May 13, 2018

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; much of it is "borrowed" from other sources 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:

Wär Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit – Georg Kauffmann

Martin Luther (1483-1546)  was a German professor of theology, composer, priest, monk, and a seminal figure in the Protestant Reformation.  Luther came to reject several teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. He strongly disputed the Catholic view on indulgences as he understood it to be, that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. Luther proposed an academic discussion of the practice and efficacy of indulgences in his Ninety-five Theses of 1517. His refusal to renounce all of his writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms in 1521 resulted in his excommunication by the Pope and condemnation as an outlaw by the Emperor.

Luther taught that salvation and, consequently, eternal life are not earned by good deeds but are received only as the free gift of God's grace through the believer's faith in Jesus Christ as redeemer from sin. His theology challenged the authority and office of the Pope by teaching that the Bible is the only source of divinely revealed knowledge from God and opposed sacerdotalismby considering all baptized Christians to be a holy priesthood. Those who identify with these, and all of Luther's wider teachings, are called Lutherans, though Luther insisted on Christian or Evangelical as the only acceptable names for individuals who professed Christ.

His translation of the Bible into the vernacular (instead of Latin) made it more accessible to the laity, an event that had a tremendous impact on both the church and German culture. It fostered the development of a standard version of the German language, added several principles to the art of translation,^[5]and influenced the writing of an English translation, the Tyndale Bible. His hymns influenced the development of singing in Protestant churches. 

Luther was a prolific hymnodist, authoring hymns such as "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" ("A Mighty Fortress Is Our God"), based on Psalm 46, and "Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her" ("From Heaven Above to Earth I Come"), based on Luke 2:11–12. Luther connected high art and folk music, also all classes, clergy and laity, men, women and children. His tool of choice for this connection was the singing of German hymns in connection with worship, school, home, and the public arena. He often accompanied the sung hymns with a lute, later recreated as the waldzither that became a national instrument of Germany in the 20th century.

"Wär Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit" (Were God not with us at this time) is a Lutheran hymn, with words written by Martin Luther based on the Psalm 124. The hymn in three stanzas of seven lines each was first published in Johann Walter's Eyn geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn. in 1524. It was translated to English and has appeared in 20 hymnals.

Were God not with us at this time, Let Israel now repeat it,
Were God not with us at this time, We’d surely be defeated;
For we’re a wretched lot, we find, Held in contempt by all mankind,
Who cruelly do beset us.

So wrathful toward us their intent, Had God let men o’erpow’r us,
They’d us with gnashing teeth have rent, With life and limb devoured us;
We would have been as men who drown When raging waters draw them down
And mighty floods o’erwhelm them.

Thanks be to God, who did not let Their gaping maw consume us;
As when a bird escapes the net, Grim death could not entomb us;
The snare is rent, and we are free, The Lord’s strong name with us shall be,
The God of earth and heaven.

Georg Friedrich Kauffmann (1679-1735) was a Baroque composer and organist from southern Germany who composed primarily sacred works for the organ and voice.  Late in his life, Kauffmann started to publish a complete edition of his organ chorales; however, he died of consumption before they had been completely published. His widow completed the publication of the Harmonische Seelenlust.  While they did not make a great first impression, over the next century they became one of the most significant achievements in German organ music and remained in high demand well into the 19th century.

Psalm-Prelude – Herbert Howells

Herbert Norman Howells (1892- 1983) was an English composer, organist, and teacher, most famous for his large output of Anglican church music.  Howells was born in Lydney, Gloucestershire, the youngest of the six children of Oliver Howells, a plumber, painter, decorator and builder, and his wife Elizabeth. His father played the organ at the local Baptist church, and Herbert himself showed early musical promise, first assisting his father, and then moving at the age of eleven to the local Church of England parish church as choirboy and unofficial assistant organist.   In 1912, Howells moved to London to study at the Royal College of Music.  Howells' promise seemed likely to be cut short in 1915 when he was diagnosed with Graves' disease and given six months to live. His poor health prevented him from being conscripted in World War I.  At St Thomas' Hospital he was given the previously untried treatment of radium injections in the neck, administered twice a week over a period of two years. For much of this time Howells travelled between London for treatment and Lydney where he was nursed by his mother.  In 1920, he joined the staff of the Royal College of Music, where he was to remain until 1979.

In September 1935, Howells' placid existence as teacher, adjudicator and occasional composer was abruptly shattered when his nine-year-old son Michael contracted polio during a family holiday, dying in London three days later. Howells was deeply affected and continued to commemorate the event until the end of his life.  From that point on Howells turned increasingly to choral and organ music.    In 1941, Howells became  organist of St John's College, Cambridge.   Howells continued to compose until his late 80s.   He died in 1983, and his ashes were interred in Westminster Abbey.   Howells was appointed CBE in 1953 and Companion of Honour in 1972.

Howells wrote six psalm-preludes, which are freely composed pieces inspired by verses from the Psalms.  This prelude is based on Psalm 139:11-12

            If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,

and the light around me become night,”

            Even the darkness is not dark to you;

            The night is as bright as the day,

            For darkness is as light to you.

