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.
Featuring music of the 18th century
Chancel Choir
Chuyun Lee, violin
Robert Amberson, violin
Karina Flores Lindsay, viola
Javi Betancourt, cello
Margo Dillard, harpsichord
About the Harpsichord and String Music:
Concerto, from Uns ist ein Kind geboren, Cantata No. 142 - attr. J. S. Bach
Uns ist ein Kind geboren (Unto us a child is born), BWV 142 / Anh. II 23, is a Christmas cantata by an unknown composer. In the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis it is listed among the works with a doubtful attribution to Johann Sebastian Bach.. Although attributed to Bach by the Bach-Gesellschaft when they first published it in the late nineteenth century, that attribution was questioned within thirty years and is no longer accepted. Johann Kuhnau, Bach's predecessor as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, has been suggested as the probable composer, but without any certainty.
The biblical text, chorale and free verse come from the 1711 collection of librettos of the writer, theologian, pastor and theorist, Erdmann Neumeister. A libretto, based on Neumeister's text, survives in the Stadtgeschichtliches Museum, Leipzig for a cantata with this title. The cantata was listed to be performed in both of the main churches in Leipzig—the Thomaskirche and Nikolaikirche—on Christmas Day 1720, during the period when Johann Kuhnau was Thomaskantor. The earliest surviving manuscript copy of BWV 142 made by Christian Friedrich Penzel in Leipzig on 8 May 1756 is also based on Neumeister's text. Penzel credited J.S. Bach as the author in the heading of the sinfonia on the first page of the manuscript; and he signed the last page, giving the date and place.
In Dulci Jubilo - Vincent Lubeck
In dulci jubilo ("In sweet rejoicing") is a traditional Christmas carol. In its original setting, the carol is a macaronic text of German and Latin dating from the Middle Ages. Subsequent translations into English, such as J.M. Neale's arrangement "Good Christian Men, Rejoice" have increased its popularity, and Robert Pearsall's 1837 macaronic translation is a mainstay of the Christmas Nine Lessons and Carols repertoire. The original song text, a macaronic alternation of Medieval German and Latin, is thought to have been written by the German mystic Heinrich Seuse circa 1328. According to folklore, Seuse heard angels sing these words and joined them in a dance of worship. In his biography (or perhaps autobiography), it was written: “Now this same angel came up to the Servant (Suso) brightly, and said that God had sent him down to him, to bring him heavenly joys amid his sufferings; adding that he must cast off all his sorrows from his mind and bear them company, and that he must also dance with them in heavenly fashion. Then they drew the Servant by the hand into the dance, and the youth began a joyous song about the infant Jesus ...”
The tune first appears in Codex 1305, a manuscript in Leipzig University Library dating from c.1400, although it has been suggested that the melody may have existed in Europe prior to this date. In print, the tune was included in Geistliche Lieder, a 1533 Lutheran hymnal by Joseph Klug. It also appears in Michael Vehe's Gesangbuch of 1537. In 1545, another verse was added, possibly by Martin Luther. This was included in Valentin Babst's Geistliche Lieder, printed in Leipzig. The melody was also popular elsewhere in Europe, and appears in a Swedish/Latin version in the 1582 Finnish songbook Piae Cantiones, a collection of sacred and secular medieval songs. The tune appears in Michael Praetorius's Polyhymnia Caduceatrix & Panegyrica collection of 1619.
The literal translation of the text is:
In sweet rejoicing, now sing and be glad!
Our hearts' joy lies in the manger;
And it shines like the sun in the mother's lap.
You are the alpha and omega!
Vincent Lübeck (1654-1740) was a German composer and organist. He was born in Padingbüttel and worked as organist and composer at Stade's St. Cosmae et Damiani (1675–1702) and Hamburg's famous St. Nikolai (1702–1740), where he played one of the largest contemporary organs. He enjoyed a remarkably high reputation in his lifetime, and had numerous pupils, among which were two of his sons. Despite Lübeck's longevity and fame, very few compositions by him survive: a handful of organ praeludia and chorales in the North German style, a few cantatas and several pieces for harpsichord, some of which were published during the composer's lifetime. Of his works, the organ pieces are the most important: influenced by Dieterich Buxtehude and Johann Adam Reincken, Lübeck composed technically and artistically sophisticated works, with frequent virtuosic passages for pedal, five-voice polyphony, and other devices rarely used by most of the composers of the period.
