The Gospel readings for last Sunday and next (namely John 6:51, which is read on both Sundays) bring to mind a particular line of music. At least they do for me. And perhaps they do for many of us who have been at Lake Delaware Boys' Camp in upstate New York.
Lake Delaware Boys' Camp (LDBC) is a remarkable place. Every morning before breakfast, the entire camp community gathers in the Chapel for Holy Eucharist. On Sundays, all would return for Evensong and Benediction in the afternoon. And one of the pieces of music used at Benediction was a little Mode 1 chant for the words "I am the living bread which came down from heaven" (John 6:51).
Because it was a regular part of daily life, everyone knew about chapel, and it was talked about throughout the day. Because it was only a part of weekly life, Evensong and Benediction held special place in the LDBC imagination. The regular music and chants of this service were extra special.
How special? Well, it wasn't surprising to hear "I am the bread of life" sung at any time and at any place. Maybe someone would remember it while walking to the swimming pool. Or on the soccer field. Maybe it was someone in the camp choir singing it, but maybe not. It was just another part of camp life.
I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever.
It clearly sank in with me too, because, having been away from the camp for more than a decade, I can remember the music clearly.
The source appears to be an antiphon for the Magnificat. Here it is from a Dominican source:
The Rev. G. H. Palmer adapted it to English in his Antiphons Upon the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis from the Salisbury Antiphoner, where it is sung on the Wednesday after Pentecost. And his rendering of the first phrase, at least, matches the one sung at LDBC.
Even though this is a highly particular instance, it's worth noting how scripture, music, and the liturgy work together to deeply ingrain sacred texts in the hearts and minds of a community. It can shape and transform that community and its members even as they go forth into the world.
Labels: church music, Evensong, Gregorian chant, LDBC, Proper 14B, Proper 15B
St. James', Lake Delaware
photo by the author
I've been to St. John the Divine, All Saints, Ashmont (see photos posted in August 2010); Trinity, Houston; and Princeton University Chapel, but I think my favorite Cram church remains St. James', Lake Delaware.
It's a beautiful, elegant, quiet country church at the bend in the road and the river.
And sadly, this seems to be the only photo I have of it.
Cram on the cover of Time magazine
Labels: All Saints (Ashmont), Cathedral of St John the Divine, Cram, LDBC, Princeton Chapel, St James (Lake Delaware), Trinity (Houston)
The centennial celebration for Lake Delaware Boys Camp continues, even as the camp tents are packed away and the camp grounds are surely covered in snow and ice.
The camp's organ, an 1886 Roosevelt is featured on this week's Pipedream's broadcast.
Michael Kleinschmidt, the organist of Trinity Church, Boston, plays works by Horatio Parker and Jean Langlais.
Labels: Horatio Parker, Langlais, LDBC
On Boys' Camp in the Catskills
Did I ever tell you that I was music director for 50 years at a boys' camp in the Catskills, with an organ that was pumped by the boys? It was a large pipe organ, not just a little harmonium. The camp was a very odd combination of high-church Episcopalianism and the military, with drills and all that sort of thing. The children actually got very good training that way. I had been music director of that camp before the way, and as soon as I was released from service, I went back for the two summer months of 1946, and then I checked in at Harvard and I got my degree in May 1947 -- a master's degree in music. The same month I also successfully passed the [American Guild of Organists] examination to become [a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists].
Higgins, Kathryn A. "Interviews with Charles Dodsley Walker." The American Organist October 2009, p. 62.
Previously: NYT - Lake Delaware Boys' Camp in
Walker as dedicatee: Langlais's "Postlude III" from his Four Postludes is dedicated to Charles Dodsley Walker. I'm sure he had other pieces dedicated to him as well.
Labels: Charles Dodsley Walker, Langlais, LDBC
In its centennial year, Lake Delaware Boys' Camp, in Delhi, New York has been profiled in the New York Times.
This is incredible press for a summer camp that changes lives.
They have a great organ too. Check the slide show for a view of the pump room in the chapel.
I'm also happy to say that this year's head camper, Michael Gratkowski, was a fine chorister in his earlier years.
Previously on the weblog: the camp schedule, organ photos, the organ specifications, and the artillery.