Postludium super "Benedictus Es, Domine" - Leo Sowerby

Canticle based on the Apocryphal Song of the Three Young Men, verses 29-34. The canticle offers glory and praise to God and concludes with a doxology. It is also known as "A Song of Praise."  This canticle is the first part of the song that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego sang in the burning fiery furnace. The benedicite is the main part of that song and is sung as a separate canticle, and like the rest of the song, is found in the bible either as an addition to the book of Daniel, in chapter 3, or as a separate book in the apocrypha

Blessed art thou, O Lord God of our fathers;
praised and exalted above all forever.

Blessed art thou for the name of thy Majesty;
praised and exalted above all forever.

Blessed art thou in the temple of thy holiness;
praised and exalted above all forever.

Blessed art thou that beholdest the depths, and dwellest between the Cherubim;
praised and exalted above all forever.

Blessed art thou on the glorious throne of thy kingdom;
praised and exalted above all forever.

Blessed art thou in the firmament of heaven;
praised and exalted above all forever.

Blessed art thou, O Father, Son, and Holy Spirit;
praised and exalted above all forever.

Leo Sowerby (1895-1968) was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he began to compose at the age of ten. His interest in the organ began at the age of 15.  Early recognition came when his violin concerto was premiered in 1913 by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra  In 192, he was awarded the Rome Prize (from the American Academy in Rome).  He joined the American Conservatory of Music faculty in 1924. In 1946, he received the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his cantata, the Canticle of the Sun.  In 1927, he became organist-choirmaster at St James’s Episcopal Church, Chicago.  In 1962, after his retirement from St James’s, he was called to Washington National Cathedral to become the founding director of the College of Church Musicians, a position he held until his death.  His substantial output includes over 500 works in every genre but opera and ballet.

Leo Sowerby came of age at the same time as did American music. With a few isolated exceptions, American composers before the 1920s had merely tried to imitate the voices of their Central European teachers, but Sowerby's generation, led by such men as George Gershwin, Virgil Thomson, Aaron Copland, Roy Harris, and Walter Piston, took the old European forms and poured into them music which sounded distinctly American in its melody, harmony, and rhythm. They did so at a time when the organ not only fulfilled its traditional role as an instrument of worship but was a central part of the secular musical life of America as well. Big pipe organs in the symphonic style from the shops of Skinner, Austin, and others represented the cutting edge of style and technology and were everywhere in the 20s and 30s: in movie theaters and hotel ballrooms, in concert halls and high school auditoriums, in the mansions and even the yachts of the well-to-do. Great organists drew audiences that regularly numbered in the thousands and occasionally in the tens of thousands. Even the organ's role as a liturgical instrument was much more prominent in the general consciousness: a major New York newspaper then had a regular column called The Choir Loft which chronicled the news and repertoire of the city's leading church choirs, a situation unimaginable today. These two trends, of a distinctly American musical style and of the symphonic organ as an instrument that was central to the American listening experience, came together in the music of Leo Sowerby. In the school of American symphonic composers, only Sowerby, Paul Creston, and Virgil Thomson were organists (and Thomson for only a short time early in his career). Sowerby was the one who extended the reach of the American symphonists into the mainstream repertoire of his instrument.

About the Choral Music:

The Storm is Passing Over – Barbara Baker

Along with Thomas Dorsey, Rev. Charles Tindley (1851-1933) is considered one of the fathers of modern Black gospel music.  He wrote more than sixty hymns and gospel songs, including “I’ll Overcome Someday”, which later became the significant Civil Rights anthem “We Shall Overcome”.  “The Storm is Passing Over” was published in a collection of Tindley’s songs in 1905.  

The son of slaves, Tindley was born free in Maryland but worked as a hired plantation worker alongside slaves and other “hired on’s” for much of his youth.  After the Civil War, he moved to Philadelphia, one of many who left rural life for the hope and promise of urban centers.  In the evenings, he enlisted the help of tutors to learn to read not only English, but also Greek and Hebrew.  Eventually, he became the pastor of the Methodist church where he was first a janitor.  It is now known as the Tindley Temple United Methodist Church.  Tindley is equally known as a tremendous preacher and an activist for racial equality and social injustice.

One overriding characteristic of Black gospel is the critical importance of the message that needs to be transmitted.  As Marvin Curtis writes, “It is not so much about the performance medium, as it is about the meaning of the performance. This is music that tells a story about what it means to be free, to be redeemed.”
 

Have courage my soul and let us journey on.

Though the night is dark and I am far from home.

Thanks be to God the morning light appears.

The storm is passing over, The storm is passing over.

The storm is passing over, Hallelu.

Dr. Barbara Baker is an active teacher, arranger, and clinician with a nationally recognized reputation.  She currently directs choral ensembles at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, Maryland, as well as the Gospel Choir at the Colesville United Methodist Church in Silver Spring, Maryland. She is the recipient of the Maryland Award for Excellence.

About the Hymns:

And Are We Yet Alive

Charles Wesley (1707-1788) first wrote this hymn for his 1749 collection, Hymns and Sacred Poems. John Wesley included it in A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodist (1780) at the beginning of the section titled, "For the Society... at meeting." Sometime around its appearance in the 1780 collection, Wesley began using this hymn at the opening of annual society meetings, a practice that has remained largely in use since. Every year around the world, Methodists gathered together in "holy conference" stand and sing the nostalgic strains of Wesley's text, recalling the journey of the last 12 months.   For many of us who have served as delegates to annual conference, it may be the face of a longtime friend who has been absent from our sight for an entire year. And although there have been many troubles and conflicts "since we assembled last" (stanza 3), we are able to embrace each other in the fellowship we share in Christ and pick up right where we left off.

