Music
Music has always been an integral part of St. Alban's liturgy. The focus of the program is to enhance our worship by making a "joyful noise unto the Lord."
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Frederick Binkholder
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Jin-Sun Cho
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CHOIR
The adult choir, directed by Frederick Binkholder, sings at 11:00 a.m. Sunday services from mid-September through mid-June. Sunday services include several Choral Ordinarys. The choir also performs special music several times a year, including the Christmas and Easter services. Practice is held on Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.
In addition to our outstanding choir, we have a 16-rank tracker-action pipe organ in the North German historical style, a five-octave set of Schulmerich handbells, a four octave set of Malmark handchimes, and an excellent Yamaha grand piano.
CHOIR NOTES
December, 2011
The Advent and Christmas seasons have always provided special seasonal music for St. Alban's and this year's Advent anthems come mostly from earlier times and we are mostly having an English Christmas.
December 4 - is the Second Sunday in Advent, and for this new year in the Church's calendar, the choir will sing a Benjamin Britton carol called, simply, "A New Year carol." The anonymous words from recall folk celebrations for the new year from the Welsh tradition.
December 11 - The anthem for this Sunday is thought to have originated in the Thirteenth Century and was later arranged by Michael Praetorius (1571-1621). It is called In dulci jubilo (In sweet jubilation) and is a type of "macronic" carol, which combines Latin with a vernacular language such as English or German. Five hundred years after it was first sung, it became the inspiration for John Mason Neale's 1853 paraphrase "Good Christian men rejoice."
December 18 - On the last Sunday in Advent the choir will sing an old Sixteenth Century Latin-Spanish carol, Verbum caro factum est, which is translated: "And the Word became flesh" and appears in the first chapter of the Gospel of John commemorating the incarnation of Christ.
Christmas Eve - The rhythmic and multi-meterd music of "Tomorrow shall be my dancing day" was written by the Englishman John Gardner (b. 1917). The words of the hymn relate the story of Jesus told in his own voice characterizing His life as a dance. This device has also been used in the more modern hymn, "Lord of the dance."
"There is no rose of such virtue" is a medieval hymn with a contemporary musical setting by John Joubert (b. 1927), a British composer of South African descent. The "Rose" refers to the Virgin Mary.
The balance of the Christmas choral music was written or arranged by Gustav Holst (1874-1934), a well-known British composer who is perhaps most famous for his orchestral suite, "The Planets" including "Jupiter" and its familiar lyrical theme which has become "I vow to thee my country." But Holst also composed and arranged a surprising amount of Christmas music:
For example, he wrote the hymn tune Cranham, (titled after a village in Glouster) that we know as "In the bleak midwinter." The text is a poem by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) written in response to a request for a Christmas poem by Scribner’s Monthly magazine. The hymn is No 112, The Hymnal, 1982.
The words of Personent hodie are from Piae cantones (Holy songs) compiled by Jacobusd Finno (Jaakko Suomalainen) in 1582, The arrangement by Holst was published in 1917.
"Christmas Day" is a choral fantasy on old carols arranged by Holst and published in 1910. Included are "Good Christian men rejoice" (see Dec.11 above), God rest ye merry, gentlemen" and "Come, ye lofty, come, ye lowly."
"Four old English carols" is another collection of old and medieval carols arranged by Holst that includes "A babe is born," "Now let us sing," "Jesu, Thou the Virgin born," and "The Saviour of the World is born."
CONCERT SERIES
The Muldoon Concert Series, Music at St. Alban's, presents varied music recitals from October through early May. For more information, please click here.
