Sunday after Christmas - 30 December 2012

Mattins

• Opening Hymn 148 “See amid the winter’s snow” 
• Offertory Hymn 143 “Angels from the realms of glory” 
• Closing Hymn 138 “Hark! The herald angels sing”
   
• Visit St Barnabas website here »

(no choir today)

Christmas Eve / Christmas Day 2012

Christmas Eve 2012 (10:30 pm)

• Organ Prelude: “The Holy Boy” – John Ireland 
• Introit: Fanfare – Martin Shaw 
• Processional Hymn “O come, all ye faithful”
• Psalm 96 (Tone VIII.2)
• Gospel Alleluia

Choir: Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia.
All: Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia.
Cantor: Today shall ye know that the Lord will come to deliver you: and at sunrise shall ye behold his glory: On the morrow the iniquity of the earth shall be blotted out and the Saviour of the world shall reign over us.
All: Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia.

• Anthem: The Snow Lay on the Ground – Geoffrey Shaw 
• Offertory Hymn: “Once in royal David’s city” 
• Carols During Communion: 

Infant Holy, Infant Lowly
Let folly praise that fancy loves

• Final Hymn “Silent Night”
• Organ Postlude: “In dulci jubilo” - J.S. Bach

Christmas Day 2012

• Opening Carol: 146 “Twas in the moon of wintertime” 
• Carol 154 “Joy to the world” 
• Offertory Carol: 139 “The First Nowell” 
• Closing Carol: 153 “Good Christians all, rejoice”
• Visit St Barnabas website here »

Advent 4 - Sunday 23 December 2012

• Organ Prelude: Rorate coeli (Drop down, ye heavens) – Jeanne Demessieux 
• Opening Hymn 116 “Your kingdom come on bended knee” 
• Psalm 89: 1-4, 19-26 
• Gospel Acclamation
  

  Choir: Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia
  All: Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia
  Cantor: The LORD is near to all who call on him / to all who call on him in truth: my mouth will speak in praise of the LORD / let every creature praise his holy name for e-ver and e-ver.
  All: Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia

• Anthem: Mary’s Magnificat – Andrew Carter 
• Offertory Hymn
  

  Sing of Mary, pure and lowly, Virgin mother undefiled,
  Sing of God's own Son most holy, Who became her little child.
  Fairest child of fairest mother, God the Lord who came to earth,
  Word made flesh, our very brother, Takes our nature by his birth.
  
  Sing of Jesus, son of Mary, In the home at Nazareth.
  Toil and labour cannot weary Love enduring unto death.
  Constant was the love he gave her, Though he went forth from her side, Forth to preach, and heal, and suffer, Till on Calvary he died.
  
  Glory be to God the Father; Glory be to God the Son;
  Glory be to God the Spirit; Glory to the Three in One.
  From the heart of blessed Mary, From all saints the song ascends,
  And the Church the strain re-echoes Unto earth's remotest ends.

• Communion Hymn 95 “O come, divine Messiah”
• Communion Motet: “Adam lay ybounden” – Howard Skempton
  

  Adam lay ybounden,
  Bounden in a bond;
  Four thousand winter
  Thought he not too long.
  And all was for an apple,
  An apple that he took,
  As clerkës finden written
  In their book.
  
  Nor had one apple taken been,
  The apple taken been,
  Then had never Our Lady
  A-been heaven's queen.
  Blessed be the time
  That apple taken was.
  Therefore we may singen
  Deo gratias!

• Final Hymn 89 “O come, O come, Emmanuel”
• Visit St Barnabas website here »
  
  There is no organ postlude this morning. Please spend a moment or two in quiet contemplation in anticipation of Christ’s birth
• Music Notes:
  “Adam lay ybounden” is a macaronic (meaning it has a mix of Latin and English words) poem by an unknown author, dating from around 1400. Several composers have set this text to music, one of the more recent being Englishman Howard Skempton (born 1947). His is a simple setting of this medieval Advent carol which has great impact in its originality; the style is controlled, almost austere, and the effect is hypnotic. It is a perhaps unsettling but poignant piece of music.
  Here is a very loose interpretation of the old English:
  
  

  Adam's (i.e.man's) sin enchained him for four thousand years (the accepted time from creation to Jesus' birth.) He did not think it was too long to wait. And all this was because of the apple Adam took, as scribes have recorded in Holy Scripture.
  
