Music Notes for September 4

This weekend’s readings begin a 4-week exploration of the dimensions of mercy and forgiveness. As people get to know each other, they become aware of each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Thus, being in community implies a constant call to forgive each other. The power of the keys we heard about two weeks ago is always exercised on behalf of and in the name of the Body of Christ. Our music in worship this weekend reflects this call, based on the gospel text that Christ is found wherever two or three are gathered in his name. The setting for this text is a round I learned in Germany when St. Benedict’s established a sister-parish program with St. Mary’s Church in Dortmund in 1984. (There is a plaque commemorating this relationship in the front vestibule. Some parishioners are still in touch with their host families.) This theme is also expressed with the text from I Cor.13, “Where Charity and Love Prevail,” in a chant-like setting from the early days of the liturgy in English. Our gathering hymn, “I come with joy, a child of God, forgiven, loved and free,” is set to the early-American hymn tune LAND OF REST, which we used for the Holy, Holy and acclamations earlier this summer. The hymn “Forgive our sins as we forgive” is of course based on the central line from the Our Father. Our communion song, “Loving and Forgiving,” is a setting of Psalm 103, the great psalm of God’s mercy. Psalm 103 will also be next week’s responsorial psalm.
Music at 10:00 includes “Come, Now Is the Time to Worship,” a line from today’s responsorial Psalm 95. This psalm also provides the text for our offering song, “If Today You Hear His Voice,” with music by Rawn Harbor, an African-American musician from Berkeley, Calif., some of whose psalm settings will be in our new Breaking Bread hymnal this fall. We go out of church to “Your Grace Is Enough,” which reminds us that God “wrestles with the sinner’s restless heart” and “uses the weak to lead the strong.” The composer is Matt Maher, a native of Newfoundland now living in Tempe, Ariz. with his young family.

by Glenn Hufnagel

Stewards of the Mysteries of God

We began this essay last summer (in the archives for August 2010 and November 2010) with a consideration of mystery as manifested in the Trinity. This year’s unusually-long pre-Lenten season presented us with St. Paul’s reflections on “God’s secret plan.” On the feast of the Epiphany, we heard a reading from Ephesians 3, in which Paul discovers that the mystery of Christ is that all people of whatever origin share equally in the promise of salvation.

This mystery is obviously still working itself out today. Does it open our eyes to the gifts that every race, culture and language bring to our worship? And we worshipers are “stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Cor. 4). We wait as God “brings to light what is hidden in darkness,” because “God’s folly is wiser than all of us, and his weakness more powerful.” God demands time: there are no instant answers. Sr. Joan Chittister writes: “So mystery, the notion that something wonderful can happen at any time if we will only allow space for it, takes us into a whole new awareness of the immanence of God in time. God comes, we learn now, when we least expect it. Maybe most likely of all when we least expect it.” Can God surprise us during worship? Can we freely give him the time and space to? Or do we hold worship prisoner to our preconceived notions of how long worship should be? Or what Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter are all about? Do we need to keep liturgy on a leash, lest it lead someplace we haven’t been before?

So we come to another celebration of the Trinity, our gateway into the parables of the kingdom as recounted in Matthew’s gospel. In Matthew 13, Jesus quotes Psalm 78: “I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world.” He uses imagery to appeal directly to our imagination and get around our hard-hearted obstinacy and left-brain cynicism. Alluding to Isaiah, Jesus says of his audience that they “hardly hear with their ears,” they “close their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back to God, and be healed” (Isaiah 6:9). In the words of Psalm 95, which we will hear on September 4: “If today you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts.” Worship in Spirit and in truth requires unstopped ears, open eyes and an eager heart. Attentive listening trumps “seeing is believing.” As Thomas Aquinas wrote of the Blessed Sacrament in the hymn Adoro te devote, “Sight, touch and taste are each deceived; the ear alone most safely is believed.” Perhaps Aquinas was conscious of his namesake apostle when he wrote those words. Faith is more a matter of listening than reading.

