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| HOSTED BY SAINT JOHN'S ABBEY AND UNIVERSITY |
| Collegeville, Minnesota |
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Come, Let Us Join Our Cheerful Songs, Paul Ritchie The NCYC 2002 concert program begins with a rousing statement of this year’s theme. The Church below is united to the Church above when we unite our voices with the angels round the throne. Famed hymn-writer Isaac Watts draws on imagery from the Book of Revelation to portray heavenly worship of the Lamb. Composer Paul Ritchie of the renowned Royal School of Church Music in England sets the text in bright triple time with some interesting rhythmic syncopation in the accompaniment. The same melody is used, with some variation, for all four stanzas, and the third stanza is set without accompaniment. While the NCYC staff would probably report that the choristers are not quite angels, we hope that these talented and dedicated young singers lift your spirits heavenward, and thereby unite the Church below with the Church above.
Herr ich habe Lieb (Lord, I Hold Most Dear), Christian Gottfried Geisler (1730-1810) This lively piece gives us a glimpse into the 18th century musical practice of an extraordinarily musical group of Christians, the Moravians. They have also been known as the Church of the Brethren or the Bohemian Brethren, and they maintained close contact with Lutherans and Catholics in the development of their community ideals. Upon immigration to Georgia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania, they maintained a sophisticated culture of choral and instrumental music and composition that continues to this day. The text of this piece uses several lines from the psalms to express longing for God’s courts, for his holy mountain, for the house where he dwells. In Old Testament times the Jewish people would have had the Temple in Jerusalem in mind. Christians generally use these same texts to refer to the courts above of heavenly worship, where we hope one day to be numbered, and to which we are already united in this life in our worship.
Set Me As a Seal, René Clausen (b. 1953) The Song of Songs (also called “Canticle of Canticles”) is the most interesting book of the Bible in this respect: it never once mentions God. The book is entirely an exchange of love messages between a man and woman. It was much debated whether such seemingly irreligious literature belonged in the Bible. The Song of Songs was finally accepted because it was taken to be an allegory for the love between God and each believing soul, or between God and his people. In this sense, Set Me as a Seal can be understood as an expression of the union between us below and God above. Composer René Clausen sets the text with gentle and even sentimental harmonies, as appropriate to this love song.
My Shepherd Will Supply My Need, Southern hymntune arr. by Virgil Thompson (1896-1989) Virgil Thompson was a composer from the U.S. east coast. His arrangement of this old Southern hymntune is essentially the same for all three stanzas, except for variation in dynamic level (loud or soft). Text-writer Isaac Watts again appears, here with his metrical version of the 23rd Psalm. This Old Testament text is sometimes used by Christians to refer to Holy Communion (“feed,” “table,” “cup,” “provisions”). It is especially in the eucharistic celebration of the Mass that we celebrate our union below with the angels and saints above.
Jubilate Deo-O be joyful, Michael Fink (b. 1954) This year’s NCYC concert program concludes with a stirring setting of the 100th psalm. Composer Michael Fink’s setting uses the first line from the Latin version of this psalm – Jubilate Deo, omnis terra! – as a refrain between each stanza of the psalm text. He offers a distinctive musical setting for each stanza. The time signature shifts rapidly between 2/4, 3/8, 6/8, 3/4, 5/8, and 4/4, which makes the piece rhythmically interesting – and requires careful counting from the singers! With this piece, we once again pray to “enter into his courts” to be united with our heavenly forebears. It is our hope that the singing of the National Catholic Youth Choir has strengthened for all of us, singers and listeners alike, our faith that we are united with the Church above through prayer and music.
Jesus, Lead the Way, Moravian tune arr. by Richard Proulx (b. 1937) Text-writer Count Nikolaus von Zinzendorf was a member of the Moravian Church (see Herr ich habe Lieb). He was very ecumenically minded, and he published one Catholic hymnal that was used by German-speaking Catholics of his day. His Jesus, Lead the Way is a prayer to Jesus that he might lead us all to heaven. Richard Proulx, who also arranged Ecce Fidelis Servus, has arranged here an old Moravian hymntune in five different musical settings for each of the five stanzas. Note that the second stanza is unaccompanied, and the fourth stanza has melodic imitation between the women and the men.
Rise Up, My Love, My Fair One, James McCray This is another text from the Song of Songs – see “Set Me as a Seal” above. Composer James McCray utilizes contemporary “close” harmonies, such as major-seventh chords (C-E-G plus B) and major-ninth chords (C-E-G-B plus D). This requires the singers to be very careful in finding their proper pitch within the tonal “mist.” Listen also for the gentle syncopation, the subtle shifting between 6/8 and 3/4 and 7/8 time signatures.
