From: Richard Thomas <RichardAThomas@OptOnline.net>

Sent: Saturday, December 31, 2022 1:58 AM

Subject: Music for the OSHC Sunday Service of January 01, 2023, New Year's Day

 

Hi Choir,

 

                            Circumcision of Christ (1481) by Michael Pacher (c1435-1498)

        January 1st is regularly observed as the day of the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ in Eastern Orthodox churches (such as the Syrian Orthodox and the Coptic churches), and January 1 is still celebrated as the Circumcision of Christ in the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England.

https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/book-common-prayer/collects-epistles-and-gospels-8

        In the Roman church, January 1 was called “The Circumcision of the Lord and the Octave of the Nativity” for 392 years (from 1568 to 1960).

        In 1960, the Roman church changed the name to “The Solemnity of Mary the Holy Mother of God and the Octave Day of the Nativity.”

        Lutheran hymnbooks contained hymns related to the subject in hymnals published as late as 1996.

        There aren’t any circumcision hymns in the blue Presbyterian Hymnal (1990).  

        There aren’t very many good circumcision hymns anyway, as you can tell from the one below by Sebastien Besnault, a priest at St. Maurice at Sens —which is one of the better ones:

O happy day, when first was poured
The blood of our redeeming Lord!
O happy day, when first began
His sufferings for sinful man! . . .

Lord, circumcise our hearts, we pray,
Our fleshly natures purge away;
Thy name, Thy likeness may they bear:
Yea, stamp Thy holy image there!

        That hymn does have the redeeming quality of being usually sung to a tune adapted and harmonized by Bach. You can hear it played here:

        https://youtu.be/h1wBmhcxCI4 “O Happy Day, When First Was Poured”

        All the words of the hymn can be read here: https://www.blueletterbible.org/hymns/o/O_Happy_Day_When_First_Was_Poured.cfm

        It has appeared in 15 hymnals, including The English Hymnal of 1933.

        You might think the hymn would no longer be sung today, but though it may not be sung, it does appears in the Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary of 1996.

        A less popular hymn on the subject (appearing in only one hymnal) is “In the Time and Place Appointed.”  It was authored by John Ellerton in 1871 and appeared in The Book of Worship (1907) of the United Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the South.

        Also appearing in a single hymnal is Paul Gerhardt’s “Why Should They Such Pain E’er Give Thee?” There are six hymns by Paul Gerhardt in the blue Presbyterian Hymnal, but not this one on circumcision.

        And there is “Abraham’s Seed Was Circumcised” by the Baptist hymn writer, Anna Beeman, but that hymn is as much about baptism as circumcision. (It has only appeared in one hymnal, Hymns on Various Subjects, published in 1792.)

       I wasn’t able to find any circumcision hymns being sung in English on YouTube.

        The opening hymn is “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” hymn no. 29.  The lyrics and melody were collected by John Wesley Work, Jr. (also known as John Wesley Work II).  John Wesley Work, Jr., the son of a slave, was born 06 Aug 1871 in Nashville, Tennessee.  He was a director a church choir, some of whose members later formed the Fisk Jubilee Singers.  He attended Fisk University, taught in Tullahoma, Tennessee, and studied at Harvard.

      John Wesley Work II

        You can hear a rather interesting NPR story (broadcast on 25 Feb 2011) about the life of John Work II here:

                http://www.npr.org/2011/02/26/134028602/at-fisk-university-a-tradition-of-spirituals

        In 1904, John Work II became a Latin and history instructor at Fisk.  Working with his wife, Agnes Haynes (whom he had married in 1899), and his brother, Frederick Jerome Work, he collected slave songs and spirituals.  Their second collection, New Jubilee Songs and Folk Songs of the American Negro (1907) included "Go Tell It on the Mountain."  It was the spiritual’s first publication.

        The administration at Fisk developed a dislike of the old spirituals in the 1920s—partly because the songs had been part of slave worship and were a reminder of slave life, and partly because white minstrel performers had begun to parody the songs and ridicule slave religion. John Work II was forced to resign in 1923.  (Or he felt his work to be so unsupported and unappreciated by the university that he had to resign.)  He then served as president of Roger Williams University in Nashville.  He died 07 Sep 1925.

        The arrangement in the blue Presbyterian Hymnal was done by John Wesley Work III. 

 John Work III was born 15 Jun 1901 in Tullahoma, Tennessee.  He obtained a B.A. degree in history in 1923, then attended Julliard School of Music.  He then obtained a masters in Music Education from Columbia University in 1930.  He next received a bachelor of music degree from Yale in 1933.  Then he taught music theory at Fisk.  He became director of the Fisk Singers in 1946.

