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:
The King of Love My Shepherd Is - Charles Callahan
(c.1991, Concordia Publishing House)
“The King of Love My Shepherd Is” a Sir Henry Baker (1821-1877) paraphrase of Psalm 23. Baker took Holy Orders in the Church of England in 1844. He was closely associated with hymnody in the Church. He wrote many hymns of fine emotion and intellect, and yet his lyrical transcription of the 23rd Psalm was what came to him as he approached “death’s dark vale.” He died in the parsonage of the church where he had served for more than thirty years, a country vicar in the poor edges of Her Majesty Queen Victoria’s mighty Britain. It is said that as he lay dying his final words were those of the 3rd stanza: "Perverse and foolish, oft I strayed, but yet in love he sought me; and on his shoulder gently laid, and home, rejoicing, brought me."
Sir Henry Baker would not at first glance be a candidate for “perverse and foolish.” The son of a vice-admiral, he was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and was ordained in 1844 as a priest in the Church of England. After a curacy, he became the vicar of Monkland. He served his whole adult life in this parish, even after inheriting a baronetcy upon the death of his father. He lived in a nearby parsonage as a bachelor, believing in the celibacy of the clergy, and was cared for by his sister.
A great passion of his life, however, was the production of the innovative Hymns Ancient & Modern (1861), a monumental milestone in the history of English hymnody and a collection of great variety and musical effectiveness. Most congregations in Anglican churches were not singing hymns during the middle of the nineteenth century, being devoted only to metrical psalms. Methodists and evangelicals in England were singing hymns during the first half of the nineteenth century, and their influence spurred the Anglicans to join the ranks of hymn singers by the second half of the century.
A notable feature of this landmark hymnal was the printing of text and tune for each hymn on the same page, so any singer could see and sing the distinctive pairings. Each musical setting was intended to enhance the poetic text of the hymn, making the sensibilities and emotion of the hymn clear. Until this time, most published hymnals contained text only, or a limited number of tunes meant to be used repeatedly with various texts.
Sir Henry Baker led a committee of hymn writers, composers, and editors who compiled the hymns for publication. Many of these contributors were adherents of the Oxford movement. The Oxford movement was an ecclesiastical trend that Susan Drain (author of The Anglican Church in Nineteenth Century Britain: Hymns Ancient and Modern) describes as a deep regard for church rituals and the sacraments, respect for Apostolic traditions and the Roman Catholic Church, and a desire by clergy to preserve the past. With this standpoint in mind, many of the hymns chosen were translated from medieval Latin and German sources. Others were accepted from hymn writers of the day and edited, so much so that one contributor said “HA&M” should mean “Hymns Asked for and Mutilated.”
“The King of Love my Shepherd Is,” a metrical paraphrase of Psalm 23, was written by Baker for the Second Edition of Hymns Ancient & Modern in 1868, and included in the appendix. His friend John Bacchus Dykes (1823-1876), a musical editor on the committee, wrote the tune DOMINUS REGIT ME specifically for it, which is the title of Psalm 23 in the Latin Vulgate translation. Many writers have commented on the compelling beauty of this well-suited tune and text, which British hymnologist Ian Bradley described as a regularity of rhythm and even balance between rising lines in phrases one and three and falling lines in phrases two and four. The unique double rhymes Baker uses in many places at the end of lines two and four are well-enhanced by this tune.
Later, Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) sought to republish the hymn in The English Hymnal (1906) and was denied the right to use the tune. He then paired Baker’s text with his own arrangement of an Irish Air, ST. COLUMBA, which is the tune most often used today.
The King of love my Shepherd is, Whose goodness faileth never;
I nothing lack if I am his And he is mine for ever.
Where streams of living water flow My ransomed soul he leadeth,
And where the verdant pastures grow With food celestial feedeth.
Perverse and foolish oft I strayed, But yet in love he sought me,
And on his shoulder gently laid, And home, rejoicing, brought me.
In death's dark vale I fear no ill With thee, dear Lord, beside me;
Thy rod and staff my comfort still, Thy cross before to guide me.
