Organ Prelude

“In Paradisum,” Gabriel Fauré

“In Paradisum” Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) This morning’s prelude is a transcription of the last movement from Fauré’s Requiem (1887), whose comforting lyrics speak for
themselves:  May the angels lead you into paradise; may the martyrs receive you at your arrival and lead you to the holy city, Jerusalem. May choirs of angels receive you and with Lazarus, once a poor man, may you have eternal rest.

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Organ Postlude

“O Day of Peace,” C.H.H. Parry

O day of peace that dimly shines through all our hopes and prayers and dreams,
Guide us to justice, truth, and love, delivered from our selfish schemes.
May swords of hate fall from our hands, our hearts from envy find release,
Till by God’s grace our warring world shall see Christ’s promised reign of peace.
Then shall the wolf dwell with the lamb, nor shall the fierce devour the small;
As beasts and cattle calmly graze, a little child shall lead them all.
Then enemies shall learn to love, all creatures find their true accord;
The hope of peace shall be fulfilled, for all the earth shall know the Lord.

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Offertory Anthem

“O quam gloriosum,” Tomás Luis de Victoria

O quam gloriosum est regnum,
in quo cum Christo gaudent omnes Sancti,
amicti stolis albis,
sequuntur Agnum, quocumque ierit.

O how glorious is the kingdom,
in which all the saints rejoice with Christ,
arrayed in white robes,
they follow the Lamb, wherever He goes.

: “O quam gloriosum” Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611), who was the premiere Spanish composer of Renaissance polyphony in the 16th century. The opening three chords seem to expand like the heavens. Then, Victoria portrays the joyful saints with rapid ascending scalar motion below a floating soprano line.

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Communion Anthem

“At the River,” arr. Aaron Copland

Shall we gather by the river,
Where bright angel’s feet have trod,
With its crystal tide forever
Flowing by the throne of God?

Yes, we’ll gather by the river,
The beautiful, the beautiful river,
Gather with the saints by the river
That flows by the throne of God.

Soon we’ll reach the shining river,
Soon our pilgrimage will cease,
Soon our happy hearts will quiver
With the melody of peace.

Yes, we’ll gather by the river,
The beautiful, the beautiful river,
Gather with the saints by the river
That flows by the throne of God.

Aaron Copland (1900-1990) who redefined and elevated American music in the 20th century. This piece, like many of his other works, is based on an American folk tune. Copland is careful to leave the hymn melody nearly unchanged and instead creates a new musical landscape around it which is both gentle and supportive of the soloist.

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Hymns

For all the saints is by the Anglican bishop William Walsham How (1823—1897), who was a great friend of the poor of his diocese, and was known variously as ‘the children’s bishop’, ‘the poor man’s bishop’ and ‘the omnibus bishop’ (the last referring to his preferred means of travel about his diocese). This hymn derives much of its power from its ability to capture the spirit of the Church Militant here on earth, using imagery from the book of Revelation. Vaughan Williams composed the tune SINE NOMINE (‘without a name’) for this hymn. It has been suggested that the name of the tune refers to the countless number of saints who are not remembered by name but who are part of the ‘glorious company’.

Jerusalem, my happy home has a complicated history. It may have been written by a 16^th century Catholic priest “F. B. P” (¿Francis Baker Porter?) imprisoned in the Tower and it may be based on The Meditations of St. Augustine. It exists in several versions; the one we use was said to be the favorite hymn of Elizabeth Ann Seton. As adults, we know we live in a vale of tears: the disappointments of life, the sickness and death of friends and family, the destruction that evil works in God’s creation. This world as it now exists is not our home, which we will find in the transfigured world of the New Creation. The disharmony of the present age will be replaced by the harmony of heaven, symbolized by music, the new song, canticum novum, that we will forever sing. LAND OF REST is an American folk tune with roots in the ballads of northern England and Scotland. It was known throughout the Appalachians; a shape-note version of the tune was published in The Sacred Harp (1844).

Joy and triumph everlasting is a translation by the English poet laureate Robert Bridges (1844-1930) of Adam of St. Victor’s (1112-1146) hymn Superne matris gaudia. The first verse contains a paradox: ‘For that pure immortal gladness / all our feast days mourn and sigh’. The very act of rejoicing at annual festivals, fixed points in earthly time, causes us to mourn for a place where there will be no time, and no feast-days – ‘no ends nor beginnings but one equal eternity’, as John Donne has it. The tune GENEVAN 42 is an adaptation by Louis Bourgeois (1510–1559) of a tune by Claude Goudimel (1501–1572), a French Calvinist who was killed in the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre.

Mount Calvary Church

A Roman Catholic Parish

The Personal Ordinariate of S. Peter

Eutaw Street and Madison Avenue

Baltimore, Maryland

Rev. Albert Scharbach, Pastor

Andrew Johnson, Organist and Music Director

Stephanie Zimmerman, guest violinist

Trinity XX

October 25, 2020

8:00 A.M. Said Mass

10:00 A.M. Sung Mass

This mass will be livestreamed.

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Organ Prelude

Ornament of Grace, Bernard Wayne Sanders

Bernard Wayne Sanders (b. 1957) was born in DePere,Wisconsin, but has spent his career as an organist and composer in Germany since 1974. The American Guild of Organists selected “Ornament of Grace” as the first prize winner of the 2008 International Organ Celebration. The beautifully expressive solo melody is complimented by a graceful accompaniment on the organ. For the past decade since its publication, this piece has been performed by organists and solo instrumentalists from around the world.

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Organ Postlude

Suite in D major: Allegretto, att. Leonardo Vinci

Leonardo Vinci (1690-1730), an Italian opera composer on the Baroque. This joyful postlude is the first movement from his Suite in D major for solo instrument and basso continuo.

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Offertory Anthem

A New Commandment, Thomas Tallis

A new commandment give I unto you, saith the Lord,
that ye love together, as I have loved you,
that e’en so ye love one another.
By this shall ev’ry man know
that ye are my disciples,
if ye have love one to another.

Thomas Tallis (1505-1585) composed for the Church of England in the 16th century. Anglican anthems from this period were expected to have English texts set intelligibly so that the listener could better absorb the meaning of the text. In this anthem, each textual section is stated clearly in homophony or with a voice pairing, then
repeated in imitation.

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Communion Anthem

Ubi caritas, Maurice Duruflé

Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.
Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor.
Exultemus et in ipso iucundemur.
Timeamus et amemus Deum vivum.
Et ex corde diligamus nos sincero.

