Trinity Sunday - May 26 2013

• Organ: “Fantasy on Holy, Holy, Holy” – Piet Post (1919-1979)
• Processional Hymn 436 “I bind unto myself today”
• Service Music: New Plainsong – David Hurd
• Psalm 8 (Tone VIII.1)
• Gospel Alleluia
  

  Choir: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
  All: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
  Cantor: Blessed art thou that beholdest the depths and dwellest between the Cherubim: praised and exalted above all for ever.
  All: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

• Offertory Hymn 1 “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty”
• Communion Hymn 256 “Yours the hand that made creation”
• Communion Motet: Hymn to the Trinity – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
  The text is taken from the hymn ‘Holy, holy, holy’.
• Concluding Hymn 326 “Bright the vision that delighteth”
• Organ: “Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott” (We believe in one God) – J.S. Bach (1685-1750)

Pentecost - May 19, 2013

• Organ: Feria Pentecostes – Camille Saint-Saens
• Opening Hymn 253 “O glorious day”
• Service Music: 
• Kyrie, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei - Missa brevis in D – Walter MacNutt 
• Gloria, Creed and Lord’s Prayer – John Merbecke
• Psalm 104.25-35, 37b
• Gospel Alleluia

Choir: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
All: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Cantor: Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.
All: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

• Offertory Hymn 645 “Come down, O love divine”
• Offertory Anthem: Veni Sancte Spiritus, KV. 47 – W.A. Mozart

Come, Holy Spirit,
fill the hearts of your faithful servants
and kindle the fire of your love in them.
You have gathered the nations
together in the unity of faith. Alleluia.

• Communion Hymn 637 “Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire”
• Communion Motet: “Draw us in the Spirit’s tether” – Harold Friedell

Draw us in the Spirit's tether;
For when humbly, in thy name,
Two or three are met together,
Thou art in the midst of them:
Alleluya! Alleluya!

Touch we now thy garment's hem.
As the brethren used to gather
In the name of Christ to sup,
Then with thanks to God the Father
Break the bread and bless the cup,
Alleluya! Alleluya!

So knit thou our friendship up.
All our meals and all our living
Make us sacraments of thee,
That be caring, helping, giving,
We may true disciples be.
Alleluya! Alleluya!
We will serve thee faithfully.

• Concluding Hymn 560 God, whose almighty word
• Organ: Prelude on “Old 104th” – C.H.H. Parry

Music Notes




Camille Saint-Saëns wrote his Sept Improvisations Op 150, between December 1916 and February 1917 while recovering in bed from bronchitis and gave their first performances in Marseille, Nice and Lyon a month or so later. ‘Feria Pentecostes’, the second of the improvisations and this morning’s organ prelude, is based on the first hymn of Lauds for Pentecost, Beata nobis gaudia (very loosely translated as “Again the circling seasons tell”, one of several translations of this hymn).

Composed in Vienna in 1768 when Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was 12 years old, Veni Sancte Spiritus is a motet for choir, soloists, organ and orchestra. It is in two parts, the first being a setting of a sequence for Pentecost followed by a concluding Alleluia. The choir sings continuously throughout, with short solo interpolations.

“Draw us in the Spirit’s tether” was published in 1957 although the hymn upon which the anthem is based was written in 1945 by one of the more influential American church musicians of the 20th century, Harold Friedell (1905-1958). Using a text written by Percy Dearmer (1867-1936), Friedell composed it as a communion hymn specifically for Pentecost Sunday 1945. Taking his previously composed hymn tune, Friedell created the SATB anthem arrangement the choir is singing this morning. The text beautifully links the singers with the disciples who gathered with Christ at the table (Matthew 18:20). The image that we are joined by a “tether” is archaic, but an appropriate image of the work of the Holy Spirit that links Christians of every time and place at the table. In the final stanza, poet Dearmer makes a powerful statement that “All our meals and all our living make as sacraments of thee”; through “caring, helping, giving, we may true disciples be.” The hymn begins in the upper room with the disciples and comes full circle as we join them around the table and are nourished to serve others in the world.

Sunday after Ascension (Easter 7) - May 12 2013

• Organ: Te deum laudamus – Dietrich Buxtehude
• Opening Hymn 491 “The head that once was crowned with thorns”
• Service Music: New Plainsong – David Hurd
• Psalm 97 (Tone V.1)
  

  Gospel Alleluia
  Choir: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
  All: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
  Cantor: Go, make disciples of all the nations; I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.
  All: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

• Offertory Hymn: “See, the Conqueror mounts in triumph”
• Communion Hymn : “Hark, what a sound, and too divine for hearing”
• Communion Motet: God is gone up – William Croft
  

  God is gone up with a merry noise
  and the Lord with the sound of the trumpet.

• Concluding Hymn 380 “O worship the King, all glorious above”
• Organ: Toccata – Hector Berlioz

Easter 6 - May 5 2013

• Organ: Andante tranquillo (from Organ Sonata #3 in A major) – Felix Mendelssohn
• Opening Hymn 319 “Come let us join our cheerful songs”
• Service Music: New Plainsong – David Hurd
• Psalm 67 (Tone III.4)
• Gospel Alleluia

Choir: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
All: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Cantor: Jesus said, if anyone loves me he will keep my word,
and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him.
All: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

• Offertory Hymn “Dear Lord and Father of mankind”

• Anthem: I waited for the Lord (from Symphony #2 – Hymn of Praise) – Felix Mendelssohn

I waited for the Lord, he inclined unto me, he heard my complaint.
O bless’d are they that hope and trust in the Lord.

• Communion Hymn 649 “Breathe on me, breath of God”
• Concluding Hymn 388 “Glorious things of thee are spoken”
• Organ: Con moto maestoso (from Organ Sonata #3 in A major) – Felix Mendelssohn

ADVANCE NOTICE of a special service on Sunday 26 May at 2 pm.
The choir of St. Barnabas’ has been invited to participate in the Latvian Lutheran service that day, a special commemoration of Pentecost that will feature music and readings. Please join us. There will be a collection, the proceeds from which are being generously directed to the St. Barnabas’ Organ Restoration Fund.