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:
Angels We Have Heard on High - Christopher Uehlein
"Angels We Have Heard on High" is a Christmas carol of French origin in the public domain. The song commemorates the story of the birth of Jesus Christ found in the Gospel of Luke, in which shepherds outside Bethlehem encounter a multitude of angels singing and praising the newborn child. People began to chant the phrase "Gloria in excelsis Deo" in Christmas Eve worship services as early as 130 A.D. In medieval times, French shepherds had a Christmas Eve tradition of shouting "Gloria in excelsis Deo" to each other as they watched over their sheep flocks on their respective hills in southern France. A Latin chorale version may have inspired the traditional French Christmas carol 'Les Anges dans nos Campagnes,' which Edward Shippen Barnes used in the 1800s to arrange the first version of 'Angels We Have Heard on High'. The most common English version that was translated in 1862 by James Chadwick, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle, northeast England. 'Angels We Have Heard on High' was first published in English as part of an 1862 book called Crown of Jesus Music. But the version that has become popular worldwide was published later, in 1916, in the book Carols Old and Carols New.
Angels we have heard on high sweetly singing o’er the plains,
And the mountains in reply echoing their joyous strains,
Gloria, in excelsis Deo! Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Shepherds, why this jubilee? Why your joyous strains prolong?
What the gladsome tidings be which inspire your heavenly song?
Gloria, in excelsis Deo! Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Come to Bethlehem and see Christ whose birth the angels sing;
Come adore on bended knee, Christ the Lord, the newborn King.
Gloria, in excelsis Deo! Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
See him in a manger laid, whom the choirs of angels praise;
Mary, Joseph, lend your aid, while our hearts in love we raise.
Gloria, in excelsis Deo! Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Fr. Christopher Uehlein, OSB (1931-1919) was a monk of the former Blue Cloud Abbey, Marvin, SD. Having studied at DePaul University, he was organist and Jubilarian at the Abbey. His funeral Mass was celebrated at St. Augustine Home on July 1, 2019.
Der Morgenstern ist aufgedrungen - Max Drischner
"Der Morgenstern ist aufgedrungen" (The morning star is risen) is an Advent song and Christmas carol with lyrics by Lutheran minister Daniel Rumpius (or Rump), published first in 1587. The common melody by Michael Praetorius appeared later in 1609. It was reprinted, slightly revised by Otto Riethmüller in 1932, and is part of the current Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch and other song books.
Rumpius, a Lutheran minister in Stepenitz, published the song in seven stanzas in 1587 in his Liedbüchlein, darin begriffen Lehre, Trost, Vermahnung, Beichte, Klage, Bitte, Gebete, Fürbitte, Danksagungen etc… (Song booklet, containing doctrine, consolation, admonition, confession, request, prayers, intercessions, thanksgiving etc.). He placed it in a section for Advent, titled Vermanung zur Busse auff Weihenachten… der Margaret Gammen frawen witwen auf seinen thon, which indicates that he understood Advent as a time of repentance in preparation of Christmas, and that he wrote it as an occasional song for a sick widow in distress ("kranckn betrübten Witwe”). Rump adapted the song from a secular song in Low German. He followed the model closely in the first two stanzas. Rump introduced angels in the first stanza, to connect the call to Christmas. It is closed with a praise of the morning star as a symbol of Jesus.
The song appeared in 1925 in a collection by Wilhelm Witzke, Sechzig auserlesene deutsche Volkslieder (Sixty selected German folk songs). Otto Riethmüller published it in 1932 as an Advent song, changing the last line of the second stanza to connect the song to the metaphoric equation of Jesus as the Bridegroom, found in "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme" based on the Song of Songs.
A rough English translation of the text is:
The morning star has been revealed;
therefore, at this hour it shines
high above the mountain and the deep
valley. The dear angels sing to us for joy.
For joy the guards sing to us at the battlements:
Wake up for the Lord with their servants
Wake up at this joyful time
And keep your soul and keep your body alert.
Is your sleep so deep and sweet?
God calls you through his gracious goodness,
wakes you with his divine presence.
Will you not watch, all who sin?
Christ in Heaven thought about how He helped us
and brought us out
The suffering wholly and completely torn.
Then let us be released and free.
Now strive on. I want to protect you.
O man, you give me your heart.
You have taken my heart to you.
I came to you from heaven.
I have sung this new song out in the old world
With Christian cheerful courage for the benefit of
the sick and grieving.
God wants to bestow his grace and favor
upon the weak. God works for the best to
give the soul health and strength.
The morning star has burst open,
so at this hour it shines
high above mountain and deep valley.
The angels sing joy unto us.
Wake up, the watchman sings to us
with joy on the high pinnacle:
Wake up at this time of joy!
The groom is coming, now get ready!
