February 14, 2016

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:

Ach, was soll ich Sünder machen? – Johann Pachelbel

Johannes Olearius (1611-1684) studied at the University of Wittenberg (M.A. 1632, D.D. 1643], where he became lecturer and adjunct of the philosophical faculty. In 1637, he became Superintendent at Querfurt; and, in 1643, was appointed by Duke August of Sachsen-Weissenfels as his chief court preacher, and private chaplain at Halle. Olearius was the author of a Commentary on the whole Bible, and of various devotional works. He was also the compiler of one of the largest and most important German hymn-books of the 17th century, the Geistliche Singe-Kunst, of which the first edition appeared at Leipzig in 1671, with 1207 hymns, and the second at Leipzig in 1672, with 1340. The first edition contained 302 hymns by Olearius himself, marked "D. J. O."

Oh, how great is Your compassion, Faithful Father, God of grace,
That with all our fallen race In our depth of degradation
You had mercy so that we Might be saved eternally!

Your great love for this hath striven That we may, from sin made free.
Live with You eternally. Your dear Son Himself has given
And extends His gracious call, To His Supper leads us all.

Firmly to our souls' salvation Witnesses Your Spirit, Lord,
In Your Sacraments and Word. There He sends true consolation,
Giving us the gift of faith That we fear nor hell nor death.

Lord, Your mercy will not leave me; Ever will Your truth abide.
Then in You I will confide. Since Your Word cannot deceive me,
My salvation is to me Safe and sure eternally.

I will praise Your great compassion, Faithful Father, God of grace,
That with all our fallen race In our depth of degradation
You had mercy so that we Might be saved eternally!

Johann Pachelbel (1653–1706)  was a German Baroque composer, organist and teacher, who brought the south German organ tradition to its peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secular music, and his contributions to the development of the chorale prelude and fugue have earned him a place among the most important composers of the middle Baroque era. Pachelbel's music enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime; he had many pupils and his music became a model for the composers of south and central Germany. Today, Pachelbel is best known for the Canon in D, as well as the Chaconne in F minor, the Toccata in E minor for organ, and the Hexachordum Apollinis, a set of keyboard variations.

Come, Ye Disconsolate – J. Bert Carlson

Son of John Moore, a Dublin tradesman, Thomas Moore (1779-1852) received his education at a private school, and at Trinity College, Dublin. He studied law and held a post in the Bermuda government for a time. He was also a well-known poet and an Irish nationalist. He wrote 32 hymns, including “Come, Ye Disconsolate” was published in 1816 with the title “Relief in Prayer”.  The word “disconsolate” speaks of an unhappy person who has been unable to find any consolation or comfort.  Moore’s poem expresses the assurance that God provides comfort for all ills.

Come, ye disconsolate, where’er ye languish,
            Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel.
            Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish;
            Earth has no sorrow that heav’n cannot heal.

            Here see the bread of life, see waters flowing

            Forth from the throne of God, pure from above.

            Come to the feast of love; come, ever knowing

            Earth has no sorrow but heav’n can remove.

J. Bert Carlson (b. 1937), retired pastor, holds a master of music from Duquesne University School of Music and has served as pastor of Christ Lutheran Church, Whiting, NJ since 1997. Carlson wears many diverse hats as a piano teacher, organ recitalist, tenor soloist, musical director, and conductor as well as cofounder of the Chicago Oratorio Society and clinician for numerous workshops with an emphasis on choral methods, organ and hymn composition. His prodigious list of publications includes anthems, vocal songs, organ works, and piano works.

Sortita per Organo or Armonio – Luigi Bottazzo

 Luigi Bottazzo (1845-1924) was an Italian organist and composer. At the age of 9, he became blind; studied music at the Institute for the Blind in Padova, and at the age of 19, he became teacher of harmony, counterpoint and organ in the same institute.   He composed more than 300 works, mostly for organ, but also for voice and piano, piano solo, solo voices, voice and organ. He also published a series of music theory books, some of which were adopted by music conservatories.  

A “Sortita” is literally a piece written to play while people are “leaving”.  This Sortita was written to be played either on the organ or the harmonium.  In 19^th century Europe, harmoniums were found in home and in small churches that could not afford organs, just as the American reed organ was often found in churches and homes in this country. The hamonium is a free reed keyboard instrument much like an American reed organ. 

