Music for Reign of Christ the King — Sunday, November 22, 2020

Festival Te Deum, Op. 32 – Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)

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The Te Deum laudamus (“Thee, O God, we praise”) is an ancient hymn dating from around the 4th century. It is often attributed to Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, but it is unlikely that he wrote it. In the traditional office, the Te Deum is sung at the end of Matins on all days when the Gloria is said at Mass. In our tradition it is sung together with the standard canticles in Morning Prayer as prescribed by the Book of Common Prayer.

The Festival Te Deum heard here is Britten’s second setting of the Te Deum. It was composed for the 1945 centenary Festival of St. Mark’s Church in Swindon – an Anglo-Catholic parish with a strong choral tradition which continues to this day. Britten wrote this setting for the abilities of a parish church choir, but the organ part is significantly demanding.

The work begins with the choir singing in unison, imitating the freedom of Gregorian chant. The chant sounds as if it is in free time, but is carefully notated in a variety of time signatures. The organ provides a contrast with chords in regular ¾ time, embellished with pseudo-Baroque ornaments. On the text “The glorious company of the Apostles praise Thee”, the voices begin imitation but return to unison. In the middle section the text “Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ” is exclaimed in fanfare-like motifs in the voices, matched by short dramatic outbursts on the organ. The work ends with a reprise of the organ chords and a treble soloist, joined by the choir, bringing it to a gentle conclusion.

We praise thee, O God : we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship thee : the Father everlasting.
To thee all Angels cry aloud : the Heavens, and all the Powers therein.
To thee Cherubim and Seraphim : continually do cry,
Holy, Holy, Holy : Lord God of Sabaoth;
Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty : of thy glory.
The glorious company of the Apostles : praise thee.
The goodly fellowship of the Prophets : praise thee.
The noble army of Martyrs : praise thee.
The holy Church throughout all the world : doth acknowledge thee;
The Father : of an infinite Majesty;
Thine honourable, true : and only Son;
Also the Holy Ghost : the Comforter.
Thou art the King of Glory : O Christ.
Thou art the everlasting Son : of the Father.
When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man : thou didst not abhor the Virgin’s womb.
When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death :
thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers.
Thou sittest at the right hand of God : in the glory of the Father.
We believe that thou shalt come : to be our Judge.
We therefore pray thee, help thy servants :
whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood.
Make them to be numbered with thy Saints: in glory everlasting.

O Lord, save thy people : and bless thine heritage.
Govern them : and lift them up for ever.
Day by day : we magnify thee;
And we worship thy Name : ever world without end.
Vouchsafe, O Lord : to keep us this day without sin.
O Lord, have mercy upon us : have mercy upon us.
O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us : as our trust is in thee.
O Lord, in thee have I trusted : let me never be confounded.

 

Marche religieuse sur “Lift up your heads” du Messiah de Händel, Op. 15 – Alexandre Guilmant (1837-1911)

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Félix Alexandre Guilmant was one of the first of a line of French organists who became associated with a trend in that country toward large, versatile symphonic pipe organs.

Alexandre was the son of Jean-Baptiste Guilmant (1794 – 1890), organist of St. Nicolas Church in Boulogne. His father gave him his primary instruction in music and organ playing. The boy was so adept that he was able to substitute for his father when he was as young as 12 or 13. By the age of 20, Alexandre was the church choir director and was teaching in the local conservatory, despite his near lack of any formal musical training.

He went to Brussels to polish his technique with the great organ teacher Nicolas Lemmens and after that, he went to Paris. He was chosen to play at the inaugural of the new organ at Saint-Sulpice in Paris in 1862 and wowed the audience. He began touring, creating an international vogue for organ recitals, which took him as far as Russia and the United States. He also frequently played at the organs of Notre Dame and Saint-Sulpice.

In an almost symbiotic relationship, Guilmant’s initial appearances popularizing the organ recital coincided with the period of creation of the greatest Cavaillé-Coll organs, instruments of remarkable range and power and very high quality which became the benchmark of the rich-voiced Romantic organ.