Where charity and love are, God is there.
Christ’s love has gathered us into one.
Let us rejoice and be glad in Him.
Let us fear and let us love the living God.
And may we love each other with a sincere heart.

Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986), who was Titular Organist at Saint- Étienne-du-Mont and Professor of Harmony at the Paris Conservatory. “Ubi caritas” is the first of his Four motets on Gregorian Themes, which is based on the Maundy Thursday antiphon of the same name. Described as “the Debussy of organists,” Duruflé surrounds the ancient chant with colorful, impressionistic harmonies.

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Hymns

Love divine, all loves excelling is by Charles Wesley (1707—1788). The hymn is a prayer: through the incarnate Christ, we pray for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and ask that we would never be separated from the love of God in Christ, who works in us and through us until our time on earth is done. One of the most loved Welsh tunes, HYFRODOL (here on organ and bagpipe) was composed by Rowland Hugh Prichard (1811—1887) in 1830 when he was only nineteen.

O love that will not let me go. At age 20 George Matheson (1842-1906) was engaged to be married but began going blind. When he broke the news to his fiancée, she decided she could not go through life with a blind husband. She left him. Before losing his sight he had written two books of theology and some feel that if he had retained his sight he could have been the greatest leader of the Church of Scotland in his day. A special providence was that George’s sister offered to care for him. With her help, George left the world of academia for pastoral ministry and wound up preaching to 1500 each week–blind. The day came, however, in 1882, when his sister fell in love and prepared for marriage herself. The evening before the wedding, George’s whole family had left to get ready for the next day’s celebration. He was alone and facing the prospect of living the rest of his life without the one person who had come through for him. On top of this, he was doubtless reflecting on his own aborted wedding day twenty years earlier. In the darkness of that moment George Matheson wrote this hymn. He remarked afterward that it took him five minutes and that it was the only hymn he ever wrote that required no editing. Albert L. Peace (1844-1912), a well-known Scottish organist of his day, wrote the tune ST. MARGARET

For the beauty of the earth was was written by the Anglican layman Folliott Sandford Pierpoint (1835-1911) as a communion hymn. The refrain alludes to the post-communion prayer in the Book of Common Prayer, which begins “O Lord and heavenly father, we thy humble servants entirely desire thy fatherly goodness mercifully to accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.” The tune DIX  is by Conrad Kocher (1786-1872).

The Tribute Money, Rubens

Mount Calvary Church

A Roman Catholic Parish

The Personal Ordinariate of S. Peter

Eutaw Street and Madison Avenue

Baltimore, Maryland

Rev. Albert Scharbach, Pastor

Andrew Johnson, Organist and Music Director

Trinity XIX

October 18, 2020

8:00 A.M. Said Mass

10:00 A.M. Sung Mass

This mass will be livestreamed.

Lunch outside after 10 AM Mass, weather permitting.

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Organ Prelude

Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir (Lord God, we all praise You), Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706)

Johann Pachelbel represents the pinnacle of organ music in 17th-century Southern Germany. A generation before Bach, Pachelbel used chorale tunes as the basis for many of his compositions. This chorale prelude uses the tune OLD HUNDREDTH, played by the pedals below imitative counterpoint in the manuals.

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Organ Postlude

Processional in D minor, Robert Lind (b. 1940),

Lind succeeded his mentor, Leo Sowerby, as Organist and Choirmaster at the Cathedral of St. James from 1962-1965. Lind has written extensively for the organ while serving various other churches in the Chicago area. This postlude begins with a stately march, followed by a more lyrical contrasting section and a grand recapitulation.

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Offertory Anthem

The Lord’s Prayer, John Sheppard (1515-1558)

Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name,
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done
In earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive them that trespass against us,
And let us not be led into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power,
To Thee be all honor and glory forevermore.
Always so be it.

John Sheppard was an English composer of the early 16th century. This anthem is set largely in imitation with the contour of each melody often reflecting the meaning of the text. For example, “Thy will be done in earth” falls down the scale as if descending from heaven, while the text “as it is in heaven” ascends back up the scale.

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Communion Anthem

Ave verum corpus, William Byrd (1543-1623)

Ave verum corpus,
Natum de Maria virgine;
Vere passum immolatum
In crucis pro homine.
Cuius latus perforatum
Unda fluxit sanguine.
Esto nobis praegustatum
In mortis examine.
O dulcis, o pie,
O Jesu Fili Mariae,
Miserere mei. Amen.

Hail, true body,
Born of the virgin Mary;
Who has truly suffered, slaughtered
On the Cross for humanity.
Whose side was pierced,
Pouring out water and blood.
Be a foretaste for us
During our ordeal of death.
O sweet, o holy,
O Jesus Son of Mary,
Have mercy on me. Amen.

William Byrd was a prolific Roman Catholic composer during the musical Renaissance. The composer uses homophony to promote the intelligibility of this sacred text, saving imitation for the final section: a dramatic, repetitive plea for God’s mercy.

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Hymns

Jesus shall reign is by Isaac Watts (1674–1758), who interprets Psalm 72 using a Christological lens. The king referenced in the psalm is Christ, and could be no one else. For Watts, as for the Fathers of the Church, the Old Testament makes sense in light of the New, and vice versa. The tune DUKE STREET was composed by John Warrington Hatton (1710-1793), who supposedly lived on Duke Street in Lancashire, from where his famous tune name comes.

Jesus calls us o’er the tumult is by Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895). It contains a revivalist note which was also part of the Oxford Movement, which emphasized the Catholic nature of the Church of England in order to call men to conversion and a holy life. This is a hymn of unmistakable challenge – in its opening three words and its imperatives (‘Christian, love me’, ‘make us hear’). The tune RESTORATION was first printed in William Walker’s Southern Harmony (1835).

Sing praise to God, who reigns above is a translation by Frances Elizabeth Cox (1812—1897) of Sei Lob und Ehr’ dem höchsten Gut by Johann Jacob Schütz (1640-1690). He became a Pietist, and the hymn has the warm, affectionate tone of German Pietism. Using a variety of metaphors for God and for His works, this text overflows with proclamations of God’s loving care for His people. This hymn extols the greatness of God in giving all good things to His people and calls on us to continue to give God the praise He richly deserves.  The tune, MIT FREUDEN ZART, is beloved of the American Moravians. The tune name itself – “with tender joy” – expresses something of the character of the life and music of the Moravians.

