Old South Haven Presbyterian Church: November 2014

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Music for the Service of the 1st Sunday of Advent, November 30, 2014

From: Richard Thomas

Sent: Saturday, November 29, 2014 12:15 PM
Subject: Music for the Service of the 1st Sunday of Advent, November 30, 2014

The introit is “Jesus, Name Above All Names” by Naida Hearn of North Palmerston, New Zealand.

The practice files are attached.

Naida Anita Hearn was born in 1931 and died in 2001. One source (hymnary.org) says she was born in 1944, but that can’t be correct.

Simon Boroughs, who, in 1980-1983, attended the Pentecostal church where Naida Hearn played piano, believed the birth year of 1931 more likely.

I just checked the New Zealand electoral rolls. The Palmerston North electoral rolls show that she was married and registered to vote in 1957, so she was certainly born before 1944.

According to David Cain at http://songscoops.blogspot.com/2011/10/jesus-name-above-all-names-naida-hearn.html

Naida Hearn was doing her family’s laundry on a December day in 1974 near North Palmerston, New Zealand. Twenty years later in 1994 Sharon McKenzie, who was with a singing group from the United Kingdom, visited Palmerston North. Here are some of her comments on that meeting:

We knocked on the door and a little lady answered. We asked if she was Naida Hearn, to which she replied in the affirmative. We told her that we were musicians visiting from England and would very much like to talk to her. She told us her story… (about an unhappy marriage). But, Naida was an inspiration to those around her, and had her bible open on the table ready to lead a bible study among those in her community.

She told us about writing her song, standing at the sink and having all the names of Jesus come into her head.

She then sat down at her piano and played it with wonderful flourishes.

She also shared with us that it wasn't sung correctly! A group of evangelists had taken her song to Europe but had taught it wrongly.

She said that she felt that when (she) was singing about our Lord, the melody should never drop, so at the end of the first half of the song in the words 'Glorious Lord', the note on Lord should stay the same note and not go down!

http://youtu.be/EEJAd_ZEfr0?t=54s “Jesus, Name Above All Names,” sung and played by Melissa Bent and her mother, Chris

If you would rather DANCE to this introit, here is a disco version. (It is an introit after all. We could have the pastor and lay reader dance to their positions at the front of the church.)

http://youtu.be/8_HgcQ1ktEA “Jesus, Name Above All Names,” dance version by Hypersonic

The words of the opening hymn, “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus” are by Charles Wesley.

The tune is HFRYDOL by Rowland Hugh Prichard. HFRYDOL is one of the few hymn tunes that fits the pentatonic scale of the bagpipe particularly well.

http://youtu.be/AqZ_VnTu2bE HFRYDOL on bagpipe

(There is also a version on YouTube played on the small pipes by a player who gives more attention to the grace notes, but I think one reference to bagpipe music is probably enough.)

I would play it for you at some service, but I think I’ve outgrown my kilt.

Rowland Hugh Prichard was a native of Graienyn, Wales, born 14 Jan 1811. He was a loom tender’s assistant in Holywell and died there 25 Jan 1887.

His song book, “The Singer’s Friend” was written for use by children. “Hyfrydol” means “cheerful,” and was composed by Prichard when he was 20.

Wikipedia describes the tune as “impressively flexible . . with beautiful chord progressions.”

It is also the tune for “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling.” In fact, many different hymns are sung to the tune. In the Baptist Hymnal alone, in addition to the two hymns just named, there are: “Praise the Lord! Ye Heavens, Adore Him,” “Jesus! What a Friend of Sinners,” and “I will Sing the Wondrous Story.”

You can hear an interesting arrangement of “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus” by David Bryant here:

http://www.jwpepper.com/sheet-music/media-player.jsp?&type=audio&productID=10029713 “Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus,” arr. by David Bryant

http://youtu.be/rDTG7IXDo28 Handbell solo on the Prichard’s tune

If you would like to sing it in parts, you can listen to each part here:

http://youtu.be/izX_aP242tk Soprano, “HFRYDOL”

http://youtu.be/UBOZmPYXKFQ Alto, “HFRYDOL”

http://youtu.be/O0jaJ66KNYw Tenor, “HFRYDOL”

http://youtu.be/WK0dVS_vRiY Bass, “HFRYDOL”

http://youtu.be/Rl3_E6hRFHY All-parts, “HFRYDOL”

The choir anthem is “To a Virgin Meek and Mild,” was authored by the Rev. Vigleik E. Boe and Oscar Rudolph Overby in 1935.

Vigleik E. Boe was born in Odda, Hardanger, Norway, on 30 Mar 1872. He came to America in 1892 and went immediately to Minnesota.

He was the student instructor of the St. Olaf Choir in 1898-99. In 1899 he was attending the United Lutheran Theological Seminary in St. Paul.

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Rev. V. E. Boe was the first pastor of the Norwegian Lutheran Church organized in Finley, North Dakota, in 1903, and he served there until 1909. Then he went to Staten Island. He returned to Finley and became the pastor again in 1917 and served until 1941.

He retired in 1940 and returned to Northfield, Minnesota, where he died on 08 Jun 1953 in Dennison, Minnesota. He is buried in the Vang Lutheran Church Cemetery in Dennison.

His daughter Gertrude Boe married Oscar R. Overby in August 1923.

So the words and arrangement are by Boe and his son-in-law, Overby. Oscar Overby was born 30 Sep 1892 and died 17 Jun 1964 in Northfield, Minnesota.