While John Wesley's decision to appropriate his brother's hymn text for holy conferencing assured it near immortality in the Methodist psyche, his editing significantly altered the theology of Charles' text. Charles originally conceived his text in four eight-line stanzas instead of the six four-line stanzas we have today. Even the casual mathematician will already have noted that one of the original stanzas has been dropped. The original four stanzas represent a progression through the Wesleyan "way of salvation." The first stanza reminds us that God's prevenient grace has been present with us, preserving and protecting us even in our absence from one another; the second that God's justifying grace has saved us from sin and imputed to us his righteousness. In the third stanza, we see that God's redeeming grace has saved us and starts the work of regeneration in us. The final (omitted) stanza reminds us that God's sanctifying grace continues to work in us until the day we finally meet Christ, moving us from our imperfect state to entire sanctification. 

Lowell Mason arranged DENNIS and first published it in The Psaltery (1845), a hymnal he compiled with George. Webb.  Mason attributed the tune to Johann G. Nageli (1773-1836) but included no source reference. Nageli presumably published the original melody as the setting for "0 selig, selig, wervor dir" in his Christliches Gesangbuch (1828). Nageli was an influential music educator who lectured throughout Germany and France. Influenced by Johann Pestalozzi, he published his theories of music education in Gangbildungslehre (1810), a book that made a strong impact on Lowell Mason. Nageli composed mainly" choral works, including settings of Goethe's poetry. He received his early instruction from his father, then in Zurich, where he concentrated on the music of J. S. Bach. In Zurich, he also established a lending library and a publishing house, which published first editions of Beethoven’s piano sonatas and music by Bach, Handel, and Frescobaldi. The tune name DENNIS is thought to refer to a town in Massachusetts.

Where Charity and Love Prevail

Omer Westendorf (1916-1997) was one of the leading composers following the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council.  Beginning at age 20, he received his master’s degree in music at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and for most of his professional musical career served as organist and choirmaster at St. Bonaventure Church in Cincinnati. Under his direction the Bonaventure Choir sang concerts and recorded sacred music for several decades.  One of his greatest achievements was the founding of the World Library of Sacred Music in 1950 and World Library Publications in 1957. These organizations have been primary distributors of music for the Mass in the United States and beyond.

Westendorf was also known for his lectures and seminars on sacred music, consultations on liturgical music and as a hymn writer.  Westendorf’s People’s Mass Book, 1964, was the first vernacular hymn and service book to implement the Catholic liturgies decreed by Vatican Council II. He wrote Music Lessons for the Man in the Pew to teach the art of sight reading choral music.

“Where charity and love prevail” (1961) provides an English hymn version of a 9th-century Latin hymn, “Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est” (Where there is charity and love, God is there) based on 1 John 4:16. Traditionally, this is the final hymn on Maundy Thursday, called in the Latin tradition Mandatum novum (New Commandment), referring to the act of washing of the disciples’ feet initiated by Jesus.

Scholar H. Myron Braun comments on this ancient ritual: “[The Latin chant] is said to date from the ninth century . . . with its emphasis on community within the faith, on Christians holding one another in love and concern . . . It is appropriate for . . . [Maundy Thursday] when we note the “new commandment” that we love one another, and also several times in Eastertide when the lectionary leads us to reading on love from the Gospel and the epistles of John.”

The text draws directly on John 13:34, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” This version appeared first in Westendorf’s People’s Mass Book (1976). 

Composed by Alexander R. Reinagle (1799-1877), ST. PETER was published as a setting for Psalm 118 in Reinagle's Psalm Tunes for the Voice and Pianoforte (c. 1836). The tune first appeared with Newton's text in Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861); it is now usually associated with this text, for which it is a better match than for Psalm 118. The tune was named after St. Peter-in-the-East, the church in Oxford, England, where Reinagle was organist from 1822-1853.  Little is known ofReinagle's early life. Of Austrian descent, he came from a family of musicians and became a well-known organ teacher. A writer of teaching manuals for string instruments, Reinagle also compiled two books of hymn tunes, the 1836 collection and A Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes (1840).He also composed a piano sonata and some church music.

May 6, 2017

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; much of it is "borrowed" from other sources 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:

Nyland – Dale Wood

Anna Laetitia Waring was a child prodigy, born in Wales in 1823. She learned Hebrew as a child and read the Old Testament in its original language daily. Although raised a Quaker, she joined the Anglican Church of England as an adult.  She published two works that contained dozens of her hymns, Hymns and Meditations in 1850 (in which “In Heavenly Love Abiding” appears) and Additional Hymns in 1858. She was also involved in prison ministry and the Discharged Prisoners’ Aid Society.  Her hymn texts, particularly for “In Heavenly Love Abiding”, express strength and faith in times of struggle.

