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:
O du Liebe meiner Liebe - Sigrid Karg-Eiert
(c.1941, Edward B. Marks Music)
Originally a folk song ("Sollen nun die grünen Jahre") dating from around 1700, O DU LIEBE MEINER LIEBE was used as a hymn tune in the Catholic hymnal Bambergisches Gesangbuch (1732). The tune name is the incipit of the text to which it was set in Johann Thommen's Erbaulicher Musicalischer Christen-Schatz oder 500 Geistliche Lieder (1745). The Psalter Hymnal version is from a manuscript chorale book of the Moravian Brethren compiled in Herrnhut in 1735. Johannes Thommen (1711-1783) was a Swiss pietist, who traveled through Scandinavia singing hymns and accompanying himself on his 10-string guitar.
The text was written by the German poet, Elizabeth von Senitz (1629-1679), who was born of Silesian nobility. She wrote hymns and poems. She was a member of Nuremberg literary society, the Pegnesischer Blumenorden, which was managed by Sigismund von Birken, and played a significant role in the development of women's writing.
A rough translation of the German text is:
O you love of my love, my desired bliss, who from the highest throne entered into
miserable sorrow, you suffered for my benefit, treated as a sheep for slaughter
and paid with your blood for all the misdeeds of the world.
Love that comes with sweat and tears grieves on the Mount of Olives,
Love that with flesh and blood incessantly loved, love that with all will bears wrath,
so that no one born of man would suffer death.
Those with strong hearts listen to all the disgrace and scorn.
Love that comes with fear and pain, but is not hurt by bitter death,
love that shows itself when strength and breath ends, when body and soul separate.
Love, whose with arms wanted to embrace me at last in supreme mercy, who died and
prayed for me to God the Father, that iniquity should not seize me,
because he died for me.
Love, that died for me and an everlasting life acquired on the cross,
Oh! how I think of your blood - Oh! I kiss your wounds, you wounded Jesus!
Let me, in the hour of my death, find gentle rest with you.
You have suffered death and, for my cold heart, been buried in an earthen grave.
Oh! Thank you that you died so I can live forever.
You bought salvation for all. Oh! Thank you for your mercy.
Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877-1933) was a German composer of considerable fame in the early twentieth century. The cultural climate in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s was very hostile to the internationally oriented, French-influenced Karg-Elert; and although his works were admired outside Germany, especially in the U.K. (the Organ Music Society of London held a ten-day festival in his honour in 1930) and in the U.S.A., in his home country his music was almost completely neglected. Karg-Elert regarded himself as an outsider. Notable influences in his work include composers Johann Sebastian Bach (he often used the B.A.C.H. motif in Bach's honour), Edvard Grieg, Claude Debussy, Max Reger, Aleksandr Scriabin, and early Arnold Schoenberg. In general terms, his musical style can be characterised as being late-romantic with impressionistic and expressionistic tendencies. His profound knowledge of music theory allowed him to stretch the limits of traditional harmony without losing tonal coherence.
Sortita per Organo o Armonio, Op. 165c - Luigi Bottazzo
(c.2010 Wayne Leopold Editions)
Luigi Bottazzo (1845-1924) was an Italian organist and composer. At the age of 9, he became blind; studied music at the Institute for the Blind in Padova, and at the age of 19, he became teacher of harmony, counterpoint and organ in the same institute. He composed more than 300 works, mostly for organ, but also for voice and piano, piano solo, solo voices, voice and organ. He also published a series of music theory books, some of which were adopted by music conservatories.
A sortita, or sortie, is literally a piece of music to be played while people leave at the close of a service.