Concerto Grosso, No. 8, fatto per la notte di Natale - Arcangelo Corelli
Subtitled Fatto per la notte di Natale, or "made for the night of Christmas," Corelli's Christmas Concerto stands as one of the finest concerti grossi of the Baroque era. Concerto grosso in G minor, Op. 6, No. 8 by Arcangelo Corelli, known commonly as the Christmas Concerto, was commissioned by Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni and published posthumously in 1714 as part of Corelli's Twelve concerti grossi, Op. 6. Its composition date is uncertain, but there is a record of Corelli having performed a Christmas concerto in 1690 for the enjoyment of his new patron. The concerto is scored for an ensemble consisting of two concertino violins and cello, ripieno strings and continuo. The work is structured as a concerto da chiesa, in this case expanded from a typical four movement structure to six.
Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713) was an Italian violinist and composer of the Baroque era. The style of execution introduced by Corelli was of vital importance for the development of violin playing. It has been said that the paths of all of the famous violinist-composers of 18th-century Italy led to Arcangelo Corelli who was their "iconic point of reference". Musical society in Rome also owed much to Corelli. He was received in the highest circles of the aristocracy, and for a long time presided at the celebrated Monday concerts in the palace of Cardinal Ottoboni. Corelli's music is still remembered today, mainly due to his lively and emotional composing style. This is thanks to his then-new cantabile style, which mainly rejects the ancient polyphonic style and uses more melodic elements through the concepts of orchestral foreground, middleground, and background.
About the Choral Music:
Comfort, Comfort Ye My People - David deSilva
(c.2001 Abingdon press)
This song is a versification of Isaiah 40:1-5, the passage that opens the final large group of prophecies in Isaiah 40-66. Many of these prophecies express consolation and hope that Judah's exile in Babylon is almost over. That is certainly the tone of 40: 1-5-words of comfort forecasting a new reign but also words that call for proper preparation–that is, repentance.
Johannes Olearius (1611-1684) originally versified the passage in German in honor of Saint John the Baptist Day and published it in his Geistliche Singe-Kunst (1671), a collection of more than twelve hundred hymns–three hundred of them by Olearius himself. Born into a family of Lutheran theologians, Olearius received his education at the University of Wittenberg and later taught theology there. He was ordained a Lutheran pastor and appointed court preacher to Duke August of Sachsen-Weissenfels in Halle and later to Duke Johann Adolph in Weissenfels. Olearius wrote a commentary on the entire Bible, published various devotional books, and produced a translation of the Imitatio Christi by Thomas a Kempis. In the history of church music Olearius is mainly remembered for his hymn collection, which was widely used in Lutheran churches.
Olearius's text was translated into English by Catherine Winkworth (1827-1878) and published in her Chorale Book for England (1863); the first line originally read "Comfort, Comfort Ye My People." Winkworth is well known for her English translations of German hymns; her translations were polished and yet remained close to the original. Educated initially by her mother, she lived with relatives in Dresden, Germany, in 1845, where she acquired her knowledge of German and interest in German hymnody. After residing near Manchester until 1862, she moved to Clifton, near Bristol.
A pioneer in promoting women's rights, Winkworth put much of her energy into the encouragement of higher education for women. She translated a large number of German hymn texts from hymnals owned by a friend, Baron Bunsen. Though often altered, these translations continue to be used in many modern hymnals. Her work was published in two series of Lyra Germanica (1855, 1858) and in The Chorale Book for England (1863), which included the appropriate German tune with each text as provided by Sterndale Bennett and Otto Goldschmidt. Winkworth also translated biographies of German Christians who promoted ministries to the poor and sick and compiled a handbook of biographies of German hymn authors, Christian Singers of Germany (1869).
Louis Bourgeois (1510-1561) composed or adapted this tune for Psalm 42 for the Genevan psalter. It was first published in Trente quatre Pseaumes de David, Geneva, 1551, ed. Louis Bourgeois; Genevan Psalter, 1551. The 1564 harmonization by Claude Goudimel originally placed the melody in the tenor. An alternate harmonization with descants by Johann Crüger can be found in the Psalter Hymnal. Since the character of Isaiah 40 is very different from the lament of Psalm 42, for which the tune was written, the tempo should be faster here than at 42.
David A. deSilva (PhD, Emory University) is Trustees’ Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Greek at Ashland Theological Seminary. He is the author of over thirty books, including An Introduction to the New Testament, Discovering Revelation, Introducing the Apocrypha, and commentaries on Galatians, Ephesians, and Hebrews. He’s ordained in the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church, and serves as director of music and organist at Christ United Methodist Church in Ashland.
Comfort, comfort ye my people, speak ye peace thus saith our God;
comfort those who sit in darkness bowed beneath their sorrow’s load.
Speak ye to Jerusalem of the peace that waits for them;
tell her that her sins I cover and her warfare now is over!
For the herald’s voice is crying in the desert far and near,
bidding all now to repentance, since the Kingdom now is here.
