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:
Ride On, Ride On in Majesty - Alexander Matthews
(c.1946, Oliver Ditson Co)
"Ride On, Ride On in Majesty!” was written by Henry Hart Milman in 1820.It is a Palm Sunday hymn and refers to Matthew 21:1–17 and Jesus' Triumphal entry into Jerusalem. While Milman wrote "Ride On, Ride On in Majesty!" in 1820, it was not published in a hymn book until 1827 when it was published in Bishop Reginald Heber's Hymns Written and Adapted to the Weekly Church Service of the Year. This is reported to only have happened after Milman met Heber in 1823 before Heber became Bishop of Calcutta. It was described by composer Stanley L. Osbourne as "Objective, robust, confident, and stirring, it possesses that peculiar combination of tragedy and victory which draws the singer into the very centre of the drama. It is this which gives the hymn its power and its challenge”. The hymn proved popular: in 1907, John Julian, in his Dictionary of Hymnology, stated it was the most popular Palm Sunday hymn in the English language at that time. The hymn is viewed to be full of dramatic irony. The third line of the first verse "Thine humble beast pursues his road" has been disliked by some hymn book editors. In 1852, it was changed to "O Savior meek, pursue Thy road" and in 1855 to "With joyous throngs pursue Thy road”; however, both attempts received little popular attention. This led to some hymn books omitting the first verse.
There are several tunes that are used for "Ride On, Ride On in Majesty!”: HEBRON by Lowell Mason, WINCHESTER NEW by William Henry Monk, and ST. DROSTANE. This setting uses WINCHESTER NEW.
Ride on, ride on, in majesty! Hark! all the tribes hosanna cry.
Thine humble beast pursues Thy road, With palms and scattered garments strowed.
Ride on, ride on, in majesty! In lowly pomp ride on to die.
O Christ, Thy triumphs now begin O'er captive death and conquered sin.
Ride on, ride on, in majesty! The angel armies of the sky
Look down with sad and wondering eyes To see the approaching Sacrifice.
Ride on, ride on, in majesty! Thy last and fiercest strife is nigh;
The Father on His sapphire throne Expects His own anointed Son.
Ride on, ride on, in majesty! In lowly pomp ride on to die.
Bow Thy meek head to mortal pain. Then take, 0 Christ, Thy power and reign.
Harvey Alexander Matthews (1879-1973) was organist and director at First Baptist Church in Philadelphia. He published a number of choral and organ works.
Trumpet Tune on "St. Theodulph" - Michael Helman
(c.2020, Lorenz Publishing)
Theodulf of Orleans (760-821) was originally from Spain. Muslim conquests of Iberia drove him to leave, and he was brought to France by Charlemagne. In addition to serving as a kind of poet laureate, he was a scholar, church reformer, secretary of education, theological advisor to the king. His writings included sermons and theological treatises on baptism and the Holy Spirit. He opposed the use of icons and revised the text of the Bible. He became Bishop of Orleans about 785, and soon afterwards also Abbot of Fleury. After Charlemagne died, Louis the Pious accused Theodulf of joining Bernard of Italy (a royal nephew) in a conspiracy against the throne. Theodulf protested his innocence, but in 818, he was deposed from his influential posts and imprisoned at Angers, where he died in 821. While imprisoned, he wrote the words to the Latin hymn "Gloria, laus et honor tibi sit Rex Christe, Redemptor " or "All Glory, Laud and Honor To thee Redeemer King." More than a thousand years later, an English translation of his hymn remains a favorite for Palm Sunday.
Now often named ST. THEODULPH because of its association with this text, the tune is also known, especially in organ literature, as VALET WILL ICH DIR GEBEN. It was composed by Melchior Teschner (1584-1635) for Valerius Herberger's hymn for the dying. Teschner composed the tune in two five-voice settings, published in the leaflet Ein andächtiges Gebet in 1615. Teschner studied philosophy, theology, and music at the University of Frankfurt an-der-Oder and later studied at the universities of Helmstedt and Wittenberg, Germany. From 1609 until 1614, he served as cantor in the Lutheran church in Fraustadt, and from 1614 until his death, he was pastor of the church in Oberpritschen.