Mount Calvary Church

A Roman Catholic Parish

The Personal Ordinariate of S. Peter

Eutaw Street and Madison Avenue

Baltimore, Maryland

Rev. Albert Scharbach, Pastor

Andrew Johnson, Organist and Music Director

Trinity XVIII

October 11, 2020

8:00 A.M. Said Mass

10:00 A.M. Sung Mass

This mass will be livestreamed.

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Organ Prelude

Aria, G.F. Handel

Organ Postlude

Prelude and Fugue in D major, G.F. Handel

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) was a renowned German/English composer of the 18th century, whose popularity far exceeded that of J.S. Bach during their lifetime. His eclectic musical style was inspired by studying German counterpoint, writing operas in Italy, and his famed oratorios in England. The prelude, “Aria,” was originally a movement from Handel’s 12th Concerto Grosso for strings. The postlude, “Prelude and Fugue in D major,” begins with a stately fanfare followed by a dance-like fugue in triple meter.

Rejoice in the Lord alway, Anonymous

Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say rejoice.
Let your softness be known unto all men: the Lord is even at hand.
Be careful for nothing: but in all prayer and supplication,
let your petitions be manifest unto God with giving of thanks.
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding
keep your hearts and minds, through Christ Jesu. Amen. 

Although the composer of this work is unknown, this anthem has endured since its composition in the 16th century. Much like an English madrigal, each textual section is set to music that reinforces its meaning: a cheerful “rejoice,” a delicate “softness,” and repetitive, overlapping “petitions” to God.

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Communion Anthem

O Taste and See,  John Goss (1800-1880)

O taste and see how gracious the Lord is,
Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him.
O fear the Lord, ye that are His saints,
For they that fear Him lack nothing.
The lions do lack, and suffer hunger,
But they who seek the Lord
Shall want no manner of thing that is good.

John Goss (1800-1880) was an organist and music professor in 19th century England. The simplicity of this anthem speaks for itself. Goss sets the text syllabically and homophonically so that the delivery of the scripture is paramount. He writes more dissonant harmonies to paint words such as “lion” and hunger,” then returns to the familiar and inviting refrain.

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Hymns

Firmly I believe and truly (NASHOTAH) is adapted from John Henry Newman’s 1865 poem The Dream of Gerontius about the progress of a soul from death to salvation. As an Evangelical, Newman (1801—1890) rejected the doctrines of purgatory and the intercession of saints, but as part of his conversion (1845), he came to a realization of the fullness of the communion of saints: those striving on earth, those being purified by the divine fire, and those in heaven moved by love to pray for those on earth and in purgatory. The poem (Greek Geron: old man), relates the journey of a pious man’s soul from his deathbed to his judgment before God and settling into Purgatory. As the priests and assistants pray the prayers for the dying, Gerontius recites this creed and prays for mercy. Sanctus Fortis, Sanctus Deus is from the Good Friday liturgy and is alluded to in the line “him the holy, him the strong.”

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O food of men wayfaring is a translation of O esca viatorum, an anonymous Latin hymn first published in 1647. In the first verse, we express the desire to unite with Christ by means of His body, the manna from heaven; in the second, by means of His blood, the fountain of living water that gives us eternal life. In the third verse, we desire the vision of Christ’s face unveiled, whose hidden presence we adore in the eucharistic species.

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At the Lamb’s high feast we sing is a translation by Robert Campbell (1814-1868) of the seventh century Latin hymn, Ad regias agni dapes, which was sung by the newly baptized at Easter when they were first admitted to communion. Our victorious King through His death and resurrection has caused the angel of death to pass over us. We are redeemed by His blood, which opens Paradise to us where we will live forever.  The LORD brought Israel out of Egypt through the sea into the promised land by the blood of the Lamb. Jesus through His death brings us through the wilderness of this life by feeding us with Himself, the true manna that comes down from heaven. SALZBURG is by Jakob Hintze (1622-1702), who in 1666 became court musician to the Elector of Brandenburg at Berlin.

The Parable of the Two Sons

Mount Calvary Church

A Roman Catholic Parish

The Personal Ordinariate of S. Peter

Eutaw Street and Madison Avenue

Baltimore, Maryland

Rev. Albert Scharbach, Pastor

Andrew Johnson, Organist and Music Director

Trinity XVI

September 27, 2020

8:00 A.M. Said Mass

10:00 A.M. Sung Mass

This mass will be live streamed.

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Organ Prelude

Trio Sonata in E-flat major: Allegro moderato, J.S. Bach

This piece is the first of six trio sonatas by Johann Sebastian Bach. This particular style of composition mimics the quality of having three solo baroque instrumentalists playing at the same time, requiring the organist to have complete independence of their right hand, left hand, and feet. The first movement, “Allegro moderato,” passes the motive between voices in a playful manner while the third movement, “Allegro,” is even more light-hearted than the first.

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Organ Postlude

Allegro, J.S. Bach

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Offertory Anthem

Christus factus est,  Felice Anerio

Christus factus est pro nobis obediens usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis. Propter quod et Deus exaltavit illum et dedit illi nomen, quod est super omne nomen.

Christ became obedient for us unto death, even death on the cross. Therefore God exalted him and gave him a name which is above all names.

Felice Anerio (1560-1614) was an Italian composer of the late 16th century. This motet shows clear influence of Palestrina, though Anerio’s use of dissonance and sudden textural contrasts point to his own interest in Italian madrigals. The first section depicts Christ’s death on the cross through suspensions, or musical sighing. The second half shifts to a light dance-like meter to proclaim God’s exalted.

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Communion Anthem

If ye love me, Thomas Tallis (1505-1585)

If ye love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may ‘bide with you forever, e’en the spirit of truth.

Thomas Tallis composed for the Church of England in the 16th century. Anglican anthems from this period were expected to have English texts set intelligibly. Tallis achieves this clarity through the use of homophony, where all voices speak at the same time, and short repetitive sections of imitation, where voice parts overlap. This piece remains among the composer’s most well-known and programmed works.

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Hymns

All praise to Thee, for Thou, O King divine. The Episcopal priest Francis Bland Tucker (1896-1984), a native Virginian, who received his education at the University of Virginia and Virginia Theological Seminary, wrote this metrical version of Philippians 2:5-11, the Kenosis Hymn, or hymn of self-emptying “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God hath also highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” ENGLEBERG by Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924).

