February 21, 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.  

This week's topic for the Lenten sermon series, Cativated by Christ, is Christ is Powerful.

About the Organ Music:

All Hail the Power of Jesus Name – Charles Callahan

Edward Perronet (1726-1792) was born in England, the grandson of a French immigrant. His father, Vincent, was a clergyman in the Church of England and a close friend and associate of John and Charles Wesley. Though Edward had planned to follow his father into Anglican ministry, the influence of the Wesleys prevailed, and he became a traveling Methodist preacher.  “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name” was written by Perronet while he served as a missionary in India and first appeared in the November, 1779 issue of the Gospel Magazine

The hymn is often called the "National Anthem of Christendom”.  The best-known tunes used for the hymn are "Coronation" (Oliver Holden, 1793), "Miles Lane" (William Shrubsole, 1779), and "Diadem" (James Ellor, 1838). 

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.

God of Power – Joe Pinson

Wallace F Bennett (1898-1993) was born in Salt Lake City, Utah.  He served as an infantry officer in World War I and graduated from the University of Utah in 1919. He became a high school principal and then a paint manufacturer. He served as a U.S. Senator from 1950-1974. Bennett was also a hymnwriter, and wrote God of Power, God of Right which is found in the Latter-day Saints Hymnal (1985).

God of power, God of right,

Guide us with thy priesthood's might.

               Forge our souls in living fire;

Shape them to thy great desire.

God of wisdom, God of truth,

Take us in our eager youth;

Lift us step by step to thee

Thru an endless ministry.

God of mercy, God of love,

Let thy Spirit, like the dove,

Touch and humble, teach and bless,

As we serve in holiness.

Joe Pinson is a composer and music therapist residing in Denton, Tx.  He is the founder of the Denton Bell Band, comprised of developmentally disabled members of the community.  He teaches music therapy at Texas Woman’s University.

Miles Lane – Healey Willan

“Miles Lane” is an alternate tune for the hymn, “All Hail the Power of Jesus Name”. MILES LANE was published anonymously with Perronet's first stanza in the November 1779 issue of the Gospel Magazine. The tune appeared in three parts with the melody in the middle part. Each "Crown him" was meant to be sung by a different part, first by the bass, then by the treble, and finally by the tenor. Thus MILES LANE was a fuguing tune. Stephen Addington identified William Perronet as the composer in his Collection of Psalm Tunes (1780). The tune's title comes from the traditional English corruption of St. Michael's Lane, the London street where the Miles' Lane Meeting House was located, of which Addington was minister.

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 became 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."

About the Choral Music:

I Sing the Mighty Power of God – Dale Grotenhuis

Isaac Watts (1674-1748), often labeled the “Father of English-language hymnody,” believed that hymns were a formative tool in the Christian education of children.  Watts’ Divine Songs Attempted in Easy Language, for the Use of Children (1715) was one of the most popular collections published in its day. Poems from this hymnal were used to instruct many English children in Watts’ day and for decades after his death.   In his preface,” Watts cites a biblical precedent for teaching songs to children for educational value: “The children of Israel were commanded to learn the words of the song of Moses, Deut. xxxi 19, 50, and we are directed in the New Testament, not only to sing ‘with grace in the heart, but to teach and admonish one another by hymns and songs,’ Ephes. v. 19.”  Of the four reasons he gives for learning these songs, he states that these songs “will be a constant furniture of the minds of children, that they may have something to think upon when alone, and sing over to themselves. This may sometimes give their thoughts a divine turn, and raise a young meditation. Thus they will not be forced to seek relief for an emptiness of mind, out of the loose and dangerous sonnets of the age.”

