One of the classic hymns of an earlier day is “My Faith Looks Up To Thee”. The melody was written by Lowell Mason (1792-1872). Ray Palmer (1808-1887) wrote the lyrics:
My faith looks up to Thee;
Thou Lamb of Calvary;
Savior divine;
Now hear me while I pray;
Take all my guilt away;
O let me from this day be wholly Thine…
Ray Palmer was a Congregationalist minister, who graduated from Yale in 1830. According to Ernest E Ryden, author of Story of our hymns (1930; online here at CCEL.org), Palmer wrote these lyrics shortly after his graduation while working as a tutor at a New York school. He was reading a German poem, and dashed some stanzas into a notebook He was contemplating what it would be like to be a penitent sinner standing at the foot of the cross of Jesus.
Later, when Lowell Mason was compiling a hymn collection, he happened across Rev. Palmer on a street in Boston. Palmer had by then established a reputation as a decent poet, so Mason asked him to write something for a new hymnal. Palmer dug out his old notebook and gave him the lyrics. Mason praised his work. “You may live many years and do many good things, but I think you will be best known to posterity as the author of My Faith Looks Up to Thee.” Mr. Ryden has called the hymn “the most precious contribution which American genius has yet made to the hymnology of the Christian Church”.
I will tell another story. Nestled into the bucolic setting of the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, near Knoxville, is Johnson University (formerly Johnson Bible College). This small, nondenominational college was founded in 1893 as the School of the Evangelists. It was and is a symbol of frontier faith and zeal, which emanated out of the revivalist fervor of the “Second Great Awakening”. In 1904 the college suffered a major blow when a fire broke out and burned the Main Building to the ground. Local lore has it that even as their dreams went up in smoke, the faculty and students held hands and sang this hymn together. (They were able to rebuild the following year).
The performance below is by an anonymous group of singers, performing an arrangement by Fred Waring; it is used in accordance with Creative Commons licensing, from the Internet Archive.
Here also is a lovely piano version, uploaded by someone named “HouseOfJoel”, also available in the Creative Commons section of the Internet Archives.
For a limited time, you may listen free to a veritable feast of gorgeous liturgical music, performed in an appropriate setting. Those who follow my postings closely will know that I am a fan of the webcasts of Saint Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue. They are in the midst of their “2016 Orchestral and Organ Mass Series featuring the Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys and Saint Thomas Chamber Orchestra”. Already on demand are webcasts of recent services featuring the Mass in C, op. 169 by Josef Rhineburger, and the Mass in G major by Franz Schubert. This coming Sunday, June 6, will feature the Missa Solennelle by Louis Vierne.
In honor of the recently passed milestone of 100 posts, I feel it a fine time to play the actual “Brother James Air” (the music by that name, not my airs). This is performed by the choristers of Canterbury Cathedral in England. The text is a variation of Psalm 23. The piece was written by Scottish minister and hymn writer James Leith Bain (1860–1925).
Hymn: Christ, the Fair Glory of the Holy Angels
In honor of today’s Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels (Michaelmas).
Photo: Public Domain image of St. Michael, by unknown Spanish painter, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.
Relevent Verse: “For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.” Psalm 91:11.
Listen:
Lyrics:
Christ, the fair glory of the holy angels
thou who hast made us, thou who o’er us rulest,
grant of thy mercy unto us thy servants
steps up to heaven.
Send thine archangel Michael to our succor;
peacemaker blessèd, may he banish from us
striving and hatred, so that for the peaceful
all things may prosper.
Send thine archangel Gabriel, the mighty;
herald of heaven, may he, from us mortals,
spurn the old serpent, watching o’er the temples
where thou art worshiped.
Send thine archangel Raphael, the restorer
of the misguided ways of men who wander,
who at thy bidding strengthens soul and body
with thine anointing.
May the blest mother of our God and Savior, may the assembly of the saints in glory, may the celestial companies of angels ever assist us.
Father Almighty, Son, and Holy Spirit,
God ever blessèd, be thou our preserver;
thine is the glory which the angels worship,
veiling their faces.
(Words: Latin, ninth century; trans. Athelstan Riley, 1906)
About the hymn
The text was written in the 9th century by Rabanus Marus Magnentius, also known as Hrabanus or Rhabanus, born around 780. He was a Frankish Benedictine monk, the archbishop of Mainz in Germany and a theologian. He was the author of the encyclopaedia De rerum naturis.
The text is commonly set to the tune Caelite plaudens, a French melody from the 1728 Rouen antiphoner, which was subsequently harmonized by the great English composer Ralph Vaughn Williams. It appeared in the English Hymnal of 1906.
For more Information: Hymnary.org Wikipedia
Note: The audio file is a public domain recording, available at Internet Archive. It is listed as “St Michael’s Conference Hymn”; No further information is available about the venue, organ, or performers.
