Someday I would like to play this:
Fantasy and Fugue on the Chorale “Ad Nos, ad salutarem undam” (Franz Liszt)
One of the perverse ways in which my mind has always worked is that when I am the busiest, that is when I have ideas about Big Projects, especially recitals. I am committed to play in the Lenten series for 2016 across town on the Casavant at the Congregational Church, and I must come up with something to do. There are easier things that I could do than this, but it is what this day I would love to attempt. I was thinking of it all night and on the bus ride into town this morning.
Among the organ music of Liszt, three pieces tower above the rest. The third (Variations on “Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen”) I have played. The second (Prelude and Fugue on B.A.C.H.) is probably the best-known, and for that reason I am not much interested in attempting it. The first, written in 1850, is the “Ad Nos,” based on a chorale from the opera “The Prophets” by Louis Meyerbeer, one of the most noted composers of that era (and now almost forgotten). I have the score – it is in the same volume as the other two works, comprising 48 pages, some of it visually intimidating – I have looked at it and "read" parts of it mentally, but I have never heard this piece in performance, or even on a recording.
The modern musician in such a state does what I did this morning: I went to YouTube. There one may find a number of recordings. The one I linked at the beginning of this page is by Daniel Roth, in live performance on the masterpiece of Cavaille-Coll, the five-manual instrument at St. Sulpice in Paris.
Being a mechanical action (with Barker levers) instrument, Roth here employs two stop assistants, one on each side, each with multiple-page lists of stop changes, which Roth calls out to them as he plays. It is fascinating to watch them negotiate this long, complex work. It is a task that would be much easier on an instrument with electric stop action (at the least, if not some form of electric key action). But Liszt had no such action at his disposal. When he played it at the organ, he probably had stop assistants as one sees here.
There are two gaps in the recording, which is from the video archives of St. Sulpice, and there are doubtless many YouTube versions with better sound quality – I have sampled one by Dame Gillian Weir which is quite good, played at the Royal Albert Hall, and that recording includes the score so one can read the music as it plays. But the “behind the scenes” nature of this recording at St. Sulpice makes it especially interesting, at least to me. And it is a live recording. And, amazingly, it is a part of the Liturgy, a postlude. As the recording begins (and as Roth and his assistants busily prepare the stops), one hears the priests off somewhere down front, chanting the ending of the Mass. I marvel at the sort of Liturgy and Place that would support a major thirty-minute work as a postlude. Blessings be upon them!
It is enjoyable to watch Roth squinting through his glasses at the score, singing along with some of the melodies, most of all playing in the Grand Manner that such music (and such an instrument) require. At the end, he asks one of the assistants about the time, and he holds his wristwatch where Roth can read it – even as he is playing the final majestic chords. I wonder if they had to clear out for another Mass, and the long postlude was pushing the available time? Or perhaps he had to clear his mind and play the next Mass himself? That sort of thing is part of being an Organist – one always must have the external circumstances in a part of one’s mind, much more so than other classical performers.
As for my undertaking of the Ad Nos, it may come to naught like most of my Big Projects. I have other responsibilities between now and Lent, and I have pencilled in one of the large movements from the Livre du Saint-Sacrement of Messiaen for the April Evensong, which would be new to me and require quite a bit of work – I may not be up to doing both it and the Liszt. But I am growing old, and will not have many more opportunities to play such works as these; if not now, when?
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Sunday, December 6, 2015
Hanukkah: Cause us, O Lord
On this first Night of Hanukkah and Second Sunday of Advent, I have posted our anthem from Choral Evensong here.
As I mentioned a fortnight ago, I played the Prière of César Franck as the prelude. It turned out well enough, but there are plenty of good recordings on YouTube so I will not post mine. I did not select this anthem with the idea that it would be sung during Hanukkah; I chose it to fit the Lessons for tonight’s Evensong – Amos 6 and II Thessalonians 1. But it is a Jewish text, and far more timely than I had imagined. “Save our world from sorrow, from hate, and from war…”
We are Christians, of the household of God only by adoption, whom St. Paul describes as wild olive branches grafted to the rootstock. But Hanukkah was our deliverance, too. If the name of Israel had been erased from the earth in those days, there would have been no Messiah.
Thus, I selected Jewish images for the YouTube clip; a photo of a Menorah from a college Hillel center’s blog, and what I find to be an evocative Cubist painting from a modern artist (1970).
There is much more that I would like to say, but it must wait for another time. For tonight, for this Feast of the Dedication when the Lord granted his people deliverance when all seemed to be lost, it is enough to pray together.
Cause us, O Lord our God, to lie down each night in peace
and to awaken to renewed life and strength.
Lord, help us to order our lives by thy counsel,
lead us in the paths of righteousness.
Lord, be thou a shield about us, protect us,
save our world from sorrow, from hate, and from war.
Curb thou within us the will to do evil;
shelter us beneath the shadow of thy wings. Amen.
(text: a Jewish prayer)
As I mentioned a fortnight ago, I played the Prière of César Franck as the prelude. It turned out well enough, but there are plenty of good recordings on YouTube so I will not post mine. I did not select this anthem with the idea that it would be sung during Hanukkah; I chose it to fit the Lessons for tonight’s Evensong – Amos 6 and II Thessalonians 1. But it is a Jewish text, and far more timely than I had imagined. “Save our world from sorrow, from hate, and from war…”
We are Christians, of the household of God only by adoption, whom St. Paul describes as wild olive branches grafted to the rootstock. But Hanukkah was our deliverance, too. If the name of Israel had been erased from the earth in those days, there would have been no Messiah.
Thus, I selected Jewish images for the YouTube clip; a photo of a Menorah from a college Hillel center’s blog, and what I find to be an evocative Cubist painting from a modern artist (1970).
There is much more that I would like to say, but it must wait for another time. For tonight, for this Feast of the Dedication when the Lord granted his people deliverance when all seemed to be lost, it is enough to pray together.
Friday, November 27, 2015
Wedding Day
Today was the wedding of two young parishioners, Will and Stacy. It was simple, beautiful, and elegant. I am happy for them; I enjoyed working with them on the musical aspects, and I wish them well this day, and all the days of their life together.
When I contemplate retirement, one of the thoughts uppermost in my mind is “No more weddings!” I may be willing to play a few Sunday services as a substitute, and I have entertained the thought of becoming a Funeral Home Organist, if such positions still exist (they are being replaced by canned music, for the most part) -- but No Weddings. Not for any amount of money.
In the planning process, I have been screamed at and cursed by mothers, once by a father (who was an ordained minister; that one was over the question as to whether his other daughter, the vocal soloist, could use a microphone and a portable sound system. I said “No,” and stood my ground). I have mediated between the family and the trumpet player who would not open his case without $200 cash money in hand – all this some thirty minutes before the wedding, for which I was being paid $50. I have had to preludize for ten extra minutes, twenty, thirty… I have started a five-minute piece to fill the extra time and within the first four bars been told “They are ready to roll; cut it short.” I have wondered whether the two-year old flower girl would make it down the aisle or sit down in the middle and start counting flower petals (as I vamped on Pachelbel’s Canon, playing the last page three times).
