Sunday, February 19, 2012

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

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

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”.