Sacred Music Notes for Sunday Masses
October 2, 2022
27th Sunday, Year C
Opus 2
A good and blessed day to you! After a long column last week, today we will be keeping it on the shorter end, but in no way intending to minimize the beautiful music of the week. (As an aside, please pray for my wife and I, who any day now will be welcoming our sixth child (fourth boy) into the world). Onto the music...
Processional Hymn:
Processional Hymn:
Blessed Jesus, at Thy Word – Tune: LIEBSTER JESU
Composer: Johann R. Ahle (1625 - 1673) * Text: Tobias Clausnitzer (1619 - 1680)
Composer: Johann R. Ahle (1625 - 1673) * Text: Tobias Clausnitzer (1619 - 1680)
This tune is, like last week, popular in both Protestant and Catholic circles and comes out of Germany. Perhaps of most interesting note is in the translation of the text by Catherine Winkworth. Born on the edge of London, Winkworth spent a year in Dresden, Germany, where she took on an interest in German hymnody. Around 1854 she published a book of hymns she translated from their original German entitled Lyra Germanica. According to The Harvard University Hymn Book, Winkworth "did more than any other single individual to make the rich heritage of German hymnody available to the English-speaking world." Other familiar examples of her translations include Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming and How Brightly Beams the Morning Star. She died in 1878.
MOTETS AND ANTHEMS
Keep Me Faithfully - George F. Handel (1685 - 1759)
(at 9:00 AM Offertory and 11:00 Communion)
Part of a larger set of sacred anthems (eleven of them) commonly referred to as Chandos Anthems, Handel composed these between 1717 - 1720 when he became composer-in-residence in Middlesex in southeast England. They were written with the forces available very-much in mind. This anthem is scored for only two voices - Treble and Baritone, who often sing alternating, repetitive phrases. The middle section contains some very interesting leaps that are difficult to sing but form an interesting chordal sequence that modulates back to our home key of E-flat Major.
(at 9:00 AM Offertory and 11:00 Communion)
Part of a larger set of sacred anthems (eleven of them) commonly referred to as Chandos Anthems, Handel composed these between 1717 - 1720 when he became composer-in-residence in Middlesex in southeast England. They were written with the forces available very-much in mind. This anthem is scored for only two voices - Treble and Baritone, who often sing alternating, repetitive phrases. The middle section contains some very interesting leaps that are difficult to sing but form an interesting chordal sequence that modulates back to our home key of E-flat Major.
Taedet Animam Meam from Officium Defunctorum a' 6 - Tomas Luis de Victoria (1548 - 1611)
(at 11:00 AM Offertory)
Victoria, a Catholic priest born in Spain, is largely considered one of the top three Renaissance Polyphony composers. His harmonies are, while well-crafted, perhaps more emotional than his Italian contemporary, Palestrina. This movement, which is not part of a Requiem Mass Proper but rather a reading in the praying of the Divine Office for the Dead, takes up the text from Job, whose text bemoans and laments the perils that have befallen him (making it a very good text in light of the text of today's Offertory Antiphon - also from Job). Sung this Sunday in b-flat minor, it is a much more-homophonic piece (harmonies sung at the same time) but one that requires much technical skill; the music demands that the singers taper phrases and sing with one mind the arches and dips that permeate the musical landscape. Many interesting cadences occur, chords that seem to come out of nowhere, going to unexpected places. Lest the mood feel too stifling and depressed, Victoria seems to try to musically depict a little bit of hope with a turning to a picardy-third: the raising of could have been a minor key cadence to a major key (B-flat major).
(at 11:00 AM Offertory)
Victoria, a Catholic priest born in Spain, is largely considered one of the top three Renaissance Polyphony composers. His harmonies are, while well-crafted, perhaps more emotional than his Italian contemporary, Palestrina. This movement, which is not part of a Requiem Mass Proper but rather a reading in the praying of the Divine Office for the Dead, takes up the text from Job, whose text bemoans and laments the perils that have befallen him (making it a very good text in light of the text of today's Offertory Antiphon - also from Job). Sung this Sunday in b-flat minor, it is a much more-homophonic piece (harmonies sung at the same time) but one that requires much technical skill; the music demands that the singers taper phrases and sing with one mind the arches and dips that permeate the musical landscape. Many interesting cadences occur, chords that seem to come out of nowhere, going to unexpected places. Lest the mood feel too stifling and depressed, Victoria seems to try to musically depict a little bit of hope with a turning to a picardy-third: the raising of could have been a minor key cadence to a major key (B-flat major).
O Come, Let Us Worship, from Psalm 95 –Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847)
(at 9:00 AM Communion)
(at 9:00 AM Communion)
Mendelssohn, a baptized Jew, "blended Romantic sentiment and fantasy with a Mozartean economy, clarity, and poise. He became associated with a strand of more-conservative-leaning composers that included Robert Schumann and reached its peak with Johannes Brahms (as opposed to the constantly-progressive nature of Liszt, Berlioz, and Wagner). His exposure to Bach led to a fondness for learned counterpoint as well as to his conducting the St. Matthew Passion in 1829 – an immensely influential performance that took Bach out of the exclusive hands of specialists and into a more general public consciousness. He began to perform throughout Europe as a conductor and as a pianist to great success. In 1829, he made his first trip to England where his composing and playing found a rapturous audience. Indeed, one can say that Mendelssohn dominated English music in the 19th century as completely as Handel had done on the 18th." He has been called "the 19th-century Mozart" and "a gentleman" who, unlike most of his contemporaries, led a peaceful, well-ordered, and happy (if not short) life.
This piece is just the first movement of a five-movement work. Originally written in German for orchestra, soloists, and choir, the entire work can be listened to here: Mendelssohn: Psalm 95 - I. Kommt, laßt uns anbeten - YouTube It remains one of my favorite pieces. Mendelssohn seems willing to let the text speak for itself. Occasionally you may find yourself desiring a little Mahler and all his music represents, like in this, Mahler's First Symphony (last movement): Mahler's 1st Symphony "Titan" (Audio + Score) - YouTube. But for me, I'm quite pleased with Mendelssohn's First Symphony (last movement), composed when he was just 15! Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 11 (with Score) - YouTube
This piece is just the first movement of a five-movement work. Originally written in German for orchestra, soloists, and choir, the entire work can be listened to here: Mendelssohn: Psalm 95 - I. Kommt, laßt uns anbeten - YouTube It remains one of my favorite pieces. Mendelssohn seems willing to let the text speak for itself. Occasionally you may find yourself desiring a little Mahler and all his music represents, like in this, Mahler's First Symphony (last movement): Mahler's 1st Symphony "Titan" (Audio + Score) - YouTube. But for me, I'm quite pleased with Mendelssohn's First Symphony (last movement), composed when he was just 15! Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 11 (with Score) - YouTube
+AMDG
