Easter Sunday

This Easter Sunday will be a glorious day for many reasons! Bishop Fisher will be here as we confirm and receive 17 youth and 6 adults. In honor of Easter and the confirmations of these youth and adults, we have prepared some extremely celebratory music.

We will be welcoming 4 members of the Texas Brass Ensemble to add to the selections. We have also added 2 timpani to our collection of percussion instruments. we will debut the timpani at the prelude, Grand Choer Dialogue by French composer, Eugene Gigout.

His Grand chœur dialogué, which is among his best-known works, exploits the exciting contrasts available between the various departments of a large organ. The contrasts on Sunday will be between the organ and the brass. This is music of a bold and strongly rhythmical character. A central section for the manuals only provides respite from the grandeur of the opening and prepares for its re-introduction at the work’s thrilling conclusion.

The Choir has been hard at work preparing a glorious anthem for Sunday. Accompanied by brass and organ, we will sing Beethoven's Hallelujah (from Christ on the Mount of Olives). This is the only oratorio written by Beethoven, and he was not very confident about it. The roughly 50 minute long oratorio focuses on Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane before his crucifixion. The Hallelujah is the final chorus, sung by the angels. Listen carefully and you will hear references to Handel's Hallelujah Chorus.

Speaking of which, following the recessional hymn, all are invited to come to the steps for the singing of Handel's Hallelujah. Don't be shy! It is a lot of fun, and a few years ago we had a group of elementary student participate. You can do it!

Following the Hallelujah, Jack and our guest musicians will offer the famous Toccata from the Fifth Organ Symphony in F, Opus 42, #1 by Charles-Marie Widor. The fifth movement is often referred to as just Widor's Toccata because it is his most famous piece. It lasts around six minutes. Its fame in part comes from its frequent use as recessional music at festive Christmas, Easter, and wedding ceremonies. 

The melody of Widor's Toccata is based upon an arrangement of rapid staccato arpeggios which form phrases, initially in F, moving in fifths through to C major, G major, etc. Each phrase consists of one bar. The melody is complemented by syncopated chords, forming an accented rhythm against the perpetual arpeggio motif. The phrases are contextualised by a descending bass line, often beginning with the 7th tone of each phrase key. For example, where the phrase consists of an arpeggio in C major, the bass line begins with a B♭. The arpeggios eventually modulate through all twelve keys, until Widor brings the symphony to a close with fff block chords in the final three bars.

Prelude - Grand Choeur Dialogue                                                                                                                Eugene Gigout

Offertory Anthem - Hallelujah (from “Christ on the Mount of Olives”)                       L.van Beethoven

Communion Anthem - Glorious Day (Living He Loved Me)

Postlude – Hallelujah!                                                                                                            G.F. Handel

Toccata                                                                                                                     Charles-Marie Widor

Hymns:

179 “Welcome Happy Morning!” Age to Age Shall Say

208 The Strife is O’er, The Battle Done

174 At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing   

205 Good Christians All, Rejoice and Sing  

335 I am the Bread of Life     

207 Jesus Christ Is Risen Today

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

 

 

 

Seventh Sunday After Epiphany - February 23, 2025

Sunday, February 23, 2025

Seventh Sunday After Epiphany

Since 1930, the US has celebrated Black History Month in February. We honor The Rev. Absolom Jones, the Episcopal Church’s first black Priest, on February 13 each year. So, in honor of Black History and Rev. Jones, this Sunday all of the special music will be by African-American composers.

The Gospel reading this Sunday is from Luke, and we will hear Jesus tell us to love not only those who are easy to love, but we should also love and pray for our enemies, those who hate us, and those who harm us. When giving, we are to give more than was asked of us and to do so without regard to any payback. The Gospel reading for February 13 (Absalom Jones) is from John, and here Jesus tells us “love one another as I have loved you.”  So with this over-riding theme of love, the choir will sing “I Choose Love” by African-American composer Mark Miller.  Mark is Professor of Church Music, Director of Chapel, and Composer In Residence at Drew University in Madison NJ, and is the Minister of Music of Christ Church (UCC & Am Baptist) in Summit, New Jersey. He believes that everyone is a Child of God and that music is instrumental in healing the world. 

In the midst of pain, I choose love. 

In the midst of pain, sorrow falling down like rain,

 I await the sun again, I choose love.

 

In the midst of war, I choose peace.

 In the midst of war, hate and anger keeping score, 

I will seek the good once more, I choose peace.

 

When my world falls down, I will rise.

When my world falls down, explanations can’t be found,

I will climb to holy ground, I will rise.

Lindy Thompson

 

At Communion, Alan and I will sing a Moses Hogan arrangement of “Let Us Break Bread Together On Our Knees”. Born in New Orleans in 1957, Hogan had an early passion for music. He was an accomplished pianist by age 9, graduated from New Orleans Center for Creative arts High School, and was awarded a full scholarship to the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He began graduate studies at Julliard, but left to study classical music in Vienna. Over his lifetime, he published 88 arrangements for voice, eight of which were solo pieces. Moses Hogan died from a brain tumor in 2003. 

 

You are in for a special treat at the Prelude and Postlude. Jack will play two pieces by Florence Price, the first African-American woman to have her music performed by a major symphony orchestra. Florence Beatrice Smith learned piano at a young age, playing in her first recital at the age of 4. She went on to graduate as valedictorian at the age of 14. She then enrolled at the New England Conservatory of Music, majoring in organ performance and piano teaching. In 1932, she won the Wannamaker competition in Chicago, which led to her Symphony No. 1 in E Minor performance by the Chicago Symphony in 1933. 

 

At the Postlude, Jack will play  the Finale from the First Sonata for Organ. In 1904 while studying at the New England Conservatory, Florence Price was selected to play Alexandre Guilmant’s Sonata No. 1 in d minor for a student organ recital for the visit of this esteemed French organist and composer. Guilmant in turn publicly expressed his congratulations on Price’s accomplished performance. Composed in 1927, Florence Price’s First Sonata is a tribute to Guilmant as she modeled the work after his own First Sonata.

 

Price died from a stroke in 1953, and her music was mostly forgotten after her death. However, in 2009 a couple who was renovating the Price family’s former vacation home in St. Anne, Illinois, found a trove of Price’s sheet music and manuscripts that were thought to have been lost. The discovery led to renewed interest in Price’s work.  Later that year the music publishing company G. Schirmer, Inc., acquired the worldwide rights to Price’s catalog and began publishing her solo piano compositions and other works. The International Florence Price Festival, which honors Price’s contributions to classical music, was launched virtually in August 2020. In 2022 the Philadelphia Orchestra’s recording of Price’s Symphony No. 1 in E Minor and Symphony No. 3 in C Minor, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, won a Grammy Award for best orchestral performance.

 

 

Prelude – Adoration                                                                         Florence Price (1887-1953)

Communion – Let Us Break Bread Together On Our Knees      arr. Moses Hogan (1957-2003)

Offertory – I Choose Love                                                                           Mark Miller (b. 1967)

Postlude - Finale (Organ Sonata 1)                                                                      Florence Price

 

Hymns    God Is Love, Let Heaven Adore Him

                Father All Loving, Who Rulest In Majesty

                I Come With Joy

               Jesu, Jesu, Fill Us With Your Love

               Lord, Make Us Servants Of Your Peace

               Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service