Any organist has stories. Clergy doubtless have stories to match, some of them about their organists. Some of the worst days of my professional life have been Wedding Days. And yet… some of the best days of my professional life have been Wedding Days.
I was in high school when I played my first wedding, and it was the first time I played an organ – a little electric thing with one octave of stubby pedals, in an Assembly of God church. The groom had been my neighbor and best friend when we were quite small, preschool and the early grades. Our paths diverged as I gravitated to music and he to sports (he is now well respected as a small-college basketball coach); the bride was likewise a close friend. She alone of the friends of my childhood and youth attended my mother’s funeral; she told me that day of something I had not known – through the early years while they were in town and I was off at college, my mother was the only adult who believed in them, that they would make it as a married couple (they have: forty-plus years so far).
And there was a day when the young woman who was probably my best friend in college – and is the only friend I still have from those days – was married in the living room of her home. She and I had gone to the music store and selected a rental piano for the event, a spinet. I played Mozart and Bach and Chopin and Beethoven and it was a Good Day, one that remains in my heart as a landmark.
I was at the Presbyterian church in Tennessee long enough for a generation of choristers to grow into adults, and played quite a few weddings for them. There was the one where the girl whom I had known since she was a toddler married a farmer, and the reception was out in the country, complete with bluegrass band and old-style flatfoot dancing. There was another where the bride decided that the place she wanted to wait before the wedding was upstairs in the organ/choir gallery because that was the place in the church where she felt most at home after all her years in choir – she sat on a stool beside the organ console, her bridesmaids around her – all of them former choirgirls – as I played the preservice music. I felt as if I were playing for the Bride of Christ, the holy Marriage Supper of the Lamb for which we long.
Every wedding, every marriage, is a glimpse of that eternal Day, when sorrow and pain shall be no more.
But in this life, there is plenty of sorrow and pain, and marriage is one of the places where it is most acute, for the pain comes to those whom we love the most, and the path is often very hard. One of the women I have described is now a widow; another cares for her husband who is disabled, while working a demanding full-time job and parenting teenagers.
Marriage is one of the Seven Sacraments, and like the others, much about it is a mystery. It is in the providence of God that He has set us in families, with the union of man and woman as the foundation. One finds that it is in the times of sickness, of pain and bereavement and anguish, when God is most present, and that Presence is manifested very often in the patient daily care of husband and wife for one another through the darkest of times. Or parent for child, or child for parent.
One ought not to think too much on these things on Wedding Days – but it is right there in the marriage vows, and a good thing it is; I have needed the remembrance of these vows many times over the years:
Some might be interested in what I play for weddings. It depends, of course, on what the Bride and Groom desire, within the limits of what is acceptable for Christian worship. Here is today’s music list, with some commentary:
Two short movements by Felix Mendelssohn: Adagio from the First Organ Sonata, and the Andante tranquillo from the Third Sonata. This latter Sonata he wrote for the marriage of his beloved sister Fanny – and then he was unable to play it, being injured in a carriage accident shortly before the day. I have used the majestic opening to the first movement, the Con moto maestoso, as a bridal procession, but the fugue that makes up the rest of the movement, based on the chorale Aus tiefer Not, is a bit much.
Vaughan Williams: “Wedding Tune for Ann,” from “A Vaughan Williams Organ Album” (Oxford Univ. Press) – a fine three-minute piece which is thoroughly suitable to the occasion. It is hard to find music by Real Composers that they intended for weddings and that still work in current practice. The only other that I can think of offhand is the Siciliano for a High Ceremony (Herbert Howells), a fine eight-minute piece composed for a 1953 wedding – but it is not for everyone; it has to be someone that would appreciate Howells’ musical style.
Chorale setting: Schmücke dich, O liebe Seele (J. S. Bach, from the Leipzig Chorales) – this was a favorite of Mendelssohn’s, and of many other organists since. It is a communion text, but the spirit befits a wedding – “deck thyself, my soul, with gladness.”
Canon in D (J. Pachelbel, arranged for organ by S. Drummond Wolff, Concordia Publishing House). For today’s service, the couple wanted “Pachelbel’s Canon,” but not as the processional, a purpose for which I have played it scores of times. Many serious musicians turn up their nose at this – there was a time when we had three excellent violinists in our parish, and I tried to get them to play the Canon for church – they looked at me as if I had committed an Unpardonable Sin and absolutely would not do it. But it is a terrific piece of music, and the mood of it is exactly right. Further, it can be cut short or stretched out to fit a procession – my poor copy is marked with so many cuts that I can hardly make out what I am doing. And today, I played the whole thing for the first time in quite a few years – I had to work on the middle parts, which I most often have cut.
More Bach: Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, from the Schübler Chorales. This is the one piece that I always play, because of the connection of the chorale text with the Bridegroom. And for a wedding two days before Advent, it is essential.
At this point, the procession begins:
Bach: “Jesu, joy of man’s desiring,” from “The Biggs Book of Organ Music” (ed. E. Power Biggs, H. W. Gray Publications). This is a useful volume for the church organist, not least for this arrangement of “Jesu, joy.” Like the Canon in D, it is a wedding staple, and very practical – it can be cut or extended to some degree, though not so readily as the Pachelbel.
On this day, the brother of the bride played a piano piece of his own composition for the brides’ procession. I worried about this, especially after he launched into the Darth Vader theme from Star Wars as the people gathered for the wedding rehearsal. But he was just poking fun at his sister; in the event, the piece was thoroughly appropriate, and far more meaningful than anything I could have done.
When it is up to me to play the procession, one of my staples is the Jeremiah Clarke Trumpet Voluntary (The Prince of Denmark). I play this from "Incidental Music for Weddings and Other Occasions, As played at the Royal Wedding at St. Paul's Cathedral, 29 July 1981," edited by Christopher Dearnley (the organist for that Occasion)- Basil Ramsey, publisher. It is a lovely little volume, complete with the stoplist for the very large instrument in that Place, and photos of various parts of the instrument.
And I am not above "Here comes the bride," or more properly, the Wedding March from Lohengrin (R. Wagner). Like the Pachelbel, it is a piece that can be trimmed or expanded to fit the time needed. I always include it in my suggestions to the couple; some laugh at me, for others it is precisely what is suitable. There are some clergy (and some organists) who forbid this piece; I am not one of them.
The recessional:
Trumpet Tune (Henry Purcell) – another wedding standard. At this point, I very often play the Wedding March from Midsummer Night’s Dream (Mendelssohn) which is my favorite. Or the piece that on this day followed the Purcell:
Overture and The Rejoicing, from “Firework Music” (G. F. Handel) – this is from the Biggs Book, which contains many other arrangements from Bach and Handel.
I used to play the Widor Toccata (Final, from the Fifth Organ Symphony), but that was on an instrument with electric action. On our mechanical-action Pilcher, my hand starts to fall off after about three pages, so I refuse to play it. But it is very effective if the instrument and organist are up to it. The Final from the First Symphony of Louis Vierne is another good choice if the circumstances are fitting.