What does it mean to be “stewards of the mysteries of God”? James exhorts us: “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1: 22) We enflesh the Word by our action, in our worship and in the world. Recall that one sense of mysterion was sacramentum, the outward sign of an inner reality. As the doers of liturgy, we will have an opportunity to grow when changes to the text of the Mass take effect this Advent. We might see this opportunity, to use another parable (Luke 13), as a fig tree being cultivated in an effort to stimulate it to bear fruit. Practically speaking, the changes to the sung refrain of the Gloria and Holy, Holy are minor. The verses of the Gloria are structured differently from what we have become accustomed to, so these will require more attention on the part of the choir and cantors, and from the congregation when the Gloria is recited. There is some debate among liturgists over whether it will be easier to use a familiar musical setting which has been revised, or a setting which has been expressly composed for the new text. We will begin practicing a new memorial acclamation in November. On occasions when worshippers from many communities may be present, such as funerals and weddings, the music will need to be familiar and as intuitive as possible. A call-and-response form of the memorial acclamation might be the most natural approach to this situation.

A greater challenge is presented by the vision of liturgy laid out in Sing to the Lord, the American bishops’ document on music in worship, and the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM), which is the preface to the Missal. These documents place great importance on the singing of the dialogues, particularly before the Preface (“The Lord be with you . . . ”); the penitential rite, which Deacon Bill often does; and the opening and closing prayers. The new Missal also emphasizes singing the Lord’s Prayer. This places the ball squarely in our court. How much energy and time are we willing to invest to lend a sense of mystery to our worship? Undoubtedly part of the attraction of the Tridentine rite (sometimes called “extraordinary form”) is the chanted prayers and responses. There is no reason that these sung dialogues cannot be part of our regular worship. It certainly takes no more time to sing them than to recite them. It just takes that little push of energy to elevate a spoken acclamation to a sung one. Again, it’s a matter of attitude: are we always looking for the easy way out, the short form, “liturgy-express”?

The GIRM has this to say about our stewardship of the mysteries of God: “In the celebration of Mass the faithful form a holy people, a people whom God has made his own, a royal priesthood, so that they may give thanks to God and offer the spotless Victim not only through the hands of the priest but also together with him, and so that they may learn to offer themselves. They should, moreover, endeavor to make this clear by their deep religious sense and their charity toward brothers and sisters who participate with them in the same celebration. Thus, they are to shun any appearance of individualism or division, keeping before their eyes that they have only one Father in heaven and accordingly are all brothers and sisters to each other. Indeed, they form one body, whether by hearing the word of God, or by joining in the prayers and the singing, or above all by the common offering of sacrifice and by a common partaking at the Lord’s table. This unity is beautifully apparent from the gestures and postures observed in common by the faithful. The faithful, moreover, should not refuse to serve the People of God gladly whenever they are asked to perform some particular ministry or function in the celebration.”

Our stewardship might be seen in terms of the parables of the sower and the seed growing by itself. The energy and time we invest now are the seeds of the church of the future. Our children will reap the harvest of what we sow today (John 4: 37–38). And, once the crop has been planted, the fate of the harvest is in God’s hands (Mark 4: 26–29). We have no way of knowing if the seed has landed on good soil, on the rocks, among the thorns or will become food for the birds. Time will tell, the ultimate mystery. One of the lessons of life is the wisdom of letting go. When children grow up, parents must allow them to find their own way. When relatives or friends become old and die, we must let go of them. When we begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel, it is time to let go of “stuff” and have a garage sale. The same lesson applies to music. “Sons of God” and “Here We Are,” so meaningful when Mass was first celebrated in English, were supplanted by the scripture-based music of the 70s. The music of Weston Priory seemed fresh and reminded many of the experiences they had at retreats in Vermont, but the texts did not age well (“All I Ask of You”) and often did not respect the natural rhythm of English (“Bread That Was Sown”). Composers like Joe Wise, Ray Repp, Jack Miffleton, Carey Landry, and Tom Conry all had their moment, and many of the songs we hold precious today may no longer adequately express the faith of the mid-21st century.

