June 19, 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:

Holy Ground – Tim Doran

Geron Davis (b. 1964) is a musician best known as a composer. He was first signed by Meadowgreen Music and best known for penning the song "Holy Ground". Davis married partner Becky Davis and, with his sister Alyson and her husband, they formed Kindred Souls.

When Davis was 19, he  was helping to prepare the new building that his church congregation, pastored by his father, would soon call home.  They had just completed a brand new sanctuary in the little town of Savannah, Tennessee.  About six weeks before moving  into the new place, Davis’ father  started saying: 'Son, I wish you'd write us a new song for the first Sunday service.'" Davis, who had been writing songs since his earliest teen years, replied that he would do it. After a couple of weeks, Davis's father asked, "Son, you got that song?" He replied, "No, Dad, but I'll do it." A similar exchange followed weeks later.  On the Saturday before the new building's dedication, church members worked all day, preparing for the opening service. At midnight, after the other laborers had left, Davis' father turned to him once again and asked: "Son, did you get us a special song for the first service?" Davis answered: "No, sir. But I'm fixin' to."  Once his father had left, Davis finally sat down at the church's shiny, new grand piano and thought to himself, "What do we want to say when we come into this place for the first time?" The answer came without hesitation.  "Literally, as fast as I could write the words down," Davis says, "they were there. Within about 10 or 15 minutes, I had the entire song finished.

As I walked through the door, I sensed His presence,
And I knew this was a place where love abounds 
For this is the temple. Jehovah God abides here.
We are standing in His presence on holy ground.

In His presence there is joy beyond all measure, 
And at His feet peace of mind can still be found,
And if you have a need, I know He has the answer. 
Reach out and claim it, for we are standing on holy ground.

We are standing on holy ground, And I know there are angels all around 
Let us praise Jesus now. We are standing in His presence on holy ground.

Tim Doran, an accomplished arranger, composer, and studio musician, lives in the Los Angeles area. He is the organist at LaHabra Hills Presbyterian Church, as well as an accompanist for several local high school and college choirs.

Go Down, Moses – W. C. Handy

"Go Down Moses" is an American Negro spiritual. It describes events in theOld Testament of the Bible, specifically Exodus 8:1: "And the LORD spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me", in which God commands Moses to demand the release of the Israelites from bondage in Egypt.

This African American spiritual dates from before the Civil War. It was published in the Jubilee Songs(1872), made popular by the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University in their concert tours. Often known by its refrain line, "Go down, Moses," the spiritual was also published in J. B. T. Marsh's The Story of the Jubilee Singers with their Songs (1876). "When Israel Was in Egypt's Land" originally had twenty-four stanzas of which modern hymnals usually include four.  Commenting on the spiritual’s message, John Lovell, Jr., writes:

"Go Down, Moses" does not employ the undercurrent symbolism of "Steal Away to Jesus" and other such poems. Only a very obtuse listener can miss its point. It says flatly that Moses freed these Egyptian slaves boldly and justly because slavery is wrong. It clearly projects the principles of this experience to all the world: wherever men are held in bondage, they must and shall be freed. The "Let my people go!" refrain is thunderous. It does not argue economic, sociological, historical, and racial points. . . . It wastes no words and moves relentlessly toward its goal of filling every listener with a pervasive contempt for oppression and a resounding enthusiasm for freedom.”

A stanza omitted from modern hymnals makes his point:

We need not always weep and moan.  Let my people go!
And wear these slavery chains forlorn.  Let my people go!

Sarah Bradford's authorized biography of Harriet Tubman, Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman (1869), quotes Tubman as saying she used "Go Down Moses" as one of two code songs fugitive slaves used to communicate when fleeing Maryland.

When Israel was in Egypt's land, Let my people go, 
oppressed so hard they could not stand, Let my people go. 

The Lord told Moses what to do, Let my people go, 
to lead the Hebrew children through, Let my people go.

As Israel stood by the waterside, Let my people go, 
at God's command it did divide, Let my people go.

When they had reached the other shore, Let my people go, 
they let the song of triumph soar, Let my people go.

Lord, help us all from bondage flee, Let my people go, 
and let us all in Christ be free, Let my people go.

Go down, Moses, way down in Egypt's land, 
tell old Pharaoh: Let my people go. 

William Christopher Handy (1873-1958) was an American blues composer and musician, known as the "Father of the Blues". Handy was one of the most influential American songwriters. He was one of many musicians who played the distinctively American blues music, but he is credited with giving it its contemporary form. Handy was not the first to publish music in the blues form, but he took the blues from a regional music style (Delta blues) with a limited audience to one of the dominant national forces in American music.  Handy was an educated musician who used elements of folk music in his compositions. He was scrupulous in documenting the sources of his works, which frequently combined stylistic influences from various performers.

