September 9, 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 – Robert Farlee

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.

Robert Buckley Farlee (b. 1950) is Associate Pastor and Director of Music at Christ Lutheran Church in Minneapolis.  Bob Farlee and his wife Jane Buckley-Farlee (pastor at Trinity Lutheran Congregation, ELCA, Minneapolis) were ordained on July 13, 1980, in St. Louis, Missouri, at Unity Lutheran Church, Bel-Nor. It was at Unity Lutheran that Bob served as music director. Then in November of 1981, Bob joined the staff at Christ Church Lutheran, Minneapolis, where he has served both as a pastor and as cantor. Farlee is a graduate of Christ Seminary-Seminex, St. Louis, Missouri. He also serves on the worship editorial staff at Augsburg Fortress Publishers, and was deeply involved in the recent publication of Evangelical Lutheran Worship, the new book of worship for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Prelude and Fugue in E Minor – 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:

We are Called to be God’s People – Stan Pethel

Dr. Thomas Jackson (b. 1931) was pastor of Wake Forest Baptist Church and taught at Campbell University in North Carolina.  He studied at the University of Richmond and Johns Hopkins University.  He has published in religious journals and has written several hymn texts, including “We are Called to be God’s People.”  He was also an excavator on the Capernaum Archeological Expedition in 1982.

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) wrote the hymn tune AUSTRIAN HYMN.  It was taken from one of his string quartets, which was first performed for the Emperor Francis II's fifth birthday. It is widely recognized as the melody as well for the German national anthem.  But it has been used to set many hymns, most well-known being “Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken”, published in 1920.  Haydn is remembered as the first great symphonist and the composer who essentially invented the string quartet. The principal engineer of the classical style, Haydn exerted influence on the likes of Mozart, his student Ludwig van Beethoven and scores of others.

We are called to be God's people, Showing by our lives His grace.
One in heart and one in spirit, Sign of hope for all the race .
Let us show how He has changed us  And remade us as His own;
Let us share our life together As we shall around His throne.

We are called to be God's servants Working in His world today.
Taking His own task upon us, All His sacred words obey.
Let us rise then to His summons; Dedicate to Him our all
That we may be faithful servants Quick to answer now His call.

We are called to be God's prophets Speaking for the truth and right;
Standing firm for godly justice; Bringing evil into light.
Let us seek the courage needed Our high calling to fulfill,
That we all may know the blessing Of the doing of God's will

Dr. Stan Pethel is Chair of the Fine Arts at Berry College near Rome, Georgia. He has been on the music faculty there since 1973. In addition to his duties as Chair of Fine Arts at Berry College Dr. Pethel teaches music theory, composition and arranging, world music, and low brass lessons. He is a widely published composer and arranger with over 1000 works in publication with 26 different publishers. His writing includes works for choir, piano, organ/piano duet, symphonic band, jazz ensemble, orchestra, handbells, solo instrument and piano, and various chamber music ensembles. He is a regular recipient of the ASCAP Standard Award.

About the Choral Music:

Deep Peace – Benjamin Harlan

Dr. Benjamin Harlan has set this traditional Gaelic text.  Harlan is a Professor of Church Music at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is an internationally known arranger and composer of choral, keyboard and handbell works. He has received awards from ASCAP annually since 1990. Dr. Harlan is a member of ASCAP, American Choral Directors Association and the Southern Baptist Church Music Conference.

            Deep peace of the running wave to you, Deep peace of the flowing air to you.

            Deep peace of the quiet earth to you, Deep peace of the shining stars to you.

            Deep peace of the night to you, Moon and stars pour their healing light on you.

            Deep peace, deep peace, deep peace of the Father’s love to you.

About the Hymns:

Come Christians, Join to Sing

Christian Henry Bateman (1813-1899) was ordained into the Church of England after being a Congregational minister.  His miisterial studies were under the auspices of the Moravian Church, where he served for a time before changing to the Congregational Church at age 30. Following his ministry at Richmond Place Congregational Church in Edinburgh, Scotland, and successive Congregational parishes in Hopton, Yorkshire, and Reading, Berkshire, he took Holy Orders in the Anglican Church at age 56 and served as a curate and vicar in several Anglican parishes.

