October 29, 2017

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.  

Today is Reformation Sunday and marks the 500^th anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.

The Ninety-five Theses or Disputation on the Power of Indulgences are a list of propositions for an academic disputation written in 1517 by Martin Luther, professor of moral theology at the University of Wittenberg, Germany, that started the Reformation, a schism in the Catholic Church which profoundly changed Europe. They advance Luther's positions against what he saw as abusive practices by preachers selling plenary indulgences, which were certificates believed to reduce the temporal punishment for sins committed by the purchasers themselves or their loved ones in purgatory. In the Theses, Luther claimed that the repentance required by Christ in order for sins to be forgiven involves inner spiritual repentance rather than merely external sacramental confession. He argued that indulgences led Christians to avoid true repentance and sorrow for sin, believing that they can forgo it by purchasing an indulgence. They also, according to Luther, discourage Christians from giving to the poor and performing other acts of mercy, believing that indulgence certificates were more spiritually valuable. Though Luther claimed that his positions on indulgences accorded with those of the pope, the Theses challenge a fourteenth-century papal bull stating that the pope could use the treasury of merit and the good deeds of past saints to forgive temporal punishment for sins. The Theses are framed as propositions to be argued in debate rather than necessarily representing Luther's opinions, but Luther later clarified his views in the Explanations of the Disputation Concerning the Value of Indulgences.

Luther sent the Theses enclosed with a letter to Albert of Brandenburg, the Archbishop of Mainz, on 31 October 1517, a date now considered the start of the Reformation and commemorated annually as Reformation Day. Luther may have also posted the Theses on the door of All Saints' Church and other churches in Wittenberg in accordance with University custom on 31 October or in mid-November. The Theses were quickly reprinted, translated, and distributed throughout Germany and Europe. They initiated a pamphlet war with indulgence preacher Johann Tetzel, which spread Luther's fame even further. Luther's ecclesiastical superiors had him tried for heresy, which culminated in his excommunication in 1521.

The indulgence controversy set off by the Theses was the beginning of the Reformation, a schism in the Catholic Church which initiated profound and lasting social and political change in Europe. Luther later stated that the issue of indulgences was insignificant relative to controversies he would enter into later, such as his debate with Erasmus over the bondage of the will; nor did he see the controversy as important to his intellectual breakthrough regarding the gospel. Luther later wrote that at the time of the Theses he remained a "papist", and he did not seem to think the Theses represented a break with established Catholic doctrine. But it was out of the indulgences controversy that the movement which would be called the Reformation began, and the controversy propelled Luther to the leadership position he would hold in that movement.  The Theses also made evident that Luther believed the church was not preaching properly and that this put the laity in serious danger. Further, the Theses contradicted the decree of Pope Clement VI, that indulgences are the treasury of the church. This disregard for papal authority presaged later conflicts.

October 31, 1517, the day Luther sent the Theses to Albert, was commemorated as the beginning of the Reformation as early as 1527, when Luther and his friends raised a glass of beer to commemorate the "trampling out of indulgences".  The posting of the Theses was established in the historiography of the Reformation as the beginning of the movement by Philip Melanchthon in his 1548 Historia de vita et actis Lutheri. During the 1617 Reformation Jubilee, the centenary of 31 October was celebrated by a procession to the Wittenberg Church where Luther was believed to have posted the Theses. An engraving was made showing Luther writing the Theses on the door of the church with a gigantic quill. The quill penetrates the head of a lion symbolizing Pope Leo X. In 1668, 31 October was made Reformation Day, an annual holiday in Electoral Saxony, which spread to other Lutheran lands. 

About the Organ Music:

Martin Luther, O.S.A. (1483-1546) was a German professor of theology, composer, priest, and monk..  Martin Luther was born to Hans Luder (or Ludher, later Luther) and his wife Margarethe in Eisleben, Saxony, then part of the Holy Roman Empire. Hans Luther was ambitious for himself and his family, and he was determined to see Martin, his eldest son, become a lawyer. He sent Martin to Latin schools in Mansfeld, then Magdeburg in 1497, where he attended a school operated by a lay group called the Brethren of the Common Life, and Eisenach in 1498. The three schools focused on the so-called "trivium": grammar, rhetoric, and logic. Luther later compared his education there to purgatory and hell. 

In 1501, at the age of 17, he entered the University of Erfurt, which he later described as a beerhouse and whorehouse. He was made to wake at four every morning for what has been described as "a day of rote learning and often wearying spiritual exercises.” He received his master's degree in 1505. In accordance with his father's wishes, Luther enrolled in law school at the same university that year but dropped out almost immediately, believing that law represented uncertainty.

