God is With Us - Tom Fettke
Chancel Choir, dir. by Dell Smith; Dr. Margo Dillard, organ; Jeremy Page, piano; Versa Strings; Dallas Brass
Tom
Fettke has taught music in both public and Christian schools and has served as a church choir director and minister of music in churches large and small for over 30 years. He is a composer, arranger,
clinician, and producer of Christian music recordings. Fettke was the creator and senior editor of
the Hymnal for Worship and Celebration
(1986).
In this
cantata, Fettke has combined classical works with familiar Christmas carols. Each movement features two traditional Christmas
carols.
The Advent of Hope
The text of the Divinum mysterium was substituted for Prudentius's poem when it was published by Thomas Helmore in 1851. In making this fusion, the original meter of the chant was disturbed, changing the original triple meter rhythm into a duple meter and therefore altering stresses and note lengths. A later version by Charles Winfred Douglas corrected this using an "equalist" method of transcription, although the hymn is now found in both versions as well as a more dance-like interpretation of the original melody.
Charles Wesley
wrote "Come Thou Long Expected Jesus"and printed it in
his Hymns for the Nativity of our Lord (1744). Like so many of
Wesley's texts, this Advent hymn alludes to one or more Scripture passages in
virtually every phrase. The double nature of Advent is reflected in this text,
in which we remember Christ's first coming even while praying for his return.
It is sung to one of several tunes, including "Jefferson" (by William Walker),
"Stuttgart" (attr. to Christian Witt) and "Hyfrydol" (by Rowland Prichard). The
United Methodist Hymnal uses “Hyfrydol”; however, Fettke has chosen
“Regent Square” by Henry Smart.
Song of Bethlehem
Fettke has set an adapted version of the text of “O Holy Night” and “O Little Town of Bethlehem” to the music of the “Cantique de Jean
Racine” by Gabriel Faure.
“O Little Town of Bethlehem” is a popular Christmas carol. The text was written by Phillips Brooks (1835–1893), an Episcopal priest, Rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity, Philadelphia. He was inspired by visiting the Palestinian city of Bethlehem in 1865. “After an early dinner, we took our horses and rode to Bethlehem,” he wrote home in Christmas week of 1865. “It was only about two hours when we came to the town, situated on an eastern ridge of a range of hills, surrounded by its terraced gardens. It is a good-looking town, better built than any other we have seen in Palestine. . . . Before dark, we rode out of town to the field where they say the shepherds saw the star. It is a fenced piece of ground with a cave in it (all the Holy Places are caves here), in which, strangely enough, they put the shepherds. The story is absurd, but somewhere in those fields we rode through the shepherds must have been. . . . As we passed, the shepherds were still “keeping watch over their flocks or leading them home to fold.” Three years later, he wrote the poem for his church and his organist, Lewis Redner, added the music.
Cantique de Jean Racine (Op. 11) is a work for mixed chorus and piano or organ by Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924). Written by the nineteen-year-old composer in 1864–5, the piece won Fauré the first prize when he graduated from the École Niedermeyer de Paris and was first performed the following year on August 4, 1866, with accompaniment of strings and organ. It was first published around 1875 or 1876 (Schoen, Paris, as part of the series Echo des Maîtrises) and appeared in a version for orchestra (possibly by the composer) in 1906. The text, "Verbe égal au Très-Haut", is a paraphrase by Jean Racine (Hymnes traduites du Bréviaire romain, 1688) of the pseudo-ambrosian hymn for Tuesday matins, Consors paterni luminis.
The Midnight Clear
"It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" was written by Edmund Sears, pastor of the Unitarian Church in Wayland, Massachusetts. It first appeared on December 29, 1849, in the Christian Register in Boston. Sears is said to have written these words at the request of his friend, William Parsons Lunt, pastor of United First Parish Church, Quincy, Massachusetts.
This may be the only commonly sung Christmas carol in our
hymnals that does not mention the birth of Christ! The focus is rather on the
song of the angels, “Peace on the earth, good will to men,” taken from Luke
2:14. The hymn’s central theme
contrasts the scourge of war with the song of the angels’ “peace to God’s
people on earth.” This is one of the earliest social gospel hymns written in
the U.S. Sears’ context was the social strife that plagued the country as
the Civil War approached. This hymn comes from a Boston publication, Christian
Register, published on Dec. 29, 1849.
The original stanza three, missing from our hymnals, sheds light on the
poet’s concerns about the social situation in the U.S. in the mid-19th century.
But with the woes of sin and strife The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not The love-song, which they bring:
O hush the noise, ye men of strife, And hear the angels sing!”
But with the woes of sin and strife The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not The love-song, which they bring:
O hush the noise, ye men of strife, And hear the angels sing!”