All glory, laud, and honor to thee, Redeemer, King!
to whom the lips of children made sweet hosannas ring.
Thou art the King of Israel, thou David’s royal Son,
who in the Lord’s Name comest, the King and Blessed One.
The company of angels are praising thee on high;
and mortal men and all things created make reply.
The people of the Hebrews with palms before thee went;
our praise and prayer and anthems before thee we present.
To thee before thy passion they sang their hymns of praise;
to thee, now high exalted, our melody we raise.
Thou didst accept their praises; accept the prayers we bring,
who in all good delightest thou good and gracious King.
Michael Helman (b. 1956) is currently Director of Music/Organist at Faith Presbyterian Church in Cape Coral, Florida where he directs the Faith choir, a graded handbell program from children through adults, and coordinates the church’s Concert Series. Prior to moving to Florida in 2006, Michael was Director of Music/Organist for fifteen years at St. Paul’s United Methodist in Wilmington, Delaware. Helman did his undergraduate work in organ performance at Lebanon Valley College and did graduate work in Music History and Literature at West Chester University. He is an active composer of handbell, organ, and choral music with numerous pieces pieces in print. Michael has also won nine composition contests including the 1997, 1998, and 2000 AGEHR National Composition Contests.
Michael is in demand as a handbell festival director and clinician all over the country. He is a past Dean of the Delaware Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and has served on the Board of Area III of the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers and is current SW Florida District Chair. Michael has begun two community handbell ensembles: the Wilmington Handbell Ensemble in 2000 and in 2009 the Southwest Florida Handbell Ensemble.
About the Choral Music:
Procession and Hymn for Palm Sunday - Craig Courtney
(c.1998, Beckenhorst Press)
Like "All Glory, Laud, and Honor" (375/376), this text is based on Christ's triumphal entry on Palm Sunday. However, "Hosanna, Loud Hosanna" focuses more on the children's role in that event. The text was written by Jeannette Threlfall (1821-1880) in an "idle moment" (as she says she wrote all of her hymns, all others of which have been forgotten). Undoubtedly, Threlfall had Mark 11 in mind when she wrote this text, but she also alludes to Jesus' welcoming of the children in Mark 10:13-16. Threlfall's life was extremely difficult: she was orphaned at an early age, and two serious accidents caused her to be an invalid for life. But she bore her misfortune with grace and fortitude and maintained a ministry to many people who came in contact with her. Threlfall wrote devotional verse, which was published anonymously in various periodicals and later collected in Woodsorrel, or Leaves from a Retired Home (1856) and Sunshine and Shadow (1873), which included "Hosanna, Loud Hosanna.”
Published in a chapel hymnal for the Duke of Würtemberg (Gesangbuch der Herzogl, 1784), ELLACOMBE (the name of a village in Devonshire, England) was first set to the words "Ave Maria, klarer und lichter Morgenstern." During the first half of the nineteenth century various German hymnals altered the tune. Since ELLACOMBE's inclusion in the 1868 Appendix to Hymns Ancient and Modern, where it was set to John Daniell's children's hymn "Come, Sing with Holy Gladness," its use throughout the English-speaking world has spread.
A native of Indiana, Craig Courtney received a Bachelors and a Masters degree in piano performance from the University of Cincinnati. He served on the faculty of the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, serving as piano teacher and accompanist for the woodwind and brass department. While serving in the music ministry of the Salzburg International Baptist Church, Courtney began composing sacred choral music. In 1985, his compositions came to the attention of John Ness Beck through the publication of his octavo, Thy Will Be Done, initiating a close working relationship between the two men which continued until Beck’s death in 1987. In making plans for the ongoing of Beckenhorst Press, Beck appointed Craig Courtney staff composer and editor. Courtney’s published works include more than two hundred choral octavos, nine vocal collections, two piano solo collections and six extended works for choir and orchestra. Courtney combines his background as pianist, cellist, vocal coach, accompanist and choral director to create works in his unique style.
