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:
Wie schon leuchtet - Egil Hovland
(c.2015, Edition Lache, Oslo)
"Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern" (How lovely shines the morning star) is a hymn by Philipp Nicolai written in 1597 and first published in 1599. The words in seven stanzas are based on Psalms 45, a mystical wedding song. Jesus is identified with the morning star, according to Revelation 22:16, and with the bridegroom of the psalm. Nicolai wrote the words in response to a pestilence in 1597. He published the chorale first in 1599 in his book Frewdenspiegel deß ewigen Lebens ("Mirror of Joy of the Life Everlasting") in Frankfurt, together with "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme". He introduced it: "Ein Geistlich Brautlied der Gläubigen Seelen / von Jesu Christo irem himlischen Bräutgam: Gestellt ober den 45. Psalm deß Propheten Dauids" (A spiritual bridal song of the believing soul / concerning Jesus Christ, her heavenly bridegroom, founded on the 45th Psalm of the prophet David). This hymn is often referred to as "The Queen of Chorales".
The hymn tune of "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern", was thought to be a creation of Nicolai. C. S. Terry claimed in an article in 1917 that the melody was at least 61 years older than Nicolai's publication. Joachim Stalmann wrote in 2000 that Nicolai's melody is reminiscent ("hat Anklänge") of a 1538 melody published in the Strasbourg Psalter in 1539 with the song "Jauchzet dem Herren alle Land", possibly by Jakob Dachser. It also closely resembles a tune used for Psalm 100 in Wolff Köphel's Psalter (1538).
Philipp Nicolai (1556-1608) lived an eventful life: he fled from the Spanish army, sparred with Roman Catholic and Calvinist opponents, and ministered to plague-stricken congregations. Educated at Wittenberg University, he was ordained a Lutheran pastor in 1583 in the city of Herdecke. However, he was soon at odds with the Roman Catholic town council, and when Spanish troops arrived to reestablish Roman dominance, Nicolai fled. In 1588 he became chief pastor at Altwildungen and court preacher to Countess Argaretha of Waldeck. During that time Nicolai battled with Calvinists, who disagreed with him about the theology of the real presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper. These doctrinal controversies were renewed when he served the church in Unna, Westphalia. During his time as a pastor there, the plague struck twice, and Nicolai wrote both "How Bright Appears the Morning Star" and "Wake, Awake." Nicolai's last years were spent as Pastor of St. Katherine's Church in Hamburg.
The chorale appeared as a hymn in German hymnals and in several translations in English hymnals, starting with How bright appears the Morning Star! by John Christian Jacobi, in his Psalmodica Germanica, 1722. Additional hymns were written on the same tune such as "O heilger Geist, kehr bei uns ein" of Michael Schirmer (1640).
The first verse (in an anonymous English translation beginning "How splendid shines the morning star") appeared in the Southern Harmony, an 1835 shape-note tunebook compiled by William Walker, where it is set to a tune called Morning Star by composer J. C. Lowry. This arrangement is repeated in the current An American Christmas Harp, with the addition of two more stanzas in a translation by William Mercer (1811-1873).
A fairly literal translation of the seven verses by Frances Browne:
How beautifully shines the morning star
full of grace and truth from the Lord, the sweet root of Jesse!
You son of David from the line of Jacob, my king and my bridegroom,
have taken posession of my heart, [you who are] lovely,friendly,
beautiful and glorious, great and honourable, rich in gifts,
lofty and exalted in splendour!
Ah my pearl, my precious crown, true son of God and Mary,
a king of most noble birth! My heart calls you a lily,
your sweet gospel is pure milk and honey.
Ah my dear flower, hosanna, heavenly manna,
that we eat, I cannot forget you!
Pour most deeply within my heart, you clear jasper and ruby,
the flames of your love, and make me rejoice, so that I may remain
in your chosen body a living rib!
Because of you, gracious rose of heaven,
my heart is sick and smouldering, wounded with love.
A joyful light from God comes to me when with your dear eyes
you look on me as a friend. Oh Lord Jesus, my beloved good,
your word, your spirit, your body and blood refresh me within.
Take me like a friend in your arms, so that I may become warm
with your grace. To your word I come invited.
Lord, God, Father, my mighty hero, before the world you have
loved me in your son. Your son has betrothed me to himself,
he is my treasure, I am his bride, most greatly I rejoice in him.
Yes, yes. Heavenly life he will give me in the the world above!
My heart shall praise him forever.
