September 27, 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:

When Love is Found – Anthony Giamanco

Brian Wren (b. 1936) is Emeritus Professor of Worship, Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia. He is a writer, preacher, worship and workshop leader, and internationally published hymn-poet, with entries in most recent denominational hymnals in North America, Britain and Australia. Some of his hymns have been translated into Finnish, French, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish and Korean. Brian holds undergraduate and doctoral degrees from Oxford University. He is a Minister of the United Reformed Church (UK). His publications include What Language Shall I Borrow? - God-Talk in Worship: A Male Response to Feminist Theology (1989 and 2009), Praying Twice: The Music and Words of Congregational Song (2000), Advent, Christmas and Epiphany: Liturgies and Prayers for Public Worship (2008), Hymns for Today (2009) and seven hymn collections totaling 250 hymns.

When love is found and hope comes home,
sing and be glad that we are one.
When love explodes and fills the sky,
praise God and share ​our Maker’s joy.

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.

Interlude on “Ubi Caritas” – Charles Callahan

Omer Westendorf (1916-1997) was one of the leading composers following the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council.  Beginning at age 20, he received his master’s degree in music at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and for most of his professional musical career served as organist and choirmaster at St. Bonaventure Church in Cincinnati. Under his direction the Bonaventure Choir sang concerts and recorded sacred music for several decades.  One of his greatest achievements was the founding of the World Library of Sacred Music in 1950 and World Library Publications in 1957. These organizations have been primary distributors of music for the Mass in the United States and beyond.

Westendorf was also known for his lectures and seminars on sacred music, consultations on liturgical music and as a hymn writer.  Westendorf’s People’s Mass Book, 1964, was the first vernacular hymn and service book to implement the Catholic liturgies decreed by Vatican Council II. He wrote Music Lessons for the Man in the Pew to teach the art of sight reading choral music.

“Where charity and love prevail” (1961) provides an English hymn version of a 9th-century Latin hymn, “Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est” (Where there is charity and love, God is there) based on 1 John 4:16. Traditionally, this is the final hymn on Maundy Thursday, called in the Latin tradition Mandatum novum (New Commandment), referring to the act of washing of the disciples’ feet initiated by Jesus.

Scholar H. Myron Braun comments on this ancient ritual: “[The Latin chant] is said to date from the ninth century . . . with its emphasis on community within the faith, on Christians holding one another in love and concern . . . It is appropriate for . . . [Maundy Thursday] when we note the “new commandment” that we love one another, and also several times in Eastertide when the lectionary leads us to reading on love from the Gospel and the epistles of John.”

The text draws directly on John 13:34, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” This version appeared first in Westendorf’s People’s Mass Book (1976). Before the publication of The UM Hymnal in 1989, the hymn appeared in the Supplement to the Book of Hymns (1982) with a plainsong melody.

Where charity and love are, God is there.
Love of Christ has gathered us into one.
Let us rejoice in Him and be glad.
Let us fear, and let us love the living God.
And from a sincere heart let us love one.

Where charity and love are, God is there.
At the same time, therefore, are gathered into one:
Lest we be divided in mind, let us beware.
Let evil impulses stop, let controversy cease.
And in the midst of us be Christ our God.

Where charity and love are, God is there.

At the same time we see that with the saints also,
Thy face in glory, O Christ our God:
The joy that is immense and good, Unto the
World without end. Amen.

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.

Prelude, Op. 95 – Alexandre Glazounow

Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov (Алекса́ндр Константи́нович Глазуно́в, 1865 -1936) was a Russian composer of the late Romantic period, music teacher and conductor. He served as director of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory between 1905 and 1928 and was also instrumental in the reorganization of the institute into the Petrograd Conservatory, then the Leningrad Conservatory, following the Bolshevik Revolution. He continued heading the Conservatory until 1930, though he had left the Soviet Union in 1928 and did not return. Glazunov toured Europe and the United States in 1928, and settled in Paris by 1929. He always claimed that the reason for his continued absence from Russia was "ill health"; this enabled him to remain a respected composer in the Soviet Union. Glazunov was significant in that he successfully reconciled nationalism and cosmopolitanism in Russian music. While he was the direct successor to Balakirev's nationalism, he tended more towards Borodin's epic grandeur while absorbing a number of other influences. These included Rimsky-Korsakov's orchestral virtuosity, Tchaikovsky's lyricism and Taneyev's contrapuntal skill. Younger composers such as Prokofiev and Shostakovich eventually considered his music old-fashioned while also admitting he remained a composer with an imposing reputation and a stabilizing influence in a time of transition and turmoil. 

