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; most of it is copied from other websites 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:
Toccata - Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, (1562-1621, Dutch organist and composer, one of the principal figures in the development of organ music before J.S. Bach. Sweelinck succeeded his father as organist of the Oude Kerk (Old Church), Amsterdam, in about 1580 and remained in this post until his death.
Although he composed much sacred and secular vocal music in the polyphonic traditions of France and the Netherlands (including the Chansons, the Cantiones sacrae, and settings of the Psalms), Sweelinck was chiefly known as an organist and keyboard composer. His keyboard music includes chorale variations, toccatas and fantasias showing the influence of the Venetian organ school, and sets of variations on secular tunes. Sweelinck’s fantasias are among the first organ fugues, in which a single theme is subjected to augmentation, diminution, and changes of rhythm and combined with counter themes.
Sweelinck’s keyboard playing was widely known. His organ pupils included the German composers Samuel Scheidt and Heinrich Scheidemann; Scheidemann’s pupil J.A. Reinken handed on this tradition of organ playing to the Danish organist Dietrich Buxtehude. Many outstanding organists of the following generation, particularly in northern Germany, were pupils of Sweelinck; Handel and Bach were influenced by this northern German school of organ playing.
About the Piano Music:
My Shepherd Will Supply My Need - C. E. Walz
(c.2018, Lorenz Publishing Co)
Isaac Watts (1674-1748) was the son of a schoolmaster and was born in Southampton. He is said to have shown remarkable precocity in childhood, beginning the study of Latin, in his fourth year, and writing respectable verses at the age of seven. At the age of sixteen, he went to London to study in the Academy of the Rev. Thomas Rowe, an Independent minister. In 1698, he became assistant minister of the Independent Church, Berry St., London. In 1702, he became pastor. The number of Watts' publications is very large. His collected works, first published in 1720, embrace sermons, treatises, poems and hymns. His "Horae Lyricae" was published in December, 1705. His "Hymns" appeared in July, 1707. The first hymn he composed for religious worship, "Behold the glories of the Lamb," was written at the age of twenty. Some of his hymns were written to be sung after his sermons, giving expression to the meaning of the text upon which he had preached. Montgomery calls Watts "the greatest name among hymn-writers," and the honor can hardly be disputed. His published hymns number more than eight hundred. There is a monument to his memory in the South Choir of Westminster Abbey. The inscription reads, "Happy will be that reader whose mind is disposed, by his verses or his prose, to imitate him in all but his non-conformity, to copy his benevolence to men, and his reverence to God."
Psalm 23 has inspired numerous paraphrases and hymn texts, including this text by Isaac Watts. Watts included it in his large 1719 collection of psalm paraphrases, The Psalms of David Imitated. Psalm 23 remains the most well-loved and often recited psalm, and Isaac Watts' powerful paraphrase, coupled with the peaceful yet strong American folk tune, make this hymn a moving rendition of that psalm. Watts’ interpretation of the last line of psalm, “and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever,” gives a new understanding to the original psalm: “No more a stranger or a guest, but like a child at home.” Watts gives us a concrete image of dwelling – a child, knowing he or she is safe and secure, and in a place of love and comfort – to help us understand what it is we hope for. The same peace we find in the pasture and by the stream, we find in the house of the LORD, to which our Shepherd is leading us day by day.
Watts’ text is set to the plaintive, pentatonic folk tune RESIGNATION. The anonymous tune was first printed in Freeman Lewis’ The Beauties of Harmony, 5th ed. (1828), where it was called HOPEWELL, set to “Come, humble sinner in whose breast” by Edmund Jones (1722–1765). This tune was renamed RESIGNATION in Joseph Funk’s Genuine Church Music (1832). It was first paired with Watts’ text in J.W. Steffy’s The Valley Harmonist (Winchester VA: Robinson & Hollis, 1836). This text-tune pairing was more widely disseminated via the Revised Edition of William Walker’s Southern Harmony (Philadelphia: E.W. Miller, 1854). As with the 1828 printing, Walker used shape notes, the four-shape system originally espoused by William Little and William Smith in their Easy Instructor (1801).
My Shepherd, you supply my need, most holy is your name;
in pastures fresh you make me feed, beside the living stream.
You bring my wand'ring spirit back. when I forsake your ways;
you lead me, for your mercy's sake, in paths of truth and grace.
When through the shades of death I walk, your presence is my stay;
one word of your supporting breath drives all my fears away.
Your hand in sight of all my foes, does still my table spread;
my cup with Blessings overflows, your oil anoints my head.
Your sure provisions gracious God attend me all my days;
oh, may your house be my abode, and all my work be praise.
Here would I find a settled rest, while others go and come;
no more a stranger, nor a guest, but like a child at home.
C.E. (Carolyn) Walz was born and raised near Atlanta, Georgia, where, at age ten, she began piano lessons with Robert Fraumann, the minister of music at her church. By age twelve, Carolyn was playing piano solos for church services and accompanying children’s choirs. Apart from her musical studies, Carolyn had a keen interest in teaching English and writing children’s books. She earned her Bachelor of Art Degree in Christian Education from Atlanta Christian College and her Master of Science Degree in Middle Grades Education from Georgia State University. She authored several books for children and became a full-time English teacher at Woodward Academy. In 2015, she retired as English Department Head of the Middle School after more than thirty years of service.
Since retirement, Carolyn has become an active member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and a two-time national winner of the DAR’s American Heritage Instrumental Music Award. Today she continues to serve as a church musician, accompanist, and children’s choir director as she pursues her new interest: composing and arranging piano solos and choral anthems for Lorenz and other publishing companies.
