November 29, 2015 - Advent 1

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:

Gott sei dank – Harold Ruiz

Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen (1670-1739) was born at Gandersheim, Brunswick, and studied at the University of Jena. In 1695, he went to Glaucha as assistant to Rev. A. H. Francke; and when Francke became pastor of St. Ulrich's, in Halle, 1715, Freylinghausen followed him there.  In 1723, he became also sub-director of the Paedagogium and the Orphanage; and after Francke's death in 1727, succeeded him as pastor of St. Ulrich's and director of the Francke Institutions. Almost all Freylinghausen's hymns appeared in his own hymnbook, Geistreiches Gesang-Buch, den Kern alter und neuer Lieder...in sich haltend (1704) with 683 hymns and 173 melodies, which was the standard collection of the Halle school, uniting the best productions of Pietism with a good representation of the older "classical" hymns. This work, which greatly influenced later collections, was the source from which many editors drew not only the hymns of Pietism, but also the current forms of the earlier hymns (as well as the new "Halle" melodies, a number of which are ascribed to Freylinghausen himself).  He also published Neues Geistreiches Gesangbuch (1714) with 815 hymns and 154 melodies.  A number of them are said to have been written during severe attacks of toothache. As a hymnwriter, Freylinghausen ranks as the best of the Pietistic school and as the first Pietistic hymnwriter among his contemporaries. His finest productions are distinguished by a sound and robust piety, warmth of feeling, depth of Christian experience, adherence to scripture, clarity, and variety of style, which gained for them wide acceptance.

“Gott sei dank” appeared in Geistreiches Gesang-Buch, Halle, 1704.

Our God, we thank thee, who hast made the earth so bright;
So full of splendor and of joy, beauty and light;
So many glorious things are here, noble and right.

Harold Ruiz (b. 1930) holds degrees from Concordia University in River Forest, IL, and Northwestern University.  He is former chair of the music department at Concordia University, Austin, TX.

From Heaven High to Earth I Come – Robert J. Powell

"Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her" ("From Heaven Above to Earth I Come") is a hymn text relating to the Nativity of Jesus, written by Martin Luther in 1534. The hymn is most often sung to a melody that first appeared in 1539 and that was likely composed by Luther as well. That version became a classic Christmas carol, and many composers referred to it in their compositions.  "Vom Himmel hoch" was first published as a hymn with 15 stanzas of four lines in the "Wittenberg hymnal" of 1535, under the header "Ein kinderlied auff die Weinacht Christi" ("A children's song on the Nativity of Christ"). In that publication, the text was coupled to the melody of the then well-known secular song "Ich kumm aus frembden Landen her." It was Luther's only contrafactum, reusing a tune of a secular composition for a religious text.  In 1539, the hymn was published with a new melody that was probably composed by Luther himself, in Geistliche lieder / auffs new gebessert vnd gemehrt /zu Witteberg. D. Marti. Luther. Viel Geistliche gesenge / von andern frommen Christen gemacht. Gedruckt zu Leyptzick durch Valten Schumann (Spiritual Songs / newly improved and extended / … made by other pious Christians …).

From heaven above to earth I come

To bear good news to every home;

Glad tidings of great joy I bring

Whereof I now will say and sing:

To you this night is born a child

Of Mary, chosen mother mild;

This little child, of lowly birth,

Shall be the joy of all your earth.

'Tis Christ our God who far on high

Hath heard your sad and bitter cry;

Himself will your Salvation be,

Himself from sin will make you free.

Robert Powell (b. 1932) is an American composer, organist, and choir director.  Powell earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Louisiana State University with a focus on organ and composition. He studied with Alec Wyton at Union Theological Seminary in New York, and he was also Wyton's assistant at The Episcopal Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. For three years (1965–1968), he served St. Paul's School (Concord, New Hampshire) as Director of Music. Later, Powell was Director of Music and Organist of Christ Church (Episcopal) of Greenville, South Carolina from 1968 to 2003. He has composed in nearly all genres common to church music, including anthems, service music, hymn concertatos, organ music, music for handbell choir, and large-scale oratorios. Powell's conservative, neo-Romantic style stems from his practical approach to composition. According to Powell himself, he writes for "choirs of twenty-five because that's what most choirs are. When you come right down to it, most choirs are not of cathedral ability or size. My pieces are all practical things and useful for specific occasions." His publications appear in The Hymnal 1982 as well as in the catalogs of most of the significant American publishers of church music. According to publisher GIA, Powell is "a composer whose output bridges denominational boundaries and who is able to serve the larger Church. He has made ecumenical sharing a reality–-and always with a genteel touch."  Powell is an active member of the Association of Anglican Musicians and is a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists.

