June 26, 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:

In dich hab' ich gehoffet, Herr - J. S. Bach

Adam Reissner (1496-1575) was born at Mündelsheim  in Swabian Bavaria. He first studied at Wittenberg, and then, about 1521, he learned Hebrew and Greek under Johann Keuchlin. He then became private secretary to Georg von Freundsberg  and accompanied him during the campaign in Italy, 1530-27. After the capture of Rome in 1527 he went back to Germany, and spent some time at Strassburg, where he became a friend and adherent of Caspar Schwenkfeldt.   The only hymn by Reissner translated into English is: In dich hab ich gehoffet, Herr, based on Psalm 31.  First published in the Form und ordnung Gaystlicher Gesang und Psalmen, Augsburg, 1533, in 7 stanzas of 6 lines. It was included in V. Babst's Gesang-Buch , 1545, and repeated in almost all the German hymnbooks up to the period of Rationalism. It is one of the best Psalm-versions of the Reformation period. The translation in common use is:  In Thee, Lord, have I put my trust. A good translation by Catherine Winkworth is found in her Chorale Book for England, 1863.

In Thee, Lord, have I put my trust; Leave me not helpless in the dust;
Let me not be confounded. Let in Thy Word  my faith, 0 Lord,
Be always firmly grounded.

Bend your gracious ear to me, hear my prayer, intervene,

Hurry soon to save me!  In anguish and pain I lie and stand,

Help me in my troubles!

My God and protector, stand by me, be a stronghold for me,

So that I freely and nobly may strive against my enemies,

Who in great numbers surround me on both sides.

You are my strength, my rock, my bulwark, my shield, my might,

(say your Word to me) my help, my salvation my life, my might God

In every trouble; who can oppose me?

The world has judged me deceitfully, with lies and false words,

With many snares and secret ropes, Lord, pluck me from these dangers,

Protect me from lying malice!

Lord, I entrust my spirit to you, my God, my God, do not abandon me,

Take me in your hands, you true God, in all troubles

Help me at my final end.

Glory, praise, honor and majesty be given to you

God the Father and the Son, to the Holy Spirit by name.

Divine strength makes us victorious through Jesus Christ! Amen.

 Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period.  He enriched established German styles through his skill in counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organization, and the adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from abroad, particularly from Italy and France.  Bach's compositions include the Brandenburg concertos, the Mass in B minor, The Well-Tempered Clavier, two Passions, keyboard works, and more than 300 cantatas, of which nearly 100 cantatas have been lost to posterity.  His music is revered for its intellectual depth, technical command, and artistic beauty.  Bach's abilities as an organist were highly respected throughout Europe during his lifetime, although he was not widely recognized as a great composer until a revival of interest and performances of his music in the first half of the nineteenth century.  During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, Bach was recognized by several prominent composers.  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven,  Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, and Felix Mendelssohn were among his admirers; they began writing in a more contrapuntal style after being exposed to Bach's music.  Beethoven described him as "Urvater der Harmonie", the "original father of harmony".  He is now generally regarded as one of the main composers of the Baroque period and as one of the greatest composers of all time.  A highly devout Christian, Bach signed all of his compositions “soli Deo Gloria”  (to God alone be the glory).

A Song of Hope - Carl Mueller

Carl F. Mueller (1892-1982) was a renowned American organ recitalist and composer.  In 1927, he met John Finley Williamson, the founder of Westminster Choir College.  After he attended summer workshops for church musicians there, he began composing choral music.  He taught at Union Theological Seminary and Montclair State College.  Mueller published approximately 500 compositions, of which “Create in Me a Clean Heart” is the most well-known, with over 2 million copies sold. 

“A Song of Hope” incorporates two hymn tunes.  “The Last Hope” is a hymn tune written by Brazilian composer Louis Gottschalk (1829-1869).  It is often associated with the following text:

Gracious Spirit, Dove divine, let thy light within me shine;
all my guilty fears remove, fill me full of heav'n and love.

Speak thy pard'ning grace to me, set the burdened sinner free;
lead me to the Lamb of God, wash me in his precious blood.

Life and peace to me impart; seal salvation on my heart;
breathe thyself into my breast, earnest of immortal rest.

Let me never from thee stray, keep me in the narrow way,
fill my soul with joy divine, keep me, Lord, forever thine.

“Amsterdam” was written by English composer John Nares (1715-1783) and has been associated with many texts.  “To the Hills I Lift Mine Eyes” was written by Charles Wesley and published in Psalms & Hymns (1743)

To the hills I lift my eyes, the everlasting hills.
Streaming forth in fresh supplies, my soul the Spirit feels;
will he not his help afford? Help, while yet I ask, is giv'n;
God comes down, the God and Lord who made both earth and heav'n.

Faithful soul, pray, always pray, and still in God confide;
he your stumbling steps shall stay, and shall not let you slide;
safe from known or secret roes, free from sin and Satan's hold,
when the flesh, earth, hell oppose, he'll keep you in his fold.

See the Lord, your keeper, stand omnipotently near.
Now he holds you by the hand, and banishes your fear;
shadows with his wings your head, guards from all impending harms;
round you and beneath are spread the everlasting arms.

Christ shall bless your going out, shall bless your coming in;
kindly compass you about, till you are saved from sin.
Like your spotless Master, you, filled with wisdom, love, and pow'r,
holy, pure, and perfect now, both now and evermore.

God of Majesty and Hope - Beatrice Miller

Beatrice A. Miller (b. 1923) received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in theory and composition from Northwesterb University. In addition to teaching and being a church organist/choir director, she has written music for piano, voice, choirs, and organ. She has had the distinct honor of having been Oregon’s Composer of the Year in 1997, and was commissioned to write a piano concerto for the intermediate level student.