Thou spread'st a table in my sight; Thy unction, grace bestoweth:
And O what transport of delight From thy pure chalice floweth!
Charles Callahan (b. 1951) is one of America’s leading organist-composers. A native of Cambridge, Massachusetts, he is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and Catholic University of America. In recognition of his service to the church and his commissioned compositions for Papal visits to the U.S., he was awared the Papal Honor of Knighthood in the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem in 1999. In addition to compositions and performances, Charles Callahan is a noted educator and author whose two books on American organ-building have become standard reference works.
Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow - Paul Manz
(c.1970, Concordia Publishing House)
During the preparation and celebration of Thanksgiving this month, hymns of praise and thanksgiving are meaningful as we, through music, lead our congregations to focus on our gratefulness for what God has given us. The church has a rich repertoire of hymns for this season, but a beautiful starting point is the familiar doxological hymn, “Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow,” by Bishop Thomas Ken (1637-1711).
From Hertfordshire, Ken was orphaned as a child and raised by his sister Anna and her husband Izaak Walton. They enrolled him in the all-boys school at Winchester College (1651-1656), and after his education there, he attended Hart Hall, Oxford, and New College, Oxford (BA 1661, MA 1664). He was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1662, served as Rector to several parishes, and as a Chaplain to Princess Mary of Orange (1679-80), King Charles II (1683), and the Tangier Expedition (1683-84). In 1685, he was appointed Bishop of Bath and Wells. During the reign of King James II, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London for refusing to sign the Declaration of Indulgence. Ken was acquitted of the charge, but when King William III ascended to the throne Ken refused to swear loyalty to him, he resigned his office and lived the rest of his life at the home of his friend, Lord Weymouth, at Longleat, Wilshire.
The original date of composition by Ken for the text of “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow” is unknown, but the first mention of the hymn is in 1674 as the presumed final stanza of two longer hymns: “Awake, My Soul and with the Sun” and “Glory to Thee, My God, This Night.” These two hymns were referenced along with a third as Morning, Evening and Midnight hymns in a pamphlet written for his students titled A Manual of Prayers For the Use of the Scholars of Winchester College, which was accompanied by the directive: “Be sure to sing the Morning and Evening Hymn in your chamber devoutly, remembering that the Psalmist, upon happy experience, assures you that it is a good thing to tell of the loving kindness of the Lord early in the morning and of his truth in the night season.” This directive is most often interpreted to mean that the hymns were meant for private devotion, not the gathered assembly, and yet these four lines, often referred to as The Lesser Doxology, have “been sung more often than any other lines ever written.” The hymn texts were published later as an appendix in his 1695 pamphlet as ‘revised’ versions.
Much of beauty of these four lines lies in its reflection of the joyous outbursts of the Psalms. Here we see both the ‘host’ of heaven and the ‘creatures here below’ of earth praising God as in Psalm 96:11-12a and the final jubilant line of Psalm 150:6:
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it. (Psalm 96: 11-12a, NRSV)
Let everything that breathes praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! (Psalm 150:6, NRSV)
The Trinitarian structure of Ken’s hymn has also led to its common liturgical use. The first line describes the person of God the Father as the source of all blessings (Ephesians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:3). The second line, though, speaks to God the Spirit through whom all creatures praise God (Psalm 104:24-30, 1 Corinthians 2:10-13). The third line points to God the Son who is begotten of the Father, firstborn of heaven and superior to angels and the heavenly host (Hebrews 1:4). The fourth line summarizes the stanza and all of praise in general, since all praise is directed toward God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
OLD HUNDREDTH is a hymn tune in Long Metre from Pseaumes Octante Trois de David (1551) (the second edition of the Genevan Psalter) and is one of the best known melodies in all Christian musical traditions. The tune is usually attributed to the French composer Louis Bourgeois. Loys "Louis" Bourgeois (c.1510-1559) was a composer and music theorist of the Renaissance. He is most famous as one of the main compilers of Calvinist hymn tunes in the middle of the 16th century. In 1549 and 1550 he worked on a collections of psalm-tunes, most of which were translated by Clément Marot and Théodore de Bèze. Unfortunately, he fell foul of local musical authorities and was sent to prison in December, 1551 for changing the tunes for some well-known psalms "without a license." He was released on the personal intervention of John Calvin, but the controversy continued: those who had already learned the tunes had no desire to learn new versions, and the town council ordered the burning of Bourgeois's instructions to the singers, claiming they were confusing. Shortly after this incident, Bourgeois left Geneva never to return: he settled in Lyon, and his Geneva employment was terminated.