In reading about John Scott I found this gorgeous recording of the Hylton Stewart setting of Psalm 23, by the St Paul’s Cathedral Choir, conducted by John Scott. The performance took place in 1988 at the Grote Eusebiuskerk in the Netherlands.
“Alone to God be glory”, reads the text above. This phrase adorned every manuscript penned by the great master, Johann Sebastian Bach. This phrase will be carved into the case of a great organ being built in New York, at the insistence of a modern master, who has recently and unexpectedly passed away.
John Scott was the most recent organist and choirmaster at St Thomas Church, New York, a grand place which can be fairly described as the pinnacle of the Anglican music tradition in the U.S. Prior to this he was organist and choirmaster at St Paul’s cathedral in London. His compositions include music performed at the Queen’s “Golden Jubilee”, and Margaret Thatcher’s funeral.
My own connection with his recordings occurred early in my teens when, as a rebel from the low musical tastes of my generation, I began listening to sacred choral music by the likes of Byrd and Tallis. Also, I will make no secret of the fact that I am currently a huge fan of the webcasts of St Thomas Church, New York. I have loved the music, and applaud that they have so far upheld doctrinal orthodoxy (if of a sacerdotal bent) in their theology and practice, against great odds.
For more information on John Scott, consider tuning in to this tribute program on the public radio program Pipe Dreams”. Also, more information about him can be found at the websites for St Thomas Church and St. Paul’s Cathedral.
Our condolences to Dr. Scott’s family, church, and those whom his life impacted. As I scan tributes to him, I have seen over and over that “Soli Deo Gloria” was an important theme in his life and work. May it be so in our lives also.
We are pleased to announce our second video offering, a bit of (respectful) whimsy that utilizes the creative game of Minecraft:
The Text here is from the King James version of the Holy Bible.
The images are screen shots from a minecraft game.
The music is by Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg (1843-1907), from his Piano Concerto in A minor, Op 16: Adagio section. This is a public domain recording available on the musOpen website. This is an early work, written when he was 24 while visiting Søllerød, Denmark, and is the only concerto completed by Grieg. It is often compared to the piano concerto by Schumann. It is scored for piano, woodwinds in pairs, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, and strings. The performers here are the Skidmore College Orchestra.
This beautiful piece was composed by Gregorio Allegri (1582-1652), for performance in the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday and Friday of Holy Week. For a time, according to the oft-told mythical story, the song was the well guarded secret of the Vatican, which forbade its publication, until a 14 year old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart visited on Good Friday 1770 and later transcribed the entire piece from memory. This is probably not true, but makes a great story (for a full debunking, read Ben Byram-Wigfield’s 1996 essay, “MISERERE MEI, DEUS, GREGORIO ALLEGRI: A Quest for the Holy Grail?”, pg 16, online here). There was certainly a mystique about the music that led such as person as Mary Shelley to gush:
But a thousand times over I would go to listen to the Miserere in the Sistine Chapel ; that spot made sacred by the most sublime works of Michael Angelo … The music, not only of the Miserere, but of the Lamentations, is solemn, pathetic, religious – the soul is rapt – carried away into another state of being. Strange that grief, and laments, and the humble petition of repentance, should fill us with delight – a delight that wakens these very emotions in the heart – and calls tears into the eyes, and yet is dearer than any pleasure.
(From Mary Shelley: Rambles in Germany and Italy in 1840, 1842 and 1843. Vol 2. London, Edward Moxon, 1844), Vol 2, 230–31; as cited in Graham Kelly’s essay for the University of York Dept of Music, “A unique singers’ manuscript from the 19th century: Domenico Mustafa’s version of the Miserere of Tommaso Bai and Gregorio Allegri”, which can be found online here.)
The version heard commonly today is not likely what a guest to the vatican would have heard in Mozart’s time. The “top C” version we all know and love turns out to have been the happy result of an error. For you musicologists out there, the Wigfield essay mentioned above explains this in detail: The received version, as it is widely held today, is a mix of Burney’s first choir with a bizarre second choir, congealed into life in the first edition of Grove’s Dictionary of Music & Musicians in 1880. As an illustrated example, W.S. Rockstro showed the first half of the four-part verse as indicated by Alfieri, but then sticks Mendelssohn’s 1831 record of the first half —up a fourth— on the second half of the verse. Ivor Atkins, for his edition of 1951, took Burney’s first choir and final verse, adding this second choir from Grove’s. The problem is that the Mendelssohn abbellimenti is also a record of the first half, apparently sung a fourth higher than written at the time of his visit. It is this that causes musicologists to squirm with the bass jumping from an F# up to a C, followed by the swift gear change into C minor. This error has been repeated in two subsequent editions, produced by respected academics. The result is strangely beautiful, and probably here to stay. It is, after all, one of the most popular pieces of sacred music. However, it is neither a representation of the performance practice of the Sistine Chapel choir, nor a true reflection of how the piece was ever sung there.