Puritan Procession – Seth Bingham

Seth Daniels Bingham (April 16, 1882 – June 21, 1972) was born in New Jersey, the youngest of four siblings in a farming family. After extensive childhood activities in church music, he studied organ and composition at Yale University, and in Paris with Alexandre Guilmant, Vincent d'Indy and Charles-Marie Widor. Bingham taught theory, composition and organ at Yale from 1908 to 1919. Beginning in 1913, he was organist and choirmaster at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City, a position he held until his 1951 retirement. He was an associate professor at Columbia University, received an honorary doctorate from Ohio Wesleyan University, and lectured at the School of Sacred Music at Union Theological Seminary.  Bingham's compositions include orchestral, choral, and chamber music, but most of his compositions are for organ solo.

“Puritan Procession” is the final movement in a suite, “Pioneer America”, written by Bingham in 1928.  It features “York Tune”, which was a setting of the last section of Psalm 66, found in the Bay Psalm Book (1640), which was the Puritan Psalm book of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which merged with the colony at Plymouth Rock, where the first Thanksgiving took place.

            Come and hear; all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for me.

            I cried aloud to him, and he was extolled with my tongue.

            If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

            But truly God has listened; he has given heed to the words of my prayer.

            Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer

            Or removed his steadfast love from me.

About the Vocal Music:

Of the Father’s Love Begotten – Thomas Gibbs

Of the Father's Love Begotten is a Christmas carol based on the Latin poem Corde natus by the Roman poet Aurelius Prudentius, from his Liber Cathemerinon (hymn no. IX) beginning "Da puer plectrum"   The ancient poem was translated and paired with a medieval plainchant melody Divinum mysterium. Divinum mysterium was a "Sanctus trope" - an ancient plainchant melody which over the years had been musically embellished. An early version of this chant appears in manuscript form as early as the 10th century, although without the melodic additions, and "trope" versions with various melodic differences appear in Italian, German, Gallacian, Bohemian and Spanish manuscripts dating from the 13th to 16th centuries.  Divinum mysterium first appeared in print in 1582 in the Finnish song book Piae Cantiones, a collection of seventy-four sacred and secular church and school songs of medieval Europe compiled by Jaakko Suomalainen and published by Theodoric Petri. In this collection, Divinum mysterium was classified as "De Eucharistia" reflecting its original use for the Mass.

The text of the Divinum mysterium was substituted for Prudentius's poem when it was published by Thomas Helmore in 1851. In making this fusion, the original meter of the chant was disturbed, changing the original triple meter rhythm into a duple meter and therefore altering stresses and note lengths. A later version by Charles Winfred Douglas corrected this using an "equalist" method of transcription, although the hymn is now found in both versions as well as a more dance-like interpretation of the original melody.

Thomas Gibbs holds the MM and PhD degrees in musicology from the University of Texas at Austin.  He is retired from the faculty of Birmingham-Southern College, where he taught music history, church music, and conducting.  He is the co-author of a music appreciation textbook, Contemplative Listening, that introduces meditation techniques specifically for music listeners, and he continues to be active as a church musician, conductor, editor, choral clinician, and composer.

            Of the Father’s love begotten ere the worlds began to be,

            He is Alpha and Omega, He the source, the ending He,

            Of the things that are, that have been,

            And that future years shall see, evermore and evermore.

            O ye heights of heaven adore Him; angel hosts His praises sing;

            Powers, dominions bow before Thee and extol our God and King;

            Let no tongue on earth be silent, every voice in concert ring

            Sanctus evermore.

