willan

“St. Peter” is the hymn tune most commonly used for the hymn, “In Christ There is No East or West”, which we will sing in the service today.

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."

He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands – Charles Callahan

"He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" is a traditional American spiritual. It was first published in the paperbound hymnal Spirituals Triumphant, Old and New in 1927. In 1933, it was collected by Frank Warner from the singing of Sue Thomas in North Carolina. It was also recorded by other collectors such as Robert Sonkin of the Library of Congress, who recorded it in Gee's Bend, Alabama in 1941. That version is still available at the Library's American Folklife Center.   Frank Warner performed the song during the 1940s and 1950s, and introduced it to the American folk scene. Warner recorded it on the Elektra album American Folk Songs and Ballads in 1952. It was quickly picked up by both American gospel singers and British skiffle and pop musicians.

He´s got the whole world in His hands.
He´s got the wind and the rain in His hands.
He´s got the the tiny little baby in His hands.
He´s got you and me, brother, in His hands.
He's got ev'rybody here in His hands.

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.

Werde licht, du Stadt der Heiden – Helmut Walcha

Johann Rist (1607-1667) was the son of Kaspar Rist, pastor at Ottensen, near Hamburg, and was dedicated to the ministry from birth. He attended the University of Rinteln and the University of Rostock, where he studied Hebrew, Mathematics, and Medicine. During his residence at Rostock the terrors of the Thirty Years War and the Great Pestilence almost emptied the University, and Rist himself was ill for weeks. Following the war, he became pastor at Wedel, where he remained until his death.  The Emperor Ferdinand III crowned him as a poet in 1644, and in 1653 raised him to the nobility, while nearer home Duke Christian of Mecklenburg appointed him Kirchenrath and Consistorialrath. Among other literary honours he was received in 1645 as a member of the Pegnitz Order, and in 1647 as a member of the Fruitbearing Society, the great German literary union of the 17th century.

As a hymn-writer Rist takes high rank. He wrote some 680 hymns, intended to cover the whole ground of Theology, and to be used by all ranks and classes, and on all the occasions of life. Naturally enough they are not of equal merit, and many are poor and bombastic. Rist meant them rather for private use than for public worship, and during his lifetime they were never used in the church at Wedel. But they were eagerly caught up, set to melodies by the best musicians of the day, and speedily passed into congregational use all over Germany, while even the Roman Catholics read them with delight. Over 200 may be said to have been in common use in Germany, and a large number still hold their place. Unfortunately many are very long. But speaking of Rist's better productions, we may say that their noble and classical style, their objective Christian faith, their scripturalness, their power to console, to encourage, and to strengthen in trust upon God's Fatherly love, and their fervent love to the Saviour (especially seen in the best of his hymns for Advent, and for the Holy Communion), sufficiently justify the esteem in which they were, and are, held in Germany.

“Werde licht, du Stadt der Heiden” was published in his Fest-Andachten , 1655, in 15 stanzas of 6 lines, entitled "Another festival hymn of the day of the Manifestation of Christ, in which the glorious, godlike, and eternal Light, which has graciously arisen on us poor heathen in thick darkness, is devotedly contemplated." Catherine Winkworth published an English translation of stanzas 1, 4, 6, 7, 14, and 15 in Lyra Germanica (1855), titled “All ye Gentile lands awake”.

All ye Gentile lands awake! Thou, O Salem, rise and shine!
See the day spring o'er you break, Heralding a morn divine,
Telling, God hath called to mind Those who long in darkness pined.

Helmut Walcha (1907-1991) was a blind German organist who specialized in the works of the Dutch and German baroque masters and is known for his recordings of the complete organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach.  Born in Leipzig, Walcha was blinded at age 19 after vaccination for smallpox. Despite his disability, he entered the Leipzig Conservatory and became an assistant at the Thomaskirche to Günther Ramin, who was professor of organ at the conservatory and cantor at St. Thomas'. In 1929, Walcha accepted a position in Frankfurt am Main at the Friedenskirche and remained in Frankfurt for the rest of his life. From 1933 to 1938 he taught at the Hoch Conservatory. In 1938 he was appointed professor of organ at the Musikhochschule in Frankfurt and organist of the Dreikönigskirche in 1946. He retired from public performance in 1981.

Walcha also composed for the organ. He published four volumes of original chorale preludes as well as arrangements for organ of orchestral works written by others. He lectured on organ music and composition (illustrated by his own playing) at the Hoch Conservatory and the Frankfurt Musikhochschule. One other contribution to music scholarship is his attempted completion of the final (unfinished) fugue of The Art of Fugue.

Walcha taught many significant American organists of the twentieth century who travelled to Germany as Fulbright scholars: these include Robert Anderson, David Boe, Margaret Leupold Dickinson, Melvin Dickinson, Delbert Disselhorst, Betty Louise Lumby, Paul Jordan, David Mulbury, Fenner Douglass, Jane Douglass, Grigg and Helen Fountain, Barbara Harbach, Charles Krigbaum, George Ritchie, Russell Saunders - all of whom became major teachers and performers after their studies abroad.