About the Vocal Solo Music:
He Shall Feed His Flock – John Ness Beck
(c. 1986, Beckenhorst Press)
John Ness Beck (November 11, 1930 - June 25, 1987) graduated from Ohio State with Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees with a major in English. After working for a year in Student Union activities at the State College of Washington, he spent two years in the U.S. Army. During this time, he became increasingly involved in arranging for various musical groups. After his discharge from military service, he returned to Ohio State and completed Bachelor of Music and Master of Arts degrees in music with composition as his major. Beck was a faculty member of Ohio State University School of Music for seven years, teaching harmony and theory. He left the university to become owner and manager of The University Music House, a retail sheet music store in Columbus. In this capacity, he was able to observe the business side of the music industry, gaining insight into the complexities of music publishing and merchandising. As his compositions found their way into print and popularity, he joined forces in 1972 with John Tatgenhorst in the creation of Beckenhorst Press. His reputation as a composer and his experience as a choral director soon led to an increasing demand for appearances as guest conductor and lecturer at various musical clinics and festivals throughout the country.
Tender and sincere are the two words which characterize John Ness Beck’s setting of these beloved verses from Isaiah 40 and Psalm 23.
He shall feed His flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs in His arm,
And carry them in His bosom, and gently shall lead those that are with young.
He shall gather the lambs in his arm, He will shelter them,
And carry them close to His heart;
and gently, so gently, ever so gently shall lead those with young.
The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Amen.
About the Hymns:
He Leadeth Me
Although Joseph Gilmore (1834-1918) became a distinguished university and seminary professor, an author of several textbooks in Hebrew and English literature, and a respected Baptist minister, he is best remembered today for this one hymn, hurriedly written when he was just twenty-eight. Gilmore scribbled down these lines in 1862, while visiting with friends after preaching about the truths of the 23rd Psalm at the Wednesday evening service of the First Baptist Church in Philadelphia. He left this account:
At the close of the service we adjourned to Deacon Watson’s pleasant home, where we were being entertained. During our conversation the blessedness of God’s leading so grew upon me that I took out my pencil, wrote the text just as it stands today, handed it to my wife, and thought no more of it.
Without telling her husband, Mrs. Gilmore sent the verses to the “Watchman and Reflector Magazine”, where it first appeared the following year. Three years later Joseph Gilmore went to Rochester, New York, as a candidate to become the pastor of Second Baptist Church. He recalls:
Upon entering the chapel I took up a hymnal, thinking—I wonder what they sing here. To my amazement the book opened up at “He Leadeth Me,” and that was the first time I knew that my hurriedly written lines had found a place among the songs of the church.
William Bradbury, an important American contributor to early gospel hymnody, added two additional lines to the chorus: “His faithful foll’wer I would be, for by His hand He leadeth me.”
He leadeth me: O blessed thought! O words with heavenly comfort fraught!
Whate'er I do, where'er I be, still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me.
Sometimes mid scenes of deepest gloom, sometimes where Eden's flowers bloom,
by waters calm, o'er troubled sea, still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me.
Lord, I would clasp thy hand in mine, nor ever murmur nor repine;
content, whatever lot I see, since 'tis my God that leadeth me.
And when my task on earth is done, when, by thy grace, the victory's won,
e'en death's cold wave I will not flee, since God through Jordan leadeth me.
He leadeth me, he leadeth me; by his own hand he leadeth me:
his faithful follower I would be, for by his hand he leadeth me.
Jesus is All the World to Me
“Jesus is All the World to Me” was written by Will Lamartine Thompson (1847-1909) of East Liverpool, Ohio. Thompson was composing songs by the time he was a teenager, including “My Home on the Old Ohio” and “Gathering Shells from the Seashore.” He was both a lyricist and a composer. After graduating from Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio, he entered he New England Conservatory of Music in 1873. He later continued his musical studies in Leipzig, Germany.
He eventually opened the W.L. Thompson Music Company in East Liverpool, which became “one of the most prominent and successful such businesses in the United States.” Thompson later founded a music and publishing company in Chicago.
He became known as a great writer and composer of gospel songs and hymns, which also included Lead Me Gently Home, Father and Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling. Hymnologist Kenneth Osbeck describes Thompson’s personal characteristics: “He was always known as a kind, quiet and unassuming Christian gentleman, greatly loved and admired by his associates.”
Thompson had a great love for history and continued to serve the Lord through service and various generously giving to various civic organizations. He was also aware of the fact that small town people had very little exposure to good music, so he loaded a piano on a horse-drawn wagon and went through small Ohio towns giving concerts of his music.
“Jesus is all the World to Me” first appeared in the 1904 New Century Hymnal.
Jesus is all the world to me, My life, my joy, my all;
He is my strength from day to day, Without Him I would fall.
When I am sad, to Him I go, No other one can cheer me so;
When I am sad, He makes me glad, He’s my Friend.
Jesus is all the world to me, My Friend in trials sore;
I go to Him for blessings, and He gives them o’er and o’er.
He sends the sunshine and the rain, He sends the harvest’s golden grain;
Sunshine and rain, harvest of grain, He’s my Friend.
Jesus is all the world to me, And true to Him I’ll be;
Oh, how could I this Friend deny, When He’s so true to me?
Following Him I know I’m right, He watches o’er me day and night;
Following Him by day and night, He’s my Friend.
Jesus is all the world to me, I want no better Friend;
I trust Him now, I’ll trust Him when Life’s fleeting days shall end.
Beautiful life with such a Friend, Beautiful life that has no end;
Eternal life, eternal joy, He’s my Friend.
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
No comments:
Post a Comment