Luther sought assurances about life and was drawn to theology and philosophy, expressing particular interest in Aristotle, William of Ockham, and Gabriel Biel. Philosophy proved to be unsatisfying, offering assurance about the use of reason but none about loving God, which to Luther was more important. Reason could not lead men to God, he felt, and he thereafter developed a love-hate relationship with Aristotle over the latter's emphasis on reason. For Luther, reason could be used to question men and institutions, but not God. Human beings could learn about God only through divine revelation, he believed, and Scripture therefore became increasingly important to him.

On  July 2, 1505, he was returning to university on horseback after a trip home. During a thunderstorm, a lightning bolt struck near him. Later telling his father he was terrified of death and divine judgment, he cried out, "Help! Saint Anna, I will become a monk!"  He came to view his cry for help as a vow he could never break. He left law school, sold his books, and entered St. Augustine's Monastery in Erfurt on July 17, 1505.  Luther dedicated himself to the Augustinian order, devoting himself to fasting, long hours in prayer, pilgrimage, and frequent confession.  Luther described this period of his life as one of deep spiritual despair. He said, "I lost touch with Christ the Savior and Comforter, and made of him the jailer and hangman of my poor soul."  Johann von Staupitz, his superior, pointed Luther's mind away from continual reflection upon his sins toward the merits of Christ. He taught that true repentance does not involve self-inflicted penances and punishments but rather a change of heart. 

On April 3, 1507, Jerome Scultetus, Bishop of Brandenburg ordained Luther in Erfurt Cathedral. In 1508, von Staupitz, first dean of the newly founded University of Wittenberg, sent for Luther, to teach theology.

From 1510 to 1520, Luther lectured on the Psalms, and on the books of Hebrews, Romans, and Galatians. As he studied these portions of the Bible, he came to view the use of terms such as penance and righteousness by the Catholic Church in new ways.  The most important for Luther was the doctrine of justification – God's act of declaring a sinner righteous – by faith alone through God's grace. He began to teach that salvation or redemption is a gift of God's grace, attainable only through faith in Jesus as the Messiah. "This one and firm rock, which we call the doctrine of justification", he wrote, "is the chief article of the whole Christian doctrine, which comprehends the understanding of all godliness."    "That is why faith alone makes someone just and fulfills the law," he wrote. "Faith is that which brings the Holy Spirit through the merits of Christ." Faith, for Luther, was a gift from God; the experience of being justified by faith was "as though I had been born again." His entry into Paradise, no less, was a discovery about "the righteousness of God" – a discovery that "the just person" of whom the Bible speaks (as in Romans 1:17) lives by faith.

His theology challenged the authority and office of the Pope by teaching that the Bible is the only source of divinely revealed knowledge from God and opposed sacerdotalismby considering all baptized Christians to be a holy priesthood. Those who identify with these, and all of Luther's wider teachings, are called Lutherans, though Luther insisted on Christian or Evangelical as the only acceptable names for individuals who professed Christ.  His marriage to Katharina von Bora, a former nun, set a model for the practice of clerical marriage, allowing Protestant clergy to marry.

His refusal to renounce all of his writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms in 1521 resulted in his excommunication by the Pope and condemnation as an outlaw by the Emperor.

His translation of the Bible into the German vernacular (instead of Latin) made it more accessible to the laity, an event that had a tremendous impact on both the church and German culture. It fostered the development of a standard version of the German language, added several principles to the art of translation, and influenced the writing of an English translation, the Tyndale Bible.  In response to demands for a German liturgy, Luther wrote a German Mass, which he published in early 1526. He did not intend it as a replacement for his 1523 adaptation of the Latin Mass but as an alternative for the "simple people", a "public stimulation for people to believe and become Christians. Luther based his order on the Catholic service but omitted "everything that smacks of sacrifice", and the Mass became a celebration where everyone received the wine as well as the bread. He retained the elevation of the host and chalice, while trappings such as the Mass vestments, altar, and candles were made optional, allowing freedom of ceremony.