Oh, that warning cry obey! Now prepare for God away!
Let the valleys rise to meet him, and the hills bow down to greet him.
Make ye straight what long was crooked, make the rougher places plain;
let your hearts be true and humble, as befits his holy reign;
for the glory of the Lord now through earth, is shed abroad,
and all flesh shall see the token that his word is never broken.
Magnificat - Jacob Cubitt Pring
The Magnificat (Latin for "[My soul] magnifies [the Lord]") is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary, the Canticle of Mary and, in the Byzantine tradition, the Ode of the Theotokos. It is traditionally incorporated into the liturgical services of the Catholic Church (at vespers) and of the Eastern Orthodox churches (at the morning services). It is one of the eight most ancient Christian hymns and perhaps the earliest Marian hymn. Its name comes from the incipit of the Latin version of the canticle's text.
The text of the canticle is taken directly from the Gospel of Luke (1:46–55) where it is spoken by Mary upon the occasion of her Visitation to her cousin Elizabeth. In the narrative, after Mary greets Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist, the latter moves within Elizabeth's womb. Elizabeth praises Mary for her faith (using words partially reflected in the Hail Mary), and Mary responds with what is now known as the Magnificat.
Within the whole of Christianity, the Magnificat is most frequently recited within the Liturgy of the Hours. In Western Christianity, the Magnificat is most often sung or recited during the main evening prayer service: Vespers in the Catholic and Lutheran churches, and Evening Prayer (or Evensong) in Anglicanism. In Eastern Christianity, the Magnificat is usually sung at Sunday Matins. Among Protestant groups, the Magnificat may also be sung during worship services, especially in the Advent season during which these verses are traditionally read.
Mary's Magnificat, recorded only in Luke's Gospel, is one of four hymns, distilled from a collection of early Jewish-Christian canticles, which complement the promise-fulfillment theme of Luke's infancy narrative. These songs are Mary's Magnificat; Zechariah's Benedictus (1:67–79); the angels' Gloria in Excelsis Deo (2:13–14); and Simeon's Nunc dimittis (2:28–32). In form and content, these four canticles are patterned on the "hymns of praise" in Israel's Psalter. In structure, these songs reflect the compositions of pre-Christian contemporary Jewish hymnology. The canticle echoes several biblical passages, but the most pronounced allusions are to the Song of Hannah, from the Books of Samuel (1 Samuel 2:1–10). Scriptural echoes from the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings complement the main allusions to Hannah's "magnificat of rejoicing”. Along with the Benedictus, as well as several Old Testament canticles, the Magnificat is included in the Book of Odes, an ancient liturgical collection found in some manuscripts of the Septuagint.
In a style reminiscent of Old Testament poetry and song, Mary praises the Lord in alignment with this structure: Mary rejoices that she has the privilege of giving birth to the promised Messiah (Luke 1:46–48); She glorifies God for His power, holiness, and mercy (Luke 1:49–50); Mary looks forward to God transforming the world through the Messiah. The proud will be brought low, and the humble will be lifted up; the hungry will be fed, and the rich will go without (Luke 1:51–53); Mary exalts God because He has been faithful to His promise to Abraham (Luke 1:54–55; see God’s promise to Abraham in Gen 12:1-3).
Jacob Cubitt Pring (1771-1799) was an English organist and composer. Jacob Cubitt Pring was a choirboy at St Paul's Cathedral in London and later became organist at St Botolph in London. He studied at Oxford and was a founding member of the Concentores Sodales , an association of graduate musicians for the purpose of composing and cultivating vocal compositions such as catches , glees and canons and their awards. His collection of Eight Anthems, as Performed at St. Paul's Cathedral, dedicated to the Dean and Chapter, was published 1791, and reissued c1795: other published works of his include a collection of glees and canons. The organists Isaac Pring (1777–1799) and Joseph Pring (1776–1842) were his brothers. This Magnificat... in Two Parts was written and published in 1789.
My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my Spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior,
For he hath regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden.
For behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed,
For he that is mighty hath magnified me and holy is his name.
Gloria in excelsis Deo, from Gloria, RV 589 – Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (1678- 1741) was an Italian Baroque composer, virtuoso violinist, teacher and cleric. Born in Venice, he is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread across Europe. He is known mainly for composing many instrumental concertos, for the violin and a variety of other instruments, as well as sacred choral works and more than forty operas. His best-known work is a series of violin concertos known as The Four Seasons.
