9:00am Eucharist, II

      Training Choir / Canterbury Choir

      John Linker, Organist/Choirmaster

              Bach / Nun komm der Heiden Heiland, BWV 659

              Bedford / Prepare a way for the Lord (Training Choir)

              Arr. Phillips / People, Look East

              Hymns

                 70                 Herald sound the note of judgment          Herald, Sound

                 68* (St. 1)    Rejoice! rejoice, believers                            Llangloffan

                 69*               What is the crying at Jordan?           St Mark's Berkeley

                 65*               Prepare the way, O Zion           Bereden v�g f�r Herran

11:15am Eucharist, II

      Treble Choir / Parish Choir

      John Linker, Organist/Choirmaster

              Bach / Nun komm der Heiden Heiland, BWV 659

              Plainsong / Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13

              Arr. Phillips / People, Look East

              Handel / How beautiful are the feet (from Messiah)

              Hymns

                 70                 Herald sound the note of judgment          Herald, Sound

                 68* (St. 1)    Rejoice! rejoice, believers                             Llangloffan

                 69*               What is the crying at Jordan?           St Mark's Berkeley

                 65*               Prepare the way, O Zion           Bereden v�g f�r Herran

4:15pm Organ Recital

      Jane Johnson, Organ

            Gerald Near / Veni, veni Emmanuel & Conditor alme siderum

            Sweelinck / Puer nobis nascitur

            Guilmant / Pastorale (from Sonata No. 1, Op. 42)

            Fleury / Variations sur un No�l bourguignon

            Dupr� / Cort�ge et Litanie, Op. 19, No. 2

5:00pm Eucharist, II

      Owen Sammons, Visiting Organist

            Hymns

            70                       Herald, sound the note of judgment          Herald, Sound

            68* (st. 1)           Rejoice, rejoice, believers                              Llangloffan

            66*                     Come, ye long-expected Jesus                            Stuttgart

[* = Hymns chosen from the 2009 Hymn Survey]

Sunday's program opens with two settings based on Gregorian chant themes which are still used in our modern hymnals.  American Gerald Near is considered one of the finest composers of church music writing today.  These two settings, from his Chantworks collection, weave lush harmonies and intricate dissonances to quietly express the wonder and anticipation of the season of Advent.

Jan Sweelinck was the most outstanding organist, composer, and teacher in northern Europe during the late 16th century.  Many organists traveled to Amsterdam to hear him play and to study with him.  His compositions transitioned from the Renaissance to the early Baroque period, combining figurations and variation techniques of virginal writing with strong contrapuntal writing.  Sweelinck wrote many variations, allowing the color of various organ stop combinations to add interest to his writing.  His variations do not present the theme in simple form at the beginning, but start immediately with the first variation.  In these variations, the basic melody remains in mostly the same form but the counterpoint changes from variation to variation, or sometimes within a variation.  Rhythmic patterns provide vitality and interest and often progress to more active patterns in each successive variation.  Chromaticism adds additional color.  Puer nobis nascitur, generally translated as "Unto Us is Born a Son", is a medieval Christmas carol.  In The Hymnal 1982 it may be found at number 103.

French composer Felix Alexandre Guilmant wrote for the symphonic organ of his time.  Guilmant later added orchestral color to his Sonata No. 1 in the Symphony for Organ and Orchestra.  Today, we hear the second movement of the Sonata, the Pastorale, in its original organ solo form.  It begins with orchestral reeds in counterpoint, and later showcases the lush strings and flutes that are also typical of the 19th century French concert organ.  

No�ls were vernacular Christmas verses which were used at Christmas mass in medieval times.  In the 17th and 18th centuries, organists used no�ls as a basis for extended improvisations, relying on the variety of note values and the color of the organ stops to hold the listener's attention.  Twentieth-century French organist and composer Andr� Fleury used some of these same techniques in his Variations sur un No�l bourguignon, written in 1959-60.  The listener will hear echo effects, mixed and multiple meters, and intricate close harmonies that show the influence of Fleury's teacher Marcel Dupr�.  

French composer Marcel Dupr� was born into a musical family.  His father was an organist, and served as young Dupr�'s first piano teacher.  His father believed strongly in developing a good piano background before undertaking study on another instrument.  Marcel was enchanted by the organ, however, and would use his toy blocks to make organ pedals that he pretended to play as he practiced.  When Marcel was eventually allowed to study organ, he could only practice organ 15 minutes for every 45 minutes spent at the piano.  His diligent practice paid off as he became well-known for his organ concerts, including a series of ten concerts he gave in Paris in 1920 in which he performed the complete Bach organ works--from memory!  Dupr� was somewhat of a child prodigy, composing his first piece at the age of 10.  He continued composing as he concertized all over Europe and America, often composing in hotels or on trains.  The Cort�ge et Litanie is one of his most popular works, and is one of my favorite pieces to play.  It was originally part of a suite of incidental music written for a chamber orchestra of 11 instruments.  Dupr� also arranged it as a piano solo, an organ solo, and for organ and symphony orchestra.  The Cort�ge et Litanie was written shortly after the end of World War I, the "war to end all wars."  It is fitting to hear it today, the 73rd anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  The piece consists of two themes.  The Cort�ge melody is played on the lush, soft strings of the organ with the end of each phrase punctuated by a motif of two repeated notes, like the tolling of a distant bell.  The Litanie theme is evocative of the repetitive prayer of a litany.  This theme continues over and over as a supplication before the Cort�ge theme returns and the two themes combine towards a toccata-like conclusion, the relentless rhythmic drive of which is characteristic of Dupr�'s works.  On this second Sunday of Advent, Peace Sunday, may Dupr�'s music serve as our prayer, "O come, Desire of nations, bind all peoples in one heart and mind; bid envy, strife and quarrels cease; fill the whole world with heaven's peace."