Lessons and Carols 2011

Lessons and Carols 2011

Opening Hymn: Once In Royal David’s City
As per tradition at Cambridge’s Lessons and Carols, this hymn begins the service. A solo soprano sings the first stanza, and the congregation is invited to join at the second stanza. The hymn was written by Cecil Alexander and included in her Hymns for Little Children (1848), as an illustration of the Apostles’ Creed’s statement on the birth of Jesus.

Carol: Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus
While we generally associate this hymn with Advent, Charles Wesley wrote and included it in his Hymns for the Nativity of Our Lord (1745). Another hymn with roots in the Hebrew Scriptures, this one draws from Isaiah 9:6 (“For to us a child is born…”) and Haggai 2:7 (“desire of every nation”). Geoffrey Wainwright and Robin A. Leaver write, “Christ’s redemptive and liberating rule is seen here stereoscopically in all its stages, from prophecy through the Incarnation to present sovereignty and final triumph; it bears individual, communal, and ultimately cosmic dimensions.”

Anthem: Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming
There are two forms of this hymn; the first has twenty-three stanzas (we won’t be singing that setting!), while the second contains six. Based on Isaiah 11:1, the hymn originally referred to Mary as the “rose,” but sixteenth-century reformers changed the emphasis of the hymn to Jesus.

Carol: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
The text for “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” comes from a seven verse poem that dates back to the eighth century. It was used in a call and response fashion during the vespers, or evening, service. The original text created the reverse acrostic “ero cras,” which means “I shall be with you tomorrow,” which is fitting, as we look back and forward to the coming of Christ.

Anthem: “There Shall A Star from Jacob Come Forth” from Christus
This chorus comes from Mendelssohn’s unfinished oratorio, Christus. An oratorio is a large-scale work, like an opera, but is often not staged in a dramatic production. Well-known oratorios include Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Handel’s Messiah. This chorus begins with a paraphrase of Numbers 24:17 and Psalm 2:9, foretelling the coming of the savior. The second half of the piece is a setting of the German chorale tune Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern ("How lovely shines the morning star"). The chorale’s text comes from Psalm 45 and Revelation 22:16, where Jesus is referred to as “the bright morning star.”

Anthem: Climb to the Top of the Highest Mountain
Carolyn Jennings’ piece is based on Isaiah 40, particularly verse 9: “Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, ‘Here is your God!’” A recommendation: have Isaiah 40 open as you hear the anthem, and dwell on the text as it is brought to life in music.

Carol: Canticle of the Turning
The term “canticle” refers to a text in the Bible that was sung. In its strictest sense, it refers to those texts that are not the Psalms. Examples include the songs of Moses and Miriam in Exodus 15:1-18 and 15:21, as well as Mary’s Magnificat. Paul Westermeyer writes that the Magnificat is “a revolutionary text, not appreciated by dictators. If anyone thinks biblical and liturgical texts are tame, this one will quickly set the matter straight.” This paraphrase of the Magnificat, written by Rory Cooney, has an edge to it not found in many modern hymns. Cooney says he “simply wanted to write a setting of the canticle that attempted to capture the revolutionary spirit of the gospel, of a God who ‘pulls down the mighty from their thrones and raises up the lowly.’”

Anthem: What Child
William Chatterton Dix originally titled this poem, “The Manger Throne.” The poem details the paradox of Jesus’ coming to earth as a weak, helpless child, all the while being God incarnate.

Anthem: Where Shepherds Lately Knelt
Jaroslav Vajda, an American hymn writer of Slovak descent, wrote this moving text detailing the birth of Christ as the shepherds approach the manger. It also uses Old Testament references to the Messiah, as Jesus’ incarnation fulfills the prophecies.

Carol: The First Nowell
An old English carol, the hymnal employs the Old English “Nowell” as opposed to the more familiar “Noel.” First published in 1823, the carol has no attributed author, as is the case with many English carols and folk songs. The tune THE FIRST NOWELL has been used with this text since 1833.