About the Choral Music:
Wondrous Love - Eric Thiman
(c.1962, Broadman Press)
“What Wondrous Love Is” This is sometimes described as a "white spiritual", from the American South. Its text was first published in 1811, during the Second Great Awakening, and its melody is derived from an English popular ballad. The hymn's lyrics were first published in Lynchburg, Virginia in the c. 1811 camp meeting songbook A General Selection of the Newest and Most Admired Hymns and Spiritual Songs Now in Use. The lyrics may also have been printed, in a slightly different form, in the 1811 book Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Original and Selected published in Lexington, Kentucky. In most early printings, the hymn's text was attributed to an anonymous author, though the 1848 hymnal The Hesperian Harp attributes the text to a Methodist pastor from Oxford, Georgia named Alexander Means. Camp meeting attendees during the Second Great Awakening would sing the hymns printed in these hymnals to a variety of popular melodies, including "The Ballad of Captain Kidd", which was well known at the time; this is likely how the text and melody came to be paired. The text and melody were first published together in The Southern Harmony, a book of shape note hymns compiled by William Walker. In 1966, the United Methodist Hymnal became the first standard hymnal to incorporate “What Wondrous Love Is This”. Today it is a widely known hymn included in many hymnals.
Eric Harding Thiman (1900 – 1975) was an English composer and organist.Largely self-taught, he was awarded an FRCO in 1921. From 1930 he was Professor of Harmony at the Royal Academy of Music and later, from 1956 to 1962, was Dean of the Faculty of Music at the University of London. From 1958, having moved from Park Chapel (a Congregational Church in Crouch End, later to join with Ferme Park Baptist Church to form a Union Church in the same district, he was organist of the City Temple in London, a Congregational Church where he increased his renown as an improviser of great skill. He was a keen advocate of amateur music-making and in the 1960s was the conductor and Musical Director of the Purley Choral Society. A prolific composer of small-scale works, he wrote much educational music for piano and other instruments, as well as accessible music for church choirs.
What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this, O my soul,
What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul.
When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down,
When I was sinking down, sinking down,
When I was sinking down beneath God's righteous frown,
Christ laid aside His crown for my soul, for my soul,
Christ laid aside His crown for my soul.
To God and to the Lamb, I will sing, I will sing,
To God and to the Lamb I will sing,
To God and to the Lamb Who is the great 'I am';
While millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing,
While millions join the theme, I will sing,
While millions join the theme, I will sing.
About the Hymns:
Great Is Thy Faithfulness
(c.1951, Hope Publishing Co)
A native of the small Kentucky town of Franklin, Thomas Obediah Chisholm (1866-1960) was born in a log cabin. He lacked formal education. Nevertheless, he became a teacher at age sixteen and the associate editor of his hometown weekly newspaper, the “Franklin Advocate”, at age twenty-one. Though he was ordained a Methodist minister in 1903, he served only a single, brief appointment at Scottsville, Kentucky, due to ill health. He wrote more than 1200 poems, 800 of which were published. They often appeared in religious periodicals such as the “Sunday School Times”, “Moody Monthly”, and “Alliance Weekly”. Many of these were set to music.
Chisholm had sent a number of his poems to the Rev. William H. Runyan (1870-1957), a musician with the Moody Bible Institute and one of the editors of Hope Publishing Company in Chicago. The tune FAITHFULNESS was written in Baldwin, Kansas, in 1923, and was first published in my private song pamphlets." A phrase in Lamentations 3:22-23 provides a basis for the refrain: "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."
Twenty years later Runyan wrote:
Mr. Chisholm and I were devoted co-workers, and I wrote harmonies to some 20 or 25 of his poems. This particular poem held such
an appeal that I prayed most earnestly that my tune might carryover its message in a worthy way, and the subsequent history of its use indicates that God answers prayer.
Showing early musical promise, Runyan was a substitute church organist by the age of twelve. He became a Methodist minister in 1891 and served several churches in Kansas but turned to evangelism in 1903; he worked for the Central Methodist Conference for the next twenty years. Following that service, Runyan became pastor at the Federated Church at John Brown University, Sulphur Springs [sic: Siloam Springs], Arkansas. Editor of Christian Workers Magazine, he also served the Moody Bible Institute and was an editor for Hope Publishing Company until his retirement in 1948. Runyan wrote a number of hymn texts, gospel songs, and hymn tunes. "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" became an unofficial school hymn at Moody Bible Institute.
George Beverly Shea (1909-2013), the famous Canadian-born singer of the Billy Graham Crusades, introduced this hymn to those attending the evangelistic meetings in Great Britain in 1954. It immediately became a favorite. This hymn appeared in many evangelical hymnals and song collections but was not chosen for an official Methodist hymnal until The United Methodist Hymnal (1989), even though the author was a Methodist. It was a very popular hymn of the former Evangelical United Brethren Church and had been included in their hymnals.
