Here's a new feature--I'll be writing on a (hopefully) weekly basis a few notes on the music we are singing and hearing on Sundays. I can also answer questions here--so drop me a note or talk to me after serviices!
Last Sunday Before Advent (Nov. 26th)
We celebrate the last Sunday before Advent as Christ the King, and our music this Sunday keeps that in mind, from the opening hymn "At the Name of Jesus" to the closing hymn "Alleluia, Sing to Jesus." In between we will sing hymn 336--a stanza before the gospel and one at the communion. The tune is familiar--it's they chorale used by Bach in his famous piece we know as "Jesu Joy of our desiring"--which the choir will sing at the offertory (with the violin stylings of our own Pat Petersen). We'll also hear Pat play Pagannini and Handel for the voluntaries.
In the anthem by Bach, the choir sings phrases of the hymn against the backdrop of the famous violin countermelody. It's the same compositional technique Bach employs for his equally famous "Wachet auf", which we will hear on the first Sunday of Advent.
Just a note: This year Christmas Eve and the fourth Sunday of Advent fall on the same day. It will be a busy day for us, beginning with 9:00 Choral Morning Prayer, then a Pageant in the afternoon, and the Choral Holy Eucharist of Carols in the evening. Stay tuned for more details.
Notes for 5 November--All Saints Observed
This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of All Saints--the "official day" is Nov. 1, but, as with many feasts on the church calendar, we transfer it to a nearby Sunday. It's when we commemorate all saints, known and unknown, and of course sing "For all the Saints!" At St. Pauls we have a tradition of having Choral Evensong to mark the day, and since it is a day of commemoration, we remember out people that have died and gone before us. This year's Choral Evensong includes a new feature, a sung necrology, or naming of those who have passed. We've been collecting names of our loved ones over the past week, and they will be included in the service leaflet and those names will be woven into a new musical setting that will serve as the introit to the service.
Evensong is one of the oldest liturgies in the Anglican tradition. Developed in the 16th century by combining elements of two of the older offices, Vespers and Compline. Like the other offices, the structure of Evensong includes a beginning rite, psalm(s), scripture lessons and canticles (the Magnificat and the Nunc dimittis), as well as the Creed, prayers, and an anthem. For centuries this liturgy, together with Morning Prayer, was a regular feature of pubic worship in the Anglican Communion, and, for centuries, composers have been writing music for the various elements of the service. On Sunday the choir will sing some ancient settings of the canticles and prayers by William Byrd and Thomas Weelkes (both of whom died 400 years ago), as well as an anthem by the 19th century composer John Goss, and other music newly composed for the service.
Choral evensong is a meditative experience. The choir sings most of the liturgy (there are a few hymns, and we sing the Our Father and say the Creed together), there is no sermon. We in the congregation have the space to listen and meditate on the ancient texts, remembering all of the saints, known and unknown, who have gone before us.
Notes for 29 October
A few weeks ago we started singing Canticle 18 (a song to the Lamb) after the opening collect. That spot in the liturgy is where we often sing the gloria or, in Lent and Advent, the Kyrie. But the Book of Common Prayer allows wide lattitude there--calling only for a "song of praise," and many of the canticles fit the bill. What's a canticle? The canticles are passages drawn from scripture that have taken on a life of their own and like psalms they are normally sung to a chant formula. Some canticles (Magnificat, Nunc dimittis) have homes in the liturgy of evensong; others get seasonal use.
Unlike hymns, which have metrical, regularized texts, canticles and psalms are unmetered and have verses/phrases/sentences of different lengths. So we sing them to a formula that allows for expansion. There are three basic kinds of these chant formulas, and Episcopalians are really the only denomination that use all of them on a regular basis. The oldest is chant, which we use in Advent and Lent. Then there is Anglican chant--harmonized and a bit more complex--that's what we've been using for Canticle 18. Finally we've been singing the psalm to simplified Anglican chant, which is like Anglican chant, but, some say, a bit easier to pick up. The beauty of this kind of music is that it allows any text to be sung. You can sing the newspaper to the same chant tone that we use for the psalms!
