The Emmanuel Choir & A Sneak Peek of this Sunday
This Sunday, much of the organ repertoire will feature sonic splendors for organ composed in the 20th century. The prelude is Hymn d’Actions de grâces – Te Deum, by Jean Langlais. The work is powerful and exciting and utilizes part of the Te Deum Laudamus chant, one of the most ancient hymns of the church, having been part of the liturgy for more than 1,000 years.
The hymn begins, “We praise thee, O God: we acknowledge thee to be the Lord. All the earth doth worship thee: the Father everlasting.” Tradition has it that the Te Deum was the joint work of St. Ambrose and St. Augustine, each writing alternating verses. In the 19th century, it was proposed that a late 4th century Bishop name Nicetas, was the author. Contemporary scholarship seems to indicate that all these attributions are spurious, yet without a doubt, the hymn was composed in the 4th century.
The Te Deum is one of those “golden oldies,” a Christian hymn that is full of praise and thanksgiving and rejoicing. An English translation is found in our Hymnal 1982 in the service music section, S 205, and it follows the opening melodic plainchant gesture of the Te Deum that has been preserved for over a millenium.
Jean Langlais was a 20th century composer and longtime organist at the Church of St. Clotilde, Paris. His organ setting of the Te Deum is one of Langlais’s earliest compositions, published in 1934, as part of three Gregorian paraphrases. Of the hundreds of organ compositions he penned, it remains one of his most popular works. I invite you to read the text of S-205 during the prelude.
During the distribution of communion, I’ll play two meditative works for organ from the 20th century repertoire. The first will be Le Banquet Céleste, by Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992), a French composer, organist, and ornithologist. He entered the Paris Conservatory at age 11, and studied with such luminaries as Paul Dukas, Charles-Marie Widor, and Marcel Dupré. In 1931, Messiaen became the organist at the church of La Trinite in Paris and remained there until his death.
Messiaen’s compositional style is complex, and during his career he was influenced by music from Eastern traditions, including the music of India, Japan, and Indonesia. The most important influence on Messiaen’s style was bird song and his extensive travels allowed him to record and transcribe bird songs from across the globe. He used these bird songs extensively in his compositions, creating a style that is unique.
Le Banquet Céleste (Heavenly Feast) of 1928 is one of his earliest compositions. It is played at an incredibly slow tempo, a symbol of the heavenly feast which lasts eternally. The slow tempo requires intense focus to perform, and the effect is one of limitless time. The piece utilizes the octatonic mode, built on a succession of 8 notes which alternate in half steps and whole steps.
Following Le Banquet Céleste, I will return to Langlais and play his meditative and beautiful, Chant de Paix (Song of Peace). This work, like the Messiaen piece, also uses the undulating voix celeste stop of the organ. Played over that rich timbre on the manuals is a slow melody played on the 4’ flute in the pedals.
The work comes from Neuf Pièces, published in 1945. The compositions of this collection of nine pieces were composed during the German occupation of France. Chant de Paix was composed as a musical reaction to WWII. It is music of silence, tenderness, and remembrance, dedicated to Langlais’s student Claire Boussace, whose peaceful nature Langlais tried to capture in his music.
The last few months, I have featured more organ and harpsichord music, as well as congregational hymns, as part of the music used during communion distribution. This is reflective of a change in the personnel of our choir. Instead of the choir singing two anthems and Psalm each week, our reduced choir is only able to regularly offer one anthem per Sunday. Ebbs and flows are part of any group or organization. For that matter, they are part of most churches. The choir has been fortunate to welcome two new members this fall, but that does not balance the loss of members that the choir has suffered over the past two years.
The church is unique. Unlike a business, its patrons are not customers to be served, instead, its members, called parishioners, are charged to serve! Singing in the choir is one opportunity for service available at Emmanuel.
Several weeks ago, Allen Williams suggested that I seek testimonials from former and current choir members to let people know more about the choir. For the next several weeks, I’ll publish a testimonial as part of my E-mmanuel message. I deeply appreciate the enthusiasm and support from our contributors, and I hope that their experiences and words might inspire you, your friend, your neighbors, your spouse, your child(ren), etc. to come and sing with us! I promise you that the rewards of our efforts, and the music we offer to the glory of God, are eternal.
A note from Allen Williams:
I started singing in church choirs and community choruses over 70 years ago. I have had rich and wonderful experiences along the way with multiple choirs and directors. It brought a lot of satisfaction of accomplishment of the music and bringing joy to the audiences. I found that singers are warm, joyful, and friendly people and I made a number of wonderful friends along the way.
The Emmanuel choir is a wonderful group of people who are good musicians. It is a joy to be part of the group. I have worked under a number of directors through the years, and Homer is among the best. He picks wonderful music and conducts with great skill. The choir serves the church and provides joy and blessing to the congregation.
I recommend and urge any of you that have any musical background to come and join the group. Homer and the choir will welcome you and you will reap rich rewards.