About the Choral Music:

Draw the Circle Wide – Mark Miller

Mark Miller believes passionately that music can change the world. He also believes in Cornell West’s quote that ‘Justice is what love looks like in public.’ His dream is that the music he composes, performs, teaches and leads will inspire and empower people to create the beloved community.  Mark is Assistant Professor of Church Music at Drew Theological School and is a Lecturer in the Practice of Sacred Music at Yale University. He also is the Minister of Music of Christ Church in Summit, New Jersey.  Since 1999 Mark has led music for United Methodists and others around the country, including directing music for the 2008 General Conference. Mark received his Bachelor of Arts in Music from Yale University and his Master of Music in Organ Performance from Juilliard.  Mark is a lifelong United Methodist. He is the grandson, son, brother, uncle, and cousin to United Methodist clergy.  

“Draw the Circle Wide” was written for a United Methodist weekend choral workshop in Lake Junaluska, NC, in 2008.

            Draw the circle, draw the circle wide.

            No one stands alone; we’ll stand side by side.

            Draw the circle wide, draw it wider still.

            Let this be our song: no one stands alone.

            Standing side by side, draw the circle wide.

About the Hymns:

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” was written by the 18th century pastor and hymnist Robert Robinson. Robert Robinson (1735-1790) was eight years old at the time of his father's death. He was a very bright, headstrong boy who became increasingly more difficult for his mother to handle. When Robert turned 14, she sent him to London for an apprenticeship with a barber. Robert proceeded to get into even more trouble, taking on a life of drinking and gambling. 

At 17, Robert and some of his drinking buddies decided to attend an evangelistic meeting, with a plan to make fun of the proceedings. When George Whitfield began to preach, Robert felt as if the sermon was just for him. He did not respond to the altar call that night, but the words of the evangelist would haunt him for the next three years.  On Dec. 10, 1755, at age 20, Robert finally yielded his life to Christ, and very soon thereafter answered a call to the ministry. Three years later, as he was preparing to preach a sermon at the Calvinist Methodist Chapel in Norfolk, England, Robert wrote “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” to complement his sermon. The music for the hymn was composed by Asahel Nettleton in 1813.

The lyrics, which dwell on the theme of divine grace, are based on 1 Samuel 7:12, in which the prophet Samuel raises a stone as a monument, saying, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us". The English transliteration of the name Samuel gives to the stone is Ebenezer, meaning Stone of Help. The unusual word "Ebenezer" commonly appears in hymnal presentations of the lyrics.

In Christ There is No East or West

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.’” 

There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy

Frederick Faber (1814-1863) was one of a number of English clergy who converted from the Anglican Church to Roman Catholicism in the Romantic era of hymnody in the 19th century.
Faber was born an Anglican and reared a strict Calvinist. After attending Oxford, he took orders as an Anglican priest and began his ministry as a rector. Influenced by his friend John Henry Newman (1801-1890) who converted from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism in 1845, Faber also converted to Catholicism that same year.

Drawing inspiration from the hymns of John Newton, William Cowper and the Wesleys during his Anglican youth, he recognized that Roman Catholics lacked a tradition of more recent metrical hymnody in English. He took it upon himself to remedy this. By the time he died, he had contributed 150 hymns, all composed after his conversion to Roman Catholicism.

“There’s a wideness in God’s mercy” originally had eight stanzas and appeared under the title “Come to Jesus” in Faber’s Oratory Hymns (1854). In a later collection, the hymn expanded to 13 stanzas, beginning with “Souls of men, why will ye scatter/ Like a crowd of frightened sheep?” That version was included in a posthumous collection, Hymns Selected from F. W. Faber (1867).

Two omitted stanzas expand on the theme of God’s unfathomable mercy in a manner that, according to UM Hymnal editor Carlton Young, “demonstrates Faber’s affinity with eighteenth-century evangelical writers such as Charles Wesley”:

     There is no place where earth’s sorrows
     Are more felt than up in heaven;
     There is no place where earth’s failings
     Have such kindly judgment given.

     There is grace enough for thousands
     Of new worlds as great as this;
     There is room for fresh creations
     In that upper home of bliss.

British hymnologist J. Richard Watson notes that, “Faber’s emotionalism, and his uninhibited use of . . . imagery, demonstrate his love of a sentiment that comes close to sentimentality.
But his sentiment, however excessive it may seem, touches a tender spot: Faber is cheering on the soul, recognizing the troubles of life, and holding out the promise of a final homecoming.”
The ultimate theme of this hymn is based on the premise and paradox that a sovereign God, unlike earthly rulers, demonstrates welcome, kindness, grace and mercy. All we need to do is have a simple faith that “rest[s] upon God’s word.”