October 8, 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.  

About the Organ Music:

Angel’s Song – Healey Willan

Horatius Bonar (1808-1889) was born at Edinburgh. His education was obtained at the High School, and the University of his native city. He was ordained to the ministry, in 1837, and became the pastor at Kelso. In 1843, he joined the Free Church of Scotland. His reputation as a religious writer was first gained on the publication of the "Kelso Tracts". He also wrote many other prose works, some of which had a very large circulation. He was also  known as a religious poet and hymn-writer. The three series of "Hymns of Faith and Hope," passed through several editions.

John Julian wrote of his hymns:  Dr. Bonar's poems—-including many beautiful lyrics, several psalm versions, and translations from the Greek and Latin, a large number of hymns, and a long meditative poem—-are very numerous, too numerous, perhaps, for their permanent fame as a whole.  Bonar's scholarship is thorough and extensive; and his poems display the grace of style and wealth of allusion which are the fruit of ripe culture. Affected very slightly by current literary moods, still less by the influence of other religious poetry, they reveal extreme susceptibility to the emotional power which the phases of natural and of spiritual life exercise; the phases of natural life being recognised chiefly as conveying and fashioning spiritual life, used chiefly for depicting spiritual life, and handled for this purpose with greater delicacy of touch than in the Olney Hymns, and with less conscious purpose than in the Christian Year. As a result of this susceptibility, and from habitual contemplation of the Second Advent as the era of this world's true bliss, his hymns and poems are distinguished by a tone of pensive reflection, which some might call pessimism. But they are more than the record of emotion; another element is supplied by his intellectual and personal grasp of Divine truth, these truths particularly:—The gift of a Substitute, our Blessed Saviour; Divine grace, righteous, yet free and universal in offer; the duty of immediate reliance upon the privilege of immediate assurance through that grace; communion with God, especially in the Lord's Supper, respecting which he insists on the privilege of cherishing the highest conceptions which Scripture warrants; and finally, the Second Advent of our Lord: by his vigorous celebration of these and other truths as the source and strength of spiritual life, his hymns are protected from the blight of unhealthy, sentimental introspection.  To sum up: Dr. Bonar's hymns satisfy the fastidious by their instinctive good taste; they mirror the life of Christ in the soul, partially, perhaps, but with vivid accuracy; they win the heart by their tone of tender sympathy; they sing the truth of God in ringing notes; and although, when taken as a whole, they are not perfect ; although, in reading them, we meet with feeble stanzas, halting rhythm, defective rhyme, meaningless Iteration; yet a singularly large number have been stamped with approval, both in literary circles and by the Church.

The hymn tune ANGEL’S SONG (or SONG 34) was written by Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625), an English composer, virginalist and organist of the late Tudor and early Jacobean periods. He was a leading composer in the England of his day.  Gibbons was born in Cambridge.  Between 1596 and 1598 he sang in the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, where his brother Edward Gibbons (1568–1650), eldest of the four sons of William Gibbons, was master of the choristers. The second brother Ellis Gibbons (1573–1603) was also a promising composer, but died young. Orlando entered the university in 1598 and achieved the degree of Bachelor of Music in 1606. James I appointed him a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, where he served as an organist from at least 1615 until his death. In 1623 he became senior organist at the Chapel Royal, with Thomas Tomkins as junior organist. He also held positions as keyboard player in the privy chamber of the court of Prince Charles (later King Charles I), and organist at Westminster Abbey.

Go, labor on; spend, and be spent, thy joy to do the Father's will;
it is the way the Master went; should not the servant tread it still?

Go, labor on; 'tis not for naught; thine earthly loss is heav'nly gain;
men heed thee, love thee, praise thee not; the Master praises--what are men?

Go labor on; enough while here if He shall praise thee, if He deign
thy willing heart to mark and cheer; no toil for Him shall be in vain.

Go, labor on while it is day; the world's dark night is hast'ning on.
Speed, speed thy work, cast sloth away; It is not thus that souls are won.

Toil on, faint not, keep watch and pray; be wise the erring soul to win;
go forth into the world's highway, compel the wand'rer to come in.

Toil on, and in thy toil rejoice; for toil comes rest, for exile home;
soon shall you hear the Bridegroom's voice, the midnight cry, "Behold, I come."

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 become 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."

King’s Lynn – Dale Wood

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936), born in London, England, considered himself a mere "rollicking journalist". He was actually a prolific and gifted writer in virtually every area of literature. Mystery readers may know him well as the writer of the Father Brown mysteries.  A man of strong opinions and enormously talented at defending them, his exuberant personality nevertheless allowed him to maintain warm friendships with people--such as George Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells--with whom he vehemently disagreed.

Chesterton had no difficulty standing up for what he believed. He was one of the few journalists to oppose the Boer War. His 1922 Eugenics and Other Evils attacked what was at that time the most progressive of all ideas, the idea that the human race could and should breed a superior version of itself. In the Nazi experience, history demonstrated the wisdom of his once "reactionary" views. His poetry runs the gamut from the comic "The Logical Vegetarian" to dark and serious ballads.  Though not written for a scholarly audience, his biographies of authors and historical figures like Charles Dickens and St. Francis of Assisi often contain brilliant insights into their subjects. His politics fitted with his deep distrust of concentrated wealth and power of any sort. Along with his friend Hilaire Belloc and in books like the 1910 What's Wrong with the World he advocated a view called "Distributism" that is best summed up by his expression that every man ought to be allowed to own "three acres and a cow." Though not known as a political thinker, his political influence has circled the world. In Christianity he found the answers to the dilemmas and paradoxes he saw in life.  During his life he published 69 books and at least another ten have been published after his death. Many of those books are still in print.

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many folk song arrangements set as hymn tunes, and also influenced several of his own original compositions.   He mixed composition with conducting, lecturing and editing other music, notably that of Henry Purcell and the English Hymnal.  He wrote a number of hymn tunes, including DOWN AMPNEY, KING’S LYNN, and most well-known SINE NOMINE.

O God of earth and altar, bow down and hear our cry,
our earthly rulers falter, our people drift and die;
the walls of gold entomb us, the swords of scorn divide,
take not thy thunder from us, but take away our pride.

From all that terror teaches, from lies of tongue and pen,
from all the easy speeches that comfort cruel men,
from sale and profanation of honour and the sword,
from sleep and from damnation, deliver us, good Lord!

Tie in a living tether the prince and priest and thrall,
bind all our lives together, smite us and save us all;
in ire and exultation aflame with faith, and free,
lift up a living nation, a single sword to thee.

Dale Wood (1934-2003) was a prominent composer, organist, choral director, and clinician.  He was honored many times by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) for his “very important contribution towards the creation and development of contemporary American church music”.  He wrote many collections of organ works, most of which are based on both old and new hymn tunes.  Over eight million copies of his publications have been purchased in over 50 countries.

Built on the Rock – Tim Doran

Nicolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig (1783-1872) the son of a pastor, was born at Udby, in Seeland. He studied in the University of Copenhagen.  H is mind was too active and his imagination too versatile to bear the restraint of the academic course. After leaving the university he devoted his attention to poetry, literature, and Northern antiquities. In 1810 he became assistant to his father in a parish in Jutland. The sermon he preached at his ordination, on the subject "Why has the Lord's word disappeared from His house," attracted much attention, which is rarely the case with "probationers'" sermons. He became chaplain of St. Saviour's church in Christianshavn. From the time of his ordination, he had been deeply impressed with Evangelical church sentiments, in opposition to the fashionable Rationalism and Erastianism of the day; and adhered to the anti-rationalist teaching of Hauge, whose death at this time (1824) seemed to be a call to Grundtvig to lift up his voice. An opportunity soon presented itself; Professor Clausen brought out a book entitled 

Katholicismens og Protestantismens Forfatning, Ldre, og Ritus ("The condition, teaching, and ritual of Catholicism and Protestantism"). This book was replete with the Erastian Rationalism which was so especially distasteful to Grundtvig, who forthwith, in his Kirkens Gjenmsele ("The Church's Reply," 1825), strongly opposed its teaching, and laid down truer principles of Christian belief, and sounder views of the nature of the Church. This caused a sensation: Grandtvig (who had not spared his opponent) was fined 100 rixdollars, and the songs and hymns which he had written for the coming celebration of the tenth centenary of Northern Christianity were forbidden to be used. He resigned his post at St. Saviour's, or rather was forced to quit by a sentence of suspension which was pronounced in 1826, and under which he was kept for 13 years. After this time, he was allowed to hold an afternoon service in the German church at Christianshavn. He preached there for eight years, and compiled and wrote his hymn-book, Sang-Vdrk til den Danske Kirkce ("Song-work for the Danish Church").

The tune KIRKEN DEN ER ET was composed for this text by Norwegian Ludwig M. Lindeman (1812-1887). It was published in Wilhelm A. Wexel's Christelige Psalmer (1840).  KIRKEN (also called LINDEMAN) was the first hymn tune Lindeman wrote. Born into a family of musicians, Lindeman received his early organ training from his father, for whom he became a substitute organist at the age of twelve. Although he studied theology in Oslo (then called Christiana), after 1839 he turned to a career in music. He was the organist of the Church of the Savior in Oslo (1839-1887) and became a virtuoso performer. Lindeman published hymn collections and organ works as well as the influential Koralbog (1877), which contained tunes (restored to rhythmic shape) for Landstad's hymnal of 1869. He was also an excellent teacher and founded an organ school (later the Oslo Conservatory) with his son in 1883. A scholarly collector of Norwegian folk music, Lindeman traveled the country collecting folk songs, which he published in a series of volumes (1853-1867) and which influenced the works of composer Edvard Grieg.

Built on the Rock, the church shall stand even when steeples are falling;
Christ builds His church in ev'ry land; bells still are chiming and calling,
calling the young and old to rest, calling the souls of those distressed,
longing for life everlasting.

Not in a temple made with hands God the Almighty is dwelling;
high in the heav'ns His temple stands, all earthly temples excelling.
Yet He who dwells in heaven above chooses to live with us in love,
making our body His temple.

We are God's house of living stones, built for His own habitation;
He fills our hearts, His humble thrones, granting us life and salvation.
Yet to the place, an earthly frame, we come with thanks to praise His name;
God grants His people true blessing.

Thro' all the passing years, O Lord, grant that, when church bells are ringing,
many may come to hear God's Word where He the promise is bringing:
"I know My own, My own know Me, you, not the world, My face shall see;
My peace I leave with you. Amen."

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.

About the Choral Music:

Be Not Afraid – Taylor Davis

Taylor Davis (b. 1980) is currently the Director of Music and Worship at Holy Covenant United Methodist Church in Houston, TX. A 2003 graduate of Centenary College of Louisiana, Taylor earned a Bachelor of Sacred Music degree while studying conducting with Dr. Julia Brasher Thorn, as well as intensive courses with Dr. Sandra Willets, Dr. Ann Howard Jones, Paul Oakley, Alice Parker and Jane Marshall. He has also studied composition with Dr. Eric McIntyre, Ms. Parker, and Ms. Marshall. In 2004 he became a Fellow of Melodious Accord. In demand across the country, with commissions coming from a wide variety of groups, his music has been performed throughout the US, Europe, South America and South Africa by youth and adults.

“Be Not Afraid” is based on Isaiah 43:1-7.

            Be not afraid, for I have redeemed you.

Be not afraid, I’ve called you by name.

            My love for you is everlasting, my love for you shall have no end.

            You are my child, and I’ll love you always.

Just hold my hand, and I’ll lead you home.

When you feel lost, always remember: I am right here, just call my name.

When you pass through the waters, I will surround you,

            When you pass through the floods, they will not sweep o’er.

            When you walk through the fire, you will not be consumed.

            You are my child, you are so precious to me.

About the Hymns:

Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee

Henry Van Dyke (1852-1933) chaired the committee that wrote the first Presbyterian printed liturgy, The Book of Common Worship of 1906. In 1908–09 Dr. van Dyke was an American lecturer at the University of Paris. By appointment of President Wilson, a friend and former classmate of van Dyke, he became Minister to the Netherlands and Luxembourg in 1913. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters and received many other honors.  Among his popular writings are the two Christmas stories, The Other Wise Man (1896) and The First Christmas Tree (1897). Various religious themes of his work are also expressed in his poetry, hymns and the essays collected in Little Rivers (1895) and Fisherman’s Luck (1899).

"The Hymn of Joy" (often called "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee" after the first line) is a poem written by Henry van Dyke in 1907 with the intention of musically setting it to the famous "Ode to Joy" melody of the final movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's final symphony, Symphony No. 9.   Van Dyke wrote this poem in 1907 while staying at the home of Williams College president Harry Augustus Garfield. He was serving as a guest preacher at Williams at the time. He told his host that the local Berkshire Mountains had been his inspiration. The lyrics were first published in 1911 in Van Dyke's Book of Poems.

Van Dyke wrote of this hymn: “These verses are simple expressions of common Christian feelings and desires in this present time—hymns of today that may be sung together by people who know the thought of the age, and are not afraid that any truth of science will destroy religion, or any revolution on earth overthrow the kingdom of heaven. Therefore this is a hymn of trust and joy and hope.”  This hymn is generally considered by hymnologists to be one of the most joyous expressions of hymn lyrics in the English language.

Take My Life and Let It Be Consecrated

Frances R. Havergal (1836-1879) originally composed her text in eleven couplets as a hymn of "self-consecration to Christ" on February 4, 1874. She told the following story about writing this hymn:

I went for a little visit of five days [to Areley House, Worcestershire, in December 1873]. There were ten persons in the house, some unconverted and long prayed for, some converted but not rejoicing Christians. [God] gave me the prayer, "Lord, give me all this house." And He just did! Before I left the house, everyone had got a blessing. The last night of my visit. . . I was too happy to sleep and passed most of the night in praise and renewal of my own consecration, and these little couplets formed themselves and chimed in my heart, one after another, till they finished with "Ever, only, all, for Thee."

The text is a "catalog" hymn that lists aspects of our lives and offers them in Christ's service.  "Take My Life and Let It Be" was first published in the 1874 appendix to Charles B. Snepp's Songs of Grace and Glory (1872). A twelfth couplet was added at some later point, producing the six stanzas published in the Psalter Hymnal.

Although her formal education was sporadic because of poor health, Havergal learned six foreign languages, including Greek and Hebrew, and was well read in many subjects. She began writing poetry at an early age and was also an accomplished singer and pianist. The daughter of a clergyman, she had a conversion experience at the age of fourteen and was confirmed in the Church of England in 1853. Taking seriously her own words "take my silver and my gold," she sent all her jewelry to the Church Mission Society to be sold. She also supported other charitable organizations. Her more than one hundred hymns were originally published in leaflets and later gathered into seven collections: Ministry of Song (1869), Twelve Sacred Songs for Little Singers (1870), Under the Surface (1874), Loyal Responses (1878), Life Mosaic (1879), Life Chords (1880), and Life Echoes (1883), as well as in one large volume, Poetical Works (1884).