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:
Glimmering Tapers - Alfred H. Johnson
Alfred H. Johnson (1900-1973) received his bachelors and masters degrees in music at the School of Fine Arts of Carnegie Institute of Technology. He was organist and choir director at Sewickley Presbyterian Church in Berlin, Pa. He wrote church music for both choir and organ. Several of his organ works are programmatic pieces such as this piece from “Three Short Pastels”.
Prelude in a Classic Style - Gordon Young
We toccata’d the month of June. We fugue’d our way through July. Now we march back to school in August.
Gordon Young (1919-1998) was born in McPherson, Kansas, and during his lifetime was recognized as one of this country's great church organists. He was a prolific and talented composer for both organ and choir, with nearly 1000 published works. During the course of his career, he was a radio organist in Tulsa, a music critic and columnist for daily newspapers in Oklahoma and Pennsylvania, and choirmaster in churches in Philadelphia and Kansas City. Mr. Young taught organ in conjunction with Wayne State University and for 15 years was organist and choir director at the First Presbyterian Church in Detroit.
About the Piano Music:
This Little Light of Mine - Mark Hayes
"This Little Light of Mine" is a gospel children's song written by composer and teacher Harry Dixon Loes (1895–1965) circa 1920. Loes, who studied at the Moody Bible Institute and the American Conservatory of Music, was a musical composer, and teacher, who wrote, and co-wrote, several other gospel songs. The song has since entered the folk tradition, first being collected by John Lomax in 1939. Often thought of as a Negro spiritual, it does not, however, appear in any collection of jubilee or plantation songs from the nineteenth century:
The song takes its theme from Matthew 5:16, "Let your light shine before men, that they may see your fine works and give glory to your Father who is in the heaven."; Luke 11:33, "No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light."; and Matthew 5:14–15, where Jesus said, "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house."
This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. Let it shine, Let it shine!
Everywhere I go, I'm gonna let it shine. Let it shine, Let it shine!
All up in my house, I'm gonna let it shine. Let it shine, Let it shine!
Mark Hayes is an award-winning concert pianist, composer, arranger and conductor. His personal catalog, totaling over 1,000 published works, includes work for solo voice, solo piano, multiple pianos, orchestra, jazz combo, small instrumental ensembles, and choruses of all kinds. Mark received a Bachelor of Music degree summa cum laude in Piano Performance from Baylor University in 1975. He has conducted the SWACDA and MCDA Community and Church Honor Choir, and served as guest conductor at Carnegie Hall, featuring his Te Deum and Magnificat. In 2010, Baylor University Center for Christian Music Studies awarded Mark the Award for Exemplary Leadership in Christian Music. Mark arranged and orchestrated the music for Civil War Voices, which won six awards including "Best Musical" in the 2010 Midtown International Theatre Festival in New York. He conducted the world premiere of his work for chorus, orchestra and narrator, The American Spirit, at Lincoln Center in May 2011 and the world premiere of his Requiem in Lincoln Center in May 2013. Whether concertizing on the other side of the globe or composing at his home in Kansas City, Missouri, Mark is blessed to live out his mission "to create beautiful music for the world”.
About the Vocal Solo Music:
Trip a Little Light Fantastic, from Mary Poppins Returns - Marc Shaiman
Michelle Corazao, soprano
Marc Shaiman (b.1959) is an American composer and lyricist for films, television, and theatre, best known for his collaborations with lyricist and director Scott Wittman. He wrote the music and co-wrote the lyrics for the Broadway musical version of the John Waters film Hairspray. He has won a Grammy, an Emmy and a Tony, and been nominated for seven Oscars. He wrote the music for Mary Poppins Returns, and co-wrote the lyrics with Scott Wittman.
Shaiman grew up in New Jersey, where he left school at 16, got his GED, and went to New York to work in theatre. Shaiman started his career as a theatre/cabaret musical director. He started working at SNL as an arranger/writer and also became vocal arranger for Bette Midler, eventually becoming her musical director and co-producer of many of her recordings. Shaiman has earned five Academy Award nominations, a Tony Award and a Grammy Award for his work on the musical Hairspray, and an Emmy Award for co-writing Billy Crystal's Academy Award performances. He has also been Grammy-nominated for his arrangements for Harry Connick Jr.'s recordings When Harry Met Sally... and We Are in Love as well as Hairspray and Smash and Emmy-nominated for his work on Saturday Night Live and Smash. In 2002, he was honored with the "Outstanding Achievement in Music-In-Film" award at The Hollywood Film Festival, and in 2007 he was honored with ASCAP's Henry Mancini Award in recognition of his outstanding achievements and contributions to the music of film and television. He is the first recipient of the Film & TV Music Award for Best Score for a Comedy Feature Film.
Let’s say you’re lost in a park. Sure, you can give in to the dark,
Or you can trip a little light fantastic with me.
When you’re alone in your room, your choice is,
“Just embrace the gloom,” or you can grip a little light fantastic with me.
For if you hide under the covers you might never see the day,
But if a spark can start inside your heart then you can always find the way.
So when life is gettin’ dreary just pretend that you’re a leerie
as you trip a little light fantastic with me.
Now when you’re stuck in the mist, sure, you can struggle and resist,
or you can trip a little light fantastic with me.
Now, say you’re lost in the crowd, well, you can stamp and scream out loud,
or you can trip a little light fantastic with me.
And when the fog comes rolling in just keep your feet upon the path.
Mustn’t mope and frown, or worse, lie down. Don’t let it be your epitaph!
So when life is gettin’ scary, be your own “illuminary” who can shine
for all the world to see, as you trip a little light fantastic with me!
Now if your life is gettin’ foggy, that’s no reason to complain.
There’s so much in store inside the door of Seventeen Cherry Tree Lane.
So when troubles are incessant, simply be more incandescent,
for your light comes with a lifetime guarantee,
as you trip a little light fantastic with me.
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 ministerial 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 Catholic 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.
Take My Life and Let it Be
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).
The tune MESSIAH, also sometimes called HEROLD, was written by Ferdinand Herold (1791-1833).
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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