Many of his compositions were written for the female music ensemble of the Ospedale della Pietà, a home for abandoned children where Vivaldi (who had been ordained as a Catholic priest) was employed from 1703 to 1715 and from 1723 to 1740. Vivaldi also had some success with expensive stagings of his operas in Venice, Mantua and Vienna. After meeting the Emperor Charles VI, Vivaldi moved to Vienna, expecting employment at court. However, the Emperor died soon after Vivaldi's arrival, and Vivaldi himself died less than a year later in poverty.
After his death, Vivaldi's music slid into obscurity until a vigorous revival in the 20th century. Today, he ranks among the most popular and widely recorded of Baroque composers, second perhaps only to Johann Sebastian Bach who himself was deeply influenced by Vivaldi's work.
Antonio Vivaldi wrote at least three settings of the hymn Gloria in excelsis Deo, whose words date probably from the 4th Century and which is an integral part of the Ordinary of the Mass. Two survive: RV 588 and RV 589. A third, RV 590, is mentioned only in the Kreuzherren catalogue and presumed lost. Antonio Lucio Vivaldi composed this Gloria in Venice, probably in 1715, for the choir of the Ospedale della Pietà, an orphanage for girls (or more probably a home, generously endowed by the girls' "anonymous" fathers, for the illegitimate daughters of Venetian noblemen and their mistresses). The Ospedale prided itself on the quality of its musical education and the excellence of its choir and orchestra. Vivaldi, a priest, music teacher and virtuoso violinist, composed many sacred works for the Ospedale, where he spent most of his career, as well as hundreds of instrumental concertos to be played by the girls’ orchestra. This, his most famous choral piece, presents the traditional Gloria from the Latin Mass in twelve varied cantata-like sections.
The wonderfully sunny nature of the Gloria, with its distinctive melodies and rhythms, is characteristic of all of Vivaldi’s music, giving it an immediate and universal appeal. The opening movement is a joyous chorus, with trumpet and oboe obligato. The extensive orchestral introduction establishes two simple motives, one of octave leaps, the orher a quicker figure, that function as the ritornello. The choir enters in chorale-like fashion, syllabically declaiming the text in regular rhythms, contrasting with the orchestral ritornello, which contains most of the melodic interest of the movement. This is the most popular movement of the work and is frequently performed alone.
Today Vivaldi is one of the most popular of all composers, who during his lifetime enjoyed considerable success and fortune, which he squandered through extravagance, and when he died in Vienna he was buried in a pauper’s grave. For two centuries after his death, the Gloria lay undiscovered until the late 1920s, when it was found buried among a pile of forgotten Vivaldi manuscripts. However, it was not performed until September 1939 in Siena in an edition by the composer Alfredo Casella. This was by no means an authentic edition (he described it as an "elaborazione”), as he embellished the original orchestration of trumpet, oboe, strings, and continuo, while reducing the role of the continuo, and cut sections from three movements. It was not until 1957 that the now familiar original version was published and given its first performance at the First Festival of Baroque Choral Music at Brooklyn College, NY.
Gloria in excelsis Deo
Glory to God in the Highest
For Unto Us a Child is Born, from Messiah - Georg Handel
(c. 1912, G. Schirmer)
Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training in Halle and worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy before settling in London in 1712, where he spent the bulk of his career and became a naturalised British subject in 1727. He was strongly influenced both by the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition and by composers of the Italian Baroque. In turn, Handel's music forms one of the peaks of the "high baroque" style, bringing Italian opera to its highest development, creating the genres of English oratorio and organ concerto, and introducing a new style into English church music. He is consistently recognized as one of the greatest composers of his age.
Early in his life Handel is reported to have attended the Gymnasium in Halle, where the headmaster, Johann Praetorius, was reputed to be an ardent musician. He was withdrawn from school by his father; Handel’s father as implacably opposed to any musical education. His father was "alarmed" at Handel's very early propensity for music, took every measure to oppose it, including forbidding any musical instrument in the house and preventing Handel from going to any house where they might be found. This did nothing to dampen young Handel's inclination; in fact, it did the reverse. Handel managed to get a little clavichord hidden in an attic room, where he constantly stole when the family was asleep. Sometime between the ages of seven and nine, Handel accompanied his father to Weissenfels, where he came under the notice of one whom Handel thereafter always regarded throughout life as his benefactor, Duke Johann Adolf I. Somehow Handel made his way to the court organ in the palace chapel of the Holy Trinity, where he surprised everyone with his playing. Overhearing this performance and noting the youth of the performer, the Duke, whose suggestions were not to be disregarded, recommended that Handel be given musical instruction. Handel's father engaged the organist at the Halle parish church, the young Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, to instruct Handel. Zachow would be the only organ teacher that Handel ever had.