Carol: Joy to the World!
Isaac Watts wrote this hymn at the age of fifteen, shepherding in a musical revolution in Reformed worship. Before this time, hymns were written solely as paraphrases or word-by-word settings of biblical texts; after Watts began writing, hymns began to appear that were composed by humans who wished to provide new texts to old stories from scripture. LindaJo McKim writes, “Watts believed our songs are a human offering of praise to God. Therefore the words should be our own.” Indeed, this is why we find such texts as “Joy to the World” and “Canticle of the Turning” used in the same service: each serves as a means of expressing one writer’s (and, by extension, a generation’s) faith to the next.

Carol: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Charles Wesley’s hymn has been edited many times over; the first line from 1739 originally read, “Hark, how all the welkin (an archaic term referring to the sky or heavens) rings, Glory to the King of kings.” The text was then altered by Wesley in 1743; the present first line comes from George Whitefield’s A Collection of Hymns for Social Worship, published in 1753. The tune, MENDELSSOHN, comes from a melody written by Felix Mendelssohn in 1840.

December 11, 2011

10:55 Gathering Song: Beautiful Star of Bethlehem

John Jacob Niles

“Beautiful Star of Bethlehem” is an Appalachian folk carol that is highly representative of the genre. Most traditional music from this culture is based on folk ballads and instrumental dance tunes. The ballads were almost always sung a cappella (unaccompanied) by women, as they were responsible to preserve the heritage of their families’ culture. John Jacob Niles is largely responsible for reviving the American folk music heritage in the 1950s and 1960s, having collected ballads for much of his life. The University of Kentucky holds his collection at the John Jacob Niles Center for American Music.

Hymn: Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies

Written by Charles Wesley, this hymn first appeared in three stanzas under the title “Morning Hymn.” Paul Westermeyer notes that the hymn, “as Charles Wesley wrote it is a Christological statement developed by images of light,” and as is true with many of Charles Wesley’s hymns, it is full of scriptural references. The images of light include verses from Luke 1:78-79, “the day shall dawn upon us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness,” and Revelation 22:16, the “bright morning star.”

Hymn: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

The past several weeks we have focused on the origin of this hymn text, as each stanza focuses on a different description of the Messiah. This week, we turn our attention to the tune, which finds its roots in a French Franciscan nunnery, where it was employed as a processional hymn during a funeral mass.

Hymn: Canticle of the Turning

Rory Cooney

The term “canticle” refers to a text in the Bible that was sung. In its strictest sense, it refers to those texts that are not the Psalms. Examples include the songs of Moses and Miriam in Exodus 15:1-18 and 15:21, as well as Mary’s Magnificat. Paul Westermeyer writes that the Magnificat is “a revolutionary text, not appreciated by dictators. If anyone thinks biblical and liturgical texts are tame, this one will quickly set the matter straight.” This paraphrase of the Magnificat, written by Rory Cooney, has an edge to it not found in many modern hymns. Cooney says he “simply wanted to write a setting of the canticle that attempted to capture the revolutionary spirit of the gospel, of a God who ‘pulls down the mighty from their thrones and raises up the lowly.’” The tune, STAR OF COUNTY DOWN, is the Irish version of KINGSFOLD, which is the setting for several hymns in The Presbyterian Hymnal. You’ll notice that the first two lines of the tune repeat, almost identically; the third line is new, and the fourth is same as the first two. The refrain is exactly the same as the third and fourth lines.

December 4, 2011

10:55 Gathering Song: The King of Glory Comes

Willard Jabusch, a Catholic priest, wrote this text in 1965 to be used for a folk-music ensemble at a Catholic parish in Illinois. Jabusch wrote five stanzas in the original text; we will sing the first and third today as they relate to Christ’s coming. The first stanza and refrain are based on Psalm 24:8 and Isaiah 7:14, while the third references Isaiah 53.

Hymn: O Lord, How Shall I Meet You?

This text, written by Paul Gerhardt and published in 1653, has found itself used many times over since its initial publication, perhaps no more famously than in J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. Gerhardt was a German pastor who served several churches and wrote over one hundred hymns. The tune VALET WILL ICH DIR GEBEN is also known as ST. THEODULPH, and is used as the tune for “All Glory, Laud and Honor.”

