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:
Partita on Nicaea: Prelude - Charles Callahan
(c.1996, MorningStar Music)
John Bacchus Dykes (1823-1876) was an English clergyman and hymnwriter. By the age of 10, John Bacchus Dikes played the organ at St John's Church in Myton, Hull, where his paternal grandfather (who had built the church) was vicar and his uncle (also Thomas) was organist. He was taught by the Hull organist George Skelton. He also played the violin and the piano. He studied first at Kingston College, Hull.
Dykes matriculated in 1843 (with surname Dikes) at Katharine Hall, Cambridge. There he was the second Dykes Scholar: the second beneficiary after his elder brother, Thomas, of an endowment established in 1840 in honour of his grandfather. As an extra-curricular subject, he studied music under Thomas Attwood Walmisley, whose madrigal society he joined. He also joined the Peterhouse Musical Society (later renamed the Cambridge University Musical Society), becoming its fourth President. A number of his part-songs were performed by the CUMS. He graduated B.A. in 1847 and M.A. in 1851. Dykes was appointed to the curacy of Malton, North Yorkshire, in 1847. He was ordained deacon at York Minster in January 1848. He was awarded the Mus.Doc. degree by Cambridge in 1849.
Dykes was from an evangelical family background. He moved to an Anglo-Catholic position in the Church of England during his Cambridge years, and ultimately became a ritualist. He was in sympathy with the Oxford Movement. He was a member of the Society of the Holy Cross. Dykes has been called "perhaps the most significant High Church composer in the Victorian Church of England". This standing was despite his main efforts being as a parish priest in the Tractarian tradition, rather than as a musician. He is best known for over 300 hymn tunes he composed.
John Bacchus Dykes composed the tune NICAEA for “Holy, Holy, Holy” in 1861. The tune name is a tribute to the First Council of Nicaea which formalized the doctrine of the Trinity in 325.
Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, Holy, Holy! Merciful and Mighty!
God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity!
Holy, Holy, Holy! All the saints adore Thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,
Which wert, and art, and evermore shalt be.
Holy, Holy, Holy! though the darkness hide Thee,
Though the eye of sinful man, Thy glory may not see:
Only Thou art holy, there is none beside Thee,
Perfect in power in love, and purity.
Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All thy works shall praise Thy name in earth, and sky, and sea;
Holy, Holy, Holy! merciful and mighty,
God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity!
Charles Callahan (b. 1951) is one of America’s leading organist-composers. A native of Cambridge, Massachusetts, he is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and Catholic University of America. In recognition of his service to the church and his commissioned compositions for Papal visits to the U.S., he was awared the Papal Honor of Knighthood in the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem in 1999. In addition to compositions and performances, Charles Callahan is a noted educator and author whose two books on American organ-building have become standard reference works.
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty! - John Leavitt
(c.2012, Augsburg Press)
John Leavitt (b. 1956) is a composer, conductor, teacher, and church musician. He received the Doctorate of Musical Arts from The Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Dr. Leavitt is a lifetime member of the American Choral Directors Association and is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, from which he has received annual recognition for his achievements in composition. Currently, Dr. Leavitt serves on the faculty of MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, KS as professor of music and director of choirs. In 2010, Dr. Leavitt was the recipient of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts’s American Masterpieces which partnered with the Kansas Arts Commission and the Kansas Music Educators Association. He was commissioned by them to write a new choral work in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the State of Kansas.
About the Choral Music:
Holy, Holy, Holy, We Worship You - Benjamin Harlan
(c.1990, Alfred Sacred Publishing)
“Holy, Holy, Holy, We Worship You” is a pairing of the traditional Trinity hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy” with the contemporary chorus “Antiphonal Praise” by Steve Green.
Reginald Heber (1783-1826) wrote “Holy, Holy, Holy” for Trinity Sunday, the day for which lectionary in the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer prescribes the reading of Revelation 4. Using reverent and apocalyptic language, "Holy, Holy, Holy!" alludes to Revelation 4:6-11; 5:13; 15:2-4; and Isaiah 6:1-3 to sing the great majesty of the triune God. Note the cosmic scope of the text: human beings (st. 1), saints and angels in glory (st. 2), and all creation (st. 4) praise the name of the Lord. Though God's holiness, love, and purity are cloaked in mystery, we can still experience God's mercy and mighty power, and we can participate in praising God. It references the Sanctus, which is often called the "Holy holy holy" in English. The name is a tribute to the First Council of Nicaea which formalized the doctrine of the Trinity in 325. It was first published in the third edition (1826) of A Selection of Psalms and Hymns for the Parish Church of Banbury and was also published posthumously in Heber's Hymns Written and Adapted to the Weekly Church Services of the Year (1827). The unusual single rhyme (all on the "ee" sound) and the uneven number of syllables in some lines have not detracted from the hymn's popularity. It was soon adopted by hymn-book compilers, and is the best known and most widely used of the author's hymns. John Bacchus Dykes composed the tune NICAEA for this hymn in 1861. The tune name is a tribute to the First Council of Nicaea which formalized the doctrine of the Trinity in 325.
"Antiphonal Praise (We Worship You)" is a contemporary Christian song written by Steve Green, frequently arranged for choir and string quartet. It features a call-and-response style, where two groups alternate, reflecting the traditional liturgical practice of antiphonal singing originating in early Syrian and Christian worship. The son of Baptist missionaries, Steve Green (b.1956) was raised in South America. He enrolled at Grand Canyon University. His intended major was pre-law, but a professor recognized his musical talent and encouraged him to develop it. After singing with the Bill Gaither Trio, he went solo in 1984. Green has been nominated for a Grammy Award four times. He has also won seven Dove Awards and was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2017.