About the Choral Music:

Let Us Love One Another – Arnold Sherman

Arnold Sherman (b. 1948), currently living in Tyler, Texas, is a free-lance composer and co-founder of Red River Music. Sherman is the founder and Director of the East Texas Handbell Ensemble.  A clinician and guest conductor, he has led choral and handbell workshops, festivals, and reading sessions throughout the United States, Canada, England, Japan and the Bahamas. Arnold has over three hundred choral and handbell pieces in print and has been an active member of the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers where he has served as Area IX Chairman.

“Let Us Love One Another” was written for the choir of First United Methodist Church in Henderson, Texas, and is based on I John 4: 7-11.

            Beloved, let us love one another, for love comes from God,

            And all who know and call upon his name are children of our Lord.

            Beloved, this is what love is; not that we love God, but that he loves us

and sent his only Son to free us from our sin.

How can we not know our God?  How can we not love our God?

He sent his only Son to die for all our sins.

Is there greater love that this?

Beloved, if this is how God loves, then we should love all men,

And live in perfect harmony with all, and God will live in us.

            Let us love one another.

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.” 

Forgive Our Sins as We Forgive

Accepting and giving forgiveness may be one of the most important aspects of living. I believe that the Assurance of Pardon is one of the most significant parts of Christian worship: "In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!" These words may offer healing and hope for many in worship, even beyond anything else said or sung. Forgiveness is not only a personal way of living, but also an attribute of societies. How many times do we observe centuries of hate and hurt that, because of the inability to forgive, continue to fester and cause suffering, death, and destruction?

With "Forgive Our Sins as We Forgive" by Rosamond Herklots (1905-1987), we receive a full treatment of Matthew 6:12: "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." (KJV) Luke 11:4 states: "And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us." "Trespasses" first appeared in William Tyndale’s translation in 1526 and was retained for use in the first Book of Common Prayer in English in 1549. The English Language Liturgical Consultation (1988), a group of ecumenical liturgists in the English-speaking world, proposed "and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us." A companion Scripture is Colossians 3:13, "bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive"

This hymn was written in June 1966 and printed soon afterward in the parish magazine of St. Mary’s Church, Bromley, Kent. The idea of the hymn had occurred to Herklots when she was digging out weeds in her nephew’s garden; she reasoned that their deep roots, obstructing the growth of the flowers near them, resembled the bitterness and resentment that can become entrenched and hinder the Christian’s growth in grace.  Herklots' language is potent in describing the blessings we miss when our "heart . . . broods on wrongs and will not let old bitterness depart"

Rosamund Eleanor Herklots (1905-1987) was born in India to missionary parents. She was educated at the University of Leeds in England. Working as a teacher and secretary, she began writing hymns in the early 1940s. She submitted hymns for the "Hymns for Britain" competition, two of which were selected to be sung on television. She wrote more than seventy hymns.

This is a Day of New Beginnings

Brian Arthur Wren (b. 1936) is Emeritus Professor of Worship, Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia. He is a writer, preacher, worship and workshop leader, and internationally published hymn-poet, with entries in most recent denominational hymnals in North America, Britain and Australia. Some of his hymn-poems have been translated into Finnish, French, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish and Korean. Brian holds undergraduate and doctoral degrees from Oxford University. He is a Minister of the United Reformed Church (UK). Wren provides an account of the composition of this text in notes provided in one of the collection of his texts, Faith Looking Forward (1983). The hymn was “written for a New Year’s Day service [1978] at Holy Family Church, 

Blackbird Leys, Oxford. In itself, the new year is an arbitrary convention, its newness a mere mark on the calendar. The recurrent awakening of life in nature is not a strong enough foundation for hope of real change. Yet by faith in the really new events of the Christian story, a day, or a month, or an hour can become charged with promise, and be a springboard to a changed life.”

