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:
Psalm 149 (All Saints’ Day) - Emma Lou Diemer
Emma Lou Diemer (b. 1927) has written many works for orchestra, chamber ensemble, keyboard, voice, chorus (women's, men's), and electronic media. Diemer is a keyboard performer and over the years has given concerts of her own organ works at Washington National Cathedral, The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, Grace Cathedral and St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco, and others. Diemer's compositional style over the years has varied from tonal to atonal, from traditional to experimental. She has written works for non-professional and professional performers, originally under the "Gebrauchsmusik" philosophy, but has produced many works, particularly for keyboard, that are difficult and challenging. She was professor of theory and composition at the University of Maryland 1965-70, and joined the faculty of the University of California (UCSB) in 1971. She is professor emeritus, 1991–present. While at UCSB, Diemer helped to establish the computer/electronic music program.
Diemer’s inspiration for this piece is Psalm 149, a text for All Saints’.
Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints. Let Israel rejoice in him that made
him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with
the timbrel and harp. For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation. Let the saints be joyful
in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand;
To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with
fetters of iron; To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord.
For All the Saints - Tim Doran
Originally in eleven stanzas, “For All the Saints” was published in Earl Nelson's Hymns for Saints' Days (1864) with the heading, "Saints' Day Hymn. A Cloud of Witnesses. Heb. 12:1." The hymn was sung to the melody Sarum, by the Victorian composer Joseph Barnby, until the publication of the English Hymnal in 1906. This hymnal used a new setting by Ralph Vaughan Williams which he called Sine Nomine (literally, "without name") in reference to its use on the Feast of All Saints, 1 November (or the first Sunday in November, All Saints Sunday). It has been described as "one of the finest hymn tunes of [the 20th] century."
For all the saints, who from their labors rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed. Alleluia, Alleluia!
Thou wast their Rock, their Fortress and their Might;
Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well fought fight;
Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true Light. Alleluia, Alleluia!
For the Apostles’ glorious company,
Who bearing forth the Cross o’er land and sea,
Shook all the mighty world, we sing to Thee: Alleluia, Alleluia!
O may Thy soldiers, faithful, true and bold,
Fight as the saints who nobly fought of old,
And win with them the victor’s crown of gold. Alleluia, Alleluia!
For the Evangelists, by whose blest word,
Like fourfold streams, the garden of the Lord,
Is fair and fruitful, be Thy Name adored. Alleluia, Alleluia!
For Martyrs, who with rapture kindled eye,
Saw the bright crown descending from the sky,
And seeing, grasped it, Thee we glorify. Alleluia, Alleluia!
O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine. Alleluia, Alleluia!
And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,
Steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
And hearts are brave, again, and arms are strong. Alleluia, Alleluia!
The golden evening brightens in the west;
Soon, soon to faithful warriors comes their rest;
Sweet is the calm of paradise the blessed. Alleluia, Alleluia!
But lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day;
The saints triumphant rise in bright array;
The King of glory passes on His way. Alleluia, Alleluia!
From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,
Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
Singing to Father, Son and Holy Ghost: Alleluia, Alleluia!
Tim Doran, an accomplished arranger, composer, and studio musician, lives in the Los Angeles area. He is the organist at LaHabra Hills Presbyterian Church, as well as an accompanist for several local high school and college choirs.
About the Piano Music:
Going Home - Joseph Martin
The words for the beautiful song, "Goin' Home" (also known as "Going Home"), are based on Antonin Dvorak's famous "Largo" theme played on English Horn from his Symphony No. 9 (From the New World), Op. 95. His symphony was composed while he was in America and was first performed by the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall on December 16, 1893. It has been said that Dvorak's themes in his symphony were inspired by American folk melodies, especially Afro-American. But his themes are just as similar to Czech or Bohemian folk music and probably came from his own country's music tradition.
Dvorak had nothing to do with writing the words or arranging the music for"Goin' Home”. Some have claimed that "Goin Home" was based on a "negro spiritual" written by Harry T. Burleigh. That is incorrect, even though Burleigh worked with Dvorak when he was in America.
"Goin' Home"was actually written by one of Dvorak's pupils, William Arms Fisher (1861-1948), who adapted and arranged the Largo theme and added his own words. This is part of what Fisher wrote in the published sheet music of his song, "Goin' Home":
The Largo, with its haunting English horn solo, is the outpouring of Dvorak's own home-longing, with something of the loneliness
of far-off prairie horizons, the faint memory of the red-man's bygone days, and a sense of the tragedy of the black-man as it sings
in his "spirituals." Deeper still it is a moving expression of that nostalgia of the soul all human beings feel. That the lyric opening
theme of the Largo should spontaneously suggest the words 'Goin' home, goin' home' is natural enough, and that the lines that
follow the melody should take the form of a negro spiritual accords with the genesis of the symphony. -- William Arms Fisher,
Boston, July 21, 1922.
The original lyrics, written in dialect, follow:
Goin’ home, goin' home, I'm a goin' home; Quiet-like, some still day, I'm jes' goin' home.
It's not far, jes' close by, Through an open door;
Work all done, care laid by, Goin' to fear no more.
Mother's there 'spectin' me, Father's waitin' too;
Lots o' folk gather'd there, All the friends I knew.
Home, I'm goin' home!
Nothin lost, all's gain, No more fret nor pain,
No more stumblin' on the way, No more longin' for the day,
Goin' to roam no more!