“I Sing the Almighty Power of God,” originally published as “Praise for Creation and Providence,” is now the only song that remains in common usage from this children’s hymnal. Expanding on the creation narrative in Genesis 1 and 2, Watts’ Calvinistic theology comes to the fore.  For Watts, God is an all-powerful and sovereign being who knows every “plant or flower” and controls all of nature.  This sovereign God of the Calvinist Watts was also an omnipresent judge and ruler.  While not specifically a hymn based on the Apostles’ Creed according to the preface, any child of Watts’ day who sang the hymn would likely think of it as a theological amplification of the first article of the Creed: “I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.” Even the opening line of the hymn cites the “almighty power of God,” echoing the beginning of the Creed.

Dale Grotenhuis (1931—2012) retired in 1995 from Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa, where he served as Director of Choral Activities and taught courses in conducting, choral music education, theory, composition and analysis. Grotenhuis conducted the Dordt College concert choir which toured annually to all areas of the United States, Canada and Europe. Prior to that time he taught in high schools in Washington and Michigan. He has conducted clinics, festivals and All-state choirs in Iowa, Illinois, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Montana and has conducted workshops and clinics at the Universities of Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Georgia. Dale Grotenhuis holds a Master's Degree in Music from Michigan State University. He conducted the 2nd Army Band Male Chorus and was chief music arranger for the 2nd Army Band while in the armed services. He is the composer of over 180 choral works and five works for symphonic band. In 1985, he was the recipient of an Outstanding Educators of America award as well as the McCowan Award presented by the Iowa Choral Conductors Association for “outstanding contribution to choral music in Iowa.” In 1989, he was the recipient of an International Distinguished Leadership award. He recently received from The National Federation of Music the “Outstanding Music Educator” award for the State of Iowa for 1994.

Grotenhuis has set Watts’ text to the hymn tune, “Covenanters”, which is an old Scottish Psalter tune which was brought to America by Scottish exiles in 1608.  It’s first known use in America was a Sunday School song in the 19^th century.  It’s first American printing was as a setting of the 23^rd Psalm in Bayley and Ferguson’s Old Scottish Psalm Tunes (1905)

            I sing the mighty power of God that made the mountains rise;

            That spread the flowing seas abroad, and built the lofty skies.

            I sing the wisdom that ordained the sun to rule the day;

            The moon shines full at His command, and all the stars obey.

            I sing the goodness of the Lord, that filled the earth with food;

            He formed the creatures with His word, and then pronounced them good.

            Lord, how Thy wonders are displayed, where’er I turn my eye;

            If I survey the ground I tread, or gaze upon the sky!

            There’s not a plant or flower below, but makes Thy glories known;

            And clouds arise and tempests blow, by order from Thy throne,

            While all that borrows life from Thee is ever in Thy care,

            And everywhere that man can be, Thou, God, art present there.

About the Hymns:

All Hail the Power of Jesus Name

An interesting story is told about this hymn.  Rev. E. P. Scott was a missionary in India who had been urged not to go near a certain barbarous tribe, whom he wished to evangelize. But he went forth with high cour­age, ne­ver wa­ver­ing in his du­ty, and trust­ing in God to pro­tect him. When at last he reached their coun­try among the hills, he came up­on a com­pa­ny of these sav­ag­es.  Im­me-di­ate­ly, they sur­round­ed him, point­ing their spears at him with threat­en­ing scowls.  He had nothing but his vi­o­lin; and so, clos­ing his eyes, he be­gan to play and sing, “All Hail the Pow­er of Je­sus’ Name.” When he opened his eyes he ex­pect­ed to be killed in­stant­ly, but his life had been spared through the sing­ing of the hymn. Their spears had dropped, and they re­ceived him first with cur­i­o­si­ty and in­ter­est, and then lat­er with ea­gern­ess, as he told them the gos­pel sto­ry and won their hearts to the will of Je­sus Christ.

