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:
A Luminary for Easter - Betty Louise Lumby
As we remember the narrative that takes us from Good Friday through Easter, the image of buried grain of wheat is an image of Christ, but the seed isn’t just a symbol of His death and rebirth from the grave, but a promise of future abundance and the coming harvest: Jesus Himself is the “first fruits” of the new creation. We are called not only to be workers for that harvest, but to be, like Him, the harvested grain. As Christ entered into His glory through self-sacrifice, so we also give ourselves. This combined image of death and renewal is the heart of John Crumb’s hymn “Now the Green Blade Riseth”, first published in 1928 in the Oxford Book of Carols and set to an old French Christmas carol tune (“Noel Nouvelet”). A graduate of Oxford, Crum (1872-1958) was an Anglican priest who served as Canon of Canterbury.
Now the green blade riseth from the buried grain, Wheat that in dark earth three days has lain. Love lives again, that with the dead has been; Love is come again, like wheat that springeth green.
In the grave they laid him, love whom we had slain, Thinking that he’d never wake to life again, Laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen: Love is come again like wheat that springeth green.
Betty Louise Lumby (1926-2020) was born in Detroit and received degrees from the Detroit Institute of Art, the University of Detroit, and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She received a doctorate in sacred music from Union Theological Seminary, New York, after which she was a Fulbright Scholar at the Staatliche Hochschule fur Musik in West Germany with Helmut Walcha. She taught at the Detroit Institute and Howard College (now Samford University). She taught organ, harpsichord, counterpoint, and sacred music at the University of Montevallo, in Montevallo, Alabama, from 1956-2012. She performed and gave workshops and masterclasses throughout the the US, Canada, and the Bahamas. She served in many capacities at the local, regional, and national levels of the American Guild of Organists. A devout Roman Catholic, she was oblate and titular organist for St. Bernard Abbey in Cullman, Alabama for over 20 years. Through her faith, music, influence, brilliance, love, graciousness, wit and unique personality, she graced the earth as an extraordinary woman.
She wrote a method of organ playing and a number of works for organ appropriate for worship or concert. Rather than publish, she shared these freely with her students and colleagues. Lumby’s setting of “Now the Green Blade Riseth” is a mystic contemplation of the mystery of the resurrection.
In dir ist Freude – 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 the main composer 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).
The Orgelbüchlein ("Little Organ Book") is a collection of 46 chorale preludes for organ, which form the first of Bach's masterpieces with a mature compositional style in marked contrast to his previous compositions for the instrument. Each of them treats a known Lutheran chorale with a motivic accompaniment. Bach explored a wide diversity of forms in the Orgelbüchlein. As stated by Spitta in his biography of Bach:
A further step towards perfection this form was taken by Bach when he made the contrapuntal elements in his music a means of reflecting certain emotional aspects of the words. Pachelbel had not attempted this; he lacked the fervid feeling which would have enabled him thus to enter into his subject. And it is entering into it, and not a mere depicting of it. For, once more be it said, in every vital movement of the world external to us we behold the image of a movement within us; and every such image must react upon us to produce the corresponding emotion I that inner world of feeling.
The tune, “In dir ist Freude”, is one of many balletti (dance-like songs) written by Giovanni G. Gastoldi (1554-1609), a priest and composer from Mantua, Italy. It was originally published in his Balleti a cinque voce (1591), where it was set to "Alieta vi.a, Amor ciinuita", which like so many balletti had a "fa-la-la" refrain. Cantor Johann Lindemann (1549-1631) wrote this text to fit the tune. It was published in Lindemann's Amarum Filii Dei Decades Duae (1598). Catherine Winkworth prepared the English translation for the second series of her Lyra Germanica (1858). The text confesses with joy the Christian's security of walking intimately with God through the ups and downs of daily life. Bach has set the melody in complex counterpoint which expresses pure joy in virtual abandon.
In Thee is gladness amid all sadness, Jesus, Sunshine of my heart!
By Thee are given the gifts of heaven, Thou the true Redeemer art!
Our souls Thou wakest, our bonds Thou breakest. Hallelujah.
Who trust Thee surely hath built securely; through life and death,
He stands forever: Hallelujah!
Jesus is ours! We fear no powers, not of earth or sin or death.
He sees and blesses in worst distresses; he can change them with a breath.
Wherefore the story - tell of His glory with hearts and voices;
all heaven rejoices in him forever: Allelujah!
We shout for gladness, triumph o'er sadness, love him and praise him,
and still shall raise him glad hymns forever: Allelujah!