        From 1950 to 1957, he was chairman of the Music Department at Fisk.  His health became poor after touring with the Fisk Singers in Europe in 1956.  He retired in 1966 and died 17 May 1967.

        You can hear “Go Tell It on the Mountain” as sung by the group Thokoza here:

https://youtu.be/V75BLjI0nvk “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” sung a cappella by Thokoza, a group in southern California

        Here is a rather odd performance by a group called Cloverton, singing in Manhattan (Manhattan, KANSAS, that is).  I’ve been to Manhattan, Kansas, many times.  It’s the home of Kansas State University. I dated a math major, Cheryl Diane Smith, who attended graduate school there.  It was 140 miles away from Liberty, Missouri.  Those long-distance relationships rarely work out.

                https://youtu.be/0EWWKdUZARY  “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” sung by Cloverton (with accordion, acoustic guitar, and snare drum)

According to their web site, the group Cloverton “propelled onto the Christian music scene” in 2011.  They’re one of the better known “Manhattan-based” bands.

        Here is “Go Tell It on the Mountain” sung by the Blind Boys of Alabama:

              https://youtu.be/TkK-1QdQBYU “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” performed by the Blind Boys of Alabama

        The Old Testament lesson is Isaiah 63:7-9.

I shall recount Yahweh's acts of faithful love,

Of Yahweh's praiseworthy deeds.

I will tell about all Yahweh has done for us,

for his great kindness to the House of Israel,

because of his compassion and great faithfulness.

He said, “Certainly they will be my people,

children who are not disloyal.”

He became their deliverer.

Through all that they suffered, he suffered too.

The messenger sent from his very presence delivered them.

In his love and mercy he protected them;

he lifted them up and carried them throughout ancient times.

        The second hymn is the African-American spiritual “I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me,” no. 369. The arrangement in the hymnal is by Wendell Whalum.  The composer and the author of the text are unknown.

        There are many variations in the performance of this hymn on YouTube, and a very large variation in tempo in the different performances.

          https://youtu.be/ABUTPedTr_A “I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me,” Christ United Methodist Church, College Station, Texas, (Bill May, baritone)

        This is the David Pote and Allen Pote arrangement, I think. You can hear it performed by a professional choir and band here:  https://www.hopepublishing.com/W2362_IM_GONNA_LIVE_SO_GOD_CAN_USE_ME/  (scroll down to the music player)

        Here’s a good a cappella version:

https://youtu.be/drW3knj7hlQ “I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me,” Judy McKenney, with backup singers, a cappella

        Here is how Presbyterians sing it in Denver:

https://youtu.be/N7yKCfPJUZI “I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me,” Central Presbyterian Church of Denver. (The piano playing by Wil Smith, the church’s Director of Music, is very good.)  The singing isn’t great, but there is more energy than one normally expects from Presbyterians.

        Here is a rock version.  (It takes quite a while to get to the recognizable melody, but it does finally show up.)

https://youtu.be/SfBXKXU-96w “Live So God Can Use You” (1989) by David Mullen. I didn’t much care for it the first time I listened to it, but it grows on you.

https://youtu.be/Wuw4sWZcBKU  “I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me,” Nate Macy, with others and good saxophone interludes

https://youtu.be/BHGaNgSM9Gk “Why Don’t You Live So God Can Use You?” sung a cappella by Swan’s Silvertone Singers

        The singing (and clapping) in the next one is so-so, but the piano accompaniment is great:

https://youtu.be/G8ls2jxBqVk “I’m Going To Live So God Can Use Me”

cid:image008.jpg@01D47876.1F60D220

Dr. Wendell Whalum Sr.

        Based on An Encyclopedia of African American Christian Heritage by Marvin Andrew McMickle:

     The arranger, Wendell Phillips Whalum was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on 04 Sep 1931 (the hymnal incorrectly gives 1932 as his birth year).  He graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in Memphis and while a youth played music at Avery Chapel A.M.E. Church, Central Baptist, and Providence A.M.E. Church in Memphis.

     He attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, and received a B.A. in 1952.  In 1953 he obtained a M.A. at Columbia University, and in 1965, a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa.

     Dr. Whalum then taught at Morehouse College and was Director of the Morehouse College Glee Club for 34 years.  He served as Chair of the Music Department, Director of the Band, and in many other positions at Morehouse, where he chose to remain even though he received much more lucrative offers for employment at other colleges and universities.