NYLAND, named for a province in Finland, is a folk melody from Kuortane, South Ostrobothnia, Finland. In fact, the tune is also known as KUORTANE. NYLAND was first published with a hymn text in an appendix to the 1909 edition of the Finnish Suomen Evankelis Luterilaisen Kirken Koraalikirja. It gained popularity in the English-speaking world after David Evans's use of it in the British Church Hymnary of 1927 as a setting for Anna 1. Waring's text "In Heavenly Love Abiding." Evans (1874-1948) edited that hymnal, which was the source of a number of his harmonizations, including this one. David Evans was an important leader in Welsh church music. Educated at Arnold College, Swansea, and at University College, Cardiff, he received a doctorate in music from Oxford University. His longest professional post was as professor of music at University College in Cardiff (1903-1939), where he organized a large music department. He was also a well-known and respected judge at Welsh hymn-singing festivals and a composer of many orchestral and choral works, anthems, service music, and hymn tunes.

In Heavenly Love abiding, No change my heart shall fear,
And safe is such confiding, For nothing changes here.
The storm may roar without me, My heart may low be laid,
But God is round about me, And can I be dismayed?

Wherever He may guide me, No want shall turn me back;
My Shepherd is beside me, And nothing can I lack.
His wisdom ever waketh, His sight is never dim, —
He knows the way He taketh, And I will walk with Him.

Green pastures are before me, Which yet I have not seen;
Bright skies will soon be o'er me, Where the dark clouds have been.
My hope I cannot measure, My path to life is free,
My Savior has my treasure, And He will walk with me.

Dale Wood (1934-2003) was a prominent composer, organist, choral director, and clinician.  He was honored many times by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) for his “very important contribution towards the creation and development of contemporary American church music”.  He wrote many collections of organ works, most of which are based on both old and new hymn tunes.  Over eight million copies of his publications have been purchased in over 50 countries.

God Changes Not – Lani Smith

Life may have its changing scenes, but the Lord Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. As we don't know how our existence on the earth was decided and all that we have been through were designed, it is wise of us to believe that there is someone who cares about our lives each passing day. However unstable I may be, however fickle my friends may prove, God changes not. If He varied as we do, if He willed one thing today and another tomorrow, if He were controlled by caprice, who could confide in Him? But, all praise to His glorious name, He is ever the same. His purpose is fixed, His will is stable, His word is sure.

Kathleen Wheeler Ross (1864-1924) wrote this hymn text.  Ross was born in Ireland, Daughter of Edward Oliver Wheeler and Josephine Helsham. She was living in the Union Workhouse for paupers in Methyr Tydfil, Glamorgan, Wales, in 1881, but had moved to Collingwood, by the end of the next year. By 1910, she was in a convent in Hamilton County, Ohio, and in 1914, she married Henry Clarkson Ross in Ottawa, Canada.  She wrote a number of hymns, most of which are now forgotten.

The tune IMMUTABILIS was written by Edmund Lorenz (1854-1942).  The Lorenz family were Adventists, and emigrated from Messer, Russia (near Saratow), to America, and lived in Dayton, Ohio. Edmund attended Otterbein University, Union Biblical Seminary, Yale Theological Seminary, and the University of Leipzig. He served as pastor of the High Street United Brethren Church in Dayton, Ohio (1884-86), and as president of Lebanon Valley College, Annville, Pennsylvania (1886-88). He later founded the Lorenz and Company music publishing house in Dayton, Ohio.  He wrote almost 200 hymn texts and over 40 tunes.

Scenes of the world are shifting, Friends are in time forgot;
But tho’ the mountains crumble, God changes not.

Winter gives place to springtime, Winds blow both cold and hot;
Only our God is stable - God changes not.

Daily we grieve and wonder, Over man’s changing lot;
Only our God remaineth, God changes not.

How could we live each moment, If ever we forgot
The loving God above us, Who changeth not.

God changes not!  God changes not!
Love Him who faileth never - God changes not.

Lani Smith (1934-2015) is an organist best known for his church music compositions. He has been composing for nearly fifty years, and his compositions include choral, organ and piano pieces. He is a regular contributor to the Lorenz Corporation’s keyboard magazines The Church Pianist, The Organist, The Organ Portfolio, and The Sacred Organ Journal, as well as the choral magazines The SAB Choir and The Volunteer Choir.  The grandson of Edmund Lorenz, he served as an editor, composer, and arranger on the Lorenz Publishing editorial staff between 1967 and 1982. During this time, he received composing and arranging credits for over 1000 works.

Ich hab' mein Sach' Gott heimgestellt - J. S. Bach

Johannes Leon (c.1530-1597) was an army chaplain, then in 1557, pastor at Königsee (Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt), in 1560 at Gross-Muhlhausen, and in 1575 at Wolfis, near Ohrdruf. Leon's hymns appeared principally in his Handbüchlin, , 1566, and  Trostbüchlein., 1588.  The only hymn ascribed to him which has passed into English is “Ich hab mein Sach Gott heimgestellt”, with 18 5-line stanzas found in Trostbüchlein. This hymn has been translated as “My Life I now to God resign”, “My all I to my God commend”, and “My cause is God's, and I am still”.

            I have left all that concerns me up to God. Let Him do whatever He wants with me.

            If I continue to live on here still longer, Without striving against Him.

            I will surrender myself to His will.

            My time and hour will be when God wills; I do not dictate to Him any bounds.