Handel matriculated at the University of Halle in 1702. That university had only recently been founded. In 1694, the Elector of Brandenburg Frederick III (later Prussian King Frederick I) created the school, largely to provide a lecture forum for the jurist Christian Thomasius who had been expelled from Leipzig for his liberal views. Thomasius was an intellectual and academic crusader, who was the first German academic to lecture in German and also denounced witch trials. Thomasius instilled in Handel a respect for the dignity and freedom of man's mind and the solemn majesty of the law, principles that drew him to and kept him in England for half a century. Handel also studied with theologian and professor of Oriental languages August Hermann Francke, who was particularly solicitous of children, particularly orphans. The orphanage he founded became a model for Germany, and undoubtedly influenced Handel's own charitable impulse, when he assigned the rights of Messiah to London's Foundling Hospital. Though Lutheran, Handel accepted the position of organist at the Calvinist Cathedral in Halle.
In 1706, Handel travelled to Italy at the invitation of Ferdinando de' Medici. Ferdinando, who had a keen interest in opera, was trying to make Florence Italy's musical capital by attracting the leading talents of his day. In Italy, Handel met librettist Antonio Salvi, with whom he later collaborated. Rodrigo, his first all-Italian opera, was produced in the Cocomero theatre in Florence in 1707. Agrippina was first produced in 1709 at Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo in Venice, owned by the Grimanis. The opera, with a libretto by Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani, ran for 27 nights successively. The audience, thunderstruck with the grandeur and sublimity of his style, applauded for Il caro Sassone ("the dear Saxon" – referring to Handel's German origins).
Handel decided to settle permanently in England in 1712. He received a yearly income of £200 from Queen Anne after composing for her the Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate, first performed in 1713. Handel started three commercial opera companies to supply the English nobility with Italian opera. In 1737, he had a physical breakdown, changed direction creatively, and addressed the middle class and made a transition to English choral works. After his success with Messiah (1742), he never composed an Italian opera again. His orchestral Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks remain steadfastly popular. One of his four coronation anthems, Zadok the Priest, has been performed at every British coronation since 1727. Almost blind, he died in 1759, a respected and rich man, and was given a state funeral at Westminster Abbey. n the Lutheran Calendar of Saints Handel and Bach share the date July 28 with Heinrich Schütz, and Handel and Bach are commemorated in the calendar of saints prepared by the Order of Saint Luke for the use of the United Methodist Church.
Handel's compositions include 42 operas, 25 oratorios, more than 120 cantatas, trios and duets, numerous arias, odes and serenatas, solo and trio sonatas, 18 concerti grossi, and 12 organ concertos. His most famous work, the oratorio Messiah with its "Hallelujah" chorus, is among the most popular works in choral music and has become the centerpiece of the Christmas season. The Lobkowicz Palace in Prague holds Mozart's copy of Messiah, complete with handwritten annotations. Among the works with opus numbers published and popularized in his lifetime are the Organ concertos Op. 4 and Op. 7, together with the Opus 3 and Opus 6 Concerti grossi; the latter incorporates an earlier organ concerto The Cuckoo and the Nightingale in which birdsong is imitated in the upper registers of the organ. Also notable are his 16 keyboard suites, especially The Harmonious Blacksmith.
Messiah (HWV 56) is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible, and from the version of the Psalms included with the Book of Common Prayer. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742 and received its London premiere nearly a year later. After an initially modest public reception, the oratorio gained in popularity, eventually becoming one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral works in Western music.
Handel's reputation in England, where he had lived since 1712, had been established through his compositions of Italian opera. He turned to English oratorio in the 1730s in response to changes in public taste; Messiah was his sixth work in this genre. Although its structure resembles that of opera, it is not in dramatic form; there are no impersonations of characters and no direct speech. Instead, Jennens's text is an extended reflection on Jesus Christ as Messiah. The text begins in Part I with prophecies by Isaiah and others, and moves to the annunciation to the shepherds, the only "scene" taken from the Gospels. In Part II, Handel concentrates on the Passion and ends with the "Hallelujah" chorus. In Part III he covers the resurrection of the dead and Christ's glorification in heaven.
Handel wrote Messiah for modest vocal and instrumental forces, with optional settings for many of the individual numbers. In the years after his death, the work was adapted for performance on a much larger scale, with giant orchestras and choirs. In other efforts to update it, its orchestration was revised and amplified by (among others) Mozart. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries the trend has been towards reproducing a greater fidelity to Handel's original intentions, although "big Messiah" productions continue to be mounted. A near-complete version was issued on 78 rpm discs in 1928; since then the work has been recorded many times.