One approach to music claims it doesn’t matter what we sing as long as we sing. Another theory is that whatever we sing should connect with the themes of the readings for that day. The former usually leads to singing “what we know” and the latter demands time spent with the scripture to discern what God’s message for this parish is today. That message evolves over time, and taking it home in music demands growth. Everyone who has taken biology knows that whatever isn’t growing is dead. In Bob Dylan’s words, “If you’re not busy being born, you’re busy dying.” We can never rest on our laurels. There is no end to the search for the pearl of great price, the field with the hidden treasure, sorting out the treasure from the trash or weeding out the garden (Matthew 13). As long as we have the leaven of the Spirit, the dough keeps rising and the bread is fresh.

Glenn Hufnagel

*****

this is the third part of an essay

see Part I

see Part II 

Organ Recital May 1st 7PM

Musically celebrate the Easter Season with us!

Mr. Peter Gonciarz will perform an Organ Recital Sunday, May 1st at 7:00 pm.

Peter is 22 years old and recently completed his BA at Villa Maria College. He has also studied at Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and was awarded the prize in the Young Organists’ Competition sponsored by the Buffalo Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. He is presently the organist at Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament in Depew.

As with all the events in our concert series, we will have a video set-up so we can easily watch without craning our necks.

Afterwards we will enjoy some light refreshments together. Hope to see you there!



****
For information about St. Benedict's Schlicker Organ - http://bit.ly/hxrnun

Organ Concert - St. Benedicts

ORGAN RECITAL

Sunday, March 13th at 4:00 pm
Featuring Roland Martin, Adjunct Professor of Music  - Organ & Harpsichord Performance - at the State University of New York at Buffalo (UB) and Music Director at St. Joseph University Parish.

This is a special part of our parish Lenten experience. Please join us.

The program includes hymn settings by Paul Manz, chorale preludes by Bach, and works by Jeanne Demessieux, Gerald Near, George Shearing, James Biery, and Sigfrid Karg-Elert.


About our organ
Our parish is the only Catholic parish in Buffalo with a Schlicker organ. These organs were built right here in Buffalo by Herman Schlicker, and are well known around the world. Herman Schlicker was the most notable Buffalo organ builder of the 20th century. Our organ is exemplary of the renewed interest in classical organ design which arose following the war. At that time, Schlicker had built the organ at Kenmore Presbyterian Church and in subsequent years his work would be installed at Trinity Episcopal Church, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Kenmore Methodist Church, First Trinity Lutheran Church on Niagara Falls Blvd., and many other area churches. Donald Ingram, who worked for Schlicker in the 50s and 60s, relates that every time the famous blind French organist André Marchal [see wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Marchal ] visited Buffalo, they would bring him to St. Benedict’s to play before visiting the Falls! Mr. Ingram often demonstrated our organ to prospective Schlicker clients before he became organist of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Although it was designed on a budget, our organ has now gone 60 years without a major overhaul, which attests to the quality of his work. It also exemplifies the durability of the pipe organ; many churches which installed electronic instruments have discovered that they age rapidly, both in terms of technology and the durability of components. If you have any stories regarding our organ, please talk to Glenn Hufnagel, our organist or email Rectory@saintbenedicts.com.

[addition 21 March 2011 - the following is from the program used at the concert]
ABOUT THE ORGAN
The following essay contains material from Donald Ingram, “Memoir: Herman Schlicker and the Schlicker Organ Company, in particular from 1956–1963,” in The Tracker, 48:4 (2004), 14–18, and from personal correspondence.

Herman Schlicker arrived from Bavaria for the first time in 1924 and worked for a while at Wurlitzer in North Tonawanda. He decided that theater organs were not his style and returned to Germany, but he settled in Erie the following year and went to work for Tellers-Kent, whose work is well-represented in Buffalo Catholic parishes. In 1932 he established his own business in the Bailey-Broadway section, and during this time, he rebuilt the organ at the former St. Francis Xavier Church in Black Rock, now the Buffalo Religious Arts Center. In 1947 the firm moved to Military Road in Kenmore. Under the influence of Paul Bunjes and Robert Noehren, who would build the organ at First Presbyterian Church in 1969, Schlicker became interested in the neo-baroque organ move-ment. In January 1947, a roofer’s torch sparked a fire which devastated Saint Mary of Sorrows Church The assistant pastor reported that the organ and choir loft had sustained “only” water damage. Schlicker built a new organ with what could be salvaged from the historic E. & G. G. Hook & Hastings instrument and incorporated elements of neo-baroque design. He had removed the huge Möller organ from the Larkin Administration Building before its ultimate demise, and some of that pipework was used to build the organ at Kenmore Presbyterian Church in 1948, with Noehren as consultant. The bicentennial of Johann Sebastian Bach’s death would be observed in 1950. Schlicker installed a new chancel organ in St. Paul’s Cathedral in 1951 with Ernest White, a noted organ designer, as consultant. In 1954 he also installed the organ at Trinity Episcopal Church, which was featured in a Sunday broadcast by E. Power Biggs that November. The Diocese built St. John Vianney Seminary (now Christ the King) in the early 60s, and Schlicker provided the organ , which was only recently completed.