  If the apple had never been taken, then Mary would never have become Heaven's Queen. Blessed then be that apple's theft (because it ultimately brought salvation.) Therefore we must sing, thanks be to God!

Advent 3 - Sunday 16 December 2012

• Prelude: Advent Music for Flute and Organ – Robert Powell 
• Opening Hymn 98 “Hark the glad sound!” 
• Gospel Acclamation
  

  Choir: Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia
  All: Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia
  Cantor: You who sit enthroned between the cherubim shine forth: Awaken your might / come and save us.
  All: Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia 

• Solo: (Ed Wiens, tenor) 
• Offertory Hymn 111 “Harold! Sound the note of judgement” 
• Communion Hymn 96 “Creator of the stars of night” 
• Communion Motet: Adam lay ybounden – Howard Skempton
  

  Adam lay ybounden,
  Bounden in a bond;
  Four thousand winter
  Thought he not too long.
  And all was for an apple,
  An apple that he took,
  As clerkës finden written
  In their book.
  
  Nor had one apple taken been,
  The apple taken been,
  Then had never Our Lady
  A-been heaven's queen.
  Blessed be the time
  That apple taken was.
  Therefore we may singen
  Deo gratias!

• Final Hymn 93 “You servants of the Lord” 
• Postlude: Advent Music for Flute and Organ – Robert

Advent 2 - Sunday 9 December 2012

• Organ Prelude: “Lo, how a rose e’er blooming” – Johannes Brahms 
• Opening Hymn 88 “Come, thou long-expected Jesus” 
• Psalm 
• Gospel Acclamation
  

  Choir: Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia
  All: Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia
  Cantor: Behold, our Lord will come with power: and will enlighten the eyes of his servants.
  All: Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia

• Offertory Hymn 106 “There’s a voice in the wilderness” 
• During Communion: The Advent Prose 
• Communion Motet: Lo, how a rose – Michael Praetorius

  The text of this motet can be found, in a slightly different translation, at Hymn 117. 

• Final Hymn 103 “On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry” 
• Organ Postlude: “Deck thyself, my soul with gladness” – Johannes Brahms

Advent I: Sunday, 2 December 2012

• Organ Prelude: Nun komm der heiden Heiland – J.S. Bach

Come now, Saviour of the Gentiles,
recognised as the child of the Virgin,
so that all the world is amazed
God ordained such a birth for him.

• Opening Hymn 89 “O come, O come, Emmanuel” 
• Psalm 25: 1-9 
• Anthem: “People, look east” – French carol arr. By Martin Shaw 
• Offertory Hymn 114 “Lo, he comes with clouds descending” 
• Communion Hymn 92 “O day of God, draw nigh” 
• Final Hymn 97 “Jesus came, the heavens adoring” 
• Organ Postlude: Wachet auf! (Sleepers, wake!) – J.S. Bach

Christ the King - Sunday, 25 November 2012

• Organ Prelude: Capriccio - Johann Jacob Froberger 
• Opening Hymn 378 “Crown him with many crowns” 
• Service Music: David Hurd
• Anthem: O Sing Joyfully – Adrian Batten 
• Offertory Hymn 375 “At the name of Jesus” 
• Communion Hymn 48 “Let all mortal flesh keep silence” 
• Final Hymn 379 “Rejoice, the Lord is King” 
• Organ Postlude: Exultate – June Dixon

Music Notes

Johann Jakob Froberger (1616 – 1667) was a German Baroque composer, keyboard virtuoso, and organist. He was among the most famous composers of the era and influenced practically every major composer in Europe by developing the genre of keyboard suite and contributing greatly to the exchange of musical traditions through his many travels. A cappriccio is defined as a lively piece of music, short and free in form, like an improvisation.

Adrian Batten (c. 1591 – c. 1637) was an English organist and Anglican church composer. He was active during an important period of English church music, between the Reformation and the Civil War in the 1640s. During this period the liturgical music of the first generations of Anglicans began to diverge significantly from music on the European continent. Although by no means comparable with the work of the greatest of his contemporary English church musicians (William Byrd and Orlando Gibbons, for example), Batten's music possesses charms of its own. His music has been described as follows: “ .... there is one virtue in Batten's sacred music which was possessed by only a few composers, and that is his constant endeavour to think of music as the servant of divine worship and not as the central figure of that service.”

June Nixon is one of Australia’s best known musicians – an organist, choir trainer and composer. She was appointed organist of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne in 1973, and for her long and distinguished service to church music she was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1999.