For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon
His shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, the Mighty God,
the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:5)
About the Hymns:
In This Time of Waiting - David MacGregor
(c.2019, Willow Publishing)
David MacGregor is a Scottish Guitarist, Composer, Producer, Music Educator, Recording and Touring Artist. Since 2004, David has planned, written and performed his own specialized touring projects all over North American, Latin America and Europe. He has released 5 albums including his 2020 Solo Album ‘Looking for a Place Called Home’ that was picked in ‘September’s top guitar releases’ by UK based ‘Guitarist Magazine’, where David was compared to some of the worlds best (Jazz) guitarists Pat Metheny, Martin Taylor and John Etheridge. In 2021 he also released a collaboration album with Jazz Singer Louise Phelan ‘Remembering Ella and Joe’ in tribute to Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass. Throughout his travels David has learned that each and every one of us do things a little differently depending on our cultural backgrounds. He believes that we should all learn from our differences and grow together, this is what he is always aiming for with his life and music. His playing and composition style is a mix of all the different sounds that the world has to offer and he is always learning by continuing to collaborate and play with musicians from all over the world.
In this time of waiting, we will sing with joy,
Joy in Jesus: darkness won’t destroy..
In our expectation we will sing with joy;
hearts of longing, we will sing with joy.
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
(v.6,7,c.1989, United Methodist Publishing House, v.1,2,c. 1981, Church Pension Fund)
O come, O come, Emmanuel is a Christian hymn for Advent. While it is most commonly known by that English title, it is in fact a translation of the original Latin, Veni, Veni, Emmanuel; translations into other modern languages (particularly German) are also in widespread use. The 1861 translation from Hymns Ancient and Modern is the most prominent by far in the English-speaking world, but other English translations also exist. The hymn is a metrical paraphrase of the O Antiphons, a series of plainchant antiphons attached to the Magnificat at Vespers over the final days before Christmas. The words and the music of "O come, O come, Emmanuel" developed separately. The Latin text is first documented in Germany in 1710, whereas the tune most familiar in the English-speaking world has its origins in 15th-century France.
The pre-history of the text stretches back to the origins of the O Antiphons, which were in existence by, at the latest, the eighth century. They were paraphrased extensively by the English poet Cynewulf in a poem written before the year 800. While "O come, O come, Emmanuel" is often linked with the 12th century, the earliest surviving evidence of the hymn's text is in the seventh edition of Psalteriolum Cantionum Catholicarum, which was published in Cologne in 1710. That hymnal was a major force in the history of German church music: first assembled by Jesuit hymnographer Johannes Herringsdorf in 1610 and receiving numerous revised editions through 1868, it achieved enormous impact due to its use in Jesuit schools.
The text of the Psalteriolum Cantionum Catholicarum version is essentially expanded, rather than altered, over the subsequent centuries. That version exhibits all of the hymn's characteristic qualities: it is strophic and metrical, and the order is altered so that the last of the O Antiphons (the titular "Veni Emmanuel") becomes the first verse of the hymn. Each stanza consists of a four-line verse, which adapts one of the antiphons, and a new two-line refrain ("Gaude, gaude! Emmanuel \ nascetur pro te, Israel," i.e. "Rejoice, Rejoice, Emmanuel \ Shall come to thee, O Israel"), which provides an explicitly Advent-oriented response to the petition of the verse.
The familiar tune called Veni Emmanuel was first linked with this hymn in 1851, when Thomas Helmore published it in the Hymnal Noted, paired with an early revision of Neale's English translation of the text. The volume listed the tune as being "From a French Missal in the National Library, Lisbon." The pairing of the hymn text with the Veni Emmanuel tune was an extremely significant combination. The hymn text was embraced both out of a Romantic interest in poetic beauty and medieval exoticism and out of a concern for matching hymns to liturgical seasons and functions rooted in the Oxford Movement in the Church of England. The Hymnal Noted, in which the words and tune were first combined, represented these goals. This hymnal consisted entirely of versions of Latin hymns, designed for use as Office hymns within the Anglican Church despite the fact that Office hymns had no part in the authorized liturgy. The music was drawn chiefly from plainchant, as was the case with the Veni Emmanuel tune for "O Come, O Come Emmanuel.”
O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear,
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, thou Wisdom from on high, and order all things far and nigh;
To us the path of knowledge sho and cause us in her ways to go.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, O come, great Lord of might, who to thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times once gave the law in cloud and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, thou Root of Jesse’s tree, and ensign of they people be;
Before thee rulers silent fall; all people on Thy mercy call.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Dayspring, from on high, And cheer us by Thy drawing nigh;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Key of David, come And open wide our heav'nly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high, And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, desire of nations, bind In one the hearts of all mankind
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease And be Thyself our King of peace
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel
Lo, How a Rose, e'er Blooming
(v. 3, c. 1971, The church Pension Fund)
"Es ist ein Ros entsprungen" ("A rose has sprung up"), most commonly translated to English as "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming" or "A Spotless Rose", is a Christmas carol and Marian Hymn of German origin. The text is thought to be penned by an anonymous author, and the piece first appeared in print in the late 16th century. The English translation "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming" was written by Theodore Baker in 1894.
