This Sunday, the choir are singing a hymn-anthem by Healey Willan “Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates.”
As I went through the text, I couldn't help but notice all the “extra” words included in the Willan anthem. The text in the Hymnal 1982 is very familiar to me, but I wondered what the source of all the extra verses was.
In the Chorale Book for England, Catherine Winkworth writes stanzas of eight verses each in her English translation. The first four verses work as Long Meter (8.8.8.8), the final four verses are a more unusual meter of 8.8.6.6, so setting the entire hymn works perfectly with the chorale Macht hoch die Tür (8.8.8.8.8.8.6.6), but changes have to be made if it is set to the long meter, Truro.
There is something exuberant about the shorter phrase lengths at the end of this chorale. The sense of the hymn can be gleaned from the version in the Hymnal 1982, but in addition to all the lost text, the joyful effect of whittling down to these final two phrases is lost in translation.
The change that was made in the version in the Hymnal 1982 version (Hymn 436) is that much of each original stanza is ommited, so that everything fits into 8.8.8.8 meter. In the version below, I have bolded the sections from the original that are omitted in the Hymnal 1982 version.
Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates,
Behold the King of glory waits;
The King of kings is drawing near,
The Saviour of the world is here;
Life and salvation doth He bring,
Wherefore rejoice and gladly sing:
We praise Thee, Father, now!
Creator, wise art Thou!The Lord is just, a Helper tried,
Mercy is ever at His side,
His kingly crown is holiness,
His sceptre, pity in distress,
The end of all our woe He brings;
Wherefore the earth is glad and sings:
We praise Thee, Saviour, now,
Mighty in deed art Thou!Oh blest the land, the city blest,
Where Christ the Ruler is confest!
Oh happy hearts and happy homes
To whom this King in triumph comes!
The cloudless Sun of joy He is,
Who bringeth pure delight and bliss:
O Comforter Divine,
What boundless grace is Thine!Fling wide the portals of your heart,
Make it a temple set apart
From earthly use for Heaven's employ,
Adorn'd with prayer and love and joy;
So shall your Sovereign enter in,
And new and nobler life begin:
To Thee, O God, be praise,
For word and deed and grace!
Redeemer, come! I open wide
My heart to Thee,--here, Lord, abide!
Let me Thy inner presence feel,
Thy grace and love in me reveal,
Thy Holy Spirit guide us on
Until our glorious goal is won!
Eternal praise and fame
We offer to Thy name.
As you can see, portions of the fourth and fifth stanas become joined to make the concluding stanza in the Hymnal 1982 version.
So come, my Sovereign; enter in! Let new and nobler life begin; thy Holy Spirit guide us on, until the glorious crown be won.
Labels: Catherine Winkworth, Healey Willan, Hymn 436
“T. S. Eliot says: ‘Poetry takes something that we know already and turns it into something new.’ Perhaps art is seeing the obvious in such a new light that the old becomes new.”
Madeleine L’Engle, Walking on Water
A recent project of mine, perhaps long overdue, is the creation of this Magnificat and Nunc dimittis database. This is intended as a resource to help in the selection of evening canticle settings for liturgical use at Evensong.
Please take a look, and let me know what settings still need to be added:
My intention is to make this as complete and accurate as possible so it can useful to the widest number of people. Please send additions and/or corrections to the email address listed in the sheet!
This series loomed larger in my formation than perhaps I realized, and I recently delved back into this catalog for the first time in many years. In retrospect, this series served both as inspiration for a career in Anglican choral music and a kind of “bucket list.” I have made note of those pieces that I have yet to perform.
The English Anthem, Volume 1
Short Anthems
HADLEY My beloved spake WOOD Hail, gladdening Light
Standard-length Anthems
BAIRSTOW Let all mortal flesh keep silence FINZI God is gone up GARDINER Evening Hymn IRELAND Greater love hath no man STAINER I saw the Lord STANFORD Beati quorum via
Long Anthems
BAIRSTOW Blessed city, heavenly Salem NAYLOR Vox dicentis: Clama WESLEY Blessed be the God and Father
The English Anthem, as this first album is called, was released without a “Volume 1” designation, continuation of this series perhaps not yet being conceived.
The long, sinuous lines of Balfour Gardiner’s Evening Hymn are also right at home here, with the additive sounds bubbling at a slower simmer.
Much of the music here happens at its own unhurried pace. It’s never unmusical, but one is always aware of the effects of the ample reverberation of St. Paul’s. In places, this reverb time is used to tremendous effect. At the opening of Naylor’s “Vox dicentis,” Scott dovetails the second entrance perfectly with the slow diminishing of the previous fortissimo chord at the back of the nave.
Aspirations
Of the works I’ve never performed (Bairstow, Hadley, Stainer, Naylor):
- Bairstow tops the list. I feel like I know this piece so well that I must have done it at some point in the past, but I can’t recall an occasion when I have.
- Stainer's “I saw the Lord” still lurks around in my planning notes for Trinity Sunday. It might surface one of these days.
- Naylor: I thought about this one recently, but it didn’t make the cut. Without a favorable acoustic, this is probably not as effective.
- Hadley: this one doesn’t do it for me. Your mileage may vary.
