Sunday, March 1st, 2015

Second Sunday of Lent, Rite I

Themes from the Readings: Christ’s suffering as part of God’s plan, take up your cross

Prelude: Chorale, Variation 1 and Variation 2 from Sonata no. 6 by: Felix Mendellsohn (1809-1847)

The prelude is based on the chorale Vater unser im Himmelreich. A translation by Catherine Winkworth is below.

Processional Hymn: 448 O love, how deep, how broad, how high

Trisagion, S103, Archangelsky

First Reading: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16

Psalm: Psalm 22:22-30, chanted by the congregation and choir

Second Reading: Romans 4:13-25

Before the Gospel: 675 Take up your cross, the Savior said; Stanzas 1-3

Gospel: Mark 8:31-38

After the Gospel: 675 Take up your cross, the Savior said; Stanzas 4 and 5

Offertory Anthem: Lord, it Belongs Not to My Care, by: Carl Schalk (b. 1929)

Lord, it belongs not to my care, whether I die or live,

To love and serve thee is my share, and this my grace must give.

If life be long, I will be glad that I may long obey:

If short, yet why should I be sad to soar to endless day?

Christ leads us through no darker rooms than he went through before,

He that unto God’s kingdom comes must enter by this door.

Come Lord, when grace has made me meet, thy blessed face to see;

For if thy work on earth be sweet, what will thy glory be!

My knowledge of that life is small, the eye of faith is dim;

But ‘tis enough that Christ knows all, and I shall be with him.

-Richard Baxter, (1615-1691)

Doxology: Hymn 380, stanza 3

Holy: S114, Willan

Lamb of God: S158, Willan

Communion Anthem: Show Me Your Ways, O Lord, by: Carl Schalk

Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths.

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; in you I trust, O my God.

Do not let me be put to shame.

Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths.

-Psalm 25:1-2a,4

Communion Meditation: Finale:Andante from Sonata no. 6 by: Felix Mendellsohn

Communion Hymn: 655 O Jesus, I have promised

Recessional Hymn: 565 He who would valiant be

Postlude: Fuga from Sonata no. 6 by: Felix Mendellsohn

Music Notes

By: Ashley Sosis

An advertisement in an July 1875 edition of the magazine Music World announced the forthcoming publication, “Mendelssohn’s School of Organ-Playing,” a title provided by the publisher (and later rescinded by the composer) for Mendelssohn’s six organ sonatas. The ad is delightful to read with a modern understanding of how important these organ sonatas came to be!

“Mendelssohn’s School of Organ-Playing. Messrs. Coventry and Hollier have the pleasure of announcing that they are about to publish, by subscription, Six Grand Sonatas for the Organ; Composed by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. The masterly performances of the above highly-gifted Musical Genius, on the noble Organ in the Town-Hall at Birmingham, as well as on other large Organs in the Metropolis, were such as to excite the admiration and delight of all the competent judges who were so fortunate as to hear him: and to induce a wish, on the part of the Musical Public in general, and of English Organists in particular, that he would publish some of his own Compositions for that ‘King of Instruments,’ in order that they might enjoy the advantage of possessing such excellent models for their study and practice, and thus have an opportunity of availing themselves of such valuable assistants towards the acquisition of the knowledge and emulative cultivation on their part, of so sterling and refined a school of Organ-playing. With a special view, therefore, to the gratification of the numerous admirers of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Messrs. Coventry and Hollier have prevailed upon him to write the “Six Grand Sonatas” expressly for publication in England at their Establishment, and which they intend to bring forward immediately, as specimens of what the Composer himself considers his own peculiar style of performance on the Organ.”

The last phrase does leave one wondering, “what’s so peculiar about Mendelssohn”, or, “what did Mendelssohn think is peculiar about Mendelssohn?” If you are familiar with the organ sonatas, you may mention the Sonata I am playing excerpts from today, Sonata No. 6, as a peculiarity because of how it is organized (Chorale and variations: Andante sostenuto - Allegro molto - Fuga - Finale:Andante). I am playing the movements out of order today so that they fit in the arc of our service, but even in their proper order (above) they are not in a usual movement scheme for a sonata. The Allegro Molto in the middle and the Andante finale led an organ friend of mine to joke that Mendelssohn dropped his manuscript on the floor and messed up the order of his pages on the way to the publisher. An organ teacher of mine likened the Allegro in the middle and the Andante at the end to signify the difference between youth and old age. My favorite of the peculiarities of Sonata No. 6 is that the entire work is based on the Bach chorale melody, Vater unser, which originally appeared with the Martin Luther text, Vater unser im Himmelreich, a rhymed paraphrase of the Lord’s prayer. Catherine Winkworth’s translation of the hymn is written below the prelude, so you may read it as “lyrics” to the Sonata during today’s service.