November 3, 2024

One of the many hymns appropriate for "All Saints Sunday" is "Jerusalem, my happy home", and the prelude will be a Robert Hobby (b. 1962, American) set of variations on the tune.  Although we are not singing the hymn, it is 620 in our hymnal-- also 304 with another text.  We often sing both.  I haven't played much of Hobby's music recently, but have played a lot in the past; as far as I know, he, along with composing and conducting workshops, is still music director at a large Lutheran church in Fort Wayne, Ind.

We will follow tradition for the day and sing "For all the saints, who from their labors rest" (287), as the processional.  The Gospel hymn will be the wonderful tune, "Brother James' Air" (517), the text being a paraphrase of Psalm 84.

The anthem also will be familiar to some-- "They Shall Soar Like Eagles", words and text by Laura Manzo (1921-2021), although the text is based on Isaiah 40: 29-31.  Ms. Manzo wrote many choral works but this by far is her most popular work.

During communion we will sing the words of Francis of Assisi using Vaughan Williams' arrangement of a 17th century melody-- the very familiar hymn 400!  Yes, we will sing all 7 verses!

Closing, in deference to The Daughters of the King, we will sing hymn 473. "Lift high the cross".  

The postlude will be an Arthur Hutchings setting of "Sine Nomine", our processional hymn. Mr. Hutchings, English (1906-1989), taught for over 30 years at University of Durham, then University of Exeter, and composed some large scale works,  This is from a collection of 4 seasonal hymn tune settings.  The harmonies are very modern at times.  I discovered that he was quite the scholar, had a great interest in Mozart, and wrote a companion book to the concertos of Mozart, that I would like to read!  Mozart, BTW, wrote 27 piano concertos, but also wrote for many other instruments.