Awake, awake to love and work

Two music clips this week:

J. S. Bach: Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr (BWV 664)
Artwork:
Jesus as a boy with Globe (Albrecht Dürer, 1493)
The adoration of the Name of Jesus (El Greco, c. 1580)

Bach wrote three settings of the tune Allein Gott in the Eighteen Leipzig Chorales, plus three more in the Clavierübung, and four other miscellaneous settings – and (with various texts) in several Cantatas (BWV 85, 104, 112, 128, and BWV 260, a fragment from one of the many lost Cantatas). Here is a summary, including the organ chorales and a great deal of material about the chorale itself. The parent website www.bach-cantatas.com is an excellent resource, which I commend to you.

This setting, which I played this morning, is from the Leipzig Chorales; it is in the form of a trio in A major, which dances along for many pages before finally introducing the Tune – the first phrase only, in long notes in the pedal. I chose the Dürer painting because the mischievous little boy Jesus holding the globe seems to fit the trio. All glory be to God on high!

------
Improvisation on Healing Grace and Morning Song
Artwork:
Jesus healing the hemorrhaging woman (Ivan Rutkovych, 1699, from the Zhovkva Iconostasis)

Today's Gospel was St. Mark 5:21-43, wherein Jesus raises the daughter of Jairus from the dead. Along the way, a woman finds healing by touching the hem of his garment. A crowd pressed around him, but only she brought faith, and that made all the difference.

There is a fine hymn by Thomas Troeger, with tune by Carol Doran, that springs from this text: “The scantest touch of grace can heal,” with tune name “Healing Grace.” It is in their little volume “New Hymns for the Lectionary: To Glorify the Maker's Name” (Oxford University Press, 1986). It is an especially useful volume this year, for they work through Year B of the three year Eucharistic Lectionary, with a hymn for each Sunday.

At the middle service, my improvisation was based on this tune, alongside the shape-note tune “Morning Song,” which is often paired with the text “Awake, awake to love and work.” I aimed for a sonata form:

-- “Healing Grace” in the tonic, E minor
-- “Morning Song” in A minor
-- Development – mostly “Morning Song,” with a lengthy excursion into major keys because it was needed for contrast
-- Recapitulation: the two tunes in E minor
-- Short Coda.

The Troeger text is copyright, so I cannot give it to you. Here is the Hymnary.org listing for the Troeger/Doran hymn. It has not made it into any hymnal, and so far as I can tell appears only in the little book where it was first published. Sadly, few if any of these fine hymns have achieved much use. They deserve better.

And here is the listing for “Awake, awake to love and work.” In the Episcopal Hymnal 1982, it is number 9, with the title “Not here for high and holy things” and three stanzas before “Awake, awake,” where most other hymnals begin. This listing includes the text, and the information that the tune (with other texts) is from the famous and important early American source “Wyeth's Repository” (1813) and also the early shape-note book “Kentucky Harmony” (1816).

It has been an interesting week (both here at the church and in my life, and in the wider events of the world), and I wish I had the time and energy to write more. But I do not.

Blessings be with you all.