*********
I was pleased this day to play my first wedding with our current rector. She does a splendidly dignified wedding, by far the best of any clergy with whom I have worked; it was indeed a delight to work with her this day. And she used the long form of the Blessing, which I have not heard since my own wedding, many years ago:
When I contemplate retirement, one of the thoughts uppermost in my mind is “No more weddings!” I may be willing to play a few Sunday services as a substitute, and I have entertained the thought of becoming a Funeral Home Organist, if such positions still exist (they are being replaced by canned music, for the most part) -- but No Weddings. Not for any amount of money.
In the planning process, I have been screamed at and cursed by mothers, once by a father (who was an ordained minister; that one was over the question as to whether his other daughter, the vocal soloist, could use a microphone and a portable sound system. I said “No,” and stood my ground). I have mediated between the family and the trumpet player who would not open his case without $200 cash money in hand – all this some thirty minutes before the wedding, for which I was being paid $50. I have had to preludize for ten extra minutes, twenty, thirty… I have started a five-minute piece to fill the extra time and within the first four bars been told “They are ready to roll; cut it short.” I have wondered whether the two-year old flower girl would make it down the aisle or sit down in the middle and start counting flower petals (as I vamped on Pachelbel’s Canon, playing the last page three times).
Any organist has stories. Clergy doubtless have stories to match, some of them about their organists. Some of the worst days of my professional life have been Wedding Days. And yet… some of the best days of my professional life have been Wedding Days.
I was in high school when I played my first wedding, and it was the first time I played an organ – a little electric thing with one octave of stubby pedals, in an Assembly of God church. The groom had been my neighbor and best friend when we were quite small, preschool and the early grades. Our paths diverged as I gravitated to music and he to sports (he is now well respected as a small-college basketball coach); the bride was likewise a close friend. She alone of the friends of my childhood and youth attended my mother’s funeral; she told me that day of something I had not known – through the early years while they were in town and I was off at college, my mother was the only adult who believed in them, that they would make it as a married couple (they have: forty-plus years so far).
And there was a day when the young woman who was probably my best friend in college – and is the only friend I still have from those days – was married in the living room of her home. She and I had gone to the music store and selected a rental piano for the event, a spinet. I played Mozart and Bach and Chopin and Beethoven and it was a Good Day, one that remains in my heart as a landmark.
I was at the Presbyterian church in Tennessee long enough for a generation of choristers to grow into adults, and played quite a few weddings for them. There was the one where the girl whom I had known since she was a toddler married a farmer, and the reception was out in the country, complete with bluegrass band and old-style flatfoot dancing. There was another where the bride decided that the place she wanted to wait before the wedding was upstairs in the organ/choir gallery because that was the place in the church where she felt most at home after all her years in choir – she sat on a stool beside the organ console, her bridesmaids around her – all of them former choirgirls – as I played the preservice music. I felt as if I were playing for the Bride of Christ, the holy Marriage Supper of the Lamb for which we long.
Every wedding, every marriage, is a glimpse of that eternal Day, when sorrow and pain shall be no more.
But in this life, there is plenty of sorrow and pain, and marriage is one of the places where it is most acute, for the pain comes to those whom we love the most, and the path is often very hard. One of the women I have described is now a widow; another cares for her husband who is disabled, while working a demanding full-time job and parenting teenagers.
Marriage is one of the Seven Sacraments, and like the others, much about it is a mystery. It is in the providence of God that He has set us in families, with the union of man and woman as the foundation. One finds that it is in the times of sickness, of pain and bereavement and anguish, when God is most present, and that Presence is manifested very often in the patient daily care of husband and wife for one another through the darkest of times. Or parent for child, or child for parent.
One ought not to think too much on these things on Wedding Days – but it is right there in the marriage vows, and a good thing it is; I have needed the remembrance of these vows many times over the years:
In the Name of God, I, N. take you, N. to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until we are parted by death. This is my solemn vow.***************
Some might be interested in what I play for weddings. It depends, of course, on what the Bride and Groom desire, within the limits of what is acceptable for Christian worship. Here is today’s music list, with some commentary:
Two short movements by Felix Mendelssohn: Adagio from the First Organ Sonata, and the Andante tranquillo from the Third Sonata. This latter Sonata he wrote for the marriage of his beloved sister Fanny – and then he was unable to play it, being injured in a carriage accident shortly before the day. I have used the majestic opening to the first movement, the Con moto maestoso, as a bridal procession, but the fugue that makes up the rest of the movement, based on the chorale Aus tiefer Not, is a bit much.
Vaughan Williams: “Wedding Tune for Ann,” from “A Vaughan Williams Organ Album” (Oxford Univ. Press) – a fine three-minute piece which is thoroughly suitable to the occasion. It is hard to find music by Real Composers that they intended for weddings and that still work in current practice. The only other that I can think of offhand is the Siciliano for a High Ceremony (Herbert Howells), a fine eight-minute piece composed for a 1953 wedding – but it is not for everyone; it has to be someone that would appreciate Howells’ musical style.
Chorale setting: Schmücke dich, O liebe Seele (J. S. Bach, from the Leipzig Chorales) – this was a favorite of Mendelssohn’s, and of many other organists since. It is a communion text, but the spirit befits a wedding – “deck thyself, my soul, with gladness.”
Canon in D (J. Pachelbel, arranged for organ by S. Drummond Wolff, Concordia Publishing House). For today’s service, the couple wanted “Pachelbel’s Canon,” but not as the processional, a purpose for which I have played it scores of times. Many serious musicians turn up their nose at this – there was a time when we had three excellent violinists in our parish, and I tried to get them to play the Canon for church – they looked at me as if I had committed an Unpardonable Sin and absolutely would not do it. But it is a terrific piece of music, and the mood of it is exactly right. Further, it can be cut short or stretched out to fit a procession – my poor copy is marked with so many cuts that I can hardly make out what I am doing. And today, I played the whole thing for the first time in quite a few years – I had to work on the middle parts, which I most often have cut.
More Bach: Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, from the Schübler Chorales. This is the one piece that I always play, because of the connection of the chorale text with the Bridegroom. And for a wedding two days before Advent, it is essential.
At this point, the procession begins:
Bach: “Jesu, joy of man’s desiring,” from “The Biggs Book of Organ Music” (ed. E. Power Biggs, H. W. Gray Publications). This is a useful volume for the church organist, not least for this arrangement of “Jesu, joy.” Like the Canon in D, it is a wedding staple, and very practical – it can be cut or extended to some degree, though not so readily as the Pachelbel.
On this day, the brother of the bride played a piano piece of his own composition for the brides’ procession. I worried about this, especially after he launched into the Darth Vader theme from Star Wars as the people gathered for the wedding rehearsal. But he was just poking fun at his sister; in the event, the piece was thoroughly appropriate, and far more meaningful than anything I could have done.