            My each and every hair is numbered, Both great and small;

            Not a single one falls without His will.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period.  He enriched established German styles through his skill in counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organization, and the adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from abroad, particularly from Italy and France.  Bach's compositions include the Brandenburg concertos, the Mass in B minor, The Well-Tempered Clavier, two Passions, keyboard works, and more than 300 cantatas, of which nearly 100 cantatas have been lost to posterity.  His music is revered for its intellectual depth, technical command, and artistic beauty.  Bach's abilities as an organist were highly respected throughout Europe during his lifetime, although he was not widely recognized as a great composer until a revival of interest and performances of his music in the first half of the nineteenth century.  During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, Bach was recognized by several prominent composers.  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven,  Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, and Felix Mendelssohn were among his admirers; they began writing in a more contrapuntal style after being exposed to Bach's music.  Beethoven described him as "Urvater der Harmonie", the "original father of harmony".  He is now generally regarded as one of the main composers of the Baroque period and as one of the greatest composers of all time.  A highly devout Christian, Bach signed all of his compositions “soli Deo Gloria” (to God alone be the glory).  

About the Choral Music:

Lord, I Know I Been Changed – Larry Shackley

The Spiritual was a creation of plantation life, born as a desperate cry for freedom and of laments on the loss of family, culture, history, and home. The texts, finding inspiration from the Bible, contained double and triple layers of meaning, speaking of trial and triumph, suffering and salvation. A brave and ingenious oral tradition, clues and instructions for escape are interwoven with encouragement to hold on to hope for a better future. This music comes from a righteous people who looked within and carried the light of God as they worked to overcome sin and slavery. 

 Major themes include escape, daily work life, reaching heaven, and missing loved ones, often told through biblical references. In Hebrew scriptures, a symbol of freedom and overcoming adversity, so too the Negro slaves looked to gain vindication from their foes and escape from hardship.

One theme was field work and serving, we hear of the tribulations of slave labor and the struggle to escape, be it literally or spiritually, by ship, train, or a chariot of angels. For many, that relief and healing came in the form of prayer, echoed through the melodies and harmonies of songs that proclaim there is nothing to fear so long as you cast away your sins, have faith, and follow the word of God and your good brothers and sisters. These ancestors of America built the country with their hands, and, seeing beyond their weariness and strife, hoped to inhabit that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Yet another theme is the bittersweet reminder of our mortality, an inevitable truth; but for many, the real truth is that with the passing from this life comes the beginning of a greater journey of life. This music sings of that joy and sorrow and spreads the message of hope and continued effort to follow in God’s footsteps toward the ultimate freedom.

Larry Shackley (b. 1956) is a full-time composer and editor from Columbia, SC. He studied composition at the Eastman School of Music and his Master in Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in composition from the University of South Carolina. From 1995-2007, he taught and directed the music program at Columbia International University in Columbia, SC. Prior to that, he worked for several years at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, creating original music and producing radio programs for the Moody Broadcasting Network. He has been active in church music since his teens, and served as staff keyboardist for ten years at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL. Currently, Shackley is on the staff of Gateway Baptist Church in Irmo, SC. He has produced over twenty books of keyboard arrangements and more than one hundred choral anthems. He has won ASCAP standard panel awards every year since 1998, and has received commissions from churches, schools, and community choirs across America.

            Lord, I know I been changed. Angels in heaven done signed my name

            If you don’t believe that I have been redeemed, 

                        The angels in heaven done signed my name.

            Just follow me down to that ol’ Jordan stream.

                        The angels in heaven done signed my name.

            I’m singin’ Lord, I know I been changed. Angels in heaven done signed my name.

I went to the river and the water was cold.

                        The angels in heaven done signed my name.

            It chilled my body but not my soul.

                        The angels in heaven done signed my name.

            Lord, O Lord, I know I been changed.  The angels in heaven done signed my name.

About the Hymns:

I Come with Joy

“I Come with Joy” was written in 1971 by Brian Wren (b. 1936), Emeritus Professor of Worship, Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia. He is a writer, preacher, worship and workshop leader, and internationally published hymn-poet, with entries in most recent denominational hymnals in North America, Britain and Australia. Some of his hymn-poems have been translated into Finnish, French, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish and Korean. Brian holds undergraduate and doctoral degrees from Oxford University. He is a Minister of the United Reformed Church (UK). His publications include What Language Shall I Borrow? - God-Talk in Worship: A Male Response to Feminist Theology (1989 and 2009), Praying Twice: The Music and Words of Congregational Song (2000), Advent, Christmas and Epiphany: Liturgies and Prayers for Public Worship (2008), Hymns for Today (2009) and seven hymn collections totaling 250 hymns.

DOVE OF PEACE was first published in William Walker's Southern Harmony (1835), a Sacred Harp collection, with the text “O Tell Me Where the Dove has Flown”.  It was originally the tune of a Catskill folk song, “The Darby Ram”.

Breathe on Me, Breath of God

The simplicity of this profound hymn belies the education and knowledge of its author, Edwin Hatch (1835-1889).  Educated at Pembroke College, Oxford, Hatch ministered in an Anglican parish in the slums of east London before accepting a position at Trinity College in Quebec where he taught classics.  After serving as Rector of Quebec High School, he returned to Oxford to become the vice-principal of St. Mary’s Hall, and took several posts including the Bampton Lecturer, Reader in Ecclesiastical History, and the Hibbert Lecturer.  Hatch was recognized as an authority on the early church as a result of his Bampton Lectures, “On the Organization of Early Christian Churches,” which were acknowledged by a leading continental scholar on this topic and translated into German.

