May 9th, 2021
Lending a sense of musical continuity to this week’s Service of Holy Communion Rite I, we will hear music mostly dating from around the same period in history: the era of the Reformation.
The service opens with an organ “Voluntary,” a non-specific term meaning a piece to be played when music is needed. This voluntary is by Richard Allwood (fl. Ca. 1550-1570), an organist and choirmaster whose career overlaps the English Reformation. Among his few extant pieces, there are several short organ pieces and an organ mass designed for the Latin liturgy.
For our first hymn, we sing the popular “All creatures of our God and King.” This hymn, in the version we know and love, dates from the 20th century, although its roots go much, much deeper. The text is based on St. Francis’ “Canticle of brother sun and of all creatures,” translated and arranged into singable English by William H. Draper around the beginning of the 20th century. The music is a 17th century hymn tune from Cologne, “Lasst uns erfreuen,” which was arranged by the great English composer Ralph Vaughn Williams into the familiar form we sing today.
The Gloria, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei today are some of the earliest English Reformation music: settings of the original Book of Common Prayer of 1549. John Merbecke (c.1510-c.1585) was an English organist and choirmaster. Seeing a need for liturgical music to fit the newly composed prayer book, within one year of the promulgation of the BCP, he had composed and printed his “Booke of Common Praier Noted,” providing melodies similar to the Gregorian Chants they replaced. Unfortunately, with the 1552 edition of the BCP, Merbecke’s settings were no longer usable, and fell out of use until the Oxford Movement of the early 19th century revised his settings and returned them to use. Merbecke’s music is now sung widely for traditional liturgical services and has a place of honor in the Hymnal 1982.
Today’s anthem is by Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612), one of the most important German composers of his era. His most famous composition is the melody now known as the Passion Chorale – “O Sacred Head Sore Wounded.” Although he was a Protestant, he was employed at Catholic churches and therefore produced many works in Latin – including today’s anthem. The text for this music is derived from Psalm 96, which is similar and complimentary to today’s Psalm reading, Psalm 98.
For our last hymn, we have a setting of Ubi caritas, a hymn written by Paulinus of Aquileia in the 8th century. This setting is by Jacques Berthier, who composed simple, accessible, beautiful music to accompany the liturgy of the Taizé community.
At service’s close, we have a toccata by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621). The term “toccata” simply means “touch,” and in Sweelinck’s time denoted instrumental pieces (played by touch), as opposed to vocal music. Sweelinck was a superstar in his day, his legendary skill at organ playing leading to the moniker the “Orpheus of Amsterdam.” His fame was such that foreign dignitaries and other visitors so Amsterdam would not have considered their visits complete unless they had attended one of his famous concerts at the Oude Kerk.