The Genevan Psalter was compiled over a number of years in the Swiss city of Geneva, a center of Protestant activity during the Reformation, in response to the teaching of John Calvin that communal singing of psalms in the vernacular language is a foundational aspect of church life. This contrasted with the prevailing Catholic practice at the time in which sacred texts were chanted in Latin by the clergy only. Calvinist musicians including Bourgeois supplied many new melodies and adapted others from sources both sacred and secular. The final version of the psalter was completed in 1562. Calvin intended the melodies to be sung in plainsong during church services, but harmonized versions were provided for singing at home.
The Genevan Psalter, the source for the hymns of both the Reformed Church in England and the Pilgrims in America. In the original versions by Bourgeois, the music is monophonic, in accordance with the dictates of John Calvin, who disapproved not only of counterpoint but of any multiple parts; Bourgeois though did also provide four-part harmonizations, but they were reserved for singing and playing at home. Many of the four-part settings are syllabic and chordal, a style which has survived in many Protestant church services to the present day.
Awake, my soul, and with the sun thy daily stage of duty run;
shake off dull sloth, and early rise to pay thy morning sacrifice.
Lord, I my vows to Thee renew. Disperse my sins as morning dew;
guard my first springs of thought and will, and with Thyself my spirit fill.
Direct, control, suggest, this day, all I design or do or say,
that all my pow'rs, with all their might, in Thy sole glory may unite.
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; praise Him all creatures here below;
praise Him above, ye heav'enly host; praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
———————
Glory to thee, my God, this night, for all the blessings of the light:
keep me, O keep me, King of kings, beneath thine own almighty wings.
Forgive me, Lord, for thy dear Son, the ill that I this day have done;
that with the world, myself, and thee, I, ere I sleep, at peace may be.
Teach me to live, that I may dread the grave as little as my bed;
teach me to die, that so I may rise glorious at the awful day.
O may my soul on thee repose, and with sweet sleep mine eyelids close;
sleep that shall me more vigorous make to serve my God when I awake.
When in the night I sleepless lie, my soul with heavenly thoughts supply;
let no ill dreams disturb my rest, no powers of darkness me molest.
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; praise him, all creatures here below;
praise him above, ye heavenly host: praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Paul Manz (1919–2009), was an American composer for choir and organ. His most famous choral work is the Advent motet "E'en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come", which has been performed at the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King's College, Cambridge. His most famous organ works are his volumes of neo-Baroque chorale preludes and partitas. Paul Manz long served the church as recitalist, composer, teacher and leader in worship. He was the director of the newly established Paul Manz Institute of Church Music, and was Professor Emeritus of Church Music at Christ Seminary Seminex at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.
Paul Manz concertized extensively in North America. As a performer, Manz was most famous for his celebrated hymn festivals. Instead of playing traditional organ recitals, Manz would generally lead a "festival" of hymns from the organ, in which he introduced each hymn an organ improvisation based on the hymn tune in question. The congregation would then sing the hymn with his accompaniment. Many volumes of these improvisations have been written out and published and are played by church organists throughout the world.
The esteem and respect with which Paul Manz is regarded can be seen in the many honors he received. He was twice named one of the “Ten Most Influential Lutherans,” served as National Councilor of the American Guild of Organists and is listed as one of the “101 Most Notable Organists of the 20th Century.” The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago presented him with the distinguished "Confessor of Christ Award"; The Chicago Bible Society presented him with the “Gutenberg Award; and the Lutheran Institute of Washington, DC honored him with the first “Wittenberg Arts Award.”
