Music at All Saints Parish Sunday, January 14, 2007
Epiphany II
From All Saints Music Director Donald Teeters
It is a sign of the diversity of talents at All Saints that when readers or intercessors are needed, or the pulpit needs filling, or even, as is the case this week, when musicians are needed to fill in for the regular staff, there are more than able back-ups willing to serve. The choir and Keith and I will be away this Sunday, and I am very pleased to report that Christian Brocato will fill in as organist - his abundant qualifications in that art have been on display here often in the past. You will want to come early to hear him play works by Max Reger before the service and stay afterwards to hear some Bach. And soprano Mary Ricker, an excellent volunteer in our choir with fine educational and professional credentials in her background, will be soloist.
I am especially pleased that Mary has chosen two solo works of Handel which are not only very beautiful in themselves but nearly perfect choices on a Sunday when we honor Martin Luther King, Jr. From Messiah, she will sing the air that has this text, "How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace;" and from the great oratorio Judas Maccabaeus, these lines, "O liberty, thou choicest treasure ... Life without thee, knows no blessing."
The hymns are all familiar and are wonderful to sing in addition to being appropriate for this Sunday in Epiphany and for the national celebration as well.
#423 - Immortal, invisible, God only wise. The Hymnal 1982 Companion credits Ralph Vaughan Williams with the idea of combining this text with this tune, and it is indeed an excellent fit.
#583 - O holy city, seen of John. A tune that derives from early 19th century folk sources provides an excellent support for this strong text thought by many to be one of the finest of the 20th century. I have chosen it for MLK Sunday because the words seem to speak directly to much that he was trying to achieve in his life's work. Example:
O shame to us who rest content
While lust and greed for gain
In street and shop and tenement
Wring gold from human pain...
#542 - Christ is the world's true light . Englishman George Wallace Briggs wrote the text in the first part of the last century. It was intended originally for use in Advent, but I think its use of the "light" imagery makes it also quite suitable for singing in Epiphany.