Liturgy Lessons: October 16, 2016
Prelude
Call to Worship: Psalm 100
Opening Hymn: When Morning Gilds the Skies (#167)
Confession/Assurance of Pardon: Isaiah 53:4-5
Song of Assurance: My Heart is Filled with Thankfulness
Catechism/Congregational Prayers
Tithes and Offerings
Gloria Patri
Sermon: Rev. Casey Bedell
Meditation: TBD
Supper Hymns: O Sacred Head, Now Wounded (#247); My Jesus, I Love Thee (#648)
Closing Hymn: Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart (#604)
Benediction
“I was obliged to work hard. Whoever is equally industrious will succeed just as well.”
– Johann Sebastian Bach
Not Brook but Ocean should be his name.
– Ludwig Van Beethoven (“Bach” is the German word for “brook”)
Whether the angels play only Bach praising God, I am not quite sure.
– Karl Barth
…the greatest Christian music in the world…if life had taken hope and faith from me,
this single chorus would restore all.
– Felix Mendelssohn
…the most stupendous miracle in all music!
– Richard Wagner
If Bach is not in Heaven…..I am not going!
– William F. Buckley
These liturgy lessons are designed to curate hymns and provide thoughts on the music in our church. Well, no discussion of church music would be complete without an extended chapter on Bach. So, I will provide a brief overview here, and then comment more on him in the coming weeks leading up to reformation Sunday. You will hear some of Bach’s music at our hymn sing on Oct. 30!
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) is one of the most revered figures in Western history. A titanic figure in music history, his artistic influence is on par with other one-namers like Homer, Dante, Michelangelo, DaVinci, Shakespeare, Palestrina, and Handel. We know Bach for his compositions, which are universally revered for their architectural depth and artistic beauty. During the height of his tenure in Leipzig (1723-1750), he was churning out a new cantata for every Sunday, and additional ones for church holidays of the liturgical year. His prolific output is unmatched in music history. Bach’s genius was made possible by seven generations of musical tradition and vocation in the Bach family tree before him. And his work ethic was fueled by his reformed theological understanding of vocation. He was just as much a theologian as a musician. After he died, his library contained more books on theology than on music, including all of Luther’s volumes. The embodiment of Lutheran doctrine, and the ultimate pinnacle of reformed liturgical music, Bach saw the chief ends of music as “the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul”. In a post-renaissance age of the growing artist-as-celebrity, the medieval notion of artist-as-craftsman was long dead. But Bach was anchored in this notion of humble service to the church. At the beginning of each composition he would often write “Jesu, Juve”, meaning “Jesus, Help”, and then at the end, he would inscribe the words “soli-deo-gloria”, which means “to God alone be the glory”.
Hymn: O Sacred Head, Now Wounded
Text: Latin, Medieval, attr. Bernard of Clairveaux Tune: Hans Hassler, 1601; adapted, J.S, Bach, 1729
This hymn text dates from the early 12th century. It comes to us by way of multiple translations from its original Latin. It was translated into German in 1656 by the Lutheran hymn writer Paul Gerhardt, and then into English in 1830 by James Alexander. The original poem, entitled Salve Mundi Salutare, was comprised of 50 lines, and is an extended meditation on the various parts of Christ’s crucified body. This extended prayer is attributed to Bernard of Clairveaux, a French abbot. In certain medieval orders, monks would spend hours meditating upon the crucifix. They would mentally divide the body of Christ into parts and meditate on each part respectively (i.e. his feet, hands, side, breast, heart, and head). The three stanzas of our hymn comprise the latter portion which focuses on the head of Christ, wounded and bowed down with grief.
The tune is known as PASSION CHORALE, primarily for its famous association with Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, in which five stanzas of the hymn are sung. But though Bach adapted and harmonized the tune in 1729, the original melody was composed over a century earlier as a secular German love song whose title translates as “Confused are all my feelings, A tender maid’s the cause.” The rhythm of this melody was simplified and then paired with Gerhardt’s German translation by Johann Cruger in 1656.
Considering the complicated history of both text and tune, with countless translations and adaptations, one might ask how it is possible that this hymn has become a timeless inclusion in almost all hymnals of the past 250 years. Well, one simple answer: Bach. His harmonizations, adaptations of the mode, and tapestry of inner moving vocal parts simply elevate the music to another level. The melody on its own is pedestrian. With Bach’s pen, it is transformed. The poetry, which itself has suffered through three languages and remains far-removed from the lyricism of the original Latin, when contained within the embrace of Bach’s exquisite writing, captivates in a deeper way, a way that merits a meditation on the beauty of Christ on the Cross. And the setting we have in our hymnal is just the start. Have a listen below to the palette that Bach paints with in the other four harmonizations of this tune from St. Matthew Passion. As we walk through the passion, the part writing becomes more complex and glorious. All composition students at conservatory are required to study Bach’s harmonizations, and in these examples, you can hear why. And it’s not just classical musicians that are inspired by it. Paul Simon based his song “American Tune” on this melody after hearing Bach’s versions. It is this sort of inspired beauty that should re-invigorate the church to continue to teach musical literacy. Imagine if every one of us could pick up the hymnal and read these harmony parts. Ah, what music we could make together!
Sheet music: http://www.hymnary.org/page/fetch/TH1990/258/high
Bach’s harmonizations from St. Matthew Passion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MY-aowxVXfI
“American Tune”, Paul Simon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE3kKUEY5WU
Hymn: Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart
Text: Edward H. Plumptre, 1865 Tune: Arthur Messiter, 1883
This hymn is based on Philippians 4:4, which says “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice!”
I have often thought this hymn feels like the lesser known younger sibling of the famous “Onward, Christian Soldiers”. Frankly, I think it’s a better hymn, but remains largely unknown by comparison. They both share the late 19th century spirit of triumphalism and march-like musical quality. But whereas “Christian Soldiers” is more of a crusader call to arms, this hymn is a celebrant call to dance, sing, and above all, rejoice! The pilgrimage hymn verses were composed by Edward H. Plumptre as a processional for the 1865 Peterborough Choir Festival at the Peterborough Cathedral in England. Its first inclusion in a hymnal was in the Appendix to Hymns Ancient and Modern in 1868. The text originally had 11 stanzas, but did not include the refrain. That addition was the brainchild of a fellow Brit by the name of Arthur Messiter, who served as church organist at Trinity Episcopal in New York City. Messiter wrote the tune, then added words and music for a mini-refrain, and named it after his wife, Marion. The word “Rejoice” is traded antiphonally in the refrain. See if you can practice these parts at home. Much like the refrain to “It is well with my soul”, these “echoes” of the text, traded between the men and women, add a wonderful dimension to the singing, and are a wonderful musical depiction of the phrase “Again I will say, Rejoice!”
Sheet music: http://www.hymnary.org/media/fetch/96249
Piano accompaniment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ECsdYrn4DI
This week’s liturgy lesson, in order to creatively celebrate Christ, has been brought to you by the letter “B”:
Bright and Morning Star, Bread of Life, Bearer of Sin, Banner over us, Balm of Gilead, Beginning, Bridegroom. The very blueprint of beauty. He Banished, Battled, and Bewildered Beelzebub. He bestowed the bible on His betrothed, and blesses the world with Bach. He builds Boulders and bubbles. Buds and Bodies. Buoyant Butterflies, Buzzing Bees, and the Babies Boo-hoo. Brooks babbling from Barren Buttes. Blanketing it all in his blessing.
He blesses, beholds, and breathes into the bold belting of believers.