Music Notes for June 14, 2026

Music for Third Sunday after Pentecost

Today’s prelude is split into two halves, one instrumental and one vocal. The organ trio is a setting taken from Bach’s Leipzig chorale preludes, and is one of the more capricious of the collection, set to a chorale whose first line translate “Lord Jesus Christ, turn thy face unto us.” Bach depicts this text with figurations in the hands that “turn” around a starting note, winding first downwards, then upwards, and then back to centre. The plea to hear our prayers is answered by the words of Jesus set in Cantata 84 (one of my all-time favourites), a passage from John where he promises that God will provide for those who ask in his name. A subject given out generously by the oboes and violins is mirrored in every voice (baritone, viola, even basso continuo), developing to a conclusion that is as inevitable and self-fulfilling as the message of the text.

In Bach’s time, motets in the “old” (i.e. contrapuntal) style were still being sung weekly at Leipzig’s churches, notably the Nikolaikirche. The epithet Motette would have described either a vocal work or at most one with minimal organ doubling of each parts. Bach departed from this model in his own compositions titled “motet:” Some can be performed with only voices (Jesu, meine Freude BWV 227 or Komm Jesu, Komm BWV 229), yet others are so ornamental and fiendishly intricate that performers (myself included) argue they can only be accomplished with instrumental doubling.

Today’s communion motet Herr Jesu Christ, mein Lebens Licht BWV 118 is an outlier. Unlike the other motets, it is one movement, a setting of the chorale melody as one may find in a cantata chorus, surrounded by beautiful instrumental ritornelli. The work was performed at the graveside ceremony for a Leipzig official, an outdoor setting that demanded it be playable by the city’s municipal trumpeters. A mysterious indication for the top two lines to be played by litui [sic?] has long invited conjecture, some scholars saying it must refer to a traditional horn-trumpet hybrid. Despite innovations to the form, Bach’s scoring for a choir of sackbuts and cornetti places us decidedly in the atmosphere of the “traditional motet” as he would have appraised it.

Abraham Ross

Solemn Mass takes place at St. James’ Anglican Church, Vancouver at 10:30 am every Sunday.

Bach – Motet O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht BWV 118 | Netherlands Bach Society – YouTube

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Music Notes for June 7, 2026

Music for Second Sunday after Pentecost

As members of the Anglican communion, we are fortunate to draw on a rich and diverse corpus of sacred music, but particularly a repertory native to our own language and faith tradition. Ranging from the Tudor polyphony of the early Anglican Church to new repertory by active composers (as we heard in last week’s Mass setting), this is a corner of the literature I appreciate, having sung it all my life.

We owe a large debt regarding the preservation of this tradition to institutions such as the Royal School of Church Music, founded in 1927 as an institution to promote sacred music, education, and contemporary performers and composers. In 1945, the RSCM moved to a new tenancy in Addington Castle, for which occasion William H. Harris composed the anthem Behold, the tabernacle of God is with man. As church musicians, our ministry is so often tied to one physical gathering place, four walls and roof that encircle our community and are a part of our instrument. Yet, as this anthem’s text reminds us, our spiritual livelihood cannot reside in any single external structure, but rather remains within our hearts as a conduit for the Holy Spirit. Thanks to the efforts of our Anglican communion throughout the world (in large part through institutions such as RSCM), we posess a beautiful and fortified repertory, set of skills, and continuous tradition through which we profess our faith in song.

The organ voluntaries feature music by two of my favourite composers: the prelude by Québecoise virtuoso and composer Rachel Laurin (who passed in 2023), one of the figureheads of Canadian organ culture in the recent past. The final piece is by Marc Enrico Bossi, famous Italian concert organist, teacher, and composer, whose reputation approached that of his contemporary, Guilmant, despite not being known today.

Abraham Ross

Solemn Mass takes place at St. James’ Anglican Church, Vancouver at 10:30 am every Sunday.

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