Soul of my Saviour. The author of this hymn is unknown, and the earliest date to which it has been assigned is the 14th century. St. Ignatius of Loyola frequently referred to it.  It is believed that Jesuit priest William J. Maher (1823- 1877) composed the tune ANIMA CHRISTI around 1863.

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, a paraphrase of Psalms 103 and 150, was written by Joachim Neander (1650—1680), the first hymn writer of the German Reformed Church. A valley was renamed in his honor in the early nineteenth century, and later became very famous in 1856 because of the discovery of the remains of Homo neanderthalensis, or the Neanderthal discovered in that valley. The hymn was Englished by the indefatigable translator of German hymns, Catherine Winkworth (1827—1878). She began translating hymn texts into the English language during the early years of the Oxford movement.

The anonymous tune LOBE DEN HERRN appeared in the 1665 edition of Praxis pietatis melica (Practice of Piety in Song). a Protestant hymnal first published in the 17th century by Johann Crüger.

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, Lawrence Ladd (c. !880)

Mount Calvary Church

A Roman Catholic Parish

The Personal Ordinariate of S. Peter

Eutaw Street and Madison Avenue

Baltimore, Maryland

Rev. Albert Scharbach, Pastor

Andrew Johnson, Organist and Music Director

Trinity XV

September 20, 2020

8:00 A.M. Said Mass

10:00 A.M. Sung Mass

This mass will be live streamed.

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Organ Prelude

Sonata VI: Andante, Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

This morning’s organ prelude is the last movement of Mendelssohn’s sixth and final organ sonata. Rather than ending with a lively, virtuosic finale, the composer closes with this simple, newly-composed chorale in a pastoral style.

Organ Postlude

Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise, arr. Matt Limbaugh (1949- )

Matt Limbaugh was Organist at First Baptist Church in Mauldin, South Carolina from 1985 to 2015. His setting of “Immortal, Invisible” begins with a festive introduction and march, then transitions into a dance-like meter with the melody played by the feet.

Offertory Anthem

Sicut cervus, G.P. Palestrina (1525-1594)

Sicut cervus desiderat ad fontes aquarum,
ita desiderat anima mea ad te, Deus.

As a hart longs for the flowing streams,
so longs my soul for thee, O God.

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was the premier composer of sacred music in 16th century Italy. His smooth and refined compositional style emphasizes the intelligibility
of text and remains the model of Renaissance polyphonic writing. In this setting of the first verse of Psalm 42, the composer’s long melodic lines are an outward expression of the scripture’s inward longing for Christ.

Communion anthem

Beati quorum via, C. V. Stanford (1852-1924)

Beati quorum via integra est,
qui ambulant in lege Domini.

Blessed are the undefiled in the way,
who walk in the law of the Lord.

Charles Villiers Stanford was an organist, professor, and composer in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This anthem is the third of his Three Latin Motets, which sets the first verse of Psalm 119. The composer utilizes several different combinations of the six voice parts, particularly repeating phrases with the higher and lower three voices. The piece is in A-flat major and 3/4 time, marked Con moto tranqillo ma no troppo lento (In calm movement but not too slow).

Hymns

All my hope on God is founded (MICHAEL) is a free translation by Robert Bridges (1844-1930) of “Meine Hoffnung stehet feste” were written around 1680 by Joachim Neander. In 1930, Dr Thomas Percival  Fielden, director of music at Charterhouse School, sent Bridges’ text to a friend, composer Herbert Howells, requesting Howells compose a new setting of the hymn for use at the school. Howells received the request by post one morning, in the middle of breakfast. Almost immediately a tune suggested itself to him and the hymn was apparently composed on the spot (in the composer’s words) “while I was chewing bacon and sausage.” Fielden was one of the editors of The Clarendon Hymn Book, and when that book was published in 1936 he chose to include the hymn. Howells’ son Michael had died in childhood the previous year, and in tribute Howells rechristened the tune Michael.

Jesus, priest and victim (KING’S WESTON) has words by the Dominican nuns of Summit. The tune KING’S WESTON is by Ralph Vaughan Williams’ melody, reverently in its somewhat somber manner. It has strong appeal, not least because it features a lovely, mournful folklike quality in the Dorian mode. The short lines of each stanza end in a dotted whole note, emphasizing the rhyme and the meaning.

Immortal, Invisible, God only wise (ST. DENIO) by William Chalmers Smith (1824—1908), is a proclamation of the transcendence of God: “To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever” (1 Tim 17). No man has ever seen God, who dwells in inaccessible light that is darkness to mortal eyes. God lacks nothing (“nor wanting”) and never changes (“nor wasting”), and is undying, unlike mortals, who in a striking image “blossom and flourish like leaves on the tree, then wither and perish.” The original ending of the hymn completes the thought: “And so let Thy glory, almighty, impart, / Through Christ in His story, Thy Christ to the heart.” “No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known” (John 1:18). Only in Jesus through the proclamation of the Gospel can we know the Father. John Roberts, in Welsh Ieuan Gwyllt (1822-1877), composed the tune ST. DENIO. It is derived from a Welsh folk song Can Mlynned i ‘nawr’ (“A Hundred Years from Now”).

The Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Patronal Feast

Mount Calvary Church

A Roman Catholic Parish

The Personal Ordinariate of S. Peter

Eutaw Street and Madison Avenue

Baltimore, Maryland

Rev. Albert Scharbach, Pastor

Andrew Johnson, Organist and Music Director

Sunday, September 13, 2020

8:00 A.M. Said Mass

10:00 A.M. Sung Mass

This mass will be live streamed.

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Organ Prelude

Arioso, J. S. Bach

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Organ Postlude

Lift High the Cross, arr. Larry Shackley

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Offertory Anthem

“We Praise Thee, O God”,  Johan Helmich Roman

We praise thee, O God, we bless thee,
We worship thee, we praise and give thanks to thee.

Johan Helmich Roman (1694 – 1758) was a Swedish Baroque composer. He has been called “the father of Swedish music” or “the Swedish Handel.”

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Communion Anthem

“Gedenk’ an uns mit deiner Liebe” (BWV 29), J.S. Bach

“Gedenk’ an uns mit deiner Liebe,
schleuss’ uns in dein Erbarmen ein.
Segne die, so uns regieren,
die uns leiten, schützen, führen,
segne die gehorsam sein.

Remember us in Your Love,
Protect us in Your mercy,
Grant Your blessing, rule us
As you guide us, guard us, lead us,
Grant Your blessing upon Your faithful servants. “

Here are interesting comments by soprano Maria Keohane on the symbolism of the use of the siciliano rhythm in the aria.