His hymns influenced the development of singing in Protestant churches.  Luther's service included congregational singing of hymns and psalms in German, as well as of parts of the liturgy, including Luther's unison setting of the Creed. To reach the simple people and the young, Luther incorporated religious instruction into the weekday services in the form of the catechism. He also provided simplified versions of the baptism and marriage services. Luther was a prolific hymnodist, authoring hymns such as "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" ("A Mighty Fortress Is Our God"), based on Psalm 46, and "Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her" ("From Heaven Above to Earth I Come"), based on Luke 2:11–12. Luther connected high art and folk music, also all classes, clergy and laity, men, women and children. His tool of choice for this connection was the singing of German hymns in connection with worship, school, home, and the public arena.  He often accompanied the sung hymns with a lute, later recreated as the waldzither that became a national instrument of Germany in the 20th century.

The Lutheran Chorale Settings of J. S. Bach

The pervasiveness of the chorale in religious and secular life from the beginning of the Reformation through the lifetime of J. S. Bach (1685-1750) cannot be overestimated.  Chorales, the congregational hymns of the German Reformation, were a body of well-known tunes and texts that evoked immediate associations for the trained and untrained listeners of the day.  The melodies generated a number of unique musical forms, among them settings of chorales for organ.

The priority that Martin Luther placed on music in worship was second only to his concern for preaching the Word of God.  Unlike the Calvinist reformers, who regarded music as a frivolous adornment to worship, Luther considered music a gift from God and an integral part of human expression on both a secular and a religious level.  His insistence on congregational participation in the music of worship reflected his sensitivity to its emotional power.  Through this medium the entire being could be involved in the perception of theology and the understanding of the Word.

It is of special interest that Bach’s creative life began and ended with the composition of works based on the chorales.  His earliest efforts are the youthful sets of chorale variations and partitas. His sublime setting of “Wenn wir in höchsten Nöten sein (When in the Hour of Utmost Need)” was composed during his final illness.  The culmination of Baroque organ music was reached in compositions inspired by the Lutheran choral melodies

Fugetta super “Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott”, BWV 681

Luther's 1524 creedal hymn "Wir glauben all an einen Gott" ("We All Believe in One True God") is a three-stanza confession of faith prefiguring Luther's 1529 three-part explanation of the Apostles' Creed in the Small Catechism. Luther's hymn, adapted and expanded from an earlier German creedal hymn, gained widespread use in vernacular Lutheran liturgies as early as 1525. Sixteenth-century Lutheran hymnals also included "Wir glauben all" among the catechetical hymns, although 18th-century hymnals tended to label the hymn as Trinitarian rather than catechetical, and 20th-century Lutherans rarely use the hymn because of the perceived difficulty of its tune.

The Clavier-Übung III, sometimes referred to as the German Organ Mass, is a collection of compositions for organ by Johann Sebastian Bach, started in 1735–36 and published in 1739. It is considered Bach's most significant and extensive work for organ, containing some of his musically most complex and technically most demanding compositions for that instrument.  The purpose of the collection was fourfold: an idealized organ programme, taking as its starting point the organ recitals given by Bach himself in Leipzig; a practical translation of Lutheran doctrine into musical terms for devotional use in the church or the home; a compendium of organ music in all possible styles and idioms, both ancient and modern, and properly internationalised; and as a didactic work presenting examples of all possible forms of contrapuntal composition, going far beyond previous treatises on musical theory.  Luther had written a greater and a smaller catechism. In the former he demonstrates the essence of the faith; in the latter he addresses himself to the children. Bach, the musical father of the Lutheran church, feels it encumbent on him to do likewise; he gives us a larger and smaller arrangement of each chorale.  This manualiter fughetta in E minor is both the shortest movement in Clavier-Übung III and the exact midpoint of the collection. The subject paraphrases the first line of the chorale; the two-bar passage later in the movement leading to two dramatic diminished seventh chords is constructed over the second chorale line. Although not strictly a French ouverture, the movement does incorporate elements of that style, in particular the dotted rhythms. 

We all believe in one true God, Maker of all earth and heaven;
The Father, who to us in love Hath the right of children given;
He both soul and body feedeth, All we want He doth provide us;
He through snares and perils leadeth, Watching that no harm betide us;
He cares for us by day and night; All things are governed by His might.

And we believe in Jesus Christ, His own Son, our Lord, possessing
An equal Godhead, throne and might, Through whom comes the Father's blessing;
Of the Holy Spirit conceivéd, Born of Mary, virgin-mother,
That lost man might life inherit, Made true man, our Elder Brother,
Was crucified by sinful men, And raised by God to life again.

Also the Holy Ghost we own, Who sweet grace and comfort giveth,
And with the Father and the Son In eternal glory liveth;
Who the Christian Church doth even Keep in unity of spirit;
Sins are truly here forgiven Through the blest Redeemer's merit:
All flesh shall rise again, and we Shall live with God eternally. Amen.