Fettke has set this text to music by William
Billings. The first American published composer of
psalms and hymns and the inventor of “fuguing songs”, William Billings was born
in Boston, Massachusetts in 1746. Born with vision in only one eye and uneven
legs, Billings started music lessons as a young boy with a local choirmaster.
He began studying Tans’urs Musical
Grammar and various psalm books and by the late 1760’s, he had become
America’s first professional composer.
A leather tanner by trade, Billings began teaching a
singing class in Stoughton, Massachusetts, which would later become the
Stoughton Musical Society (America’s oldest music society and first singing
school). He organized the first church choir in America. In 1770, Billings made history with the
publication of New England Psalm-Singer,
alternatively titled American Chorister.
With a frontispiece engraved by his good friend Paul Revere, the songbook was
the first collection of music completely written by an American and included
over 120 compositions. His songs were published in a number of other books
including The Singing Master’s Assistant
(1776) and Music In Miniature (1779).
By 1790, there was hardly an American psalm book that didn’t contain some of
his songs. William Billings died in Boston in 1800, and was buried in an
un-marked grave.
Blessed Jesus
Tom Fettke has set an original text to the music of the Pie Jesu from Fauré’s Requiem.
The center section borrows from “Jesus, Jesus, rest Your head.”
Gentle Mary, Mother mild,
Lowly in a manger laid her Child;
Jesus was His name, the Undefiled.
Such a Babe in such a place,
Destined to redeem our fallen race.
Who will find His favor and His
grace?
O baby Jesus rest Your head on this
rough and musty bed;
Every other king on earth sleeps on
feathers at his birth.
Blessed Jesus, rest Your head.
Gentle Mary, Mother mild
Lowly in a manger laid her Child;
Beautiful the story! Bless the Lord
of glory!
Kneel before Him at His birth;
Praise His name in all the earth.
The movement closes with a quote from “O Come, All Ye Faithful”.
A Glorious Hallelujah
Here Fettke combines the opening of Beethoven’s “Hallelujah”, from the Mount of Olives, with the opening movement from Vivaldi’s Gloria.
Christus am Ölberge (Christ on the Mount of Olives), Op. 85, is an oratorio by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) portraying the emotional turmoil of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane prior to his crucifixion. It was begun in the fall of 1802, soon after his completion of the Heiligenstadt Testament, as indicated by evidence in the Wielhorsky sketchbook. The libretto in German is by the poet Franz Xaver Huber, editor of the Wiener Zeitung, with whom Beethoven worked closely. It was written in a very short period; in a letter to Breitkopf & Härtel written shortly after the oratorio's completion, Beethoven spoke of having written it in "a few weeks", although he later claimed that the piece required no more than 14 days to complete. It was first performed on April 5, 1803 at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna. a much more humanistic portrayal of the Christ passion than other settings, such as those by Bach. It concludes at the point of Jesus personally accepting his fate, placing the emphasis on his own decision rather than the later Crucifixion or Resurrection. It has drifted into obscurity, and is now rarely performed, being commonly regarded as falling below Beethoven's usual standards of excellence. However, the "Welten singen..." finale chorus, “Hallelujah”, is frequently performed on its own.
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) wrote at least three settings of the hymn Gloria in excelsis Deo, whose words date probably from the 4th Century and which is an integral part of the Ordinary of the Mass. Two survive: RV 588 and RV 589. A third, RV 590, is mentioned only in the Kreuzherren catalogue and presumed lost. Vivaldi composed this Gloria, RV 589, in Venice, probably in 1715, for the choir of the Ospedale della Pietà, an orphanage for girls. The Ospedale prided itself on the quality of its musical education and the excellence of its choir and orchestra. Vivaldi, a priest, music teacher and virtuoso violinist, composed many sacred works for the Ospedale, where he spent most of his career, as well as hundreds of instrumental concertos to be played by the girls’ orchestra. This, his most famous choral piece, presents the traditional Gloria from the Latin Mass in twelve varied cantata-like sections. RV 589 is the better known setting of the Gloria, simply known as the “Vivaldi Gloria" due to its outstanding popularity.
Exceeding Joy
This movement
combines “Brightest and Best” with “The March of the Three Kings”.
Reginald Heber was born in 1783 into a wealthy, educated
family. He was a bright youth, translating a Latin classic into English verse
by the time he was seven, entering Oxford at 17, and winning two awards for his
poetry during his time there. After his graduation he became rector of his
father's church in the village of Hodnet near Shrewsbury in the west of England
where he remained for 16 years. He took on the task of improving hymn singing
in the congregation. When he arrived, they were still singing only metrical
psalms. He couldn’t find the hymns he wanted, especially those that would fit
the Anglican liturgy and the requirements of the Book of Common Prayer.