Labels: LDBC
St. John the Baptist Church, (actually an Anglican church masquerading as a Baptist one) in Barnstaple, England is set to celebrate the music of Caleb Simper later this month.
Simper, largely forgotten now, was once a wildly popular composer of music for the church. More than five million copies of music by Simper have been sold.
'Forgotten' Caleb scores a hit once again (thisisnorthdevon.co.uk)
In this country, a setting of the Nicene Creed by Caleb Simper is sung daily at Lake Delaware Boys' Camp, Delhi, New York. The camp also has something to celebrate this summer: it's 100th year. Most of those years (if not all of them) have included Simper.
Previously: Simper, Caleb - literary reference to (May, 2009)
world - sung throughout the civilized (September 2008)
Semper, Caeleb - see Simper, Caleb (1857-1942) (November 2005)
Here's a culinary tip from the New York Times for employees of Lake Delaware Boys' Camp in Delhi, New York:
It's Heaven, a bakery and café in Bovina Center (yes -- named after cows), just about 10 minutes from camp.
Oh, and the owners are one of those worldly model/photographer couples.
Fashion’s Just a Job; Baking’s a Destiny
Yeah, I'm bringing the animated .gif back. They're totally in style this season. You know you like it.
I'm going to Lake Delaware again. Look over the archives from the past three Julys to see what I'm talking about. I'll be back next week.
Peace out, ya'll.
Labels: LDBC
Today, the church celebrates Joseph, the legal, non-biological father of Jesus.
Admitedly a lesser figure in the Gospels, Joseph does get his own white-letter feast day (which usually falls in Lent).
He is a kind of "everyday" saint, whose goodness manifests itself in his diligent performance of his duties and his protection of Mary, his wife, the mother of Jesus.
Joseph may have died before Jesus was crucified, since none of the gospels mention him at that point in the narrative.
Joseph enjoys a place of liturgical prominence in the Divine Praises:
Benedictus sanctus Ioseph, eius castissimus Sponsus.
Blessed be St. Joseph, [Mary's] most chaste spouse.
It may interest liturgical scholars of Anglo-Catholic military camps in Upstate New York to know that in the chapel named after him at Lake Delaware Boys' Camp, this particular Divine Praise (if I may singularize that term, and I think I can) is omitted.
Labels: LDBC, St. Joseph
Capt. Sinden fires the cannon at Lake Delaware Boys Camp, July 2006. (Photo: Anna Gray)
Labels: LDBC
St. James Episcopal Church
Lake Delaware, New York
I moved my hands to the Swell, the uppermost keyboard on this organ, and was briefly disturbed by the sound.
I took off the strident 4' principal in favor of a more gentle 4' flute.
Then it hit me. Some part of me thought it necessary to make this change, in the middle of the night, all alone in this church, in the middle of the woods, in the middle of the mountains, in the middle of New York state.
I started laughing.
"I play the organ," I thought.
How ridiculous.
Labels: LDBC
Capt. David Sinden, LDBC
(Photo: camper Brandon Applegate)
I just got back a couple days ago. I had a long drive.
Here are some things I learned on my drive home:
- Ohio feels like home
- One can always find a Christian radio station in this country
- The Strauss second horn concerto is nice
- One cannot find any Strauss horn concerti on Christian stations
- McDonald's Restaurants in New York state serve iced coffee. Those in Indiana? Not so much.
- Chocolate milk is a poor substitute for motor oil.
Early this week, I was living in a canvas Civil-War-style tent in Delaware County, New York. I had served for a little over a month as a Tactical Officer at Lake Delaware Boys' Camp.
Here are some things I learned at camp this year:
- Small town fireworks displays are beautiful.
- Camp feels like home
- There's an American-style football league in Wales.
- Welsh people are cool, and they know about hymn tunes.
- Thumbing down on an 1877 Roosevelt is next to impossible (sorry Herbert Howells).
- Whitewater tubing can be fun/scary.
- There's only one hymn that mentions Mary Magdalene? (1940 hymn 585)
- If you wear a shirt that says "sinden.org" on it, kids will ask you questions like
- is that a real website?
- is that your website?
- how much did that shirt cost?
- and then they threaten:
- "I'm going to visit that website as soon as camp is over."
