June 30, 2019

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:

Swing Low - Carlton Young

“Swing Low Sweet Chariot” is among the most treasured and widely recognized African American spirituals.  It was placed in the National Archives by the Library of Congress and identified as one of the “Songs of the Century” by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts.  It was first recorded by the Fisk Jubilee Singers in 1909.  But while the spiritual’s music and lyrics are widely known, the song’s history is a bit cloudy. According to many accounts, “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” was one of the spirituals born from the experience of slaves in the first decades of the 19th century.  Composed by unknown slaves over time and passed orally from community to community, the song allegedly voiced slaves’ hopes that ultimately they would find comfort in a heavenly home.  

Yet some music historians have added another layer to this account of the song’s origins.  They have argued that “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” was one of the spirituals that conveyed a secret meaning to slaves in addition to the story of Elijah and his fiery chariot. Slave spirituals did a lot more than offer a promise of eventual redemption; they also offered specific strategies needed to escape.  For example, “Wade in the Water” taught runaway slaves how to throw off the bloodhounds sent to track them down.  “Follow the Drinking Gourd” provided slaves with an elaborate coded map that would lead them to the North and freedom: the refrain told them to keep their eye on the Big Dipper (the drinking gourd) as the stars marking the edge of its cup pointed to Polaris, the North Star.   According to these historians, “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” was another in this collection of coded spirituals.  In fact, according to some, it was one of Harriet Tubman’s favorites.  The heroic conductor on the Underground Railroad made her own escape to freedom in 1849.  She returned south the next year to lead her sister and her two children north.  Over the next ten years, she made another 18 trips into slave states and escorted an estimated 300 slaves to freedom.  Legend has it that slaves sang “Swing low sweet chariot, comin’ for to carry me home” to announce that Tubman or another “conductor” would be arriving soon to lead them to freedom.

Yet while Tubman’s heroics were real, not everyone is convinced that the spiritual played a part in her adventures.  In fact, most music historians now believe that the song’s writer is not even unknown.  The composer, “Uncle Wallis” Willis, was a slave in Mississippi before the Civil War.  But his owner was not your typical Southern planter—Britt Willis was a Choctaw Indian.  Britt Willis was among the Choctaws forced to move west, and he took his slaves, including Wallis, with him.  In the Oklahoma Territory, Britt succeeded in rebuilding his life on a large plantation near Doaksville, and it is quite possible that Wallis wrote “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” while living as a slave there.  Ironically, though, the song circulated first among young Choctaw boys, not among slaves.  Britt hired Wallis out to the Spencer Academy, a Choctaw boys’ school, and this song was one of several that that Wallis sang to entertain the students.  In fact, according to some accounts, the song was not widely circulated among African Americans until after the Civil War, when the superintendent of the Spencer Academy, Alexander Reid, shared the song with the Fisk Jubilee Singers.

The song’s power may lie in that it was born in the convergence of two great tragedies within American history: the horrors of African slavery and the injustice of Native American removal. Its prayer that someday the singers would find a resting place could as easily speak to one mistreated people as the other.

Swing low, sweet chariot, Coming for to carry me home.
Swing low, sweet chariot, Coming for to carry me home.

I looked over Jordan, and what did I see, Coming for to carry me home,
A band of angels coming after me, Coming for to carry me home.

If you get there before I do, Coming for to carry me home,
Tell all my friends I'm coming, too, Coming for to carry me home.

I'm sometimes up and sometimes down, Coming for to carry me home,
But still my soul feels heavenly bound, Coming for to carry me home.

The brightest day that I can say, Coming for to carry me home,
When Jesus washed my sins away, Coming for to carry me home.

If I get there before you do, Coming for to carry me home,
I'll cut a hole and pull you through, Coming for to carry me home.

Carlton R. Young (b. 1926), was born in Hamilton, Ohio and served in the Air Force during World War II. A teacher, editor, composer and conductor, has the unique distinction of serving as editor of two revisions of hymnals for Methodists: The Methodist Hymnal, 1966; and The United Methodist Hymnal, 1989. Dr. Young, known to his friends as "Sam", has served on the faculties and directed graduate studies in church music at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University; and Scarritt College; and is emeritus Professor of Church Music at Candler School of Theology, Emory University. He is a Past-President and Fellow of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada and the first American to be named an honorary member of The British Methodist Church Music Society. He is the author of  Music of the Heart: John and Charles Wesley on Music and Musicians (1995).  Founder of the Agape catalog for Hope, he has a choral series of anthems (The Carlton Young Choral Series) to his credit and continues to write and compose.

