Worship for August 16, 2020
Please view the embedded video of our service below by clicking on the grey arrow in the middle of the image.
About the Music:
The Prelude, Antiphon V: "How Fair and How Pleasant Art Thou" Op. 18, No. 5, by Marcel Dupre (1886-1971) comes from a set of pieces improvised for Assumption Day Vespers on August 15, 1919 at Notre Dame in Paris and later committed to paper. These organ versets reflect on the texts from this service. This one beautifully illustrates the text from the Song of Solomon 7:6.
Hymn 371, Thou Whose Almighty Word, is a Trinitarian text by John Marriott. It's references to healing fit with the Gospel reading about the healing of the Canaanite woman's daughter, while it's repeated phrase, let there be light, supports the Genesis story of Joseph revealing himself to his brothers. It is sung to the tune Moscow which interestingly was written by Italian composer Felice de Giardini as a musical parody of the British National Anthem which Americans know as My Country tis of Thee and is named for the place where he died.
"The Eyes of All Wait Upon Thee" by Jean Berger is a choral anthem adapted as a solo using a text from Psalm 145 and is chose to support the Old Testament lesson from Genesis about Joseph revealing himself to his brothers. It is sung by our wonderful soprano, Sarah Kitts, both on video and live, through the window at the outdoor Morning Prayer service. Pianist, composer, and musicologist, Jean Berger was born Arthur Schlossberg, into a Jewish family in Hamm, Westphalia. In 1933 he sought refuge from the Nazi Party and a new name in Paris, France. After two years in South America, Berger lived in the US from 1941 until his death in 2002 where he spent the rest of his career teaching at several different universities.
The Postlude is a robust, energetic setting of the German chorale "Wer nur den lieben Gott lasst walten" by Johann Sebastian Bach, BWV 642. Powerful bursts of 32nd notes in the hands are accompanied by a strong, striding figure in the bass, suggestive of faith and confidence in God's goodness.