Handy was born in Florence, Alabama, the son of Elizabeth Brewer and Charles Barnard Handy. His father was the pastor of a small church in Guntersville, a small town in northeast central Alabama. Handy wrote in his 1941 autobiography, Father of the Blues, that he was born in the log cabin built by his grandfather William Wise Handy, who became an African Methodist Episcopal (AME) minister after emancipation. The log cabin of Handy's birth has been preserved near downtown Florence.  Handy was deeply religious, and his musical style was influenced by the church music he sang and played as a youth. It was also influenced by the sounds of the natural world. He cited as inspiration the sounds of "whippoorwills, bats and hoot owls and their outlandish noises", the sound of Cypress Creek washing on the fringes of the woodland, and "the music of every songbird and all the symphonies of their unpremeditated art".

Composer, musician, businessman, W.C. Handy died wealthy and highly honored, after a long career throughout which he never stopped fighting for the dignity of African-Americans and - especially - for African-American musicians, who even within the black community, were often considered second-class citizens.  W.C. Handy’s unprecedented half-century career decisively proved the haters wrong, forever raising the status of Memphis musicians.

Tuba Tune – C. S. Lang

Craig Sellar Lang (1891-1971) was a New Zealand-born British organist, composer and music teacher.  Born in Hastings, New Zealand, CS Lang (known to his friends as "Robin") was educated at Clifton College and the Royal College of Music.  He was an ARCM and received his Doctor of Music from The University of Durham.

In 1929 he was appointed Director of Music at Christ's Hospital school in Horsham, West Sussex, where the choristers of Westminster Abbey were briefly evacuated to during the Second World War. Lang resigned from this post in 1945 in order to devote more time to examining and composition. His instructional works, aimed at students, were highly influential. Generations of organists were brought up on his Harmony at the Keyboard, Exercises in Score Reading, as well as his books entitled Exercises for Organists, designed to prepare organ students for the keyboard tests of the Royal College of Organists' diploma exams.  An obituary recorded his "personal magnetism" and determination to awaken "the budding musicianship of every sort of pupil".

CS Lang's choral music includes service settings (such as the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in B flat, Op.16), and anthems such as He shall give his angels charge over thee (1941). There are also many anthems for trebles' voices, composed for use at Christ's Hospital, as well as numerous secular choral works.  His best-known work is the Tuba Tune for organ, Opus 15, a favorite of recitalists. This dashing little piece, which owes its title to the boisterous melody sounded forth on the organ's tuba stop, begins in the style of Handel but, in its central section, has some brief key changes that could belong to no century except the 20th. Lang's numerous other works for organ include a lengthy Sonata in D minor (Op. 47, 1947), the Introduction and Passacaglia in A minor (Op.51, 1952), the Fugue-Trilogy on E.G.B. (Op. 58, 1952), and many hymn preludes and sets of preludes and fugues.

The Tuba is the most powerful organ stop. While some authorities describe this chorus reed as a large-scaled Trumpet, others characterize its tone as being more “closed” than that of the Trumpet. Indeed, Bonavia-Hunt states that some Tubas are close-toned, while others are free-toned in the French manner. The closed-toned variety was developed in England, first introduced in 1825 under the name Ophicleide by William Hill, and later perfected by Henry Willis. The tone of the Tuba depends on a relatively high wind pressure, not merely to produce sheer volume, but to develop the smoothness of tone that characterizes the best examples of this stop. A minimum of 8" to 10" of wind is required, and higher pressures are common. It is constructed in the manner of a large-scale Trumpet, though often with closed shallots. Double-length resonators are often used, even triple-length in the treble. It is most commonly found at 8' pitch.

About the Choral Music:

Speak, Lord, for Thy Servant Heareth – Steven Stucky

Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894) was an English poet who wrote a variety of romantic, devotional, and children's poems. She is famous for writing Goblin Market and Remember, and the words of the Christmas carols In the Bleak Midwinter and Love Came Down at Christmas.  The title of J.K. Rowling's The Cuckoo's Calling is based on a line in Rossetti's poem A Dirge.  Rossetti began writing down and dating her poems in 1842. In 1847 she began experimenting with verse forms such as sonnets, hymns and ballads; drawing narratives from the Bible, folk tales and the lives of the saints. Speak, Lord is based on 1 Samuel 3:10.