22 October
We return to Byrd this Sunday with his anthem Prevent us, O Lord. The text, from the Book of Common Prayer, uses the archaic meaning of the word "prevent," here meaning "go before." The opening line of the anthem, then, reads Prevent us O Lord, {that is, "go before us, O Lord") in all our doings with thy most gracious favour, and further us with thy continual help.
Last week we sang a new (for us) hymn, "All who love and serve your city." The text, by the influential 20th-century hymn writer Eric Routley, was inspired by the turmoil in Anglo-American society during the 1960s, especially the Vietnam War. Talking to some of you after the service I learned that the text was appreciated and still relevant today--especially now--but the tune...not so much. So this week we'll sing that hymn again but use the other tune provided by the hymnal (571).
Hymn texts and hymn tunes have flexible relationships. Although we often associate a text with a specific musical setting, in fact, it's common for different congregations to sing the same text to different tunes. This works because hymn texts are classified according to meter. Those little numbers you see in the hymnal at the bottom of the page classify the hymn according to syllables per line. "All who love..." is an 87.87 hymn, and can be sung to any 87.87 tune. Examples of these tunes in our hymnal include "Hyfrydol" (Alleluia, sing to Jesus--this one is 87.87 x2), "St. Columba" (The King of Love my shepherd is) and "Stuttgart" (Come thou long-expected Jesus). So we could sing this text to any of these tunes--try it out in your spare time!
15 October
This Sunday we welcome the Musica Dolce String Quartet to our space for a concert at 2:00. Music of Mozart, Vaughn Williams, and Brahms, with our own Pat Petersen playing in the Brahms! At 9:00 worship the choir takes a break from our Byrd/Weelkes retrospective to offer an anthem by Charles Wood, an Irish/Anglican composer who died in 1926. We'll hear his Oculi omnium, who text recall the 'meal' theme from the gospel. The prelude is also by Wood, an brief andante for organ, and, as a special treat, at communion we'll have a meditation for 'cello by Wood's younger contemportary Frank Bridge (1879-1941).
I normally plan out hymns and choral music months in advance, seeking texts that complement the readings of the day. Before the Gospel this Sunday (a wedding feast parable), for example, we sing a text that invokes the same theme. This week, however, after the Bishop's remarks about peace in the middle east, I changed the final hymn to "All who love and serve your city," which text invokes the yearning for peace in a complex and sometime violent world.
October 8
On November 5th the choir sings Evensong for All Saints. This year we'd like to include in the service a moment where we remember people who have gone on before. Please send names (first names are fine) to me at [email protected] or call into the office. And please attend Evensong with the choir and the Bishop on November 5th at 5:00.
This week the choir sings an anthem by Thomas Weelkes, a contemporary of William Byrd, whose musical output includes not only church music, but also secular song--madrigals. In fact, most singers today know Weelkes, if they know him at all, as a composer of madrigals. This reminds us that--then as now--musicians worked in a world where the line between sacred and secular was blurred (if it existed at all).
You'll also notice this Sunday that we're singing the same hymn twice--sort of. Before the gospel reading we'll sing the first verse of 440, and the last two verses at Communion. Hymns were often broken up with stanzas dispersed across the service. This allows us to focus more on the message of each stanza. At the communion the hymn is preceeded by a chorale prelude by Bach. case This sort of music takes a tune of a hymn (or chorale) and turns it into a sort of new composition. More on tunes and tune names in future posts!
Oct. 1
You'll notice in the coming weeks that the choir is singing lots of anthems by William Byrd and Thomas Weelkes. We're marking a sort of anniversary with these two, both of whom died 400 years ago in 1623, and both of whom are central to the early history of Anglican church music. Byrd, a Catholic, never held a position as music director in a cathedral church, and much of his music is in Latin, reflecting his religious background. The Ave verum corpus we sang last Sunday is an example of this. This coming Sunday we sing his verse Anthem Teach me, O Lord, on a text from the psalms and connected to the scripture for the day. A verse anthem, invented by the english in the early 17th century, has a soloist, accompanied by organ, alternating with full choir. We'll hear another example of this genre from Weelkes in a few weeks.
In these weeks I'll also be offering as the opening voluntary keyboard works of Byrd--especially his fantasies. A fantasy is a sort of composed music that reflects the improvisatory practice of the day. You'll often hear a tune presented, reworked, and then, in the next section, a new tune.