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Hymns

Lift high the cross (CRUCIFER) was written by George William Kitchen (1827—1912), Dean of the Cathedral for a festival service of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, held in Winchester Cathedral in 1887.  His version was altered by Anglican priest Michael Robert Newbolt (1874–1956), who later became Canon of Chester Cathedral. The hymn incorporates an important feature of processionals: the crucifer (cross-bearer) leads the procession, lifting the cross high. This ritual use of the cross is a sign of the victory of the resurrection and finds a biblical basis in John 12:32, “And I, when I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself”— which is written on the arch above our chancel. The hymn also alludes to the story of the Emperor Constantine’s vision as told in Eusebius’s Life of Constantine, in which he saw a cross inscribed with the words, “In hoc signo vinces” (“in this sign [of the cross] you will conquer”). Constantine recognized Christianity and provided a basis for the further spread of Christianity.

The tune CRUCIFER was written by Sir Sydney Hugo Nicholson (1875-1947), the founder of the School of English Church Music.

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Sunset to sunrise changes now (KEDRON) is by Clement of Alexandria* (ca. 150- ca. 215/220), and was translated by Howard Chandler Robbins (1876-1952).

It is a paraphrase and expansion of a passage in Clement’s Exhortation to the Greeks, or the Protreptikos. The original occurs in Chapter XI:

“The universe has become sleepless light, and the setting has turned into a rising. For He who rides over the universe, ‘the sun of righteousness’, visits mankind impartially, imitating His Father, who ‘causes his sun to rise upon all men,’ and sprinkles them all with the dew of truth. He it was who changed the setting into a rising, and crucified death into life; who having snatched man out of destruction raised him to the sky; transplanting corruption to incorruption, and transforming earth into heaven.”

The hymn uses the sunset/sunrise figure to enrich the traditional metaphor of Christ bringing light out of darkness. So ‘God doth make his world anew’ (stanza 1), and from the Cross ‘gleams of eternity appear’. The final stanza, with its jubilant ‘sin is slain, and death brings life’, is in close accord with Clement’s teaching in the Protreptikos.

KEDRON was composed by Elkanah Kelsey Dare (1782-1826), who was born in New Jersey but moved to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania sometime before 1818. He was a Methodist minister and very possibly the music editor for John Wyeth’s Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second (1813), a shaped-note collection that includes more than a dozen of his tunes.

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In the cross of Christ I glory (RATHBUN) is by John Bowring (1792-1872). It is based, like Isaac Watts’s ‘When I survey the wondrous cross’, on Galatians 6: 14, though it differs from Watts’s hymn in its emphasis on the sublimity, radiance, and peace of the cross. The cross becomes a symbol for the whole process of salvation, which adds joy to human happiness and gives strength in time of need.

This is the kind of famous hymn that attracts legends. A General Secretary of the London Missionary Society, a Dr Chirgwin, told the story of the inspiration for this hymn as it was related to him by the Secretary of the Society in China. On the island of Macao, near Hong Kong, stood the cathedral of Our Lady of Fatima, which was burned down, leaving only the west wall standing, with a blackened cross above it. ‘It was this cross which for generation after generation had escaped destruction and remains aloft above the city roofs that inspired Sir John Bowring’s hymn.’ This is now thought to be untrue: it is the kind of story that could easily have grafted itself on to a line such as ‘Towering o’er the wrecks of time’, and Bowring served in the Far East. But his service there did not begin until 1848, more than twenty years after the hymn was published, which suggests that the story is without foundation. The only possibility is that he could have seen a picture of the ruined cathedral at Macao. But it’s a good story.

RATHBUN was composed by Ithamar Conkey (1815-1867) was born in Shutesbury, Massachusetts, and was of Scottish ancestry. He was organist at Central Baptist Church in Norwich, Connecticut. After his work in Norwich, he went to New York City and served as bass soloist at Calvary Episcopal Church and later bass soloist and choir director of Madison Avenue Baptist Church.

This story is associated with the writing of RATHBUN: One Sunday in 1849 Ithamar Conkey walked out of the morning service at Central Baptist Church, Norwich, Connecticut, where he was choir director and organist, frustrated because only one soprano from his choir had come that morning. The next Sunday the minister preached a Lenten message on the words of Christ on the cross. One of the hymns to be sung was Bowring’s “In the Cross of Christ I Glory.” Later that day Conkey’s discouragement changed to inspiration, and he composed a new tune for that text. He named the tune after that one faithful soprano, Mrs. Beriah S. Rathbun. Let this be an inspiration to our soloists.

(There are rumours that there may be a rare paraliturgical use of the bagpipe this Sunday)

The Trinity: St Andrei Rublev

Mount Calvary Church

A Roman Catholic Parish

The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter

Baltimore, Maryland

Rev. Albert Scharbach, Pastor

Dr. Allen Buskirk, Choir Director and Cantor

June 7, 2020

10 A.M. Livecast on YouTube

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Trinity Sunday

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Organ Prelude

Voluntary VIII Op. 6 by John Stanley

Organ Postlude

Moscow, arranged by Gerald Near

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Anthems

O lux beata Trinitas, William Byrd (1540-1623)

O lux beata Trinitas, Et principalis unitas, Iam sol recedat igneus, Infunde lumen cordibus. Te mane laudum carmine, Te deprecemur vespere: Te nostra supplex Gloria Per cuncta laudet Sæcula. Deo Patri sit gloria, Ejusque soli Filio, Cum Spiritu Paraclito, Et nunc et in perpetuum.

O Trinity of blessed light, And princely unity, The fiery sun already sets, Shed thy light within our hearts. To thee in the morning with songs of praise, And in the evening we pray, Thy glory suppliant we adore, Throughout all ages for ever. Glory be to God the Father, To his only Son, With the Holy Spirit Now and for ever. Amen.

The text of Byrd’s motet (proper to Vespers) is one of twelve hymns ascribed to St Ambrose, the fourth-century  bishop who is credited with establishing and codifying a tradition of chant in the Western church, preceding the more renowned Pope Gregory in this endeavour by some 200 years. Byrd’s setting, which he designated ‘hymnus’, is in fact in a fairly contrapuntal motet style, though unusually clear and lucid in texture despite its six voices, and divided into three sections corresponding to the stanzas of the text. The third section is a triple canon, perhaps symbolic of the Holy Trinity. O Lux beata Trinitas dates from early in Byrd’s career, appearing in his first collection of church music, the Cantiones Sacrae of 1575 in which seventeen of his compositions were published together with seventeen by Tallis.