If you keep silent, these very stones will cry out, will cry out.
Blessed is He, O blessed is He who comes in the name, the name of the Lord.
Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna, hosanna.
Peace, peace in heaven and glory in the highest.
Hosanna, loud hosanna the little children sang;
Through pillared court and temple the lovely anthem rang;
To Jesus, who had blessed them close folded to His breast,
The children sang their praises, the simplest and the best.
From Olivet they followed mid an exultant crowd,
The victor palm branch waving, and chanting clear and loud;
The Lord of earth and heaven rode on in lowly state,
Nor scorned that little children should on His bidding wait.
“Hosanna in the highest!” That ancient song we sing,
For Christ is our redeemer, the Lord of heaven, our King;
O may we ever praise Him with heart and life and voice,
And in His holy presence eternally rejoice!
Eternally rejoice!
Lamb of God, What Wondrous Love - Allan Robert Petker
(c.1989, Gentry Publications)
Allan Robert Petker (b. 1955) is a published composer and arranger with over 250 published works. His conducting books, "Choral Questions and Answers" Vols. I, II, III, IV and V, have become staples in school curriculum and for secondary resource material. He has written original scores for live performance and has penned a number of original T.V. commercials which have appeared on the CNBC network. Allan holds a Bachelor's and a Master's degree from California State University at Northridge in music, specializing in viola (BA), voice and choral conducting (MA). Petker has been involved in the choral music publishing industry for many years. In 1977 he became the Director of Publications for Fred Bock Publishing Group. In 1989 he established his own company, Pavane Publishing, and later added John Rich Music Press.
As a conductor, Allan frequently serves as a guest clinician or conductor for publishers, choral societies, church festivals, state honor choirs and colleges. He formed Consort Chorale, in the San Francisco Bay area. He was the Conductor and Artistic Director for the e, and is the conductor of the Los Cancioneros Master Chorale. Petker has been a clinician in two summer church music conferences at Lake Tahoe, one for church choir singers, "Summer Sing" and another for church choir directors, "Tuning @ Tahoe." As an instrumentalist, Allan has done freelance studio work and occasional concert playing. You may even catch him playing jazz violin and viola at a local pub, one of his favorite things to do.
Petker has set this text to the music of the “Pavane” by Gabriel Faure. Gabriel Urbain Fauré (1845-1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers. Among his best-known works are his Pavane, Requiem, Sicilienne, nocturnes for piano and the songs "Après un rêve" and "Clair de lune". Although his best-known and most accessible compositions are generally his earlier ones, Fauré composed many of his most highly regarded works in his later years, in a more harmonically and melodically complex style.
Fauré was born into a cultured but not especially musical family. His talent became clear when he was a small boy. At the age of nine, he was sent to the Ecole Niedermeyer music college in Paris, where he was trained to be a church organist and choirmaster. After graduating from the college in 1865, Fauré earned a modest living as an organist and teacher, leaving him little time for composition. When he became successful in his middle age, holding the important posts of organist of the Église de la Madeleine and director of the Paris Conservatoire, he still lacked time for composing; he retreated to the countryside in the summer holidays to concentrate on composition. By his last years, Fauré was recognised in France as the leading French composer of his day. An unprecedented national musical tribute was held for him in Paris in 1922, headed by the president of the French Republic. Fauré's music has been described as linking the end of Romanticism with the modernism of the second quarter of the 20th century. His harmonic and melodic innovations influenced the teaching of harmony for later generations. During the last twenty years of his life, he suffered from increasing deafness. In contrast with the charm of his earlier music, his works from this period are sometimes elusive and withdrawn in character, and at other times turbulent and impassioned.
Lamb of God, what wondrous love, what wondrous love, O my soul,
Love, such love, that Thou shouldst die, that Thou, for me, shouldst die.