As one of the leading hymnwriters of our time, Dr. Wren has contributed more hymns to the UM Hymnal (1989) than any other hymnwriter currently living. This text is supported by a melody composed by Dr. Young (b. 1926), one of the leading tune writers of this day.

September 20, 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:

Speak Lord in the Stillness – Don Hustad

“Speak, Lord, in the Stillness” was written by Emily May Grimes Crawford (1864-1927).  In 1893, she became a missionary in Pondoland, South Africa, where she married an Anglican minister with the Christian Missionary Society of Kikuyu in British East Africa.  While in South Africa, she wrote this hymn under the title “The Quiet Hour”, which was first published in Unseen Realities (1920).  The tune was written by Harold Green (1871-1930), who was also a missionary in Pondoland.  The song became a favorite at the Keswick Convention in northern England and appeared in The Keswick Hymnbook (1936).

Speak, Lord, in the stillness while I wait on Thee;
hushed my heart to listen in expectancy.

Speak, O blessed Master, in this quiet hour;
let me see your face, Lord, feel your touch of power.

Fill me with the knowledge of your glorious will;
all your own good pleasure in your child fulfill.

Don Hustad (1918-2013) was one of the giants of Christian music of the 20th century. Hustad had a distinguished ministry and a life-long profession as a recording artist, composer, arranger, teacher, conductor, hymnal editor, and author.  He began work as staff musician of Chicago's WMBI in the early 1940s, worked with soloist George Beverly Shea on a weekly broadcast called "Club Time," and served for some 20 years as organist for a popular radio broadcast "Songs in the Night." He taught at Olivet Nazarene College in Kankakee, Illinois from 1946 to 1950, at which time Hustad was appointed director of the Sacred Music Department at Moody Bible Institute—a position he held until 1961.  During his 11-year tenure at Moody he developed the Moody Chorale into a superior choral ensemble that achieved fame nationally and internationally.   In 1961 he became Crusade organist for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and directed the Crusader Men Choir in the "Hour of Decision" broadcasts.  His publications include over 100 articles and five books.  Throughout his career, Hustad devoted considerable energy to music arranging and hymnal editing, serving as editorial consultant and musical advisor to Hope Publishing Company. Among his editorial contributions are fourteen hymnals and songbooks, as well as dozens of collections.  In 1989, Hustad was awarded Fellow of the Hymn Society for his outstanding contribution to American hymnody.  In 2008, he was honored by the American Choral Director's Association Southern Division Conference for his contributions to church music. He earned diplomas as an Associate of the American Guild of Organists (AAGO) and a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists (FRCO), London, UK.

Psalm-Prelude II – Herbert Howells

Herbert Norman Howells (1892- 1983) was an English composer, organist, and teacher, most famous for his large output of Anglican church music.  Howells was born in Lydney, Gloucestershire, the youngest of the six children of Oliver Howells, a plumber, painter, decorator and builder, and his wife Elizabeth. His father played the organ at the local Baptist church, and Herbert himself showed early musical promise, first assisting his father, and then moving at the age of eleven to the local Church of England parish church as choirboy and unofficial assistant organist.   In 1912, Howells moved to London to study at the Royal College of Music.  Howells' promise seemed likely to be cut short in 1915 when he was diagnosed with Graves' disease and given six months to live. His poor health prevented him from being conscripted in World War I.  At St Thomas' Hospital he was given the previously untried treatment of radium injections in the neck, administered twice a week over a period of two years. For much of this time Howells travelled between London for treatment and Lydney where he was nursed by his mother.  In 1920, he joined the staff of the Royal College of Music, where he was to remain until 1979.

