Music at All Saints Parish Sunday, December 24, 2006
Advent 4
From All Saints Music Director Donald Teeters
It doesn't occur very often but when it does, it always has wonderful meaning for me. We are a Church of seasons, and the seasons have specific themes, all of which are related to the life and work of Our Lord. The "it" to which I refer is the occasion, as this year, when we can celebrate the Fourth Sunday of Advent and Christmas both on the same day. For many of us this happy coincidence offers special opportunities to reflect on the preparation and fulfillment at close quarters.
So, we at All Saints will still be firmly in Advent on Sunday morning. Alas, the choir will not be here as they are heavily committed for later in the day. But we will have a soloist and the hymns will assist our anticipation-without celebrating the fullest flowering of that anticipation just yet.
The hymns are:
O come, O come, Emmanuel, #56. This is likely the greatest of all the Advent hymns, affirmed by both its longevity and its quality. It had its origins in the "O antiphons" (also called the "Greater antiphons" or the "Great O's"), which arose no later than the 8th century. They were traditionally intended to be sung, one verse a day, at Vespers for the seven days leading up to Christmas. In Latin the second word of each verse yields an acrostic: read in inverse order from the last to the first stanza, the words begin with the letters ERO CRAS, which is Latin for "I shall be present tomorrow." Could any hymn be more appropriate for Sunday morning, December 24th?
The angel Gabriel from heaven came, #265. This well-known carol for the Annunciation with text and tune from Basque sources relates the details of the angel's visit and pronouncement to Mary of her newly exalted status as "most highly favored lady."
Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates, #436. The opening line is completed with the text, "behold the King of Glory waits!" Now if that isn't an appropriate way to depart church on this special Sunday of anticipation, I just don't what would be better.
I will not detail all the specifics of the music for the late service on Christmas Eve, except to say that, musically speaking, the Eucharist this year will have a distinctly Renaissance mood of quiet reflection to it. The choir will sing a Gloria and Agnus Dei by Palestrina, from his Missa Aeterna Christi Munera - music of quiet, spacious solemnity, appropriate for the late evening hour as we celebrate the Nativity of Our Lord. Also, but carrying forward a livelier sense of the occasion, there will be a 16th century motet by Englishman Peter Philips, O beatum et sacrosanctum diem (O blessed and most holy day). At the Offertory we will move several centuries forward with a canticle/anthem by the great Victorian/Edwardian composer C.V. Stanford. This Magnificat in G is one of the finest settings of Mary's song by a composer of Stanford's generation (or of any generation for that matter) and has, running throughout, a brilliant solo part for soprano, which of course will be sung by our Jessica Cooper.
The half-hour of carols and anthems preceding the 11:00 p.m. service will, as always, contain a mix of the lively and familiar juxtaposed with some lesser known and reflective works from several periods.
All Saints music is on display at its best in the two great services of Christmas Eve each year. Keith Glavash and his Schola welcome alumni and families comprised of members from diverse generations to a service of joyous celebration in the late afternoon. And, in the late evening, a service tuned mainly to the needs of the adults of our flock and to visitors attempts to provide space and content that encourage us to reflect on the deeper meanings of the Holy Birth.
And, please note that on Sunday, December 31, at the 10:30 a.m. service, the choir and readers will present a complete Service of Nine Lessons and Carols in the style of the world-renowned service of that type presented and broadcast annually from King's College, Cambridge, England.