At the Lamb's High Feast We Sing

The Second Sunday of Easter
April 28, 2019
The Easter season is marked by festive music and joyful worship. The Great Fifty Days of Easter continue through the Day of Pentecost. "Alleluias" have returned and appear throughout the liturgy from the opening acclamation to the dismissal. The Paschal candle burns brightly throughout the season.


 The season is set apart through our service music which is used throughout the Great Fifty Days. We sing the Gloria in excelsis (Glory to God in the highest) and Sanctus (Holy, holy, holy) from the festive mass setting by William Mathias. The Fraction Anthem (sung at the breaking of the bread) specifically refers to the resurrected Jesus: "The disciples knew the Lord Jesus in the breaking of the bread." The alleluias sung or spoken in the dismissal are only allowed during the Great Fifty Days of Easter. This gives us one final reminder to keep the Easter feast as we go forth into the world.


 During the Easter season, we will sing many of the hymns in the Easter section of The Hymnal 1982, as well as other hymns that focus on themes of resurrection and new life in Christ. 

This morning, our Cantate Choral Academy choristers from both Trinity Cathedral and St. Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church, Elkhorn, combine to sing for our 10:30 Eucharist. Through a grant from the Bishop Clarkson Foundation, we have offered the Royal School of Church Music training program for choristers in Elkhorn this spring - in addition to our regular schedule at Trinity. The combined choirs are singing at Trinity Cathedral today and at St. Augustine of Canterbury next Sunday. The choristers will sing two Easter anthems: "Christ the Lord Is Risen Again" by British composer Alan Smith (1962-2017) and "An Easter Carillon" by W. Leonard Beck. The ringing of bells is a tradition during the Easter season, and the communion anthem appropriately utilizes bell-like sounds in the keyboard accompaniment. Hear a recording: An Easter Carillon

As we sing in Psalm 150 this morning, "let everything that has breath praise the Lord" this Easter!


Music for the Second Sunday of Easter
April 28, 2019

Hymns
174   At the Lamb’s high feast we sing (Salzburg)
206   O sons and daughters, let us sing (O filii et filiae)
193, stanza 5   That Easter day with joy was bright (Puer nobis)
178   Alleluia, alleluia! Give thanks to the risen Lord (Alleluia No. 1 )    
180   He is risen, he is risen! (Unser Herrscher)

Service Music
Gloria in excelsis S-278   -William Mathias
Psalm 150, A Hymntune Psalter   -Carl P. Daw, Jr. and Kevin R. Hackett
Sanctus S-128   -Mathias
Fraction Anthem S-167  The disciples knew the Lord Jesus   -Mode 6 melody, adapt. Martens

Anthems
Christ the Lord Is Risen Again   -Alan Smith
An Easter Carillon   -W. Leonard Beck

Organ Music
Alleluia!   -Peter Pindar Stearns
An Easter Alleluia   -Enrico Bossi


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