Vater Unser im Himmelreich, BWV 636

Luther's 1538 hymnic version of the Lord's Prayer, "Vater unser im Himmelreich", corresponds exactly to Luther's explanation of the prayer in the Small Catechism, with one stanza for each of the seven prayer petitions, plus opening and closing stanzas. The hymn functioned both as a liturgical setting of the Lord's Prayer and as a means of examining candidates on specific catechism questions. The extant manuscript shows multiple revisions, demonstrating Luther's concern to clarify and strengthen the text and to provide an appropriately prayerful tune. Other 16th- and 20th-century versifications of the Lord's Prayer have adopted Luther's tune, although modern texts are considerably shorter.

The Orgelbüchlein ("Little Organ Book") BWV 599−644 is a collection of 46 chorale preludes for organ. All but three of them were composed during the period 1708–1717, while Bach was court organist at the ducal court in Weimar. The remaining three, along with a short two-bar fragment, were added in 1726 or later, after Bach's appointment as cantor at the Thomasschule in Leipzig.  The collection was originally planned as a set of 164 chorale preludes spanning the whole liturgical year. The chorale preludes form the first of Bach's masterpieces for organ with a mature compositional style in marked contrast to his previous compositions for the instrument. Although each of them takes a known Lutheran chorale and adds a motivic accompaniment, Bach explored a wide diversity of forms in the Orgelbüchlein. As such, the Orgelbüchlein  is a collection of organ music for church services, a treatise on composition, a religious statement, and an organ-playing manual.

In the chorale prelude BWV 636 the plain cantus firmus (melody) is in the soprano voice. The accompaniment in the inner parts and pedal is based on a four-note semiquaver suspirans motif (i.e. preceded by a rest or "breath") and a longer eight-note version; both are derived from the first phrase of the melody. In turn Bach's slight alteration of the melody in bars 1 and 3 might have been dictated by his choice of motif. The two forms of the motif and their inversions pass from one lower voice to another, producing a continuous stream of semiquavers; semiquavers in one voice are accompanied by quavers in the other two. The combined effect is of the harmonisation of a chorale by arpeggiated chords. Hermann Keller even suggested that Bach might have composed the chorale prelude starting from an earlier harmonisation; as Peter Williams points out, however, although the harmonic structure adheres to that of a four-part chorale, the pattern of semiquavers and suspended notes is different for each bar and always enhances the melody, sometimes in unexpected ways. Albert Schweitzer described the accompanying motifs as representing "peace of mind"(quiétude).

Our Father, Thou in Heav’n above, Who biddest us to dwell in love,
As brethren of one family, To cry in every need to Thee,
Teach us no thoughtless words to say, But from our inmost heart to pray.

Thy name be hallowed. Help us, Lord, In purity to keep Thy Word,
That to the glory of Thy name We walk before Thee free from blame.
Let no false doctrine us pervert; All poor, deluded souls convert.

Thy kingdom come. Thine let it be In time and in eternity.
Let Thy good Spirit e’er be nigh Our hearts with graces to supply.
Break Satan’s power, defeat his rage; Preserve Thy Church from age to age.

Thy gracious will on earth be done As ’tis in Heaven before Thy throne;
Obedience in our weal and woe And patience in all grief bestow.
Curb flesh and blood and every ill That sets itself against Thy will.

Give us this day our daily bread And let us all be clothed and fed.
From war and strife be our defense, From famine and from pestilence,
That we may live in godly peace, Free from all care and avarice.

Forgive our sins, Lord, we implore Remove from us their burden sore,
As we their trespasses forgive Who by offenses us do grieve.
Thus let us dwell in charity And serve our brother willingly.

Into temptations lead us not, When evil foes against us plot
And vex our souls on every hand, Oh, give us strength that we may stand
Firm in the faith, a well-armed host, Through comfort of the Holy Ghost!

From evil, Lord, deliver us; The times and days are perilous.
Redeem us from eternal death, And when we yield our dying breath,
Console us, grant us calm release, And take our souls to Thee in peace.

Amen, that is, So shall it be. Confirm our faith and hope in Thee
That we may doubt not, but believe What here we ask we shall receive.
Thus in Thy name and at Thy Word We say: Amen. Oh, hear us, Lord!