Labels: Bairstow, Balfour Gardiner, Charles Wood, Finzi, Hadley, John Ireland, John Scott, Naylor, St Paul's (London), Stainer, Stanford, The English Anthem series (Hyperion), Wesley
This week saw the 10 year anniversary of the sudden death of organist John Scott.
I still remember where I was when a colleague telephoned with the news on August 12, 2015.
I met John Scott only briefly after an organ recital. He left us too soon, while at the height of his powers. I was then, and remain now, an avid listener to the webcasts from St. Thomas, New York. Though I never had the opportunity to see him work with a choir, I had the privilege to be a student of his musicianship in some small way through the sheer quantity of music and liturgy that eminated from that wonderful place through the internet (usually four Evensongs a week, and Choral Mass on Sunday).
Stephen Buzard, who was working as an assistant to John Scott at the time of his death, has shared a touching remembrance on Facebook:
I think about John often. His exquisite musicianship, deep churchmanship, and tireless dedication to his craft inspire me daily and shape how I approach my vocation. I am the musician I am today because of him.
We are fortunate that John Scott made many recordings during his lifetime. In recent years, the Hyperion record label has made their recordings accessbile via streaming platforms, and it has been a great joy to explore recordings of his — both organ and choral — I have never heard before. This week, I have delved back into the impressive catalog that is eight-CD "The English Anthem" series from St. Paul's Cathedral, London.
Scott was a musicians' musician, and endlessly adaptable. He sounded just at home on the massive organ of St. Paul's, London, as he does on the two-manual Taylor and Boody at St. Thomas.
Labels: John Scott, St Paul's (London), St Thomas (New York), Stephen Buzard
This week saw the 225th anniversary of the death of German composer and organist Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach died on July 28, 1750.
As the day unfolded, I found myself reading Uncommon Measure a remarkable memoir by Natalie Hodges. Hodges reflects in one of the last chapters on one of the great pinnacles of violin playing, the Chaconne from the Partita in D minor, BWV 1004.
Hodges points out the discrepancy between this single movement, and the rest of the Partita. The other movements are dance movements; the Chaconne is not. Furthermore, the Chaconne is longer than all of the other movements of the Partita combined. This has led to some theories about the reason for this movement's composition, and what it might mean. Perhaps it is a memorial to Bach's first wife, Maria Barbara Bach, but there does not seem to be much concensus about this theory. If Bach conceived of the six solo violin pieces as having some hidden liturgical or theological meaning, the Chaconne could represent the crucifixion.
Without deciding on the memorial theory, Hodges offers an exploration of this music in the context of grief. The opening and ending phrases of this enormous solo work are identical. The substance of the sections within could be understood variously as different "stages" of grief (perhaps even approaching acceptance when the music turns to major?), but Hodges points out the reality of the nature of grief: it never leaves. The opening theme comes back unchanged at the very end to drive this point home.
In searching for a recording to listen to, I came across this album by Ingrid Matthews of the complete Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin.
I was privileged to have Ingrid Matthews as a chamber music coach earlier this summer at the Baroque Performance Institute at Oberlin, but I didn't realize at the time that she had made this recording twenty-five years ago (the same year I matriculated as an undergraduate at Oberlin in fact).
Oberlin and Bach, in fact, go hand in hand for me. I still vividly remember my audition, which included a major Bach work. And I studied many Bach organ works over my four years there, many of them on the 1974 Flentrop organ which suits this music beautifully.
But whether it's a complex organ in a concert hall, or a beautifully made violin in a practice room, Bach in particular is a master at creating a sound world. The preludes and fugues for organ are impressive. But no less wonderful and miraculous are the universes that Bach unfolds with a single melody instrument: a violin, or a cello.
Here is a composer who was able to bring his tremendous craftsmanship to the instrument at hand, and create works that reach out through the centuries and continue to challenge, inform, and inspire generations of musicians on nearly every instrument imaginable. And with an endlessly inventive combination of a stylized set of materials, Bach finds an emotional expressivity that feels clear and authentic to those of us who perform and listen 225 years after his death.
Is it right that we bestow such a composer with "sainthood"? I can think of no more deserving composer for this honor, so perhaps it is right, in a sense. Bach was given his own feast day in 2022 when he was added the calendar for July 28, the day of his death, and he is included in the current Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2024. In the calendar revisions of 2009, Bach was previously honored alongside George Frideric Handel and Henry Purcell (the latter two riding Bach's coattails: Handel died on April 14; Purcell, November 21). Handel and Purcell do not appear on the current sanctoral calendar.
Particularly because Bach paid such close attention to every textual detail in crafting his soundworlds, I was struck with the unpleasant incongruity of the mistake in his Rite II (contemporary language) collect: the word "thy" appears just as it does in the Rite I (traditional language) collect.
I also note that the Rite II collects for Iranaeus of Lyon (June 28), Edith Stein (August 9), and Frances Joseph Gaudet (December 31) have the same error.
Sound out your majesty, O God, and call us to your work; that, like thy [sic] servant Johann Sebastian Bach, we might present our lives and our works to your glory alone; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The collect is a strong one. Bach signed all of his sacred compositions with the Latin "Soli Deo Gloria," ("To God alone be the glory"). It's so good, in fact, it's worth a correction.
Sound out your majesty, O God, and call us to your work; that, like your servant Johann Sebastian Bach, we might present our lives and our works to your glory alone; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Labels: Bach, Ingrid Matthews, Lesser Feasts and Fasts
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