Spring Choral Service

Paul Jones, Director of Music, wrote the Tenth Press article for this coming Sunday. He presents the program for Sunday evening's Spring Choral Service.

There is no collection of poetry or songs that have been more frequently sung than the five-book, biblical Psalter. The monks of various orders have sung through all 150 each week for centuries. Other traditions sing through the Psalter once or several times in a year. There are four standard ways in the English speaking church, broadly speaking, to sing psalms: 1) plainsong (chant), 2) hymn tunes (paraphrased, metric, sometimes rhyming translations), 3) Anglican choral chant, and 4) settings for chorus, which may include an entire psalm or select verses and are usually designated as “anthems.” Then there are large-scale symphonic settings by composers like Mendelssohn and Bruckner, but those are less often performed in ecclesiastical services.

The Spring Choral Service is focused on Psalm 130;

however, it is constructed in sections based on several types of psalms found in the hymnal of ancient Israel—psalms of praise, confession, lament, assurance, response/thanksgiving, and blessing. Psalm singing is also commanded as part of New Testament worship in Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16. This evening we shall sing, read, or preach 18, 19, 23, 42, 51, 67, 98, 100, 110, 124, 130, 135, 139, and 150. Dr. Thomas will inform us how some of these are linked with the Reformation. Tradition in the Christian church regularly includes the Gloria Patri, a hymn of praise to the Trinity, at the conclusion of an Old Testament psalm. This practice serves to “Christianize” the psalm, in a sense, ascribing glory to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

The prelude begins with the Schola Cantorum choirs singing Henry Baker’s hymn on Psalm 150, “Sing Praise to the Lord” to a tune by Charles Hubert Hastings Parry. Following that, we will première two psalm settings by members of our music staff, Luke Carlson and Nicholas Landrum. Luke’s new piece is Psalm 150 for contralto voice and strings, which will be sung by Sondra Payne. Nick’s work is a choral setting of Psalm 124 for choir, soprano, and organ, with Bethany Schoeneck as soloist. Christina Corbett will sing a hymn arrangement of Psalm 130 to conclude the prelude.

The Choral Call to Worship will be a chant in the Anglican tradition utilizing Charles Villiers Stanford’s setting of Psalm 150. Next the choir will offer a jubilant Psalm 100, “O Be Joyful in the Lord” by the celebrated modern church composer, John Rutter. Two psalms of confession and lament follow. In this category, we have Carl Mueller’s well-known setting of David’s penitential prayer from Psalm 51, “Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God” and “Hear My Voice,” an anthem on Psalm 130 by Tenth member and composer, Charles Hammell, who was commissioned to write this for a similar service a few years ago. Hammell’s minimalist musical language captures well the emotional, pleading nature of this psalm.

Other Tenth composers are also represented in a section of Psalms of Assurance. We will hear Deborah Rojas’s lovely work on verses from Psalm 139, then Jeremy Strong’s colorful rendition of Psalm 110, followed by two settings of Psalm 23. The first of those is an anthem that I wrote in 1991; and the congregational hymn version is Eric Alexander’s ninth of twelve hymns on which we have collaborated thus far. All together then, we will hear the music of six different composers from Tenth Church.

Derek Thomas will preach “De profundis,” a sermon titled for the Latin words that begin Psalm 130. Just before he does we will hear the third setting of this particular psalm included in the service, this one composed by Thomas Schmutzler. The choral benediction will be Psalm 67, written several years ago in honor of Robert Carwithen, my predecessor at Tenth as organist and music director. The postlude, Psalm 19, by the Baroque composer, Benedetto Marcello, will conclude the service. Our hope is that the service will be a blessing to all who hear it and a reminder of the great richness of the inspired Psalter.