From Director of Music Martha Niepold Johnson:

The Day of Pentecost is one of the three important feast days of the Christian Calendar, and at 11:15 this morning we welcome new members through Holy Baptism and celebrate Festal Choral Eucharist featuring movements of the Missa Brevis in D by Mozart, written for the Cathedral in Salzburg. Mozart's charming setting of the text for Pentecost, "Veni, Sancte Spiritus", was written early in 1768 (he was 12 years old!) while staying in Vienna with his family. During the same year he wrote a short opera, a trumpet concerto (now lost), and a festal mass setting.   In this work and other short sacred pieces from these years, he imitates the current graceful Italian style in the instrumental parts and already shows a firm grasp of vocal part writing.  

During communion, the choir sings the well-known motet "Ave Verum Corpus" by Mozart, written during the last year of his life for the choirmaster at Baden, Anton Stoll.   The strings, which were the normal accompaniment for services in Austria, also play one of Mozart's seventeen Church Sonatas before the service.  These succinct works were written to be played between the Epistle and Gospel at the Salzburg Cathedral.  Following the service we hear variations on the Pentecost chant sequence, "Veni Creator Spiritus" (sung at communion) from French composer Duruflé's "Prelude, Adagio and Choral Varié", Opus 4.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The tempera-on-wood Pentecost painting below is by Duccio di Buoninsegna, from about 1310. It's 37.5 x 42.5 cm, and was formerly housed in the Cathedral in Siena, Italy. It's now in the collection of the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo there.

From Director of Music Martha Niepold Johnson:

The service celebrates a few of the many composers of the last century, and this century, who work to continue the tradition of reaching for the highest excellence in church music for our worship.  Herbert Howells' organ voluntary, Master Tallis' Testament, honors the Tudor composer Thomas Tallis (whom Howells was convinced he was related to!) with modal melodies and early rhythmic patterns.

 At the Offertory, the choir sings a new anthem by recent Curtis graduate Daniel Shapiro (2011) who sets a remarkable poem from George Herbert's The Temple.  Among his other talents - statesman, rector, poet - George Herbert founded several churches in the 17th-century. 'The Church-Floore' from The Temple (1633) is one of several poems in the collection that depicts his architectural leanings not only through alliterative writing, but in the very layout of verse-on-page. Dan was inspired not only by Herbert's unique sense of meter and scansion, but by his keen observation that a church is not held up by brick or mortar. Rather, it is the Love of Christ, and our Charity toward one another, that binds the walls of that most tenuous building in which God chose to erect his Church: the human heart.

From Director of Music Martha Niepold Johnson:

The fourth Sunday of Easter

This Sunday is often designated "Good Shepherd Sunday" because of its theme of loving care by our Lord, who knows us each by name.  Two movements of Bach's "Pastorale" for organ are played as the opening voluntary.

Pastoral images also abound in the scripture and poetry set to music for this day.  The appointed psalm, Ps. 23, is sung at communion in a setting of a metrical paraphrase fromt the 17th century.  The familiar tune "Brother James' Air" was composed by James Leith Macbeth Bain in the style of a folk melody.  The composer speaks of this psalm: "..the whole of the Christ-blessedness, and all the strength of the great Body of Christ, even the One Holy Catholic Church of Heaven and Earth, can be uttered..in this Psalm of the Heart of God." (from the original score).

The 100th Psalm is also especially appropriate for this Sunday, and the choir sings another metrical setting at the Offertory attributed to Tudor composer Thomas Tallis.

(The the photograph at right shows a sculpture of The Good Shepherd, from around 300 CE.  It's marble, 92cm high, and the legs have been restored; the sculpture resides in the Vatican Museum in Rome.)

Director of Music Martha Niepold Johnson writes:

The powerful stories and images contained in the liturgies of Holy Week, from the exultant ‘Hosannas' at the Liturgy of the Palms, the events of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, to the triumphant themes of the Easter Vigil and Easter morning---all have inspired a wealth of vocal, choral and instrumental works. We will sing traditional hymns ("All Glory Laud and Honor" as the palms are distributed, "Jesus Christ is risen today," on Easter Sunday) and newer hymns that have been embraced by the church (the new passiontide hymn by English poet Rosalind Brown sung on Maundy Thursday).

Thee oldest music of Holy Week is plainchant, sung on Maundy Thursday as the altar is stripped (Psalm 22) and at the Easter Vigil as we sing psalms and canticles in response to the lessons.  The uncluttered lines of chant allow the words and story to become central. Composers from the 17th and 18th centuries contributed to this wealth of music with cantatas, such as Buxtehude's "Today in Triumph" (Heut triumphieret Gottes Sohn) for choir, organ, trumpets and timpani. Handel's Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah will also be sung on Easter morning.