Pluck the strings on the harp and let the sweet music
resound full of joy, so that with dear Jesus, my most beautiful bridegroom,
in constant love I may make my pilgrimage!
Sing, leap, rejoice, triumph, thank the Lord!
Great is the king of honour!
How full I am therefore of heartfelt joy
that my treasure is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end;
To his reward he will take me up to paradise, and so I clap my hands
Amen! Amen! Come, you sweet crown of joy,
do not long delay, I wait for you with longing.
The March of the Wise Men - Harvey Gaul
(c.1939, H. W. Gray)
Harvey Bartlett Gaul (1881-1945) is best known as an organist and composer, he began his musical studies with George LeJeune and Dudley Buck. He completed his musical training in Great Britain with Alfred R. Gaul and Philip Ames, and in France with Alexandre Guilmant, Charles-Marie Widor, and Vincent d’Indy. During his studies both at home and abroad, Gaul honed his professional skills as organist and choral director through various church postings. From 1899 to 1901, he was assistant organist at St. John's Chapel in New York, and from 1901 to 1909, he was organist and choirmaster at the Emmanuel Church in Cleveland. While living in Cleveland, Gaul served as music critic for the Cleveland News. In 1910 he accepted the post of organist and choirmaster at Calvary Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh, where he served until his death in 1945. He worked as music critic and arts editor for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, conductor of the Pittsburgh Civic String Orchestra and Savoyard Opera Company, and music instructor at the University of Pittsburgh and the Carnegie Institute of Technology. In 1920 the newly founded radio station KDKA appointed Gaul as its first Music Director. One year later, he also gained the post of Feature Editor at The Musical Forecast. The periodical focused primarily on Pittsburgh's musical life, its leadership, and organizations. After settling in Pittsburgh, Gaul became interested in the life and works of Pittsburgh native Stephen Foster. He collected anecdotes about Foster from descendants and friends living in Pittsburgh. After Gaul's death in 1945, Fletcher Hodges edited the Foster manuscript and serialized it in the Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine (1951) as "The Minstrel of the Alleghenies.”
A prolific composer, Gaul wrote more than five hundred works. He is most remembered for his organ and church music. His organ works include Chanson du Matin and Chanson du Soir (1906), Lenten Meditation (1909), Christmas Pipes of County Clare (1926), Ancient Hebrew Prayer of Thanksgiving (1935), Moravian Morning Star (1941), and Easter Procession of the Moravian Brethren (1945). Gaul's choral compositions include both church anthems and secular cantatas. One of his most enduring works for choir is I Hear America Singing (1925), a setting of Walt Whitman poetry published in separate versions for mixed chorus, women's chorus, and men's chorus with soprano soloist. Today Gaul is memorialized through the Harvey Gaul Composition Competition, a biennial contest created by the Friends of Harvey Gaul and currently sponsored by the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble.
The Babe of Bethlehem is a Christmas cantata in 6 movements: Prelude; The Time of Annunciation; The Shepherds in the Fields; The March of the Wise Men; At the Lowly Manger; Finale. It was written for choir, brass, and organ. Charles Black has transcribed the 4th movement for solo organ.
About the Piano Music:
Coventry Carol - Grant Colburn
(c.2014, Grant Colburn)
"Coventry Carol" is an English Christmas carol dating from the 16th century. The carol was traditionally performed in Coventry in England as part of a mystery play called The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors. The play depicts the Christmas story from chapter two in the Gospel of Matthew: the carol itself refers to the Massacre of the Innocents, in which Herod ordered all male infants under the age of two in Bethlehem to be killed, and takes the form of a lullaby sung by mothers of the doomed children.
The carol is the second of three songs included in the Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors, a nativity play that was one of the Coventry Mystery Plays, originally performed by the city's guilds.
The exact date of the text is unknown, though there are references to the Coventry guild pageants from 1392 onwards. The single surviving text of the carol and the pageant containing it was edited by one Robert Croo, who dated his manuscript 14 March 1534. Croo, or Crowe, acted for some years as the 'manager' of the city pageants. Over a twenty-year period, payments are recorded to him for playing the part of God in the Drapers' Pageant, for making a hat for a "pharysye", and for mending and making other costumes and props, as well as for supplying new dialogue and for copying out the Shearmen and Tailors' Pageant in a version which Croo described as "newly correcte". Croo seems to have worked by adapting and editing older material, while adding his own rather ponderous and undistinguished verse.