Hymn after Proclamation: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

The text for “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” comes from a seven verse poem that dates back to the eighth century. It was used in a call and response fasion during the vespers, or evening, service. The original text created the reverse acrostic “ero cras,” which means “I shall be with you tomorrow,” which is fitting, as we look back and forward to the coming of Christ.

Hymn: Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

The Psalter Hymnal Handbook notes that the Greek text of “Let All Mortal Flesh” may date back to the fifth century. It is based on a prayer chanted by the priest when the bread and wine are brought to the table of the Lord. The author writes, “The text expresses awe at Christ’s coming (st. 1) and the mystery of our perception of Christ in the body and blood (st. 2). With the images from Isaiah 6 and Revelation 5, it portrays the glory of Christ (sung to by angels) and his victory over sin (st. 3-4). Although it has a eucharistic [communion] emphasis, the text pictures the nativity of Christ in a majestic manner and in a much larger context than just his birth in Bethlehem. We are drawn into awe and mystery with our own alleluias.”

Response: Feel the Spirit in the Kicking, stanza 2

Richard Leach wrote this hymn as a setting for the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth in Luke 1, when Elizabeth hears Mary’s voice and the baby she is pregnant with “leaps for joy.” The second stanza, which we’ll sing today, draws from Mary’s song, the Magnificat (“my soul magnifies the Lord”).

Timothy Dudley-Smith, hymn writer

10:55 Anthem: He Comes to Us as One Unknown

Timothy Dudley-Smith wrote this hymn while on vacation in 1982, and has written, “The opening line of this hymn is part of a longer sentence from the closing pages of Albert Schweitzer’s The Quest of the Historical Jesus (1919), which says of Christ, ‘He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lakeside, He came to those first men who knew Him not.’” Paul Westermeyer writes, “The hymn moves in the first two stanzas from a ‘sense of the divine’ which is part of the human experience to an increasingly Christian confession. The third stanza makes allusions to Revelation 1:15 (his voice like the sound of many waters), 1 Kings 19 (the still small voice), and 1 Chronicles 14:15 (the sound in the tops of trees a signal from God). By the fourth stanza ‘the text is explicitly Christian in its reference to both incarnation and to atonement.’ With stanza 5 ‘there is the personal response of faith to the Lord Jesus Christ of the New Testament,’ with allusions to Luke 24:27 (where Jesus on the Emmaus road interprets things about himself in the scriptures) and 1 Peter 1:8 (even though you do not see him you believe in him).” The tune for the hymn comes from the oratorio Judith by the English composer C. Hubert H. Parry. This anthem setting was arranged by John Ferguson, an esteemed American arranger of hymns who is in the midst of his final year of teaching at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.

November 27, 2011

8:30 Introit/Response: Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

This is an English metrical paraphrase of the “Cherubic Hymn” that comes from the Liturgy of St. James, which is sung as the bread and wine are brought in procession to the altar in the Orthodox Church. It sets the mood as we wait for the Lord to come, as Paul Westermeyer writes: “With silence, in fear and trembling, [the church] ponders the Lord of lords in human vesture and with the cherubim sings ‘Alleluia.’”

8:30 Offertory: Comfort, Comfort You My People

Written as a paraphrase of Isaiah 40, this hymn was initially intended to be used during the fest of St. John the Baptist, but is often now sung during Advent. The hymn emphasizes the comfort, peace, and pardon that Christ brings.

Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates

Based on Psalm 24:7-10, the hymn was written by Georg Weissel, who served as pastor of a church in Germany until his death in 1635. The text shifts its point of view between stanzas; the first stanza serves as a paraphrase of the Psalm. The second stanza exhorts Christians to open their hearts for Christ, while the third stanza implores Christ to abide within our hearts.