When it is up to me to play the procession, one of my staples is the Jeremiah Clarke Trumpet Voluntary (The Prince of Denmark). I play this from "Incidental Music for Weddings and Other Occasions, As played at the Royal Wedding at St. Paul's Cathedral, 29 July 1981," edited by Christopher Dearnley (the organist for that Occasion)- Basil Ramsey, publisher. It is a lovely little volume, complete with the stoplist for the very large instrument in that Place, and photos of various parts of the instrument.
And I am not above "Here comes the bride," or more properly, the Wedding March from Lohengrin (R. Wagner). Like the Pachelbel, it is a piece that can be trimmed or expanded to fit the time needed. I always include it in my suggestions to the couple; some laugh at me, for others it is precisely what is suitable. There are some clergy (and some organists) who forbid this piece; I am not one of them.
The recessional:
Trumpet Tune (Henry Purcell) – another wedding standard. At this point, I very often play the Wedding March from Midsummer Night’s Dream (Mendelssohn) which is my favorite. Or the piece that on this day followed the Purcell:
Overture and The Rejoicing, from “Firework Music” (G. F. Handel) – this is from the Biggs Book, which contains many other arrangements from Bach and Handel.
I used to play the Widor Toccata (Final, from the Fifth Organ Symphony), but that was on an instrument with electric action. On our mechanical-action Pilcher, my hand starts to fall off after about three pages, so I refuse to play it. But it is very effective if the instrument and organist are up to it. The Final from the First Symphony of Louis Vierne is another good choice if the circumstances are fitting.
*********
I was pleased this day to play my first wedding with our current rector. She does a splendidly dignified wedding, by far the best of any clergy with whom I have worked; it was indeed a delight to work with her this day. And she used the long form of the Blessing, which I have not heard since my own wedding, many years ago:
Most gracious God, we give you thanks for your tender love in sending Jesus Christ to come among us, to be born of a human mother, and to make the way of the cross to be the way of life. We thank you, also, for consecrating the union of man and woman in his Name. By the power of your Holy Spirit, pour out the abundance of your blessing upon this man and this woman. Defend them from every enemy. Lead them into all peace. Let their love for each other be a seal upon their hearts, a mantle about their shoulders, and a crown upon their foreheads. Bless them in their work and in their companionship; in their sleeping and in their waking; in their joys and in their sorrows; in their life and in their death. Finally, in your mercy, bring them to that table where your saints feast for ever in your heavenly home; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Saturday, November 14, 2015
Rest in peace.
Music by two Parisians:
Tierce en taille, and Cromorne en Taille, from the Messe de Paroisse (François Couperin)
Priere (César Franck)
******
This morning, in the process of considering what music I might post here in response to the attacks in Paris last night, it struck me most suddenly that I have a responsibility tomorrow morning, akin to what those who will be preaching and leading prayers will have. Mine is but a small responsibility, but it did not until now occur to me. I am cancelling the postlude that I had planned and will play the Tierce en Taille which is linked above as a memorial prayer.
I would love to play the Franck instead, but it is well beyond anything I could prepare in one day. [Edited to add: I think that I can play it for the next choral evensong, December 6.] I do encourage you to listen to the Franck, or the Couperin. Perhaps light a candle. Certainly, pray for those who have died, and those who are bereaved, and those who are injured. And all of us, around the world, who must live this day and the next and the next after that, trusting only in the mercies and providence of God.
There have been other terrorist killings, some of them worse than this. Upon hearing the news last night, I thought immediately of the 2004 Madrid bombings, and the schoolchildren of Beslan, in the Ossetia region of Russia, also in 2004. And the Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972.
This one, last night in Paris, feels like 9/11/01. As with that event, I fear that the consequences will be profound, and not for the best.
Tierce en taille, and Cromorne en Taille, from the Messe de Paroisse (François Couperin)
Priere (César Franck)
******
This morning, in the process of considering what music I might post here in response to the attacks in Paris last night, it struck me most suddenly that I have a responsibility tomorrow morning, akin to what those who will be preaching and leading prayers will have. Mine is but a small responsibility, but it did not until now occur to me. I am cancelling the postlude that I had planned and will play the Tierce en Taille which is linked above as a memorial prayer.
I would love to play the Franck instead, but it is well beyond anything I could prepare in one day. [Edited to add: I think that I can play it for the next choral evensong, December 6.] I do encourage you to listen to the Franck, or the Couperin. Perhaps light a candle. Certainly, pray for those who have died, and those who are bereaved, and those who are injured. And all of us, around the world, who must live this day and the next and the next after that, trusting only in the mercies and providence of God.
There have been other terrorist killings, some of them worse than this. Upon hearing the news last night, I thought immediately of the 2004 Madrid bombings, and the schoolchildren of Beslan, in the Ossetia region of Russia, also in 2004. And the Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972.
This one, last night in Paris, feels like 9/11/01. As with that event, I fear that the consequences will be profound, and not for the best.
Friday, November 13, 2015
Open my eyes
Here is a recording of our choir singing the Gilbert Martin arrangement of an old gospel hymn: "Open my eyes that I may see." It is taken from our liturgy on October 25, and I am just now getting around to posting it.
We also sang the Howells Te Deum and Jubilate at that service, and it went pretty well. But I am not going to post the recordings; there are many versions on YouTube that are much better than we could ever hope to do.
But this one, "Open my eyes," has only one other YouTube version, a good rendition in Chinese, so ours is worth posting.
While working with the YouTube video manager, I noticed that several of my Bach organ recordings have had copyright claims placed on them. I suppose that I should be flattered that the computer who does these things for YouTube thinks that my versions are sufficiently close to their Property to warrant a claim. I am not.
But I do not see a good way to dispute the claim. The YouTube dispute form gives several options that could be checked off and none of them apply completely. On the one hand, the video is not entirely of my creation - J. S. Bach wrote the music, and the artwork is from WikiArt, by some of the Masters of old time. These things are in the public domain, but they are most decidedly not my work.
And on the other hand, I am not willing to claim that the YouTube clips are entirely in the public domain; they are not, for I have a performance right in them. That is to say: I am very pleased for anyone to listen to this music. But I am not pleased for some rights organization to come and make money on what is not theirs.
And, most of all, there is the danger that by disputing the claim, the publisher who claims rights can summarily shut down my YouTube channel and this MusicBox. I know of one blog that disappeared in just this fashion, without notice or recourse. Or I could find myself embroiled in litigation.
So I am going to let it go.
[Edited 11/20/15 to add this news story}
We also sang the Howells Te Deum and Jubilate at that service, and it went pretty well. But I am not going to post the recordings; there are many versions on YouTube that are much better than we could ever hope to do.
But this one, "Open my eyes," has only one other YouTube version, a good rendition in Chinese, so ours is worth posting.
While working with the YouTube video manager, I noticed that several of my Bach organ recordings have had copyright claims placed on them. I suppose that I should be flattered that the computer who does these things for YouTube thinks that my versions are sufficiently close to their Property to warrant a claim. I am not.
But I do not see a good way to dispute the claim. The YouTube dispute form gives several options that could be checked off and none of them apply completely. On the one hand, the video is not entirely of my creation - J. S. Bach wrote the music, and the artwork is from WikiArt, by some of the Masters of old time. These things are in the public domain, but they are most decidedly not my work.