In September 1935 Howells' placid existence as teacher, adjudicator and occasional composer was abruptly shattered when his nine-year-old son Michael contracted polio during a family holiday, dying in London three days later. Howells was deeply affected and continued to commemorate the event until the end of his life.  From that point on Howells turned increasingly to choral and organ music.    In 1941, Howells became  organist of St John's College, Cambridge.   Howells continued to compose until his late 80s.   He died in 1983, and his ashes were interred in Westminster Abbey.   Howells was appointed CBE in 1953 and Companion of Honour in 1972.

The first set of Three Psalm-Preludes, Op. 32, was published in 1921. The second of this set is inscribed Psalm 37: 11, “and the meek shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.”

Postlude – Arnold Cooke

Arnold Atkinson Cooke (1906-2005) was a British composer. He studied music and history at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge.  In 1929, he studied composition and piano at the Berlin Academy for Music under Paul Hindemith. He became Musical Director of the Festival Theatre at Cambridge, and in 1933 was appointed a professor at the Royal Manchester College of Music. In the 1930s Cooke carved out a reputation for himself as a promising young composer. In the Second World War, he served in the Royal Navy, first in the aircraft carrier HMS Victorious and subsequently as a liaison officer in a Norwegian escort vessel and a Dutch tug that took part in the D-Day Landings. After demobilization he returned to London in 1946, becoming a founder member of the Composers' Guild of Great Britain, and from 1947 until his retirement in 1978 he was Professor of Harmony and Composition at Trinity College of Music in London. In 1948, he obtained a doctorate from Cambridge.

About the Choral Music:

Give Me Jesus – Larry Shackley

Give Me Jesus originated as an African-American spiritual written during the time of slavery in the United States.  The lyrics of Give Me Jesus are simple, but poignant. Whether we are in tragedy or triumph, whether we are weathering storms or counting treasures, our hearts’ desire should simply be Jesus.  That Give Me Jesus was written by people stripped of all dignity and every human possession says so much about what Jesus is, what He can give and His very nature!

Larry Shackley (b. 1956) is a full-time composer and editor from Columbia, SC. He studied composition at the Eastman School of Music and his Master in Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in composition from the University of South Carolina. From 1995-2007, he taught and directed the music program at Columbia International University in Columbia, SC. Prior to that, he worked for several years at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, creating original music and producing radio programs for the Moody Broadcasting Network. He has been active in church music since his teens, and served as staff keyboardist for ten years at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL. Currently, Shackley is on the staff of Gateway Baptist Church in Irmo, SC. He has produced over twenty books of keyboard arrangements and more than one hundred choral anthems. He has won ASCAP standard panel awards every year since 1998, and has received commissions from churches, schools, and community choirs across America.

            In the morning when I rise, give me Jesus.

            And when I am alone, give me Jesus.

            You can have all this world, but give me Jesus.

            And when I come to die, give me Jesus.

            And when the trumpet sounds, give me Jesus.

            You can have all this world, but give me Jesus!

About the Hymns:

Come and Find the Quiet Center

Shirley Erena Murray (b. 1931) is a hymn text writer, born in Invercargill, New Zealand in 1931. Her texts have appeared in more than 100 collections worldwide and have been translated into several languages. She has been an editor with the New Zealand Hymnbook Trust and received international acclaim for her writing, including being made a Fellow of the Royal School of Church Music (2006) and becoming a Member of the NZ Order of Merit (2001) for services to the community through hymn writing. She is the first citizen to be so honored. Most recently, she has been honored by the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada at its July 2009 annual conference by being named a Fellow of the Society in recognition of her contributions as a hymn writer to the international community of congregational song.  Her hymns and carols address a wide spectrum of themes ranging from the seasons of the Church year to human rights, care of creation, women's concerns and above all, peace. Methodist by upbringing, and ecumenical by persuasion, she has spent most of her life as a Presbyterian.

