May 23rd, 2021

“Prelude in Classic Style” kicks off our online Pentecost service with a joyous note. This charming piece was written by the American composer Gordon Young (1919-1998), who composed prolifically for both choir and organ. Although it is perhaps less harmonically adventurous than some of his other compositions, this “Prelude” demonstrates Young’s tuneful and vibrant organ writing.

Our opening hymn “Holy Spirit, Come” was written recently by our Music Minister Paul Zach. About the inspiration for this hymn he says:

This pandemic has taken so much from all of us.  I’ve seen some new lows in my life over the past few months and this song came from some of those struggles.  This is an invitation to the Spirit to come and fill us up again with love.  

Our offertory, “Holy Comforter,” is also by Paul. On this timely hymn he writes:

I thought a Pentecost song that focuses on the Holy Comforter would be needed after such a terrible year.  “Holy Comforter, we need you now!”  I was glad to have my friend Nan McMillan join me on the vocals for this song.  

“Holy Spirit, ever living” is a twentieth century hymn with words are derived from a four-stanza poem by Timothy Rees, Bishop of Llandaff. First published in 1922, it went through several revisions before verses 2 and 3 were selected as best suited for use in Episcopal hymnals. The tune we sing these words to, Abbot’s Leigh, was written in 1941 by Cyril Vincent Taylor, at the time an assistant for the BBC’s religious broadcasting. The catchy and singable tune was an instant success and has been used to sing several different texts, including “Glorious things of thee are spoken,” as well as today’s “Holy Spirit, ever living.”

The postlude today is by John Christopher Moller (d. 1803) was a German-born American organist. He played at churches in Philadelphia and New York, owned a music store, managed concerts, and of course composed for both organ and other instruments. This charming “Presto” is an excellent example of the sort of music one might hear in an American church at the beginning of the 19th century, with dance-like echoes of the then contemporary continental style of Haydn, Mozart, and young Beethoven.