About the Choral Music:

Hope of the World – Lloyd Larson

“Hope of the World” beautifully incorporates the melody, Wayfaring Stranger, which first appeared in the 1816 shape-note hymnal, Kentucky Harmony.  A song which encourages us to bear our own burdens by reminding us that Jesus did so in His earthly life and death is "Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley." The text is an American folk song from traditional sources.  This sensitive African-American spiritual addresses the earthly ministry of Christ, leading up to the crucifixion. 

Lloyd Larson (b. 1954) is an active composer and arranger for several major publishing companies of church and school music. His compositions and arrangements include well over 1,000 published works—including choral anthems, numerous extended Christmas, Easter and non-seasonal works, keyboard collections, vocal solo and duet collections, instrumental works for solo and ensembles, orchestrations, and handbell settings. It is Lloyd's work in his local church that continues to be the catalyst for much of his writing. He currently directs the adult choir in his home church in addition to being involved in worship planning and leadership.

            Hope of the world, help to the helpless; a humble Servant, Savior, Friend;

            God’s only Son, sent to redeem us; hosannas ring praise without end.

            Amazing love!  How great a Savior!  Christ comes to set the captive free.

            A love beyond all comprehension, the grace of God for all to see.

            Amazing love for you and me!

            Jesus walked this lonesome valley; He had to walk it by Himself;

            O, nobody else could walk it for Him; He had to walk it by Himself.

Jesus walked this lonesome valley, despised, rejected and alone.

            He carried our sorrows, griefs and burdens.  He had to bear them all alone.

            Jesus bore them all alone.

About the Hymns:

My Hope is Built

Edward Mote (1797-1874) falls into the rare category of hymn writers who grew up without religious training and whose parents were pub owners. He was apprenticed at a young age by his parents to a cabinetmaker, but found faith when he heard the preaching of John Hyatt at the Tottenham Court Road Chapel in London at age 15. Living in Southwark near London, he established a successful cabinet-making enterprise and became a Baptist minister in 1852, at 55 years of age. He ministered for 21 years at Strict Baptist Church in Horsham, Sussex.

Singing hymns was of great interest to him. The master cabinetmaker became a prolific hymn writer, composing more than 100 hymns. The hymn "My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less" was published anonymously in several hymn collections before first being attributed to Edward Mote in a collection of approximately 100 of his hymns published in 1837 under the title Hymns of Praise, A New Selection of Gospel Hymns, Combining All the Excellencies of our Spiritual Poets, with Many Originals.  Hymnologists note that this is the first time the now common term “gospel hymn” appears. Mote's original title was "The Immutable Basis for a Sinner's Hope" in this collection.  The refrain of "My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less" refers to the Parable of the Wise and the Foolish Builders and builds around the metaphor of Christ as a rock with a firm basis (1 Corinthians 10:4).

O God, Our Help in Ages Past

“Our God, Our Help in Ages Past” is a hymn by Isaac Watts which paraphrases Psalm 90. It originally consisted of nine stanzas. In present usage, however, the hymn is usually limited to stanzas one, two, three, five, seven and nine. In 1738, John Wesley in his hymnal, Psalms and Hymns, changed the first line of the text from "Our God" to "O God." Both Watts' wording and Wesley's rewording remain in current use.  The hymn was originally part of The Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament, published by Watts in 1719. In this book he paraphrased in Christian verse the entire psalter with the exception of twelve Psalms which he felt were unsuited for Christian usage.

The hymn tune "St. Anne" to which the text is most often sung was composed by William Croft in 1708 whilst he was the organist of the church of St Anne, Soho.  It first appeared anonymously in the Supplement to the New Version of the Psalms, 6th edition in 1708. It was originally intended to be used with a version of Psalm 62. It was not until sometime later when set to Watts' text that the tune gained recognition.

Great is Thy Faithfulness

A native of the small Kentucky town of Franklin, Thomas Obediah Chisholm (1866-1960) was born in a log cabin. He lacked formal education. Nevertheless, he became a teacher at age sixteen and the associate editor of his hometown weekly newspaper, the “Franklin Advocate”, at age twenty-one.  Though he was ordained a Methodist minister in 1903, he served only a single, brief appointment at Scottsville, Kentucky, due to ill health.  He wrote more than 1200 poems, 800 of which were published. They often appeared in religious periodicals such as the “Sunday School Times”, “Moody Monthly”, and “Alliance Weekly”. Many of these were set to music.

Chisholm had sent a number of his poems to the Rev. William H. Runyan (1870-1957), a musician with the Moody Bible Institute and one of the editors of Hope Publishing Company in Chicago.  Runyan wrote of the hymn: "This particular poem held such an appeal that I prayed most earnestly that my tune might carry over its message in a worthy way, and the subsequent history of its use indicates that God answered prayer.  It was written in Baldwin, Kansas, in 1923, and was first published in my private song pamphlets."  A phrase in Lamentations 3:22-23 provides a basis for the refrain: "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." 

George Beverly Shea (1909-2013), the famous Canadian-born singer of the Billy Graham Crusades, introduced this hymn to those attending the evangelistic meetings in Great Britain in 1954.  It immediately became a favorite.  This hymn appeared in many evangelical hymnals and song collections, but was not chosen for an official Methodist hymnal until The United Methodist Hymnal (1989), even though the author was a Methodist.  It was a very popular hymn of the former Evangelical United Brethren Church and had been included in their hymnals.

According to Carlton Young, "Great is thy faithfulness" was second only to "In the garden" as the most requested hymn for inclusion in The United Methodist Hymnal. A survey conducted in 2000 by Dean McIntyre, Director of Music Resources, General Board of Discipleship, revealed that "Great is thy faithfulness" remains one of the favorite hymns among United Methodists.