About the Choral Music:
Soon and Very Soon – Jack Schrader
(c.1994, Bud John Songs, Inc.)
It is difficult to overestimate the importance of Andraé Crouch (1942-2015) in the gospel music field during the last fifty years. Few have had such a sustained level of accomplishment and recognition in gospel music — seven Grammys, six Dove awards, an Oscar nomination, induction into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1998, and much more. He was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2004. A San Francisco native who grew up in the Church of God in Christ, Crouch wrote his first gospel tune at age 14. By 1960, he had formed the Church of God in Christ Singers, a group that featured Billy Preston on keyboards. He started another group, Andraé Crouch & the Disciples, in 1965, eventually signing to a contemporary Christian label, Light Records. Crouch brought a contemporary pop and R&B melodic sensibility to gospel, making him uniquely suited to appeal to both black and white audiences during the early days of the countercultural "Jesus movement" and also bringing him attention beyond the church. Throughout his life, Crouch struggled with dyslexia, sometimes memorizing words by the shapes of their combination of letters. He often drew simple pictures to help him comprehend words and write songs. Crouch's sister, Sandra Crouch, served as his spokeswoman, and the siblings were pastors at the New Christ Memorial Church in San Fernando, Calif., carrying on a work begun by their parents.
“Soon and very soon” (1978) is based on Revelation 21:3-4: “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. >He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’” (KJV)
Jack Schrader (b. 1942), arranger, composer, conductor, vocalist, and organist/pianist, is past editor with Hope Publishing Company, retiring in January of 2009. His association with Hope began in 1978. A 1964 graduate of Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, where he majored in Voice and Organ, he also received the Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Nebraska (1966). Further studies in theology culminated in Jack's ordination by the Evangelical Free Church of America (1975). Schrader is the best-selling choral composer in the Hope catalog. In addition to choral music Jack has published collections for keyboardists, instrumentalists and vocal soloists. He was a member of the editorial committee for Hope's most recent hymnal, Worship & Rejoice (2001), in which he has 24 hymn credits. His music is heard in hundreds of churches across the country each Sunday, and he can be seen throughout the year as a guest clinician at choral reading sessions and workshops.
Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King;
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We’re going to see the King.
No more dying there, we are going to see the King;
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We’re going to see the King.
Peace I Leave with You - Matthew Glandorf
(c.1993, Randall M. Egan)
“Peace I Leave with You” is a text from John 14:27, which has been set by many composers. Matthew Glandorf is active as a conductor, composer, church musician, and educator. He was raised in Germany, where he received early instruction at the organ of Bremen Cathedral with Wolfgang Baumgratz. At age sixteen he entered the Curtis Institute of Music. He pursued graduate studie at the Manhattan School of Music. In 2004 he was appointed artistic director of the Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, and in 2008 he became the artistic director of the Bach Festival of Philadelphia. He has served as director of music for many Philadelphia churches, including Old St. Joseph’s, Old Pine Street Presbyterian, and Lutheran Church of the Holy Communion. Mr. Glandorf joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1995. He has also served on the faculties of Swarthmore College and Westminster Choir College.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you;
not as the world gives do I give unto you.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you;
not as the world gives do I give unto you.
About the Hymns:
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
(c.1989, United Methodist Publishing House; descant C.1996, Jeff Whitmill)
"Praise to the Lord, the Almighty" is a hymn based on Joachim Neander's German chorale Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren, published in 1680. John Julian, in his A Dictionary of Hymnology, calls the German original "a magnificent hymn of praise to God, perhaps the finest creation of its author, and of the first rank in its class." Neander wrote this particular hymn while dying and it says much about his faith. While contemplating the words to go along with the melody, he reflected on Psalm 103 with its claim that everything within us should praise the Father’s holy name. It was the favorite hymn of King Frederick William III of Prussia, who first heard it in 1800. In the Neander original, first the singer calls himself (my beloved soul) to praise God, then calls for a larger group to join the praise with musical instruments as well as song. John Julian 's A Dictionary of Hymnology lists more than ten English translations of "Lobe den Herren" printed in various nineteenth century hymnals.
