A treat for the early service...

This Sunday's lectionary text focuses on Jacob - and includes the story of his dream about the ladder reaching up to heaven, with angels ascending and descending on it.

Craig Courtney, a composer with hundreds of publications and an impressive resume - including a six-year stint on the piano faculty of the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria - published a choral anthem last year galled The Gate of Heaven. It was written in memory of Burke Rice, a young man who was preparing to enter the police force. Burke's family requested the song be based on Genesis 28:15-18, which includes the text:

 Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!” And he was afraid, and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

Lyricist Susan Bental Boersma took this request - as well as the family's wishes to incorporate the spiritual Jacob's Ladder and a cello part (in honor of Burke's best friend, a cellist) in the piece - and fashioned a sublime text, which begins:

God of the cloud and fire, my heart is in your hand.

This is a stunningly beautiful piece. The piano accompaniment, played with exquisite musicianship by Dr. Mary Newton, could stand on its own for a solo, as could the cello part, presented molto espressivo by WHS senior Maggie Matejcek. The anthem has already become a favorite of many in the choir, and I think you may well agree.

We are Climbing Jacob's Ladder arose as an African-American spiritual in the antebellum South. The words reflect confidence and hope in the face of difficult, horrible circumstances:

We are climbing Jacob’s ladder,
We are climbing Jacob’s ladder,
We are climbing Jacob’s ladder,
Soldiers of the cross.

Every round goes higher, higher,
Every round goes higher, higher,
Every round goes higher, higher,
Soldiers of the cross. 

The story of Jacob’s ladder, found in Genesis, is told in all three of the Abrahamic faith traditions. Though it might be interpreted differently in Judaism, Christianity or Islam, its basic message of connecting with God and aspiring to ascend to some higher meaning for our lives runs through the three traditions.


In his novel, The Oath, Elie Wiesel tells the story of a Jewish survivor of a pogrom, and at one point Wiesel writes:

“Through song,” said the Rebbe,“ man climbs to the highest palace.  From that palace he can influence the universe and its prisons. Song is Jacob’s ladder, forgotten on earth by the angels.  Sing and you shall defeat death, sing and you shall disarm the foe.”

Amen, and amen.

Lamb of God

I mentioned in an earlier post how tricky it can be to find choral works which connect in some way to the lectionary text of the day.

Not so this week. There are thousands of pieces which relate - and probably 99% of them have the same text:

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem.

which is to say,
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant us peace.

We have before us the story of Abraham and Isaac. The key part of text, at least for these musical purposes, is Genesis 22:8 - Abraham said, "God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." It presages John the Baptist's remark when he first spied Jesus, "Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29). And those are the sources for our text.

The text was a Syrian custom introduced into the Roman rite by Pope Sergius I (can you believe - there were four Popes named "Sergius?"). Sergius (c.650-701) was born to a Syrian family who settled in Sicily. He added the text to the Fraction of the mass - that moment when the bread is broken by the priest. He did this in protest against the Quinisext Council, which forbade the worship of Christ as the Lamb of God.

The Quinisext Council didn't garner rave reviews - "reprobate synod" and "erratic council" were the more family-friendly terms used to describe it. The text stayed in.

We'll be presenting the text - or a portion of it, anyway (see below) - as set by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525-1594).

From Wiki:

Palestrina was born in the town of Palestrina, near Rome, then part of the Papal States. Documents suggest that he first visited Rome in 1537, when he is listed as a chorister at the Santa Maria Maggiore basilica. He spent most of his career in the city.

Palestrina came of age as a musician under the influence of the northern European style of polyphony, which owed its dominance in Italy primarily to two influential Franco-Flemish composers, Guillaume Dufay and Josquin des Prez, who had spent significant portions of their careers there. Italy itself had yet to produce anyone of comparable fame or skill in polyphony.

Polyphony is a style of music with 2 or more independent lines of melody. This distinguishes it from our more familiar homophonic style, with its one melody and chords.