This German carol from the Rhineland region combines the story of Luke 1-2 and Matthew 2 with Isaiah's prophecies about the "rose" from the "stem of Jesse " (Isa. 11:1; 35:1-2). Stanzas 1 and 2 are a combination of folklore ("amid the cold of winter") and Christological interpretation of Isaiah 11:1 and 35: 1-2. Stanza 3 introduces imagery from John 1.
"Es ist ein Ros entsprungen," may date to the fifteenth century. However, the earliest manuscript containing the text, found in St. Alban's Carthusian monastery in Trier and preserved in the Trier municipal library, is dated around 1580. It was first published with twenty-three stanzas in Alte catholische geistliche Kirchengesiinge (Cologne, 1599). Originally stanza 2 interpreted the "rose" as being Mary, mother of Jesus, but in Musae Sionae (1609) Michael Praetorius changed the interpretation to point to Christ as the rose in accord with actual biblical imagery.
Michael Praetorius (1571-1621) was a German composer, organist, and music theorist. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of musical forms based on Protestant hymns, many of which reflect an effort to improve the relationship between Protestants and Catholics. After receiving his musical education, from 1587 he served as organist at the Marienkirche in Frankfurt. From 1592/3 he served at the court in Wolfenbüttel, under the employ of Henry Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. He served in the duke's State Orchestra, first as organist and later (from 1604) as Kapellmeister.
His first compositions appeared around 1602/3. Their publication primarily reflects the care for music at the court of Gröningen. The motets of this collection were the first in Germany to make use of the new Italian performance practices; as a result, they established him as a proficient composer. These "modern" pieces mark the end of his middle creative period. The nine parts of his Musae Sioniae (1605–10) and the 1611 published collections of liturgical music (masses, hymns, magnificats) follow the German Protestant chorale style. From 1613 until his death, Praetorius was employed by the court in Dresden, where he was declared Kapellmeister von Haus aus and worked with Heinrich Schütz.
A literal translation of the original German text is:
A rose has sprung up, from a tender root.
As the old ones sang to us, Its lineage was from Jesse.
And it has brought forth a floweret In the middleof the cold winter
Well at half the night.
The rosebud that I mean, Of which Isaiah told
Is Mary, the pure, Who brought us the floweret.
At God’s immortal word, She has borne a child
And remained a pure maid. Who makes us blessed.
The floweret, so small That smells so sweet to us
With its clear light Dispels the darkness.
True man and true God! He helps us from all trouble,
Saves us from sin and death.
The First Noel
Although no Christmas season would be complete without “The First Noel”, very little is known about its origin. It is believed to have had its rise in France during the fifteenth century. Noel is a French word originating from Latin meaning "birthday." The song is thought to have been brought across the channel to England before 1823 by the wandering troubadours. The carol under the English form, "Nowell," became a great favorite for Christmas Eve, especially in the west of England. This was when the entire village gathered for singing and celebrating the bringing in of the Yule log. At this time carols were thought of as popular religious songs meant to be sung outside the church rather than within.
"The First Noel" portrays in vivid narrative style the story of the birth of Christ. All stanzas are needed to complete the entire event when the hymn is sung. The sixth stanza, which has been omitted from our current hymnal, urges us to join together to sing praises to God for the marvels of His creation and for the salvation provided through Christ's shed blood and reminds us that Christ came to redeem the whole world.
While the tune THE FIRST NOEL is also a folk song, it did not appear in print until William Sandys's Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern in 1833, with this text. According to Alan Luff, the melody may come from Cornwall, England, because Sandys transcribed it there, and because two other songs from that region are quite similar. The standard harmonization is from Stainer and Bramley's Christmas Carols New and Old, published in 1871.
The First Noel the angel did say Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay;
In fields as they lay, keeping their sheep, On a cold winter's night that was so deep.
They looked up and saw a star Shining in the east beyond them far,
And to the earth it gave great light, And so it continued both day and night.
And by the light of that same star Three wise men came from country far;
To seek for a king was their intent, And to follow the star wherever it went.
This star drew nigh to the northwest, O'er Bethlehem it took it rest,
And there it did both stop and stay Right over the place where Jesus lay.
Then entered in those wise men three Full reverently upon their knee,
and offered there in his presence Their gold, and myrrh, and frankincense.
