Worship for September 13, 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:
Prelude: "Praeludium Pastorale (Super Gamut Descendens)", or "Pastoral Prelude (on a descending scale)", is from the pen of Sir John Stainer (1840-1901), organist of St. Paul's Cathedral in London from 1872-1888 and Professor of Music at Oxford University (1889-1901). He is best known for his oratorio "The Crucifixion", (1887) and the well-known anthem extracted from it, "God So Loved the World". Listen to the pedal line in this prelude to hear the descending, two-octave C major scale that the piece is built on.
We begin our program year with the great hymn "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee" sung to the famous tune Hymn to Joy from the finale of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Of somewhat more obscure history, the words were written by Henry van Dyke while on a preaching visit to Williams College in Massachusetts. He presented the text to then president of the college, James Garfield, at breakfast with these words: "Here is a hymn for you. Your mountains (the Berkshires) were my inspiration. It must be sung to the tune of Beethoven's Hymn to Joy."
This Sunday we welcome the return of our quartet of choir section leaders singing the Renaissance motet, "Lord, For Thy Tender Mercy's Sake" which is chosen to support the theme of forgiveness found in the morning's Gospel lesson. While commonly believed to have been written by English composer Richard Farrant, its origin is uncertain and has also been attributed to John Hilton and Thomas Tallis. However, it is quite certain that the text comes from Christian Prayers and Holy Meditations (1566) by Henry Bull.
Postlude: "Paean" is a recent composition by the award-winning English composer, Tim Knight (b. 1959). A paean is a song or lyric poem expressing triumph or thanksgiving. This work features the "trumpet en chamade", or horizontal trumpet, mounted on the back wall of the church, in dialogue with the front organ. "Paean" was recently played as the Closing Voluntary at Washington National Cathedral on August 2, 2020, by organist Tom Sheehan.