The tune is: "EL DESEMBRE CONGELAT" is a Catalonian Carol. Some sources give the name of the tune as: "LO DESEMBRE CONGELAT"

http://youtu.be/MuqQpJdIyIw “El Descembre Congleat” performed in San Francisco at the Presidio Interfaith Chapel by a male choir.

http://youtu.be/Qc2ioMqwwIc “Cold December Flies Away”, performed by the Anderson University Chorale

Here it is on classical guitar:

http://youtu.be/SvwQpSiI4LY “En el Frío Invernal” or “El Descembre Congleat” or “Cold December Flies Away,” played on classical guitar

Next, Jason Neal will light the first Advent candle, which for this year’s Advent at Old South Haven is the Candle of Hope.

At some point during this part of the service, the choir will sing a bit of the Don Besig/Nancy Price anthem “Candles of Advent” (1997).

The Old South Haven Choir first sang “Candles of Advent” in 2003. It has a flute accompaniment, which Ann would play on her recorder.

We also sang it in 2007, 2011, and probably in many other years.

The anthem isn’t arranged as one set of notes which are repeated for each verse. There aren’t “verses” per se.

The score varies, especially in the flute accompaniment, as the part for one candle after the other is sung.

The practice files are attached.

As you recall, Rev. Philipp uses the Advent-candle sequence of the second column of my earlier e-mail:

Hope, Peace, Joy, Love

“Candles of Advent” uses instead:

Hope, Faith, Love, Peace

So the anthem’s sequence is without Joy (thus, no requirement for the PINK candle) while the sequence used by Rev. Philipp is without Faith.

Interestingly, at the conclusion of the anthem (p. 14), where the four candles are reviewed, only the men sing about the candle of faith.

One year we thought about making up our own words to replace the part about the Candle of Faith with a part about the Candle of Joy.

“Hope, Faith, Love, Peace” does seem like a more natural progression.

The Old Testament lesson is from Jeremiah, Chapter 33, verses 14-16. The verses record a bit of what the Lord, Yahweh, spoke to Jeremiah. The Lord affirmed that “the time will certainly come” when He would “raise up a righteous descendant of David” to restore the nations of Israel and Judah. “Under his rule Judah will enjoy safety and Jerusalem will live in security.” If the prophecy is seen as a reference to the time Jesus was on the earth, I guess one might say that Judah did enjoy safety and Jerusalem did live in security --- under the Pax Romana.

The New Testament lesson is Luke 1:26-35, when the angel Gabriel appears to Mary. The angel came to her and said, “Greetings.” But Mary “was greatly troubled,” as anyone might well be, if an angel were to suddenly appear. Luckily, of the angels mentioned in the Bible, Gabriel was one of the two good angels. (The only other good angel mentioned by name is Michael.)

The Protestant Old and New Testaments give the names of only five angels. The three bad ones are: Abaddon, Beelzebul, and Satan.

Abaddon, “The Destroyer,” was the king of an army of locusts and The Angel of the Abyss.

Beelzebul, “Lord of the Flies.” In the Testament of Solomon (written sometime between 1 A.D. and 400 A.D., Beelzebul appears as the leader of the demons.

Even though only five are named, we know there was a “host of angels” and Michael was the Prince of the Heavenly Hosts, and actually not just an angel, but an Archangel.

There are more named angels in other Bibles that include more or different books than the Protestant Bible.

In the Book of Tobias (Tobit) there is Raphael. He’s one of the seven who stand before the Lord.

The Book of Enoch, which is in the Bible of the Oriental Orthodox Church of Ethiopia, includes four more angels, Raguel, Remiel, Saraqael, and Uriel. These four, along with Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, are said to be the seven angels who stand before the Lord.

The Latter-Day Saints have the Angel Moroni, who sits atop the Mormon temples.

Moroni visited Joseph Smith regularly when he was in New York, beginning on 21 Sep 1823.

Thomas Aquinas spent a lot of time thinking about angels, and through thought alone (and perhaps, some angelic inspiration), he was able to deduce that there are nine orders of angels, and the nine orders are arranged in three groups:

1. Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones (these are the closest to God)

2. Dominations, Virtues, and Powers (these are involved in government --- the form of government being, naturally, a kingdom headed by an all-powerful monarch), and

3. Principalities, Archangels, and the rest of the Angels (these angels did the work of Heaven --- after all, somebody has to do it)

The Mormons believe in three types of angels, but none are to be worshipped, prayed to, or venerated.

Oddly, the Mormons do not believe that angels actually have wings. Whenever they are represented as having wings, the wings are merely a symbolic way of expressing some characteristic of angels (mobility, majesty, or whatever).

If you look closely at the Angel Moroni, you will see he has no wings:

http://youtu.be/xVqnTq3dLnk The Angel Moroni being placed atop the new Mormon temple in Kansas City North (which I’ve seen)

(The music, by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, of course, is splendid.)

The second hymn is “O Lord, How Shall I Meet You?” with words authored by Paul Gerhardt in 1653 and translated by Catherine Winkworth in 1863.

The tune is VALET WILL ICH DIR GEBEN (“I Want to Bid You Farewell”) and was composed by Melchior Teschner in 1614.

Melchior Teschner was born in Fraustadt, Poland, on 29 Apr 1584. He was a German singer, composer, and theologian.

He studied music theory, philosophy, and theology at the University of Frankfurt, and he also studied at the University of Helmstedt and the University of Wittenberg. He was ordained as a pastor about 1614. He died at Oberpritschen, Poland, on 01 December 1635. (Although these locations are today in Poland, during Teschner’s lifetime they were in Germany.)

The words originally sung to Melchior Teschner’s melody were:

I want to bid you farewell,

You evil, false world

Your sinful, wicked life

It is not at all pleasing to me.

