Music at All Saints Parish Sunday, February 18, 2007
Last Sunday after Epiphany
From All Saints Music Director Donald Teeters
There will be no adult choir or schola this Sunday. The school holiday exodus makes it really impossible to staff these two groups this week. However, our Jessica Cooper will be here and will sing the spiritual song "How can I help from singing," with its stirring affirmation of the power of faith.
The theme for this Sunday in each year of the three-year cycle is The Transfiguration of Jesus. Matthew, Mark and Luke all deal with this account of Jesus's mountaintop transfiguration, his face shining like the sun, and his clothes a brilliant white.
Our hymns today will all pick up on this theme or make reference one way or another to the season of Epiphany which we will now be leaving. They are:
Hymn 135 - Songs of thankfulness and praise. The verses of this hymn serve as a summary of the Epiphany events: Jesus' baptism, his first miracles, and his transfiguration. The text, dating from the late 19th century is by Englishman Christopher Wordsworth. The tune was first published in Berlin in 1678 and is found in our hymnal in a harmonization by J. S. Bach.
Hymn 137 - O wondrous type! O vision fair. This anonymous Latin hymn text dates from the 15th century and was included in the breviary associated with Salisbury Cathedral (known as the Sarum in historic references). The popular tune is by William Knapp, a parish clerk in Poole, Dorset, who gave it the name Wareham after one of the towns in which he operated as a singing teacher and itinerant bookseller. The tune has in its long history been associated with over 100 different texts, however the association with this transfiguration text is perhaps the most successful and most enduring one.
Hymn 390 - Praise to the Lord, the Almighty. In several surveys of the American church this tune, Lobe den Herren, has been rated among the most popular of all hymn tunes. The text is German in origin, and the version used in our hymnal is a slightly revised version of Catherine Winkworth's well-loved translation. The tune is ancient, probably also German in origin, and likely evolved from, and in, various folk versions. As one of our great hymns of praise, it is a fine choice for lifting up our voices in spirited song before we enter the solemn season of Lent.