Heber decided to prepare his own hymnal and invited other poets to contribute,
including Sir Walter Scott and Henry Milman. Hymn singing was not firmly established
in the Anglican Church at this time, and the bishop of London refused Heber’s
request to publish a hymnal. He was appointed Bishop of Calcutta in 1823 and
worked tirelessly for three years until the weather and travel took its toll on
his health and he died of a stroke. Most of his 57 hymns, which include
"Holy, Holy, Holy," are still in use today.
“Brightest
and Best” was written in 1811 to
be sung at the feast of Epiphany. It appeared in Heber's widow's compilation of
hymns entitled Hymns Written and Adapted to the Weekly Service of the Church
Year in 1827. Images of light, a
dominant theme of the Epiphany season, pervade the hymn’s first stanza:
“brightest,” “morning,” “dawn,” “star” and “horizon.” The “Star of the East”
that once guided the magi now guides us to “where our infant Redeemer is
laid.”
The tune selected here is from the Sacred Harp tradition of 'a capella'
shape-note singing which flourished in the United States in the late 18th and
early 19th centuries. It was taken from The Southern Harmony, and Musical Companion was compiled by William "Singin' Billy" Walker
and printed in 1835. It contained 335 songs, went through several editions, and
became one of the most popular southern tunebooks in the 19th century.
Brightest
and Best of the stars of the morning,
Dawn on our midnight and lend
us your aid;
Star of the East the horizon
adorning,
Guide where our infant Redeemer
is laid.
The Crusades, those religious expeditions to rescue the holy
places in Palestine from the Moslems, created an enormous interest in both
faith and fighting in the Middle Ages. French peasants from Provence in the
13th century, when the tune for this "March
of the Three Kings" was being sung and danced to, must have endowed
the Three Kings of the Christmas story with all the virtues and appearance of
their own folk heroes nearer at hand. These were the French dukes, clad in
gleaming armor, carrying brilliant banners and bejeweled shields, who fought
for the Pope far more willingly than they would have for the lives of their own
serfs. Hence, the martial nature of the tune. Georges Bizet, composer of the
opera Carmen, used the same tune as a farandole, or stately dance, in his
incidental music for Alphonse Daudet’s play L’Arlesienne (The Woman
from Aries). Fettke has set Bizet’s
arrangement to a less prejudicial and non-militant version of the text, written
by Ken Bible in 1994.
Three wise men,
inspired by a star,
Prepared great offerings of precious treasures.
Three wise men, inspired by a star,
With joy began a journey long and hard.
Prepared great offerings of precious treasures.
Three wise men, inspired by a star,
With joy began a journey long and hard.
The star so radiant proclaimed a birth:
A King was born, the greatest of the earth.
Through desert sands, through Jerusalem,
They pressed on eagerly to worship Him.
Three wise men, led only by a star,
Arrived where now the newborn King was lying.
Three wise men, led only by a star,
Had found the hope of every longing heart.
Rejoice in His Coming
“Rejoice
in His Coming” is a hymn written by Ken Bible in 2000. Ken
Bible is a respected author, teacher, publisher, and hymn writer. For
over 35 years, he has worked in Christian publishing, serving as director,
editor, and consultant. He is the editor of the current Lillenas hymnal, Sing
to the Lord, and has compiled numerous collections, including Master
Chorus Bookwhich has sold over 1 million copies. Ken founded Living the
Natural Way and LNWhymns.com as a publisher of pocketsize books and new hymns,
which is the source of these hymn texts. The
text is based on Luke 2:1-20 and Matthew 2:1-11. The tune is “St. Denio”, which we commonly
sing to “Immortal, Invisible”.
Rejoice in His
coming, all people of earth!
Be glad in your King on the day of His birth!
Bow down to the One all creation obeys!
Lift up the Lord Jesus, and crown Him with praise!
The glory of heaven now lights up the sky
With news of great joy from our Father on high.
Tonight He has given a Savior, a Son!
The angels all gather and worship as one.
A star is proclaiming the place of His birth,
And wise men draw near from the ends of the earth.
In wonder we watch as their treasures unfold.
They worship with myrrh and with incense and gold.
Come, shepherds and angels, the great and the small,
Let's gather and kneel to the Lord of us all,
Messiah, our Shepherd, our glory, our light.
All praise in the highest to You, Jesus Christ!
Be glad in your King on the day of His birth!
Bow down to the One all creation obeys!
Lift up the Lord Jesus, and crown Him with praise!
The glory of heaven now lights up the sky
With news of great joy from our Father on high.
Tonight He has given a Savior, a Son!
The angels all gather and worship as one.
A star is proclaiming the place of His birth,
And wise men draw near from the ends of the earth.
In wonder we watch as their treasures unfold.
They worship with myrrh and with incense and gold.
