May 1, 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.  

The final sermon in the series on big questions is "What Will Heaven Be Like?"

About the Organ Music:

Le Banquet Celeste – Olivier Messiaen

Olivier Eugene Prosper Charles Messiaen (1908-1992)was the son of Pierre Messiaen, a scholar of English literature, and of the poet Cecile Sauvage. Soon after his birth the family moved to Ambert (the birthplace of Chabrier) where his brother, Alain was born in 1913. Around the time of the outbreak of World War 1, Cecile Sauvage took her two sons to live with her brother in Grenoble where Olivier Messiaen spent his early childhood, began composing at the age of seven, and taught himself to play the piano. On his return from the war, Pierre Messiaen took the family to Nantes and in 1919 they all moved to Paris where Olivier entered the Conservatoire at the age of eleven and stayed until his early twenties learning his 'craft' from eminent teachers. He became organist of La Sainte Trinité in Paris when he was 22 and remained there until his death. 

From very early on it was clear that Messiaen would be a composer who would stand alone in the history of music. Coming not from any particular 'school' or style but forming and creating his own totally individual musical voice. He achieved this by creating his own 'modes of limited transposition', taking rhythmic ideas from India (deci tala), ancient Greece and the orient and most importantly adapting the songs of birds from around the world. He was a man of many interests including painting, literature, and the orient where he took in not only the musical culture but theatre, literature and even the cuisine of foreign countries. Messiaen has said the one real influence on his life was his mother the poetess Cecilé Sauvage whose book of verse L'ame en Bourgeon (The Soul in Bud) was for him. She spoke when expecting him, of a boy who would be an artist - she said 'the anguish of arts' mysteries will be dispersed and here is the Orion who sings in my being - with his blue birds and his golden butterflies - I suffer from an unknown distant music'. Messiaen believed this shaped his entire destiny.  

Undoubtedly it has been Messiaens' devout Christian faith and Catholicism that has driven his compositional output through the years and there was no greater test of his faith than in June 1940 when he was captured by the Nazis and interned in prisoner of war camp Stalag 8A, Gorlitz, Poland. He recalls that at the time he and everybody in the camp were freezing, starving and miserable. The starvation was such that it led him to compose what is probably his most performed work: Quatour pour la Fin du Temps (Quartet for the end of Time). He befriended a German officer who smuggled him manuscript paper, pencil and eraser which enabled him to retreat to the priests block after morning duties and compose. The work premiered on January 15th 1941 in front of fellow prisoners who although maybe never understood the new harmonies etc. it took them away from the routine mundane life in the camp. He says that his music 'is not "nice" - it is certain. I am convinced that joy exists, convinced that the invisible exists more than the visible, joy is beyond sorrow, beauty is beyond horror'.  He returned from captivity in March 1941 and became a teacher and lecturer at the Paris Conservatoire giving his first class on 7th May the same year. He held classes in analysis, theory, aesthetics and rhythm, but it wasn't until 1966 that he was officially appointed Professor of Composition. Messiaen received many honours and prizes globally including: Officier of the Légion d'honneur (1959); Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society (1975); the Croix de Commander of the Belgian Order of the Crown (1980); Grand-Croix, of the Légion d'honneur (1987); Primio Internazionale ( Pope Paolo VI, 1988).

Le banquet céleste ("The heavenly banquet"), written for organ in 1928, is a recomposition of a section from his unpublished orchestral piece Le banquet eucharistique.  It is an excellent example of Messiaen's musical aesthetic as it applies to the organ: it features thick, warm texture, and long, relaxed phrases. The work is largely atmospheric in its musical intent; the strongest emphasis is placed on harmony. Messiaen's vertical sonorities are modally organized, though they also include conventional tonal triads. The piece unfolds so slowly that there is no strong sense of beat. As musicologist Roger Nichols notes, Messiaen "forces us to rethink our notion of time, so that we hear the logic of harmony and melody but without feeling ourselves tied to a mundane beat."  With “Le banquet celeste”, the young Messiaen (the composer was 20 when he wrote this work) creates a kind of Impressionistic soundscape, expressing the timeless mystery of the eucharist and the eternal banquet in heaven.  Messiaen inscribed the work with John 6: 54, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day.”