And on the other hand, I am not willing to claim that the YouTube clips are entirely in the public domain; they are not, for I have a performance right in them. That is to say: I am very pleased for anyone to listen to this music. But I am not pleased for some rights organization to come and make money on what is not theirs.
And, most of all, there is the danger that by disputing the claim, the publisher who claims rights can summarily shut down my YouTube channel and this MusicBox. I know of one blog that disappeared in just this fashion, without notice or recourse. Or I could find myself embroiled in litigation.
So I am going to let it go.
[Edited 11/20/15 to add this news story}
YouTube owner Google says it will help fund up to $1m (£650,000) in legal fees for some content creators who have received copyright takedown notices. It will step in if it feels their material is considered to be fair use. However the firm admitted that only a handful of people have been chosen to benefit from this support. Copyright holders are able to make requests to Google - or other sites - to take down content under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).....
"We are offering legal support to a handful of videos that we believe represent clear fair uses which have been subject to DMCA takedowns," wrote Fred von Lohmann, Google's copyright legal director, in a blog post....
"We're doing this because we recognise that creators can be intimidated by the DMCA's counter-notification process and the potential for litigation that comes with it.
"While we can't offer legal protection to every video creator - or even every video that has a strong fair use defence - we'll continue to resist legally unsupported DMCA takedowns as part of our normal processes."
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
I once was lost but now am found
Here is an improvisation on “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound.”
My plan was for an A-B-A form in C Major, with leanings toward C Lydian (F sharps). For the middle section, I strayed as far as possible, to F sharp minor (which is one reason I included the F sharps in the beginning), and tried something new (for me) – a direct quotation from what was to be sung by the choir that day: a fragment of the Te Deum by Howells, from his Collegium Regale setting. I made a continuation in that harmonic style, with a truncated return of the A section.
We did not sing the Howells until the later service that morning, so it was a stretch for me to include it in the improvisation. But it was much on my mind. The phrase that I quoted was this: “When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death; thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.” It seems to me that this is at the foundation of the “amazing grace” of which Newton wrote.
This hymn, “Amazing Grace” is important to me as it is for many. In retrospect, it was one of the first pieces of Real Church Music that I encountered. I could not have articulated it at the time (my infancy in Christ and likewise in music, at about age twelve, newly baptized and in my first year of piano lessons), but I sensed that there was an integrity to this text by John Newton and its shape-note tune, crafted by the folk tradition in the very region where I was living, that was not present in most of the Baptist gospel songs that were the exclusive diet of the congregation. I love those songs too, but they are not at the same level. In fact, there is hardly anything at this level.
For those who might want a deeper look into the hymn, Bill Moyers did a PBS video about it some years ago. One can get a taste of it is from Moyers’ website, where one can read the transcript and hear some excerpts from the video. The full program on DVD might be in your public library.
My plan was for an A-B-A form in C Major, with leanings toward C Lydian (F sharps). For the middle section, I strayed as far as possible, to F sharp minor (which is one reason I included the F sharps in the beginning), and tried something new (for me) – a direct quotation from what was to be sung by the choir that day: a fragment of the Te Deum by Howells, from his Collegium Regale setting. I made a continuation in that harmonic style, with a truncated return of the A section.
We did not sing the Howells until the later service that morning, so it was a stretch for me to include it in the improvisation. But it was much on my mind. The phrase that I quoted was this: “When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death; thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.” It seems to me that this is at the foundation of the “amazing grace” of which Newton wrote.
This hymn, “Amazing Grace” is important to me as it is for many. In retrospect, it was one of the first pieces of Real Church Music that I encountered. I could not have articulated it at the time (my infancy in Christ and likewise in music, at about age twelve, newly baptized and in my first year of piano lessons), but I sensed that there was an integrity to this text by John Newton and its shape-note tune, crafted by the folk tradition in the very region where I was living, that was not present in most of the Baptist gospel songs that were the exclusive diet of the congregation. I love those songs too, but they are not at the same level. In fact, there is hardly anything at this level.
For those who might want a deeper look into the hymn, Bill Moyers did a PBS video about it some years ago. One can get a taste of it is from Moyers’ website, where one can read the transcript and hear some excerpts from the video. The full program on DVD might be in your public library.
Sunday, November 1, 2015
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine
We met at 4:45 for an hour of rehearsal before Choral Evensong. On this day, it was the Youth Choir as well as our adult choir and the St. Simeon singers who assist with evensong. We had an ambitious music list, including the Bainton anthem “And I saw a new heaven” and the Gibbons Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis from his Short Service. This rehearsal was the only opportunity to combine the adults and youth choir, it was not nearly enough time, and it was a challenging workout, serious and intense.
During the break afterwards, our youngest chorister (known to those who attended this year’s RSCM Course) spoke with me; she said that it was hard; she did not know whether she could do it all again – that is, sing all the music again for the church service. “That is all right,” I told her; “Choral Evensong requires all that you have.”
I have tried to explain this many times on these pages – why is Choral Evensong so important? Why does it matter so much more to me than the Holy Eucharist?
Why was this service, this night, so important?
Part of the answer is what the chorister had already learned, in her first evensong as a part of this choir; one cannot properly sing Evensong without an absolute commitment that requires all that you have. And that is all right; it is indeed our bounden duty. “Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.”
As we heard this summer from Mr. Walker: “One hundred percent, all of the time.”
One chorister who demonstrated this was Lucy. She arrived for the rehearsal and told me that she hardly had any voice, which was obvious as soon as she spoke. But she had nonetheless come. She sang a little, but mostly she led by example. She lined up the younger choristers for the procession, she was as attentive and fully committed to the rehearsal and service – even when she was unable to sing – as she had been at the RSCM course this summer. By so doing, she showed the younger choristers how it is done. And that is a very great gift, one that I cannot give them.
We were far from perfect. There were plenty of wrong notes, and there were places that with more combined rehearsal would have been more confident. But I believe that every chorister, from youngest to oldest, brought their full commitment to the music and the liturgy. I could hear it in their sound, and so could everyone in the congregation.
Afterwards at the choir’s pizza supper, I spoke again with our youngest chorister. She had learned another lesson; the service seemed shorter than the rehearsal. “They always do,” I said. When it comes time to sing, or play, it goes by so quickly. She liked the Evensong very much; she also spoke of RSCM, and said that she wants very much to go back next summer.
So do I.
But we have something special right here in our parish. There are moments, nowadays, when singing or accompanying this choir, especially the combined choir as we had tonight, is every bit as good as being in the Chapel at Todd Hall, or the Basilica.
Thanks be to God.
...............
