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:
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing - Gilbert Martin
(c.1972, Belwin Mills, div of Alfred Music)
“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” was written by the 18th century pastor and hymnist Robert Robinson. Robert Robinson (1735-1790) was eight years old at the time of his father's death. He was a very bright, headstrong boy who became increasingly more difficult for his mother to handle. When Robert turned 14, she sent him to London for an apprenticeship with a barber. Robert proceeded to get into even more trouble, taking on a life of drinking and gambling.
At 17, Robert and some of his drinking buddies decided to attend an evangelistic meeting, with a plan to make fun of the proceedings. When George Whitfield began to preach, Robert felt as if the sermon was just for him. He did not respond to the altar call that night, but the words of the evangelist would haunt him for the next three years. On Dec. 10, 1755, at age 20, Robert finally yielded his life to Christ, and very soon thereafter answered a call to the ministry. Three years later, as he was preparing to preach a sermon at the Calvinist Methodist Chapel in Norfolk, England, Robert wrote “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” to complement his sermon. The music for the hymn was composed by Asahel Nettleton in 1813.
The lyrics, which dwell on the theme of divine grace, are based on 1 Samuel 7:12, in which the prophet Samuel raises a stone as a monument, saying, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us". The English transliteration of the name Samuel gives to the stone is Ebenezer, meaning Stone of Help. The unusual word "Ebenezer" commonly appears in hymnal presentations of the lyrics.
The tune NETTLETON first appeared as a two-part tune in John Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second(1813), where it was named HALLELUJAH. In the Index it is identified as a new tune, and no composer's name is given. The tune has been attributed by some to Asahel Nettleton (1783-1844), a well-known evangelist of the early nineteenth century, who compiled Village Hymns (1825). However, this compilation contained no music, and there is no evidence that Nettleton wrote any tunes during his life. It is not known where the tune name first appeared or who was responsible for it.
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing Tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy, never ceasing Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet Sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon it Mount of Thy redeeming love
Here I raise my Ebenezer Hither by Thy help I've come
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure Safely to arrive at home
Jesus sought me when a stranger Wandering from the fold of God
He, to rescue me from danger Interposed His precious blood
Oh, that day when freed from sinning I shall see Thy lovely face
Clothed then in blood washed linen How I'll sing Thy wondrous grace
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry Take my ransomed soul away
Send Thine angels now to carry Me to realms of endless day
Oh, to grace how great a debtor Daily I'm constrained to be
Let thy goodness like a fetter Bind my wandering heart to Thee
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it Prone to leave the God I love
Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it Seal it for Thy courts above
Gilbert M. Martin (b. 1941) is a free-lance composer and editor of choral music. For more than 30 years, organists, pianists, schools and churches have performed and enjoyed his original compositions and arrangements. He often travels throughout the country to teach and conduct musical ensembles. He received a B. Mus. from Westminster Choir College, where he was honored as a distinguished composer and graduate. He has received 21 yearly ASCAP Awards, and is a member of ACDA, AGO, AEA, and NARAS.
Rondeau - Jean Joseph Mouret
(c.1974, Belwin-Mills Publishing, div Alfred Music)
Jean-Joseph Mouret (1682-1738) was a French composer whose dramatic works made him one of the leading exponents of Baroque music in his country. Even though most of his works are rarely performed, Mouret's name survives today thanks to the popularity of the Fanfare-Rondeau from his first Suite de symphonies, which has been adopted as the signature tune of the PBS program Masterpiece.
Jean-Joseph was the son of Jean Bertrand Mouret, a silk merchant, who gave his son a good education and, noting his early gifts for music, supported his musical studies. Talented and agreeable, he became well-known there, and in 1708 he was introduced to Anne, Duchess of Maine, whose salon at Sceaux was a center of courtly society in the declining years of the reign of Louis XIV. He was able to secure the Duchess's patronage, and she made him her Surintendant de la musique at Sceaux shortly thereafter. At Sceaux Mouret produced operas and was in charge of the sixteen bi-weekly Grandes nuits. In this capacity, he produced intermèdes and allegorical cantatas in the court masque tradition, and other music.