Ein’ feste Burg ist unser Gott, BWV 720

"A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" is one of the best known hymns by the reformer Martin Luther, a prolific hymnodist. Luther wrote the words and composed the melody sometime between 1527 and 1529. It has been translated into English at least seventy times and also into many other languages. The words are a paraphrase of Psalm 46. The earliest extant hymnal in which it appears is that of Andrew Rauscher (1531), but it is supposed to have been in Joseph Klug's Wittenberg hymnal of 1529, of which no copy exists. Its title was Der xxxxvi. Psalm. Deus noster refugium et virtus. Before that it is supposed to have appeared in the Hans Weiss Wittenberg hymnal of 1528, also lost. This evidence would support its being written in 1527–1529, since Luther's hymns were printed shortly after they were written.  Luther also composed the melody.  In 1906, Edouard Rœhrich wrote, "The authentic form of this melody differs very much from that which one sings in most Protestant churches ... The original melody is extremely rhythmic, by the way it bends to all the nuances of the text ..."

This chorale prelude BWV 720, “Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott” was written by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1709. He also used the hymn in the cantata “Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott” (BWV 80), twice in his Choralgesänge (Choral Hymns), BWV 302 and BWV 303. He also used fragments of the melody in the Weihnachtsoratorium (Christmas Oratorio). Here, he gives a majestic treatment with ornamental counterpoint.

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
our helper he, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe does seek to work us woe;
his craft and power are great, and armed with cruel hate,
on earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing,
were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God's own choosing.
You ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is he;
Lord Sabaoth his name, from age to age the same;

and he must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
we will not fear, for God has willed his truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
his rage we can endure, for lo! his doom is sure;
one little word shall fell him.

That Word above all earthly powers no thanks to them abideth;
the Spirit and the gifts are ours through him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
the body they may kill: God's truth abideth still;
his kingdom is forever! 

    

About the Choral Music:

No More a Stranger or a Guest – David Ashley White

Isaac Watts (1674-1748) was the son of a schoolmaster and was born in Southampton. He is said to have shown remarkable precocity in childhood, beginning the study of Latin, in his fourth year, and writing respectable verses at the age of seven. At the age of sixteen, he went to London to study in the Academy of the Rev. Thomas Rowe, an Independent minister. In 1698, he became assistant minister of the Independent Church, Berry St., London. In 1702, he became pastor.  The number of Watts' publications is very large. His collected works, first published in 1720, embrace sermons, treatises, poems and hymns. His "Horae Lyricae" was published in December, 1705. His "Hymns" appeared in July, 1707. The first hymn he  composed for religious worship, "Behold the glories of the Lamb," was written at the age of twenty.  Some of his hymns were written to be sung after his sermons, giving expression to the meaning of the text upon which he had preached. Montgomery calls Watts "the greatest name among hymn-writers," and the honor can hardly be disputed. His published hymns number more than eight hundred.  There is a monument to his memory in the South Choir of Westminster Abbey.  The inscription reads, "Happy will be that reader whose mind is disposed, by his verses or his prose, to imitate him in all but his non-conformity, to copy his benevolence to men, and his reverence to God."

Psalm 23 has inspired numerous paraphrases and hymn texts, including “My Shepherd Will Supply My Need” by Isaac Watts. Watts included it in his large 1719 collection of psalm paraphrases, The Psalms of David Imitated.  Psalm 23 remains the most well-loved and often recited psalm, and Isaac Watts' powerful paraphrase, coupled with the peaceful yet strong American folk tune, make this hymn a moving rendition of that psalm. Watts’ interpretation of the last line of psalm, “and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever,” gives a new understanding to the original psalm: “No more a stranger or a guest, but like a child at home.” Watts gives us a concrete image of dwelling – a child, knowing he or she is safe and secure, and in a place of love and comfort – to help us understand what it is we hope for. The same peace we find in the pasture and by the stream, we find in the house of the LORD, to which our Shepherd is leading us day by day.

The tune RESIGNATION is an American folk melody which first appeared in Southern Harmony, 1835

David Ashley White is Professor of Composition and the C. W. Moores, Jr. Endowed Professor of Music in the Moores School of Music, University of Houston, and Composer-in-Residence at Houston’s Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church.  He earned degrees from the University of Houston (B.M. and M.M.) and the University of Texas at Austin (D.M.A.). He served as Director of the Moores School from 1999-2014. A seventh-generation Texan, White was named Distinguished Composer by the American Guild of Organists for its national convention, held in Houston in June 2016. In April 2015, he received the Esther Farfel Award from the University of Houston, the university’s highest honor, in recognition of his teaching, creative work, and service, and in July 2015, he was awarded the Raabe Prize for Excellence in Sacred Composition.