In heaven it is good to dwell,

My longing is set on what is above

There God will reward forever

Those who serve Him here.

“All Glory, Laud and Honor” is sung to the same tune.

J. S. Bach used the melody to write a chorale, BWV 736.

You can hear the original words sung here:

http://youtu.be/lKAYsy0qoso “Valet will ich Dir geben,” sung very well by four singers, two men and two women

Valet will ich dir geben

Du arge, falsche Welt;

Dein sündlich böses Leben

Durchaus mir nicht gefällt.

Im Himmel ist gut wohnen,

Hinauf zieht mein Begier;

Da wird Gott herrlich lohnen

Dem, der ihm dient allhier.

The closing hymn is Swedish, “Prepare the Way (Bereden väg för Herran),” authored by Frans Mikael Franzèn.

Frans Mikael Franzèn was born in what is now Oulu, Finland, on 09 Feb 1772. He was a librarian and a professor of Literary History, then a pastor in Sweden. He became Bishop of Härnösand in 1834. He died in Härnösand, Sweden, on 14 Aug 1847.

The words were set to an old Swedish melody dating from before 1560.

Here it is performed by Värmland Nations Choir:

http://youtu.be/JhOCyzz_lgQ “Bereden väg för Herran” performed by the Värmland Nations Choir at the Uppsala Baptist Church, Sweden

Värmland Nations has something to do with how students are organized for extra-curricular and other activities at the University of Uppsala and is based on the system used at the University of Sorbonne in France. (The explanation is in Swedish, and Google’s translation is a bit cryptic: http://www.varmlandsnation.se/Nationen/Nationen.html .)

Here it is “Prepare the Way” performed in English:

http://youtu.be/iUShzVll0ZA “Prepare the Way, O Zion” performed by the Dordt College Concert Choir at DeMotte, Indiana. (This sounds great when the men start singing.)

(Dordt College is a liberal arts college associated with the Christian Reformed Church in North America that was founded in 1955 and is located in Sioux Center, Iowa.)

Instrumental Music

“Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending” is the prelude, or rather a tune used with that hymn is the prelude.

The words are by Charles Wesley and are often sung to REGENT SQUARE, but they are also sung to the tune HOLYWOOD from John Francis Wade’s Cantus Diversi, 1751

I think this same tune sometimes goes by the name ST. THOMAS (Wade). The tune has by some been attributed to others.

John Wade was born in 1711. He was an English Catholic and fled to France after the Jacobite Rebellion failed in 1745. He lived in France the rest of his life and died there on 16 Aug 1786.

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John Francis Wade (1711-1786)

He is most famous for composing and writing the hymn “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” which some believe was meant as a birth ode to Bonnie Prince Charlie, and, they say, may also have contained other coded meanings hidden within it. (I expect that was just the view of a few paranoid English Protestants who saw a Catholic conspiracy everywhere they looked.)

You can hear the tune here:

http://www.hymnary.org/media/fetch/148549 “Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending,” tune HOLYWOOD or ST. THOMAS, attributed to John Francis Wade.

The offertory piece is “Christ Jesus Who Maketh Us Glad (Christ qui nous rend heureux)” by Marcel Dupré.

It is one of his seventy-nine chorales for organ which Dupré wrote to teach organists how to play Bach chorales.

You can hear it here. (It’s very short.)

http://youtu.be/ShgyK4Ofxdw “Christ Jesus Who Maketh Us Glad (Christ qui nous rend heureux)” by Marcel Dupré

It must a melancholy sort of gladness.

Dietrich Buxtehude composed the postlude, “Wir Danken Dir, Herr Jesu Christ.”

Here it is:

http://youtu.be/3LQyLtMyO6E “Wir Danken Dir, Herr Jesu Christ,” BuxWV 224, by Dietrich Buxtehude, played by Peter Hurford

And here it is as an animated score:

http://youtu.be/bEHaJ3uaA_8 animated score of “Wir Danken Dir, Herr Jesu Christ,” BuxWV 224, by Dietrich Buxtehude

It is also a short piece.

Richard

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Advent & Christmas

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Music for the OSHC Worship Service of November 23, 2014

From: Richard Thomas
Sent: Saturday, November 22, 2014 2:04 AM
Subject: Music for the OSHC Worship Service of November 23, 2014

Hi Choir,

“Come, Ye Thankful People Come” is the opening hymn (No. 551). The choir sang this as an anthem for Thanksgiving Sunday in 2011, so we already know how to sing it in parts.

          Text: Henry Alford, 1810-1871
          Music: George J. Elvey, 1816-1893
          Tune: ST. GEORGE'S WINDSOR

The tune is by George Elvey. He was born in Canterbury, England on 27 Mar 1816. As a boy, he sang at Canterbury Cathedral. Then he attended the Royal Academy of Music. Around 1835, he was appointed “master of the boys” and organist at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, England, from which the tune for this hymn gets its name.

You can hear the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Chancel Choir sing the hymn at:

http://youtu.be/Fs-yU2Xj3as (You will need to boost the volume.)

The organist is good. (Don't forget to turn the volume back down if you turned it up for the Coral Ridge Presbyterians.)

The words are by the poet Henry Alford (b. 07 Oct 1810, Bloomsbury, England; d. 12 Jan 1871) who was a fifth generation Anglican clergyman. He had written several odes in Latin before he was ten as well as a history of the Jews. He attended Trinity College, Cambridge. Wikipedia says he might have had a great reputation as a scholar and preacher if he hadn’t dabbled in minor poetry and magazine editing.