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

One of the best known Advent hymns, this text finds its origins in the early church and its practices. In the ninth century, a series of seven Advent antiphons (a short song sung before or after a psalm or canticle) were sung at Vespers before and after the Magnificat (Mary’s song, #600). Each of the antiphons began with “O” followed by a biblical title for the Messiah: “Wisdom;” “Lord;” “Root of Jesse;” “Key of David;” “Dayspring;” “King;” and “Emmanuel.” The last two Presbyterian hymnals have only included three of the stanzas. As a means of anticipating Jesus’ coming, we will sing a stanza after the Gospel reading each Sunday in Advent.

Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus

While we generally associate this hymn with Advent, Charles Wesley wrote and included it in his Hymns for the Nativity of Our Lord (1745). Another hymn with roots in the Hebrew Scriptures, this one draws from Isaiah 9:6 (“For to us a child is born…”) and Haggai 2:7 (“desire of every nation”). Geoffrey Wainwright and Robin A. Leaver write, “Christ’s redemptive and liberating rule is seen here stereoscopically in all its stages, from prophecy through the Incarnation to present sovereignty and final triumph; it bears individual, communal, and ultimately cosmic dimensions.”

10:55 Anthem: Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

This is an English metrical paraphrase of the “Cherubic Hymn” that comes from the Liturgy of St. James, which is sung as the bread and wine are brought in procession to the altar in the Orthodox Church. It sets the mood as we wait for the Lord to come, as Paul Westermeyer writes: “With silence, in fear and trembling, [the church] ponders the Lord of lords in human vesture and with the cherubim sings ‘Alleluia.’” Katherine Davis was a prolific composer, writing some eight hundred hymns choral pieces and arrangements; she also penned “The Little Drummer Boy” under the pseudonym “John Cowley” in the early twentieth century. 

November 20, 2011

10:55 Gathering Song and Response: Let All Things Now Living

Published under the pseudonym “John Cowley,” Katherine Davis wrote this hymn around 1925. Paul Westermeyer writes, “As a whole the text follows the bar form of the tune, with each stanza in two parts. The first half of the first stanza is a call to give thanks to God the creator, protector, and guide. The second half recounts God’s protecting care on our pilgrimage. The first half of the next stanza moves to the praise of the rest of the created order, and the last half provides a frame that calls us back to the joy of our thanksgiving.” Davis wrote around eight hundred choral pieces and arrangements, and also penned “The Little Drummer Boy.”

Crown Him with Many Crowns

The last Sunday before Advent is Christ the King Sunday, as we close out the liturgical year and begin anew with Christ’s coming. The text for this hymn, written by Matthew Bridges, included the caption: “On his head were many crowns (Revelation 19:12).” Each stanza is an elaboration on one of the names for Christ: “the Lamb;” “the Lord of love;” “the Lord of peace;” and “the Lord of years.” The tune DIADEMATA is named after the Greek word for “Crowns.”

Rejoice, the Lord is King

Written by Charles Wesley, this hymn is based on Phil. 4:4: “Rejoice in the Lord always! I will say it again: rejoice!” As Paul Westermeyer writes, this is a hymn that simply celebrates the Lordship of Christ and rejoices in it. The tune name, DARWALL’s 148^TH, comes from the composer John Darwall’s musical setting of the 148^th Psalm.

Now Thank We All Our God

Perhaps the most well known hymn to ever come out of Germany, the first two stanzas were written by Martin Rinkart around 1630 as a table prayer before a meal. They are based on a text from the apocryphal book of Ecclesiasticus 50:22-24: “And now bless the God of all, who everywhere works great wonders, who fosters growth from our birth.” The final stanza serves as a Trinitarian doxology.

10:55 Anthem: Be Thou My Vision

The text for this hymn comes from an ancient Irish poem, “Rob tu mo bhoile, a Comdie cride.” It was translated by Mary E. Byrne in 1905 and later versified by Eleanor Hull in 1912.  Alice Parker (b. 1925) has composed, conducted, arranged, taught, lectured, and written about music; her arrangements of American hymns with the legendary Robert Shaw are still part of the choral repertory. She is also an advocate for congregational singing, and has been named a Fellow of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada.