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:
Da Jesus an dem Kreuze stand - Johann Pachelbel
"Da Jesus an dem Kreuze stund" (When Jesus stood by the Cross) is a Lutheran Passion hymn in German by Johann Böschenstein (1472–1539), which contains seven stanzas related to seven sayings of Jesus on the cross, framed by a stanza to introduce them, and one to conclude the meditation. It first appeared in 9 stanzas of 5 lines "Do lhesus an dem creutze stüund", in an undated leaflet, c. 1515. It was later published in M. Vehe's Gesang-Buch, 1537. It was translated as "When Jesus on the Cross was found" in the Moravian Hymn Book, 1746.
Johann Böschenstein (1472-1540), a native of Stein on the Rhine, was born at Esslingen, Wurttemberg. After taking Holy Orders as a priest he became tutor of Hebrew at Ingolstadt. In 1514 he went to Augsburg, where, in the same year, he published a Hebrew Grammar, and in 1518, by the recommendation of Reuchlin, was invited as tutor of Greek and Hebrew to Wittenberg. He continued to move from city to city, teaching in Nürnberg, Heidelberg, Antwerp, and Zurich. At Augsburg, he became by royal license teacher of Hebrew, and died there in great poverty.
The hymn tune is Zahn 1706. The hymn was often set to music, especially for Passiontide. Heinrich Schütz used the outer stanzas to frame his dramatic setting of the same sayings of Jesus, Die sieben Worte Jesu Christi am Kreuz. Johann Sebastian Bach set the hymn as the organ chorale prelude BWV 621 as part of his Orgelbüchlein.
When Jesus on the Cross was found, His Body pierced with many a Wound,
With Torture very bitter;
The dying Words, which He then spake, With a still Heart consider.
First He does to His Father speak In Heaven’s Kingdom, sweetly meek;
“What they to Me are doing, Father! forgive, they know it not”:
Here He’s Love’s Pattern shewing.
Weigh next the Mercy and Relief Which God bestows upon the Thief;
He the poor Heart addresses,
“Verily thou shalt in Paradise To-day feel My Caresses.”
Thirdly observe the tender Care Which He still for His House did bear;
“Woman, lo! there is thy Son: John! see thy Mother there”; and this
Was the first Cross’s Union.
The fourth Word on the Cross accurst By our Prince spoken was, “I thirst.”
With such keen Thirst He’s pained After our Righteousness: but now,
Dear Heart, His Cordial’s gained.
Weigh too the Scorn He underwent As He to God the fifth Word sent,
A Scorn which knew no Measure;
“My God, my God! why leavest Thou Me? Am I no more Thy Pleasure?”
The sixth’s a very powerful Word, Which many a Sinner poor has heard,
Out of His Mouth proceeding; “It’s finished”: what? our Happiness:
Through what? His Wounds so bleeding.
“Father!” when all was at an End, Immanuel says, “I recommend
My Spirit separated Into Thy Hands.”
His Body dies, His Soul’s in Life instated.
He who God’s Pains in Honour has, To whom our Saviour gives the Grace
To be in Heart possessing And weigh these seven Gospel Words,
Enjoys a noble Blessing,
Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706) was a German Baroque composer, organist and teacher, who brought the south German organ tradition to its peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secular music, and his contributions to the development of the chorale prelude and fugue have earned him a place among the most important composers of the middle Baroque era. Pachelbel's music enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime; he had many pupils and his music became a model for the composers of south and central Germany. Today, Pachelbel is best known for the Canon in D, as well as the Chaconne in F minor, the Toccata in E minor for organ, and the Hexachordum Apollinis, a set of keyboard variations.
Pachelbel studied music at Altdorf and Regensburg and held posts as organist in Vienna, Stuttgart, and other cities. In 1695 he was appointed organist at the St. Sebalduskirche in Nürnberg, where he remained until his death. He also taught organ, and one of his pupils was Johann Christoph Bach, who in turn gave his younger brother Johann Sebastian Bach his first formal keyboard lessons.
Old 120th - Healey Willan
(c. 1960, C. F. Peters)
I gave My life for thee [Christ desiring the entire devotion of His Servants.] is by Frances M. Havergal. In her manuscript copy, she gives this title, 'I did this for thee; what hast thou done for Me?' Motto placed under a picture of our Saviour in the study of a German divine. On Jan. 10, 1858, she had come in weary, and sitting down she read the motto, and the lines of her hymn flashed upon her. She wrote them in pencil on a scrap of paper. Thinking them over she thought them so poor that she tossed them on the fire, but they fell out untouched. Showing them some months after to her father, he encouraged her to preserve them, and wrote the tune Baca specially for them. The hymn was printed on a leaflet, 1859, and in Good Words, Feb., 1860. Published also in The Ministry of Song, 1869. Havergal also refers to this hymn in a letter quoted in her Memoirs: "I was so overwhelmed on Sunday at hearing three of my hymns touchingly sung in Perry Church, I never before realized the high privilege of writing for the ‘great congregation’ especially when they sang ‘I gave My life for thee' to my father's tune Baca.”
Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879) was the daughter of an Anglican rector in Worcester. She travelled and lived in various places, including, Germany, Leamington, Caswall Bay, Swansea, Switzerland, Scotland, and North Wales. She spoke several modern languages, as well as Greek and Hebrew. She does not occupy, and did not claim for herself, a prominent place as a poet, but by her distinct individuality she carved out a niche. Her poems are permeated with the fragrance of her passionate love of Jesus.
Her religious views and theological bias are distinctly set forth in her poems, and may be described as mildly Calvinistic, without the severe dogmatic tenet of reprobation. She writes of a free and full salvation every sinner who will receive it, and her life was devoted to the proclamation of this truth by personal labours, literary efforts, and earnest interest in Foreign Missions.
In modern hymnals, her text is often set to OLD 120TH, an anonymous hymn-tune found in Damon's Psalter (1579) and Este's Psalter (1592). It is so names because it was used to set Psalm 120.
I gave My life for thee, My precious blood I shed,
That thou mightst ransomed be, And quickened from the dead;
I gave, I gave My life for thee, What hast thou done for Me?
I gave, I gave My life for thee, What hast thou done for Me?
My Father's house of light, My glory-circled throne
I left for earthly night, For wanderings sad and lone;
I left, I left it all for thee, Hast thou left aught for Me?
I left, I left it all for thee, Hast thou left aught for Me?
I suffered much for thee, More than thy tongue can tell,
Of bitterest agony, To rescue thee from hell;
I've borne, I've borne it all for thee, What hast thou borne for Me?
I've borne, I've borne it all for thee, What hast thou borne for Me?
And I have brought to thee, Down from My home above,
Salvation full and free, My pardon and My love;
I bring, I bring rich gifts to thee, What hast thou brought to Me?
I bring, I bring rich gifts to thee, What hast thou brought to Me?
Healey Willan (1880-1968) was an Canadian organist and composer. He composed more than 800 works including operas, symphonies, chamber music, a concerto, and pieces for band, orchestra, organ, and piano, but is best known for his religious music. Willan was born in England, and he began musical training at age eight, with studies at St. Saviour's Choir School in Eastbourne. He earned, by examination in organ playing, harmony, counterpoint, history and orchestration, the Royal College of Organists' Associateship in 1897 and Fellowship in 1899. The Anglo-Catholic Tractarian movement led to an Anglican revival of plainsong, and in 1910, Willan joined the London Gregorian Association (which strove to preserve and revive "plain-chant"). In 1913, Willan emigrated to Canada. In 1921, he become Precentor of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene (Toronto), where he remained until his death. St. Mary Magdalene, under Willan, became a North American mecca for choral and Anglican church musicians. In 1920, the Toronto Conservatory (now the Royal Conservatory of Music) appointed Willan Head of its Theory Department. In 1934, he founded the Tudor Singers, which he conducted until it disbanded in 1939. From 1937 to 1950, Willan was University of Toronto Professor of Music and Organist. When the Order of Canada was established in 1967, it named Willan a Companion. In Britain, it was customary for the Archbishop of Canterbury to occasionally grant very distinguished English cathedral musicians the Lambeth Doctorate, Mus. D Cantaur; in 1956, Willan, "the Dean of Canadian composers", became the first non-English church musician to be so honoured. People who remember Willan from his time at St Mary Magdalene's like to moderate his somewhat dourly pious public image by quoting him: "English by birth; Canadian by adoption; Irish by extraction; Scotch by absorption."