Christian Gottlieb Kratzenstein (1723–1795), professor of physiology at Copenhagen, was credited with the first free-reed instrument made in the Western world, after winning the annual prize in 1780 from the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg.  The harmonium's design incorporates free reeds and derives from the earlier regal. A harmonium-like instrument was exhibited by Gabriel Joseph Grenié (1756–1837) in 1810. He called it an orgue expressif (expressive organ), because his instrument was capable of greater expression, as well as of producing a crescendo and diminuendo. Alexandre Debain improved Grenié's instrument and gave it the name harmonium when he patented his version in 1840.  There was concurrent development of similar instruments.  A mechanic who had worked in the factory of Alexandre in Paris emigrated to the United States and conceived the idea of a suction bellows, instead of the ordinary bellows that forced the air outward through the reeds. The firm of Mason & Hamlin, of Boston, in 1860 made their instruments with the suction bellows, and this method of construction soon superseded all others in America.  This is the primary difference between the American reed organ and the harmonium.  The harmonium blows air out through the reeds and the reed organ sucks air in through them.  If you have played a harmonica, you have experienced this difference.  The harmonica also uses free reeds, and, as you know, sound can be made both by sucking and blowing with only slight variation in the tone quality.

About the Vocal Solo Music:

Follow Me – Ira Stanphill

Ira Forest Stanphill (1914-1993) was a well-known American gospel music songwriter of the mid-twentieth century.  Stanphill began preaching when he was 22, first in a summer traveling ministry with Christian Ambassadors of the Assemblies of God, then becoming director of youth and music at a church in Breckenridge, Texas. He later became music director at Faith Tabernacle in Oklahoma City, then became pastor of Trinity Assembly of God in Orange, California. In the early 1940s, he served as associate pastor at Full Gospel Tabernacle in Bakersfield, California.  In 1949, he became music director at Bethel Temple in Fort Worth, Texas.

In 1956, he was the founding pastor of Bethel Assembly of God Church in Lake Worth, Florida. In September 1962, he became pastor of the Assembly of God Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In 1968, he was pastor of Rosen Heights Assembly of God Church in Fort Worth, Texas. After serving 13 years as pastor of Rockwood Park Church in Fort Worth, he resigned to devote more time to evangelism and concerts, traveling to churches and Bible camps around the country, sometimes accompanied by his wife. They played and sang some of his compositions in addition to his preaching. In 1941, they joined the team of evangelist Raymond T. Richey. An ad for a crusade Stanphill held in 1964 described him as "Preacher of Old Time Religion." In addition to traveling throughout the United States, he preached in 40 other countries. Occasionally as part of his crusades, he would ask members of the congregation to suggest titles for songs. Selecting one title from the suggestions, he would write words and music for a song during the service.  In the 1970s, Stanphill's ministry included a 30-minute weekly television program. Young At Heart originated on WCFC in Chicago. In the 1990s, he appeared on several Southern gospel music videos produced by Bill Gaither.

By the age of 10, Stanphill had already become a fluent musician, having learned to play the piano, organ, ukulele, and accordion. He went on to learn to play xylophone, guitar, saxophone, and clarinet. At 17, he was composing and performing his own music for church services, revival campaigns, and prayer meetings.  Stanphill composed more than 500 gospel songs. 

When he was a 39-year old singing preacher, who’d been conducting his own ministry for many years, he heard a story by Charles Greenaway at a Texas conference in 1953.  The Greenaways (Charles and his wife Mary) had been young missionaries in Africa, and Ira Stanphill, as any minister committed to God’s work would do, probably expected to hear something interesting and informative from them as he attended the Grand Prairie conference one evening. Maybe he got more than he bargained for, because the story made its way onto a song sheet the next day, through his own tears. The Greenaways didn’t think Africa was for them at first, those many years earlier. Mary was sick, an irony that probably was not lost on her and Charles, who had gone to help people there through a medical missionary effort they were eager to use as a springboard to introduce God to the people. It seemed that the physical needs of the locals were so great, however, that no room was left for the deeper spiritual food they wanted to dispense too. And with Mary laid low, Charles’ spirit called out ‘Lord, send us somewhere else!’ He sensed God’s answer, a gentle but firm reminder that Jesus had likewise felt the sting of apathy and rejection. Do as He did, they sensed, and leave the rest to Him. Eventually, the Greenaways saw the spiritual fruit they longed to harvest. From one minister to another, Charles Greenaway’s story washed over Ira Stanphill.   Stanphill certainly identified with messaging to other cultures, as he preached in 40 different countries outside of the U.S. before expiring at the age of 79.  The words he wrote – loneliness, sacrifice, burdens, and misplaced pride –an experience like the Greenaways. Hang tough, and know the intimate fellowship with Him that comes along the coarse, uneven path.