About the Trumpet Music:
Psalm XIX - Benedetto Marcello
Born in Venice, Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739) was a member of a noble family and his compositions are frequently referred to as Patrizio Veneto. Although he was a music student of Antonio Lotti and Francesco Gasparini, his father wanted Benedetto to devote himself to law. Benedetto managed to combine a life in law and public service with one in music. In 1711, he was appointed a member of the Council of Forty (in Venice's central government), and in 1730, he went to Pola as Provveditore (district governor). Due to his health having been "impaired by the climate” of Istria, Marcello retired after eight years in the capacity of Camerlengo to Brescia, where he died of tuberculosis. Benedetto Marcello was the brother of Alessandro Marcello, also a notable composer. Benedetto Marcello married his singing student Rosanna Scalfi in a secret ceremony, because as a nobleman, his marriage to a commoner was unlawful. After Marcello's death the marriage was declared null by the state, and Rosanna was unable to inherit his estate. She filed suit in 1742 against Benedetto's brother Alessandro Marcello, seeking financial support. Marcello composed a variety of music including considerable church music, oratorios, hundreds of solo cantatas, duets, sonatas, concertos and sinfonias.
Marcello's “Psalms of David” constitute an unusual chapter in the history music. They were collectively published under the title L'estro poetico-armonico: parafrasi sopra li primi [e secondi] venticinque salmi di Davide (Poetic-harmonic fecundity: The first [second] twenty-five Psalms of David) in eight folio (large-format) volumes issued between 1724 and 1726. Catalogues often take the subtitle for the initial title, thus beginning Parafrasi... (Paraphrases...), following the subtitle. In textual sources, the collection is usually cited as the Estro poetico-armonico, while in editions the single works are named and designated psalms. The Psalms of David that were published in Venice in eight folio volumes (1724-1726) bring into convergence an array of approaches to composition. Yet all of them pursue a single goal: to suit the antiquity of the subject to allusions to antiquity in the music. Marcello was precocious in adopting this aim. He was a leader among Venetian noblemen in the breadth of his intellect and the depth of his commitment to antiquarianism.
The musical settings are based on vernacular translations from the original Hebrew by Gerolamo Ascanio Giustiniani II, who, like Marcello came from a noble Venetian family. The Giustiniani family resided in a modest north-facing palazzo on Venice's Grand Canal in the parish of San Barnabà, and the first performances of Marcello's Psalms are thought to have been presented privately in their salon looking onto the water. Why Giustiniani and Marcello decided to present only 50 of the Psalms is unknown, but the choice may derive from the Torah. Five (the number of books in the Pentateuch) and its multiple 50 figured prominently in the organization of Jewish and Christian liturgy. In the latter the celebratory feast of Easter was framed by two periods of 50 days, the first being Lent, the last the feast of Pentecost. The later celebrated the descent of the Holy Spirit, which completed the formation of the Trinity.
Marcello's Psalms were very popular in England. In particular they were championed by the Newcastle organist Charles Avison (1709-1770), who was won over by their "sublime harmonies". In France, Marcello's Psalms were praised for their counterpoint, in Germany for their melodies. Avison labored intensely in the preparation of an eight-volume edition with English lyrics. The series was published by John Garth, the organist of Durham Cathedral, in 1757.
19 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
2 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. 3 There is no
speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. 4 Their line is gone out through all
the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the
sun, 5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong
man to run a race. 6 His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto
the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. 7 The law of the Lord is
perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
8 The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is
pure, enlightening the eyes. 9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the
judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they
than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.
12 Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. 13 Keep back
thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall
I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. 14 Let the words of my
mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength,
and my redeemer.
This arrangement for trumpet and organ was written by Sue Mitchell-Wallace and John Head. Sue Mitchell-Wallace (b. 1944) was born in Hammond, Indiana. She is a graduate of Rollins College and did post graduate work at Barry College, Westminster Choir College and the University of Miami. For twelve years she served on the music faculty, and as University organist, at Florida Atlantic University. She is currently organist/choir director at Saint Luke's Presbyterian Church in Dunwoody-Atlanta, Georgia. John Head (b. 1938) was born, raised and lives in Atlanta, Georgia. He received his Bachelor's Degree in music from Stetson University and a Master of Music Degree in trumpet and conducting from Indiana University. He began his professional career with the Birmingham Symphony and now plays Principal Trumpet with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. He collaborated with Sue Mitchell-Wallace to produce four organ and solo trumpet collections.
