Sunday, March 25, 2012 - The Fifth Sunday in Lent

Organ Prelude: Prelude in G - Felix Mendelssohn
Hymns:

• Processional Hymn 564 - Lead us, heavenly Father - Mannheim 
• Offertory Hymn 185 - Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle - Oriel 
• Recessional Hymn 438 - O Jesus, I have promised - Wolvercote 

Organ Postlude: Fugue in G - Felix Mendelssohn

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Music Notes

Next Sunday (Palm Sunday) the choir is singing a longer-than-usual piece of music in an unusual place in the service.  Instead of an organ prelude, the service will begin with a wonderful work called Procession of Palms by Malcolm Williamson, an Australian born, UK based composer who was Master of the Queen's Musick until his death in 2003.  It is a very fitting way in which to begin the exuberance of Palm Sunday.

Sunday, March 18, 2012 - The Fourth Sunday in Lent

Organ Prelude: Psalm Prelude Set 1 No. 1 - Herbert Howells
Hymns:

• Processional Hymn 607 “ Come, let us to the Lord our God" - St. Bernard
• Offertory Hymn 551 “My faith looks up to thee” -Olivet
• Communion Hymn 72 “Bread of Heaven" - Jesu, meine Zuversicht
• Recessional Hymn 398 “Let us with a gladsome mind” - Monkland

Solo: Jesus, Savior, I am Thine (from ‘St. Matthew Passion’) - J. S. Bach (Virginia Wright, mezzo-soprano)
Service Music: Missa L’Hora Passa – Ludovico da Viadana
Communion Motet: Schaffe in mir, Gott, ein rein Herz - Brahms
Organ Postlude: Divertimento - Frederick Karam

Sunday, March 11, 2012 - The Third Sunday in Lent

Organ Prelude Ich ruf zu dir (I call to Thee, Lord Jesus Christ) - J. S. Bach
Hymns

• Processional Hymn 629 “Jesus, thy blood and righteousness” (Walton)
• Communion Hymn 479 “O Christ, the master carpenter”(Albano)
• Recessional Hymn 306 “O for a thousand tongues” (Richmond)

Communion Motet Ave verum corpus - Sir Edward Elgar
Organ Postlude Prelude on ‘Rhosymedre’ - Ralph Vaughan Williams

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Music Notes:

Both quintessential British composers who contributed significantly to the music of the church, Edward Elgar (1857-1934) and Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) were very different men.

Elgar was a devout Roman Catholic who was a parish organist early in his career, writing several choral pieces for that church and later in life composing large-scale oratorios for choir, soloists and orchestra (i.e., “The Dream of Gerontius” to a text by Cardinal Newman).

Vaughan Williams, the son of a priest, was described by his second wife, Ursula, as "an atheist ... [who] later drifted into a cheerful agnosticism." One of RVW’s most significant contributions to the Church of England was his editorship of the English Hymnal in 1904, and throughout his career he composed several choral works, hymn tunes (the one we use for “For all the saints” is one example), and a smattering of pieces for solo organ.

Sunday, March 4, 2012 - Second Sunday in Lent

MORNING PRAYER
Hymns:

• Opening Hymn 7 “New every morning is the love” 
• Hymn 542 “Out of the depths” (Sandon) 
• Offertory Hymn 532 “What a friend we have in Jesus” (Friendship)
• Recessional Hymn 537 “In the cross of Christ” (Cross of Jesus)

Sunday, February 19, 2012 - Epiphany 7: Transfiguration

Organ Prelude: Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier (Dearest Jesus, we are here) - J.S. Bach
Anthem:  Laudamus te (Gloria) - Francis Poulenc
Organ Postlude: Fantasia in G minor -  J.S. Bach

Sunday, February 12, 2012 - Epiphany 6

Organ Preludes: So Fades the lovely Blooming Flower and There is a Happy Home - George Shearing
Organ Postlude: Amazing Grace! How Sweet the Sound! - George Shearing

Sunday, February 5, 2012 - Epiphany 5

Organ Prelude: Intermezzo - Healey Willan
Hymns

• Processional Hymn 40 “O spirit of the living God” (Wareham)
• Offertory Hymn 384 “Praise to the Lord, the almighty”  (Lobe den Herren)
• Communion Hymn 48 “Let all mortal flesh” (Picardy)
• Recessional Hymn  577 “God of grace and God of glory” (Cwm Rhondda)

Anthem: God be in my head - Andrew Carter
Organ Postlude: Sabbath Joy - Norman Warren

Music Notes:

Healey Willan (1880-1968) was in his lifetime the ‘dean of Canadian composers’, having produced a prodigious amount of music not only for the church and organ but also chamber and orchestral music as well as an opera.  He was also responsible for teaching many of the next generation’s composers at the Royal Conservatory of Music in addition to his work at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene.  Today’s prelude, “Intermezzo”, is from a suite of five pieces that Dr. Willan composed to show off the organ at St. Matthew’s Anglican Church in Ottawa.

Andrew Carter (born 1939), who wrote today’s anthem, is a prolific English composer whose style is similar to that of the better-known (and even more prolific) John Rutter. The text of the anthem is an ancient one, from a publication called the Sarum Primer, originally published in England in 1514.

Norman Warren (born 1934) was educated at Dulwich College, Corpus Christi College, and Ridley Hall Theological College in Cambridge, and was ordained in the Church of England in 1961. He served as vicar of St. Paul's Church, Leamington Spa (1963-1977), rector of Morden (1977-1989), and since 1989 has been archdeacon of Rochester.  Warren was a member of the Jubilate Group committees that published Psalm Praise (1973) and Hymns for Today's Church (1982). He has composed over one hundred hymn tunes as well as this morning’s postlude, “Sabbath Joy”.