January 14, 2018

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:

Here I Am, Lord – Timothy Albrecht

Dan Schutte is a native of Wisconsin, who received his education at St. Louis University with a bachelor’s degree in 1973, a master of divinity degree in 1979 at the Jesuit School of Theology, Berkeley, Calif., and a master’s degree in 1980 at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.  Following graduation, Mr. Schutte joined the Jesuits and served as the director of liturgy at Marquette University (1982-1986). He entered parish ministry in Milwaukee serving as director of music at Immaculate Heart of Mary and then Our Lady of Lourdes parishes.   He is currently director of music at the University of San Francisco, a Jesuit institution, and tours extensively as a Christian concert artist. Of his many hymns, “Here I Am, Lord” is the most commonly sung.

A salient feature of Catholic renewal hymnody since the Second Vatican Council is a stirring and memorable refrain. “Here I Am, Lord” recalls immediately Isaiah 6:8: “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’”

An unusual attribute of this hymn is the change in point of view that the singer makes between the stanzas and the refrain. The stanzas speak from the perspective of God in the first person singular, while the refrain, though remaining in first person, is from the perspective of the singers of the hymn offering their lives to God.   Each stanza reflects a paradox. The powerful God, creator of “sea and sky,” “snow and rain” and “wind and flame” is also the God who hears the “people cry,” bears the “people’s pain” and “tend[s] the poor and lame.”  This is a hymn of transformation. God transforms the darkness into light in stanza one, melts “hearts of stone” with love in stanza two and nourishes the “poor and lame” with the “finest bread”—a clear Eucharistic reference.  Each stanza ends with the question, “Whom shall I send?” Rhetorical questions are very common poetical devices in Christian hymnody, but this is not one of them. The refrain immediately offers the response, “Here I am, Lord.”

I, the Lord of sea and sky, I have heard My people cry.
All who dwell in dark and sin, My hand will save.
I who made the stars of night, I will make their darkness bright.
Who will bear My light to them? Whom shall I send?

I, the Lord of snow and rain, I have born my peoples pain.
I have wept for love of them, They turn away.
I will break their hearts of stone, Give them hearts for love alone.
I will speak My word to them, Whom shall I send?

I, the Lord of wind and flame, I will tend the poor and lame.
I will set a feast for them, My hand will save
Finest bread I will provide, Till their hearts be satisfied.
I will give My life to them, Whom shall I send?

Here I am Lord, Is it I Lord? I have heard You calling in the night.
I will go Lord, if You lead me. I will hold Your people in my heart.

This setting by Timothy Albrecht expresses the awe and mystery of the voice of God calling in the darkness of the night.  Dr. Timothy Albrecht spent his childhood in Los Angeles and Wisconsin.  He received his Bachelors in organ from Oberlin College and Oberlin Conservatory, and his masters and doctorate from the Eastman School of Music, where he won the Performer’s Certificate. Shortly after graduation, he represented the United States at the Sixth International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in Leipzig. He has spent two sabbaticals at Cambridge University in England, which has conferred on him Life Membership.  At Emory University, Albrecht holds a joint faculty appointment as Professor of Music at Candler Theological Seminary, where he has taught since 1982, and in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Music  He also serves as University Organist. Albrecht has authored twelve published volumes of organ music and has recorded nine solo compact discs, including several Bach CDs and recordings of his own compositions.

Quietude – George Blake

"Speak, Lord, in the Stillness" was written by Emily May Grimes Crawford (1864-1927), who was born at Lambeth in Surrey, England. In 1893, she went as a missionary to Pondoland in South Africa, where she married Dr. T. W. W. Crawford, an Anglican minister with the Christian Missionary Society of Kikuyu in British East Africa. While in South Africa, she penned "The Master Comes! He Calls for Thee" in 1896, and these words under the title "The Quiet Hour." They were first published in her 1920 work Unseen Realities.

The tune (Quietude) was composed by Harold Green (1871-1930).  The son of a minister from Helme near Huddersfield in Yorkshire, England, and also a missionary in Pondoland, Green provided this music for Mrs. Crawford’s words around 1925, about five years before his death on the mission field. The song quickly became a favorite at the Keswick Convention in northern England and appeared in The Keswick Hymnbook of 1936 in England. 