About the Choral Music:
A Celtic Prayer – Michael Ekbladh
(c.1997, Michael Ekbladh)
Born in Dallas, Texas, Michael E. Ekbladh has served numerous churches in Dallas, Houston, Ft. Worth, and Illinois and Arkansas. He holds a Masters in Music-Conducting from Texas Christian University and has pursued a Masters in Sacred Music from Southern Methodist University. Michael currently serves as director of choirs for Pulaski Technical College in Little Rock, Arkansas, and is President-elect for the Arkansas Chapter of The Fellowship of United Methodist Musicians. Most recently, Michael served as Associate Director of Music and Arts for Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Copyright and License Administrator for the Choristers Guild.
In this anthem, Ekbladh has set texts from two sources.
God be in my head, and in my understanding;
God be in my mouth and in my speaking;
God be in my heart and in my thinking;
God be at my end and at my departing.
This portion of the text is from the Sarum Primer of 1514, which was a book of prayers and Christian worship resources in the Roman Catholic Church that was collected by the clergy at Salisbury Cathedral in the south central part of England. It was published in 1514 in the “Book of Hours” (Cambridge) and republished as the “Sarum Primer” in Salisbury in 1558. (“Sarum” is the abbreviation for Sarisburium, the Latin word for Salisbury, which was and is both a city and a diocese in England.).
Christ be with me, Christ be within me,
Christ behind me and Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
This text is an excerpt of a prayer written by St. Patrick in 433, known as “St . Patrick’s Breastplate.” According to tradition, St. Patrick wrote it for divine protection before successfully converting the Irish King Leoghaire and his subjects from paganism to Christianity.
Saint Patrick (Latin: Patricius; Irish: Pádraig; Welsh: Padrig) was a fifth-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Ireland, the other patron saints being Brigid of Kildare and Columba. Patrick was never formally canonised, having lived before the current laws of the Catholic Church in these matters. Nevertheless, he is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church, the Church of Ireland (part of the Anglican Communion), and in the Eastern Orthodox Church, where he is regarded as equal-to-the-apostles and Enlightener of Ireland. The dates of Patrick's life cannot be fixed with certainty, but there is general agreement that he was active as a missionary in Ireland during the fifth century. According to tradition dating from the early Middle Ages, Patrick was the first bishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland, and is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland, converting a pagan society in the process.
According to Patrick's autobiographical Confessio, when he was about sixteen, he was captured by Irish pirates from his home in Britain and taken as a slave to Ireland. He writes that he lived there for six years as an animal herder, suffering much hunger and cold, before escaping and returning to his family. He spent years at Auxerre, France, and was consecrated bishop at the age of 43. His great desire was to proclaim the good news to the Irish. He had a vision in which it seemed “all the children of Ireland from their mothers’ wombs were stretching out their hands” to him. He understood the vision to be a call to do mission work in pagan Ireland. Despite opposition from those who felt his education had been defective, he was sent to carry out the task. He went to the west and north–where the faith had never been preached–obtained the protection of local kings, and made numerous converts.Familiar with the Irish language and culture, Patrick chose to incorporate traditional rituals into his lessons of Christianity instead of attempting to eradicate native Irish beliefs. For instance, he used bonfires to celebrate Easter since the Irish were used to honoring their gods with fire. He also superimposed a sun, a powerful Irish symbol, onto the Christian cross to create what is now called a Celtic cross, so that veneration of the symbol would seem more natural to the Irish. He suffered much opposition from pagan druids and was criticized in both England and Ireland for the way he conducted his mission. In a relatively short time, the island had experienced deeply the Christian spirit, and was prepared to send out missionaries whose efforts were greatly responsible for Christianizing Europe.In later life, he served as a bishop, but little is known about where he worked. By the seventh century, he had already come to be revered as the patron saint of Ireland. His feast day is observed on 17 March, the supposed date of his death.
God be in my head, and in my understanding;
God be in my head, and in my understanding;
God be in my eyes and in my looking;
God be in my head, and in my understanding;
God be in my head, and in my understanding.
Christ be with me, Christ be within me,
Christ behind me and Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in hearts of all that love me.
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
God be in my head, and in my understanding;
God be in my mouth and in my speaking;
God be in my heart and in my thinking.
God be in my head, and in my understanding;
God be at my end and at my departing.
Amen, Amen.