Saint Benedict’s parish dedicated their new church in 1952 and the pastor, Msgr. William Tobin, opted for a cutting-edge instrument. This presented Schlicker with the opportunity to build in a fine acoustical setting, and the result was the pride and joy of Howard Vogel, parish choirmaster. It was dedicated by Louis Huybrechts, organist of St. Louis Church. Donald Ingram worked for Schlicker from 1956 until he became organist at St. Paul’s Cathedral in 1963, and he relates that “this instrument was one of the favorites of the famous blind French organist André Marchal. We took him to play at St. Benedict’s every time he came to Buffalo”—and then to Niagara Falls! Marchal gave a recital at St. Benedict’s some time prior to 1956. Following the American Guild of Organists’ convention that year, “people came from all over the country to hear Schlicker’s work in Buffalo,” and it fell to Mr. Ingram to demonstrate this organ to prospective clients when “the only hymn I truly felt comfortable playing was ‘Holy God, We Praise Thy Name.’ . . . In those days, if I had played [‘A Mighty Fortress Is Our God’], I would have probably been asked to leave.”

This organ has been supporting the worship of St. Benedict’s parish for nearly 60 years without a major overhaul, a testament to the workmanship of Herman Schlicker. Those who opted for electronic instruments have discovered how quickly the technology and hardware age. One oddity in the design of our organ was the lack of a Swell-to-Positiv coupler, considered standard equipment on most organs, which enables the top manual to be played from the bottom manual. Since the only way to play those divisions together was through the Great, or middle, manual, the ivories on that keyboard had worn out by the 90s and were falling off and the key springs had became sprung, while the Positiv manual had hardly any wear at all. The Great manual was refurbished several years ago, and the missing coupler was recently installed, allowing us to use the organ’s resources with greatest flexibility. Don Ingram attributes this quirk to a simple oversight on the part of whoever drew up the specification, since Schlicker had never formally foresworn such couplers. Nonetheless, some other Schlicker organs in this area share this characteristic. Our organ was designed to best effect within budgetary constraints, e.g. the missing swell reed. Likewise, some of the intra-manual couplers would not be typical of Schlicker’s design, but they enable us to do the most with the sounds at hand. There is space on all the manual chests for another rank of pipes, but no blank stop-keys on the console. Typical of neo-baroque stoplists, 15 of our 39 ranks are mixtures, high-pitched, multiple-note stops which lend brilliance and definition to poly-phonic and symphonic music. However, the placement of the “cornet” (a combination of stops which sounds trumpety) and the trumpet on the same manual makes it impossible to authentically interpret music from the French classical era — which apparently did not bother André Marchal! Ingram figures that Schlicker anticipated a Great trumpet that could be used in dialog with the Swell cornet, but mid-century organ design did not consider a trumpet in the Great division necessary, and in fact such a trumpet was only added to the St. Paul’s Cathedral organ in 1966, donated by Herman and Alice Schlicker.