In spite of Hatch’s scholarship, his one remaining hymn reflects both a profound simplicity and a deep knowledge of Scripture. Our hymn draws largely from John 20:21-22, following John’s account of the Resurrection, for its inspiration: “Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even, so send I you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” (RSV). This passage in John correlates with Genesis 2:7 where “the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”  The author invokes the Holy Spirit to come into his life and transform it. Using the first-person perspective throughout the hymn adds to the hymn’s power as the singer seeks the breath of God (Genesis 2:7) as a source for renewal.

British hymnologist J.R. Watson notes that the hymn “was given the title of ‘Spiritus Dei’ [Spirit of God], thus linking the image of ‘breath’ with that of the Holy Spirit (as in the Greek, where the same word is used for ‘spirit’ and ‘breath.’)”   Mr. Watson also finds echoes of John 3:3-8, especially verses 5-7: “Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’”  Summarizing the message of the hymn, Mr. Watson suggests that the breath of God “brings new life and love, purity and obedience, surrender and inspiration, and finally eternal life, as the hymn moves through various stages of Christian experience and discipline towards a unity with God.”

The hymn was first published by Hatch in Between Doubt and Prayer (1878), a privately printed volume. Henry Allon included it in the hymnal, The Congregational Psalmist in 1886. Hatch’s widow then published this hymn posthumously in Towards Fields of Light: Sacred Poems (1890).

The tune most often used in the U.S. is TRENTHAM, named for a small village in Staffordshire, England, which was composed by Robert Jackson (1842-1914) in 1888 originally for a text by Henry W. Baker, “O Perfect Love of Life.” 

April 29, 2018

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; much of it is "borrowed" from other sources 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:

Emendemus in melius - Cristobal Morales

Emendemus is an ancient prayer, which was set by several composers Italy during the Renaissance. The text comes from Esther 13 and Joel 2.  Some of Esther appeared two centuries after the rest of the book, and not in Hebrew but in Greek.  This extra material was found in the Septuagint and then the Latin Vulgate, but it was expunged after the Reformation. 

Make us perfect, Lord.

Let us amend for the better in those things

in which we have sinned through ignorance;
we seek space for repentance and are not able to find it.
Hearken, O Lord, and have mercy: for we have sinned against thee.
Help us, O God of our salvation, and for the honor of thy name deliver us.

Cristóbal de Morales (c. 1500-1553) was a Spanish composer of the Renaissance. He is generally considered to be the most influential Spanish composer before Tomás Luis de Victoria.  Cristóbal de Morales was born in Seville and, after an exceptional early education there, which included rigorous training in the classics as well as musical study with some of the foremost composers, he held posts at Ávila and Plasencia. Early Spanish popes of the Borja family held a long tradition of employing Spanish singers in the papal chapel’s choir. This had a significant effect on Morales' success. Starting in 1522, there are three different occurrences Morales was indicated to be an organist. is documented three times in Rome as ‘presbyter toletanus’ in May and December 1534. By 1535, he had moved to Rome, where he was a singer in the papal choir, evidently due to the interest of Pope Paul III who was partial to Spanish singers. He remained in Rome until 1545, in the employ of the Vatican; then, after a period of unsuccessfully seeking other employment in Italy, he returned to Spain, where he held a succession of posts, many of which were marred by financial or political difficulties. There is some evidence that he was a difficult character, aware of his exceptional talent, but incapable of getting along with those of lesser musical abilities. He made severe demands on thesingers in his employ, alienated employers, and likely came across as arrogant. In spite of this, he was regarded as one of the finest composers in Europe around the middle of the 16th century.  The Spanish theorist Juan Bermudo declared him “the light of Spain in music”, while in 1559, a Mexican choir – Spanish polyphony in particular was quick to reach the New World – sang his music at a service commemorating the death of Charles V the previous year. His fame held strong on into the 18th century when Andrea Adami da Bolsena, biographer of many papal musicians, praised him as the papal chapel’s most important composer between Josquin des Prez and Palestrina.

Reflection – Frank Asper

Frank Wilson Asper (1892-1973) was a Mormon Tabernacle organist for more than 40 years. During his impressive career, Asper performed approximately 5,000 organ recitals for Temple Square visitors and played for more than 1,000 network Choir broadcasts, plus he had his own weekly organ broadcast. Additionally, he published many volumes of organ compositions and, for more than 30 years, conducted the McCune Symphony Orchestra, which he founded. He was also the organist of the First United Methodist Church in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The melodeon was Asper’s first instrument. His father had brought one across the plains in a covered wagon. By age seven, Frank was playing piano accompaniments, and by 12, he played his first organ solo in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square. Asper studied at Stern’s Conservatory in Berlin, Germany, and later he graduated with honors from from Boston’s New England Conservatory. In 1938, Bates College awarded him an honorary doctor of music degree.  He was a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists.

Asper wrote lyrics or composed music for several LDS hymns. Seven of his hymns are included in the current LDS hymnbook, including “God Is in His Holy Temple,” “’Tis Sweet to Sing the Matchless Love,” “O Thou, Before the World Began,” “Hear Thou Our Hymn, O Lord,” “This House We Dedicate to Thee,” “Rejoice! A Glorious Sound Is Heard,” and “Rise Up, O Men of God.”