In 1714, Mouret also received an appointment as the director of the orchestra of the Opéra, a post which he held until 1718. From 1717 to 1737 he directed the Nouveau Théâtre Italien for which he composed divertissements that accompanied, for example, the tender comedies of Marivaux, and which, printed, fill six volumes. At court Mouret maintained a post as singer, and directed the grand divertissements offered by the Regent, the duc d'Orléans at his château of Villers-Cotterêts on the occasion of Louis XV's coming-of-age in 1722. Concurrently, he was director of the concert series established by the orchestra of the Opéra, the Concert Spirituel (1728–1734), positions which provided a public outlet for his own music and which permitted him to live in affluence. However, his later years were overshadowed by financial and social disappointments. Sinking into poverty, Mouret was committed to the insane asylum in 1738 and died there.
About the Piano Music:
I'd Rather Have Jesus - Fred Bock
(c.1975, Chancel Music)
At the age of 23, George Beverly Shea (1909–2013) had a hard decision to make. He could accept a job offer in a secular singing position in New York City, with a great salary and wide respect; or he could continue singing in churches and on Christian radio programs. George Beverly Shea was known for his booming baritone voice. Shea had been singing since he was a young man in the Wesleyan Methodist churches, where his father was a minister. He was forced to leave college and work in an insurance office as a young man, due to the family’s financial needs. However, that did not stop him from singing. He continued to sing in churches and for Christian radio programs. This practice led to the unexpected offer of an audition in New York City. He was offered a substantial salary and wide recognition for this secular singing position. Shea prayed long and hard while making this difficult decision, but he thoughtfully turned them down to become a singing servant for our Savior.
Beginning with Billy Graham in 1944, George Beverly Shea carried the Gospel in song to every state in the Union and to every continent of our world. “I first met Bev Shea while in Chicago when he was on Moody Radio,” declared Mr. Graham. “As a young man starting my ministry, I asked Bev if he would join me. He said yes and for over 60 years we had the privilege of ministering together.”
Bev Shea’s mother often would leave poems and quotes around the house that she collected, in order to spiritually guide him. “I was living at home with my parents, continuing to work at Mutual Life Insurance and studying voice. Going to the piano one Sunday morning, I found a poem waiting for me there. I recognized my mother’s handwriting. She had copied the words of a poem by Mrs. Rhea F. Miller, knowing that I would read the beautiful message, which speaks of choice. Mother thought it to be a very wonderful poem and wanted me to read it. She then asked me to try my hand at writing a melody for the verses.” He was immediately impressed with the words and so deeply moved that he began to compose music for the lines. “I began to play as a melody came to me. It seemed to fit the lyrics and so I began to sing, for the first time, I’d Rather Have Jesus.” That same day, he sang the song in his father’s church service. As the people in the church listened to George’s deep voice sing out “I’d Rather Have Jesus, than silver or gold,” little did they know that the song was destined to become one of the most well-known of all recent Christian hymns.
When Bev Shea signed with RCA Victor, I’d Rather Have Jesus was chosen to spotlight their new singer. Bev Shea commented, “Over the years, I’ve not sung any song more than I’d Rather Have Jesus, but I never grow weary of Mrs. Miller’s heartfelt words.” He ministered alongside Billy Graham and Cliff Barrows, often singing right before Graham stepped to the podium.
I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold;
I'd rather be His than have riches untold;
I'd rather have Jesus than houses or lands.
I'd rather be led by His nail pierced hand
I'd rather have Jesus than men's applause;
I'd rather be faithful to His dear cause;
I'd rather have Jesus than worldwide fame.
I'd rather be true to His holy name
He's fairer than lilies of rarest bloom;
He's sweeter than honey from out the comb;
He's all that my hungering spirit needs.