About the Hymns:
What Wondrous Love is This
What Wondrous Love Is This is sometimes described as a "white spiritual", from the American South. Its text was first published in 1811, during the Second Great Awakening, and its melody is derived from an English popular ballad. The hymn's lyrics were first published in Lynchburg, Virginia in the c. 1811 camp meeting songbook A General Selection of the Newest and Most Admired Hymns and Spiritual Songs Now in Use. The lyrics may also have been printed, in a slightly different form, in the 1811 book Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Original and Selected published in Lexington, Kentucky. In most early printings, the hymn's text was attributed to an anonymous author, though the 1848 hymnal The Hesperian Harp attributes the text to a Methodist pastor from Oxford, Georgia named Alexander Means. In 1966, the United Methodist Book of Hymns became the first standard hymnal to incorporate What Wondrous Love Is This.
Most sources attribute the hymn's melody to the 1701 English song "The Ballad of Captain Kidd", which describes the exploits of pirate William Kidd (misnamed "Robert" in American versions of the ballad). The melody itself predates the Kidd usage, however, possibly by more than a century.(In addition, at least a dozen popular songs were set to the same melody after 1701.) In the early 1800s, when the lyrics to "What Wondrous Love Is This" were first published, hymnals typically lacked any musical notation. Camp meeting attendees during the Second Great Awakening would sing the hymns printed in these hymnals to a variety of popular melodies, including "The Ballad of Captain Kidd", which was well known at the time; this is likely how the text and melody came to be paired. The text and melody were first published together in the appendix of the 1840 edition of The Southern Harmony, a book of shape note hymns compiled by William Walker. The three-part harmony printed in The Southern Harmony was arranged by James Christopher of Spartanburg, South Carolina. In a later printing of the hymn, William Walker noted that it was a "very popular old Southern tune”.
The hymn is sung in Dorian mode, giving it a haunting quality. Though The Southern Harmony and many later hymnals incorrectly notated the song in Aeolian mode (natural minor) even congregations singing from these hymnals generally sang in Dorian mode by spontaneously raising the sixth note a half step wherever it appeared. Twentieth-century hymnals generally present the hymn in Dorian mode, or sometimes in Aeolian mode but with a raised sixth.
The song's lyrics express awe at the love of God and are reminiscent of the text of John 3:16. The following lyrics are those printed in the 1811 hymnal A General Selection of the Newest and Most Admired Hymns and Spiritual Songs Now in Use; a number of variations exist, but most are descended from this version.
What wondrous love is this, O my soul! O my soul!
What wondrous love is this! O my soul!
What wondrous love is this! That caused the Lord of bliss!
To send this precious peace, To my soul, to my soul!
To send this precious peace To my soul!
When I was sinking down, Sinking down, sinking down;
When I was sinking down Sinking down
When I was sinking down, Beneath God's righteous frown,
Christ laid aside his crown For my soul, for my soul!
Christ laid aside his crown For my soul!
Ye winged seraphs fly, Bear the news, bear the news!
Ye winged seraphs fly Bear the news!--
Ye winged seraphs fly, like comets through the sky,
fill vast eternity! With the news, with the news!
Fill vast eternity With the news!
Ye friends of Zion's king, join his praise, join his praise;
Ye friends of Zion's king, join his praise;
Ye friends of Zion's king, with hearts and voices sing,
and strike each tuneful string in his praise, in his praise!
and strike each tuneful string in his praise!
To God and to the Lamb, I will sing, I will sing;
To God and to the Lamb, I will sing--
To God and to the Lamb, who is the great I AM,
while millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing!
while millions join the theme, I will sing!
And while from death I'm free, I'll sing on, I'll sing on,
And while from death I'm free, I'll sing on.
and while from death I'm free, I'll sing and joyful be,
and through eternity I'll sing on, I'll sing on,
and through eternity I'll sing on.
Be Thou My Vision
(c.1989, United Methodist Publishing House)
"Be Thou My Vision" (Old Irish: Rop tú mo baile or Rob tú mo bhoile) is a traditional hymn from Ireland. The most well known English version, with some minor variations, was translated by Eleanor Hull and published in 1912. In 1919, the lyrics were set to the tune of the Irish folk tune "Slane", to which the song is sung to this day, both in English and Irish. The song dates from at least the eighth century, though the text dates to the sixth-century.