Max Drischner (1891-1971) was a German composer, Kantor, organist, and harpsichordist. Drischner was born in Silesia. After completing his secondary education, he pursued studies in theology in Leipzig and Breslau, beginning in 1910. By 1914, however, he had decided to quit his theological studies in favor of studying music. At this time, Drischner relocated to Berlin, and was enrolled in the Berlin University of the Arts, where he studied harpsichord. In 1924, Drischner was named Kantor and organist of St. Nicholas Church in Brieg. While in Brieg, Drischer built a reputation for himself as a choirmaster, as well, organizing and directing many successful events, and founding a youth choir. This earned him a renown that stretched beyond Brieg. His efforts earned him the title of Kirchenmusikdirektor ("Church music director"), a very high honor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church.
About the Choral Music:
Sing Joy! – Mark Hayes
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".
Joy to the world! The Lord is come; let earth receive her King.
Let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing.
For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given,
And His name shall be called: Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, o come ye to Bethlehem!
Come and behold Him, born the King of angels!
O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.
Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation.
O sing, all ye bright hosts of heaven above!
Flory to God, all glory in the highest!
Venite adoremus, Dominum.
Joy to the earth! The Savior reigns. Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy.
Sing joy! Repeat the sounding joy!
About the Hymns:
Angels from the Realms of Glory
This hymn was written by James Montgomery (1771-1854), who was born in Scotland of Irish parents. His father, John Montgomery, was a Moravian pastor - apparently the only Moravian pastor serving in Scotland at the time. James Montgomery was just six years old when heard of the death of both his parents who had been in Barbados on a missionary trip. He spent the remainder of his childhood being raised within the school system in Ireland, where he did not excel academically. As a teenager, James was placed in an apprenticeship position to a baker. He grew frustrated with that position and so ran away to Sheffield, England. There he took on various jobs to support himself, while trying to find his niche.
In his early 20s, James was hired to work for a politically active newspaper, the Sheffield Register. James found that he loved to write, and that he was good at it. When the owner of the paper had to flee the country in order to avoid imprisonment, James purchased the newspaper, after which he himself was imprisoned twice for political articles that did not sit well with the governing authorities.
Throughout all his ups and downs, James remained a devout Christian. He remembered well the lessons taught to him by his missionary parents. He chose to follow in their footsteps and to champion the cause of Christ. His newspaper was his pulpit to speak out against social and moral injustice. And in that same paper he published his original hymns of praise. Angels From the Realms of Glory appeared in print on Christmas Eve, 1816.
The tune associated with this hymn is "Regent Square", written by Henry Smart (1813-1879), an English organist and composer, in 1867. Smart named the tune after the Regent Square Presbyterian Church in London. Smart was quite influential in persuading the Anglican Church to adopt congregational singing of hymns. Luther (1483-1546) had introduced congregational singing much earlier in Germany, and had even written a number of hymns. Isaac Watts (1674-1748) had written hundreds of hymns and had popularized hymn singing in non-conforming English churches. Charles Wesley (1707-1788) had done the same for Methodist Churches. The Anglican Church, however, resisted hymn singing until quite late. But Smart was a man of substantial energy and reputation, and was able to turn the tide and to persuade the Anglican Church to adopt hymn singing.
Angels from the realms of glory, wing your flight o’er all the earth;
Ye who sang creation’s story now proclaim Messiah’s birth:
Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ, the newborn King.
Shepherds, in the fields abiding, watching o’er your flocks by night,
God with us is now residing; yonder shines the infant light;
Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ, the newborn King.
Sages, leave your contemplations, brighter visions beam afar;
Seek the great Desire of nations; ye have seen his natal star:
Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ, the newborn King.
Saints, before the altar bending, watching long in hope and fear;
Suddenly the Lord, descending, in his temple shall appear;
Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ, the newborn King.
I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light
Kathleen Thomerson (b. 1934) is Organist and Music Director at Mt. Olive Lutheran Church in Austin, Texas. She was born in Tennessee and grew up in Mississippi, California, and Texas. College music study was at the Universities of Colorado and Texas, the Flemish Royal Conservatory in Antwerp, and privately in Paris. Before retirement in Austin, she lived in Collinsville, Illinois, when her husband was a biology professor at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. Her best-known hymn text is "I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light." It was written as a scriptural meditation and prayer. It was inspired by many Bible verses, including Genesis 1:17, Isaiah 60:19, Psalm 75:16, Psalm 139:12, Ephesians 3:17, Ephesians 5:8, Galatians 4:6, Hebrews 1:3, 1 Thessalonians 5:5, 2 Peter 1:19, 1 John 1:5-7, and Revelation 21:23.
I want to walk as a child of the light; I want to follow Jesus.
God set the stars to give light to the world;
The star of my life is Jesus.
I want to see the brightness of God. I want to look at Jesus.
Clear Sun of Righteousness, shine on my path,
and show me the way to the Father.
I’m looking for the coming of Christ. I want to be with Jesus.
When we have run with patience the race,
we shall know the joy of Jesus.
In him there is no darkness at all;
The night and the day are both alike.
The Lamb is the light of the city of God.
Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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