Since it was first published in 1992 and after its inclusion in The Faith We Sing (FWS) in 2000, Murray’s popular “Come and Find the Quiet Center” has become a touchstone of peace and spiritual calm for many faith communities. The text of the hymn has found its way into informational pamphlets about labyrinth walks and prayer gardens, chapel dedications, personal devotional materials, and many worship services.  We are not called to live in isolation with our peace and calm but to share the fullness of life’s experiences with others on the journey. By sharing in the pain, joy and fear of life, there is a “place for deepest dreaming” and, with the Spirit, “there is always room to share.”  Murray speaks of the gift of peace within the chaos but then asks us to draw strength from that peace, that connection with the Spirit, to face the challenges and triumphs of the Christian journey.

Be Thou My Vision

"Be Thou My Vision" (Old Irish: Rop tú mo baile or Rob tú mo bhoile) is a traditional hymn from Ireland. The most well-known English version, with some minor variations, was translated by Eleanor Hull and published in 1912. In 1919, the lyrics were set to the tune of the Irish folk tune "Slane", to which the song is sung to this day, both in English and Irish. The song dates from at least the eighth century, though the text dates to the sixth-century.

The original Old Irish text, "Rop tú mo Baile" is often attributed to Saint Dallán Forgaill in the 6th century. Eochaid Mac Colla (c. 530 – 598), better known as Saint Dallan or Dallán Forgaill (Old Irish: Dallán Forchella; Latin: Dallanus Forcellius), was an early Christian Irish poet whose writings include the "Amra Choluim Chille" ("Elegy of Saint Columba") and "Rop Tú Mo Baile" ("Be Thou My Vision").  Saint Dallan was Chief Ollam of Ireland (similar to poet laureate), as well as a scholar of Latin scriptural learning. He helped to reform the Bardic Order at the Convention of Drumceat.  He reputedly wrote Amra Choluim Chille, which he completed shortly after the death of Saint Columba in 597, because Columba had successfully saved poets from expulsion from Ireland at the assembly of Druim Cett in 575. The “Amra Choluim Chille,” is the earliest Irish poem that can be dated.

"Rop tú mo Baile" had been a part of Irish monastic tradition for centuries before its setting to music. It was translated from Old Irish into English by Mary Elizabeth Byrne in Ériu (the journal of the School of Irish Learning), in 1905. The English text was first versified by Eleanor Hull, in 1912, and is now the most common text used.

Take Time to Be Holy

“Take Time to Be Holy” was written by William Longstaff (1822-1894) in 1882.  Longstaff, an English businessman, had often meditated on 1 Peter 1:16, “Be ye holy, for I am holy”, and considered it to be the heart of the gospel.  Upon hearing Dr. Griffith John, a missionary from China, speak and use the phrase, “Take time and be holy”, he was inspired to write this hymn.  Longstaff showed the hymn to Ira Sankey, who in turn passed it on to American songwriter George C. Stebbins (1846-1945) to set in 1882. Stebbins laid it aside and did not recall it until an evangelistic meeting in India, during which the theme of holiness was explored. Stebbins recalled Longstaff’s hymn and set it to music for the revival. He sent his tune “HOLINESS” to Sankey, who published the hymn in New Songs and Sacred Solos (1888).

September 13, 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:

Praeludium super "Benedictus sit Deus Pater" - Leo Sowerby

Leo Sowerby (1895-1968) was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he began to compose at the age of ten. His interest in the organ began at the age of 15.  Early recognition came when his violin concerto was premiered in 1913 by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra  In 192, he was awarded the Rome Prize (from the American Academy in Rome).  He joined the American Conservatory of Music faculty in 1924. In 1946, he received the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his cantata, the Canticle of the Sun.  In 1927, he became organist-choirmaster at St James’s Episcopal Church, Chicago.  In 1962, after his retirement from St James’s, he was called to Washington National Cathedral to become the founding director of the College of Church Musicians, a position he held until his death.  His substantial output includes over 500 works in every genre but opera and ballet.