- I don't think they will, but if they do, I hope they email me.
- Motor oil is a poor substitute for chocolate milk. (But with a little persuasion you can get kids to drink it.)
One camper did visit Sinden.org before camp this year, and he called me out for terming the place a "cult." I've rethought my label for the place, and the one I've come up with is this:
A hyperactive monastic community.
One of the things about being gone for so long is that the internet moves mercilessly foward.
Two things that happened while I was gone:
- Sluggy has been delightfully non-linear (try early July; it's not so interesting now).
- Dylan is moving to the RCL in Advent for another three-year cylcle of splendiferous lectionary blogging! Hooray!
I'm working on getting caught up, and I'm moving.
Sinden.org, however, is staying right where it is, with one major change to come on August 28.
Clothing tangent: Take a look at the shirt that I'm wearing in the photo above. Now take a look at the shirt I'm wearing at (the pre-iced-coffee) McDonald's last year. Apparently, I only take one shirt to camp.
Dear Friends,
It's that time of year again. The time when I ask that you send
- prayers or good wishes
- letters
- treble anthems
- cookies (or brownies? Thanks again for last year's Andrew)
- patience
- fresh vegetables
- gifts
I leave you now to resume my quasi-militaristic status as Capt. Sinden of Lake Delaware Boys' Camp (LDBC) in Delhi, New York.
Please send correspondence to:
Capt. David L. Sinden, LDBCLake Delaware Boys' Camp
Delhi, New York 13753
It will be fun for me, but boring for you if you're planning on hanging out on Sinden.org. You might find that this is a good time to peruse the archives and maybe let me know what needs fixin'.
Or you might enjoy my previous articles about LDBC:
2004: going to camp, daily schedule
2005: going back to camp, organ specs, organ pics, McDonald's
Labels: LDBC
In August 2004 I made reference to a "Caeleb Semper." Oops. I was actually referring to Caleb Simper (1857-1942). (We sing his Creed at Lake Delaware Boys' Camp.)
His is a late-Victorian style that has been ridiculed by Vaughan Williams and Erik Routley.
His music was once "sung throughout the civilized world."
Victorian church composers were often not of the highest quality, and few would rank Simper with Stainer. But the fascination of Caleb Simper is his invisibility. Here was a man who sold over 5 million copies of his sheet music. Just think of that - an army of Simper anthems - yet he is practically invisible. Do a web search on Simper and you will come up with only a handful of entries. He's not in Grove, or many other musical references. Yet he clearly plucked many a Victorian and Edwardian heartstring.
see also: Gordon Rumson investigates the sacred choral music of Caleb Simper
Behold! The Choir from Lake Delaware Boys' Camp at McDonalds in Delhi, New York.
Photo Credit and Shoutout: Capt. Charles Burks
Labels: LDBC
1877/86 Roosevelt, St. Joseph's Chapel, Lake Delaware Boys' Camp, Delhi, New York
See specs for this organ.
Labels: LDBC
Great
8 Open Diapason
8 Dopple Flute
8 Gamba
8 Dulciana (2 rank celeste)
8 Unison Bass
4 Principal
3 Twelfth
2 Fifteenth
Choir
8 Spitz Flote
8 Concert Flute
4 Flute d'Amour
4 Fugara
2 Piccolo
8 Cornopean
8 Clarinet
8 Vox Humana
Swell
8 Stopped Diapason
8 Gemshorn
8 Dolce
4 Flauto Traverso
8 Oboe
Pedal (CC-c1)
16 Bourdon
8 Violoncello
On/Off thumb switches
Swell: Swell to Pedal, Swell Octaves, Swell Tremulant
Great: Great to Pedal, Swell to Great, Choir to Great
Choir: Choir to Pedal, Swell to Choir, Choir Tremulant
No electric blower. Organ is still pumped by hand.
Labels: LDBC
Things will be a little slow on Sinden.org (that's this website, but you can click it if you really want to) for a while. The site is transforming into "Captain Sinden.org" because I'm going back to Lake Delaware Boys' Camp where I am a tactical officer, specifically a Captain.
Yes, it's an Anglo-Catholic military camp.