About the Hymns:

Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates

Georg Weissel (1590-1635)  studied theology at the University of Königsberg,  and at Wittenberg, Leipzig, Jena, Strassburg, Basel and Marburg. In 1623, he became pastor of the newly erected Altrossgart church at Königsberg, where he remained till his death.  Weissel was one of the most important of the earlier hymn-writers of Prussia.  His hymns, about 20 in all, are good in style, moderate in length, and varied in meter. The earliest seem to have been written for use at the consecration of the Altrossgart church on the 2nd Sunday in Advent, 1623. The majority are for the greater festivals of the Christian year. They appeared in the Königsberg hymn-books, 1639-1650, and in the Preussische Fest-Lieder, 1642-1644.

Psalm 24 is a majestic song of praise to the King of glory. It concludes with a herald’s announcement of the King’s approach: “Lift up your heads, you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is he, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty—he is the King of glory”.

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

Although “O come, O come, Emmanuel” is most commonly known by that English title, it is in fact a translation of the original Latin, “Veni, Veni, Emmanuel”; translations into other modern languages (particularly German) are also in widespread use. The 1861 translation from Hymns Ancient and Modern is the most prominent by far in the English-speaking world, but other English translations also exist.  The hymn is a metrical paraphrase of the O Antiphons, a series of plainchant antiphons attached to the Magnificat at Vespers over the final days before Christmas.  The words and the music of "O come, O come, Emmanuel" developed separately. The Latin text is first documented in Germany in 1710, whereas the tune most familiar in the English-speaking world has its origins in 15th-century France. 

The pre-history of the text stretches back to the origins of the O Antiphons, which were in existence by, at the latest, the eighth century.  They were paraphrased extensively by the English poet Cynewulf in a poem written before the year 800.  While "O come, O come, Emmanuel" is often linked with the 12th century, the earliest surviving evidence of the hymn's text is in the seventh edition of Psalteriolum Cantionum Catholicarum, which was published in Cologne in 1710. That hymnal was a major force in the history of German church music: first assembled by Jesuit hymnographer Johannes Herringsdorf in 1610 and receiving numerous revised editions through 1868, it achieved enormous impact due to its use in Jesuit schools.

The text of the Psalteriolum Cantionum Catholicarum version is essentially expanded, rather than altered, over the subsequent centuries. That version exhibits all of the hymn's characteristic qualities: it is strophic and metrical, and the order is altered so that the last of the O Antiphons (the titular "Veni Emmanuel") becomes the first verse of the hymn. Each stanza consists of a four-line verse, which adapts one of the antiphons, and a new two-line refrain ("Gaude, gaude! Emmanuel \ nascetur pro te, Israel," i.e. "Rejoice, Rejoice, Emmanuel \ Shall come to thee, O Israel"), which provides an explicitly Advent-oriented response to the petition of the verse.

The familiar tune called “Veni Emmanuel” was first linked with this hymn in 1851, when Thomas Helmore published it in the Hymnal Noted, paired with an early revision of Neale's English translation of the text. The volume listed the tune as being "From a French Missal in the National Library, Lisbon."  The pairing of the hymn text with the Veni Emmanuel tune was an extremely significant combination. The hymn text was embraced both out of a Romantic interest in poetic beauty and medieval exoticism and out of a concern for matching hymns to liturgical seasons and functions rooted in the Oxford Movement in the Church of England. The Hymnal Noted, in which the words and tune were first combined, represented these goals. This hymnal consisted entirely of versions of Latin hymns, designed for use as Office hymns within the Anglican Church despite the fact that Office hymns had no part in the authorized liturgy. The music was drawn chiefly from plainchant, as was the case with the Veni Emmanuel tune for "O Come, O Come Emmanuel.”

Go Forth for God

"Go Forth for God" exhorts believers to "go forth for God" to the world in peace”, "in love", "in strength", and "in joy", using phrases from Romans 12:9-21 and 1 Thessalonians 5:13b¬22-.   John R. Peacey (1896-1971) wrote the original text to this hymn in 1968. The 1987 Psalter Hymnal version of the text, however, is a result of revisions made by Peacey in 1970 and by the editors of the English Hymnal supplement, English Praise (1975). Educated in theology at Selwyn College, Cambridge, Peacey was ordained in the Church of England in 1923. In addition to serving several churches in England, he was also headmaster and principal of the Bishop Cotton School in Simla, India (1927-1945), and principal of Bishop's College in Calcutta, India (1935-1945). Peacey concluded his career at Bristol Cathedral (1945-1966). Written mainly during his retirement years, his hymn texts were published posthumously in Go Forth for God (1981).