Special events continue this week at St. Paul's. After last week's scintillating worship with the Wartburg College Ritterchor, this week we celebrate our 140th Anniversary of St. Paul's Lutheran Church.
The worship service is centered around three hymns which will be discussed throughout the blog. These three hymns trace the chronology of hymnody in the church from the mid 20th century all the way until today. In addition, our Bells Of Praise choir will be making their debut this Sunday playing the prelude as well as accompanying the chanting of the psalm.
PRELUDE
Carillon Celebration- Douglas E. Wagner
Bells Of Praise, with a few new faces, begin their season with this joyous piece by noted church musician and arranger Douglas Wagner. While only using three octaves, the music is arranged so that the full extent of the choir is used to great effect. Lush harmonies which would sound out of place on the organ or another instrument, settle in nicely in the mid range of the bells, creating a lot of color while not overwhelming in the slightest with dissonance.
The piece is in ABA format. The A sections contain the thick, sonorous chords previously mentioned, interposed with melodic call and response sections between the lower and higher bells. The B section, with its sudden, abrupt shift into 3/4 time, sets itself apart through its syncopations and use of hemiola (a simple musical device that is easy to explain but difficult to write down. Ask me if you are curious!). The piece includes several specialized hand bell techniques, including a "swing" technique where the bells are swung behind the body, and an effect called martellato, where the bells are rung against the surface of the table, creating a sound similar to a marimba or xylophone.
OPENING HYMN
Praise To The Lord, The Almighty
Praise to the Lord comes from the second generation of German chorales, the first being those of Martin Luther and his contemporaries in the mid 16th century. This came nearly a century later from the pen of Joachim Neander. Interestingly enough, Neander was associated with the Reformed Calvinist church, which was not known with a strong history of congregational song like the Lutheran church was becoming known for.
The translation of the hymn that most hymnals now contain is that of German poet Catherine Winkworth. Winkworth takes some significant liberties with the text, particularly in the first verse. Where the original Neander third line says, "Kommet zu Hauf! Psalter und Harfe, wacht auf!", Winkworth changes this to "Let all who hear, now to this temple draw near." Even one with no knowledge of German be able to tell that the reference to both psaltery and harp were removed. Though Winkworth likely altered the text to conform to the cultural standards of the time (the notion of psaltery and harp was very indicative of Renaissance German theology, whereas in the 19th century, the idea of Christian "health" was of utmost importance), it is unfortunate that such a colorful, powerful image of the heavens praising God was removed.
Initially, the plan for this Sunday was to sing an arrangement of this hymn by Paul Bunjes. Bunjes, who died in 1998, was an active church musician throughout the midwest, especially in Chicago. His connection to St. Paul's was that he helped consult, design, and build our Zimmer organ in the late 70's. His arrangement of the hymn was actually written in 1959, and used a more literal translation of Neander's original text. While it is no longer being used for this Sunday, the organ accompaniment to the hymn will be in the spirit and feel of Bunjes' arrangement.
HYMN OF THE DAY
O Miracle Of Grace
15 years ago, James Fritschel was commissioned by the Droste family of St. Paul's to compose a large, festive piece for the 125th Anniversary of St. Paul's. The centerpiece of that arrangement, which featured, organ, handbells, adult choir, youth choir, and other elements, was this hymn, of which Fritschel composed the tune.
Each verse of the hymn references an act of Jesus throughout his life, calling it a miracle. Whether it is cleansing a soul, giving sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, releasing a fetttered tongue, or renewing our souls so that we may consecrate them to the Lord, this hymn celebrates these miracles that were done in Jesus' life that we celebrate today.
Due to the structure of the text and the number of syllables each line contains, you'll see the syllabic structure is 6 6 8 4, meaning of the four lines, the first two have six syllables, the third has eight, and the fourth has four. The only tune in our ELW hymnal that even comes close to this meter is the tune LEONI (also known as YIGDAL), which is the tune for "The God Of Abraham Praise (see ELW 831)." However, the LEONI tune is actually 6 6 8 4 D, meaning it is exactly twice as long as the "O Miracle Of Grace" tune. The text, combined with a unique tune composed by Fritschel for St. Paul's, makes this a very special gift to the congregation.
COMMUNION HYMNS
O God Our Help In Ages Past (9:00 only)
This Isaac Watts paraphrase of Psalm 90 is a wonderful reflection on the past, present, and future of the church. There is no greater example of this than in the first line of the hymn, "O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come." Not only does this line begin the hymn, but it also begins the closing stanza, creating a beautiful sense of symmetry and a circular form.
In between, most of the stanzas reflect on the past. The use of past tense language ("your saints have dwelt secure," "Before the hills in order stood..." etc...) reflect this. One of the more interesting images reflects on the omniscience and omnipresence of God, being that a thousand ages for us are but a mere evening for God.
As Saints Of Old
In a community like Waverly which has a strong history of being a farm community, I thought this hymn would be a very worthwhile addition to the anniversary service. In the very first stanza, we hear how just as those from previous generations harvested their goods for the benefit of the community, we now do the same thing today.
It extends beyond farming. In the closing two stanzas, we hear how all of us can give what we can offer for the good of the world. The church of Christ is calling us to do so, and is a fine foreshadow to the closing hymn today.
Open Now Thy Gates Of Beauty
This is yet another Winkworth translation from the late 17th century. This is a hymn that can typically be used at the opening of worship, but it is also appropriate for communion time (see stanza two discussion later).
The opening stanza concludes with a wonderful petition, "O how blessed is this place, filled with solace, light, and grace." Stanza two begins with language that could easily be used as one approaches the communion table, "Gracious God, I come before thee; come thou also unto me." As we continue, stanza three references the previous hymn, where we hear a metaphor for the planting and growing of fruit, where our soul brings forth precious fruit and guides us along God's pathway. The hymn concludes with yet another communion reference, calling it the "fountain of life," claiming it the balm for all our woes.
CLOSING HYMN
The Church Of Christ In Every Age
Our opening hymn was (originally) an arrangement from the 1950's of Praise To The Lord arranged by a person who played a huge part in designing our organ. The Hymn of the Day was composed by a former director of the Wartburg Choir, who was commissioned by St. Paul's to to compose this hymn for the 125th anniversary of the church.
For the closing hymn, my summer project was to create an arrangement specifically for the 140th Anniversary of St. Paul's. In choosing a text, The Church Of Christ In Every Age instantly rose to the top, as it is very indicative of of generational worship. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, the opening choral dialog and choral stanzas will not be used, but I wanted to include here the text that I composed to open the anthem...
"Welcome to this place, where love and faith are found.
Where worshipers can find a place to gather.
The church of Christ, through every age and generation,
continues to grow, celebrating the glory of God."
The first, third, and fifth stanzas of the arrangement will be sung to close worship this Sunday, featuring my newly composed organ accompaniment to those stanzas as well as a choral descant and closing 'Amen' to conclude the arrangement.
POSTLUDE
Toccata from Symphony No. 5- Charles Marie Widor
This monumental organ piece is a standard for church organists far and wide. Typically reserved for Easter morning, I felt the scope and importance of the 140th Anniversary would be an appropriate use of the piece.
Just like the prelude, it is also in a clear ABA form. Like you would expect from a typical toccata, the motor rhythm throughout both hands is prevalent throughout, supported by a solid stepwise pattern in the bass. The B section consists of a lot of the similar motives from the A section, but it travels through many major and minor tonalities, just as the development section of a Sonata form would.
Obviously this piece was designed to take advantage of the massive organ at Saint Sulpice, where Widor was organist. Despite our organ being much smaller, the piece is actually quite effective on our organ as well.
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