We'll keep singing Byrd and Weelkes up to All Saints, when our evensong will feature music by these two--more on that anon!
Last Sunday Before Advent (Nov. 26th)
We celebrate the last Sunday before Advent as Christ the King, and our music this Sunday keeps that in mind, from the opening hymn "At the Name of Jesus" to the closing hymn "Alleluia, Sing to Jesus." In between we will sing hymn 336--a stanza before the gospel and one at the communion. The tune is familiar--it's they chorale used by Bach in his famous piece we know as "Jesu Joy of our desiring"--which the choir will sing at the offertory (with the violin stylings of our own Pat Petersen). We'll also hear Pat play Pagannini and Handel for the voluntaries.
In the anthem by Bach, the choir sings phrases of the hymn against the backdrop of the famous violin countermelody. It's the same compositional technique Bach employs for his equally famous "Wachet auf", which we will hear on the first Sunday of Advent.
Just a note: This year Christmas Eve and the fourth Sunday of Advent fall on the same day. It will be a busy day for us, beginning with 9:00 Choral Morning Prayer, then a Pageant in the afternoon, and the Choral Holy Eucharist of Carols in the evening. Stay tuned for more details.
Notes for 5 November--All Saints Observed
This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of All Saints--the "official day" is Nov. 1, but, as with many feasts on the church calendar, we transfer it to a nearby Sunday. It's when we commemorate all saints, known and unknown, and of course sing "For all the Saints!" At St. Pauls we have a tradition of having Choral Evensong to mark the day, and since it is a day of commemoration, we remember out people that have died and gone before us. This year's Choral Evensong includes a new feature, a sung necrology, or naming of those who have passed. We've been collecting names of our loved ones over the past week, and they will be included in the service leaflet and those names will be woven into a new musical setting that will serve as the introit to the service.
Evensong is one of the oldest liturgies in the Anglican tradition. Developed in the 16th century by combining elements of two of the older offices, Vespers and Compline. Like the other offices, the structure of Evensong includes a beginning rite, psalm(s), scripture lessons and canticles (the Magnificat and the Nunc dimittis), as well as the Creed, prayers, and an anthem. For centuries this liturgy, together with Morning Prayer, was a regular feature of pubic worship in the Anglican Communion, and, for centuries, composers have been writing music for the various elements of the service. On Sunday the choir will sing some ancient settings of the canticles and prayers by William Byrd and Thomas Weelkes (both of whom died 400 years ago), as well as an anthem by the 19th century composer John Goss, and other music newly composed for the service.
Choral evensong is a meditative experience. The choir sings most of the liturgy (there are a few hymns, and we sing the Our Father and say the Creed together), there is no sermon. We in the congregation have the space to listen and meditate on the ancient texts, remembering all of the saints, known and unknown, who have gone before us.
Notes for 29 October
A few weeks ago we started singing Canticle 18 (a song to the Lamb) after the opening collect. That spot in the liturgy is where we often sing the gloria or, in Lent and Advent, the Kyrie. But the Book of Common Prayer allows wide lattitude there--calling only for a "song of praise," and many of the canticles fit the bill. What's a canticle? The canticles are passages drawn from scripture that have taken on a life of their own and like psalms they are normally sung to a chant formula. Some canticles (Magnificat, Nunc dimittis) have homes in the liturgy of evensong; others get seasonal use.
Unlike hymns, which have metrical, regularized texts, canticles and psalms are unmetered and have verses/phrases/sentences of different lengths. So we sing them to a formula that allows for expansion. There are three basic kinds of these chant formulas, and Episcopalians are really the only denomination that use all of them on a regular basis. The oldest is chant, which we use in Advent and Lent. Then there is Anglican chant--harmonized and a bit more complex--that's what we've been using for Canticle 18. Finally we've been singing the psalm to simplified Anglican chant, which is like Anglican chant, but, some say, a bit easier to pick up. The beauty of this kind of music is that it allows any text to be sung. You can sing the newspaper to the same chant tone that we use for the psalms!
22 October
We return to Byrd this Sunday with his anthem Prevent us, O Lord. The text, from the Book of Common Prayer, uses the archaic meaning of the word "prevent," here meaning "go before." The opening line of the anthem, then, reads Prevent us O Lord, {that is, "go before us, O Lord") in all our doings with thy most gracious favour, and further us with thy continual help.
