From: Richard
Sent: Saturday, August 30, 2014 5:24 PM
Sent: Saturday, August 30, 2014 5:24 PM
The opening hymn, Hymn No. 477 “Ye Servants of God, Your Master Proclaim,” is one of the many hymns authored by Charles Wesley (1707-1788). He wrote this one in 1744. It is sung to the tune HANOVER in the Presbyterian Hymnal. We sang the hymn on August 18 last year.
Here it is sung by the Mount Ensemble Male Voice Choir:
http://youtu.be/fawNNvEyQIQ “Ye Servants of God, Your Master Proclaim,” sung by the Mout Ensemble Male Voice Choir. The choir is made up of men who live in and near St. Thomas Mount, a village on “a small hillock in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.” They sing in Tamil as well as English.
The tune, HANOVER, was written by William Croft (1678-1727) in 1708. He was educated at the Chapel Royal, which is not under the Archbishop of Canterbury of the Church of England. It is instead part of the Ecclesiastical Household of the monarch. In 1707, William Croft became the “Master of the Children” of the Royal Chapel. He also composed some music for the funeral of Queen Anne in 1714 and for the coronation of King George I in 1715.
Croft also wrote the tune ST. ANNE, to which we sing “O God, Our Help in Ages Past, Our Hope for Years to Come.”
Hymn No. 427 “Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service”
About 1961, the Hymn Society of America called for new hymns written on the topic of “social welfare.” The text of this hymn was the response of Alfred F. Bayly (b. September 6, 1901, Bexhill on Sea, Sussex, England; d. July 26, 1984, Chichester, Sussex, England) to that call. He served both Congregational and United Reform churches in England.
This relatively new hymn is often sung to the tune BEACH SPRING, but in our hymnal it is to be sung to a Welsh melody, BLAENHAFREN.
We know the tune from “We Are Living, We Are Dwelling, In a Grand and Awful Time.”
http://youtu.be/Fkfj3rz_1As?t=2m4s “Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service,” sung to BLAENHAFREN
You can hear a nice descant for this tune here:
Closing hymn, Hymn No. 552 “Give Thanks, O Christian People”
The first record I have of this hymn being sung by the Old South Haven congregation was at the Peacemaking Sunday service of 04 Oct 1992. I didn’t get to sing it myself though, as I was marching in the Long Island AIDS Walk, as were Elders Mike Loftus and John Deitz.
The text was written by Mary Jackson Cathey (b. 1926) in 1984. She attended Union Seminary, but not the UTS in the City of NY. She attended Union Seminary – Presbyterian School of Christian Education. An elder of Old South Haven, now retired, also graduated from Union Seminary, Richmond.
Mary Jackson Cathey
The tune is ES FLOG EIN KLEINS WALDVÖGELEIN. We sang Rusty Edwards’s hymn, “We All Are One in Mission,” to that tune on July 20. The tune dates from the 17th century, and was harmonized by George Ratcliffe Woodward in 1904.
This German folk tune is often used with the hymns “Hail to the Lord’s Anointed” and “O Day of Rest and Gladness.”
It sounds great in German accompanied by a guitar:
http://youtu.be/jxnE3iQAvU4 ES FLOG EIN KLEINS WALDVÖGELEIN, sung in German, with guitar
Instrumental Music
Prelude: “Kyrie Eleison” by Charles Gounod
http://youtu.be/iYg_-4Lem6E “Kyrie Eleison,” Charles Gounod (sung by the Taipei Men’s Choir)
This piece was also heard on July 20.
Offertory: “Andantino” by Louis James Alfred Lefébure-Wély (13 Nov 1817 – 31 Dec 1869)
http://youtu.be/OP9RsINEKA8 “Andantino” by Louis J. A. Lefébure-Wély, played by Prof. John Van Pier
From Wikipedia:
Louis James Alfred Lefébure-Wély played a major role in the development of the French symphonic organ style and was closely associated with the organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, inaugurating many new Cavaillé-Coll organs.
His playing was virtuosic, and as a performer he was rated above eminent contemporaries including César Franck. His compositions however, were less substantial than those of Franck and others.
Postlude: “Reverie Religieuse” by Frederick Scotson Clark (b. London, 16 Nov 1840; d. Marylebone, London, 05 Jul 1883), and English organist and composer. He composed music for the harmonium, the organ, and the piano.
http://youtu.be/lFHN8SyApFY “Reverie Religieuse” by Frederick Scotson Clark played on a reed organ
Before the church was moved, the music was provided on a reed organ on a choir platform to the right of the pulpit. That reed organ, I think, is now in Darcy Corral-Stevens barn.
Frederick Scotson Clark was born in London of Irish parents. At age 14, he was appointed organist of the Regent-Square Church. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He also attended Exeter College, Oxford, from which he received a Baccalaureate degree in Music in 1807. At Exeter College, Oxford, he served as organist, scholar, and exhibitioner. He was ordained in 1869.
At the Paris Exposition in 1878, Clark represented English organists and received a gold medal.
In the rather snobbish biography prepared by William Barclay Squire for the Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Vol. 10, we find:
Clark was a voluminous writer of slight pieces for the organ, harmonium, and piano; his talents were considerable, but as a musician he lacked profundity, and his compositions courted popularity with the uneducated majority rather than the esteem of the educated few. He was a brilliant extempore player, and his memory was remarkable.
Well, I rather like “Reverie Religieuse,” despite what Mr. Squire thought of F. S. Clark’s abilities.
Clark was not happily married, perhaps because he didn’t get along well with his mother-in-law:
Frederick Scotson Clark, a clerk in holy orders, of No.8, Sackville Street Piccadilly, London, was summoned for unlawfully assaulting Mrs Matilda Brown, his mother-in-law, at her residence, No.3, Stanford Road, Preston-ville*, on the 7th inst. Mr J W Howlett, appeared on behalf of Mrs Brown; Mr W H Herbert representing the Rev Scotson Clark.
Clark married Catherine Eliza Brown, the daughter of Mrs. Matilda Brown.
The union did not prove a happy one, and steps were taken to bring about a divorce. By an order of the Divorce Court Mrs. Scotson Clark was to have the custody of her two children, the defendant, however, being allowed access to them once a fortnight, and to remain with them two hours. At these visits the defendant had behaved in the most reprehensible manner . . . On one occasion he drew caricatures of his mother-in-law and gave them to the children
Richard
