October 25, 2009

From Our Choir Director

Psalm 34 contains the text ” O taste and see that the Lord is good”. The imagery of actually tasting the goodness of God is a lasting one, which has been set to music many times. One of our choir’s favorite versions was written by English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. Vaughan Williams was born in 1872, the son of a vicar. He published his first composition at the age of 30, and two years later he edited the English Hymnal of 1904. He had a fascination with English folk songs and often incorporated their melodies into his music. His experiences as a medic in World War I led him to question his faith, but he continued  to set sacred texts to music until his death in 1958. O Taste and See is a motet which begins with a solo. Each voice part in the choir then enters one at a time restating the text in polyphonic texture. Nelle Douglas will be our soprano soloist.

Glinda

From our Organist

The opening voluntary for the Lord’s Day Service this week is “If Thou but Trust in God to Guide Thee,” PH 282.  The original German text was written in 1640 or 1641 by Georg Neumark when he was unexpectedly offered employment after being robbed of all his money and virtually everything he owned.  In his gratitude he wrote this hymn based on Psalm 55:22 and titled it “A Song of Comfort: God will care for and help everyone in His own time.”  The text and the tune which he also wrote were first published in 1657.  The setting you will hear is a contemporary one by American composer Edwin T. Childs (b. 1945).

The offertory is “Christ the Comforter of the World.”  The composer is French organist Marcel Dupre (1886-1971).

The service closes with a Gordon Young toccata on Martin Luther’s EIN FESTE BURG.  This is the Sunday the Presbyterian Church designates “Reformation Sunday.” -Gail