We finished the service with the hymn “For all the saints.” I wanted the youth choir to know this hymn, for it is no longer sung in some places, and rarely with all eight stanzas even here in our parish. I assigned the youth trebles to solo out my favorite stanza, which is a good summary for tonight:
There was some good music today; I have been listening to the recordings while bringing order to the choir room and working on next Sunday’s bulletins. I might post some more YouTube tracks, but for tonight, what I want to share is my piano improvisation from the 9:00 service. Like much else today, it was not adequately prepared, but it turned out all right. It has been a challenging week at the church, and next week will be no easier, not with a funeral on Tuesday. There have been two or three times when I have not seen a way forward, and always, always – too much work, too little time. “We feebly struggle, they in glory shine…”
During the break afterwards, our youngest chorister (known to those who attended this year’s RSCM Course) spoke with me; she said that it was hard; she did not know whether she could do it all again – that is, sing all the music again for the church service. “That is all right,” I told her; “Choral Evensong requires all that you have.”
I have tried to explain this many times on these pages – why is Choral Evensong so important? Why does it matter so much more to me than the Holy Eucharist?
Why was this service, this night, so important?
Part of the answer is what the chorister had already learned, in her first evensong as a part of this choir; one cannot properly sing Evensong without an absolute commitment that requires all that you have. And that is all right; it is indeed our bounden duty. “Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.”
As we heard this summer from Mr. Walker: “One hundred percent, all of the time.”
One chorister who demonstrated this was Lucy. She arrived for the rehearsal and told me that she hardly had any voice, which was obvious as soon as she spoke. But she had nonetheless come. She sang a little, but mostly she led by example. She lined up the younger choristers for the procession, she was as attentive and fully committed to the rehearsal and service – even when she was unable to sing – as she had been at the RSCM course this summer. By so doing, she showed the younger choristers how it is done. And that is a very great gift, one that I cannot give them.
We were far from perfect. There were plenty of wrong notes, and there were places that with more combined rehearsal would have been more confident. But I believe that every chorister, from youngest to oldest, brought their full commitment to the music and the liturgy. I could hear it in their sound, and so could everyone in the congregation.
Afterwards at the choir’s pizza supper, I spoke again with our youngest chorister. She had learned another lesson; the service seemed shorter than the rehearsal. “They always do,” I said. When it comes time to sing, or play, it goes by so quickly. She liked the Evensong very much; she also spoke of RSCM, and said that she wants very much to go back next summer.
So do I.
But we have something special right here in our parish. There are moments, nowadays, when singing or accompanying this choir, especially the combined choir as we had tonight, is every bit as good as being in the Chapel at Todd Hall, or the Basilica.
Thanks be to God.
...............
We finished the service with the hymn “For all the saints.” I wanted the youth choir to know this hymn, for it is no longer sung in some places, and rarely with all eight stanzas even here in our parish. I assigned the youth trebles to solo out my favorite stanza, which is a good summary for tonight:
O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one in thee, for all are thine.
Alleluia.
There was some good music today; I have been listening to the recordings while bringing order to the choir room and working on next Sunday’s bulletins. I might post some more YouTube tracks, but for tonight, what I want to share is my piano improvisation from the 9:00 service. Like much else today, it was not adequately prepared, but it turned out all right. It has been a challenging week at the church, and next week will be no easier, not with a funeral on Tuesday. There have been two or three times when I have not seen a way forward, and always, always – too much work, too little time. “We feebly struggle, they in glory shine…”
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
The Chronicles
The books of I and II Chronicles are entirely absent from the Revised Common Lectionary. Only a few disconnected bits appear in the Daily Office Lectionary, interspersed into the narrative of I and II Kings that we have recently completed. I submit that this is a grievous error, akin to using only one Gospel account for public worship (perhaps St. Luke, as it is the most elegantly written), entirely ignoring St. Matthew and Mark, and taking only a few stray bits from St. John. We have four accounts of the Messiah’s ministry for very good reasons, not least to emphasize the centrality of these events. It is for similar reasons that Genesis contains two creation stories, and other passages where it appears that two or more parallel oral histories have been stitched together. Exodus contains but the one account of the deliverance from Egypt and the giving of the Torah, but it is revisited several times in the Psalter (especially Psalms 105 and 106, but also Psalm 78 and others), and is never far from the heart of the prophets.
It has been my custom for decades to read the Chronicles at this point in the two-year Daily cycle, after the completion of II Kings, alongside the bits from Jeremiah and Lamentations that have occupied us for the last week or so and the reading of Ezra and Nehemiah that begins tomorrow. I commend this practice to you, especially the reading of the Chronicles as a connected narrative in one swoop.
I will admit that I do not read the genealogies closely, and skim lightly over some of the other passages. But they are not to be entirely skipped. Some observations:
Adam, Sheth, Enosh
Kenan, Mahalaleel, Jered (I Chron. 1:1-2)
Thus begins the nine chapter genealogy. It profits from being read aloud, for it then becomes clear that the names are grouped for ease of memorization. It boggles my mind to consider such a task, but it is equally clear that some people did exactly that – they memorized these lists of names so that they could retain them as a part of their history, long before such things were committed to writing. It is also striking how little bits of family lore slip into the lists, just as they would when an old person is recounting her memories to the youngsters. There are many such examples in I Chronicles; here is one.
It is worthy of note also that there are no dates. Just the names, in their order, with an occasional reference to the wider events of the kingdom, such as “in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah” (4:41).
And these are they whom David set over the service of song
This parallels current practice. In the church hallway upstairs, one may find photographs of the Bishops of Iowa and the Rectors and other clergy of this parish. No musicians. No Christian educators. And especially, no sextons or vergers, no ladies and gentlemen of the Altar Guild.
It is well to know by evidence of Holy Scripture that these persons are not unknown to God.
After the psalms, the passage continues:
Yet more names
Chapters 23 through 27 are an account of those who ministered at the time when David, “old and full of days, made Solomon his son king over Israel” (23:1). It is a treasure to know these names, even to the point of the ordering of the musicians into twenty-four bands (25:8-31), after “they cast lots, ward against ward, as well the small as the great, the teacher as the scholar (v. 8). We see in this passage that then as now the music involves not just the adults and the most accomplished, but the small as well as the great, the teacher and the scholar. The musicians learned their work from childhood by doing it alongside their parents, their uncles and grandparents, the others of the musical community. This is a model for modern church music, a model which is too often ignored by musicians and parishes who do not have the patience to include the children in anything meaningful or important.
The conclusion of the matter: Holy Men and Holy Women
Time fails to delve further into these things, but I cannot pass II Chronicles without the mention of two passages, both of them with the essential details presented here and not in II Kings:
This is not something of human manufacture. There is always the temptation to use music to manipulate, to achieve a desired effect or to implant an agenda. These are unworthy goals which stand in the way of music’s proper function, which is to help the people attain their unity in Christ (“as one”) and together to come into the divine Presence.
..........
The Sages say that there are four holy men who found God on their own, out of the darkness without human assistance (though not without Divine help and revelation): Abraham, Job, the Messiah – and Hezekiah. He had grown up in the wicked court of his father Ahaz, and somehow he found it in his heart to do as he did.
But he was not the last king worthy of his fathers, for as we read in the Chronicles, there was one more revival under Josiah (chapters 34 and 35). He too restored the passover, with the musical service (35:15), so that it was written
The end was now at hand. But it is not a small thing for one’s death to be lamented by Jeremiah the prophet – perhaps in musical form, as might be implied by the context. One might also note the “singing women” in this verse; until now, we have heard nothing of female musicians, and it is good to know that they were there. Unlike the men, we do not even have their names, nor anything about what they did (beyond “lamentations”). But like the men, they are known to God and their music is not forgotten; like all music that is true, it ever remains in the heart of God.
