May 14, 2023

The hymn tune used in the prelude, "On Jordan's Stormy Banks", is one many of you may recognize-- but it is not in our hymnal. Most unusual — the setting is by "Tom Birchwood", but this is just one of 6 pseudo names used by Lani Smith for his some 1000 compositions and arrangements. Why, I don't know! Mr. Smith was American (1934-2015) and educated at the University of Cincinnati.

Our processional hymn, "As those of old their first fruits brought of vineyard, flock, and field to God" (705), uses the tune "Forest Green", which you know well from Christmas as one of the tunes used for "O little town of Bethlehem". It is also used for hymn 398.

The Gospel hymn is 512, "Come, Gracious Spirit, heavenly Dove, with light and comfort from above". Notice that the words again are older than the music, which is from the "Methodist Harmonist". This is a beautiful and familiar hymn.

Our anthem is a particularly nice setting of the hymn, "There's a wideness in God's Mercy", by Maurice Bevan, who was most interesting. He was both a fine baritone and composer, being a "vicar choral" at St. Paul's Cathedral in London from 1949-1989. He, along with another vicar choral, Alfred Deller, founded the "Deller Consort," a choral group that was greatly responsible for reviving baroque music, which included music of Henry Purcell and John Dowland.

During communion we are fortunate again to have 2 harps, played by Martha and Lynn Bailey. The piece is titled "Welsh Hymn Medley", and includes the familiar "Immortal, Invisible, God only Wise". The arrangement is by Gretchen Monson, who graduated from the University of Montevallo with degrees in both harp and in mathematics.

Our closing hymn is 405, "All things bright and beautiful", and needs no introduction because it is so familiar and loved. Notice, though, how old the tune is, with more recent text, harmonization, and finally a descant by Richard Proulx in the 20th century.

The postlude, "Ancient of Days", is a setting of the tune "Italian Hymn,” which you will recognize immediately. The setting is by the contemporary American, Paul Taylor, conductor and composer, who has written a tremendous variety of music for different genres, including for movies and video games!