From the Organ

The organ music for Lent this year will primarily pull from two great works. In the February newsletter, we discussed in some detail Bach’s set of variations on Johann Flittner’s Lenten hymn ‘Ach, was soll ich Sünder machen’. As we continue through the season of Lent, we will continue thru the story of the The Redemption by Charles Gounod.

Gounod was a student at the Conservatoire de Paris and won France's most prestigious musical prize, the Prix de Rome. His studies took him to Italy, Austria, and then Prussia, where he met Felix Mendelssohn, whose advocacy of the music of Bach was an early influence on him. He was deeply religious, and after his return to Paris, he entered into seminary for 2 years before committing himself to music composition. He composed prolifically, writing church music, songs, orchestral music, and operas.

The work presents what Gounod called the three great facts on which depends the existence of the Christian Church:

·  First, the passion and the death of the Savior;

·  Second, His glorious life on earth from his resurrection to His ascension;

·  Third, the spread of Christianity in the world through the mission of the Apostles.

Over the past two weeks we have observed and participated with Christ in the story of The Redemption.

Lent 1 In the March to Calvary, we heard the evil forces drag Jesus to the cross as voices of Christian lamentation cried out in the hymn Vexilla Regia Prodeunt (Forth the Royal Banners Go). In response, is the words of Jesus to the women: ‘Ye daughters of Israel, weep ye not for Me, but weep ye for yourselves, and weep ye for your children’.’ The response of the women was then expressed during Lent 2 with ‘Mary at the Foot of the Cross’.

Lent 3 On the first Sunday in March, we continue at the deepest, darkest moment in history as we hear the last agonies of Jesus, are faced with His death. In the ultimate defiance of the life He has given, mankind tries to undo creation….and as the Christ dies on the cross, light fades and darkness fills the earth; the earth quakes as its firmness is no longer certain; and the impenetrable Temple veil is torn.

Lent 4 This is the midpoint of Lenten season and comes suddenly like an oasis in the midst of the desert. Here, we recall that the story of The Redemption does not end with death. Rejoice (Laetare) as the gates of heaven open before Him who has conquered death and as the celestial choir demands reply from the terrestrial choir.

Following a vision of the last age of mankind in which the church will see the reign on earth of a great brotherhood bringing peace, love, and a foretaste of the blessedness of eternity during Lent 5, we will conclude the Lenten season on Palm Sunday with the Hymn of the Apostles as we recall the summary of the Christian faith that calls us to Christ.

     1/6.The three great doctrines of the Word, His eternal generation (Sonship), and Jesus with His Church

2.  That by faith salvation comes

3.  Of His power having been manifest by miracles

4.  That He calls all saying ‘O come to Me, all ye that are sad and that weep’

5.  How to possess true and lasting happiness in The Beatitudes

7.  That the triune God will be glorified throughout all ages.

It is already another time of transition between the seasons as we move from joy of the unveiling of the Christ to this world to the life Jesus led as he approaches the cross. The Lent season allows for the most meditative and introspective church music of the year. In this time of penitent preparation, the organ and choirs lead the church in fasting by refraining from joyous singing or music. Instead, church music during this season aims to focus on congregational singing as you, the church, prayerfully prepare with a solemn, even somber, reflection on the road to the cross.

As we conclude this Season on Epiphany 5, we will appreciate two pieces with roots in Spain. The Prelude in C Minor is by Antonio Soler, a Spanish composer best known for his one-movement keyboard sonatas written for his pupil, the Infante Don Gabriel, son of Spain’s King Carlos III.

Psalm 18 was composed by Benedetto Marcello of Venice. A well-respected member of the nobility known as much for his practice in law as well as ancient music, Marcello regularly attended the Great German Synagogue in the Jewish Ghetto of Venice, established in 1516. The melody was a scholarly attempt to investigate the earliest noted sources of Jewish liturgy, in this case the Sephardic (Iberian) Jewish intonation ‘Sha'ar 'asher nisgar’.  

On Transfiguration Sunday, we will hear two pieces by the blind virtuoso organist and composer Alfred Hollins. Originally from England, he travelled to Berlin and studied under the famed German conductor Hans von Bülow who helped establish the reputation of Richard Wagner and Johannes Brahms. Upon his installation as organist at St. George’s in Edinburgh, Scotland, he composed the Benediction Nuptiale for his pastor, the Rev. Hugh Black upon his marriage with Miss Edith Kerr in 1898.The piece is based on a three-note theme which in the German spelling is H-E-B, the initials of Hugh and Edith Black.

Lent The organ music for Lent this year will primarily pull from two great works: Bach’s set of variations on Johann Flittner’s Lenten hymn ‘Ach, was soll ich Sünder machen’ and The Redemption by Charles Gounod.

There are ten variations or partitas in Bach’s BWV 770 were written to be presented as a Lutheran chorale melody in order to familiarize the congregation to the tune prior to singing the hymn What shall I, a sinner, do? This early work by Bach is thought to have a strong resemblance to chorale partitas by Georg Böhm with whom Bach studied while a teenager at St. Michael’s School in Lüneburg, Germany. It is considered to be one of Bach’s first masterpieces.

Charles Gounod is today most famous for his arrangement of Ave Maria or his opera Faust. But during his lifetime, his religious music was even more highly regarded than his secular endeavors. The Redemption, a Sacred Trilogy was the ‘work of his life’. Hear this first part including the March to Calvary and of Mary, beside the cross remaining.

Epiphany, a season commemorating key moments in Jesus' life, spans from His birth to the Cross. In the first week, we reflect on the Magi kings' visit, highlighting His manifestation to the Gentiles. Follow the themes and music from the organ throughout the season.

Celestial lights shine at Epiphany, featuring "March des Rois Mages" by Théodore Dubois, successor to César Franck and Camille Saint-Saëns and arguably the last great director of the Paris Conservatoire before the advent of post-modernism. This piece, echoing the Three Kings' journey, captivates with its celestial notes. Legend has it that during its first performance, the organ builder thought the 'star of Bethlehem' was a stuck note, emphasizing the need to follow the star, not personal understanding. Follow the star, not your own understanding.

As we ‘sit in darkness’ of a different kind this winter, on Epiphany 2 we hear the choral prelude to the hymn originally called The Race that Long in Darkness Pined. (LSB 412) The darkness that consumes many is one that consumes hearts with hopelessness, suffering, and despair even until death. In this season, we celebrate how Jesus pierced the worldly darkness and called men to know the God of light and thus find life. This arrangement on ‘Dundee’ was written by Sir Hubert Parry specifically for this hymn.

The Song of Simeon

Now Master, You are releasing Your slave in peace,

According to Your word.

For my eyes have seen Your salvation,

Which You prepared in the presence of all peoples,

A LIGHT FOR REVELATION TO THE GENTILES

And for the glory of Your people, Israel

Der Tag, der ist so freudenreich

O hail this brightest day of days,

All good Christian people!

For Christ hath come upon our ways,

Ring it from the steeple!

On Epiphany 4 the hymn As with Gladness Men of Old (LSB 397) internalizes the story of Magi kings from the perspective of the Christian in prayer: the first three stanzas all have a similar structure “as they … so may we,” comparing the journey of the Magi to our Christian pilgrimage. While the hymn initially focuses on the sacrifice of the Magi on the long journey, the hymn ends with a petition, asking Jesus to keep us faithful to the journey. The fifth stanza describes heaven – the destination of our journey. This piece was arranged for organ in 1908 by Peter C. Lutkin, American organist, choral conductor, and composer perhaps best known for creating the first American a cappella choir in 1906 and influencing its spread in schools across our country.