We live in time and can see and hear but the present moment, with memories of the past – our own memories, and those preserved in the genealogies and stories and writings passed from our ancestors. Music preeminently is the art of the Present – it exists in its only true form, its live sound in performance, only in the moment. But God stands above the circle of time and perceives it all, in its entirety, all at once and forever.
It has been my custom for decades to read the Chronicles at this point in the two-year Daily cycle, after the completion of II Kings, alongside the bits from Jeremiah and Lamentations that have occupied us for the last week or so and the reading of Ezra and Nehemiah that begins tomorrow. I commend this practice to you, especially the reading of the Chronicles as a connected narrative in one swoop.
I will admit that I do not read the genealogies closely, and skim lightly over some of the other passages. But they are not to be entirely skipped. Some observations:
Adam, Sheth, Enosh
Kenan, Mahalaleel, Jered (I Chron. 1:1-2)
Thus begins the nine chapter genealogy. It profits from being read aloud, for it then becomes clear that the names are grouped for ease of memorization. It boggles my mind to consider such a task, but it is equally clear that some people did exactly that – they memorized these lists of names so that they could retain them as a part of their history, long before such things were committed to writing. It is also striking how little bits of family lore slip into the lists, just as they would when an old person is recounting her memories to the youngsters. There are many such examples in I Chronicles; here is one.
Now Sheshan had no sons, but daughters. And Sheshan had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Jarha. And Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha his servant to wife; and she bare him Attai. And Attai begat Nathan, and Nathan begat Zabad… (I Chron. 2:34-36)As a child, I sat for hours in utter boredom in my grandfather’s sitting room, the flies buzzing in the windows, as he and his sisters spoke of relatives and ancestors long dead, slipping in stories in exactly this manner. I wish that I had listened.
It is worthy of note also that there are no dates. Just the names, in their order, with an occasional reference to the wider events of the kingdom, such as “in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah” (4:41).
And these are they whom David set over the service of song
And these are they whom David set over the service of song in the house of the LORD, after that the ark had rest. And they ministered before the dwelling place of the tabernacle of the congregation with singing, until Solomon had built the house of the LORD in Jerusalem: and then they waited on their office according to their order… (6:31-32)It is a delight to read these names, “they that waited, with their children” (v. 33). As the commentaries observe, these musicians, these Levites (and the porters, the equivalent of modern-day church sextons and ushers) are elsewhere nameless. It is only the priests who are considered worthy of mention by name.
This parallels current practice. In the church hallway upstairs, one may find photographs of the Bishops of Iowa and the Rectors and other clergy of this parish. No musicians. No Christian educators. And especially, no sextons or vergers, no ladies and gentlemen of the Altar Guild.
It is well to know by evidence of Holy Scripture that these persons are not unknown to God.
So they brought the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it, and they offered burnt sacrifices and praise offerings before God… And he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, and to record, and to thank and praise the LORD God of Israel: Asaph the chief, and next to him Zechariah, Jeiel, and Shemiramoth… (16:1, 4-5a)The following passage (v. 8-36) is an anthology drawn from several of the Psalms, which the commentary assures us are all “post-exilic.” I would not be so sure, not in the face of a direct statement in Scripture that they came from the hand of David at the very time that the ark came to Jerusalem.
Then on that day David delivered this psalm to thank the LORD into the hand of Asaph and his brethren. Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make know his deeds among the people. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works (v. 7-9)
After the psalms, the passage continues:
So he left there before the ark of the covenant of the LORD Asaph and his brethren to minister before the ark continually, as every day’s work required (16:37)To any church musician, that last part has resonance. Three thousand years later, the ministry continues “as every day’s work requires.”
Yet more names
Chapters 23 through 27 are an account of those who ministered at the time when David, “old and full of days, made Solomon his son king over Israel” (23:1). It is a treasure to know these names, even to the point of the ordering of the musicians into twenty-four bands (25:8-31), after “they cast lots, ward against ward, as well the small as the great, the teacher as the scholar (v. 8). We see in this passage that then as now the music involves not just the adults and the most accomplished, but the small as well as the great, the teacher and the scholar. The musicians learned their work from childhood by doing it alongside their parents, their uncles and grandparents, the others of the musical community. This is a model for modern church music, a model which is too often ignored by musicians and parishes who do not have the patience to include the children in anything meaningful or important.
Moreover David and the captains of the host separated to the service of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals… (25:1)The close relation of prophecy and music is a subject too large to address here; it is enough to note that one does not simply “play” at music; it must be a prophetic work, guided (as with all prophecy) by the Spirit of God. In this context, one may well consider St. Paul’s teachings in I Corinthians 12 through 14:
Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy… he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort (14:1,3)And of course, this:
What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also (14:15)
The conclusion of the matter: Holy Men and Holy Women
Time fails to delve further into these things, but I cannot pass II Chronicles without the mention of two passages, both of them with the essential details presented here and not in II Kings:
Also the Levites which were the singers, all of them of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, being arrayed in white line, having cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them an hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets: It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD… that the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD; So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God (II Chronicles 5:11-14)Those who have been involved in the church’s music for very long have experienced such moments, when the musicians (including the congregation as they sing) are “as one,” and the Shekinah, the “cloud” that is the outward sign of the glory of the LORD, fills the house to the point that we are overcome and (at least for the moment) cannot continue.
This is not something of human manufacture. There is always the temptation to use music to manipulate, to achieve a desired effect or to implant an agenda. These are unworthy goals which stand in the way of music’s proper function, which is to help the people attain their unity in Christ (“as one”) and together to come into the divine Presence.
..........
Hezekiah began to reign when he was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem… and he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done. He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them… (II Chron. 29:1-3)The reign of Hezekiah is one of the central passages of the Old Testament. Fittingly, it is recorded not once or twice, but three times (II Kings, here in II Chronicles, and Isaiah). It is only here that the account is given in detail of the cleansing of the House and the restoration of worship according to its ancient and proper pattern, including the musical work (29:25-28), and the great Passover, such as had not been since the time of Solomon (chapter 30).
The Sages say that there are four holy men who found God on their own, out of the darkness without human assistance (though not without Divine help and revelation): Abraham, Job, the Messiah – and Hezekiah. He had grown up in the wicked court of his father Ahaz, and somehow he found it in his heart to do as he did.
But he was not the last king worthy of his fathers, for as we read in the Chronicles, there was one more revival under Josiah (chapters 34 and 35). He too restored the passover, with the musical service (35:15), so that it was written
And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet (35:18).When he died in battle at the age of thirty-nine,
… all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day… (35:24-25).
The end was now at hand. But it is not a small thing for one’s death to be lamented by Jeremiah the prophet – perhaps in musical form, as might be implied by the context. One might also note the “singing women” in this verse; until now, we have heard nothing of female musicians, and it is good to know that they were there. Unlike the men, we do not even have their names, nor anything about what they did (beyond “lamentations”). But like the men, they are known to God and their music is not forgotten; like all music that is true, it ever remains in the heart of God.
