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Music Notes! For Sunday July
13
by Cryder Bankes
Andante
Espressivo, by Dudley Buck
(1839-1909), is totally different from the
Variations on the Star-Spangled Banner which was
played last Sunday. Andante is
an Italian musical term meaning “walking”, or
moderately slow, and, in this case, play the
lovely melody expressively. Buck was
the son of a well-to-do Hartford merchant, and studied
with noted teachers in
Leipzig,
Dresden, and
Paris. Highly
respected as a performer, he produced throughout
his career a large number of orchestral, vocal,
choral and organ works, as well as two organ
instruction books.
Our first hymn, Come, Thou
Found of Every Blessing, has text written by
Robert Robinson (1735-1790) in 1758 and in 1813
set to a tune called Nettleton
in “Wyeth’s
Repository of Sacred
Music, Part Second” by John
Wyeth (1770-1858). Robinson
was born in Swaffham,
Norfolk
(England) and was sent by his
widowed mother to
London at age 14 to learn the
barber and hair dresser trade. However,
he enjoyed reading more than work, and converted
to Christ at age 17. He became a
Methodist minster, later moving to the Baptist
church and pastored in
Cambridge. He wrote a
number of hymns, as well as on the subject of
theology.
Wyeth was born in
Cambridge, MA, and, as a boy,
apprenticed to a printer. At age 21
he became manager of a printing company in
Santo
Domingo, only to barely escape
with his life in the insurrection there. In 1792 he
settled in Harrisburg, PA where he was involved in
the publishing business and co-owned a
newspaper.
The next year President George Washington
appointed him postmaster, but lost the position
five years later when President John Adams
declared the position to be incompatible with
involvement with
newspapers!
Michael Saward (1932-
) wrote the words to Baptized in
Water in London on May
29,1981, a few days after the
twenty-fifth anniversary of his ordination to the
ministry.
The
tune we are using is based on a Scottish
Gaelic traditional melody, originally
used as a Christmas
carol which began "Child in the manger,
Infant of Mary", translated from the
Gaelic lyrics written by
Mary MacDonald. Sometime before 1927
Alexander Fraser heard the
melody from a minstrel in the Scottish Highlands
and wrote it down so that it came to the attention
of Percy
Dearmer, Ralph Vaughan
Williams, and Martin
Shaw. In turn, these editors of
the hymnbook Songs
of Praise asked Eleanor Farjeon to
write a hymn text “Morning Has
Broken” to this tune. Since 1931 the tune has become most
familiarly identified with this
hymn.
Leaning on the Everlasting
Arms has
music by Anthony J. Showalter (1858-1924) and text
by Elisha A. Hoffman (1838-1929). It was
first published in “The Glad
Evangel for Revival, Camp, and Evangelistic
Meeting” in 1887. Showalter
was born in Cherry
Grove, VA, studied music in
England,
France, and
Germany, and published over 130
music books, which sold more than a million
copies.
Hoffman, born in
Orwigsburg, PA, was a minister’s son,
attended Union Seminary in
New
Berlin, PA, and was himself ordained
in 1868. He served in
Cleveland and
Grafton, OH,
Benton
Harbor, MI, and Cabery, IL and wrote
over 2,000 Gospel songs in his
lifetime.
Festival Postlude in
G is by
W. Eugene Thayer (1838-1889) who was born in
Mendon, MA, and studied with John
Knowles Paine at Harvard. In the
1860s he spent two years studying in
Germany, and on his return served
several Boston churches. In 1875 he
opened a private organ studio in
Boston, and in the same period
edited a magazine for organists. Between
1881 and 1886 he was organist of Fifth Avenue
Presbyterian Church in
Manhattan. His
compositions were numerous, and many distinguished
organists were among his
pupils.
Next Sunday’s
Hymns:
Alleluia, Sing to
Jesus
(Requested by Raymond De
Vera)
I Need Thee Every
Hour
(Requested by Janet
Mackey)
I Am the Bread of
Life
(Requested by Raymond De
Vera)
Lord, Dismiss Us With Thy
Blessing |