He was a member of the Metaphysical Society. The society existed only from 1860 to 1880. Huxley said it died “of too much love.” Tennyson said it died “because after ten years of strenuous effort no one [in the Metaphysical Society] had succeeded in even defining metaphysics.”

Alford was ultimately advanced to the “deanery of Canterbury” where he remained until his death.

He was also a very good artist.

You can see his sketches here: https://archive.org/stream/rivierapenandpe01alfogoog#page/n12/mode/2up The Riviera: Pen and Pencil Sketches from Cannes to Genoa.

The choir anthem is “We Praise Our God” by Ruth Heller, set to the tune of Finlandia by Jean Sibelius.

The Gospel reading is Matthew 25:14-40. The first part is about not being too conservative when you are entrusted to invest someone else’s money, as that person expects to get a good return. It seems to be rather radical advice on how to handle something valuable that isn’t yours, but perhaps that’s the point.

The next part is more interesting as it got me to thinking, why does a shepherd separate his sheep from his goats? Although I grew up on a farm, we had neither sheep nor goats, though we did have cattle, hogs, chickens, ducks, and guineas.

I think it was not uncommon, even in America, to run sheep and goats in mixed herds.

I expect it was necessary to separate them when it came time to milk them. After all, goat cheese and cheese made from sheep’s milk do not taste the same. So you couldn’t use the same milk bucket for both the sheep and the goats, at least not at the same time, so it was probably prudent to separate the sheep and the goats before you started milking.

In our family, my mother did the milking. We raised beef cattle though, so we only had milk when the a cow had a young calf. I can remember helping make the butter when I was very small. We had a little churn that looked like this:

I would sit on the floor and turn and turn the handle and watch the cream turn into butter. It was more fun than playing with my toys.

Another question is why did the writer of these verses identify the righteous with the sheep?

The other reading, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, is the same reading we had on November 16.

The second hymn is “Now Thank We All Our God,” by Martin Rinkert, 1636.

http://youtu.be/WzX42Z0McFU Bach Cantata 79, arr. for organ by Virgil Fox, played by Dr. Sean Jackson on a four-manual organ

http://youtu.be/8LA6WMCgapU “Nun Danket alle Gott” sung by Günter Wewel and a choir in an Austrian Protestant church, Kirke St. Martin.

German:
Nun danket alle Gott
mit Herzen, Mund und Händen,
der grosse Dinge tut
an uns und allen Enden;
der uns von Mutterleib und Kindesbeinen an
unzählig viel zugut,
und noch jetzund getan!
--Martin Rinkert, 1636

http://youtu.be/SOCJwvrDnUA?t=44s In 1955, the last German prisoners of war arrived in Germany from the Soviet Union, and the people sang “Nun danket alle Gott.”

The closing hymn is “Let All Things Now Living” by Katherine Kennicott Davis, sung to the tune ASH GROVE, a Welsh tune.

Katherine K. Davis often used a pseudonym when writing text for music. For this one, which she wrote in the 1920s, specifically for this tune, she used the pseudonym John Cowley.

Katherine Davis also wrote, in 1941, “The Little Drummer Boy.”

She was born on 25 June 1892 in St. Joseph, Missouri; 34 miles north of the farm where I grew up.

Her parents were Maxwell Gaddis Davis and Jessie Foote Barton.

She attended Wellesley College, graduating in 1914. Her post-graduate years were spent at the New England Conservatory of Music.

Katherine Davis taught music at Concord Academy in Massachusetts and at the Shady Hills School for Girls in Philadelphia.

When she wrote “The Little Drummer Boy” she used the pseudonym C. R. W. Robertson and titled it “The Carol of the Drum.” The Trapp Family Singers made it famous.

She died 20 April 1980.

Here is a high quality recording of it by the Lebanon County Youth Chorus singing “Let All Things Now Living,” a cappella.

http://youtu.be/KpMCE1G3N7Q “Let All Things Now Living” sung by the Lebanon County Youth Choir

Or you can hear it WHISTLED here at First Plymouth Church in Lincoln, Nebraska:

http://youtu.be/tyg1OemIEQA?t=41s “Let All Things Now Living,” whistled at First Plymouth Church, Lincoln, Nebraska

Instrumental Music

The prelude is “Lobt Gott, ihr Christen, allzugleich (Praise God, You Christians, All Together” by J. S. Bach.

It’s a rather short piece. You can hear it here:

http://youtu.be/SNvDruDHLSY “Lobt Gott, ihr Christen, allzugleich” played y Jordi Franch Parella at the Basiica de Santa Maria of the See of Manresa

The offertory is “Prayer” by William Dawson Armstrong. This was also the offertory piece on 06 Apr 2014.

I think he looks a bit like David Suchet, the actor who play Poirot.

William Dawson Armstrong was born 11 Feb 1868 in Alton, Illinois. His father, William Armstrong, was a life-long opponent of slavery and a Methodist. William Armstrong married Mary E. Parker in 1867. William Dawson Armstrong was educated in the Alton schools, then by various teachers in Alton, St. Louis, and Chicago. He was then instructor at Forest Park University for Women in St. Louis from 1891-1892. He was organist at First Baptist and St. Paul’s Episcopal in Alton, then at the Church of the Redeemer (Episcopal) and the Church of Unity in St. Louis.

He was a solo organist at the St. Louis Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904. He wrote “The Specter Bridegroom” an opera in three acts that was presented in St. Louis. [I expect it is based on Washington Irving’s story of the same title, a ghost/horror story.]

He died 09 Jul 1936 and was buried in the Alton cemetery.

He also wrote “I Know that She is Mine,” “a sweet melody wedded to pretty words, for the medium voice.”

I couldn’t find any of his works on YouTube.