Palestrina's particular brand of polyphony is called Imitative Counterpoint - the voices enter at different times, singing the same music (though sometimes with variations). You'll hear this quite clearly in the Choir's presentation.

About that "portion" of the text comment: In this particular mass (Missa Aeterna Christi Munera - Mass for the Eternal Gifts of Christ), Palestrina divided the Agnus Dei into 2 parts. The first part, Agnus Dei I, is in 4-part harmony (SATB) and sets the text Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. The second part, Agnus Dei II (what else?), is in 5 parts (SATBB) and sets the last line, Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem. It's this second portion we'll be singing Sunday.

You can hear the entire Agnus Dei here - Agnus Dei II starts at about 2:08.

The mass (one of 104 Palestrina is known to have composed) was written in 1590 - one of 7 masses he created that year. It's known as a paraphrase mass - a method of creating large structures based on a single tune, in this case the hymn, Aeterna Christi Munera, which is attributed to (though with a measurable degree of uncertainty) to St. Ambrose (c.340-397), who is credited with being the Father of Christian Hymnody.

I should probably mention that Palestrina didn't write for SATB and SATBB choirs; women were not included in the choirs of the day, so the arrangements were TTBB and TTBBB - and in a different key from what we'll do. Still, the music has beautiful lines and almost shimmering textures - hallmarks of Palestrina's style.

One last thing: Palestrina died in 1594 on Groundhog's Day, Old Style. I don't really think that means anything.

We shoulda charged admission...

GREAT choir rehearsal last night! Whereas last week's rehearsal was primarily concerned with simply reading through and getting a feel for a stack of music mostly new to the group, last night we had a chance to work more in depth on some of the pieces.

And the results were wonderful: There were moments of great music-making, passionate singing that were simply thrilling to hear. This is one of the marvelous secrets the congregation doesn't get to share - the magic moments of transcendent music-making which occur when talented singers "get it," all at the same time. When I worked in musical theatre, we talked about "finding the groove," those occasions when a show finally set, when we all knew exactly what to do, what to expect, anticipating and preparing for each passage in each song in the show.

Last night, the Senior Choir began to find its groove. It's something we have to work for on each piece, and we have a long way to go (9 of the 15 pieces we'll sing this fall are new to the group - a larger than average percentage of new works for a church choir's schedule). But we had some glorious moments, some amazing sounds last night. Driving home, I found myself wondering: If they sound like this the second rehearsal of the season, just where might this choir go this year? Interesting question; time will tell.

This Sunday we begin our second year using the Narrative Lectionary, and the text for the day is Genesis 1 - Creation. The choir's anthem is a choral setting of the hymn I Sing the Mighty Power of God by Anna Laura Page.

It's an altogether grand setting of the piece. The choir is accompanied by organ, piano, brass quartet and handbells. Festive, it is.

The words to the hymn come from Isaac Watts (1674-1748), the Father of English Hymnody (he's credited with writing about 750 hymns).

Watts' taste for verse showed it­self in ear­ly child­hood, and his prom­ise caused a lo­cal doc­tor and other friends to of­fer him a un­i­ver­si­ty ed­u­ca­tion, as­sum­ing he would be or­dained in the Church of Eng­land.


How­ev­er, Watts de­clined and in­stead en­tered a Non­con­for­mist (non-Anglican) Acad­e­my. He left the Acad­e­my at age 20 and spent two years at home; it was dur­ing this per­i­od that he wrote the bulk of his Hymns and Spir­it­u­al Songs.
The present work comes from Di­vine and Mor­al Songs for Child­ren (1715). The text echoes a creation text from Jeremiah 10:12-13:

It is he who made the earth by his power,
    who established the world by his wisdom,
    and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.
When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
    and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightnings for the rain,
    and he brings out the wind from his storehouses.

The tune for this hymn is Forest Green, a traditional English tune arranged by composer Ralph Vaughan Williams for the English Hymnal of 1906. Interestingly, the same tune as been used for O Little Town of Bethlehem.

The choir (and accompanying musicians) will present the work at both the 9:00 and 10:30 services on Sunday.