Leo Sowerby came of age at the same time as did American music. With a few isolated exceptions, American composers before the 1920s had merely tried to imitate the voices of their Central European teachers, but Sowerby's generation, led by such men as George Gershwin, Virgil Thomson, Aaron Copland, Roy Harris, and Walter Piston, took the old European forms and poured into them music which sounded distinctly American in its melody, harmony, and rhythm. They did so at a time when the organ not only fulfilled its traditional role as an instrument of worship, but was a central part of the secular musical life of America as well. Big pipe organs in the symphonic style from the shops of Skinner, Austin, and others represented the cutting edge of style and technology, and were everywhere in the 20s and 30s: in movie theaters and hotel ballrooms, in concert halls and high school auditoriums, in the mansions and even the yachts of the well-to-do. Great organists drew audiences that regularly numbered in the thousands and occasionally in the tens of thousands. Even the organ's role as a liturgical instrument was much more prominent in the general consciousness: a major New York newspaper then had a regular column called The Choir Loft which chronicled the news and repertoire of the city's leading church choirs, a situation unimaginable today. These two trends, of a distinctly American musical style and of the symphonic organ as an instrument that was central to the American listening experience, came together in the music of Leo Sowerby. In the school of American symphonic composers, only Sowerby, Paul Creston, and Virgil Thomson were organists (and Thomson for only a short time early in his career). Sowerby was the one who extended the reach of the American symphonists into the mainstream repertoire of his instrument.

The thematic material of this prelude is the plainchant “Benedictus Sit Deus Pater”, a nonpsalmic Offertory chant which is believed to be Gallic in origin, dating from the 7^th century. 

Blessed be God the Father, and his only begotten Son,

and also the Holy Spirit: who hath shown his mercy upon us.

Gott sei gelobet und gebenedeiet – J. C. Bach

Gott sei gelobet und gebenedeiet  was written in 1524 by Martin Luther. The text and melody are based on a Leis for the Latin sequence Lauda Sion for Corpus Christi. A Leis is a medieval German-language hymn, which later ends on Kyrieleis, Kyrio-leis, or Kirleis Krles on Kyrieleison. Leisen entstanden im 11. Jahrhundert als kurze, oft einstrophige responsorische Antworten in der Volkssprache auf Gesänge der Messfeier, insbesondere zu Sequenzen an Festtagen des Kirchenjahrs .Leisen emerged in the 11th century as a short responses in the vernacular in the celebration of Mass chants, in particular to sequences on feast days of the church year. Sie wurden unter anderem bei Prozessionen gesungen und sind ein früher Ausdruck der Volksfrömmigkeit . They were among others in processions singing and are an early expression of popular piety. Da Martin Luther mehrere Leisen aufgegriffen und zu Chorälen erweitert hat, gelten sie als Wegbereiter des evangelischen Kirchenliedes. Since Martin Luther used leis as the basis for chorales, they are considered pioneers of the evangelical hymn.  Luther knew this leis in a version which first appeared at the end of the 14th century in a processional from the Franciscan monastery Miltenberg. Luther's hymn was printed in the Erfurt Enchiridion of 1524.

O Lord, we praise Thee, bless Thee, and adore Thee,
In thanksgiving bow before Thee.
Thou with Thy body and Thy blood didst nourish
Our weak souls that they may flourish.
O Lord, have mercy!

May Thy body, Lord, born of Mary
That our sins and sorrow did carry,
And Thy blood for us plead in all trial, fear and need:
O Lord, have mercy!

May God bestow on us His grace and favor
To please Him with our behavior
And live as brethren here in love and union
Nor repent this blessed Communion!
O Lord, have mercy!

Let not Thy good Spirit forsake us;
Grant that heavenly minded He make us;
Give Thy church, Lord, to see days of peace and unity;
O Lord, have mercy!