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Hear my prayer, O Lord, Henry Purcell (1659-1695)

Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my crying come unto thee.

Hear my prayer, O Lord is an eight-part choral anthem. It is a setting of the first verse of Psalm 102 in the version of the Book of Common Prayer. Purcell composed it c. 1682 at the beginning of his tenure as Organist and Master of the Choristers for Westminster Abbey.

The anthem is 34 measures long, and is written in the key of C minor. Purcell begins the composition with a simple setting of the first line on one tone, with only one exception, a minor third up on the word “O”. After the first phrases, Purcell employs six to eight parts, in complex “pungent” harmonies which build to what the conductor Robert King calls “an inexorable vocal crescendo lasting over three minutes, culminating on a monumental discord on the last repetition of ‘come'”. Musicologist Timothy Dickey notes that Purcell “gradually amplified the vocal texture, and intensifies the harmonic complexity, until all eight voices combine in a towering dissonant tone cluster which desperately demands the final cadential resolution.”

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Hymns

Come, thou almighty King (MOSCOW) by the prolific composer Anonymous dates from before 1757, when it was published in a leaflet and bound into the 1757 edition of George Whitefield’s Collection of Hymns for Social Worship. The text appears to be patterned after the British national anthem, God Save the King.

At first, this hymn was sung to the same tune as “God Save the King.” On the American side of the Atlantic, we use the same tune for “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.”

Supposedly during the American Revolution, while British troops were occupying New York City and appeared to be winning the war, a group of English soldiers went to church one Sunday morning in Long Island. The setting was tense. The occupiers demanded the congregation sing, “God Save The King” in honor of King George III. The organist was forced to begin playing the tune – but instead of singing “God Save the King,” the congregation broke out in “Come, Thou Almighty King. ”

MOSCOW is by Felice Giardini. It is named after the city in which he finished his career. Giardini’s output was dominated by violin sonatas, trios, quartets, quintets and concertos. But he contributed four hymn tunes (at the urging of the Countess of Huntingdon) to A Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes, Never Published Before (1769) edited by Martin Madan*. The best known is MOSCOW, which remains popular and widely sung today, composed for the text ‘Come, Thou Almighty King’ and headed ‘Hymn to the Trinity, set by F. G.’. The tune later appeared in the Second Edition of Hymns Ancient & Modern (1875) and in English Hymnal to John Marriotts ‘Thou, whose almighty word’.

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Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty (NICAEA) is by Reginald Heber (1783-1826). This is the best known of Heber’s hymns, written for Trinity Sunday. It was first published in A Selection of Psalms and Hymns for the Parish Church of Banbury (Third Edition, 1826) and subsequently in Hymns written and adapted to the Weekly Church Service of the Year (1827), published after his death.

It is a reverent and faithful paraphrase of Revelation 4:8-11 and John’s vision of the unceasing worship in heaven: as such, it is a fine example of Heber’s care to avoid the charge of excessive subjectivity or cheap emotionalism in his hymns, and so to win support for the use of hymns in worship within the Anglican Church. Beginning with the thrice repeated ‘Holy’, it proceeds to find images for the Holy Trinity that attempt to capture its elusive magnificence. Particularly notable is ‘though the darkness hide Thee’, which expresses the awareness of God in mystical terms through the via negativa.

The hymn was a particular favourite of Tennyson’s, who told Bishop Welldon that he thought it the finest hymn ever written, considering the difficulty of the subject and the devotion and purity of its diction. It was sung at Tennyson’s funeral in Westminster Abbey

NICAEA is by  John Bacchus Dykes (1823-1876). The hymn tunes of Dykes may fairly be described as perhaps the richest and most representative corpus of a genre which, though it naturally aspired to be a potent aid to congregational worship, now embraced the fuller panoply of artistic expression. By the mid-19th century, Victorian composers, Dykes among them, had departed from the older manner of harmonic motion governed by individual syllables of the text and instead had developed a sophisticated and more liberal approach (Temperley, 1979, p. 305). Harmony was treated independently of the succession of individual syllables and began to assume a much more important and musically integral role. As part of this rather shrewd artistic design, the congregation retained their syllabic melodies in the manner to which they had always been accustomed, but now they were participants in a more elaborate artistic composition where the four voices of the choir (invariably appreciable in size) and a generous organ became vital factors in a more homogeneous equation. The elaborate harmonic dimension of Dykes’s many tunes reflected this change of emphasis. Frequently, interest was not restricted to the uppermost part (which might sing a monotone for several syllables) but to the underlying voices whose melodic contribution was often significant. This is powerfully evident in the first line of NICAEA (‘Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty’) and the second of GERONTIUS (‘Praise to the Holiest in the height’*) where the inner parts provide greater musical interest.

Mount Calvary Church

A Roman Catholic Parish

The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter

Baltimore, Maryland

Rev. Albert Scharbach, Pastor

Dr. Allen Buskirk, Choir Director and Cantor

May 31, 2020

10 A.M. Livecast on YouTube

Here is the Program.

Whitsunday

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Organ Prelude

Down Ampney, setting by Mark Sedio

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Organ Postlude

Prelude from Suite du Second Ton,  Jean-Adam Guillaume Guilain

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Common

Missa de S. Maria Magdalena, Willan

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Anthems

Loquebatur variis linguis, Thomas Tallis (1510-1585)

Loquebantur variis linguis Apostoli magnalia Dei, prout Spiritus Sanctus dabat eloqui illis, alleluia. Repleti sunt omnes Spiritu Sancto, et coeperunt loqui.

The Apostles spoke in many languages of the great works of God, as the Holy Spirit gave them the gift of speech, alleluia. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak.

Loquebantur variis linguis is an example of a polyphonic responsory as established by Taverner: both Tallis and Sheppard contributed a number of pieces to the genre. This motet for Pentecost (as with most responsories by Tallis) places the cantus firmus in the tenor part whilst the other six parts weave a vigorous web of polyphony around it culminating with a fulsome setting of the word ‘Alleluia’.

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Factus est repente, William Byrd (1540-1623)

Factus est repente de coelo sonus, tamquam advenientis spiritus vehementis ubi erant sedentes, alleluia; et repleti sunt omnes Spiritu Sancto, loquentes magnalia Dei, alleluia, alleluia.

Suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming where they were sitting, alleluia; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking the wonderful works of God, alleluia, alleluia.

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Hymns

Come down, O Love divine (DOWN AMPNEY) is a translation by Richard Littledale (1833-1890) of a laude of Bianco of Siena (c. 1345-c. 1412). The text is intense—intensely personal and intensely passionate. The incipit (first line) invokes the Holy Spirit to “seek thou this soul of mine and visit it with thine own ardor glowing.” Classic images of Pentecost appear throughout the hymn, especially those that relate to fire. Stanza one mentions “ardor glowing” and “kindle . . . thy holy flame.” Stanza two continues the flame images with “freely burn,” “dust and ashes in its heat consuming.” The final stanza is a powerful statement of total commitment to love, to “create a place/wherein the Holy Spirit makes a dwelling.”

DOWN AMPNEY is a tune by Ralph Vaughan Williams, who named it after the village of his birth.

Come Holy Ghost, Creator Blest (MENDON) is a translation by Edward Caswall (1814-1878) of Hrabanus Maurus’s (756-856) Veni Creator Spiritus. Caswall was an Anglican clergyman who became a Catholic and joined Newman at the Oratory. MENDON is a traditional German tune.

Mount Calvary Church

A Roman Catholic Parish

The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter

Baltimore, Maryland

Rev. Albert Scharbach, Pastor

Dr. Allen Buskirk, Choir Director and Cantor

Midori Tanaka, Organist

May 24, 2020

10 A.M. Livecast on YouTube

Here is the Program.

Easter VII

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Organ Prelude

Arioso, J. S. Bach

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Organ Postlude

Diademata, arranged by Jason Payne

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Common

Missa de S. Maria Magdalena, H. Willan

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Anthems

Non vos relinquam orphanos, William Byrd (1540-1623)

Non vos relinquam orphanos. Alleluia.
Vado, et venio ad vos. Alleluia.
Et gaudebit, cor vestrum. Alleluia.

I will not leave you comfortless. Alleluia.
I go, and I will come to you. Alleluia.
And your heart shall rejoice. Alleluia.

This poignantly brief and tightly-knit motet from the 1607 Gradualia conceals its contrapuntal complexity (including beautifully interwoven alleluias) behind a deceptively simple, flowing texture. Byrd somehow manages to combine a feeling of the sadness of Christ’s parting from the Apostles with the joy he promises for them in the future.

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O Rex Gloriae, William Byrd (1540-1623)

O Rex gloriae, Domine virtutum,
qui triumphator hodie super omnes coelos ascendisti;
ne derelinquas nos orphanos,
sed mitte promissum Patris in nos,
spiritum veritatis. Alleluia.

O King of glory, Lord of all power,
who ascended to heaven on this day triumphant over all;
do not leave us as orphans,
but send us the Father’s promise,
the spirit of truth. Alleluia.

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Hymns

The Head that once was crowned with thorns (ST MAGNUS) was written by  Thomas Kelly (1769-1854), who based this hymn on Hebrews 2: 9-10 which speaks of Christ’s glory and the universal message of grace that is available because of Christ’s suffering: “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.”

Kelly employs the poetic device of hypotyposis – a vivid description of a scene or events in words – that provides the singer with a glimpse of the splendor of heaven, which is contrasted with the suffering of the cross and the suffering of all who follow Christ on earth.

ST. MAGNUS first appeared in Henry Playford’s Divine Companion (1707 ed.) as an anonymous tune with soprano and bass parts. The tune was later credited to Jeremiah Clark  (c. 1670 – 1707), who was a chorister in the Chapel Royal and sang at the coronation of James II in 1685. Later he served as organist in Winchester College, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and the Chapel Royal. He shot himself to death in a fit of depression, apparently because of an unhappy romance. Supported by Queen Anne, Clark was a prominent composer in his day, writing songs for the stage as well as anthems, psalm tunes, and harpsichord works. One well-known piece, the Trumpet Voluntary, was long attributed to his contemporary Henry Purcell but is now recognized as Clark’s composition.

The tune is named for the Church of St. Magnus the Martyr, built by Christopher Wren in 1676 on Lower Thames Street near the old London Bridge, England. ST. MAGNUS consists of two long lines, each of which has its own sense of climax. The octave leap in the final phrase has a stunning effect, like a vault in a Gothic cathedral.

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Crown Him with Many Crowns  (DIADEMATA) is by the Anglican Matthew Bridges (1800-1894), who wrote six verses of this hymn, which is based on Rev 1: 12: “and on His head were many crowns.” But Bridges converted to Catholicism in 1848 under the influence of John Henry Newman, and Godfrey Thring (1823-1903) thought the hymn was too Catholic, and wrote six more verses, so hymnals, depending on their leanings, use different selections of verses. In the 1940 Hymnal the first and last verses are by Bridges, the middle three by Thring.

The tune DIADEMATA is by Sir George Job Elvey (1816-1893), private organist to Queen Victoria, and is in the simple Handelian style.

This mass will be livecast at 10 A.M. Sunday May 17, 2020.

Here is the program.

The apostle Philip healing a cripple in Samaria. 

Jacob Jordaens (Flemish, Antwerp 1593-1678)

Mount Calvary Church

A Roman Catholic Parish

The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter

Baltimore, Maryland

Rev. Albert Scharbach, Pastor

Dr. Allen Buskirk, Choir Director and Cantor

Midori Tanaka, Organist

May 17, 2020

10 A.M. Livecast on YouTube

Easter VI

Rogation Sunday

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Organ Prelude

Voluntary II by William Boyce

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Organ Postlude

Hyfrydol, arranged by Charles Callahan

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Common

Missa de S. Maria Magdalena, H. Willan

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Anthems

Rise up, my love, Healey Willan (1880-1968)

Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away; for lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear upon the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come. Arise my love, my fair one, and come away.

The text for today’s offertory anthem “Rise up my love, my fair one” is taken from that strange and beautiful book dwelling almost exclusively on romantic love, the Song of Solomon. Although the origin of this book is obscure, perhaps coming from the ancient Israelite marriage liturgy, it was read very early on as an allegory of God’s love for Israel and in the Christian era as Christ’s love for the church. “Rise up my love, my fair one,” can be heard equally plausibly as Christ offering redemption to the sinner or as the blossoming of new hope through forgiveness at a turning point in a romantic relationship. Healey Willan (1880-1968) was born in England and attended a choir school where he studied harmony, counterpoint, and organ. From an Anglo-Catholic background, he became an authority on plainchant in English translation and many of his compositions have chant-like melodies with free meter.