“Song of Triumph” by James H. Rogers is the postlude. It was also the postlude on 06 Apr 2014.

I wasn’t able to find out much about this work, except that it was played on Independence Sunday at the Methodist Episcopal Church in Miami, Oklahoma, in July 1935.

“Song of Triumph” was published in “The Chapel Organist” in 1934.

It is difficult to trace James H. Rogers as there were two contemporaries, James Hotchkiss Rogers (7 Feb. 1857-28 Nov. 1940) and James Henderson Rogers who were both organists and composers.

James Henderson Rogers (1852-1933) was an organist and choirmaster in several churches in Brooklyn. His obituary appeared on 31 May 1933. He had gone to St. Petersburg, Florida, at age 80 “to regain his health” and died there at age 81 on Memorial Day at 11:00 a.m. in his home at 1909 Nineteenth Street South. This James H. Rogers wrote “Peace and Our Flag” and “America the Beautiful” (not the famous one, that one is by Samuel Augustus Ward) according to the obituary in The Evening Independent of St. Petersburg. He was buried in St. Bartholomew’s churchyard in St. Petersburg. (However, The Herald Statesman of Yonkers, NY, reported on 01 Jun 1933 that the body would be returned for burial in Scarsdale.)

He became the organist and choirmaster at St. Anne’s in Brooklyn at age 19. He also served as organist and choirmaster of Trinity Church, Saugerties, in 1891. He was born in Newark, New Jersey.

This James H. Rogers also wrote a play: “The Heir Apparent,” a comedy-drama in four acts in 1908, while he was living in Saugerties.

James Hotchkiss Rogers was a Cleveland composer. He was born in Fair Haven, Connecticut on 07 Feb 1857 and was the son of an Episcopal priest, Martin Lorenzo Rogers and his wife Harriet Elizabeth Hotchkiss. The family moved to Chicago when he was 13. He studied organ for three years in Paris with Alexandre Guilmant and composition with Charles-Marie Widor.

He moved to Cleveland in 1881. In 1933, he retired with his wife to Pasadena, California. He died there on 28 November 1940.

I did find “Song of Triumph” and this contributor thinks it is by James Hotchkiss Rogers:

http://youtu.be/MtBxPcoONKE “Song of Triumph” by James H. Rogers played on the biggest organ in Finland by Marko Hakanpää

I also found this nice piano arrangement of “Oh, Promise Me!” by either James Henderson Rogers or James Hotchkiss Rogers:

http://youtu.be/bFGaoN0vNn4 “Oh, Promise Me!” composed by Reginald de Koven, arr. by James H. Rogers

Richard

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

This Week at Old South Haven Prespresbyterian Church

Sunday, Nov. 23 10:00am Christ the King Sunday

Thanksgiving Sunday

Sermon: "Signs"

Lessons: Matthew 25: 14-40

I Thessalonians 5: 1-11

Text: "Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you."

I Thessalonians 5:1

Sunday School

Children will bring in fruits and vegetables

during the first hymn

4:00pm Ecumenical Thanksgiving

Service

Led by clergy of Brookhaven and Bellport

Mary Immaculate Church

Preacher: Very Reverend John E. Walker

Christ Episcopal Church

Thursday, Nov. 27 THANKSIVING

Sunday, Nov. 30 10:00am First Sunday of Advent

Sermon: "Stand Up and Raise Your Heads"

Lessons : Jeremiah 33: 14-16 Luke 21: 25-36

Text: "Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your hands, because your redemption is drawing near"

Luke 21: 29

4:00pm Book Study

Sunday, Dec. 7 10:00am Second Sunday of Advent

Sermon "What Do You Want for Christmas?

Lessons: Malachi 3: 1-4 Luke 3: 1-6

Text: Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord, as in the days of old and as in former years"

Malachi 3:4

2:00pm Decorate Church and Christmas tree

Saturday Dec. 13 Piano recital in Sanctuary

Sunday, Dec. 14 10:00am Third Sunday of Advent

Sermon: "Blossoms in the Desert:

The Survivor's Tree at the World Trade Center

Lessons Isaiah 35: 1-10 Luke 1: 26-33

Text "…the desert shall rejoice and blossom" Isaiah 35: 1b

Friday, Dec. 19 7:00pm Church Officers Christmas Party

at the Manse

Sunday, Dec. 21 10:00am Fourth Sunday of Advent

Sermon: "Insignificant Places and Insignificant People"

Lessons: Micah 5: 2-5 Luke 2: 1-15

Text: "But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is ruler in Israel"

Micah 5: 2

Wednesday, Dec. 24 11:00pm CHRISTMAS EVE

Lessons and Carols

COLLECTING TOYS We are collecting toys to be distributed through Thursday's Child. Don't forget older children as well as youngsters.

FALL-WINTER edition of the NEWSLETTER is now available at http://oldsouthhavenchurch.org/Newsletters/Newsletters.htm

Saturday, November 15, 2014

FW: Music for the OSHC Sunday Worship Service of November 16, 2014

From: Richard Thomas
Sent: Saturday, November 15, 2014 12:49 AM
Subject: Music for the OSHC Sunday Worship Service of November 16, 2014

The Introit is “We Come Before Thee,” the same as last week.

The opening hymn is No. 473, “For the Beauty of the Earth.”

We have this piece as an anthem by John Rutter. Alan likes it a lot, but it is one of the hardest pieces we’ve done.

We did it in 2003. Here are some young singers doing the same anthem:

http://youtu.be/PTOfSKXkRa0 John Rutter’s “For the Beauty of the Earth,” Vocal Arts Academy of Milwaukee, Emily Croker, director.