O Quam Gloriosum, Jacobus Vaet (1529-1567) This text is the All Saints Day antiphon for the Magnificat (the Song of Mary from Luke 1: 46 – 55) which is sung at Vespers of the Liturgy of the Hours. As with some other pieces in this year’s program, the imagery comes from the Book of Revelation and depicts the worship of the heavenly choirs. Jacobus Vaet is a little-known Renaissance composer originally from the European lowlands. He came into the service of the Austrian emperor and died in Vienna, home town of NCYC conductor Axel Theimer. In this minor masterpiece of Vaet’s, listen for the “imitative counterpoint,” in which each voice enters in turn with the same melody on a different scale degree, rather like a musical round. This compositional practice is typical of Renaissance choral music. One effect of this staggered presentation is that it takes a long time to present a small amount of text, which creates a contemplative atmosphere for meditating on the text.
O How Amiable, Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) Again the text of Psalm 84 appears in our concert program (see also Herr ich habe Lieb). This psalm expresses well the theme of longing for the courts of the Lord, where we Christians here below hope to join the heavenly Church above. British composer Vaughan Williams wrote much liturgical music, especially for the Anglican church, and he is perhaps best known as the composer of the hymntune For All the Saints. His setting of O How Amiable has an expansive grandeur about it, culminating in the triumphant presentation in unison of the first stanza of the well-known congregational hymn O God, Our Help in Ages Past. (This stanza is a metrical psalm version written by, once again, Isaac Watts.)
Song of Triumph, Dale Grotenhuis (b. 1928) This grand and lively piece is an encore from the 2001 season of the NCYC. The composer Dale Grotenhuis lends energy and interest to “Song of Triumph” by the use of unexpected time signatures such as 5/4 and 7/4. The voice parts often split, and at times the piece is in 8-part harmony. The harmonies are contemporary in a fresh and pleasant manner. The text is yet another from the Book of Revelation, the song sung by all the redeemed gathered around the heavenly throne of God.
New Songs of Celebration Render, Calvinist psalm tune arr. by John Ferguson Just as Isaac Watts turned Psalm 23 into a metrical text (see My Shepherd Will Supply My Need above), so also Erik Routley has done with Psalm 98. This requires the text-writer to make the psalm text fit into a regular pattern of lines with the right number of syllables – and then to make it all rhyme! Routley taught at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey. Psalm 98 is a song of praise, and Routley takes poetic license in referring to modern day “trumpets and organs.” Composer John Ferguson of St. Olaf University in Minnesota has arranged a 16th century French hymntune, with varied choral harmonies for each of the three stanzas.
I Beseech You to Look, Paul Sjolund Many of the pieces sung by the NCYC this year refer to the Church above – the heavenly worship of the angels and saints. This text from 1513 A.D. by a Benedictine monk strikingly places the emphasis elsewhere, on the here and now. Today, in our very hearts, heaven is there for the taking. Composer Paul Sjolund set this text as a commission for the choruses of Loyola Marymount University, a Jesuit Catholic school in Los Angles, California.
Ecce Fidelis Servus (Behold all Faithful Servants), Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) This text is from two antiphons of the liturgy of the Feast of St. Joseph on March 19th, hence the reference to the “head of the family.” French Catholic composer Gabriel Fauré wrote this piece in Paris in 1887. It is written for the limited resources of a three-part choir: soprano (i.e., boys), tenor, and baritone. There was a need for modest, practicable liturgical music in France after the French Revolution had eliminated so many choir schools and church choirs. A piece such as this might well have been performed by only three or six singers, accompanied by organ. Leading U.S. Catholic composer Richard Proulx of Chicago, whose music is well known to the NCYC, has arranged this piece for three-part SAB choir – soprano, alto, and baritone (i.e., all men). Hymntunes Used in This Concert ProgramSeveral pieces in this year’s NCYC concert program are based on congregational hymntunes coming from various Christian traditions. The curriculum of the classes the choristers took during their summer camp included study of these hymns. The choristers learned that each melody has a “hymntune name” by which it is identified, since the same melody might be used with various texts of the same meter. The choristers also learned that each hymntune has a specific meter, which is the pattern of the number of syllables in each line. For example, a hymntune with the meter “8.6.8.6.” has four lines of, alternately, eight and six syllables.
My Shepherd Will Supply My Need Hymntune name: RESIGNATION Origin: American folk melody from the southern states Meter: 8.6.8.6. 8.6.8.6. – Common Meter Double
New Songs of Celebration Render Hymntune name: RENDEZ A DIEU Origin: French Calvinist 16th century psalm tune att. to Louis Bourgeois (1510 – 1561) Meter: 98.98. 98.98. ( = 98.98. D)
O How Amiable – concludes with stanza O God, Our Help in Ages Past Hymntune name: ST. ANNE Origin: Att. to William Croft (1678 – 1727) Meter: 86.86. – Common Meter
Jesus Lead the Way Hymntune name: ROCHELLE or SEELENBRÄUTIGAM (German, Bridegroom of the Soul) Origin: Adam Dresde (1620 – 1701) Meter: 55. 88. 55.
Holy God, We Praise Your Name
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