Music for Sunday, 29 August 2021 – The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Our opening organ voluntary today is a lovely “Andantino” by English composer Harold Darke, who was for many years the Director of Music at St Michael’s Church, Cornhill, London. He is best know as the composer of the gorgeous Christmas Carol “In the Bleak Mid-winter.” When the great English composer Charles Hubert H. Parry died in 1918, his memorial service was held at London’s St Paul’s Cathedral. He had begun working on a collection of organ miniatures called “The Little Organ Book” (a tribute to Bach’s “Orgelbüchlein”), but only completed the first piece in the collection. Many of his friends had composed short organ pieces to be played at his memorial service, and they were later published together as “The Little Organ Book in memory of Parry.”
The closing voluntary is a “Marche-Sortie” by the French composer Théodore Dubois. He was the Director of the Paris Conservatory from 1891-1896, and composed a great deal of organ music, in a rather conservative style, sometimes a little uninspired, but eminently listenable. This is a rather jolly march with a quieter middle section, from a set of Seven Pieces for the organ published in London in 1898.
Our 9:00 service will be a “Celebration” Eucharist with music by the Celebration Choir. Two pieces we are singing are notable. The first is our Sequence hymn “Valediction,” which is a unique setting of the words “O Wheat, whose crushing was for bread” by the Episcopal rock musician Isaac Everett. He is the executive director of the “Crèche Community” based at Emmanuel Church on Boston, and the author of the “Emergent Psalter,” a setting of the psalms in contemporary music and language. One of the songs from his 2006 album “Rotation,” the first verse is sung by soloist Mary Smith, with the choir joining in for the subsequent verses.
The offertory anthem is the popular setting of “For the Beauty of the earth” by John Rutter, who is probably the most often performed English composer in the world today. He was for many years the Director of Music at Clare College in Cambridge, and he has written music for Royal Weddings and Funerals, and many other great occasions. This piece is typical of his more popular style of composing, with his long lyrical lines and sparkling accompaniment.
The 11:15 service this Sunday is a “Traditional” Rite 1 Eucharist, with music sung by the Cathedral Choir. The offertory anthem today is a real “barn-burner:” the Magnificat from the evening canticles in E major by the American composer Horatio Parker. He is well-known for being the first full-time Professor of Music at an American University (Yale), also as the Director of Music at the famed Trinity Episcopal Church in Boston. His “Magnificat” is a great sing for the choir, and the “Gloria” at the end is completely over the top! We hope you enjoy it.
We hope you will join us for either in-person worship, or on our Trinity Cathedral livestream (11:30). Details can be found on our website: http://www.trinitycathedral.org
David Link FGMS, Canon Precentor & Director of Music at Trinity Cathedral.
Cross Talk 