And here it is at a fast tempo in a different language, Portuguese I think.

http://youtu.be/t_0VvK0hEQ4 Coral Carlos Gomes Church (this may be an Adventist Church in Brazil), “For the Beauty of the Earth” by John Rutter

But we will be singing the hymn tune. Here is the hymn tune done well on the guitar:

http://youtu.be/QR7XGDep5mk “For the Beauty of the Earth,” solo male singer on guitar (well done with good audio)

The words were written by Folliott Sandford Pierpoint (b. 7 October 1835, Spa Villa, Bath, England, d. 1917) in 1864. He attended Queen’s College, Cambridge. He was a High-Church Anglican which developed into Anglo-Catholicism. He was a member of the Tractarian Movement. The Tractarians were sometimes called Puseyites (by their detractors) after one of their leaders, Edward Bouverie Pusey.

Pierpoint was 29 when he wrote the words of the hymn. They first appeared in Lyra Eucharistica, Hymns and Verses on The Holy Communion, Ancient and Modern, with other Poems.

The tune is DIX (Kocher) by Conrad Kocher; (b. 1786, Ditzingen; d. 1872, Stuttgart) with alterations by William Henry Monk. The hymn “As with Gladness Men of Old” is often sung to the same tune.

You can hear it with a “descant-like” addition on the second verse here:

http://youtu.be/dGt4-KyFwe4 “For the Beauty of the Earth,” sung by Heather Prusse (multi-track for different voices)

The readings are from Judges 4:1-7 and 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11.

I have been told that Rev. Philipp will be preaching his first sermon ever based on passages from the Book of Judges. It will be a premiere.

The reading is about Deborah summoning Barak. (No, not that Barak.)

Deborah was the leader of Israel at the time, and she had to decide what to do about General Sisera and his nine hundred chariots with iron-rimmed wheels who was oppressing the Israelites for his King, King Jabin of Canaan.

She calls up Barak and orders him to go up with the Israelite army and attack General Sisera, and tells him first to march up to Mount Tabon.

Barak says, I’ll go, but only if you go with me, so she does.

General Sisera learns of their approach and “ordered all of his chariotry --- nine hundred chariots with iron-rimmed wheels – and all his troops” to go to the River Kishon.

Barak and Deborah, up on Mount Tabon, have the high ground, and Deborah orders Barak: “Spring into action.” So Barak quickly leads the ten thousand men of the Israelite army down the mountain and routes Sisera and all his chariotry—the nine hundred chariots with the iron-rimmed wheels, and Sisera’s whole army dies “by the edge of the sword; not even one survived!”

Well, one survived, as General Sisera jumped out of his chariot, and ran away on foot.

He made it to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber. Jael comes out and tells him to “Stop and rest. Don’t be afraid.” Sisera stops, goes into the tent, and Jael puts a blanket over him.

He says, “Give me a little water, because I’m thirsty.” Instead she gives him some milk out of a goatskin, then covers him up again. He says, “Stand watch at the entrance to the tent, and if anyone comes by and asks if there are any men in there?” tell them “No.”

Then Jael took a tent peg in one hand and a hammer in the other. She crept up on him, drove the tent peg through his temple into the ground while he slept from exhaustion, and he died.

All-in-all, it was a pretty bad day for General Sisera.

Barak learns of what has happened and Deborah and Barak sing a victory song.

I guess It was a sort of duet. The song has lyrics such as the following:

He asked for water,

and she gave him milk;

in a bowl fit for a king,

she served him curds.

Her left hand reached for the tent peg,

her right hand for the workmen’s hammer.

She “hammered” Sisera,

she shattered his skull,

she smashed his head,

she drove the tent peg through his temple.

(I’m sure it flows better in Hebrew.)

Unfortunately, the Bible doesn’t tell us the tune to which these words were sung.

It reminds me a bit of “Lizzie Borden.” “Lizzie Borden took an axe, and she gave her mother forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father fort-y –one.”

The 1^st Thessalonians reading is about the unexpected, how the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, like labor pains on a pregnant woman. “So we must not sleep, but must stay awake and sober.” We must put on the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet of hope for salvation. (An allusion to Isaiah 59:17,

He [Yahweh, the Lord] wears his desire for justice like body armor,

and his desire to deliver is like a helmet on his head.

He puts on the garments of vengeance

and wears zeal like a robe.)

The second hymn almost escaped--like Sisera, and doesn’t appear in the bulletin, but I am told it is “Lord, Speak to Me that I May Speak.” (Our hymnal doesn’t have a single hymn to go with any passages from the Book of Judges.)

There is such a hymn in Spanish, “Mother of Israel, leader of her armies,” which has the refrain “!Canta, Dèbora, canta!”

There is also the hymn “Praise ye the Lord, who hath avenged” by John Barnard of Marblehead, Massachusetts, which he published in 1752, and has the following 26^th verse (well, it is a long story): “She took the tent nail in her hand, Her right hand seized the hammer fast; Through Sisera's temples drove the spike, And then cut off his head at last.” Luckily in Marblehead, in 1752 the Puritans had long services, as it must have taken quite a while to get through all 31 verses.

Anyway, we’ll be singing No. 426, “Lord, Speak to Me that I May Speak.” This year, we’ve sung that hymn on May 11, June 22, and August 24.

The words are by Frances Havergal (1836-1879), daughter of the Rev. W. H. Havergal. She was born at Astley, Worcestershire. She was very well educated and knew Greek and Hebrew. Theologically, she is described as being “mildly Calvinistic.”