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:

Let There Be Praise – Dick & Melody Tunney

Dick and Melodie Tunney are a husband-and-wife duo who have written and performed with many contemporary Christian artists. They have written songs for Sandi Patti, Larnelle Harris and other Christian artists.  Mel was raised in a minister of music's home in Texas, and Dick came from a working family in Ohio. Both were musicians at an early age. In the late 1970s, they joined a Christian group called "TRUTH," which brought the two together. After 18 months of constant touring, Dick joined the award-winning group the Imperials. Six months later the couple married and settled in Nashville, Tennessee. Throughout the 1980s, Dick and Mel focused on songwriting and studio work, and immersed themselves in Nashville's creative community. Mel then formed the studio vocal group First Call with fellow studio singers Bonnie Keen and Marty McCall. In 1986, Christian artist Sandi Patty hired Dick as musical director and pianist, and First Call as her backup group.  The Tunneys' have received ten Dove Awards, nearly 30 Dove nominations and a Grammy Award (for “How Excellent Is Thy Name”, recorded by Larnelle Harris). Their songs have appeared in print music and church hymnals, and Dick and Mel have shared the stage with many Christian artists. They have also been in involved in many recording projects as studio vocalist, keyboard player, arranger(s) and producer. They have recorded eight albums together, and Dick has recorded five solo instrumental albums. The couple has penned more than 150 songs, many of which have been recorded by other Christian artists.

                Let there be praise, let there be joy in our hearts.

                Sing to the Lord, give Him the glory.

           

                Let there be praise, let there be joy in our hearts.

                Forever more let His love fill the air and

                Let there be praise.

Holy, Holy, Holy – Franz Schubert

Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828) was an Austrian composer who died at 31 but was extremely prolific during his lifetime. His output consists of over six hundred secular vocal works (mainly Lieder), seven complete symphonies, sacred music, operas, incidental music and a large body of chamber and piano music. Appreciation of his music was limited to a relatively small circle of admirers in Vienna, but interest in his work increased significantly in the decades following his death. Today, Schubert is ranked among the greatest composers of the late Classical era and early Romantic era and is one of the most frequently performed composers of the early nineteenth century.

Deutsche Messe (German Mass), D 872, is a mass composed by Franz Schubert in 1827. Its text is not the Latin liturgical text, but a sequence of poems in German by Johann Philipp Neumann who commissioned the work. It is also known as the Gesänge zur Feier des heiligen Opfers der Messe ("Songs for the celebration of the holy offering of the Mass"), and the "Wind Mass" due to its orchestration of primarily wind instruments.  The Deutsche Messe stems from a tradition of low masses, settings of religious texts in vernacular languages in Austria and southern Germany. It was commissioned by Johann Philipp Neumann, who was interested in simple music designed to appeal to "the widest possible congregation". Neumann wrote the German hymns, which Schubert scored in a block-chordal, homophonic style, suitable for congregational singing. Schubert intended it for usage in Catholic church service; however, censorship prevented this from taking place.  As an unauthorized German translation of the Mass, it was not approved for liturgical use.  

The fifth movement, “Zum Sanctus”, has been translated and arranged by Walter Ehret.

            Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord.

            Holy, Holy, Holy, He’s to be adored.

            He without beginning, We do ever love.

            Holy, Holy, Holy, Praise to Him above.

            Holy, Holy, Holy, Unto Thee we sing.

            Holy, Holy, Holy, Praise to Thee our King.

            Merciful and mighty, Everywhere adored.

            Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord.

About the Hymns:

O For a Thousand Tongues

"O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing" was written by Charles Wesley, who wrote over 6,000 hymns. Wesley was suffering a bout of pleurisy in May, 1738, while he and his brother were studying under the Moravian scholar Peter Böhler in London. At the time, Wesley was plagued by extreme doubts about his faith. Taken to bed with the sickness on May 21, Wesley was attended by a group of Christians who offered him testimony and basic care, and he was deeply affected by this. He read from his Bible and found himself deeply affected by the words and at peace with God. Shortly, his strength began to return. He wrote of this experience in his journal and counted it as a renewal of his faith; when his brother John had a similar experience on the 24th, the two men met and sang a hymn Wesley had written in praise of his renewal.

One year from the experience, Wesley was taken with the urge to write another hymn, this one in commemoration of his renewal of faith. This hymn took the form of an 18-stanza poem, beginning with the opening lines “Glory to God, and praise, and love Be ever, ever given” and was published in 1740 and entitled “For the anniversary day of one's conversion”. The seventh verse, which begins, 'O for a thousand tongues to sing', and which now is invariably the first verse of a shorter hymn, recalls the words of Peter Böhler who said, “Had I a thousand tongues I would praise Him with them all.” The hymn was published first in John Wesley's A Collection of Hymns for the People Called Methodists in 1780. It has appeared first in every Methodist hymnal since that time.