Religious changes caused the plays' suppression during the later 16th century, but Croo's prompt-book, including the songs, survived and a transcription was eventually published by the Coventry antiquarian Thomas Sharp in 1817 as part of his detailed study of the city's mystery plays. Sharp published a second edition in 1825 which included the songs' music. Both printings were intended to be a facsimile of Croo's manuscript, copying both the orthography and layout; this proved fortunate as Croo's original manuscript, which had passed into the collection of the Birmingham Free Library, was destroyed in a fire there in 1879.[2] Sharp's transcriptions are therefore the only source; Sharp had a reputation as a careful scholar, and his copying of the text of the women's carol appears to be accurate.
Within the pageant, the carol is sung by three women of Bethlehem, who enter on stage with their children immediately after Joseph is warned by an angel to take his family to Egypt: Sharp's publication of the text stimulated some renewed interest in the pageant and songs, particularly in Coventry itself. Although the Coventry mystery play cycle was traditionally performed in summer, the lullaby has been in modern times regarded as a Christmas carol. It was brought to a wider audience after being featured in the BBC's Empire Broadcast at Christmas 1940, shortly after the Bombing of Coventry in World War II, when the broadcast concluded with the singing of the carol in the bombed-out ruins of the Cathedral.
The carol's music was added to Croo's manuscript at a later date by Thomas Mawdyke, his additions being dated 13 May 1591. Mawdyke wrote out the music in three-part harmony, though whether he was responsible for its composition is debatable, and the music's style could be indicative of an earlier date. The three (alto, tenor and baritone) vocal parts confirm that, as was usual with mystery plays, the parts of the "mothers" singing the carol were invariably played by men.[10] The original three-part version contains a "startling" false relation (F# in treble, F in tenor) at "by, by".
Mawdyke, who may be identifiable with a tailor of that name living in the St Michael's parish of Coventry in the late 16th century, is thought to have made his additions as part of an unsuccessful attempt to revive the play cycle in the summer of 1591, though in the end the city authorities chose not to support the revival. The surviving pageants were revived in the Cathedral from 1951 onwards.
Lullay, Thou little tiny Child, By, by, lully, lullay;
Lullay, Thou little tiny Child, By, by, lully, lullay.
O sisters, too, how may we do, For to preserve this day;
This poor Young thing for whom we do sing, By, by, lully, lullay.
Herod the King, in his raging, Charged he hath this day;
His men of might, in his own sight, All children young to slay.
Then woe is me, poor Child, for Thee, And ever mourn and say;
For Thy parting nor say nor sing, By, by, lully, lullay.
Grant Colburn (b.1966) is an American composer, pianist and harpsichordist. He studied harpsichord with Igor Kipnis and composition with Irwin Sonenfield. He is the author of six published collections of neo-baroque and neo-renaissance harpsichord music including most recently two volumes of Twelve Carols of Christmas arranged for Harpsichord or Organ and Six Voluntaries for the Organ or Harpsichord. Also two concertos for harpsichord and strings, another concerto for recorder and strings, music for recorder/flute with continuo and works for unaccompanied cello or viola da gamba, as well as songs for voice and continuo.
Colburn was the author of a feature article on period composition in the summer 2007 issue of Early Music America Magazine. More recently he authored an article on early music and its growing presence on YouTube in Early Music America Magazine for its winter 2008 issue. He is also a contributing reviewer and writer for Harpsichord and Fortepiano Magazine.
A concert of Colburn's compositions was given at the 2007 Boston Early Music Festival. Colburn is one of the founding members of Vox Saeculorum, a society of composers working in early historical styles. He is also a member of the Delian Society, an organization devoted to preservation of tonal music. He has made many of his compositions available without cost.
About the Choral Music:
The Star of Bethlehem - Sally DeFord
(c.2019, Sally DeFord)
Sally Giles DeFord is a prolific composer and arranger whose choral, duet, solo, and instrumental music is given away through her website. “The Lord has placed me in circumstances that currently don't demand extra income, he has inspired the creators of technology to produce programs that I can use to publish the music without the assistance of typesetters, and he has given me a gift that I did nothing to earn. Sharing seems logical.” DeFord was born in 1959 in Eugene, Oregon. She fondly recalls that her love of music came listening to her grandmother practice the accordion and her grandfather singing her to sleep accompanied by his banjo. She wrote her first song—a ballad for a then-boyfriend—when she was sixteen, but scrapped it, as well as the next few songs she wrote. She attended Brigham Young University. Her music has been featured in Church magazines numerous times and she has received over thirty Church music awards for her compositions and arrangements. Her song, “If the Savior Stood Beside Me” was used in the 2008 Primary program and was performed in the Church’s General Young Women’s meeting in 2007.