Toccata - Georgi Mushel

Born in Tambov, Russia, Georgi Mushel (1906-1989) studied piano at the Moscow Conservatory, then he taught piano and composition at the Conservatory of Tashkent. Mushel composed an opera, four ballets, a cantata, three symphonies, six piano concertos, chamber music, vocal works, film music, organ preludes as well as a series of fugues on Uzbek themes and melodies.  It is to be noted that in Georgi Mushel’s work, painting went along with music, not as a distraction from the latter, but as a source of inspiration.  As he wrote the music for the film entitled "The Cotton Season", he painted both "Faraway Morning" and "November". Similarly, during the staging of the ballet "The BALLERINA", he painted "The Dance of Spring”.

Before Mushel, Uzbek music was generally devoted to local folklore. But through many of his compositions, he contributed to the development of classical music in Uzbekistan. The Toccata, which is derived from an Uzbek three-movement suite, includes an aria and fugue and is one of the few organ works of the author which have been published.

About the Piano Music:

Chariots of Fire - Vangelis

"Chariots of Fire" is an instrumental theme written and recorded by Vangelis for the soundtrack of the 1981 film of the same name. Vangelis won an Academy Award for Best Original Score.  This main theme reached the top of the American Billboard Hot 100 chart and was used as the background music at the London 2012 Olympics winners' medal presentation ceremonies.

Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou (b. 1943), known professionally as Vangelis, is a Greek musician and composer of electronic, progressive, ambient, jazz, and orchestral music. He is best known for his Academy Award-winning score to Chariots of Fire, also composing scores for the films Blade Runner, Missing, Antarctica, The Bounty, 1492: Conquest of Paradise, and Alexander, and the use of his music in the PBS documentary Cosmos: A Personal Voyage by Carl Sagan.

Vangelis began his career working with several popular bands of the 1960s such as the Forminx and Aphrodite's Child. Throughout the 1970s, Vangelis composed music scores for several animal documentaries, including L'Apocalypse des Animaux, La Fête sauvage and Opéra sauvage; the success of these scores brought him into the film scoring mainstream. In the early 1980s, Vangelis formed a musical partnership with Jon Anderson, the lead singer of progressive rock band Yes, and the duo went on to release several albums together as Jon & Vangelis.

About the Choral Music:

Elijah Rock - Jester Hairston

What is the “rock” in “Elijah Rock”?  There are some pretty convoluted ideas, but there seems to be one answer that makes the most sense. The fact that there are several versions of the lyrics and the idea seems somewhat truncated mark this as a genuine folk song, passed down orally for a number of years.

“Comin’ up, Lord,” has to refer to Elijah’s being taken up to Heaven in a fiery chariot.  Another line that seems clear is “If I could, I surely would just stand on the rock where Moses stood.” Moses is actually associated with several rocks in the desert, two of which gushed forth water for the Israelites. I think, though, that the rock referred to here is Mount Nebo, which Moses climbed right before his death: “There the Lord showed him the whole land. . . . and said to him, “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” (Deuteronomy 34:1, 4). Many spirituals had a double meaning, one spiritual and one temporal, and Canaan is often a reference to freedom on earth as well as to Heaven.

“Satan’s a liar and a conjur too/If you don’t mind out he’ll conjur you” is pretty self-explanatory. The idea of Satan’s being a liar is straight from Scripture; one verse is from the Gospel of John 8:44: “When he lies, he speaks his own language; for he is a liar and the father of lies.” So if you don’t mind, or look, out, he’ll cast a spell on you.

But the “rock”?  One rather dubious idea is that the rock referred to is Elijah’s chariot, so called because of its rocking motion as it travels. There are two other possible meanings for “rock.” One is that it refers to Mount Carmel, where Elijah had the contest with the prophets of Baal. The other possibility is a more figurative one, and the one that makes the most sense. Additional lines from other versions clearly reference the idea that the rock is God: “But I can tell this ol’ world/He been a rock and a shelter for me.”  Now the symbolism makes sense. God is a rock for the speaker in the song, just as He was for Elijah. The speaker is looking forward to “comin’ up” to Heaven just like Elijah. The “shouts” are shouts of joy, something that happens all through the Bible, one of the most beautiful being in the book of Job when God says: “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? . . . while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?” (38:4, 7).