Wonderful Words of Life

Philip Bliss (1838-1876) went to Chicago in the employ of Dr. George F. Root, the musician, where he was engaged in conducting musical Institutes, and in composing Sunday School melodies. Originally a Methodist, he became, about 1871, a choirman of the First Congregational Church, Chicago, and the Superintendent of its Sunday Schools. In 1874 he joined D. W. Whittle in evangelical work. To this cause he gave (although a poor man) the royalty of his Gospel Songs, which was worth some thirty thousand dollars. His death was sudden. It occurred in the railway disaster at Ashtabula, Ohio, Dec. 30, 1876. He had escaped from the car, but lost his life in trying to save his wife. In spite of the shortness of his life, Philip Bliss is one of the most important and influential gospel song writers of the nineteenth century.

Christian publisher Fleming H. Revell (Dwight Moody’s brother-in-law) was about to launch a new Sunday School paper. He wanted a song that would capture the overall focus of the publication, which was to emphasize the vital importance of studying the Word of God. The name of the paper was to be Words of Life, so Mr. Revell asked Philip Bliss if he could come up with a song to fit, suggesting the key text, John 5 & 6. In the passage, many who had followed Christ were drifting away. The Lord turned to His disciples and asked, “Do you also want to go away?” And Peter made this reply on behalf of the other men: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life”.  Bliss duly produced a song, as requested, calling it Wonderful Words of Life.  It’s a simple song. And after it served its purpose, in the first issue of the publication, it was all but forgotten. But Revell passed on a copy of the Sunday School paper to another hymn writer, George Stebbins. Stebbins began using Philip Bliss’s song in evangelistic meetings, with he and his wife Elma singing it as a duet. It caught on, after that, and became very popular. Simple though it is, it reminds us that we have a precious treasure in the Scriptures–words of life.

Jesus Calls Us

Cecil Frances Alexander (1823-1850) married William Alexander, an Anglican clergyman who later became the Anglican Archbishop for all of Ireland. Alexander was an outstanding young woman by virtue of ability, education, and service.  While still quite young, she and her sister operated a school for the deaf, and she also published a highly successful book of hymns for children––designating the profits for the benefit of the school. Her hymns are mostly for children, and were published in her Verses for Holy Seasons, with Preface by Dr. Hook, 1846; Poems on Subjects in the Old Testament, pt. i. 1854, pt. ii. 1857; Narrative Hymns for Village Schools, 1853; Hymns for Little Children, 1848; Hymns Descriptive and Devotional, 1858; The Legend of the Golden Prayers 1859; Moral Songs, N.B.; The Lord of the Forest and his Vassals, an Allegory, &c.; or contributed to the Lyra Anglicana, the S.P.C.K. Psalms and Hymns, Hymns Ancient & Modern, and other collections. She wrote 400 hymns during her lifetime ­­–– mostly children's hymns––but "Jesus Calls Us" and "All Things Bright and Beautiful" are the best known.

Impressed by her hymns, her husband, Bishop Alexander, asked her to write a hymn for use during the coming Sunday worship on St. Andrew's Day based on the call of  Simon, Andrew, James, and John (Matthew 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-18).  She wrote this hymn, "Jesus Calls Us," for that occasion.  The first verse of this hymn begins, "Jesus calls us o'er the tumult of our life's wild, restless sea"––acknowledging the call of those first disciples by the Sea of Galilee.  A recurring theme is "Christian, love me more"––"Christian, love me more than these" ––"serve and love thee best of all."  Those words were inspired by John 21:15, where Jesus, after the resurrection, asked Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?"  Her text was published in the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge's (SPCK) Hymns for Public Worship (1852). Though written for a relatively minor saint's day, this hymn quickly gained popularity.