The Promised Land – Don Hustad

Samuel Stennett (1727-1795), an English Baptist, came from a long line of ministers. He was the son of a Seventh-Day Adventist pastor.  In the 18th century, university education was not easily available to nonconformist families—those who refused to swear allegiance to the Church of England.  Stennett did study at the academy at Miles End with distinction, however.  In spite of his nonconformist religious stance, Stennett was a personal friend to the reigning monarch, King George III.  Stennett was honored in 1763 with a doctor of divinity degree from King’s College, Aberdeen, for his accomplishments.  He served as an assistant to his father in his congregation in 1747 and assumed the position of pastor upon his father’s death in 1758. 

John Rippon, an English Baptist pastor, published in 1787 an influential collection, A Selection of Hymns from the Best Authors. Thirty-eight of Stennett’s hymns appeared in this popular collection. Among those was a hymn under the heading of “Heaven Anticipated” with the title of “The Promised Land” in eight four-line stanzas.  The hymn as it appeared in America looked and sounded much different. William Walker’s The Southern Harmony (1835) was the first to include “The Promised Land.” This was one of the most popular of the 19th-century, oblong-tune books with shaped notes.  The tune PROMISED LAND was paired with the text. The Southern Harmony attributes the tune to “Miss M. Durham” but we know nothing else about the composer. The tune has many of the characteristics the traditional folk melodies of the time.  Originally written in a minor mode, Rigdon M. McIntosh, a Southern musician, altered the tune to the major mode, and as was customary among American evangelicals in the 19th century added a refrain beginning with “I am bound for the promised land.” This version was published in 1895 in H. R. Christie’s Gospel Light and has become the standard version for many hymnals since that time.

From the start, the four stanzas focus on heaven. The singer stands on the banks of the Jordan River looking across to the “fair and happy land” of Canaan—a metaphoric mixture of images from the books of Exodus and Revelation. Our true “possessions” lie in Canaan (Heaven) and not on the earthly side of Jordan.  metaphors of the vision, vigor, enthusiasm, and optimism of frontier life moving on to the promised land of Kentucky or Missouri.”

The hymn has appeared in each American Methodist hymnal since Francis Asbury included it in his Supplement to the Pocket Hymn Book (1808).

On Jordan's stormy banks I stand, and cast a wishful eye
to Canaan's fair and happy land where my possessions lie.

O'er all those wide extended plains shines one eternal day; 
there God the Son forever reigns, and scatters night away. 

No chilling winds or poisonous breath can reach that healthful shore; 
sickness and sorrow, pain and death, are felt and feared no more. 

When I shall reach that happy place, I'll be forever blest, 
for I shall see my Father's face, and in his bosom rest. 

I'm bound for the promised land, I'm bound for the promised land.
Oh, who will come and go with me? I'm bound for the promised land.

There gen'rous fruits that never fail, on trees immortal grow.
There rocks and hills and brooks and vales with milk and honey flow.

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.

About the Choral Music:

Soon and Very Soon – Jack Schrader

 It is difficult to overestimate the importance of Andraé Crouch (1942-2015) in the gospel music field during the last fifty years. Few have had such a sustained level of accomplishment and recognition in gospel music — seven Grammys, six Dove awards, an Oscar nomination, induction into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1998, and much more. He was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2004. A San Francisco native who grew up in the Church of God in Christ, Crouch wrote his first gospel tune at age 14. By 1960, he had formed the Church of God in Christ Singers, a group that featured Billy Preston on keyboards.  He started another group, Andraé Crouch & the Disciples, in 1965, eventually signing to a contemporary Christian label, Light Records. Crouch brought a contemporary pop and R&B melodic sensibility to gospel, making him uniquely suited to appeal to both black and white audiences during the early days of the countercultural "Jesus movement" and also bringing him attention beyond the church.  Throughout his life, Crouch struggled with dyslexia, sometimes memorizing words by the shapes of their combination of letters. He often drew simple pictures to help him comprehend words and write songs.  Crouch's sister, Sandra Crouch, served as his spokeswoman, and the siblings were pastors at the New Christ Memorial Church in San Fernando, Calif., carrying on a work begun by their parents.