GREAT
16' Pommer
8' Principal
8' Spitzflöte
4' Octave
2' Hohlflöte
IV Mixture
Chimes (electronic)
Gt/Gt 4'

POSITIV
8' Gedeckt
4' Rohrflöte
2' Principal
1 1/3' Larigot
1' Sifflöte
IV Scharf
Tremolo

SWELL
8' Rohrflöte
8' Viola
8' Viola Celeste (TC)
4' Gemshorn
2 2/3' Nasat
2' Waldflöte
1 3/5' Tierce
IV Mixture
16' Dulzian (prep)
8' Trumpet
Sw/Sw 16', 4'
Tremolo

PEDAL
16' Bourdon
16' Pommer (Great)
8' Principal
8' Quintadena (from Pommer)
4' Prestant
4' Gedeckt (from Pommer)
2' Gemshorn
III Mixture
16' Posaune
8' Trumpet (ext)

COUPLERS
Sw/Ped 8',
Gt/Ped 8',
Pos/Ped 8'
Sw/Gt 8',
Pos/Gt 16',
Pos/Gt 8'
Sw/Pos 8' (installed 2009)

About Professor Roland Martin
from UB Department of Music webpage
Roland E. Martin is a member of the Music Faculty of the University at Buffalo where he teaches organ, harpsichord and piano. Since November of 1992 he has been Director of Music for St. Joseph's University Church in Buffalo.

He is also Assistant Musical Director and accompanist for the Chautauqua Chamber Singers, as well as founder and director of Speculum Musicae: an ensemble for early music.

Mr. Martin received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the State University College at Fredonia New York where he studied organ with Dr. John Hofmann; earlier instruction was with Hans Vigeland. He became Staff Accompanist at Fredonia in 1979 and remained in that position until 1985.

Mr. Martin is a member of the Trumpet/Organ duo "Baroque Consort" with trumpeter Wade Weast. Together they have completed successful tours including one in Europe (England, Germany, Austria) in August 1987.

As accompanist, Mr. Martin has performed throughout the Eastern United States, Canada and Bermuda. He has, served as such for the Metropolitan Opera National Competition on several occasions.

As organist he has played recitals in the U.S. (including the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.) and Canada, Spain (1978), Germany/Austria (1982) and England (1994). In February 1986, Mr. Martin was honored to perform the New York Premier, and third American performance of the complete collection of J.S. Bach's recently discovered "Neumeister Chorales."]

Mr. Martin has served as Associate Conductor for the premier of "The Beggars' Christmas" by Richard Proulx in Rockwell Hall.

An active composer and conductor, he is the recipient of two "Meet the Composer" grants. Mr. Martin was also honored with two Pennsylvania State Council of the Arts grants, and two Alcoa Arts Endowment awards for commissioned compositions. Recent works include the critically acclaimed "A Hymn for St. Cecilia", commissioned by the Cheektowaga Community Chorus, and "A Medieval Triptych" commissioned by The University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee.

In addition to his concert experience, he has worked as a Church musician since 1976. He has served at St. Paul Lutheran Church, Fredonia, Trinity Episcopal Church, Hamburg, and since 1992, St. Joseph University Heights, Buffalo.

[addition 21 March 2011 - the program]
PROGRAM
God of Grace and God of Glory . . . . setting by Paul Manz (1919–2009)

Bach Through the Church Year
 Preludes on hymn chorales by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685¬–1750)
     Advent: Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (Sleepers, wake!)
     Baptism: Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier (Blessed Jesus, we are here)
     Lent: O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß (O Man, bewail thy grievous sin)
     Holy Week: Herzlich tut mich verlangen (O Sacred Head, now wounded)
     Easter: Erstanden ist der heilige Christ (Arisen is the holy Christ)
     Pentecost: Komm, Gott Schõpfer, heilige Geist (Come, God Creator, Holy Ghost)
     Corpus Christi/Communion: Schmücke dich, O liebe Seele (Deck thyself, my soul, with gladness)
     Ordinary Time: Gott der Vater, wohn uns bei (Father, dwell in every heart)

INTERVAL — 10 minutes

Attende, Domine (Hymn for Lent) . . . . . Jeanne Demessieux (1921–1968)
There Is A Happy Land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . George Shearing (1919–2011)
Sarabande on Land of Rest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gerald Near (1942¬– )
Three Hymn Settings by Paul Manz
     Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (Wake, awake, a thrilling voice is sounding)
     Seelenbräutigam (“Bridegroom of the Soul”: Jesus, Lead Thou On)
     Nun danket alle Gott (Now Thank We All Our God)
Elegy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . James Biery (1956– )
Nun danket alle Gott . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877–1933)