High above the weary world, amid the stars of heaven,
To men of old a wondrous sign of peace and hope was given.
A brighter star was kindled there to blaze among the skies,
To mark the way to Bethlehem and everlasting light.
And high above the weary world, For eyes to see that will,
The star of Bethlehem will shine for those who seek Him still.
High above the weary world, it shone upon their road,
And lo! it led the wise men on to seek a poor abode.
And is there now no humble home to which its light may lead?
No quiet need? No tears of grief? No hungering soul to feed?
Look high above the weary world, For eyes to see that will,
The star of Bethlehem will shine for those who seek Him still.
High above the weary world His star still shines for me,
It bids me seek the Holy child, adoring on bended knee.
It beckons me through ages past, by countless years undimmed.
It bids me serve His children now, Thus to worship Him,
And high above the weary world, For eyes to see that will,
The star of Bethlehem will shine for those who seek Him still.
A Closing Prayer - Don Besig
(c.1978, Harold Flammer, Inc.)
Don Besig was a public school music teacher for over thirty years in western New York. He taught at all levels and since his retirement has continued to serve as a guest conductor, clinician and adjudicator. Recognizing a need for choral music written especially for student singers and volunteer church choirs, he began composing for his own choral groups in 1960. He is also the recipient of several ASCAP Plus Awards Don is a graduate of Ithaca College and a member of Phi Mu Alpha and ASCAP. He and Nancy Price collaborate to write music and lyrics.
The time has come, O Lord, for us to leave this place.
Guide us and protect us and lead us in thy grace.
Wherever life may take us as we go our separate ways,
Help us share with others the things we've shared today.
About the Hymns:
Sing We Now of Christmas
The text for “Sing We Now of Christmas” comes from a 15th century French Carol, Noël nouvelet. The English text was written by an unknown translator in the 17th or 18th century. The lyrical structure of the carol takes us through the story of Christ’s birth. The text connects to two scripture passages—Luke 2:8-20, which tells the story of the angels and shepherds, and Matthew 2:1-12, which tells the story of the wise men and their gifts. The tune for this hymn comes from the same Traditional French Carol as the text. The importance of this song is that it highlights several of the most important parts of Christ’s birth; from the rejoicing of heaven and earth (with shepherds and angels), to the fulfilling of prophecies (the coming of the wise men). It reminds us that Christ’s birth changed the world. It reminds us that God became man and took a weak body of flesh to become closer to us.
Sing we now of Christmas, Noel, sing we here!
Hear our grateful praises to the babe so dear.
Angels called to shepherds, "Leave your flocks at rest,
journey forth to Bethlehem, find the lambkin blest."
In Bethlehem they found him; Joseph and Mary mild,
seated by the manger, watching the holy child.
From the eastern country came the kings afar,
bearing gifts to Bethlehem guided by a star.
Gold and myrrh they took there, gifts of greatest price;
there was ne'er a place on earth so like paradise.
Sing we Noel, the King is born, Noel!
Sing we now of Christmas, sing we now Noel!
We Three Kings of Orient Are
“We Three Kings", also known as "We Three Kings of Orient Are" or "The Quest of the Magi", is a Christmas carol written by the Reverend John Henry Hopkins, Jr., who wrote both the lyrics and the tune (KINGS OF ORIENT). It is thought to have been written in 1857 but did not appear in print until his Carols, Hymns and Song in 1863. John Henry Hopkins, Jr., then an ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church, was instrumental in organizing an elaborate holiday pageant (which featured this hymn) for the students of the General Theological Seminary in New York City in 1857 while serving as the seminary's music director. Although there is no scriptural basis for stating dogmatically that there were three wise men, the fact that three distinct gifts are mentioned has given rise to this traditional idea. Master artists throughout the centuries have depicted three wise men on camels as one of their favorite nativity themes.
We three kings of Orient are; bearing gifts we traverse afar,
field and fountain, moor and mountain, following yonder star.
Born a King on Bethlehem's plain, gold I bring to crown him again,
King forever, ceasing never, over us all to reign.
Frankincense to offer have I; incense owns a Deity nigh;
prayer and praising, voices raising, worshiping God on high.
Myrrh is mine; its bitter perfume breathes a life of gathering gloom;
sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying, sealed in the stone-cold tomb.
Glorious now behold him arise; King and God and sacrifice:
Alleluia, Alleluia, sounds through the earth and skies.
O star of wonder, star of light, star with royal beauty bright,
westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light.
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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