Léon Boëllmann’s Suite Gothique

Organists frequently engage in concerts surrounding the secular holiday coming up at the end of this week – Halloween. I suppose there are a few reasons for this: the dynamic nature of the instrument (it can go from very loud to very soft in a split second; it can play very high and very low sounds simultaneously), the various sound combinations can make for a spooky atmosphere, etc. Halloween organ concerts are usually met with full audiences of adults and children alike. I fondly recall an entire auditorium full of students each Halloween during grad school when it felt like the entire university campus was in attendance. (One year I even played my portions of the event dressed as Ace Frehley from the ‘70s rock band KISS!) 

Among organists and organ circles, a few pieces from the repertoire have become notorious for finding a spot on Halloween concert programs. Léon Boëllmann’s Toccata from “Suite Gothique” is one such piece. The toccata is the final – and most famous – movement of the suite. Check it out:

The four-movement “Suite Gothique” also contains two lovely inner movements, both of which are offered as part of our worship service this week. The Menuet Gothique is a perpetual-motion piece modeled after the minuet dance (in triple time, with a strong downbeat at the beginning of each bar). Boëllmann’s minuet features full-bodied chords for the hands and feet as well as fast scalar passages between sections. It’s fun to play, and I hope you enjoy seeing both hands and feet at work on the YouTube video.

 

The much tamer third movement, Prière á Notre-Dame, is a musical prayer to the Virgin Mary. (Afterall, Boëllmann was a good Frenchman and Catholic, so music alluding to Catholic saints is commonplace.) In this piece, we hear the late-Romantic composer at work with rich sonorities on some of the softest stops of the organ. It is meditative and contemplative and serves as an effective complement to the more robust Menuet. Enjoy!

Children's Sabbath and "Jesus Loves Me"

This weekend, we celebrate “Children’s Sabbath” during our worship services. The Children’s Defense Fund, an American nonprofit organization focusing on research and advocacy for children, sponsors the annual observance. The ecumenical event is designed to look closely at the needs of children – local and worldwide – and pray for them. “Children’s Sabbath” began in 1991 and continues today in Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Buddhist, and Baha’i worshipping communities. 

In our Christian tradition, one of the first religious songs taught to toddlers is no doubt “Jesus Loves Me.” During a recent conversation among members of our Sanctuary Choir, members remarked “It’s simplicity touches me,” “Even now as an adult, I catch myself humming the melody nonchalantly as I go about my day,” and “I don’t remember a time when I didn’t know this song.” Perhaps you have similar experiences and remembrances with “Jesus Loves Me.”

But did you know that the song began its life as part of a novel in 1860? Or that is has an association – albeit somewhat loose – with West Point Military Academy? The story and history behind this beloved children’s hymn is well-documented in various ways online. I think this blog post encapsulates it in a succinct way.

I’ll close with NBC’s famous public service announcement tagline, “The More You Know…”  😊

Bell Choir

It will come as no surprise that the performing arts are one sector of our cultural life that have been especially impacted by the current pandemic. For so many vocalists and instrumentalists, it is just not yet safe to produce music that requires breath (which thus emits droplets and aerosols that may contain virus particles). For musicians for which breath is not required to make a sound (such as keyboard, string, and percussion instruments), the challenge is finding a space where an audience is willing to gather. For all of us musicians, we are either ‘on pause’ or finding new and creative ways to make music through the wonders of technology. 

For us at The Presbyterian Church of Danville, our adult vocal choir is taking the pandemic as an opportunity for education, conversation, and fellowship. The bell choir, however, has worked together with the Covid-19 Taskforce to find ways to safely rehearse and prepare music for our worship services. It has been a much-needed creative outlet for many of our bell choir members!

Some of the precautions we’ve put into place you would expect: wearing masks at all times, keeping a social distance of 6-feet or more, limiting our time together to 60 minutes or less, etc. We also have broken the bell choir into two smaller groups of six ringers each, mostly as a means of limiting our contacts should anything alarming occur among our group. One group meets on Monday evenings, the other on Wednesday afternoons; both in the Fellowship Hall (another change) since it has a larger, more cavernous space than the 2^nd floor music room. With all of this in place, we feel we are being as safe and responsible as possible, and we are enjoying the opportunity to rekindle old friendships and music-making responsibilities.

Obviously, with the bell choir reduced from 14 to 6 members, the sound and range of octaves will be very different. Music written for bell sextets feature just a portion of the entire set of handbells. The music you’ll hear in the service today will feature roughly the top half of the bells we own. (Perhaps you’ll miss hearing some of the low, rich sounds from the bass bells.) The group in the video this morning is the Wednesday afternoon group; the Monday folks will be coming up on All Saints’ Sunday in just a few short weeks. Enjoy!

World Communion Sunday

Each year on the first Sunday of October, we celebrate World Communion Sunday. This year is no different, and here we are on October 4, 2020. The world is a different place than it was a year ago, but we can still continue to hold fast to some traditions like this one that help us pause and celebrate our unity together.

For me, World Communion Sunday has been something that has been acknowledged and celebrated for as long back as I can remember into my childhood. This week I set out to find some history about it. Here are my results:

• It began as a Presbyterian idea. Pastor Dr. Hugh Thompson Kerr first celebrated World Communion Sunday at Shadyside Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh in 1933.

• Three years later (1936), the Presbyterian Church (US) adopted it as a denomination-wide practice. Four years after that (1940), the National Council of Churches promoted the practice to a number of churches around the world. It has since become widespread.