We live in time and can see and hear but the present moment, with memories of the past – our own memories, and those preserved in the genealogies and stories and writings passed from our ancestors. Music preeminently is the art of the Present – it exists in its only true form, its live sound in performance, only in the moment. But God stands above the circle of time and perceives it all, in its entirety, all at once and forever.
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
When love is found
There is a new clip on YouTube: our anthem from this past Sunday.
When Love is Found (Daniel Kallman)
Sunday's lessons were one of the few occasions in the Lectionary when the subject of Marriage appears. Musically, we were able to support this with our anthem, with a fine text by Brian Wren that recognizes how marital love changes. By the time one has been married thirty or forty years, it is quite different from the first days of “falling in love.” Here is a link to the Hymnary.org page. It appears that if you agree to the licensing terms, you may download a copy of the text from the publisher for personal use.
We also had a song by John Bell that relates mostly to the lesson from Genesis 2, where Woman and Man are made and become “one flesh,” a verse quoted by Jesus in the Gospel (St. Mark 10:2-16). Jesus adds: “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” The song: “Women and men as God intended.” The Hymnary.org page does not include a text. The song may be found in the Iona collection “One is the Body.”
The second painting on the YouTube clip, “Marriage” by Nicholas Poussin, is one of a series that he painted on the Seven Sacraments. They are all worthy of study. Here is the link. He painted the series twice, but some of the paintings were destroyed in a fire in 1816 – thus, there are two versions for some of the Sacraments, and one for the others.
When Love is Found (Daniel Kallman)
Sunday's lessons were one of the few occasions in the Lectionary when the subject of Marriage appears. Musically, we were able to support this with our anthem, with a fine text by Brian Wren that recognizes how marital love changes. By the time one has been married thirty or forty years, it is quite different from the first days of “falling in love.” Here is a link to the Hymnary.org page. It appears that if you agree to the licensing terms, you may download a copy of the text from the publisher for personal use.
We also had a song by John Bell that relates mostly to the lesson from Genesis 2, where Woman and Man are made and become “one flesh,” a verse quoted by Jesus in the Gospel (St. Mark 10:2-16). Jesus adds: “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” The song: “Women and men as God intended.” The Hymnary.org page does not include a text. The song may be found in the Iona collection “One is the Body.”
The second painting on the YouTube clip, “Marriage” by Nicholas Poussin, is one of a series that he painted on the Seven Sacraments. They are all worthy of study. Here is the link. He painted the series twice, but some of the paintings were destroyed in a fire in 1816 – thus, there are two versions for some of the Sacraments, and one for the others.
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Brown Gold
With pleasure, I direct my readers to this video:
Brown Gold (a song about composting)
The group is the Family Folk Machine, which is directed by Jean Littlejohn. She is an amazing musician. Not only can she do everything that I can (playing the organ, directing choirs), but she has a side that I entirely lack – folk music. She plays guitar and banjo, and most of all she founded the Folk Machine and has developed it into a confident fun-loving group of singers and players that has become important to our community. She writes most of the arrangements for the group. Besides the string band that accompanies the video, they also have a more “classical” string ensemble – violin, cello – made up of some of the FFM children, and Jean writes the arrangements for them as well. Their concerts, which are always a delight, include a healthy dose of group singing by the audience, and that is a central part of the FFM's mission.
Not all of their songs are as light-hearted as “Brown Gold,” for there is quite a lot in the folk tradition that is dark, and the FFM explores that side as well. In the same concert where they sang “Brown Gold” and (my favorite from that program) the song “Home-Grown Tomatoes,” they also had songs about migrant workers and the Dust Bowl here in the Midwest.
I am pleased that they have produced this, their first “music video.” I hope that there will be more. I am proud of the three girls who sing solos near the beginning; they are in our parish choirs. So are two other singers in the video.
Back in the spring, Jean suggested an idea that has developed into what we call the “St. Simeon's Choir.” It is an auditioned group of singers that join the regular adult choir for the First Sunday Evensongs, and it has allowed several people – including Jean, and two of the girls from the video – who are unable to be with us for every Wednesday night and Sunday morning to sing the Evensongs. Tomorrow will be our second service with the expanded ensemble.
In a lesser world, there would be only one kind of music, and it would be a gift of grace to have it. But our God is not only gracious, but extravagant. We have music of every possible style. This becomes a test for working musicians, a test that many often fail -- can we step outside of our own style? Can we listen with joy to something completely different? If not, we cannot long continue in joy even with our own music; it will wither and die.
And if there is not something like the Family Folk Machine in a community, keeping the folk traditions alive, something withers and dies in the community as well.
Thank you, Jean and the FFM singers and players, for the imagination and hard work that has brought the Folk Machine to our community. May it prosper and "grow a lot" and help our community to do the same.
Brown Gold (a song about composting)
The group is the Family Folk Machine, which is directed by Jean Littlejohn. She is an amazing musician. Not only can she do everything that I can (playing the organ, directing choirs), but she has a side that I entirely lack – folk music. She plays guitar and banjo, and most of all she founded the Folk Machine and has developed it into a confident fun-loving group of singers and players that has become important to our community. She writes most of the arrangements for the group. Besides the string band that accompanies the video, they also have a more “classical” string ensemble – violin, cello – made up of some of the FFM children, and Jean writes the arrangements for them as well. Their concerts, which are always a delight, include a healthy dose of group singing by the audience, and that is a central part of the FFM's mission.
Not all of their songs are as light-hearted as “Brown Gold,” for there is quite a lot in the folk tradition that is dark, and the FFM explores that side as well. In the same concert where they sang “Brown Gold” and (my favorite from that program) the song “Home-Grown Tomatoes,” they also had songs about migrant workers and the Dust Bowl here in the Midwest.
I am pleased that they have produced this, their first “music video.” I hope that there will be more. I am proud of the three girls who sing solos near the beginning; they are in our parish choirs. So are two other singers in the video.
Back in the spring, Jean suggested an idea that has developed into what we call the “St. Simeon's Choir.” It is an auditioned group of singers that join the regular adult choir for the First Sunday Evensongs, and it has allowed several people – including Jean, and two of the girls from the video – who are unable to be with us for every Wednesday night and Sunday morning to sing the Evensongs. Tomorrow will be our second service with the expanded ensemble.
In a lesser world, there would be only one kind of music, and it would be a gift of grace to have it. But our God is not only gracious, but extravagant. We have music of every possible style. This becomes a test for working musicians, a test that many often fail -- can we step outside of our own style? Can we listen with joy to something completely different? If not, we cannot long continue in joy even with our own music; it will wither and die.
And if there is not something like the Family Folk Machine in a community, keeping the folk traditions alive, something withers and dies in the community as well.
Thank you, Jean and the FFM singers and players, for the imagination and hard work that has brought the Folk Machine to our community. May it prosper and "grow a lot" and help our community to do the same.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