A theological point can be made here, and perhaps I’ll embellish it down the road: Sometimes God uses our mistakes to His greater glory.
Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury who presided over the conversion of the English realm from Roman Catholicism to Protestantism, penned what is the first official English Language ceremony, the “Great Litany”, in 1544. He drew upon litanies in the old “Sarum Rite” as well as the litany of Martin Luther. The Litany is a collection of prayers and petitions, and is generally used in the penitential seasons of Lent and Advent.
The text of the litany is posted below. Here are two small portions of that Litany, sung in a beautiful setting by Thomas Tallis (1505-1585), who is considered by many the “father of Anglican music.” An organist at Waltham Abbey, he later became a gentleman of the Chapel Royal, and was a teacher of William Byrd.
We will hear the Gentlemen of the Choir of Saint Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue, NYC. Here are the opening sentences, an invocation of the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit).
Now I’ll move to the end. The sublime concluding phrases here remind me of the somber ending to Tallis’ great work “The Lamentations of Jeremiah.”
The entire Litany in its appropriate context within a communion service, is available online for a period of time at the website for this church.
The Text of the Litany (From the Book of Common Prayer, 1928). Responses from the congregation/choir are in italics.
O GOD the Father, Creator of heaven and earth; Have mercy upon us.
O God the Son, Redeemer of the world; Have mercy upon us.
O God the Holy Ghost, Sanctifier of the faithful; Have mercy upon us.
O holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, one God; Have mercy upon us.
REMEMBER not, Lord, our offences, nor the offences of our forefathers; neither take thou vengeance of our sins: Spare us, good Lord, spare thy people, whom thou hast redeemed with thy most precious blood, and be not angry with us for ever. Spare us, good Lord.
FROM all evil and mischief; from sin; from the crafts and assaults of the devil; from thy wrath, and from everlasting damnation, Good Lord, deliver us.
From all blindness of heart; from pride, vainglory, and hypocrisy; from envy, hatred, and malice, and all uncharitableness, Good Lord, deliver us.
From all inordinate and sinful affections; and from all the deceits of the world, the flesh, and the devil, Good Lord, deliver us.
From lightning and tempest; from earthquake, fire, and flood; from plague, pestilence, and famine; from battle and murder, and from sudden death, Good Lord, deliver us.
From all sedition, privy conspiracy, and rebellion; from all false doctrine, heresy, and schism; from hardness of heart, and contempt of thy Word and Commandment, Good Lord, deliver us.
By the mystery of thy holy Incarnation; by thy holy Nativity and Circumcision; by thy Baptism, Fasting, and Temptation, Good Lord, deliver us.
By thine Agony and Bloody Sweat; by thy Cross and Passion; by thy precious Death and Burial; by thy glorious Resurrection and Ascension, and by the Coming of the Holy Ghost, Good Lord, deliver us.
In all time of our tribulation; in all time of our prosperity; in the hour of death, and in the day of judgment, Good Lord, deliver us.
WE sinners do beseech thee to hear us, O Lord God; and that it may please thee to rule and govern thy holy Church universal in the right way; We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee so to rule the heart of thy servant, The President of the United States, that he may above all things seek thy honour and glory; We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to bless and preserve all Christian Rulers and Magistrates, giving them grace to execute justice, and to maintain truth; We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to illuminate all Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, with true knowledge and understanding of thy Word; and that both by their preaching and living they may set it forth, and show it accordingly; We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to send forth labourers into thy harvest; We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to bless and keep all thy people; We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to give to all nations unity, peace, and concord; We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to give us an heart to love and fear thee, and diligently to live after thy commandments; We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to give to all thy people increase of grace to hear meekly thy Word, and to receive it with pure affection, and to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit; We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to bring into the way of truth all such as have erred, and are deceived; We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to strengthen such as do stand; and to comfort and help the weak-hearted; and to raise up those who fall; and finally to beat down Satan under our feet; We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to succour, help, and comfort, all who are in danger, necessity, and tribulation; We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to preserve all who travel by land, by water, or by air, all women in child-birth, all sick persons, and young children; and to show thy pity upon all prisoners and captives; We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to defend, and provide for, the fatherless children, and widows, and all who are desolate and oppressed; We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to have mercy upon all men; We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to forgive our enemies, persecutors, and slanderers, and to turn their hearts; We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to give and preserve to our use the kindly fruits of the earth, so that in due time we may enjoy them; We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to give us true repentance; to forgive us all our sins, negligences, and ignorances; and to endue us with the grace of thy Holy Spirit to amend our lives according to thy holy Word; We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
Son of God, we beseech thee to hear us. Son of God, we beseech thee to hear us.
O Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world; Grant us thy peace.
O Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world; Have mercy upon us.
O Christ, hear us. O Christ, hear us.
Lord, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us. Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us.
