September 16, 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:

Bagatelle on “Jesus Loves Me” – John Barr

"Jesus Loves Me" was written by Anna Bartlett Warner (1827–1915). The lyrics first appeared as a poem in the context of an 1860 novel called Say and Seal, written by her older sister Susan Warner (1819–1885), in which the words were spoken as a comforting poem to a dying child. The tune was added in 1862 by William Bradbury (1816–1868). Along with his tune, Bradbury added his own chorus "Yes, Jesus loves me, Yes, Jesus Loves me"  After publication as a song it became one of the most popular Christian hymns in churches around the world,  especially among children.

Anna’s family home was quite close to the United States Military Academy at West Point, in New York, in the era just before the Civil War. Each Sunday Anna taught Bible classes to the cadets. Her remains are buried in the military cemetery, and her family home is now a museum on the grounds of the United States Military Academy.

Her original poem follows:

Jesus loves me! This I know,
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong;
They are weak but He is strong.

Jesus loves me! Loves me still,
Tho I'm very weak and ill,
That I might from sin be free,
Bled and died upon the tree.

Jesus loves me! He who died
Heaven's gate to open wide;
He will wash away my sin,
Let His little child come in.

Jesus loves me! He will stay
Close beside me all the way.
Thou hast bled and died for me;
I will henceforth live for Thee.

John Barr (b. 1938) studied organ and composition at Manchester College and Union Theological Seminary. Dr. Barr was music teacher at Hillcrest School for Missionary Children in Jos, Nigeria, 1962-65.  He later became Professor of Organ and Piano at Bridgewater College, Bridgewater, VA, until his retirement. He is organist at Bridgewater Church of the Brethren.

Prelude and Fugue in G Major – J. S. Bach

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).  

Continuing our “Bach to School” celebration, this series of Preludes and Fugues is particularly appropriate, as they were used as teaching pieces by J. S. Bach. 

About the Piano Music:

Make Me a Channel of Your Peace – Laura Wasson

The so-called Prayer of Saint Francis, also known as the Peace Prayer or Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace, is a widely known Christian prayer. Often wrongly attributed to the 13th-century saint Francis of Assisi, the prayer in its present form cannot be traced back further than 1912, when it was printed in Paris in French, in a small spiritual magazine called La Clochette (The Little Bell), published by La Ligue de la Sainte-Messe (The League of the Holy Mass). The author's name was not given, although it may have been the founder of La Ligue, Fr. Esther Bouquerel.  A professor at the University of Orleans in France, Dr. Christian Renoux, published a study of the prayer and its history in French in 2001.  Around 1920, a French Franciscan priest printed the prayer on the back of an image of St. Francis, without attribution. The prayer has been known in the United States since 1927, when its first known English translation appeared in the Quaker magazine Friends' Intelligencer under the mistaken title "A prayer of St. Francis of Assissi". Senator Albert W. Hawkes and the saint's namesake Cardinal Francis Spellman distributed millions of copies of the prayer during and just after World War II.

The prayer has similarities to this saying of Blessed Giles of Assisi, one of the companions of St. Francis:

Blessed is he who loves and does not therefore desire to be loved; blessed is he who fears and does not therefore desire to be feared; blessed is he who serves and does not therefore desire to be served; blessed is he who behaves well toward others and does not desire that others behave well toward him; and because these are great things, the foolish do not rise to them. 

A popular hymn version of the prayer is "Make Me A Channel of Your Peace", adapted and set to music in 1967 by South African songwriter Sebastian Temple (Johann Sebastian von Tempelhoff, 1928-1997). It is an anthem of the Royal British Legion and is usually sung every November at the Service of Remembrance at Royal Albert Hall, London. In 1997, it was part of the Funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, and was sung by Sinéad O'Connor on the Princess Diana tribute album.

Make me a channel of your peace. Where there is hatred let me bring your love;
Where there is injury, your pardon Lord; And where there's doubt, true faith in you.

Make me a channel of your peace. Where there's despair in life let me bring hope;
Where there is darkness, only light; And where there's sadness, ever joy.

Oh, master grant that I may never seek So much to be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand, To be loved as to love with all my soul.

Make me a channel of your peace.  It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
In giving to all men let we receive; And in dying that we're born to turn around.

About the Choral Music:

Draw the Circle Wide – Mark Miller

Mark Miller believes passionately that music can change the world. He also believes in Cornell West’s quote that ‘Justice is what love looks like in public.’ His dream is that the music he composes, performs, teaches and leads will inspire and empower people to create the beloved community.  Mark is Assistant Professor of Church Music at Drew Theological School and is a Lecturer in the Practice of Sacred Music at Yale University. He also is the Minister of Music of Christ Church in Summit, New Jersey.  Since 1999 Mark has led music for United Methodists and others around the country, including directing music for the 2008 General Conference. Mark received his Bachelor of Arts in Music from Yale University and his Master of Music in Organ Performance from Juilliard.  Mark is a lifelong United Methodist. He is the grandson, son, brother, uncle, and cousin to United Methodist clergy.  

“Draw the Circle Wide” was written for a United Methodist weekend choral workshop in Lake Junaluska, NC, in 2008.

            Draw the circle, draw the circle wide.

            No one stands alone; we’ll stand side by side.

