Music for Advent 3 — Sunday, December 11, 2022

Hark, a Herald Voice Is Sounding – Text: Latin (Vox clare); tr. Edward Caswall (1814-1878) / Music: William Henry Monk (1823-1889)

View video here

The customary hymn for the office of Lauds in Advent is Vox clare ecce intonat. From the 11th century onward it is found in the Mozarabic rite for Vespers on Wednesday. By some the hymn has been attributed to Ambrose, but most authorities doubt that it is older than the 10th century. Edward Caswall, a prolific translator of Latin hymns, translated it for his Lyra Catholica 1849. With some alterations his version appeared in Hymns Ancient & Modern 1861. This translation is the basis of the Offertory hymn in church this Sunday: Hark a Herald Voice is Sounding. The text in our New English Hymnal is the same as that used in Hymns Ancient & Modern 1950, apart from the substitution of “herald” for “thrilling” in stanza 1. Most modern hymnals include that change.

The tune Merton, composed by William Henry Monk, appeared for the first time in Parish Choir 1850. It was chosen for Caswall’s translation in Hymns Ancient & Modern 1861, and with few exceptions, it has been paired with this hymn ever since. Its name may have something to do with Walter de Merton, founder of Merton College, Oxford.

Hark! A herald voice is calling:
‘Christ is nigh,’ it seems to say;
‘Cast away the dreams of darkness,
O ye children of the day!’

Startled at the solemn warning,
Let the earth-bound soul arise;
Christ, her Sun, all sloth dispelling,
Shines upon the morning skies.

Lo! the Lamb, so long expected,
Comes with pardon down from heaven;
Let us haste, with tears of sorrow,
One and all to be forgiven;

So when next he comes in glory,
And earth’s final hour draws near,
May he then as our defender
On the clouds of heaven appear.

Honour, glory, virtue, merit,
To the Father and the Son,
With the co-eternal Spirit,
While unending ages run. Amen.

Gerald Harder

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Music for Advent 2 — Sunday December 4, 2022

Missa brevis – Mátyás Seiber (1905-1960)

Kyrie: view video here

Lord, have mercy.

Christ, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy.

Sanctus: view video here

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts,

heaven and earth are full of thy glory.

Glory be to thee, O Lord most high.

Benedictus: view video here

Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord:

Hosanna in the highest.

Agnus Dei: view video here

O Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world: have mercy upon us.

O Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world: have mercy upon us.

O Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world: grant us thy peace.

Mátyás Seiber (1905-1960) is perhaps not the best-known 20th-century composer, but in his day he was regarded as the best teacher of composition in the United Kingdom and well known among other composers. Starting his career as a pupil of Kodály & Bartók at the Liszt Academy in Budapest, from 1922-25, he then travelled widely – sometimes as cellist on the Hamburg America line in the string quartet entertaining 1st class passengers, acquiring a taste for jazz – which he then taught at the Hoch Konservatorium in Frankfurt from 1927-1933.

This was the first academic study of jazz anywhere – and not to the Nazis’ liking. The course was closed in 1933, so he wandered again, settling in London in 1935. There he built a reputation as composer and teacher of composition, lecturing part time at Morley College from 1942 at the invitation of Michael Tippett. Seiber’s friendships and work associations embraced many soloists, including guitarists Julian Bream and John Williams, percussionist Jimmy Blades, and tenor Peter Pears.

 

Seiber’s Missa brevis, our setting of the Mass ordinary this morning, is an early work; he wrote it at the age of 19. It has a fine and extended Kyrie, followed by a striking Sanctus and a lyrically-unfolding Benedictus. Each movement is written in Seiber’s lean and very direct style.

 

Mátyás Seiber died tragically early and at the height of his powers, in an automobile accident, while on a conducting and lecture tour in South Africa.

Gerald Harder

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