Clarifica me Pater - William Byrd

“Clarifica me pater apud temetipsum, claritate quam habui, priusquam mundus fieret” is a Sarum antiphon which was originally sung at first Vespers on Palm Sunday.  The text is a prayer for perfection and is drawn from the Gethsemane prayer from John 17.  By the early 17^th century, this plainsong was no longer included in Catholic or Anglican liturgies.

Now, Father, it is time for you to glorify me with that glory I had with you before ever the world was.  I have made your name known to the men you took from the world to give me.  They were yours and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.  Now at last they know that all you have given me comes indeed from you; for I have given them the teaching you gave to me, and they have truly accepted this, that I came from you and have believed that it was you who sent me.

William Byrd (1540-1623) studied composition with Thomas Tallis at the chapel Royal, and served as assistant organist and choral accompanist.  In 1563, Byrd was appointed organist and choirmaster at the cathedral in Lincoln.  It seems that in order to secure his services, cathedral officials (the Chapter) offered him a rectory in Hainton, Lincolnshire, and a house (free of rent), as well as an impressive salary.  For reasons unknown, in 1570 Byrd was briefly suspended from his duties.  It has been suggested that, as Byrd was a Roman Catholic, his organ playing during services exceeded the acceptable Anglican limits as they concerned time and style. During this forced leave, he produced some of his most extensive keyboard fantasias. 

Byrd moved to London in 1572 to fill a post at the Chapel Royal left when composer Robert Parsons died.  Thus, he became known as a “Gentleman of the Chapel.”  Armed with letters from influential members of the nobility, he was able to convince the Lincoln Cathedral to keep sending him a portion of his former salary, retaining his old position to a degree while working at court.  This agreement, in which Byrd was obliged to continue providing music to Lincoln, was honored until 1581.  He continued to produce both sacred and secular works, including the keyboard pavans and galliards begun in the 1570s.

In London, Byrd formed important relationships with noblemen who later became his patrons.  Most were fellow Catholics, and political difficulties made these alliances somewhat unstable; the Earl of Northumberland, for example, was executed, and Thomas, Lord Paget, ended up having to leave England in the aftermath of a supposed pro-Catholic plot against Queen Elizabeth I.  The queen herself also contributed to Byrd’s career, conferring a twenty-one year patent and monopoly to Byrd and Tallis for music printing and for lined music paper.  Their first endeavor was a collection of their own motets, published as Cantiones quae ab argumento sacrae vocantur. In spite of good intentions and a dedication to the queen, the book did not do well commercially.  Demand was generally lower than had been expected, printed music continued to be imported from sources abroad, regardless of the patent’s stipulations otherwise, and printing monopolies themselves fell under increasing criticism.

Though it is not known when William or his wife Julian became Catholics (there is no evidence that any of Byrd’s relatives were Catholic), it is certain that this affiliation had a significant effect on their lives.  Anti-Catholic sentiment was rising in England, and from 1577 on, Byrd, his wife, their children, and members of his household were frequently cited as recusants. Under Elizabeth’s law, recusants risked spiritual censure (exclusion) and fines, which were to be donated to charity. John Reason, a high-ranking servant and former musician in Byrd’s household, was imprisoned more than once for religious offenses, and probably died in the Gatehouse prison of the plague in 1603.  Byrd’s most subversive activities, however, took place in the context of his compositional choices. These included: Latin motets with texts specifically referring to those executed in the Catholic recusant cause and a setting of a poem that had gained infamy as a protest of the execution of three Jesuits.  Though Byrd was cited often as a recusant, he was considered to be loyal to the crown, and was protected from the harshest punishments because of the esteem he was held in by the queen and by his noble patrons.  The queen’s admiration was such that in 1588 she commissioned Byrd to set her poem “Look and bow down Thine ear, O Lord,” in celebration of the defeat of the Spanish Armada.  Byrd also protected himself by dedicating some of his printed scores to noted anti-Catholics, such as Queen Elizabeth I. Moreover he did not abandon composing for the Church of England, completing the Anglican Great Service sometime in the late 1580s.

Byrd retained the printing patent upon Tallis’ death in 1585, and as he gradually retired from active service in the Chapel Royal, he spent more time collecting and publishing his own works.  He may have already begun planning his withdrawal from the Chapel Royal at the time that he published Psalmes, sonets, & songs of sadnes and pietie (1588).  It is thought to be the third book of English songs ever printed, and its success led to Byrd’s next collection, Songs of Sundrie Natures (1589).  These collections included consort songs for voice and viols, and various arrangements of such songs, as well as anthems and other song forms.  Other collections from this period include Cantiones sacrae (1589), which anthologized Byrd’s motets for five voices (a second volume soon followed) and a manuscript of 1591 titled My Ladye Nevells Booke, in which a number of keyboard works are compiled.  In the 1590s, he also published three masses and corresponded with Philippe de Monte, the Kapellmeister of the Holy Roman Emperor, the two participating in a kind of compositional conversation through the texts of their successive, biblically-based motets. In 1605, the first of two volumes called Gradualia, ac cantiones sacrae appeared, containing sixty-three vocal compositions for Catholic worship, and dedicated to Catholic sympathizer Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton.  That same year, a plot by Catholics intending to kill King James I and to blow up the Houses of Parliament led to a resurgence of anti-Catholic activity.  This conspiracy against the Protestant government was known as the Gunpowder Plot, in which Guy Fawkes was famously involved.  Subsequently, Byrd had to withdraw the volume Gradualia I, and there is even evidence that someone found in possession of the music was arrested. But the book was re-released in 1610.