“Come, Children, Join to Sing” first appeared in a collection published in Edinburgh, Sacred Melodies for Children (1843), along with a number of other hymns for children by Bateman. The original “Hallelujah, Amen!” was changed by the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., in their 1933 hymnal, to “Alleluia! Amen!”  It has remained that way ever since.  The original incipit (opening line of the hymn) was “Come, children, join to sing.” Though changed in the Presbyterian hymnal to include all age groups, Bateman’s text contains direct, uncomplicated language suited for children. Since very few of the words have more than two syllables and “Alleluia! Amen!” is interjected three times in each stanza, the hymn is easy for children to learn and sing.

MADRID, also known as SPANISH HYMN, was a popular Spanish folk melody that was arranged for piano by Benjamin Carr in 1825.  In 1826, it was published in Philadelphia with the following title: Spanish Hymn, arranged and composed for the Concerts of the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia by Benjamin Carr.  The Air from an Ancient Spanish Melody.  Printed from the Condensed Score of the Society, and Presented to the Composer as a Tribute of Respect and Regard by Some of the Members, his Friends (Philadelphia, 1826).  Montague Burgoyne published the tune in A Collection of Metrical Versions (London, 1827). 

Benjamin Carr (1768-1831) was born in London and studied with Dr. Samuel Arnold and Charles Wesley, II.  He emigrated to America in 1793, and the following year, he became a publisher in both Philadelphia and New York.  He was organist of St. Peter’s Church, Philadelphia, and also music director of St. Joseph’s Roman Cathholic Church from 1801.  His liturgical works were published in Masses, Vespers, Litanies, Hymns, Psalms, Anthems & Motetts (1805) for Roman Catholics and the Collection of Chants and Tunes for the Use of the Episcopal Church in the City of Philadelphia (1816).  In addition, Carr wrote operas and piano pieces.

What Does the Lord Require

The 20th century fostered a new birth in hymn writing centered in the United Kingdom and led by many well-known composers such as Fred Pratt Green, Fred Kaan, Brian Wren and Albert Bayly. In his article “The Twentieth-Century Hymn Explosion: Where the Fuse Was Lit,” hymnologist and clergyman Alan Luff refers to Bayly as “very much a father of the new hymnody.” 

Albert Frederick Bayly (1901-1984) was born on the coast of England in Sussex. At the age of 15, Bayly studied to be a shipwright at the Royal Dockyard School in Portsmouth. After a few years of working in the shipyard, Bayly received his bachelor’s degree from London University. He was ordained in 1929 after studying ministry at Mansfield College, a Congregationalist theological college in Oxford, where he graduated the year before. He served as a Congregational minister from 1929 to 1972.  Green wrote that, “he lived to find himself honored as the pioneer of the remarkable revival of hymn writing in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s.” His hymns have been printed in many volumes, including his own publications Rejoice, O People, Again I say Rejoice, Rejoice Always and Rejoice in God. 

Bayly’s best-known hymn, “What Does the Lord Require?” was written in January 1949. The hymn was based on the text from Micah 6:6-8 and was published in Rejoice, O God (1950) along with 16 other hymns representing prophets from the Old Testament. This hymn’s first appearance was in an Episcopal publication, More Hymns and Spiritual Songs, and contained three of the five stanzas. United Methodist Hymnal editor Carlton Young says “it is one of two of Bayly’s hymns that were at the front of the British hymnic explosion . . . and mark the transition in English language hymnody to a resurgence of the social gospel hymn and hymns embodying space-age imagery and warnings of nuclear destruction.” 

The tune mostly associated with Bayly’s hymn is SHARPTHORNE, written by Erik Routley (1917-1982) in 1968.  Erik Routley was an English Congregational minister, composer and musicologist. He was educated at Lancing College and Magdalen and Mansfield Colleges in Oxford. He was chaplain of Mansfield from 1948 to 1959 and then held appointments as minister in Edinburgh and Newcastle before becoming Professor of Church Music at Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey in 1975. His publications include Congregational Praise (1951), The University Carol Book (1961) and critical and historical works on hymnody, church music and carols. He wrote the preface to the Summit Choir Book and composed many hymn tunes and texts.