Sunday, November 19, 2006

Music for OT-33-B (Nov 19)


Prelude: Jesu meine Zuversicht & Erbarm dich mein: Bach
Processional Hymn: 315: Sing A New Song
Kyrie: -spoken-
Gloria: (5) Gloria Gloria: Anderson
113: Glory To God: Andrews
Readings: 675
Offertory: (5) In The Day Of The Lord
847: Immortal, Invisible
Acclamations: 103-104-105: Mass of Creation: Haugen
Agnus Dei: 108: Mass of Creation: Haugen
Communion Hymn: 450: Song Of The Body Of Christ
Final Hymn: 318: Let All Things Now Living
Postlude: Plein jeu & Fugue sur le trompette: Couperin

Music Notes:


At the Sat 5 pm Vigil Mass, the Music is led by the School
Choir (directed by Rebecca Monson). This weekend Richard Mix
is organist for all three weekend Masses; I am "on holiday".
Ed Teixeira, organist


J S Bach (1685-1750), "the supreme arbiter and lawgiver
of music" as Baker's Dictionary defines his name, spent the
second half of his career at St Thomas' in Leipzig, where he
completed a cycle of some 198 surviving cantatas for the 3 year
lectionary cycle. A famous improvisor, he only published one
volume of organ music; that we have many more compositions in
manuscript form is thanks to his activity as a teacher of his
children as well as pupils from all of Germany. Two such works
are the hymn-based preludes "Jesu meine Zuversicht" (BWV 728,
"Jesus Christ my Sure Defense") and "Erbarm dich mein" (BWV 721,
a paraphrase of Psalm 51, the introit for Ordinary Time XXXIII:
"Have mercy on me, Lord, according to your loving kindness").
It is not clear whether Bach actually corresponded with the
Parisian Francois Couperin (1668-1733) (the family tradition
of the latter's descendants has it that the letters were used
as jam-pot lids in the 1830's) but he was certainly aware of his
music, some of which he copied by hand. The "Plein jeu & Fugue sur
le trompette" heard as today's postlude are drawn from Couperin's
"Messe pour les couvents" (Agnus & Kyrie, respectively), published
when he was twenty years old.
Richard Mix, deputy organist

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