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If ye love me, Thomas Tallis (1510-1585)

If ye love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever; even the spirit of truth.

“If Ye Love Me” is a setting for an a cappella choir of four voice parts, and it is a noted example of Reformation compositional style, essentially homophonic but with some elaboration and imitation. Typically for Anglican motets of this period, it is written in an ABB form, with the second section repeated.

The anthem was chosen to be sung when Pope Benedict XVI attended Evensong at Westminster Abbey during his 2010 visit to the United Kingdom, and also at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle in 2018

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Hymns

Love’s redeeming work is done  (SAVANNAH) by Charles Wesley is a cento composed of stanzas from his hymn “Christ the Lord is risen to-day.” Books originating in the Church of England tradition use the tune SAVANNAH, first found in England in John Wesley’s A Collection of Tunes, Set to Music, as they are commonly sung at the Foundery (1742), with the name HERNHUTH, which indicates its origins in 18th-century Moravian books. The name SAVANNAH comes from the Moravian settlement at Savannah, Georgia. Wesley accompanied the Moravians on their voyage from England to Savannah and was deeply impressed by their calm and faith during a storm that panicked the sailors.

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Alleluia! sing to Jesus (HYFRYDOL) was written by William Chatterton Dix (1837—1898). Revelation 5:9 describes this eschatological scene of joy and glory: “And they sang a new song, saying: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because You were slain, and with Your blood You purchased for God members of every tribe and language and nation.’”  Dix invites us to sing that new song of praise to our ascended Savior. This hymn is a declaration of Jesus’ victory over death and His continued presence among His people. By complex and interlocking allusions to Scripture, it presents a very high view of the Eucharist presence: Jesus is both “Priest and Victim” in this feast. Jesus, having triumphed over sin and death, “robed in flesh” has ascended above all the heavens, entering “within the veil” to the very throne of God. Dix sees in the Eucharist the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to be with us evermore.

HYFRYDOL (the word means, ‘cheerful’ or ‘melodious’), by Rowland Huw Prichard (1811-1887) was set for three voices, there being still at that time those who thought that there was something improper in four-part singing. The tune is in the tenor until line 7, in which the tenor is silent and the melody is in the upper part. The tune shows some sophistication in its construction. The melody lies within a fifth (tonic to dominant) until, at the climax in the last line, it rises to the sixth degree. The repetition of the first two lines in lines 3 and 4, and the powerful sequential construction of line 5 (characteristic of Welsh hymn melodies) suggest, perhaps, that the larger structure will conform to the common AABA form, but this expectation is defeated by new material for lines 7 (which is also strongly sequential) and 8 (which draws on the sequential motif from line 5).

Rogation Days

In the year 470 a French bishop called for three days of prayer, fasting, and processions in order to protect his earthquake-ravaged diocese from further tremors. He scheduled these days of prayer and penance for the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday preceding Ascension Day (for more on penance, see Repentance). This observance spread throughout France and reached Rome around the ninth century. In Rome the pope combined these ceremonies with those already occurring on April 25. He mandated that the most important religious services take place on April 25 and the other, lesser services on the three days preceding the Ascension. English speakers call these four days of prayer and processions the Rogation Days. The word rogation comes from the Latin word rogare, meaning “ask” or “plead.” April 25 is known as the Major Rogation, and the other days as the Minor Rogations. St. Mark’s Day is also observed on April 25, although this observance is not related to the Rogation Days. In addition, although the Sunday before Ascension Day was not one of the original Rogation Days, the spirit of the Rogation Days influenced the way in which it was observed and inspired people to call it Rogation Sunday.

Beating the Bounds

In medieval England the Rogation Days were observed with processions that began in the local church and proceeded to outline the boundaries of the parish, pausing occasionally for the recitation of prayers. Priests and cross-bearers led these long walks in the countryside. Accordingly, the English sometimes called the Rogation Days the “Walking Days” from the Old Anglo-Saxon name for the observance, Gang Daegas, meaning approximately “Day of Going About.” They also called them the “Cross Days,” a reference to the cross carried at the head of the processions. Scholars trace the custom of prayerful perimeter-walking back to the Roman festival of Ambargalia, in which the Romans paced the perimeter of their fields asking the gods to bless them with fertility. In any case, those who participated in the Rogation Day walks were expected to fast before the procession, and to treat the event as a sober religious exercise rather than a holiday in the countryside. Nevertheless, people tended to turn the event into an expression of pride in their parish. On occasion, an excess of “team spirit” led some parish groups to attack others that they encountered.

After the Reformation some of Protestant denominations attempted to eliminate folk customs associated with the Rogation Days. In England Rogation processions were curtailed, though not completely eliminated. At a later date, however, people revived them. Some writers believe that the processions served an important social as well as religious function by teaching youth the parish boundary lines in an era when maps were not in common circulation. Youngsters accompanying the procession were often bumped against stone boundary markers, tossed into streams that divided one parish from another, or forced to climb hedges, walls, or even houses built over the boundary lines. Some writers speculate that this painful process gave rise to the folk name for the custom, “beating the bounds.” Presumably this ordeal left the boys with a permanent if somewhat unpleasant memory of the exact location of the parish boundaries. On the other hand, the name may come from the common custom of beating the boundary markers with wooden wands so as to impress their location upon the memory. Indeed some parish processions did not subject participants to painful ordeals other than the walk itself, which could be quite taxing. In many locations adults and children who took part in these excursions were rewarded with coins, sweets, fruit, nuts, bread, cheese, or ale along the way.

The beating of the bounds during the Rogation Days reached the height of its popularity around 1700 and then entered a long, slow decline. Folklorists attribute this decline to the enclosure of what had once been open fields, as well as waning belief in the effectiveness of the processions as a means of finding favor with God. In recent years these old Rogationtide processions have experienced a modest revival. Priests lead parish children in yearly Ascension Day processions in the university town of Oxford. In Chudleigh, near Exeter, ambitious parishioners beat the bounds of their parish every seven years. The expedition takes the party over a twenty-one-mile route, requiring at least one volunteer to swim the river Teign and the entire party to board a bus in order to cross a busy highway. The arduous nature of the task seems to have inspired the seven-year delay between processions.

The hobbits who beat the bounds of the Shire, as Tolkien explained, are called bounders.