About the Vocal Duet Music:
Glory to Our Risen King - Eugene Butler
Eugene Butler (b. 1935) has established a solid and respected position in the music world as a composer, conductor, educator, and church musician. Butler received degrees of Bachelor of Music Education from Oklahoma University, Master of Sacred Music from Union Theological Seminary in New York, and Doctor of Musical Arts (Composition) from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. As a composer, he has received various honors, such as Kansas "Composer of the Year" and the coveted ASCAP Standard Music Panel Award, every year since 1972. In 1983, he was selected outstanding alumnus by the University of Missouri-Kansas City. In 1986, Butler was honored with the prestigious Burlington-Northern Railroad recognition for Excellence in Teaching and also received the Distinguished Service Award from Johnson County Community College. In 1989, he received a National Teaching Excellence Award from the University of Texas-Austin. Dr. Butler served as Director of Choral Activities and Music Theory at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas. He was Director of Music and the Arts at Valley View United Methodist Church in Overland Park, where he served for 28 years.
“Glory to Our Risen King” features a text by John Weston set to the tune UNSER HERSSCHER, written by Joachim Neander in 1680. Joachim Neander (1650-1680) was born at Bremen, whose father was the headmaster of the local Paedagogium. The family name was originally Neumann (Newman) or Niemann, but the grandfather of the poet had assumed the Greek form of the name, i.e. Neander. After completing the Paedagogium he entered himself as a student at the Gymnasium illustre (Academic Gymnasium) of Bremen. German student life in the 17th century was anything but refined, and Neander seems to have been as riotous and as fond of questionable pleasures as most of his fellows. In July 1670, Theodore Under-Eyck came to Bremen as pastor of St. Martin's Church, with the reputation of a Pietist and holder of conventicles. Not long after Neander, with two like-minded comrades, went to service there one Sunday, in order to criticize and find amusement. But the earnest words of Under-Eyck touched his heart; and this, with his subsequent conversations with Under-Eyck, proved the turning-point of his spiritual life. In the spring of 1674 he was appointed Rector of the Latin school at Düsseldorf (see further below). Finally, in 1679, he was invited to Bremen as unordained assistant to Under-Eyck at St. Martin's Church. Neander was the first important hymn-writer of the German Reformed Church since the times of Blaurer and Zwick. The finest are the jubilant hymns of Praise and Thanksgiving, such as his "Lobe den Herren” (Praise to the Lord, the Almighty).
Sound the trumpet, raise your voices, Christ is Risen as He said.
Christ is risen, earth rejoices, For the shadows all have fled.
Alleluia, alleluia, Christ is risen from the dead.
We remember how we parted when we left that upper room;
How we scattered, broken-hearted, All our hopes lay in the tomb.
Alleluia, alleluia, Gone is all our doubt and gloom.
Now we understand the measure of God’s love since time began.
For he gave his richest treasure in his great redemption [lan.
Alleluia, alleluia, Gave his Son to die for man.
Sound the trumpet, raise your voices, Let your songs of triumph ring!
Christ is risen, earth rejoices, Men and angels join to sing:
Alleluia! Alleluia! Glory to our risen King!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen!
About the Hymns:
Christ the Lord is Risen Today
"Hymn for Easter Day" was written by Charles Wesley in 1739 for the inaugural service at the Foundry Meeting House, London's first Wesleyan chapel. As with many of the most popular hymns, "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today" has survived the centuries thanks to a successful marriage of lyrics and music. The tune first circulated in 1708 with the Lyra Davidica hymnal, but no composer has ever been acknowledged. It was first published in A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodists, John Wesley's hymnbook first published in 1780. Charles Wesley's original text does not include the song's most distinctive characteristic—the "Alleluia!" that ends each line. An unknown editor added the alleluias later.
“Alleluia”, meaning "Praise the Lord," prominently leads off Psalms 106, 111, 112, 113, 117, and 135 in the Hebrew hymnal. In the years immediately following Christ's resurrection, “alleluia” particularly connoted praise for Jesus' victory over death. Early Christians began greeting each other on Easter with the now-familiar call and response: "Alleluia! He is risen!" "Alleluia! He is risen indeed!" Alleluia is meant to convey emphatic joy, thanksgiving, and triumph.
John captures the triumph in Revelation 19 with his vision of the great multitude in heaven roaring, "Alleluia!" Jerome, translator of the Latin Vulgate, conveyed the joy when he wrote that Christian houses of worship in the fourth and fifth centuries shook from the intense alleluias shouted by believers. Roman Catholics and Anglicans refrain from speaking or singing alleluia during Lent, but they reintroduce the word into their liturgies to express their thanksgiving on Easter morning. Even in nonliturgical churches, alleluia retains a kind of liturgical significance. Bernard Lord Manning, a hymnologist, historian, and observer of Methodism during the early 20th century, explained how hymns like "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today" functioned as a liturgy for John and Charles Wesley's spiritual descendants.