Yes, the cannon sounds at 6:50 a.m. (Canons sound in the chapel where I get to play an 1877 Roosevelt.)
You can read my account of a day in camp life based on my experience there last summer.
Send me goodies!
Capt. David Sinden, LDBCLake Delaware Boys' Camp
Delhi, New York 13753
Labels: LDBC
I am sure this will be frowned upon by the cult that is Lake Delaware Boys' Camp, but I thought it might be best it the outside world knew what went on every summer in upstate New York (from an organist's perspective anyway).
6:50 a.m. - Boom. The cannon has just gone off, and a very sleepy bugler is blowing reveille. It's time to roll out of bed and stumble outside of my civil-war style canvas tent.
7:00 a.m. - Bugler blows a first call and the entire camp must "fall in" (stand at attention in ranks while attendance is taken by older campers). The "battalion" faces the flag and says the Pledge of Allegiance. Then an about face to recite the Lord's Prayer. Jumping jacks and/or general calisthenics follow. Then a lap around the tents.
7:20 a.m. - The chapel bell rings. Most of the camp is already inside. Hopefully, I have already managed a quick prelude. Then I start the opening hymn: probably Holy, Holy, Holy or something like it from the 1940 Hymnal. A sung, high Anglican Mass (with incense) follows. My musical responsibilities in this service include Kyrie, Gloria, Gradual hymn, Creed (in a semi-operatic setting by Caeleb Semper), offertory hymn (incense), Sanctus, Agnus Dei, communion hymn, post-communion hymn and a brief postlude.
Other things that fascinate me about the liturgy:
- the epistle is chanted by a camper
- the very brief (but spectacular) sermon by Father Ray Donahue (affectionately known as "Father D")
- a quasi-medieval prayer asking that the deceased founders of the camp be rewarded with eternal life
- the "Last Gospel" (prologue hymn of the Gospel of John) recited in unison before the closing hymn
8:25 a.m. - Breakfast. Yum. So far the only thing I have eaten is Jesus Christ.
9:15 a.m. - Drill. Campers grab fake wooden rifles and learn how to take orders from slightly older campers.
10:00 a.m. - Various and sundry sports and other activities are attempted. Croquet anyone?
12:00 p.m. - The chapel bell rings Angelus. (Three rings, pause, three rings, pause, three rings, pause, nine rings). Activity stops all over the camp, from the baseball field to the pool. Football plays halt mid-field; arguments cease midsentence (and usually don't resume afterward). Everyone is silent, and hopefully thinking quasi-religious thoughts.
12:10 p.m. - a bit of Free Time
12:45 p.m. - fall in for lunch.
12:55 p.m. - Lunch.
1:30 p.m. - Rest. Go to your tents and lie down (at least that's what the campers are supposed to do)
2:30 p.m. - More games and activities are attempted.
4:30 p.m. - more Free Time is had by all
5:15 p.m. - Police Call. Everyone is called back to Company Street (where the tents are) by the bugle. Campers are supposed to clean up their spot in the tent and wash their hands in preparation for evening inspection.
5:45 p.m. - Retreat. Campers fall in by the flagpole. The cannon is blown off again, just for kicks, and the flag is taken down. Then we march to the Mess Hall for dinner.
6:00 p.m. - Dinner. Yum.
6:45 p.m. - Evening games, unless the grass is still wet from all the rain, in which case we'll be watching a movie in the Field House.
8:30 p.m. - Bugle blows "cots up," signaling everyone to get ready for bed.
9:00 p.m. - Tattoo. All campers are to be in their tents.
9:08 p.m. - Angelus is rung, followed by taps. Then lights are shut off and Company Street is closed.
"From Utica ... our train started to Rome, and from Rome to Syracuse. After leaving the last-mentioned place we lost sight for awhile of this classical nomenclature, and traversed a region where Asiatic names were in greater favor - through Canton to Pekin, leaving Delhi on the left."- Mackay, Charles. Life and Liberty in America, 1859.
One place that didn't leave Delhi to the left is this Anglo-Catholic military camp where I am Organist and Tactical officer for the next month.
Until I go AWOL, call me on my cell! (713) XXX-XXXX
Labels: LDBC
©MMXVII Sinden.org: a site for fun and prophet