“Soon and very soon” (1978) is based on Revelation 21:3-4: “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.   >He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’” (KJV)

Jack Schrader (b. 1942), arranger, composer, conductor, vocalist, and organist/pianist, is past editor with Hope Publishing Company, retiring in January of 2009. His association with Hope began in 1978. A 1964 graduate of Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, where he majored in Voice and Organ, he also received the Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Nebraska (1966). Further studies in theology culminated in Jack's ordination by the Evangelical Free Church of America (1975). Schrader is the best-selling choral composer in the Hope catalog. In addition to choral music Jack has published collections for keyboardists, instrumentalists and vocal soloists. He was a member of the editorial committee for Hope's most recent hymnal, Worship & Rejoice (2001), in which he has 24 hymn credits. His music is heard in hundreds of churches across the country each Sunday, and he can be seen throughout the year as a guest clinician at choral reading sessions and workshops.

            Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King;

            Hallelujah! Hallelujah!  We’re going to see the King.

            No more dying there, we are going to see the King;

            Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We’re going to see the King.

About the Vocal Solo Music:

The Holy City – Stephen Adams

The Holy City is a Victorian ballad dating from 1892, with music by Michael Maybrick (1841-1913) writing under the alias Stephen Adams, with lyrics by Frederic Weatherly. Both Maybrick’s grandfather and father served as parish clerk at St Peter's, Liverpool, and were minor composers. His uncle Michael Maybrick (1799–1846) was organist at St Peter's, wrote sacred music, and conducted the Liverpool Choral Society. Having become proficient on the piano by the age of eight, the young Maybrick studied the organ with W. T. Best and at the age of fifteen became organist of St Peter's; he also wrote anthems and had a work performed in London.  In 1865 Maybrick went to Leipzig to study keyboard and harmony, but later decided to train as a baritone in Milan. After gaining experience in Italian theatres, he appeared with great success in London in Mendelssohn's Elijah. Further success came as Telramund in Wagner's Lohengrin led to appearances with Charlotte Sainton-Dolby, and to regular engagements at the English festivals and with the Carl Rosa Opera Company. He appeared as a baritone at all the leading concert venues in London and the provinces, as well as in English opera. By the early 1870s Maybrick was singing his own songs, beginning with "A Warrior Bold". Published under the pseudonym Stephen Adams and mostly with lyrics by Fred Weatherly, his songs achieved extraordinary popularity. In 1884 he toured the United States performing his own songs.  Maybrick was a keen amateur sportsman, being a cricketer, a yachtsman and a cyclist, and a Captain in the Artists Rifles. He married his forty-year-old housekeeper, Laura Withers, and settled with her on the Isle of Wight. They were joined there by the two children of his brother, James Maybrick, a suspect in the Jack the Ripper case, whose wife Florence was convicted of his murder in 1889. (A re-examination of her case resulted in her release in 1904.) Michael Maybrick himself is named as Jack the Ripper by the film director Bruce Robinson in his book on the subject. Maybrick became chairman of the Isle of Wight Hospital, was a magistrate and was five times mayor of Ryde and was a Freemason. 

The song is recorded in the African Methodist Episcopal Church Review in 1911 as having been sung by an opera singer awaiting trial for fraud in his cell while a group of men arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct were before the judge. The men were said to have dropped to their knees as the song began 'Last night I lay a-sleeping, There came a dream so fair.', the lyrics contrasting with their previous night's drunkenness. The song's conclusion resulted in the judge dismissing the men without punishment, each having learned a lesson from the song.