Byrd wrote three pieces based on “Clarifica me pater”. This third setting is in four-voice counterpoint, with 6 voices at the end.  Each repetition of the theme becomes more ornamented and altered, until the original plainsong has disappeared.  After reaching to the upper registers of the instrument, Byrd’s closing allows this profound and sonorous piece to sink calmly back to the lowest registers, a most satisfying effect that owes as much to the nature of the instrument and to the resonances in a large building as it does to musical ideas noted on paper. Neighbour places this movement “beside the best of Redford and Tallis among the finest things in English organ music”.

About the Choral Music:

A Solemn Supplication – Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential of all composers. Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of the Holy Roman Empire, Beethoven displayed his musical talents at an early age and was taught by his father Johann van Beethoven and by Christian Gottlob Neefe. During his first 22 years in Bonn, Beethoven intended to study with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and befriended Joseph Haydn. Beethoven moved to Vienna in 1792 and began studying with Haydn, quickly gaining a reputation as a virtuoso pianist. He lived in Vienna until his death. In about 1800 his hearing began to deteriorate, and by the last decade of his life he was almost totally deaf. He gave up conducting and performing in public but continued to compose; many of his most admired works come from this period.  His best-known compositions include 9 symphonies, 5 concertos for piano, 32 piano sonatas, and 16 string quartets. He also composed other chamber music, choral works (including the celebrated Missa solemnis), and songs.

          O God, thy grace doth reach so far as clouds may wander,

            And by thy grace, we walk in the light, as we Thy wondrous words do ponder.

            Almighty God, our refuge be.  Teach us to pray, believing in Thee.

            And in Thy mercy, grant that we may thy salvation see.

            Amen.

About the Hymns:

Great is Thy Faithfulness

A native of the small Kentucky town of Franklin, Thomas Obediah Chisholm (1866-1960) was born in a log cabin. He lacked formal education. Nevertheless, he became a teacher at age sixteen and the associate editor of his hometown weekly newspaper, the “Franklin Advocate”, at age twenty-one.  Though he was ordained a Methodist minister in 1903, he served only a single, brief appointment at Scottsville, Kentucky, due to ill health.  He wrote more than 1200 poems, 800 of which were published. They often appeared in religious periodicals such as the “Sunday School Times”, “Moody Monthly”, and “Alliance Weekly”. Many of these were set to music.

Chisholm had sent a number of his poems to the Rev. William H. Runyan (1870-1957), a musician with the Moody Bible Institute and one of the editors of Hope Publishing Company in Chicago.  Runyan wrote the tune FAITHFULNESS for the text and wrote this about the hymn: "This particular poem held such an appeal that I prayed most earnestly that my tune might carry over its message in a worthy way, and the subsequent history of its use indicates that God answered prayer.  It was written in Baldwin, Kansas, in 1923, and was first published in my private song pamphlets."  A phrase in Lamentations 3:22-23 provides a basis for the refrain: "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."  

George Beverly Shea (1909-2013), the famous Canadian-born singer of the Billy Graham Crusades, introduced this hymn to those attending the evangelistic meetings in Great Britain in 1954.  It immediately became a favorite.  This hymn appeared in many evangelical hymnals and song collections but was not chosen for an official Methodist hymnal until The United Methodist Hymnal (1989), even though the author was a Methodist.  It was a very popular hymn of the former Evangelical United Brethren Church and had been included in their hymnals.

According to Carlton Young, "Great is thy faithfulness" was second only to "In the garden" as the most requested hymn for inclusion in The United Methodist Hymnal. A survey conducted in 2000 by Dean McIntyre, Director of Music Resources, General Board of Discipleship, revealed that "Great is thy faithfulness" remains one of the favorite hymns among United Methodists.

I Need Thee Every Hour

Annie S. Hawks’ (1836-1918) poems first began appearing in newspapers when she was 14 years old. She married Charles H. Hawks in 1857. They lived in Brooklyn, New York, and attended the Hanson Place Baptist Church, where Robert Lowry was pastor. She wrote 400 hymns in her life, mostly for use in Sunday schools.

“I Need Thee Every Hour” was written by Hawks in 1872. She showed Lowry her poem, and he wrote the lyrics of the refrain and the tune NEED. The song was first sung publicly at the 1872 meeting of the National Baptist Sunday School Association in Cincinnati, Ohio. Its first publication was in 1873 in a Sunday School hymnbook compiled by Lowry and William H. Doane, Royal Diadem for the Sunday School.

When this hymn was first published in 1873, this Bible verse was included underneath the title: “Without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5 KJV). Each of the first four stanzas of this hymn dwells on a different facet of our dependence on God: our need for His peace, our inability to resist temptation alone, our need to find true meaning in life, and our desire to see God's promises fulfilled. The fifth stanza is an intense plea for God's presence.