Steven Edward Stucky (1949-2016) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer. Stucky was raised in Abilene, Texas, and attended Baylor and Cornell.   He was long associated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where he was resident composer 1988–2009 (the longest such affiliation in American orchestral history); he was host of the New York Philharmonic's Hear & Now series 2005–09; and he was Pittsburgh Symphony Composer of the Year for the 2011–12 season. For Pittsburgh, he composed Silent Spring, in honor of the 50th anniversary of Rachel Carson's epochal book of the same title.  Other noteworthy compositions by Stucky include the symphonic poem Radical Light (2007), Rhapsodies for Orchestra (2008), the oratorio August 4, 1964 (2008), a Symphony (2012), and his Second Concerto for Orchestra (2003), which won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Music.  He has also taught at Eastman and Berkeley, the latter as Ernest Bloch Professor in 2003. After several earlier teaching and conducting visits, in 2013 he became artist-faculty composer-in-residence at the Aspen Music Festival and School. In 2014 he became Professor Emeritus at Cornell and joined the composition faculty at the Juilliard School. He wrote Speak, Lord, for Thy Servant Heareth in 1972.

            Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.

            Grant us ears to hear, grant us eyes to see,

            Grant us wills to obey, grant us hearts to love;

            Then declare what Thou wilt, Reveal what Thou wilt,

Command what Thou wilt, Demand what thou wilt. 

            Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.  Amen.

About the Hymns:

God of Grace and God of Glory

“God of grace and God of glory” was written in 1930 by Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878-1969) for the dedication of the famous Riverside Church in New York City.   Fosdick was granted degrees from Colgate University and Union Theological Seminary. He was ordained in 1903 to ministry in the Baptist Church and became pastor of First Baptist Church, Montclair, N.J.   Fosdick served as a chaplain during World War I and then was pastor of First Presbyterian Church in New York City. From this congregation he was called to pastor Park Avenue Baptist Church, which was renamed Riverside Church.

“God of grace and God of glory” was written while the United States was in the throes of the Great Depression between the two World Wars. Fosdick was a champion of the social gospel, a movement that recognized the plight of the poor, especially in the urban Northeast during the Industrial Revolution.   UM Hymnal editor Carlton Young has noted: “Fosdick’s stirring radio sermons, books, and public pronouncements established Riverside as a forum for the critique of the same wealth and privilege whose gifts had made possible the building of the church.  Under his leadership Riverside Church was interdenominational, interracial, without a creed, and, astonishingly for Baptists, required no specific mode of baptism. At the center of Fosdick’s ministry was urban social ministry.”   Fosdick was perhaps the most vocal proponent of the social gospel of his time—a position that brought both wide acclaim and broad disdain. 

Lord, Speak to Me

Frances Ridely Havergal (1836-1878) was one of several women hymn writers who came into prominence in England during the last half of the 18th century. Before this time women’s voices were rarer in the English-speaking hymnological world. Havergal’s father was an Anglican clergyman. After a carriage accident, he devoted himself to the improvement of church music in England, and according to hymnologist Albert Bailey, “revived the use of the solid tunes of early English composers and so did much to improve the quality of congregational singing.”

Havergal was obviously inspired by her father’s efforts. She possessed a natural musicianship, as well as a love for walking, swimming and mountain climbing. By the age of 7, she displayed a talent for writing verse. Her hymns appeared originally in leaflets and were eventually collected into volumes, including Ministry of Song (1869), Under the Surface (1874) and Loyal Responses (1878). “Lord, Speak to Me” first appeared in Under the Surface with the heading, “A Worker’s Prayer. None of us liveth unto himself, Romans 14:7.”

“Lord, Speak to Me” is a personal prayer of petition.  The focus of this hymn is not an ecclesiological argument on the nature of the church, a theological discussion of the Trinity, a reflection on the sacraments or a liturgical statement on the Christian year. Havergal’s concern is the conversion of lost souls. This hymn and her other well-known prayer hymn, “Take my life and let it be consecrated” reflect her desire to make use of her many talents in the service of the Lord. It is as one sought by Christ that she wishes to seek for the lost; it is as one sure of her way, and well-nourished in the spirit, that she longs to lead other and feed them. This hymn is a prayer in two directions: for a full and energetic life, and for the surrender of that life in worship and service.

Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service

Albert F. Bayly (1901-1984) was ed­u­cat­ed at Lon­don Un­i­ver­si­ty and Mans­field Coll­ege, Ox­ford.  Be­gin­ning in the late 1920’s, he served at four Cong­re­ga­tion­al church­es in North­um­ber­land, Lan­ca­shire and East York­shire; in 1962, he be­came pas­tor in Thax­ted, Es­sex.  Af­ter re­tir­ing in 1971, he moved to Spring­field, Chelms­ford, and was ac­tive in the local Unit­ed Re­formed Church.  He wrote sev­er­al pa­geants on mis­sion themes, and li­bret­tos for can­ta­tas by W. L. Lloyd Web­ber (father of Andrew). 

Bayly wrote this text in response to a Hymn Society of America search for new hymns on social welfare. It was chosen as the theme hymn for the Second National Conference on the Churches and Social Welfare held in Cleveland, Ohio, October 23-27, 1961. The Hymn Society published the text in Seven New Social Welfare Hymns (1961).