            Draw the circle wide, draw it wider still.

            Let this be our song: no one stands alone.

            Standing side by side, draw the circle wide.

About the Hymns:

Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart

Anglican priest and professor Edward Hayes Plumptre (1821-1891) composed “Rejoice, ye pure in heart” as a processional hymn for a choir festival in one of England’s majestic places of worship, Peterborough Cathedral.   Plumptre was a distinguished scholar of his day. Educated at University College, Oxford, he then became a fellow at Brasenose College, Oxford, receiving his ordination in the Anglican Church in 1846. After serving as a clergyman, he became chaplain and professor of New Testament exegesis at King’s College, London, and dean of Queen’s College, Oxford. His most prominent position as a clergyman was that of dean of Wells Cathedral.

Of the original 11 stanzas, five appear in our hymnal.  Omitted stanzas refer to this processional in martial terms as warriors who “march in firm array.” This kind of imagery is not only consonant with the times, but also reflects the theology of the Anglican Communion that views its role on earth as the “Church Militant” while the church in heaven is the “Church Triumphant.”   Hymnologist William Reynolds noted that it “was not unusual for a cathedral processional to take from ten to thirty minutes, and the hymn that was sung by both the choir and the congregation needed to have enough stanzas for this.”   It was first published in the third edition of Plumptre's Lazarus and Other Poems (1868) and in the Appendix to Hymns Ancient and Modern (1868).

Arthur H. Messiter (b. Frome, Somersetshire, England, 1834; d. New York, NY, 1916) composed MARION for this text in 1883 and named it after his wife. The tune was published in the Hymnal with Music as Used in Trinity Church (1893), a hymnal compiled by Messiter during his long term of service as organist/ choirmaster at Trinity Church (Episcopal) in New York City (1866-1897).  Educated by private tutors in England, Messiter immigrated to the United States in 1863 and had an active musical career in Philadelphia, which included an organist position at St. James the Less. At Trinity Church in New York City, he modeled with distinction the British cathedral tradition of music. Messiter was an editor of the Episcopal Hymnal (1893), compiled the Psalter (1889) and Choir Office Book (1891), and wrote a musical history of Trinity Episcopal Church, New York (1906).

Wounded World that Cries for Healing

Shirley Erena Murray (b. 1931) is a hymn text writer, born in Invercargill, New Zealand. Her texts have appeared in more than 100 collections worldwide and have been translated into several languages. She has been an editor with the New Zealand Hymnbook Trust and received international acclaim for her writing, including being made a Fellow of the Royal School of Church Music (2006) and becoming a Member of the NZ Order of Merit (2001) for services to the community through hymn writing. She is the first citizen to be so honored. Most recently, she has been honored by the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada at its July 2009 annual conference by being named a Fellow of the Society in recognition of her contributions as a hymn writer to the international community of congregational song. Also, in 2009, she was awarded the title of Honorary Doctor of Literature (D.Litt.) from the University of Otago. Murray has been the Erik Routley Fellow (PCUSA) in 1996 and her hymns have been included in the worship of the World Council of Churches' Assemblies. She has worked with Dr I-to Loh, musical ethnologist from Taiwan, in paraphrasing Asian hymns into English and providing texts for `Sound the Bamboo' (1990, 2000).

“Wounded World” appears in Every Day In Your Spirit (Hope, 1996)—the second of her four volumes of hymns. She writes this about the text: “An overtly political hymn, written for an ecumenical occasion called Healing the Health System. There was outrage when, in 1992, our government made drastic cuts to health and welfare benefits. This was first sung in St. Peter’s Anglican Church, Wellington, as a hymn of protest and resolve.” She paints a dire outlook that is only broken by the “Jesus of the healing Spirit.” The turmoil of the financial crisis of her homeland is evident throughout the second stanza. The final stanza celebrates those who try to pick up the pieces and tend to the brokenness, recalling Christ’s washing of the disciples’ feet.

The tune “Beach Spring” is attributed to Benjamin Franklin White, who with the help of Elisha J. King, published The Sacred Harp (Philadelphia, 1844), where it was sung with the text of “Come, ye sinners, poor and wretched.” Named after the Beech Spring Baptist Church in Harris County, Georgia, the church was given its name because of its close proximity to two beech trees at a spring.  Although the original spelling of the name should be “Beech,” White’s misspelling “Beach,” has stuck with the hymn throughout the ages. White was mostly a self-taught singing school teacher from South Carolina. Eventually he moved to Hamilton in Harris County, Georgia, where he worked at many different vocations, including a stint in the Georgia Militia. Eventually White married Thurza Golightly, and together the two had 14 children (the same number of children that White’s parents had).  At some point along the timeline of Benjamin Franklin White’s history, a rumor was started that he worked closely with William Walker (who was his brother-in-law) to publish Southern Harmonies, but this rumor was probably not true.  The two books were wildly popular in the south, but both contained the same southern white spirituals which were popular in the more rural areas. In the 20^th century, the tunes from The Sacred Harp, and Southern Harmonies entered into more denominational hymnals and inspired many different composers to arrange the melodies in various ways. The Sacred Harp is one of the most used books in the four-shape notation and has gone through numerous editions that have been published throughout the years, and even to the present days.