The following pages describe music composed for use in Passiontide liturgies and in personal devotion during this season. A Passiontide hymn — The background to the text and music of “Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle” A Passiontide hymn — The background to the text and music of “Ah, holy Jesus” A Palm Sunday hymn — The background to the text and music of “All glory, laud, and honor” “The depths of solemn grandeur” — Reflections on the aesthetics of Lamentations Miserere mei, Deus — A guide to a number of settings of Psalm 51 Morales, The Seven Lamentations — Meditations on the plight of Jerusalem and the suffering of…
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J. S. BachAus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir“From deep affliction I cry out to you”(Cantata BWV 38) During Lent, our congregation has for many years been singing settings of Psalm 51 every Sunday. Often referenced by its Latin title, Miserere mei, Deus, this psalm is one of seven penitential psalms (6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143). Regarded by many Christians as the most powerful of these seven expressions of lament, it has been set to music by many composers. Psalm 130 — De profundis — has been almost as frequently set to music, especially in the German paraphrase by Martin Luther, published in one of the first Lutheran hymnals…
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J. S. Bach
Leichtgesinnte Flattergeister
(“Scatterbrained frivolous people,” BWV 181)The Gospel reading for the Sunday known as Sexagesima is often summarized under the heading “The Parable of the Sower” (St. Luke 8:4–15). But the teaching of Jesus in this parable says very little about the Sower and quite a bit about the conditions in, on, and above the ground where the seeds were sown. Perhaps we should think of this parable as “The Parable of the Importance of Being Receptive to the Coming of the Sower. When Jesus spoke this story — before the disciples asked for an explanation of its symbolism — he concluded with a statement that could be read either as a description or an exhortation:…
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Singing the Collect for the Third Sunday after Epiphany
If our choir were not currently sidelined, we would probably be singing this Sunday a setting of this week’s Collect an anthem composed by Orlando Gibbons: “Almighty and everlasting God.” In addition to his stature as one of the finest composers of the Elizabethan period, Gibbons (1583–1625) was celebrated in his day as a master of keyboard music. When 21, he was appointed organist at the Chapel Royal, a post he held until his sudden death at the age of 41. In 1623, Gibbons contributed 16 tunes for use in George Wither’s Hymnes and Songs of the Church, an important collection of Elizabethan psalmody. Six of those tunes are in our…
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J. S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion: An introduction
As one of the greatest pieces of music in the Church’s treasury, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion can be more than a bit intimidating on first hearing. But repeated exposure to Bach’s sensitive and insightful telling of the arrest, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus — and of the response of faithful believers to the event — brings rich rewards. In 2019, the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge and the Academy of Ancient Music recorded the work in a live performance. The part of the Evangelist was sung by tenor James Gilchrist. In the Spring of 2020, Gilchrist recorded a 30-minute guide to the work. His comments are illustrated with excerpts from the…
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J. S. Bach
Ich bin vergnügt mit meinem Glücke(“I am content with my good fortune,” BWV 84)Bach composed this cantata for solo soprano for Septuagesima in 1727. The Gospel reading for this Sunday is the parable of the workers in the vineyard from St. Matthew 20:1–16 . As John Eliot Gardiner notes, in the text to this cantata “there is no mention of the disgruntled work-force, only of being ‘content with my good fortune that dear God bestows on me’.” The work’s opening aria — a duet with soprano and oboe — expresses this contentment with what may sound like a sense of resignation or wistfulness. But — following a recitative reminding us that even the most meager provision is an undeserved gift — the second…
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A confident Advent hymn
One of the most dynamic Advent hymns in our Hymnal is “Wake, awake, for night is flying.” The choir had already begun recording this hymn to accompany our parking lot singing this weekend before we learned that the services were to be cancelled. I hope that you have a chance to sing it sometime during Advent. Toward that end, here is the recording that the choir made: This page provides some background to the hymn’s text, and some examples of a few of J. S. Bach’s settings of the tune, known as WACHET AUF (which translates as “Wake up”). Last year I did some research on other treatments of this…
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St. Cecilia’s Day 2020
As she is the patron saint of music and musicians, St. Cecilia has not surprisingly been the subject of many musical compositions. In this feature I produced this weekend for Mars Hill Audio, I introduce several of the pieces. Also included is part of an interview with Brian Dean Sousa, who has been gracing us with his work at our organ console in recent months. Brian talks about recording a piece inspired by St. Cecilia with his ensemble, Musica Sacra Virginia. Make sure to listen on YouTube to the recording he and his singers have made for this special day.
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Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels
Today’s feast day is also known as Michaelmas, traditionally celebrated in Great Britain and elsewhere as the last day of the autumn harvest. The Book of Revelation (12:7-9) describes a war in heaven in which the Archangel Michael leads an angelic host to defeat Satan. That description accounts for the Church’s confident belief that God protects us each day by the watchful agency of angels, a protection recognized in the Collect for today: “O Everlasting God, who hast ordained and constituted the services of Angels and men in a wonderful order; Mercifully grant that, as thy holy Angels always do thee service in heaven, so, by thy appointment, they may…
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Georg Neumark, Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten, “If thou but suffer God to guide thee”
On this page: The text: comfort in contentmentThe tune: confidence in a minor keySome of J. S. Bach’s settings of this tuneFelix Mendelssohn’s cantata, Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten [Lawrence L. Lohr wrote an informative article in The Hymn (Vol. 49, No. 3, July 1998) titled “‘If thou but suffer God to guide thee’: The Journey of a Lutheran Hymn.” You may read and download a copy of that article here.] Origins of the text A hymn text and a chorale melody are both known by the name Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten (“Whoever lets our beloved God rule”). Both are the work of Georg Neumark…