• Dr. Kerr’s son, Donald, also a Presbyterian pastor, notes the significance of the Second World War: “The concept spread very slowly at the start. People did not give it a whole lot of thought. It was during the Second World War that the spirit caught hold, because we were trying to hold the world together. World Wide Communion symbolized the effort to hold things together, in a spiritual sense. It emphasized that we are one in the Spirit and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

• Today, many churches across the world and across denominational lines celebrate World Communion. Some acknowledge it through their liturgy, others through their musical offerings, and even others through a guest speaker from their global mission work.

In previous years, I have so enjoyed the self-imposed challenge of ensuring that every musical aspect of our service on this day come from a different tradition around the globe. Sometimes that is a big task as our 11:00 service can have upwards to 12-15 pieces of music. During these times of virtual and outdoor worship, we are a bit more limited, but today you experience music from:

• South Africa – an opening song, “Hallelujah! We Sing Your Praises” with piano, drum, and voice.

• America – a folk-style communion hymn, “One Brad, One Body” recorded by piano, guitar, and vocalists.

• Jamaica – an organ arrangement of the upbeat and syncopated communion hymn, “Let Us Talents and Tongues Employ.” and

• France – the song “Eat This Bread” from the Taizé Community, offered by a quartet of singers and enhanced by various instrumental sounds from our organ.

"Fairest Lord Jesus"

The hymn we sing in response to the proclamation of the Word today is the long-cherished “Fairest Lord Jesus.” Our Gospel lesson recounts a time in Jesus’ ministry when he is questioned by chief priests and elders. They challenged his authority and demanded to know where the command of his teaching and ministry came from. The hymn “Fairest Lord Jesus,” in response, boldly proclaims that Jesus is sovereign: Ruler of all nature. Ruler of the nations.

Both the text and the tune of this beloved hymn have a storied, if not complex, history. Hymnologist Carl Daw even calls it “a classic example of the persistence of erroneous information.” Our United Methodist friends enjoy a regular column on their Discipleship Ministries website called History of Hymns. Hannah Cruse recently detailed the origins of “Fairest Lord Jesus.” Her article is well-researched and clearly written. Take a look, and enjoy!

https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/articles/history-of-hymns-fairest-lord-jesus

 

Edward MacDowell and his "Woodland Sketches"

Both of the piano pieces offered in today’s YouTube service are by late-Romantic composer Edward MacDowell (1860-1908). He was among a wave of American born musicians to cross the Atlantic and train in “the old world.” For MacDowell, at age 17, he began his European studies at the Paris Conservatory, but he spent nearly a decade in Germany, first as a student in Frankfurt, then as a composer, performer, and teacher in Darmstadt and Weisbaden. It was during this decade in Europe that the young MacDowell met the love of his life, a fellow American studying abroad – Marian Griswold Nevins. The two married and remained nearly inseparable until MacDowell’s death.

Back stateside after financial difficulty trying to “make it” as a composer in Germany, the MacDowell’s settled first in Boston where Edward became well-known as a concert pianist and teacher. However, he was recruited back to his hometown of New York to become the first music professor at Columbia University in 1896. In addition to his duties at the university, MacDowell engaged in a great deal of musical composition during this period as well. Much of his compositional inspiration came from Hillcrest Farm, where the MacDowell’s made their summer residence in Peterborough, New Hampshire.

The Woodland Sketches, opus 51, are no exception. They include 10 short pieces where MacDowell interprets and reflects on the natural beauty surrounding the Peterborough home. I’ve chosen two of these sketches to share in today’s worship service: In Autumn (with a nod to the autumnal equinox happening on Tuesday) and To a Wild Rose (because I always think of Thomas Moore’s poem “The Last Rose of Summer” when I hear it).

I like what pianist James Barbagallo says about In Autumn: “[it] vibrates with cheer and is brisk and snappy just like a fall day after summer's languor.” In terms of To a Wild Rose, legend has it that Mrs. MacDowell had a part in the naming of this ‘sketch.’ Barbagallo explains, “MacDowell wrote out a short melody every morning which he would later throwaway. In this way he felt he kept his technique of melodic composition finely honed. Upon hearing one of these cast-offs, Mrs. MacDowell remarked that it reminded her of some wild roses growing close to their cabin in Peterborough.” And the rest is history; this short piece is probably the most well-known of MacDowell’s piano pieces today. Enjoy!

hammer dulcimers

In our “Worship On the Grounds” service this week, our service was going to be bookended with music by “The Southwind Players,” a hammer dulcimer quartet consisting of Jim Moore, Victoria Scarborough, Alice Showalter, and Peggy Tudor. Mother Nature, however, had alternate plans, and the rainy conditions are making the service impossible. Through the wonders of technology, however, the music they had intended to offer live will be in the YouTube service.

The dulcimer group will play three pieces in the service, two familiar hymns – “Come, Christians, Join to Sing” and “Amazing Grace” – and a tradition canon, “Dona Nobis Pacem.” This canon is quite possibly familiar to many also. The Latin text of the canon translates to, “Grant us peace.” I certainly need these words streaming through my mind these days!

When I began to think about hammer dulcimers this week, I quickly realized I knew next to nothing about them. What are their origins? When were they first made? And where? How are the strings set-up on the instrument? Like a piano? Like a guitar? Why do they have the trapezoidal shape? I could go on . . .

Luckily, the online Smithsonian Institution answered many of my questions. Perhaps you will find this article interesting as well. Don’t miss the links on the side of the page. Enjoy!

https://www.si.edu/spotlight/hammered-dulcimer