I love Advent music! Here we go!
The prelude is Rorate Coeli by Melissa Dunphy (b.1980). Born and raised in Australia, Dunphy immigrated to the United States in 2003 and has since become an award-winning and acclaimed composer specializing in vocal, political, and theatrical music. Dunphy has a PhD in music composition from the University of Pennsylvania, where she was a Benjamin Franklin Fellow, and a Bachelor of Music from West Chester University. She currently teaches composition at Rutgers University and is also active as a sound and lighting designer, actor. Most fun of all, I recommend her podcast The Boghouse which about how she and her husband purchased an old theater and became an amateur archeologists.
"Rorate coeli" ('Drop down, ye heavens') are the opening words of Isaiah 45:8, appearing at several points in the liturgy during Advent. The plainsong made its way as a hymn into English and French hymnals and the text also forms the basis for the hymn O Heiland, reiß die Himmel auf which we will sing as the Gradual. Melissa's organ work quotes the plainsong.
The Great Litany puts the prayers at the beginning of the service, with responses by the congregation. It dates as far back as the fifth century in Rome. The Litany was the first English language rite prepared by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, published in 1544. Some churches have one leader for the petitions, but our tradition at Grace is to share it among choir singers, lay readers and priests, from oldest to youngest, in procession around the congregation.
O HEILAND, REISS DIE HIMMEL AUF is a German chorale melody published anonymously in 1666. On the first Sunday in Advent I always play a Gospel fanfare by Helmut Walcha (1907-1991), to this tune. The text to this tune in our hymnal (#64) is a rather tame "O Heavenly Word, eternal Light" whereas the German text means "O savior, rend the heavens wide!" Rip them open! Come down and save us! This is captured in Walcha's grand setting in which a flourish based on the tune precedes a loud rendering in the pedal. Walcha was a blind German organist who specialized in the works of the Dutch and German baroque masters and is known for his recordings of the complete organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach. He played for many years at the Dreikönigskirche (from 1946) in Frankfurt. In 1982 I travelled to Germany to meet him and got to hear him improvise at the organ, and then we were invited back to his home where his wife Ursula hosted us for tea. He had a pedal harpsichord at the house and offered to play. "What work of Bach would you like to hear?" He basically had them all memorized! He was a beloved teacher to many great American organists.
Our anthem is a stirring Baroque gem, Rejoice Rejoice Believers (sung in English translation) by Adam Gumpelzhaimer, (1559 –1625), a Bavarian composer and music theorist. Cantor at the Augsburg Cathedral from 1581-1625, he had ample occasion to compose sacred music in the early baroque style. He was a great admirer of Hans Leo Hassler and collected his works which undoubtedly influenced his own style. There are certain words which have lots and lots of notes on one syllable, which is known as a "melisma," a word I teach the choristers.
We'll be singing Veni Emmanuel as the Presentation hymn for all of Advent, 2 verses a week, using it as a kind of musical Advent calendar. This is true to the spirit of the hymn, as each verse is one of the Great "O" Antiphons, originating in the Middle Ages as antiphons (refrains) to the Magnificat on the seven days preceding Christmas Eve. Each is a title for the Messiah, and each one refers to the prophecy of Isaiah. They are called "O" antiphons because they all start with the word O!
Verses 1 & 2 are O Emmanuel (O God with Us ) and O Sapientia (O Wisdom)
Our Sanctus setting ("Holy, Holy") is based on the French Advent carol People Look East, which I discuss here
At the Fraction the choir will sing a British adaptation of G.P. Palestrina (c. 1525 – 1594) setting called Matin Responsary which is used in cathedrals in the UK. Often this is sung on the the 3rd Sunday of Advent ("stir up Sunday") but this year, Psalm 80 is in the lectionary for this Sunday, so it is appropriate here.
Hymn #53 "Once He Came in Blessing," GOTTES SOHN IST KOMMEN is a tune by Michael Weiße (c. 1488-1534) German theologian, Protestant reformer and hymn writer. First a Franciscan, he joined the Bohemian Brethren, and published an early Protestant hymnal in 1531, supplying most hymn texts and some tunes himself. The text of this is by Jan Roh (1487-1547), another priest and later bishop of the Bohemian Brethren. Our English version is in a translation by the prolific Catherine Winkworth (1827-1878), a British woman known for her English translations of German hymns, her piety and devotional life, and at the same time, her sympathy for the cause of women's rights. In 1845 she lived with relatives in Dresden, Germany where she learned German and German hymnody. There are 10 hymn translations by Winkworth in the Hymnal 1982, including this and "Now Thank We All Our God."
The last hymn is Lo He Comes with Clouds Descending, HELMSLEY. The text is another great by Charles Wesley (1707-1788). Another reminder that First Advent does not really contain "gentle" music! Here is my favorite verse:
Ev'ry eye shall now behold him, robed in dreadful majesty;
those who set at naught and sold him, pierced, and nailed him to the tree,
deeply wailing, deeply wailing, shall the true Messiah see.
The great tune HELMSLEY cannot be discussed without mentioning at least four composers. Our hymnal credits Thomas Arne (1710-1778) with Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) for the harmonies. I will let the great Paul Westermeyer explain it:
"John Wesley attributed the tune HELMSLEY to Thomas Olivers in Wesley's 1765 Sacred Melodies with his brother's text of "Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending." However, Olivers is said to have heard the tune on the street somewhere. Since the first line resembles a tune by violinist and composer Thomas Augustine Arne composed for Thomas and Sally, or The Sailor's Return in 1761, it is speculated the tune was composed by Arne. Most likely, the tune comes from a 1763 edition Martin Madan's Collection of Psalms and Hymn Tunes Sung at the Chapel of Lock Hospital. Madan (1726-1790) was the chaplain at Lock Hospital.
(From Let the People Sing: hymn tunes in perspective by Paul Westermeyer, 2005, GIA Publications, Inc.)
The postlude is Gottes Sohn ist kommen (God's Son is Coming) setting from J. S. Bach (1685-1750)'s Orgelbüchlein (Little Organ Book). Here there is a joyful running eighth-note figure in the right hand, a plucked bass-line in the left, and a reed proclaiming the chorale tune in the pedal. Plus the pedal and upper part of the right hand are in canon! All in about a minute!
My mind is really on "concert week" for my 100 voice auditioned Harmonium Choral Society (full of Grace Church Singers). I hope you will consider attending either Friday night Dec. 8 at 7:30 or Sunday December 10 at 3 pm at the Presbyterian Church on the Green in Morristown (leave ample time for parking). If like me, you love ADVENT music, this concert is for you, featuring many Magnificats and settings of O Come Emmanuel plus a fun setting of A.A.Milne (and a piece in Norwegian!). String quartet, handbells, oboe (Teddy Love), and piano. You can read the full program notes here.
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