Composers today have also responded to the texts and stories of Holy Week. David Hogan's festive setting of "O sons and daughters of the King" for choir and trumpet is sung at the Easter Vigil, and Healey Willan's lyrical setting of "Rise up my love" is sung on Easter morning.

Below is Peter Wtewael's "Christ Washing the Disciples' Feet," from 1623.

Director of Music Martha Niepold Johnson writes about the music at 11:15am:

The events of Holy Week have inspired composers from all centuries.  The first part of the service commemorates the triumphal entry into Jerusalem with the blessing of the palms, including a setting of "Hosanna to the Son of David" by Spanish composer Tomas Luis da Victoria, culminating in the traditional processional "All Glory Laud and Honor". This liturgy began in Jerusalem in the 4th century and spread throughout Europe.  

Following the reading of the Passion Gospel, the mood changes and the music memorializes the Passion.  The choir sings an eight part motet Crucifixus by Antonio Lotti at the Offertory. The most famous of his many choral works written in 18th century Venice where Lotti served as choirmaster at the Basilica of St. Mark's, this motet experiments with unprepared dissonances and unusual harmonies for expressive purposes.  

At communion, a motet by American composer Leo Nestor sets the traditional passion text, Crux fidelis  (Faithful Cross). Dr. Nestor is a professor at Catholic University and is well known for his imaginative choral and instrumental works.

The service ends quietly as we sing the beloved Passion Chorale, followed by Brahms' luminous setting of it for organ.

 

Below is Giotto di Bondone's Christ's Entry Into Jerusalem, from about 1306.

From Director of Music Martha Niepold Johnson and organist Keenan Boswell:

At 9 am:

The opening voluntary this morning is the Psalm Prelude, Opus 1, No 3, based on the 23rd Psalm.  The psalm prelude as a genre was, and in many respects is still, one of the staples of English church music repertoire.  Herbert Howells wrote three sets of preludes, each based on a verse from the book of Psalms. These pieces were written with the intention of being played as the opening voluntary for the Sunday on which the psalm was read. The pieces opens with the bells of death, setting a somber morbid tone.  Howells takes the listener on a journey through the valley of the shadow of death towards the light of Christ on the Cross.  This piece was intended to be played on such a fine instrument as St. Peter's Skinner.

At the Offertory this morning the choir sings the traditional African-American spiritual "Give me Jesus," recently arranged by William Witherup, an Episcopal choirmaster in Meadville, PA.  Spirituals have increasingly become part of mainstream church music, beginning in the late nineteenth century after the Fisk Jubilee Singers toured throughout America and inspired others to learn them and incorporate them into worship. 

We also introduce a new hymn at communion, "O wheat, whose crushing was for bread" composed by Professor Shirley W. McRae of the University of Memphis.  The text by Sr. Delores Duffner, OSB, seeks to understand the difficult concept of sacrifice in memorable images - crushing, breaking, flowing, pouring, spending, and mourning - ending in the final verse with "birth to everlasting life." 

At 11:15 am:

See the notes at 9am above about the Howells Psalm Prelude, played this morning as the voluntary.

The choir sings two psalm anthems from seventeenth-century France and England.  De profundis (Out of the Deep, Psalm 130) was set no less than eight times by Marc-Antoine Charpentier and was undoubtedly called for in both funeral liturgies and services at the court chapels of the duchess of Guise and the Dauphin, and later at the St. Chapelle, where he served as maitre de musique.  The straightforward faux-bourdon setting alternates verses of full choir with choirs of lower voices and trebles.

At communion, the lower voices sing a "verse" anthem by Tudor composer Thomas Morley, an organist at St. Paul's cathedral, but perhaps better known for his sprightly madrigals.  Verses of Psalm 119 are varied by sections for solo alto interspersed with verses for choir in a style reminiscent of William Byrd, Morley's  teacher.

From Music Director Martha Niepold Johnson:

Music at 11:15 a.m.

This morning the choir sings two American choral works.  Virgil Thomson wrote in almost every genre of music, and is recognized for being instrumental in developing the "American classical style".  His choral music is rooted in early hymnbook harmonies, and the setting of Psalm 23 today is based on a shape note tune.  Writing more recently, David Hurd, Professor of Music at General Seminary in New York, has set one of George Herbert's most famous poems ("Love Bade Me Welcome") with a simple, chant-like simplicity, which is yet embued with 21st century harmonic language.