I'd rather have Jesus and let Him lead
Than to be the king of a vast domain
Or be held in sin's dread sway.
I'd rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today.
Fred Bock (1939-1998) is regarded as one of the most recognized and respected leaders in the church music world. He was an esteemed arranger, choral director, clinician, composer, music publisher, organist, pianist and studio musician.
Born and raised in Great Neck, New York, Bock always knew he had a passion for music. At the age of 6 he learned how to read sheet music and play instruments, the first one being the piano. At the age of 12, he began to play the organ. Bock attended Ithaca College, New York, where he received his B.A. in Music Education, and earned his Masters at the Church of Music at the University of Southern California. Fred was awarded an honorary Ph.D. from Taylor University, Upland, Indiana in the 1980's.
At 24 years old, Fred Bock became the founder and Director of Publications for the music publishing branch of Word, Inc., all while completing graduate courses at the University of Southern California. He dedicated 7 years to the company, later resigning to become the founder of Gentry Publications, an educational music company which offers sacred and secular arrangements for houses of worship. Overtime, Bock expanded his interests and developed several more publishing companies, the two largest being Gentry Publications and Fred Bock Music Company, a music publisher of church music for choir, organ and piano. Through the years, he acquired the Raymond A. Hoffman Company, a supplier of operettas for grade-school use; the H. T. FitzSimons Company, a supplier of organ and choral music for worship, as well as the Hamelle edition of Gabriel Faure’s REQUIEM; and Fox Music Publishing. These publishing companies and more encompass Fred Bock Publishing Group as we know it today.
Along with his entrepreneurship, Fred Bock was more than a businessman. Bock was also an avid lover of music, active member of church communities and an accomplished composer. He served as the Minister of Music at Hollywood Presbyterian Church for 18 years, and at the Bel Air Presbyterian Church, Los Angeles for 14 years. In 1976, he became the Editor of Hymns for the revolutionary collection Hymns for the Family of God. Known for his good humor, Fred closed the foreword to Keyboard Duets for Organ and Piano with these words which give the measure of the man...."I shall never forget the evening of October 16, 1968*...*The evening referred to by Mr. Bock was when he fell asleep during an organ recital he was giving.
About the Choral Music:
Sunshine in My Soul - Amanda Christensen
(c.2014, Amanda Christensen)
The hymn "Sunshine in My Soul Today" was written by Eliza Hewitt after she suffered a serious injury. Hewitt was a school teacher in Pennsylvania, and an unruly student struck her on the back with a piece of heavy slate. This injury left Eliza in a heavy cast for months, confined to her room. During this time of painful confinement, Eliza was determined not to be bitter, and started writing hymns. Many of them were praise hymns, such as: Stepping in the Light, Singing I Go, Victory in Jesus and many more. When she was able to go outside for the first time on a spring day, she enjoyed the warmth of the sun. Returning to her room with a joyful heart, she wrote the hymn Sunshine in my Soul Today.
Amanda Christensen studied piano and choir at Brigham Young University and continues performing and composing in Plano, TX. She publishes her choral music on the internet for free use by churches.
There is sunshine in my soul today, More glorious and bright
Than glows in any earthly sky, For Jesus is my light.
There is music in my soul today, A carol to my King;
And Jesus, listening, can hear The song I cannot sing.
O there’s sunshine, blessed sunshine, Where the peaceful moments roll;
When Jesus shows His smiling face, There is sunshine in my soul.
There is gladness in my soul today, And hope, and praise, and love,
For blessings which He gives me now, For joys laid up above.
O there’s sunshine, blessed sunshine, Where the peaceful moments roll;
When Jesus shows His smiling face, There’s sunshine in my soul.
There’s sunshine in my soul.