But in the evening at the chapel [the Dissenting church], though I was uncertain about the prayers, there was no gamble about the hymns. I knew we should have Charles Wesley's Easter hymn, "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today," with its 24 "Alleluias": and we did have it. Among any Dissenters worth the name that hymn is as certain to come on Easter Day as the Easter Collect in the Established Church. And mark this further—those 24 "Alleluias" are not there for nothing: the special use of "Alleluia" at Easter comes down to us from the most venerable liturgies. Our hymns are our liturgy, an excellent liturgy. Let us study it, respect it, use it, develop it, and boast of it.
This melodic liturgy conveys the triumphant joy that is ours on Easter morning. Alleluia! Christ is risen!
Christ the Lord is ris’n today, Alleluia! Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia! Sing, ye heav’ns, and earth, reply, Alleluia!
Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia! Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Once He died our souls to save, Alleluia! Where thy victory, O grave? Alleluia!
Love’s redeeming work is done, Alleluia! Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!
Death in vain forbids His rise, Alleluia! Christ hath opened paradise, Alleluia!
Soar we now where Christ hath led, Alleluia! Foll’wing our exalted Head, Alleluia!
Made like Him, like Him we rise, Alleluia! Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!
Hail the Lord of earth and heaven, Alleluia! Praise to Thee by both be given, Alleluia!
Thee we greet triumphant now, Alleluia! Hail the Resurrection, thou, Alleluia!
King of glory, Soul of bliss, Alleluia! Everlasting life is this, Alleluia!
Thee to know, Thy pow’r to prove, Alleluia! Thus to sing, and thus to love, Alleluia!
Up from the Grave He Arose
Robert Lowry (1826-1899), the Philadelphia-born author and composer of this hymn, was a popular Baptist preacher and educator who served churches in Pennsylvania, New York City and Plainfield, N.J. Lowry studied theology at the University of Lewisburg (now Bucknell University). He became known for his gospel songs while ministering in Brooklyn, collaborating often with William H. Doane in producing gospel song collections.
Among his most famous gospel compositions are “Nothing but the Blood of Jesus” and “Shall We Gather at the River”. He also composed tunes for other’s texts, such as MARCHING TO ZION, a camp meeting version of Isaac Watts’ text, “Come, We that Love the Lord,” and NEED, a tune for Annie Hawks’ hymn, “I Need Thee Every Hour.” When William Bradbury, another well known gospel song writer, died, Lowry was selected by the Biglow Publishing Company in 1868 to be its music editor. In this capacity he published more than 20 Sunday school songbooks. Pure Gold, considered to be his most successful publication, sold more than 1,000,000 copies.
When asked about writing a hymn, he said, “It must be readily apprehended by the Christian consciousness, coming forth from the experience of the writer, and clothed in strong and inspiring words.”
“Low in the Grave He Lay,” called “Christ Arose” in many hymnals, was composed in 1874 while Lowry was the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Lewisburg, Pa. It first appeared in the collection Brightest and Best (1875) under the title “He is not here, but risen—Luke 24:5.” When it was included in music evangelist Ira D. Sankey’s Sacred Songs and Solos (1875), the song became very popular in the Moody-Sankey revivals. From that point it appeared in a number of 19th-century British and American hymnals.
Mr. Osbeck records this account: Following his reflection on the resurrection as recorded in Luke 24:6-8, “. . . Lowry found himself seated at the little pump organ in the parlor of his home, and, in a very spontaneous fashion, there came forth the music and the words, giving expression to the thoughts that had been uppermost in his mind.” The centerpiece of the song is the textual and musical contrast between the stanzas and the refrain. The dirge-like stanzas in block chords with a melody that plods in a step-wise fashion give way to a rhythmic refrain that surges up like a trumpet blast. Like many gospel songs, the three stanzas basically say the same thing three different ways. Each stanza ends with “Jesus my Lord!”—reminiscent of the early Christian affirmation “Jesus is Lord.” (Romans 10:9-13) The music of this song captures perfectly the spirit of the transition from Good Friday to Easter Sunday.
Low in the grave he lay, Jesus my Savior,
waiting the coming day, Jesus my Lord!
Vainly they watch his bed, Jesus my Savior,
vainly they seal the dead, Jesus my Lord!
Death cannot keep its prey, Jesus my Savior;
he tore the bars away, Jesus my Lord!
Up from the grave he arose; with a mighty triumph o'er his foes;
he arose a victor from the dark domain,
and he lives forever, with his saints to reign.
He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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