Lord of Grace what matchless love, what matchless love, O my soul.
Son of God, Thou loving sacrifice, Thou loving sacrifice for me.
Here, O Lord, am I, fearful, sinful man, guilty and condemned,
Thy death is surely mine.
Cross of God, I would to turn away, yet Love it bids me stay, O my soul.
Can it be the very death I fear is that which draws me near, Lord, to Thee?
Lamb of God, Thou died for me. Lamb of God, Thou died for me.
Lamb of God, what wondrous love.
About the Hymns:
All Glory, Laud, and Honor
Theodulf of Orleans (760-821) was originally from Spain. Muslim conquests of Iberia drove him to leave, and he was brought to France by Charlemagne. In addition to serving as a kind of poet laureate, he was a scholar, church reformer, secretary of education, theological advisor to the king. His writings included sermons and theological treatises on baptism and the Holy Spirit. He opposed the use of icons and revised the text of the Bible. He became Bishop of Orleans about 785, and soon afterwards also Abbot of Fleury. After Charlemagne died, Louis the Pious accused Theodulf of joining Bernard of Italy (a royal nephew) in a conspiracy against the throne. Theodulf protested his innocence, but in 818, he was deposed from his influential posts and imprisoned at Angers, where he died in 821. While imprisoned, he wrote the words to the Latin hymn "Gloria, laus et honor tibi sit Rex Christe, Redemptor " or "All Glory, Laud and Honor To thee Redeemer King." More than a thousand years later, an English translation of his hymn remains a favorite for Palm Sunday.
Now often named ST. THEODULPH because of its association with this text, the tune is also known, especially in organ literature, as VALET WILL ICH DIR GEBEN. It was composed by Melchior Teschner (1584-1635) for Valerius Herberger's hymn for the dying. Teschner composed the tune in two five-voice settings, published in the leaflet Ein andächtiges Gebet in 1615. Teschner studied philosophy, theology, and music at the University of Frankfurt an-der-Oder and later studied at the universities of Helmstedt and Wittenberg, Germany. From 1609 until 1614, he served as cantor in the Lutheran church in Fraustadt, and from 1614 until his death, he was pastor of the church in Oberpritschen.
All glory, laud, and honor to thee, Redeemer, King!
to whom the lips of children made sweet hosannas ring.
Thou art the King of Israel, thou David’s royal Son,
who in the Lord’s Name comest, the King and Blessed One.
The company of angels are praising thee on high;
and mortal men and all things created make reply.
The people of the Hebrews with palms before thee went;
our praise and prayer and anthems before thee we present.
To thee before thy passion they sang their hymns of praise;
to thee, now high exalted, our melody we raise.
Thou didst accept their praises; accept the prayers we bring,
who in all good delightest thou good and gracious King.
Come and Fill Our Hearts
(c.1991, Les Presses de Taize, admin. GIA Publications)
The hymn “Come and Fill Our Hearts” was written in 1982 by the Taizé community in France. The tune CONFITEMINI DOMINO was composed by Jacques Berthier. The hymn is a prayer of healing and centering.
Jacques Berthier (1923-1994) studied music at the Ecole Cesar Franck in Paris. From 1961 until his death he served as organist at St. Ignace Church, Paris. Although his published works include numerous compositions for organ, voice, and instruments, Berthier is best known as the composer of service music for the Taizé community near Cluny, Burgundy. Influenced by the French liturgist and church musician Joseph Gelineau, Berthier began writing songs for equal voices in 1955 for the services of the then nascent community of twenty brothers at Taizé. As the Taizé community grew, Berthier continued to compose most of the mini-hymns, canons, and various associated instrumental arrangements, which are now universally known as the Taizé repertoire. In the past two decades this repertoire has become widely used in North American church music in both Roman Catholic and Protestant traditions.
Come and fill our hearts with your peace.
You alone, O Lord are holy.
Come and fill our hearts with your peace.
Have mercy on us.
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
No comments:
Post a Comment