Christ the Lord Is Risen Today!

Easter Day
April 21, 2019
Easter Day at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral is filled with joyful music for congregation, choir, brass, and organ as we celebrate Jesus' resurrection. In addition to rousing hymn arrangements by Richard Webster (Trinity Church, Copley Square, Boston), our Cathedral Choir and brass quintet look forward to offering several festive anthems each year.

In last year's blog post, I discussed Samuel Barber's remarkable "Easter Chorale," which we are singing again this year. Read that post here: Easter Day 2018

 Our second anthem, "Introit for Easter (Christ Is Arisen)"," is by Giovanni Gabrieli (c.1556-1612), an Italian Renaissance composer who worked at St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice. He is best known for his compositions for choir and brass that utilize antiphonal techniques - alternating and then combining various groups of singers and instruments for sonic effect.

This year, we are singing "Christ the Lord Is Ris'n Today" by Canadian composer Eleanor Daley (b. 1955). Daley is a church musician and choral clinician who lives and works in Toronto, Ontario. The classic Easter text by Charles Wesley is given a fresh interpretation with the use of antiphonal choir and brass. Watch a video here: Christ the Lord Is Ris'n Today

Remember, Easter is a season lasting fifty glorious days! You will notice that all of our hymns today are found in the "Easter" section of The Hymnal 1982 (numbers 174-213). We will be singing many of these hymns in the weeks ahead. Our hymnal is a wonderful resource for study and prayer, and reading or singing one of these Easter hymns each day will enrich your celebration.

 Our Trinity Cathedral singers and instrumentalists join me in wishing you a blessed Easter!


 Music for Easter Day
April 21, 2019
Hymns 207, Jesus Christ is risen today (Easter Hymn) 208, The strife is o'er (Victory) 174, At the Lamb's high feast we sing (Salzburg) 204, Now the green blade riseth (Noel nouvelet) 192, This joyful Eastertide (Vruechten) 210, The day of resurrection (Ellacombe)
Service Music Gloria in excelsis, S-278 -William Mathias Sanctus, S-125 -A Community Mass, Richard Proulx Memorial Acclamation, S-141 -McNeil Robinson, II Great Amen, S-147 -Robinson Fraction Anthem: Christ our Passover, S-154 -New Plainsong, David Hurd
Psalm 118 (A Hymntune Psalter) -Carl P. Daw, Jr. and Kevin R. Hackett
Anthems:
Christ the Lord Is Ris'n Today -Eleanor Daley
Introit for Easter: Christ Is Arisen -Giovanni Gabrieli, arr. Ferris Easter Chorale   -Samuel Barber
Music for Brass Quintet:
Alleluia, Amen -G. F. Handel, arr. Craig Levesque
This Joyful Eastertide -Traditional, arr. Ed Hirschman
Victimae paschali laudes -William Byrd, arr. Levesque Music for Organ Alleluias -Robert Lau



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Composer Michael McCabe

Image
The Third Sunday of Easter April 15, 2018 Sing to the Lord a new song!    -Psalm 96 Easter - a celebration of new life in Christ - serves as the perfect season for the creation and offering of new music. Our cathedral celebrates Nebraska composers, and we're blessed by a wealth of talent in this state. Today, our Cathedral Choir sings an anthem by Omaha composer and organist Michael McCabe. McCabe began his study of piano and organ as a child. As a student at Creighton University, McCabe was appointed university organist and choir director. During a 20 year military career, various assignments provided McCabe with unique opportunities to study with leaders in the field of Anglican church music, including Leo Sowerby, David McK. Williams, Thomas Matthews, and Dale Wood. McCabe has served numerous churches, including Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. As a published composer, McCabe was elected to ASCAP in 1972, and his ASCAP credits include NBC Television, forei
Read more

Come, Holy Spirit

Image
The Day of Pentecost May 31, 2020 We celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Today, we will hear organ settings of two classic Pentecost hymns. " Nun bitten wir den Heiligen Geist " ("We pray now to the Holy Spirit") is a German hymn. The first stanza dates to the Middle Ages, and additional stanzas were added by Martin Luther in the 16th century. The tune appears in organ chorales (organ compositions based on Lutheran chorale tunes) and cantatas by several Baroque composers, including this setting by Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707). Hear the authentic sound in this video recorded on a Silberman pipe organ built in  1721:  Nun bitten wir The organ postlude is a setting of the great plainsong hymn, Veni Creator Spiritus ("Come Holy Ghost, our souls inspire"). This hymn dates from the 9th century and is typically sung on Pentecost and at ordinations. Originally in Latin, the hymn is found in an English translation in The Hymnal 1982
Read more

"Praying Twice" Says Farewell

Image
Trinity Cathedral's Praying Twice blog has ended. Thank you, faithful readers! I am moving to a new position as Associate Professor of Church Music at Virginia Theological Seminary.  I will be writing more in the future, and I'll share a link when my new blog is up and running. Marty Wheeler Burnett, D.Min.
Read more