About the Hymns:
A Charge to Keep I Have
As is the case with hymns by Charles Wesley, “A charge to keep I have” is grounded in Scripture. In this case, Leviticus 8:36 is the primary source: “Keep the charge of the Lord, that ye die not” (KJV). The hymn was included in Short Hymns on Select Passages of Holy Scripture (1762), a massive two-volume collection of 2,030 hymns based on biblical texts from Genesis to Revelation.
Wesley scholars F. Hildebrandt and Oliver A. Beckerlegge propose in their commentary on the important Wesley hymnbook A Collection of Hymns for Use of the People Called Methodists (1780) that Charles Wesley (1708-1788) based his text on Mathew Henry’s Commentary on Leviticus. Henry notes: “We have every one of us a charge to keep, an eternal God to glorify, an immortal soul to provide for, needful duty to be done, our generation to serve; and it must be our daily care to keep this charge, for it is the charge of the Lord our Master, who will shortly call us to an account about it, and it is our peril if we neglect it. Keep it ‘that ye die not’; it is death, eternal death, to betray the truth we are charged with.”
This hymn is an unequivocal call to commitment to follow the Master and to fulfill our vocation through service. The language is unambiguous. Our calling is to save a “never dying soul” and “fit it for the sky”—that is for eternal life with Christ. This eschatological goal is central to Charles Wesley’s hymns: Our goal is heaven. In the second stanza, we find that we fulfill this calling by our service to “the present age.” Fulfilling this calling requires us to engage “all [our] powers.” The third stanza is a petition that God should “arm [us] with jealous care” as we live in God’s sight. Wesley is not afraid to offer a stern admonition that we will one day be required to give “a strict account” of our activities in pursuit of our calling. The final stanza is perhaps the most uncompromising. The singer begins with the imperative verb—a petition to the unnamed Holy Spirit—to “Help me to watch and pray . . . ” Rather than suggesting a positive reward for faithfulness, Wesley warns us of the outcome “if [we] our trust betray”: we “shall forever die.”
The tune BOYLSTON was composed by the famous New England music educator Lowell Mason (1792-1872) and was first found in his The Choir, or Union Collection of Church Music (1832). Dr. Lowell Mason (the degree was conferred by the University of New York) is justly called the father of American church music; and by his labors were founded the germinating principles of national musical intelligence and knowledge, which afforded a soil upon which all higher musical culture has been founded. To him we owe some of our best ideas in religious church music, elementary musical education, music in the schools, the popularization of classical chorus singing, and the art of teaching music upon the Inductive or Pestalozzian plan. More than that, we owe him no small share of the respect which the profession of music enjoys at the present time as contrasted with the contempt in which it was held a century or more ago. In fact, the entire art of music, as now understood and practiced in America, has derived advantage from the work of this great man.
Lowell Mason was born in Massachusetts, and from childhood he manifested an intense love for music and devoted all his spare time and effort to improving himself. In his twenties, he had the opportunity to study music with F. L. Abel and began composing. His first work was a collection of church music, which contained many of his own compositions. It was published in 1822 as The Handel and Haydn Society Collection of Church Music. Mason's name was omitted from the publication at his own request, which he thus explains, "I was then a bank officer in Savannah, and did not wish to be known as a musical man, as I had not the least thought of ever making music a profession." The book soon sprang into universal popularity, being at once adopted by the singing schools of New England. It ran seventeen editions. On realizing this success, Mason determined to accept an invitation to come to Boston and enter upon a musical career. He became a member of the Handel and Haydn Society, and was also appointed director of music at the Hanover, Green, and Park Street churches, to alternate six months with each congregation.
