THIS WEEKS MUSIC SELECTION
SUNDAY, MAY 26 Trinity Sunday
PRELUDE: Organ Concerto in G minor, op. 1, No. 4, Movement II (Allegro), G.F Handel
Although consisting of at least four distinct movements as indicated in the score, Handel’s Organ Concerto in G minor, Op. 4, No. 1, makes better sense as a piece in three movements. The extra movement occurs after the second and is only a brief eight-bar Adagio solo for the organist, who must improvise or at least highly embellish a sketchy passage provided by the composer. Although the Concerto is scored in G minor, it is only the first movement that is in the minor key before transitioning into the parallel major key of G.
The three main movements take on the overall form of two outer movements in triple meter and moderate tempo, the first stately, the last a light dance, and both with an artful use of hemiola. The middle, or Allegro movement (which is what you will hear Sunday mornings prelude) in a faster duple meter ultimately displays an organist’s skill with perpetual motion with long passages of running 16th notes ***FINGER CRAMPS***
There are a total of 6 Organ Concertos Handel wrote for the organ, with this being the first. The original scoring consists of a chamber orchestra (Oboe I, Oboe II, Violin I, Violin II, Viola, Cello/Bass, and Organ), but will be transcribed for solo Organ. See if you can identify the separation of the chamber orchestra parts from the organ!!
PROCESSIONAL HYMN: I Bind Unto Myself Today (Tune: St. Patric)
If you have been a long time member of Trinity, you should be all too familiar with Sunday mornings “Dramatic and Long” opening Hymn: I Bind Unto Myself Today. You may also refer this hymn as the St. Patric’s Breastplate. If you are unsure as to why it was given that second name, the affiliation it has with the name to the Irish holiday that you might get pinched if you aren’t wearing green does in fact have a relation/connection. This hymn and poem is adapted from a work attributed to St. Patric (Indeed Laddie, the same St. Patric the very St. Patric’s Day Holiday is named from, who was one of Ireland’s patron saint’s!!).
Saint Patrick was a missionary to Ireland in the fifth century. He is known as the Apostle of Ireland. In The Confessio, (“Confession,” a reply to charges made by British ecclesiastics) a work by St. Patric himself, Patrick testifies to us of his conversion, trials, and tribulations in seeking, surrendering, and suffering for Christ.
The lyrics in this hymn were adapted by Cecil Francis Alexander (1818-1895).She was born in Ireland. Not only was she a poet and hymnwriter, she also cared for the poor and opened a school for the deaf. This poem or lyric is in iambic pentameter with four feet per line (de-um, de-um, de-um, de-dum). Often at the end of the last line there is an extra unstressed beat (de-dum-de).
Stanza one about the trinity has four lines and a rhyme scheme of second and fourth line rhyming. Stanza two through six are eight lines each with an aba’b’cdc’d’ rhyme scheme. That is, the first and third line rhyme, the second and fourth line rhyme, the fifth and seventh line rhyme, and the sixth and eighth line rhyme.
Stanza seven is different from the other stanzas with its poetic power from the repeated words “Christ” and “me”. Stanza seven concludes with a repetition of stanza one with four more aba’b’ rhyming lines added. Note the scope of subjects brought up and how they all fit together with each other, Christ’s work, and the Trinity in our Christian life. It can also be helpful to see what the focus of the poem is about and what each stanza is about.
The focus of the poem is taking on God and his good for Christian life and work, even battle. There are eight stanzas. The first and the last focus on the Trinity. In between these bookends, the stanzas cover the work of Christ, God’s creation, the power of God, two stanzas increasing an emphasis as to the threats to be resisted, and an interlude of sorts about Christ. Again, it concludes with the Trinity; this time in more detail. The best way to understand a poem is to read it and reread it with enjoyment.
CHOIR ANTHEM: God So Loved The World, Dan and Heidi Goeller
This mornings offertory anthem comes from the compositional work “In His Own Words” written and composed by Dan and Heidi Goeller. It has been a big favorite of the Trinity Choir to offer since performing the major work in 2015. It is the first of nine chorals that make up “In His Own Words”, following the introduction of the Overture, and truly makes the words from what we all know as the most famous scripture a powerful, moving, expressive, spiritually warming experience through the sacred power and impact of music.
In His Own Words is an aesthetic experience in which the listener hears the message of the Word proclaimed through both singing and narration. Both the narrative and lyric texts draw exclusively from the words of Christ. The musical composition consists of nine choral pieces, each intersected by underscored narratives and interludes. The various texts within the work are tied together thematically by the use of “I am” phrases : “I am the Way, the Truth, the Life, the Resurrection, the Good Shepherd, the Bread of Life”, etc.
*** Whenever this work is offered in a concert program again by the Trinity Choir, I strongly encourage the experience to attend the powerful and moving impact it has on the listener.***
RECESSIONAL HYMN: Holy Holy Holy (Tune: Nicaea)
The Recessional hymn for Sunday, Holy Holy Holy, is perhaps one of the most famous and familiar hymns in all the Christian denominations, and perhaps even one of a non-christian culture. I. Text: Origins Reginald Heber (1783–1826) was an Anglican clergyman who served in England (1807–1823) and India (1823–1826). Heber wished to create a set of hymns suitable for each Sunday of the liturgical church year. “Holy, holy, holy” was written for Trinity Sunday, the first Sunday after Pentecost, when Heber was vicar of Hodnet. It is said to have been first printed in the third edition of A Selection of Psalms and Hymns of the Parish Church of Banbury (1826), but this collection is apparently lost.
It was included in Heber’s posthumous Hymns Written and Adapted to the Weekly Church Service of the Year (London, 1827 | Fig. 1), without music, in four stanzas of four lines. II. Text: Analysis Heber’s hymn draws largely from Revelation 4:1–11, part of John’s heavenly vision of angelic worship, which relates closely to Isaiah’s vision in Isaiah 6. It contains the glorious “Holy, holy, holy,” known throughout history as the Kerusha, trisagion, tersanctus (or simply Sanctus), or thrice-holy. And before the throne there was, as it were, a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” (Rev. 4:6–8, ESV) One unique feature of Heber’s text is the persistent rhyme of the same sound (y/ee) at the end of all sixteen lines.
Micki Balog, Director of Music Ministry