     He was a teacher, organist, conductor, musicologist, arranger, composer, author, and lecturer.  He served a number of churches as organist-choirmaster in Atlanta, including Ebenezer Baptist Church.  He died in Atlanta on 09 Jun 1987.

        The gospel reading is Matthew 2:13-23.

                                                                        Flight into Egypt by Eugène Girardet (1853-1907)

The Escape to Egypt

13 After they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to look for the child to kill him.” 14 Then he got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and went to Egypt. 15 He stayed there until Herod died. In this way what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet was fulfilled: “I called my Son out of Egypt.”

 

                                                                Slaughter of the Innocents (circa 1587) by Giacomo Paracca

16 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he became enraged. He sent men[z] to kill all the children in Bethlehem and throughout the surrounding region from the age of two and under, according to the time he had learned from the wise men. 17 Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:

18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,
weeping and loud wailing,
Rachel weeping for her children,
and she did not want to be comforted, because they were gone.” [Jer. 38:15]

There is a beautiful classical work by Heinrich Schütz, Auf dem Gebirge hat man ein Geschrei gehöret (A Shout Was Heard on the Mountain), SWV 396.

https://youtu.be/4cR2mw0r488 Heinrich Schütz, Auf dem Gebirge

The title of the work is based on Matthew 2:18 (as it appears in Luther’s Bible). Matthew quotes Jeremiah 31:15:

"A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more."

The Return to Nazareth

19 After Herod[ad] had died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 saying, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” 21 So he got up and took the child and his mother and returned to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. After being warned in a dream, he went to the regions of Galilee. 23 He came to a town called Nazareth and lived there. Then what had been spoken by the prophets was fulfilled, that Jesus[ak] would be called a Nazarene.

 

        The only well-known hymn, I think, that mentions the massacre of the innocents is “Coventry Carol,” which has the verse:

Herod the king, in his raging

Charged he hath this day

His men of might in his own sight

All young children to slay

https://youtu.be/bdE3oFfMv6E?t=92 “Coventry Carol” sung a cappella by Pentatonix

https://youtu.be/yskYCoNkwVg “Coventry Carol,” with on-screen lyrics

https://youtu.be/LawxEPfHniE “Coventry Carol” sung by King’s College Choir, Cambridge

“The Coventry Carol is a Christmas carol dating from the 16th Century. The carol was performed in Coventry as part of a mystery play called The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors. The play depicts the Christmas story from chapter two in the Gospel of Matthew. The carol refers to the Massacre of the Innocents, in which Herod orders all male infants under the age of two in Bethlehem to be killed. The lyrics of this haunting carol represent a mother's lament for her doomed child. It is the only carol that has survived from this play.”

        The sermon will be delivered by Elder and Deacon Jason Neal. The title is “Running Before Walking.”

        The closing hymn is no. 540, “God Be with You Until We Meet Again.”

https://youtu.be/4Nz4Sg6qMuc “God Be with You Until We Meet Again” sung by the choir of the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles

        In the Presbyterian Hymnal, the hymn is sung to the Ralph Vaughn Williams tune RANDOLPH, which isn’t the tune that was used by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir at the end of their weekly broadcast, “Music and the Spoken Word.” The announcer on “Music and the Spoken Word,” Richard L. Evans, would say

"Again we leave you, from within the shadows of the everlasting hills; may peace be with you, this day and always,"

then the Mormon Tabernacle Choir would sing "God Be With You Till We Meet Again."

https://youtu.be/EQlv_xUYATg The Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings  "God Be With You Till We Meet Again"

        Here it is the hymn set to the tune composed by Ralph Vaughn Williams

http://youtu.be/69DqBeiIEJQ “God Be With You Till We Meet Again,” tune RANDOLPH, piano only, with words and score

        The Mormons sing it to a tune also used by the Mennonites.  Here it is sung a cappella by Mennonites:

https://youtu.be/GZHrtHdbdOE “God Be with You Till We Meet Again,” sung a cappella by a Mennonite choir (with lyrics)

        The words are by the abolitionist, Jeremiah Eames Rankin, D.D.

Jeremiah Eames Rankin

        Rankin was born at Thornton, New Hampshire, 02 Jan 1828.  He attended Middleburg College, Vermont, and Andover Seminary, graduating in 1854.  He was an ardent abolitionist.  His doctorate (honorary?) was from Middlebury College and was granted in 1869. He then became pastor of the First Congregational Church of Washington, DC.  

        In 1890, he was made the sixth president of Howard University. He was also a strong supporter of the temperance movement.  Rankin died in 1904.

Instrumental Music

Unknown.

Richard