Last night I lay a-sleeping There came a dream so fair,
I stood in old Jerusalem Beside the temple there.
I heard the children singing, And ever as they sang
Methought the voice of angels From heaven in answer rang,

And then methought my dream was changed, The streets no longer rang.
Hushed were the glad Hosannas The little children sang.
The sun grew dark with mystery, The morn was cold and chill,
As the shadow of a cross arose Upon a lonely hill,

And once again the scene was changed, New earth there seemed to be.
I saw the Holy City Beside the tideless sea.
The light of God was on its streets, The gates were open wide,
And all who would might enter, And no one was denied.
No need of moon or stars by night, Or sun to shine by day;
It was the new Jerusalem That would not pass away,

            Jerusalem! Jerusalem! Sing for the night is o'er!
            Hosanna in the highest! Hosanna forevermore!

About the Hymns:

Standing on the Promises

R. Kelso Carter became an ordained Methodist minister (1887) at the age of 38. A year earlier, he was a professor at the Pennsylvania Military Academy, where he wrote the hymn, "Standing On the Promises," after reading Apostle Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians I: 20:  "For all the promise of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us."  I was published in Songs of Perfect Love, one of two hymns compiled by Carter.  The drum-beating, military march style of the music reflects the influence of the military academy life that surrounded Carter when it was written.  Carter was active in the Methodist Camp-Meeting movement, and “Standing on the Promises” was widely used in evangelistic crusades well into the 20^th  century and is still found in many hymnals.  It is a reminder of the Christian’s daily dependence on the promises of God.

When We All Get to Heaven

Eliza Edmunds Hewitt (1851-1950) was born in Philadelphia. Educated in the local school system, she graduated as valedictorian of the Girl's Normal School that she attended. She became a teacher in the public schools. But then came misery. Her career screeched to a halt when she was forced to bed with a painful spinal problem, caused by an reckless student striking her with a piece of slate. Lying in bed, she could have been bitter. Instead, she studied English literature and began to sing and write: “Sing the wondrous love of Jesus; sing his mercy and his grace….”  Professor John R. Sweeney set a few of her songs to music, including one of the better known: "Will there be any Stars in My Crown?"  Sweeney and William J. Kirkpatrick published her first hymns.  Among the best known are, "Give Me Thy Heart, Says the Father Above," "When We All Get to Heaven," "Sunshine in My Soul," "Will there be any Stars in My Crown?" and "More About Jesus Would I Know."  Later Eliza's well-being improved, although she suffered re-occurrences for the rest of her life. Despite her health problems, she was deeply interested in Sunday school work, and superintended a Sunday school for the Northern Home for Friendless Children.

Blessed Assurance

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.”

Phoebe Knapp (March 9, 1839 – July 10, 1908) was a composer of music for hymns and an organist.  Knapp was born in New York City. Her parents were Walter C. Palmer and Phoebe Worrall Palmer.  She married Joseph Fairchild Knapp, one of the founders and the second president of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, and he had a pipe organ installed in their apartment.  She and her husband were members of the John Street Methodist Episcopal Church in New York City. The hymn writer Fanny Crosby was also a member of that church and a friend of the Phoebe’s.  She wrote over 500 hymn tunes, the most familiar being the tune now called Assurance for Fanny Crosby's lyrics “Blessed Assurance”.

Crosby was visiting her friend Phoebe Knapp as the Knapp home was having a large pipe organ installed. The organ was incomplete, so Mrs. Knapp, using the piano, played a new melody she had just composed. When Knapp asked Crosby, "What do you think the tune says?", Crosby replied, "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine."  The hymn appeared in the July 1873 issue of Palmer's Guide to Holiness and Revival Miscellany, a magazine printed by Dr. and Mrs. W. C. Palmer.  

What Does Your Heaven Look Like?

(Couldn’t resist)