Last week we sang a new (for us) hymn, "All who love and serve your city." The text, by the influential 20th-century hymn writer Eric Routley, was inspired by the turmoil in Anglo-American society during the 1960s, especially the Vietnam War. Talking to some of you after the service I learned that the text was appreciated and still relevant today--especially now--but the tune...not so much. So this week we'll sing that hymn again but use the other tune provided by the hymnal (571).
Hymn texts and hymn tunes have flexible relationships. Although we often associate a text with a specific musical setting, in fact, it's common for different congregations to sing the same text to different tunes. This works because hymn texts are classified according to meter. Those little numbers you see in the hymnal at the bottom of the page classify the hymn according to syllables per line. "All who love..." is an 87.87 hymn, and can be sung to any 87.87 tune. Examples of these tunes in our hymnal include "Hyfrydol" (Alleluia, sing to Jesus--this one is 87.87 x2), "St. Columba" (The King of Love my shepherd is) and "Stuttgart" (Come thou long-expected Jesus). So we could sing this text to any of these tunes--try it out in your spare time!
15 October
This Sunday we welcome the Musica Dolce String Quartet to our space for a concert at 2:00. Music of Mozart, Vaughn Williams, and Brahms, with our own Pat Petersen playing in the Brahms! At 9:00 worship the choir takes a break from our Byrd/Weelkes retrospective to offer an anthem by Charles Wood, an Irish/Anglican composer who died in 1926. We'll hear his Oculi omnium, who text recall the 'meal' theme from the gospel. The prelude is also by Wood, an brief andante for organ, and, as a special treat, at communion we'll have a meditation for 'cello by Wood's younger contemportary Frank Bridge (1879-1941).
I normally plan out hymns and choral music months in advance, seeking texts that complement the readings of the day. Before the Gospel this Sunday (a wedding feast parable), for example, we sing a text that invokes the same theme. This week, however, after the Bishop's remarks about peace in the middle east, I changed the final hymn to "All who love and serve your city," which text invokes the yearning for peace in a complex and sometime violent world.
October 8
On November 5th the choir sings Evensong for All Saints. This year we'd like to include in the service a moment where we remember people who have gone on before. Please send names (first names are fine) to me at [email protected] or call into the office. And please attend Evensong with the choir and the Bishop on November 5th at 5:00.
This week the choir sings an anthem by Thomas Weelkes, a contemporary of William Byrd, whose musical output includes not only church music, but also secular song--madrigals. In fact, most singers today know Weelkes, if they know him at all, as a composer of madrigals. This reminds us that--then as now--musicians worked in a world where the line between sacred and secular was blurred (if it existed at all).
You'll also notice this Sunday that we're singing the same hymn twice--sort of. Before the gospel reading we'll sing the first verse of 440, and the last two verses at Communion. Hymns were often broken up with stanzas dispersed across the service. This allows us to focus more on the message of each stanza. At the communion the hymn is preceeded by a chorale prelude by Bach. case This sort of music takes a tune of a hymn (or chorale) and turns it into a sort of new composition. More on tunes and tune names in future posts!
Oct. 1
You'll notice in the coming weeks that the choir is singing lots of anthems by William Byrd and Thomas Weelkes. We're marking a sort of anniversary with these two, both of whom died 400 years ago in 1623, and both of whom are central to the early history of Anglican church music. Byrd, a Catholic, never held a position as music director in a cathedral church, and much of his music is in Latin, reflecting his religious background. The Ave verum corpus we sang last Sunday is an example of this. This coming Sunday we sing his verse Anthem Teach me, O Lord, on a text from the psalms and connected to the scripture for the day. A verse anthem, invented by the english in the early 17th century, has a soloist, accompanied by organ, alternating with full choir. We'll hear another example of this genre from Weelkes in a few weeks.
In these weeks I'll also be offering as the opening voluntary keyboard works of Byrd--especially his fantasies. A fantasy is a sort of composed music that reflects the improvisatory practice of the day. You'll often hear a tune presented, reworked, and then, in the next section, a new tune.
We'll keep singing Byrd and Weelkes up to All Saints, when our evensong will feature music by these two--more on that anon!