Benjamin Harlan is a Professor of Church Music at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is an internationally known arranger and composer of choral, keyboard and handbell works. He has received awards from ASCAP annually since 1990. Dr. Harlan is a member of ASCAP, American Choral Directors Association and the Southern Baptist Church Music Conference.
Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty! Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty! God in three persons, blessed Trinity!
We worship You, We worship You, Almighty God, Almighty God.
In You alone, in You alone is our delight, is our delight.
We worship You, We worship You, O holy God, O holy God,
and lift our voice, and lift our voice, to sing Your praise, to sing Your praise.
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.
Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All Thy works shall praise Thy name in earth, and sky, and sea;
Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty!
God in three persons, blessed Trinity!
We worship You, We worship You, O holy God, O holy God.
About the Hymns:
We Believe in One True God
Luther's 1524 creedal hymn "Wir glauben all an einen Gott" ("We All Believe in One True God") is a three-stanza confession of faith prefiguring Luther's 1529 three-part explanation of the Apostles' Creed in the Small Catechism. Luther's hymn, adapted and expanded from an earlier German creedal hymn, gained widespread use in vernacular Lutheran liturgies as early as 1525. Sixteenth-century Lutheran hymnals also included "Wir glauben all" among the catechetical hymns, although 18th-century hymnals tended to label the hymn as Trinitarian rather than catechetical, and 20th-century Lutherans rarely use the hymn because of the perceived difficulty of its tune.
We all believe in one true God, Maker of all earth and heaven;
The Father, who to us in love Hath the right of children given;
He both soul and body feedeth, All we want He doth provide us;
He through snares and perils leadeth, Watching that no harm betide us;
He cares for us by day and night; All things are governed by His might.
And we believe in Jesus Christ, His own Son, our Lord, possessing
An equal Godhead, throne and might, Through whom comes the Father's blessing;
Of the Holy Spirit conceivéd, Born of Mary, virgin-mother,
That lost man might life inherit, Made true man, our Elder Brother,
Was crucified by sinful men, And raised by God to life again.
Also the Holy Ghost we own, Who sweet grace and comfort giveth,
And with the Father and the Son In eternal glory liveth;
Who the Christian Church doth even Keep in unity of spirit;
Sins are truly here forgiven Through the blest Redeemer's merit:
All flesh shall rise again, and we Shall live with God eternally. Amen.
O Most Holy Trinity
(c.1977, Order of St. Benedict, admin Liturgical Press)
"O Most Holy Trinity" (also known by its opening line “O God, almighty Father”) is a revered Catholic hymn of praise. The original German hymn, "Gott Vater! Sei Gepriesen," was written and composed in the 19th century, drawing upon ancient liturgical traditions honoring the Triune God. This is a translation of a German text (anonymous) by Irvin Udulutsch OFM
Wilfred Matthias Udulutsch (1920-2010) informed his parents he wanted to go to seminary and entered St. Lawrence College, Mt Calvary, Wisconsin, in 1934. At St. Lawrence he took piano lessons from Capuchin monk Henry Barth, and gradually fell in love with the Capuchins. He writes of an agonizing struggle through prayer, soul-searching, and walking the “vocation path” through the woods, before deciding to join his classmates in the novitiate. In 1938 he was given the religious name Irvin as he entered novitiate at St. Felix Friary, Huntington, Indiana. Since he was the only novice who played the keyboard, he became the community organist for sung prayer, a role he continued throughout his studies. He spent four years of college at Garrison, New York, professing perpetual vows in 1942. Capuchin Venard Kelly, in charge of music, took him on as student director. He also introduced Irvin to the Motu Proprio of Pius X on sacred music (1903) and other writings on the liturgical movement, which Irvin reports as having a profound effect on him. In 1943, when he began theological studies at Marathon, Wisconsin, Mark Stier, director of clerics, asked him to finish a correspondence course in sacred music. He was ordained in 1946, and began his first assignment in 1947 at St. Lawrence College. He published liturgical music throughout his years at St. Lawrence, as well as private arrangements for the choir. In his later years at St. Lawrence, with the choir, he produced “Hymns for the Home”, long play records of music for Advent/Christmas and Lent/Passiontide. He began attending the National Liturgical Conference in 1948, and subsequently became chair of the Midwest Seminary Music Educators Association. He was a contributor to a newly formed liturgical magazine called Musart. He was one of the major editors of a new hymnal, Our Parish Prays and Sings, published by Liturgical Press, which was the first liturgical hymnal in the United States organized primarily around the liturgical year and the sacraments rather than popular devotions. This hymnal became the template for other Catholic hymnals; it sold over a million copies. Some of his hymns, whether original or translated text, melody, or both melody and text, are still reprinted in hymnals. (The 1990 version of the Collegeville Hymnal still listed 7 acknowledgements.) His translation from the German for “O God, Almighty Father” passed into the general repertoire.
O God Almighty Father, Creator of all things,
The Heavens stand in wonder, While earth Thy glory sings.
O Jesus, Word Incarnate, Redeemer most adored,
All Glory, praise and honor, Be Thine, our Sov'reign Lord.
O God, the Holy Spirit, Who lives within our souls,
Send forth Thy light and lead us To our eternal goal.
Refrain
O most Holy Trinity, Undivided Unity;
Holy God, Mighty God, God Immortal, be adored.
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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