Charles-Marie Widor, organist at Saint-Sulpice, had created the French organ “symphony”, large-scale, academically sonata form works of great power, often containing a toccata-like conclusion. Guilmant continued the development of such works, along with writing a handful of works for orchestra and choir. In his Marche religieuse Guilmant the theme from the well-known chorus from Handel’s Messiah – “Lift up your heads, O ye gates” – and turns it into a grand march for solo organ, drawing on all the possibilities created by the symphonic French organ of the late 19th century.

Gerald Harder

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Music for Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost, November 15, 2020

Lord, thou hast been our refuge – Edward Bairstow (1874-1946)

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Sir Edward Cuthbert Bairstow was born in Huddersfield on August 22, 1874. After a spell teaching in Windsor, Sir Edward Bairstow (1874–1946) was articled to Sir Frederick Bridge at Westminster Abbey in 1893. He also held an appointment as Organist and Choirmaster at All Saints’, Norfolk Square, in London until 1899 when he went to Lancashire to take up the post of Organist at Wigan Parish Church. In 1906 he moved to Leeds Parish Church and was appointed Organist of York Minster in 1913, a post he held until his death in 1946.

In his compositions Bairstow was interested in the relation­ship of the organ part to the choral parts, building great climaxes in the music and contrasting them with simple yet dramatic ideas. The technical construction of the work is subservient to the music which often feels as if it is almost continuously unfolding on a vast canvas. His approach is scholarly and meticulous, showing the influence of Bach and Brahms.

The anthem Lord, thou hast been our refuge, with a text from Psalms 90 (the Psalm for this Sunday), 144, and 102, was commissioned for the 263rd Festival of the Sons of the Clergy in 1917, held at St Paul’s Cathedral. Dr Francis Jackson, Bairstow’s successor at York Minster, in his book Blessed City, The Life and Works of Edward C Bairstow, describes the anthem as follows: “It has accompaniment for full orchestra and is one of his biggest anthems, full of melody, colourful harmony and dramatic treatment of the words, especially at ‘Man is like a thing of nought: his time passeth away like a shadow’, the last word uttered in a breathy whisper. Some say it is over-sentimental or too pompous; others, that it is nothing more or less than a very imaginative account of these words from Psalm 90. It is the high point, the apotheosis and summation of an Edwardian composer writing in the darkest days of war-torn Britain.”

 

Lord, thou hast been our refuge from one generation to another.

Before the mountains were brought forth, or the earth and the world were made,

thou art God from everlasting, and world without end.

Lord, what is man, that thou hast such respect unto him;

or the Son of man, that thou so regardest him?

Man is like a thing of nought: his time passeth away like a shadow.

But thou, O Lord, shalt endure forever,

and thy remembrance throughout all generations.

Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Sion,

yea, the time is come, for it is time that thou have mercy upon her.

Comfort us again, now after the time that thou hast plagued us;

and for the years wherein we have suffered adversity. Amen.

 

Serve bone et fidelis – Orlando di Lasso (1532-1594)

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Two-part compositions were one of the main means through which music was taught during the Renaissance and Baroque periods; they played an important role in the formation of both professional and amateur musicians. During this period all two-part didactic music served consistent and well-defined functions: the teaching of note-values and a form of solfège; the teaching of modality and composition; and as the basis for practicing both vocal and instrumental music.

The brief motet Serve bone et fidelis is one of these two-part compositions. It is one of twelve motets in a collection by Orlando di Lasso known as Novae aliquot, ad 2 voces cantiones, published in 1577. di Lasso was a composer of the late Renaissance, and is considered to be one of the three most famous and influential musicians in Europe at the end of the 16th century. The text of the motet is taken from Matthew 25, today’s Gospel lesson.

Serve bone et fidelis,
quia in pauca fuisti, supra multa te constituam:
intra in gaudium Domini Dei tui.

Good and faithful servant,
because you have been faithful with a few things, I will set you over many things:
enter into the joy of the Lord your God.

Gerald Harder

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