Then let us all with one accord Sing praises to our heavenly Lord;
That hath made heaven and earth of naught, And with his blood mankind hath bought.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Born is the King of Israel.
Joy to the World
Our Christmas season would hardly seem complete without the singing of Joy to the World, the most joyous of the carols. Yet Isaac Watts, its author, never intended it to be a Christmas carol at all. Rather, it was a part of his Psalms of David Imitated, published in 1719, which contained paraphrases of many of the Psalms in New Testament language.
The story of the hymn, Joy to the World, is the story of the author, Isaac Watts (1675-1748), who is universally acknowledged as "The Father of English Hymnody". He has earned the title, not because he was first to write English hymns, but because he gave impetus to hymnody and established its place in the worship of the English church. For over one hundred years, congregational singing had been strictly limited to the Psalms of the Old Testament in poetic form. Many of these rhymed Psalms were so unnatural that Samuel Wesley, father of the famous brothers Charles and John, called them "scandalous doggerel," and his opinion was shared by many.
The birth of Isaac Watts to a dissenting deacon and the daughter of a Huguenot refugee was followed by fourteen years of persecution and hardships for the entire family. Perhaps this suffering was responsible for Isaac Watts’ ill health, for he grew only to a height of just over five feet and was weak and sickly all his life. Though weak in body, the boy was strong in mind and spirit and early in life showed promise of poetic capability. After one Sunday morning service, Isaac, then fifteen years old, complained of the atrocious worship in song. One of the deacons challenged him: "Give us something better, young man." His answer was to write hundreds of hymns that are still sung today.
Joy to the World is the "imitation" of the last half of Psalm 98. The author transformed the old Jewish psalm of praise for some historic deliverance into a Christian song of rejoicing for the salvation of God that began to be manifested when the Babe of Bethlehem came "to make his blessing flow far as the curse is found." This is one of the most joyous hymns in all Christendom because it makes so real what Christ’s birth means to all mankind.
The tune most widely associated with Watts’ text is ANTIOCH, often poorly attributed in hymnals to either George Frideric Handel or Lowell Mason, neither of which is the proper author. This tune appeared at least four times in short succession around the same date, 1832–1833. Since three of the collections were published without dates, the exact succession is difficult to determine. Possibly the earliest is Charles Rider’s Psalmodia Britannica, vol. 4,, where the tune was called COMFORT (c.1831) with the curious ascription, “Partly from J. Leach.” Another of these early appearances was in Thomas Hawkes’ Collection of Tunes (Watchet: Thomas Whitehorn, 1833, where it was also called COMFORT. The attribution to “Author unknown” suggests that the tune had appeared earlier in another collection or through some other resource yet to be determined. Hawkes’ collection was keyed to A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodists, with a Supplement (London: John Mason, 1831), where the tune appears with Charles Wesley’s “O joyful sound of gospel grace” and Wesley’s “How large the promise, how divine.” Around the same time Hawkes’ collection was published, this tune appeared in Thomas Clark’s Congregational Harmonist, vol. 3 (London: W. Blackman, n.d.), also dubbed COMFORT and paired with Wesley’s “O joyful sound,” without attribution. In this printing, the tunes are associated with the same Methodist collection published by John Mason that Hawkes’ had used for his tunebook.
In William Holford’s Voce di Melodia, ca. 1833–1834, 3rd ed., like the others, this tune was called COMFORT. Here the associated text was “O the delights, the heav’nly joys” by Isaac Watts. Holford seems to be the first to connect this tune with Handel. This tune has never been found among the works of Handel, but it does bear a resemblance to various strains from Messiah. The opening phrase, especially in these early British versions, recalls “Glory to God” and/or “Lift up your heads”, while the third phrase recalls the opening strains of “Comfort ye”. This latter association may very well be why the tune was called COMFORT, but the tune as a whole should not be credited to Handel, except perhaps as the tune’s inspiration.
Shortly thereafter, the tune crossed the Atlantic and was adapted by Lowell Mason (1792–1872) for his collection Occasional Psalm and Hymn Tunes, No. 3 (Boston, 1836). Mason credited the tune as “arranged from Handel” and he initiated its famed pairing with “Joy to the world.”
Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King;
let ev’ry heart prepare him room and heav’n and nature sing,
and heav’n and nature sing, and heav’n, and heav’n and nature sing.
Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns! Let men their songs employ,
while fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains, repeat the sounding joy,
repeat the sounding joy, repeat, repeat the sounding joy.
No more let sins and sorrows grow nor thorns infest the ground;
he comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found,
far as the curse is found, far as, far as the curse is found.
He rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations prove
the glories of his righteousness and wonders of his love,
and wonders of his love, and wonders, wonders of his love.
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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