This arrangement is by the famed African-American composer and arranger Jester Hairston (1901-2000), who was the grandson of slaves.  He was regarded as a leading expert on Negro spirituals and choral music.

Hairston was still a small child when his father died in a job-related accident; he was raised by his grandmother while his mother went to work.  While growing up, Hairston heard his grandmother and her friends talking and singing about life on the plantations of the southern US. He listened with immense interest and made a promise to himself that he would preserve this history through music.

Hairston initially in landscape architecture at Massachusetts Agricultural College in the 1920s. Hairston became involved in various church choirs and choral groups. The accompanist of one, Anna Laura Kidder, saw his potential in music and became his benefactor. Mrs. Kidder offered him financial assistance to study music at Tufts University, from which he graduated in 1929. He was one of the first black students admitted to Tufts. Later he studied music at the Juilliard School.  He sang with the Hall Johnson Choir in Harlem for a time but was nearly fired from the all black choir because he had difficulty with the rural dialects that were used in some of the songs. He had to shed his Boston accent and relearn the country speech of his parents and grandparents. Johnson had told him, "We're singing ain't and cain't and you're singing shahn't and cahn't and they don't mix in a spiritual.”  The Hall Johnson Choir performed in many Broadway shows including The Green Pastures. In 1936, they were asked to go to Hollywood to sing for the film The Green Pastures. At that time, a Russian composer, Dimitri Tiomkin, heard Jester and invited him to collaborate with him. This led to a thirty-year collaboration during which time Jester arranged and collected music for the movies. 

In 1961, the US State Department appointed Jester Hairston as Goodwill Ambassador. He traveled all over the world teaching and performing the folk music of the slaves. In the 1960s he held choral festivals with public high school choirs, introducing them to Negro Spiritual music, and sometimes leading several hundred students in community performances. His banter about the history of the songs along with his engaging personality and sense of humor endeared him to many students.  In 1985 he took the Jester Hairston Chorale, a multi-racial group, to sing in the People's Republic of China, at a time when foreign visitors were still quite rare in that country.

Elijah Rock, Shout, shout!  Elijah Rock, Comin’ up Lord.

Satan’s a liar an’ a conjur, too,  If you don’t mind out, he’ll conjur you.

If I could, I surely would just stand on the rock where Moses stood.

About the Hymns:

Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above

Philip Spener became the pastor of a Lutheran congregation in Frankfurt am Main in the mid-1600s, and effected a revival by fervent preaching that emphasized repentance, personal piety, and discipleship.  He encouraged prayer and Bible study as a means to personal spiritual growth.  He spelled out his five guiding principles in a document entitled Pia Desideria (Pious Desires).  These included: the increased use of scripture; lay participation in small groups, emphasizing prayer and Bible study; a balance of faith and actions; an emphasis on a pious clergy; sermons that encourage an active faith. Not only did the church that Spener was serving in Frankfurt prosper, but a pietistic movement swept across Germany through his influence.

An enthusiastic member of Spener's congregation was a young attorney, Johann Jakob Schutz, who not only encouraged Spener's work but also wrote hymns.  He wrote "Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above" in 1675, and published it in Christliches Gedenkbüchlein that same year.  

The hymn is usually sung to the tune, "Mit Freuden Zart" ("With great delight!").

The most common English translation in use is by Frances E. Cox from 1864, which was published in Orby Shipley's Lyra Eucharistica and her own Hymns from the German.  Deuteronomy 32:3 was the basis for this hymn of praise – “For I will proclaim the name of the Lord; ascribe greatness to our God!” (ESV) Using a variety of metaphors for God and for His works, this text overflows with proclamations of God's loving care for His people.  Note the second verse, which emphasizes the presence of the Lord, a typical pietistic emphasis:  "The Lord is never far away, but thru all grief distressing an ever-present help and stay, our peace and joy and blessing.”

Here I Am, Lord

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.”

First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas

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