The original Old Irish text, "Rop tú mo Baile" is often attributed to Saint Dallán Forgaill in the 6th century. Eochaid Mac Colla (c. 530 – 598), better known as Saint Dallan or Dallán Forgaill (Old Irish: Dallán Forchella; Latin: Dallanus Forcellius), was an early Christian Irish poet whose writings include the "Amra Choluim Chille" ("Elegy of Saint Columba") and "Rop Tú Mo Baile" ("Be Thou My Vision"). Saint Dallan was Chief Ollam of Ireland (similar to poet laureate), as well as a scholar of Latin scriptural learning. He helped to reform the Bardic Order at the Convention of Drumceat. He reputedly wrote Amra Choluim Chille, which he completed shortly after the death of Saint Columba in 597, because Columba had successfully saved poets from expulsion from Ireland at the assembly of Druim Cett in 575. The “Amra Choluim Chille,” is the earliest Irish poem that can be dated.
"Rop tú mo Baile" had been a part of Irish monastic tradition for centuries before its setting to music. The Irish text was translated into literal prose by Irish scholar Mary Elizabeth Byrne (1880-1931), a Dublin native, and then published in Eriú, the journal of the School of Irish Learning, in 1905. Byrne was also known for her academic publications, including Old and Mid-Irish Dictionary, Dictionary of the Irish Language, and a treatise, England in the Age of Chaucer.
It is at this point that Eleanor Hull (1860-1935) enters the story. Born in Manchester, England, she was the founder of the Irish Text Society and president of the Irish Literary Society of London. Hull versified the text and it was published in her Poem Book of the Gael (1912). Following the original publication in Ireland, the hymn was included in a number of British hymnals. After World War II, the hymn came to the attention of hymnal editors in the U.S. and it has become a standard hymn in most hymnals today.
Irish liturgy and ritual scholar Helen Phelan, a lecturer at the University of Limerick, points out how the language of this hymn is drawn from traditional Irish culture: "One of the essential characteristics of the text is the use of 'heroic' imagery to describe God. This was very typical of medieval Irish poetry, which cast God as the 'chieftain' or 'High King' (Ard Ri) who provided protection to his people or clan. The lorica is one of the most popular forms of this kind of protection prayer and is very prevalent in texts of this period." The original chieftain language of the "High King of heaven" has given way to the more inclusive "Great God" in the UM Hymnal.
When Hull's versification was paired with the lovely traditional Irish tune SLANE in The Irish Church Hymnal in 1919, its popularity was sealed. The folk melody was taken from a non-liturgical source, Patrick Weston Joyce's Old Irish Folk Music and Songs: A Collection of 842 Airs and Songs hitherto unpublished (1909). "Most 'traditional' Irish religious songs are non-liturgical," says Dr. Phelan. "There is a longstanding practice of 'editorial weddings' in Irish liturgical music, where traditional tunes were wedded to more liturgically appropriate texts. This is a very good example of this practice.” The tune name SLANE is drawn from deep in Irish history. It was on Slane Hill in County Meath around 433 CE that St. Patrick lit candles on Easter Eve, defying a decree by High King Logaire of Tara that no one could light a fire before the king signaled the beginning of the pagan spring festival by lighting a fire on Tara Hill. King Logaire was so impressed by Patrick's devotion that, despite his defiance, he was permitted to continue his work as Ireland's first Christian missionary.
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art;
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.
Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tow’r:
Raise Thou me heav’nward, O Pow’r of my pow’r.
Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.
High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heav’n’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.
(c.2013, Lawrence A Wik)
Rev. Lawrence Wik wrote this hymn for Lent in 2013 and gave it to the General Board of Discipleship of the United Methodist Church to publish on their website for free use by churches. Rev. Wik is a United Methodist pastor currently serving Lake Orion UMC in Michigan.
Partially based on earlier melodies (including the Genevan tune for Psalm 23), the tune HERZLIEBSTER JESU was composed by Johann Crüger (1598-1662) and published in his Neues vollkömliches Gesangbuch (1640). Johann S. Bach used the tune in both his St. Matthew Passion and St. John Passion, and various other composers have written preludes on the chorale. The name translates and the tune was originally written for the text “Ah, Holy Jesus”.
Sovereign most holy, Lord of might and splendor,
angels revere you, we our praises render.
Loudest hosannas we in love are bringing:
joy in us singing!
Jesus Messiah, gift of God’s own favor,
suffered at Calvary, and became our savior,
rose Easter morning to return victorious:
Christ ever glorious!
Spirit of mercy, and of love unswerving,
enter our hearts though we are undeserving.
“Amen,” we cry, in faith and hope believing:
new life receiving!
Praise to the Father, God of all creation!
Praise to Christ Jesus, hope of our salvation!
Praise to the Spirit, God within us yearning:
love in us burning!
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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