Throughout Lent we continue to sing movements of Richard Proulx's adaption of Russian liturgical music.  This morning we introduce the Lord's Prayer and we invite you to sing along with this quiet, worshipful setting.

Music Director Martha Niepold Johnson writes:

Music at 9am:

Our St. Peter’s Singers lead our worship this week and at the Offertory sing a setting of a tune from the early nineteenth-century folk  hymn tradition, Nettleton (“Come, thou fount of every blessing”).  The words were written by Robert Robinson in 1758 for a Pentecost celebration and in its combination of “Christian experience with gratitude seems to reflect the author’s spiritual pilgrimage during his youth.” (Hatchett, Hymnal 1982 Companion). California composer James Hopkins has arranged the hymn for choir and organ.
 
The baptismal focus of the readings for Year A of the lectionary is particularly clear on this third Sunday with the story of the woman at the well and Christ’s life-giving redemption. At communion we sing a new hymn from Wonder, Love, and Praise paraphrasing Psalm 42 by one of our greatest new hymn writers, The Rev. Dr. Carl Daw.  The tune by Ohio composer John Carter is simply based on a single phrase which is varied subtley for each line of text.

Music at 11:15am:

We begin Choral Matins this week, led by our choirs of Girls and Men and Boys,  with the singing of the Jubilate (Psalm 100), a song of thanksgiving and praise used as an entrance song in the Temple. It entered our Prayer Book in 1552. It is sung to the plainchant Tone 7.  The second canticle, the Song of Penitence, is new to this Prayer Book.  It is a portion of the Prayer of Manasseh in the Apocrypha and was also used in the Mozarabic rite during Lent.  The choir sings Sumsion’s setting of the Magnificat, or Song of Mary, as the  third canticle.
 
The Year A lectionary readings have, as mentioned above, a clear baptismal focus; the Gospel this week is the story of the woman at the well. Herbert Howells’ setting of “Like as the hart desireth the waterbrooks” (Psalm 42) is one of four anthems composed in 1941 that have become staples of the Anglican repertory.  In spite of a long successful career writing for concert hall and professional ensembles, Howells continued to speak to the importance of cathedral and church training for musicians, and to the centrality of British church music in a “noisy world [where] the still small voice of church music may not easily be heard.”

From Music Director Martha Niepold Johnson:

Music at 9 a.m.

The propers during Year A continue to explore baptismal themes as this morning the lessons and hymns reflect on accepting Jesus as our Savior and our faith journey.  A Lutheran chorale ("If thou but trust in God", found in the Hymnal at No. 635) is the basis of the opening organ voluntary by Twentieth-century Dutch composer Flor Peeters.  

The quintessential psalm of trust is Psalm 121 ("I lift up my eyes to the hills"), sung by all to a hymntune we will use throughout Lent, "St. Flavian", and then at the Offertory by the Girls Choir in a familiar setting by Felix Mendelssohn from his oratorio "Elijah."

The service music also uses some familiar hymn tunes as we seek to broaden the experience of our young people.  The African tune "Thuma mia" is the basis of a Kyrie from our Hymnal supplement Wonder, Love, and Praise (also the source of the Sanctus, based on an American folk tune).  

Music at 11:15 a.m.

As noted in the notes for 9 a.m., the  Lutheran chorale “If thou but trust in God”  is the basis of the opening organ voluntary by Flor Peeters.
 
At the offertory, the choir sings a motet by Heinrich Schutz (1585-1672), one of the most prolific and original composers of the seventeenth century, at the Offertory.  Also hat Gott die Welt deliebt (“For God so loved the world”), a choral motet on verses from our appointed Gospel, is a direct offshoot of Renaissance motets by composers like Palestrina and Byrd, setting the words in distinct sections in a variety of textures.

At communion, the choir sings Elizabeth Poston’s carol, “Jesus Christ the Apple Tree”, a setting of an anonymous poem from a New England collection of 1784. Its imagery of holy fruit that “keeps my dying faith alive” speaks to us powerfully. Overshadowed by her good friends Peter Warlock and Ralph Vaughan Williams, Poston nevertheless had a long successful career as composer, pianist and collector of folksongs.  Her love of folksongs can be heard in this setting with its lilting melody set in a variety of textures. She lived for 73 years at Rooks Nest House, the subject of E.M. Forster's Howards End, and wrote the score for film adaptation in 1970.  (Here's is an mp3 file of the anthem as sung on March 20.)