Speak, Lord, in the stillness, While I wait on Thee;
Hushed my heart to listen, In expectancy.

Speak, O blessed Master, In this quiet hour;
Let me see Thy face, Lord, Feel Thy touch of power.

For the words Thou speakest, They are life indeed;
Living bread from heaven, Now my spirit feed!

All to Thee is yielded, I am not my own;
Blissful, glad surrender, I am Thine alone.

Speak, Thy servant heareth, Be not silent, Lord;
Waits my soul upon Thee For the quickening word.

Fill me with the knowledge Of Thy glorious will;
All Thine own good pleasure In Thy child fulfill.

Like a watered garden, Full of fragrance rare,
Lingering in Thy presence, Let my life appear.

At age fourteen, George Blake (1912–1986) began to play the theater organ professionally at the Franklin Theatre in Nutley, New Jersey. His father having died when he was very young, Blake quickly became the primary supporter of his family through his performing, and he lived with his mother in New Jersey for many years until her death. His younger brother was the cartoonist Bud Blake (of the popular comic strip "Tiger.") A student and protégé of Lew White (organist of the original Roxy Theatre), George Blake served as principal organist for a number of theaters in New Jersey and New York City, including the New Roxy (later the Center Theatre) in Rockefeller Center. He was also a regular performer on several radio programs of the day, including the "Lucky Strike Hour." As the age of the cinema organist ended, Blake focused primarily on sacred music. During his cinema years, he was organist at several churches in New Jersey including St. Andrew's Episcopal (South Orange) and Grace Episcopal (Nutley) and was the school organist for Columbia High School (Maplewood). Blake composed and published extensively in both sacred and secular genres. He co‑wrote a number of popular songs with Richard Leibert, organist of Radio City Music Hall, several of which were performed and recorded by leading artists of the day, including Mario Lanza.

Gagliarda – Bernhard Schmid

The galliard (French: gaillarde; Italian: gagliarda) was a form of Renaissance dance and music popular all over Europe in the 16th century. It is mentioned in dance manuals from England, France, Spain, Germany, and Italy.  The galliard is an athletic dance, characterized by leaps, jumps, hops and other similar figures.  The galliard was a favorite dance of Queen Elizabeth I of England, and although it is a relatively vigorous dance, in 1589 when the Queen was aged in her mid-fifties, John Stanhope reported, "the Queen is so well as I assure you, six or seven galliards in a morning, besides music and singing, is her ordinary exercise.”

Alsatian organist and composer Bernhard Schmid the Elder  was educated in Strasbourg and first mention of him comes from his marriage certificate dated October 31, 1552. In 1562, Schmid assumed the dual posts of organist at Strasbourg Cathedral during the Christmas season and at the Thomaskirche in Strasbourg through the rest of the year. In 1577, Schmid the Elder published Zwey Bücher einer Neuen Kunstlichen Tabulatur auff Orgel und Instrument, an important and popular early print consisting of two volumes, the first entirely devoted to keyboard intabulations of vocal works -- mostly by Orlandus Lassus -- and the second continuing the intabulations but adding 16 dances that are apparently original or adapted from folk material.  Schmid's publication includes a useful guide to reading the tablature employed, which is in the "new German" format, and quite detailed in its use of ornamentation, unusual in keyboard prints this early. While the publication is ostensibly for organ, Schmid clearly designed it for use on all keyboard instruments of the time.

About the Choral Music:

We are Called to Proclaim – John Purifoy

John Purifoy (b. 1952) is a composer and arranger with numerous published choral cantatas, anthems and keyboard collections. His stage musical "Lambarene," based on the life of Dr. Albert Schweitzer, received workshop productions at the state theatre of New Jersey and the North Shore Musical Theater near Boston.  Mr. Purifoy served as editor and director of music publishing for Word, Inc. from 1975-1982. He is the recipient of the Freedom’s Foundation Award and five-time recipient of the ASCAP Standard Award. 

“We are Called to Proclaim” was written for the 25^th anniversary of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and is based on Luke 4: 18-19.

            We are called to proclaim and to set the captive free

            By the power of One who came to make our blind eyes see.

            His kingdom lies within us.  Let peace and justice reign.

            By the truth of God within us we are called to proclaim!

            We are called to proclaim now the favor of the Lord.

            We are called in His name to help the sick and poor,

            To tell now of the freedom that has come to all the earth.

            With His Spirit now upon us we are called to proclaim

            Now the year of the favor of the Lord.

            With His Spirit now upon us we are called to proclaim!

            To proclaim!

About the Hymns:

Maker, in Whom We Live

"Maker, in whom we live" is well-known in the Methodist tradition. The text was written by Charles Wesley in 1747. Originally, Wesley titled the hymn "To the Trinity" and published it in the Hymns for Those that Seek and Those that Have Redemption in the Blood of Jesus Christ in 1747.  Wesley was one of the first to incorporate the idea of the Trinity in hymns and poetry. In each stanza, he described a member of the Trinity, with the final stanza focusing on God, the Three-in-One. The hymn entered the Methodist hymnal in 1821. It was omitted in the 1905 and 1935 editions but returned in 1966.

"Maker, In Whom We Live" first appeared in the 1822 hymnal titled A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The hymn, for the most part, remains in its entirety in today's modern hymnal. Despite some minor alterations in grammatical structure, there are really only two significant changes to the text. The principal changes were made in order to make the hymn's language more inclusive, avoiding male-only imagery for God. The original version begins with "Father" instead of "Maker." In the last stanza, Wesley originally wrote, "Let all the sons of men," which has now been changed to "Let all on earth below."

Each stanza in this hymn describes a member of the Trinity. The first stanza discusses angels and earth giving praise and singing to God, the Maker and Creator. The second stanza expresses praise to God the Son, who gives redeeming grace to all, even sinners. The third stanza conveys God as the Holy Spirit, with all energy and power, and expresses how we cannot explain God's love for us. The last stanza invites all to sing and praise God the Three-in-One. The first three stanzas have strong scriptural references. The first stanza refers to Acts 17:28 and Luke 2:14. The second stanza recalls Revelation 7:10 and the third stanza alludes to Titus 3:5.

The tune most commonly associated to this hymn is DIADEMATA, composed by George J. Elvey, during the Romantic Era, in 1868. In the 1878 hymnal, this hymn was paired with the tune WAUGH, and only contained the first two stanzas. Both in the original form and in today's modern hymnal, the text is set in the familiar four-part style. The tune works well with the text, complementing the rise and fall of the lines. 

Be Thou My Vision

"Be Thou My Vision" (Old Irish: Rop tú mo baile or Rob tú mo bhoile) is a traditional hymn from Ireland. The most well-known English version, with some minor variations, was translated by Eleanor Hull and published in 1912. In 1919, the lyrics were set to the tune of the Irish folk tune "Slane", to which the song is sung to this day, both in English and Irish. The song dates from at least the eighth century, though the text dates to the sixth-century.

The original Old Irish text, "Rop tú mo Baile" is often attributed to Saint Dallán Forgaill in the 6th century. Eochaid Mac Colla (c. 530 – 598), better known as Saint Dallan or Dallán Forgaill (Old Irish: Dallán Forchella; Latin: Dallanus Forcellius), was an early Christian Irish poet whose writings include the "Amra Choluim Chille" ("Elegy of Saint Columba") and "Rop Tú Mo Baile" ("Be Thou My Vision").  Saint Dallan was Chief Ollam of Ireland (similar to poet laureate), as well as a scholar of Latin scriptural learning. He helped to reform the Bardic Order at the Convention of Drumceat.  He reputedly wrote Amra Choluim Chille, which he completed shortly after the death of Saint Columba in 597, because Columba had successfully saved poets from expulsion from Ireland at the assembly of Druim Cett in 575. The “Amra Choluim Chille,” is the earliest Irish poem that can be dated.

"Rop tú mo Baile" had been a part of Irish monastic tradition for centuries before its setting to music. It was translated from Old Irish into English by Mary Elizabeth Byrne in Ériu (the journal of the School of Irish Learning), in 1905. The English text was first versified by Eleanor Hull, in 1912, and is now the most common text used.