            My Shepherd will supply my need, Jehovah is his Name;

            In pastures fresh he makes me feed beside the living stream.

            He brings my wandering spirit back when I forsake his ways,

            And leads me, for his mercy’s sake, in paths of truth and grace.

            When I walk through the shades of death, thy presence is my stay;

            One word of thy supporting breath drives all my fears away.

            Thy hand, in sight of all my foes, doth still my table spread;

            My cup with blessing overflows, thy oil anoints my head.

            The sure provisions of my God attend me all my days;

            Oh, may thy house be mine abode and all my work be praise.

            There would I find a settled rest while others go and come;

            No more a a stranger or a guest, but like a child at home.

About the Hymns:

A Mighty Fortress is Our God

"A Mighty Fortress" is one of the best loved hymns of the Lutheran tradition and among Protestants more generally. It has been called the "Battle Hymn of the Reformation" for the effect it had in increasing the support for the Reformers' cause. John Julian records four theories of the event that Luther wrote it for: "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" was sung by Luther and his companions as they entered Worms on 16 April 1521 for the Diet; it was a tribute to Luther's friend Leonhard Kaiser, who was executed on 16 August 1527; it was sung by the German Lutheran princes as they entered Augsburg for the Diet in 1530 at which the Augsburg Confession was presented; and the view that it was composed in connection with the 1529 Diet of Speyerat which the German Lutheran princes lodged their protest to Holy Roman Emperor Emperor Charles V, who wanted to enforce his 1521 Edict of Worms.

Tradition states that the sixth Lutheran King of Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus, had it played as his forces went to battle in the Thirty Years' War. The hymn had been translated into Swedish already in 1536, presumably by Olaus Petri, with the incipit, Vår Gud är oss en väldig borg.^[8] In the late 19th century the song also became an anthem of the early Swedish socialist movement.

The hymn's enduring popularity in Western Christendom has breached boundaries set in the Reformation as it is now a suggested hymn for Catholic Masses. It currently appears in the second edition of the Catholic Book of Worship, published by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, though its adoption is not without controversy.

The original rhythms of EIN FESTE BURG (see 469) had already reached their familiar isorhythmic (all equal rhythms) shape by the time of Johann S. Bach in the eighteenth century. The harmonization is taken from his Cantata 80. Many organ and choral works are based on this chorale, including Felix Mendelssohn in his Symphony and Giacomo Meyerbeer in his opera Les Huguenots.

What Gift Can We Bring

Jane Manton Marshall (b. 1924) has established herself as a leading composer of church music, teaching conducting and composition for more than two decades at Southern Methodist University. From 1975-2010, she served an integral role in the Church Music Summer School, hosted by Perkins School of Theology, to provide training for musicians who have not usually attended seminary. As a clinician and composer, Marshall has had a profound influence on at least two generations of church musicians.

Her anthems are carried by numerous publishers, and she has received lifetime achievement awards for her contribution to church music by the Southern Baptist Church Music Conference and the Fellowship of United Methodist Musicians and Worship Arts. In addition to "What Gift Can We Bring," Marshall contributed greatly to The United Methodist Hymnal (1989), especially in the area of responses for the psalms. Grace, Noted, a collection of her homilies and essays, was published in 1992.  Many of her compositions are standard items in academic and church choral libraries. Marshall is in a very select group of successful composers/lyricists, a dual-talent exemplified in her early works: 'Awake my heart,' 'My Eternal King,' 'He Comes to Us,' the first setting of Albert Schweitzer's words; and 'Fanfare for Easter.'"

The Rev. John Thornburg, a United Methodist hymn writer, served as her pastor during the 1990s. She mentored the Rev. Thornburg, and they often partnered, pairing texts he wrote with tunes she composed for them. Examples of their work may be found in Can God Be Seen in Other Ways (2003) and What Gift Can We Bring (2003). The second volume derives its title from her most well-known hymn, "What gift can we bring."

Jane Marshall’s "What gift can we bring" is a hymn of pure gratitude. A lifelong Dallas resident, she composed this hymn in 1980 for the twenty-fifth anniversary of her congregation, Northaven United Methodist Church. Stanza two reflects on heritage, giving thanks for the past and those "who planted and watered so dreams could come true." Stanza three looks to the future that is "full of surprises," yet knowing that regardless of what happens, "we rest in God’s keeping and live in God’s love."