There’s Something About that Name

Bill Gaither (b. 1936) is an Indiana-born kid with an insatiable love for music who grew to become an industry leader who would change the course of gospel music history through the songs he has written and through his influence as a mentor for other artists.  An avid fan of gospel quartets throughout his childhood, Bill founded his first group, The Bill Gaither Trio, in 1956, while he was a college student. He began teaching high school English in 1959, where he met Gloria Sickal (b. 1942), the French teacher.  They married in 1962, and spent the first five years of their married life juggling full-time teaching jobs, writing, singing, recording and publishing until music became their full-time career in 1967.  The collaborations of Bill and Gloria have resulted in more than 700 popular gospel songs.  The Gaithers have won eight Grammy Awards and more than a dozen nominations, and they have received more than two dozen Dove Awards from The Gospel Music Association, earning the title of Gospel Music Association’s “Songwriter of the Year” eight times.

“Our calling is not just making music… but communicating the reality of Christ. That might mean birthing a song about Him or simply offering a cup of cold water to someone who needs it. Gloria and I have never claimed to have God figured out, but we do know that if He could use two imperfect people like us to communicate His Truth to the world, He can use everyone sitting in the audience, working on our staff or singing with us. If we have done anything right over the years, I hope we have built bridges where people could connect with God and with each other. That is what started us writing and what will keep us going for the rest of our lives.”

Bill was 34 and Gloria was 28 years old in that year when ‘Jesus’ was on their minds.  ‘Healer’,’ Comforter’, ‘Peace-Giver’ are other names they could have put in their composition in 1970. The Gaithers had gone through a difficult, but yet enlightening chapter, with the loss of grandparents and the onset of their own parenthood and its responsibilities. They observed loved ones on either end of the age spectrum who felt the impact of His name. Their grandparents, though feeble and often mentally confused, still knew His name. And, as Bill’s and Gloria’s children experienced sickness, these composer-parents counted on ‘Jesus’ for wisdom and confidence to ease their anxiety. What they wrote communicates that something peaceful and refreshing came over them, something like what happens in the creation He made for them. Perhaps they felt His presence in the wake of a rainstorm one day, like an invigorating aroma that clears the mind, as their words indicate. Rain washes the pollution out of the atmosphere, and the creation senses the nourishment He provides.  Keep saying ‘Jesus’, is the message of the song the Gaithers wrote. Seven times, that’s how much they have me say that name in this brief tune. Make it saturate the entire world.

Ye Servants of God

Charles Wesley, the son of Samuel Wesley, was born at Epworth, Dec. 18, 1707. He was educated at Westminster School and afterwards at Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated M.A. In 1735, he took Orders and immediately proceeded with his brother John to Georgia, both being employed as missionaries of the S.P.G. He returned to England in 1736. For many years he engaged with his brother in preaching the Gospel. He died March 29, 1788. To Charles Wesley has been justly assigned the appellation of the "Bard of Methodism." His prominence in hymn writing may be judged from the fact that in the "Wesleyan Hymn Book," 623 of the 770 hymns were written by him; and he published more than thirty poetical works, written either by himself alone, or in conjunction with his brother. The number of his separate hymns is at least five thousand.

The year 1744 was a time of great opposition to, and persecution of, the Methodists in England. The country was at war with France. An invasion for the purpose of dethroning George II, and crowning the exiled representative of the House of Stuart was expected. The Methodists were represented as Papists in disguise, working for the Pretender. Their meetings were broken up by mobs, and many of their preachers were impressed into the army. Even the Wesleys were brought before the magistrates for examination. To strengthen and reassure his Methodist followers, Charles Wesley published Hymns for Times of Trouble and Persecution (1744) anonymously. This text, in seventeen stanzas, was the first of the "Hymns to be Sung in a Tumult," which the small but heroic Methodist groups sang in the face of violent opposition.  It is a hymn of thankful praise to Christ for his victorious reign and for providing salvation for his people. It reveals the cosmic scope of Christ's kingdom and helps us to join our voices with the great doxology to Christ, the Lamb, as foretold in Revelation 5:9-14. In the first stanza "servants" refers to all Christians, not just clergy, to those made "to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God" (Rev. 5:10).