Music for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost — July 19, 2020

All my hope on God is founded – Text: Joachim Neander (1650-1680); tr. Robert Bridges (1844-1930). Music: Herbert Howells (1892-1983)

View video here: https://youtu.be/5I1HTkKI7A8

“Meine Hoffnung stehet feste”, a hymn of thanksgiving based on 1 Timothy 6:17, was written by Joachim Neander with the intention that it be used as “grace after meat”. What we have in our green hymn book (New English Hymnal) at 33 is not really a translation of Neander’s hymn, but a free response by Robert Seymour Bridges to the stimulus the hymn exerted upon him. Consequently, its connection to the passage in Timothy is less evident. A physician by profession, Bridges was a highly-accomplished poet and hymnist, resulting in his appointment as poet laureate of England in 1913.

The tune MICHAEL was written around 1930 to these words by Herbert Howells. Though Neander wrote his own tune for his original German text, Howells’ tune is firmly established as the setting for Bridges’ translation. MICHAEL, with its melodic contour and rhythmical freedom has established itself as one of the great hymn tunes of the twentieth century.

All my hope on God is founded;
He doth still my trust renew.
Me through change and chance he guideth,
Only good and only true.
God unknown,
He alone
Calls my heart to be his own.

Pride of man and earthly glory,
Sword and crown betray his trust;
What with care and toil he buildeth,
Tower and temple, fall to dust
But God’s power,
Hour by hour,
Is my temple and my tower.

God’s great goodness aye endureth,
Deep his wisdom, passing thought:
Splendour, light and life attend him,
Beauty springeth out of naught.
Evermore
From his store
New-born worlds rise and adore.

Still from man to God eternal
Sacrifice of praise be done,
High above all praises praising
For the gift of Christ his Son.
Christ doth call
One and all:
Ye who follow shall not fall.

 

I will lift up mine eyes – John Rutter (b. 1945)

View video here: https://youtu.be/eiLQcM75cJ4

John Rutter, who describes himself as “an agnostic supporter of the Christian faith”, nevertheless also professes a lifelong love of the psalms, and this love is reflected in this melodic setting of Psalm 121 for choir and orchestra in the unusual 7/4 time signature that opens and closes with chord progressions reminiscent of Dvorak’s New World Symphony.

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills: from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh even from the Lord: who hath made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: and he that keepeth thee will not sleep.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel: shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord himself is thy keeper: the Lord is thy defence upon thy right hand;
So that the sun shall not burn thee by day: neither the moon by night.
The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: yea, it is even thee that shall keep thy soul.
The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in: from this time forth for evermore. Amen.

 

Master Tallis’s Testament (Six Pieces for Organ, No. 3) – Herbert Howells (1892-1983)

View video here: https://youtu.be/SWeclTcNNV8

The Six Pieces for Organ were not published until 1953, but were all composed from 1940 until 1945. Dedicated to Herbert Sumsion, then the organist of Gloucester Cathedral, they hold a significant spot in the organ repertoire. Howells considered the third in the group, Master Tallis’s Testament (1940) to be one of his most significant works.

It captures the essence of the “Second English Renaissance” of Howells, Vaughan Williams, and Holst with its seamless blending of sixteenth century modality and twentieth century sensuality. The work is essentially a set of gradual variations on the opening theme, each subsequent variation growing in intensity, complexity and volume. The tone of the piece at the beginning is that of a restrained pastoralism, with the modal G minor gently washing against the numerous Tudor chromatic inflections. It is performed in this recording by the English virtuoso organist Thomas Trotter.

Gerald Harder

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Music for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost — July 12, 2020

Thou visitest the earth – Maurice Greene (1695-1755)

 

See video here: https://youtu.be/EY3BzD12g8Q

 

Maurice Greene succeeded to every major musical post in England including Organist of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Master of the King’s Musick and organist and composer of the Chapel Royal. This delightful English motet, for tenor solo, SATB choir and organ in the late-Baroque Georgian style, is excerpted from Greene’s larger verse anthem, Thou, O God, Art Praised in Sion. The text is drawn from verses 9 and 12 of Psalm 65, our Psalm for this Sunday.

Thou visitest the earth and blessest it:

Thou crownest the year with thy goodness.

 

 

Blessed Jesus, at your word – Text: Tobias Clausnitzer (1619-1684); translated by Catherine Winkworth (1827-1878). Music: Melody Johann Rudolph Ahle (1625-1673), harm. J. S. Bach (1685-1750)

 

See video here: https://youtu.be/IhbTXFHv5Uc

 

This hymn, found in our blue hymn book (Common Praise) at 559, is a prayer for illumination by the Holy Spirit as the Christian community gathers around the Lord’s word. As such, it ties in to themes heard this Sunday in the Epistle and Gospel lessons. It is a pre-sermon hymn by the Lutheran pastor Tobias Clausnitzer, translated by Catherine Winkworth, well-known for her English translations of German hymns, which were polished and yet remained close to the original. Educated initially by her mother, Winkworth lived with relatives in Dresden for a time, where she acquired her knowledge of German and interest in German hymnody.

The German chorale tune LIEBSTER JESU (also called DESSAU) was composed by Johann Ahle for an Advent hymn and first published by him in 1664. In its original form, the tune was florid and soloistic in nature, but it was revised for congregational singing and paired with Clausnitzer’s text in the late seventeenth century. The tune was named after this text. (The opening line of the German is “Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier.”)  The harmonization of the tune, as sung in this recording, is by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Blessed Jesus, at your word
we are gathered all to hear you.
Let our hearts and minds be stirred
now to seek and love and fear you.
By your teachings true and holy,
teach us, Lord, to love you solely.

All our knowledge, sense, and sight
lie in deepest darkness shrouded,
till your Spirit breaks our night
with your beams of truth unclouded.
You alone to God can win us;
you must work all good within us.

Glorious Lord, yourself impart;
Light of light, from God proceeding,
open now each mind and heart;
help us by your Spirit’s leading.
Hear the cry your church now raises;
Lord, accept our prayers and praises.

 

Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier (BWV 731) – J. S. Bach (1685-1750)

 

See video here: https://youtu.be/AVqmb_cAeak

 

The tune for the hymn Blessed Jesus, at your word (above) appears several times in the vocal and organ works of Bach. Of the chorale preludes for organ based on this tune, BWV 731 is probably the most familiar. An early work for two keyboards and pedal, it has no direct source or precise dating. The highly embellished melody is reminiscent of a slow concerto movement, such as the Andante from the Concerto nach Italienischen Gusto, BWV 971. Below the melody, Bach weaves a simple yet effective three-part accompaniment, in which the alto and tenor continually pass the musical movement back and forth.

 

Gerald Harder

 

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