The melody used by Neander, first published in 1665, is probably based on a folk tune. The common name given to this melody is "Lobe den Herren". Several variants were published with various secular texts between 1665 to 1680, when Joachim Neander published his German hymn, Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren, using its meter. The text paraphrases Psalm 103 and Psalm 150.
One interesting piece of history is the later use of Neander’s name. He often taught in a valley near the Düssel river, and over 100 years after his death the valley was named after him. It was in that valley that bones were later found, from which we get the name “Neanderthal.”
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise him, for he is your health and salvation!
All ye who hear; now to his temple draw near,
join me in glad adoration.
Praise to the Lord, above all things so wondrously reigning;
shelters you under his wings, and so gently sustaining!
Have you not seen all that is needful has been
sent by his gracious ordaining?
Praise to the Lord, who hath fearfully, wondrously made thee!
Health hath vouchsafed when heedlessly failing, hath stayed thee.
What need or grief ever hath failed of relief?
Wings of His mercy did shade thee.
Praise to the Lord, who will prosper your work and defend you;
surely his goodness and mercy shall daily attend you.
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do,
if with his love he befriends you.
Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me adore him!
All that has life and breath, come now with praises before him.
Let the Amen sound from his people again;
gladly forever adore him.
Go Forth for God
“Go Forth for God” is one of the great sending-forth hymns of the last half of the 20th century. Each stanza sends the congregation into the world armed with an essential trait of Christian character: peace, love, strength and joy.
John R. Peacey (1896-1971) was born in Brighton, Sussex, England. After his basic education at St. Edmund’s School in Canterbury, Peacey served in France during World War I, receiving the Military Cross. He then went to seminary at Selwyn College, Cambridge, and served there after his ordination in 1921. In 1927, Peacey was appointed headmaster at Bishop Cotton School in Simla, India; he returned to England after World War II, serving as residentiary canon at Bristol Cathedral until his retirement in 1966. In his last years, Peacey wrote hymn texts. His hymn texts were published posthumously in Go Forth for God (1981).
He wrote the original text to this hymn in 1968. The 1987 Psalter Hymnal version of the text, however, is a result of revisions made by Peacey in 1970 and by the editors of the English Hymnal supplement, English Praise (1975). The stanzas are based on the Confirmation blessing found in the Revised Book of Common Prayer (1928), which in turn is derived I Thessalonians 5:14-18: “Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (KJV).
GENEVA 124, a tune from the Genevan Psalter (1551). The Genevan Psalter, also known as The Huguenot Psalter, is a metrical psalter in French created under the supervision of John Calvin for liturgical use by the Reformed churches of the city of Geneva in the sixteenth century. Before the Protestant Reformation a select group of performers generally sang the psalms during church services, not the entire congregation. John Calvin believed that the entire congregation should participate in praising God in the worship service. For this reason he wanted to create a songbook of hymns based on the psalms in the belief that in this form these biblical texts would become more easily accessible to people. Containing 83 psalms, the 1551 psalter appeared under the title Pseaumes Octante Trois de David (Eighty-three Psalms of David). The Genevan melodies are still widely used in churches all over the world. In particular, the melody attributed to Louis Bourgeois known as The Old 100th or "Doxology" is found in numerous hymnals across the world. GENEVA 124 (also known as OLD 124TH) was first published in the 1551 edition of the Genevan Psalter. Dale Grotenhuis harmonized the tune in 1985. One of the best known from the Genevan Psalter, the tune is published in most North American hymnals.
Go forth for God, go to the world in peace;
be of good courage, armed with heavenly grace,
in God's good Spirit, daily to increase,
till in the kingdom we see face to face.
Go forth for God, go to the world in love;
strengthen the faint, give courage to the weak;
help the afflicted; richly from above
God's love supplies the grace and power we seek.
Go forth for God, go to the world in strength;
hold fast the good, be urgent for the right;
render to no one evil; Christ at length
shall overcome all darkness with his light.
Go forth for God, go to the world in joy,
to serve God's people every day and hour,
and serving Christ, our every gift employ,
rejoicing in the Holy Spirit's power.
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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