Come, shepherds and angels, the great and the small,
Let's gather and kneel to the Lord of us all,
Messiah, our Shepherd, our glory, our light.
All praise in the highest to You, Jesus Christ!
Lo! How a Rose E’er Blooming
"Es ist ein Ros entsprungen" ("A rose has
sprung up"), most commonly translated to English as "Lo, How a
Rose E'er Blooming" or "A
Spotless Rose", is a Christmas carol and Marian Hymn of German origin. The text is thought to be penned by an anonymous author, and the piece first
appeared in print in the late 16th century. The English translation "Lo, How a Rose E'er
Blooming" was written by Theodore Baker in 1894.
"Es ist ein Ros
entsprungen," may date to the fifteenth century. However, the earliest
manuscript containing the text, found in St. Alban's Carthusian monastery in
Trier and preserved in the Trier municipal library, is dated around 1580. It
was first published with twenty-three stanzas in Alte catholische
geistliche Kirchengesiinge (Cologne, 1599). Originally stanza 2
interpreted the "rose" as being Mary, mother of Jesus, but in Musae
Sionae (1609) Michael Praetorius (1571-1621) changed the interpretation
to point to Christ as the rose in accord with actual biblical imagery.
Festival of Carols
Although the original production was not a success, the
twenty-minute suite that Tchaikovsky extracted from the ballet was. However,
the complete Nutcracker has enjoyed enormous popularity since the late
1960s and is now performed by countless ballet companies, primarily during the
Christmas season. Tchaikovsky's score
has become one of his most famous compositions, in particular the pieces
featured in the suite. Tchaikovsky made
a selection of eight of the numbers from the ballet before the ballet's
December 1892 première, forming The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a, intended
for concert performance. The suite was first performed, under the composer's
direction, on 19 March 1892 at an assembly of the St. Petersburg branch of the
Musical Society. The suite became instantly popular, with almost every number
encored at its premiere. Fettke has
chosen to feature the “Marche”, the “Dance of the
Sugar Plum Fairy”, the “Waltz of the Flowers”, and the “Russian Dance (Trepak)”.
The text for “Sing We Now of Christmas” comes from a 15th
century French Carol, Noël nouvelet. The English text was
written by an unknown translator in the 17th or 18th
century. The lyrical structure of the
carol takes us through the story of Christ’s birth. The text connects to two
scripture passages—Luke 2:8-20, which tells the story of the angels and
shepherds, and Matthew 2:1-12, which tells the story of the wise men and their
gifts. The tune for this hymn comes from the same Traditional French Carol as
the text. The importance of this song is that
it highlights several of the most important parts of Christ’s birth; from the
rejoicing of heaven and earth (with shepherds and angels), to the fulfilling of
prophecies (the coming of the wise men). It reminds us that Christ’s birth
changed the world. It reminds us that God became man and took a weak body of
flesh to become closer to us.
The “Sussex Carol” (“At
Christmas Time all Christians Sing”), more popular in Great Britain than in
the US, is one of the more joyous hymns of Christmas. Versions have been found throughout Great
Britain, but it is believed to have been first published in 17th
century Wexford County, Ireland, by Bishop Luke Waddinge (1628-c.1691) in his A Smale Garland of Pious and
Godly Songs (1684). As the years
have gone by, there have been numerous changes made to the carol by those who
perform this carol. Almost every phrase had been changed at one time or
another, plus individual word changes. Of
the several tunes that have been associated with these lyrics, the most popular
is the one noted by Dr. Ralph Vaughan Williams from Mrs. Verrall of Monk's
Gate, Horsham, in Sussex, May 24th, 1904, and from whom is derived
it's most popular nickname, “The Sussex Carol.” Williams first published the
tune as part of his 1912 Fantasia on Christmas Carols, performed at the
Three Choirs Festival, Hereford Cathedral.
”Joy
to the World” was written
by Isaac Watts (1675-1748), who is universally acknowledged as "The
Father of English Hymnody". He has earned the title, not because he was
first to write English hymns, but because he gave impetus to hymnody and
established its place in the worship of the English church. For over one hundred years, congregational
singing had been strictly limited to the Psalms of the Old Testament in poetic
form. “Joy to the World” is the "imitation" of the last half
of Psalm 98. The author transformed the Psalm of praise for some historic
deliverance into a song of rejoicing for the salvation of God that began to be
manifested when the Babe of Bethlehem came "to make his blessing flow far
as the curse is found." This is one of the most joyous hymns in all
Christendom because it makes so real what Christ’s birth means to all mankind. The tune to which the hymn is sung is
attributed to George Frederick Handel and bears resemblance to phrases of his
great oratorio, Messiah. Notably the first four tones match the
beginning of the chorus, "Lift Up Your Heads."