Mornin' star lights the way, Res'less dream all done;
Shadows gone, break o' day, Real life jes' begun.
There's no break, there's no end, Jes' a livin' on;
Wide awake, with a smile Goin' on and on.
Goin' home, goin' home, I'm jes' goin' home,
goin' home, goin' home, goin' home!
Joseph Martin (b. 1959 ), a native of North Carolina, earned his Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. Subsequently he earned a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance at the University of Texas, Austin. Joseph taught for five years in the Piano Pedagogy Department of the University of Texas.. He is a member of the staff of Shawnee Press as Director of Sacred Publications, with responsibilities for overseeing the editorial and creative direction of the company’s sacred publications and also coordinating the recording and production aspects of future sacred publishing efforts. Joseph has performed solo piano recitals and has been the featured artist with symphony orchestras in the United States and Mexico. As winner of the Nina Plant Wideman Competition, he performed with the Guadalajara Symphony Orchestra. His solo recital in Ex-convento del Carmen was broadcast nationally throughout the country. Though he continues to perform in concert, he now devotes his efforts to playing in churches and for conferences of church musicians Recognized throughout the United States for his many choral compositions, over 1200 compositions are currently in print and the list continues to grow.
About the Choral Music:
I’m Gonna Rise - Jim Lucas
In a white gospel style that merges with contemporary praise, Paul Marsena gives us a rockin' song that celebrates the victory that is ours at the end times. Jim Lucas has arranged it for choir and piano. No biographical information is available on either Marsena or Lucas.
I’m gonna rise when the Son comes down, when the saints go marchin’ in!
I’m gonna rise when the Son comes down; gonna sing with the heavenly crowd!
I’m gonna rise when the Son comes down, evermore to be with Him!
There’ll be singin’ and shoutin’ and praisin’ the Lord! Hallelu!
There is comin’ a mornin’, afternoon or night,
when the King of kings will break thro’ the sky!
O praise the Lord, His coming is sure, could be any moment now.
I will not fear the battles, I’ll not fear the storms,
‘cause He’s building me a home.
So I’m waitin’ and watchin’ lookin’ and working’, until that glorious hour.
We sing glory and honor, power to the Lamb,
who is worthy to receive all the praise!
And He shall reign forevermore, He who was and is to come.
I will stand and be counted, I’ll fight to the end,
‘cause with Jesus, I have won, yes, I have won.
So I’m waitin’ and watchin’ lookin’ and working’, until that glorious hour.
About the Hymns:
For All the Saints
“For All the Saints” is the quintessential hymn for All Saints’ Day, with its uplifting text and triumphant music. It was written as a processional hymn by the Anglican Bishop of Wakefield, William Walsham How (1823-1879). How was educated at Shrewsbury School and Wadham College, Oxford (B.A. 1845). Taking Holy Orders in 1846, he became successively Curate of St. George's, Kidderminster, 1846; and of Holy Cross, Shrewsbury, 1848. In 1851, he moved to the Rectory of Whittington, Diocese of St. Asaph, becoming Rural Dean in 1853, and Hon. Canon of the Cathedral in 1860. In 1879. he was appointed Rector of St. Andrew's Undershaft, London, and was consecrated Suffragan Bishop for East London, under the title of the Bishop of Bedford, and in 1888 Bishop of Wakefield. In 1854, he published Psalms and Hymns, Compiled by the Rev. Thomas Baker Morrell, M.A., . . . and the Rev. William Walsham How, M.A. This was republished in an enlarged form in 1864, and to it was added a Supplement in 1867. To this collection Bishop How contributed several hymns, and also to the S. P. C. K. Church Hymns , of which he was joint editor, in 1871. Nearly 60 of Bishop How’s hymns are still in common use, the most popular of which are "For all the Saints who from their labors rest" and "We give Thee but Thine own".
I Sing a Song of the Saints of God
"I Sing a Song of the Saints of God" was written in Britain by Lesbia Scott and first published in 1929. The hymn is little-known in Britain, not featuring in the Anglican New English Hymnal, but has become very popular in the United States – particularly in the Episcopal Church, where it has been incorporated into the Episcopal Hymnal 1940. The hymn is especially recommended for corporate worship on All Saints Day.
Lesbia Scott (1898–1986) composed a number of children's hymns which she sang to her own children as a young mother in her twenties. She wrote both the words and the tunes and in 1929 published them in a collection, Everyday Hymns For Little Children, which she also illustrated. Each hymn was devised for a different occasion, and one of them, "Saints' Days", found its way to the United States and was set to a new tune (GRAND ISLE) composed especially for it by retired Episcopal priest John H. Hopkins, Jr. who was the son of the Rev. Theodore Austin Hopkins and the grandson of the first bishop of Vermont, also named John Henry Hopkins; and nephew of John Henry Hopkins Jr., author and composer of "We Three Kings of Orient Are".
GRAND ISLE was written in 1940 and named for the community on the island of the same name in Lake Champlain in Vermont where Hopkins lived in his retirement. In this setting, it was incorporated into the Episcopal Hymnal 1940. It has been retained in the subsequent The Hymnal 1982, after its proposed removal for "lack of theological profundity" that prompted a letter-writing campaign to keep it. The hymn remains a popular favorite with American churchgoers. In a 2003 survey of 'desert island' hymns run by the website Anglicans Online, the hymn was voted 14th. It was used as the signature tune of the BBC Scotland radio program “Fireside Sunday School” in the 1960s sung by the Scottish Junior Singers.
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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