            I travelled down a lonely road and no one seemed to care.

            The burden on my weary back had bowed me to despair.

            I oft complained to Jesus how folks were treating me,

            And then I heard Him say so tenderly:

            “My feet were also weary upon the Calvary road.

            The cross became so heavy, I fell beneath the load.

            Be faithful, weary pilgrim, the morning I can see.

            Just lift your cross and follow close to Me.”

            “I work so hard for Jesus,” I often boast and say,

            “I’ve sacrificed a lot of things to walk the narrow way.

            I gave up fame and fortune; I’m worth a lot to Thee.
            and then I hear Him gently say to me:

            “I left the throne of glory and counted it but loss.

            My hands were nailed in anger upon a cruel cross.

            But now we’ll make the journey with your hand safe in mine.

            So lift your cross and follow close to Me.”

            O Jesus, if I die upon a foreign field some day,

            ‘Twould be no more than love demands, no less could I repay.

            “No greater love hath mortal man than for a friend to die.”

            These are the words He gently spoke to me:

           

            “If just a cup of water I place within your hand,

            Then just a cup of water is all that I demand.”

            But if by death to living they can Thy glory see,

            I’ll take my cross and follow close to Thee.

About the Hymns:

I Love to Tell the Story

"I Love to Tell the Story" is a well-known hymn which was written as a poem by an English evangelist, Katherine Hankey (1834-1911). Hankey was the daughter of a wealthy banker and was associated with the Clapham sect of William Wilberforce, a group of prominent evangelical Anglicans from the Clapham area. This group helped to establish the British and Foreign Bible Society, promoted the … abolition of slavery, and was involved in improving the lot of England's working classes. Hankey taught Bible classes for shop girls in London, visited the sick in local hospitals, and used the proceeds of her writings to support various mission causes. Her publications include Heart to Heart (1870) and The Old, Old Story and Other Verses (1879).

Hankey had a serious spell of sickness while in a mission in Africa. During her long days of convalescence, she wrote a long on the life of Jesus in 1866 in two parts. The first part was a poem of fifty stanzas, titled "The Story Wanted" (dated January 29, 1866) and second part titled "The Story Told" (dated November 18, 1866).  Certain verses were taken from Part I. by Dr. W. H. Doane in 1867 to make the popular and familiar hymn beginning, "Tell me the old, old story". From Part II. certain verses were selected to make the hymn, "I Love to Tell the Story".  The tune was composed by William G. Fischer and appeared in Fischer's Joyful Songs, Nos. 1 to 3 published in 1869 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by Methodist Episcopal Book Room.

Apart from the context of the larger poem, some of the couplets of this text appear rather shallow or repetitious; thus the Psalter Hymnal includes only the original stanzas 1, 3, and 4. But the entire original poem provides a fine autobiographical testimony to Hankey's evangelical fervor, which she expressed in her writings and in her support of foreign and home missions (she taught church school classes to the rich and poor of London). The text simply affirms the Christian's zeal to "tell the old, old story of Jesus and his love" to the unsaved as well as to the saved, here on earth and in glory.

Where He Leads Me

Earnest W. Blan­dy, a Sal­va­tion Ar­my of­fi­cer, wrote this song in 1890, af­ter choos­ing be­tween a com­fort­a­ble post at an es­tab­lished church, and an al­ter­nate as­sign­ment to the New York Ci­ty wa­ter­front and slum called "Hell’s Kitch­en." He chose the lat­ter.  No other biographical information on Rev. Blandy has survived.  The text is based on Matthew 16:24:  “Then Jesus said to his disciples, If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.”

The melody was composed by pastor and evangelist John S. Norris, who died in 1907.  Norris was born on the Isle of Wight, which is in the English Channel off the southern coast of England. His family emigrated to Canada. In 1868, a few years after the Civil War ended, he was ordained into the Methodist Church ministry. However, 10 years later he joined the Congregational Church and pastored churches in Canada and the United States. Little is known of his ministry. His only legacy is the soulful tune of this simple song of invitation and consecration.

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.