She also wrote:

“Take My Life and Let It Be,”

“Who Is On the Lord’s Side? Who Will Serve the King?,”

“Yes, He Knows the Way is Dreary,” and

“Tell It Among the Heathen.”

The tune for “Lord, Speak to Me, that I May Speak,” CANONBURY is derived from the fourth piano piece in Robert A. Schumann's Nachtstücke, Opus 23 (1839).

Robert Schumann (1810-1856) intended to be a concert pianist, but he injured his hand, and turned to composing instead. He attempted suicide in 1854 and, at his own request, “was confined to a mental institution,” where he spent the last two years of his life.

You can hear the hymn here:

http://youtu.be/4bfWclC8Kp8 “Lord, Speak to Me, that I May Speak” sung at Geneva Presbyterian in Laguna Hills, California

The closing hymn is No. 446, “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken.”

We sang that one on July 6 and October 12. It’s sung to the AUSTRIAN HYMN by Haydn, the tune for the national anthem of Austria and of Germany, about which I have written more than enough already.

Instrumental Music

The prelude is “Andante Religioso” by Henry Smith. I found the sheet music on the internet, but I didn’t find an audio file.

It sounds good as a piano piece too. I may have missed some accidentals. There were quite a few.

The offertory is “Chanson Mantinale” by Richard Lange.

Here is the piece (but it is an awful recording, so you should probably skip it):

http://youtu.be/VC7WEIbxtfU “Chason Matinale” by Richard Lange, played by Andrezej Ryszkiewicz on an organ in the Czech Republic (terrible video)

The postlude is “Marche Triomphale” (“Triumphal March in E-flat Major”) by Paul Wachs.

Stephen Victor Paul Wachs was born in Paris, 19 Sep 1851, and died 06 Jul 1915, Saint-Mande.

He studied organ at the Paris Conservatory with François Benoist, then with César Franck. He was the organist at Saint-Merri Church form 1874 until 1896.

I didn’t find the “Triumphal March” but I did find his “Marche Nuptiale.”

http://youtu.be/Geo9PyE3wFo “Marche Nuptiale,” composed by Paul Wachs

and here is a Gavotte by Wachs played on a HARMONIUM by a man with a beard and very short hair on top his head:

http://youtu.be/-RzweQZa5Io Gavotte by Wachs

Richard

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

This Week at Old South Haven Prespresbyterian Church

Sunday, Nov. 16 10:00am Morning Worship

Sermon: "Expect the Unexpected"

Lessons: Judges 4: 1-7

I Thessalonians 5: 1-11 If you ordered "Walking in the Dark" secure your copy from Jason

Tuesday, Nov. 18 7:00pm Session Meeting

(note day change)

Sunday, Nov. 23 10:00am Christ the King Sunday

Sermon: "Signs"

Lessons: Matthew 25: 14-40

I Thessalonians 5: 1-11

(yes, the same second reading as last Sunday)

4:00pm Ecumenical Thanksgiving

Service

Led by clergy of Brookhaven and Bellport

Mary Immaculate Church

Preacher: Very Reverend John E. Walker

Christ Episcopal Church

Sunday, Nov. 30 10:00am First Sunday of Advent

Sermon: "Stand Up and Raise Your Heads"

Lessons : Jeremiah 33: 14-16 Luke 21: 25-36

4:00pm Book Study

COLLECTING TOYS We are collecting toys to be distributed through Thursday's Child. Don't forget older children as well as youngsters.

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Music for the Worship Service of Sunday, November 9, 2014

From: Richard Thomas
Sent: Saturday, November 08, 2014 2:43 PM
Subject: Music for the Worship Service of Sunday, November 9, 2014

The introit is “We Come Before Thee,” the practice files for which were distributed on June 2, 2014.

The author/composer of the piece is shown as James Denton, but James Denton was just a pseudonym.

The introit is actually by Dr. Robert J. Hughes, who also used the aliases of John Johnson and James Moffatt.

He’s buried in Greenville, South Carolina, where his grave stone declares that he has been “Promoted to Glory.” There is also a treble clef and some musical notes on the stone.

I don’t know why hymn writers use pen names. It could be worse, Charles Gabriel, who composed the music for “Higher Ground” and wrote “I Will Not Forget Thee” and “He Lifted Me” sometimes used the pen name Charlotte G. Homer.

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 and again on August 31 this year.

Here it is sung by the Mount Ensemble Male Voice Choir (India):

http://youtu.be/fawNNvEyQIQ “Ye Servants of God, Your Master Proclaim,” sung by the Mount 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.

William Croft

Croft also wrote the tune ST. ANNE, to which we sing “O God, Our Help in Ages Past, Our Hope for Years to Come.”

The readings are from the New Testament, the first from the gospel of Matthew, where the disciples are instructed “don’t worry about tomorrow, tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.”

This is a bit different from the advice of Fleetwood Mac, who sang “Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow, yesterday’s gone, yesterday’s gone,” but Fleetwood Mac was also advocating a positive outlook --- Yes, the recent past may have been pretty awful or something you valued greatly, such as a relationship, is now no more, but yesterday’s gone, so don’t burden yourself being sorrowful with what has been lost or what might have been, instead, keep looking ahead; focus on tomorrow.

The gospel passage says that for those who place pursuing righteousness and the kingdom of God above all other concerns, everything needed will be provided.

So the passage from Matthew advocates living in the present with an attitude of confidence. Don’t fret over what the future may bring. The disciples are told to believe that God will provide --- don’t worry.

Of course, that leaves open the question of how “pursuing righteousness and the kingdom of God above everything else” is to be defined, and what measures one might employ to determine whether one was doing so. I expect there is a wide difference of opinion regarding what “righteousness” is, as well as how it is to be properly pursued. Thus it would seem there’s something to worry about after all.