According to Carlton Young, "Great is thy faithfulness" was second only to "In the garden" as the most requested hymn for inclusion in The United Methodist Hymnal. A survey conducted in 2000 by Dean McIntyre, Director of Music Resources, General Board of Discipleship, revealed that "Great is thy faithfulness" remains one of the favorite hymns among United Methodists.
Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father.
There is no shadow of turning with thee.
Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not.
As thou hast been thou forever wilt be.
Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,
sun, moon, and stars in their courses above,
join with all nature in manifold witness
to thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love. [Refrain]
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide,
strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow;
blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside! [Refrain]
Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
Lift High the Cross
(c.1974, Hope Publishing Co.)
George W. Kitchin (1827-1912) wrote the original version of this text in 1887 for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. The hymn was intended to be used for a festival service at Winchester Cathedral, England. Michael R. Newbolt (1874-1956) revised the text for the 1916 Supplement to Hymns Ancient and Modern. Perhaps similar to Constantine's vision of Christ's cross, this text makes clear that the cross is a symbol of Christ's love. As Stanley L. Osborne states, "The images are biblical, its moods expectant, its promises courageous, and its demands costly" "Lift High the Cross" reveals many implications of Christ's cross: Christ rallies his people behind him; Christ gathers his people from throughout the world; Christ gives healing to the despair of the world; Christ's victory enjoins our praise to him.
A scholar and Anglican clergyman, Kitchin spent most of his life in academic institutions. Educated at Christ Church, Oxford, England, he was ordained in the Church of England in 1852. He served initially as a headmaster in Twyford, Hampshire, and then as a tutor at Oxford (1863-1883). Dean of Winchester Cathedral from 1883 to 1894 and of Durham Cathedral from 1894 to 1912, Kitchin was also chancellor of Durham University the last few years of his life. His publications include A Life of Pope Pius II (1881), a three volume work entitled A History of France (1877), and archeological writings.
Michael R. Newbolt was educated at St. John's College, Oxford, and ordained as priest in the Church of England in 1900. He ministered at several churches during the early part of his career and then became principal of the Missionary College in Dorchester (1910-1916). From 1916 to 1927 he served St. Michael and All Angels Church in Brighton and from 1927 to 1946 was canon of Chester Cathedral. Newbolt wrote several theological works, including a commentary on the Book of Revelation.
Sir Sydney H. Nicholson (1875-1947) composed the tune CRUCIFER for the text as revised by Newbolt. The tune name means "cross-bearer" and refers to one who carries the cross in a liturgical procession. Often considered Nicholson's finest tune, CRUCIFER has broad melodic gestures and an effective cadence to the stanzas, which leads right back into the refrain without interruption, pause, or slowing down. Perhaps similar to Constantine's vision of Christ's cross, this text makes clear that the cross is a symbol of Christ's love. "Lift High the Cross" reveals many implications of Christ's cross: Christ rallies his people behind him; Christ gathers his people from throughout the world; Christ gives healing to the despair of the world; Christ's victory enjoins our praise to him.
The original 11 verses are:
Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim
’til all the world adores his sacred name.
Come, brethren, follow where our captain trod,
our King victorious, Christ the Son of God.
Led on their way by this triumphant sign,
the hosts of God in conquering ranks combine.
Each new-born soldier of the Crucified
bears on his brow the seal of him who died.
This is the sign which Satan’s legions fear
and angels veil their faces to revere:
Saved by the cross whereon their Lord was slain
the sons of Adam their lost home regain.
From north and south, from east and west they raise
in growing unison their song of praise.
O Lord once lifted on the glorious tree
as thou hast promised, draw us unto thee.
Let every race and every language tell
of him who saves our souls from death and hell.
From farthest regions let them homage bring
and on his cross adore their Saviour King.
Set up thy throne, that earth’s despair may cease
beneath the shadow of its healing peace.
For thy blest cross which doth for all atone
creation’s praises rise before thy throne:
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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