In 1827, Lowell Mason became president and conductor of the Handel and Haydn Society. It was the beginning of a career that was to win for him as has been already stated the title of "The Father of American Church Music." Although this may seem rather a bold claim it is not too much under the circumstances. Mason might have been considered average had he lived in Europe, but in America he was well in advance of his surroundings. It was not too high praise (in spite of Mason's very simple style) when Dr. Jackson wrote of his song collection: "It is much the best book I have seen published in this country, and I do not hesitate to give it my most decided approbation," or that the great contrapuntist, Hauptmann, should say the harmonies of the tunes were dignified and churchlike and that the counterpoint was good, plain, singable and melodious. Charles C. Perkins gives a few of the reasons why Lowell Mason was the very man to lead American music as it then existed. He says, "First and foremost, he was not so very much superior to the members as to be unreasonably impatient at their shortcomings. Second, he was a born teacher, who, by hard work, had fitted himself to give instruction in singing. Third, he was one of themselves, a plain, self-made man, who could understand them and be understood of them."
The personality of Dr. Mason was of great use to the art and appreciation of music in this country. He was of strong mind, dignified manners, sensitive, yet sweet and engaging. Prof. Horace Mann, one of the great educators of that day, said he would walk fifty miles to see and hear Mr. Mason teach if he could not otherwise have that advantage. Dr. Mason visited a number of the music schools in Europe, studied their methods, and incorporated the best things in his own work. He founded the Boston Academy of Music. The aim of this institution was to reach the masses and introduce music into the public schools. Not only Boston benefited directly by this enthusiastic teacher's instruction, as he was constantly traveling to other societies in distant cities and helping their work. Iin his later years, he went as far as Rochester, where he trained a chorus of five hundred voices, many of them teachers, and some of them coming long distances to study under him. Before 1810, he had developed his idea of "Teachers' Conventions," and, as in these he had representatives from different states, he made musical missionaries for almost the entire country. He left behind him no less than fifty volumes of musical collections, instruction books, and manuals.
A charge to keep I have, a God to glorify,
a never-dying soul to save, and fit it for the sky.
To serve the present age, my calling to fulfill,
O may it all my pow'rs engage to do my Master's will!
Arm me with watchful care as in Thy sight to live,
and now Thy servant, Lord, prepare a strict account to give!
Help me to watch and pray, and still on Thee rely,
O let me not my trust betray, but press to realms on high.
One Bread, One Body
(c.1989, North American Liturgy Resources)
John Foley, S.J., (b. 1939) is an American Jesuit priest who is a composer of Catholic liturgical music and a professor of liturgy. Among his better-known compositions are One Bread, One Body (1978), Earthen Vessels (1975), Come to the Water (1978), The Cry of the Poor (1978), For You Are My God (1970), and the album As a River of Light (1989). Much of Foley's early work on liturgical music was as a member of a group called the St. Louis Jesuits, composed of fellow Jesuit seminarians, with whom he released several albums. Other members of the St. Louis Jesuits were Dan Schutte, Bob Dufford, Roc O'Connor, and Tim Manion. He has also released several solo collections of liturgical music. Foley went on to earn a doctorate in liturgical theology from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. In 1993 he returned to Saint Louis University where he founded the Stroble Center for Liturgy, of which he has served as director since its founding.
Written in 1978, “One Bread, One Body” is based on I Corinthians 10:16-17, ”Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.” The first verse is readily identifiable as a paraphrase of Galatians 3:28, which reads, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” In the second verse, we have more Scriptural paraphrase. This time, the text is clearly taken from 1 Corinthians 12:4-5, which reads, “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, but the same Lord.” You don’t have to be a preacher to serve. You don’t have to be a song leader to serve. Even if your work is visiting the sick or cleaning the church building, you are no less important a part of the body of Christ than its most visible members. Ultimately, every kind of service gets back to serving Jesus. The third verse echoes various Biblical texts (Matthew 13:3-9 and John 12:23-26 among them). As Christ assembles us into one body, so too He plants us, causes us to grow, and gathers us in.
One bread, one body, one Lord of all
One cup of blessing which we bless
And we, though many, throughout the Earth
We are one body in this one Lord
Gentile or Jew, Servant or free, Woman or man No more
Many the gifts, many the works, One in the Lord Of all
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
No comments:
Post a Comment