The second hymn is “Seek Ye First,” and goes with the theme of the Gospel lesson, Matthew 6:19-34.

The tune for this hymn, LAFFERTY, was composed by Karen Lafferty in 1972. She also paraphrased the words from the gospel and set them to the tune.

Karen Lafferty was born in Alamogordo, New Mexico, in 1948, where she was also raised.

(The Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Ranger was the site of the Trinity test, the test of the first atomic bomb on 16 Jul 1945 at 5:29:45 a.m. It worked. The test had originally been scheduled for Independence Day. It is said the name “Trinity” was selected by Robert Oppenheimer “after a poem by John Donne.”)

Karen Lafferty has a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Eastern New Mexico University. As a nightclub entertainer working in the area of Costa Mesa, California, she “began witnessing to people in the bars.” Then she switched to recording Christian music.

After that, she decided to become a missionary to youth worldwide, or as she calls it, a “Musicianary,” and, from her base in Amsterdam, she led multinational music “teams” on tours in over 50 countries. She and the other musicians were also “regularly involved with ministry to prostitutes and street people.”

In 1995, she returned to the US and lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Karen Lafferty

Here is an a cappella version of “Seek Ye First” with a descant.

http://youtu.be/K0ltm6CZlQE “Seek Ye First,” a cappella

Here is instruction on how to sing the descant and the alto part:

http://youtu.be/AU7eibftLHo “Seek Ye First,” descant instruction

http://youtu.be/K5g1cevi2tI “Seek Ye First,” alto part

The closing hymn is “Lord of All Good,” No. 375, which is sung to the tune TOULON.

The words are by Albert F. Bayly (b. 06 Sep 1901, Bexhill on Sea, Sussex, England; d. 26 Jul 1984, Chichester, Sussex, England).

He attended London University and Mansfield College, Oxford; then was the pastor at Congregational churches in Northumberland, Lancashire, and East Yorkshire. After retirement in 1971, he lived in Chelmsford and was active in a United Reformed Church.

The same tune is used for “I Greet Thee Who My Sure Redeemer Art,” and in the green 1933 Presbyterian Hymnal, it was used for “God of the prophets, bless the prophets’ sons,” which no one sings anymore.

Well, I guess they still sing it in some denominations. Here it is being sung at the Synod of the United Reformed Churches in North America, held in Nyack, New York, in 2012:

http://youtu.be/XxebaN2Hemc TOULON, with “God of the prophets! Bless the prophets’ sons.”

http://youtu.be/-14q2ufiiHo TOULON, with “I Greet Thee Who My Sure Redeemer Art.”

I did find “Lord of All Good” on YouTube, but the hymn was being sung to MORESTEAD, FARLEY CASTLE, WOODLANDS and other tunes --- not TOULON.

Instrumental Music

The prelude is by Felix Mendelssohn, sometimes known as Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Bartholdy being his mother’s maiden name.

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy

(b. 03 Feb 1809, Hamburg; d. 04 Nov 1847, Leipzig)

Mendelssohn died at age 38. Schumann was one of the pallbearers.

It isn’t entirely clear to which of Mendelssohn’s compositions “Andante” refers.

http://youtu.be/Hza6grvgXL8 “Andante religioso” of the Sonata for Organ, Op. 65, No. 4, played by Einer von Weitem

This next composition has the same label, but sounds significantly different (better, I think):

http://youtu.be/HUORch6BfH8 “Andante religioso in B-flat Major”

Then there is:

http://youtu.be/8C3mVgjy_TY “Andante with Variations,” Mendelssohn, played by Lorenzo Antinori, with assistance of a page turner, who also performs stop changes

The offertory piece is "Offertorium" by Charles-François Gounod.

Charles Gounod

(b. 17 Jun 1818, Paris;

d. 18 Oct 1893, Saint-Cloud)

I think it may be from Gounod’s Messe solennelle de Sainte Cécile which has eight parts:

Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Offertorium, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei, Domine salvum.

The fourth part is “Offertorium.”

Here is the Symphony Orchestra of Armenia National Radio performing that part:

http://youtu.be/g_i31XhkXeE “Offertorium,” Symphony Orchestra of Armenia National Radio

There is also singing by a choir and a soprano, tenor, and baritone in Messe solennelle de Sainte Cécile, but not during the “Offertorium.”

The postlude is "Menuet" from Fantasy for Piano, Op. 78 by Franz Schubert.

Franz Peter Schubert, Austrian composer

(b. 31 Jan 1797, Vienna; d. 19 Nov 1828, Vienna)

Schubert died at age 31.

http://youtu.be/DBHAGUpedYg Sonata for piano in G major, D. 894; III. Menuetto (Allegro moderato) played by David Kuyken

It is more interesting when you can see the pianist, as you can here:

http://youtu.be/qHGRTi5xnyk?t=28m38s Sonata for piano in G major, D. 894, played by Sergey Kuznetsov, Moscow

How do pianists memorize all those notes? This piano sonata is forty minutes long, but I have set the link to start at the third movement (“Minuetto”).

On Mark Barton not liking being called a flautist:

Some flutists, flautists, flutenists don’t care which term is used. (Well, no one uses flutenist anymore.)

Most professional players of the instrument have tired of always being asked the question, but some hold particularly strong views, usually in favor of flutist over flautist.

James Galway summed up the way he feels about "flautist," saying: "I am a flute player not a flautist. I don't have a flaut and I've never flauted.”

The etymological evidence offers little support for flautist in English-speaking countries, but many written works now seem to prefer this term.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flautist

Richard