Author: william

Theme & Variations on “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” L. v. Beethoven (1770-1827) O Beautiful for Spacious Skies Two Psalms J. Arnold (1720-1792) In Beethoven’s day a popular musical form was “Theme and Variations”. The template was to take a popular tune of the day — the ‘theme’ — which the composer states rather simply,…

Andante from Organ Concerto Op.4 No.4 G.F. Handel (1685-1757) “Oh Master, Let Me Walk With Thee” Extemporization The Gentleman’s Magazine was founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term ‘magazine’ (from the French ‘magazine’, meaning ‘storehouse’)…

Vocalise S. Rachmaninoff (1873 – 1943) Nina G.B Pergolese (1710-1786) Chanson Triste P. Tschaikowsky (1840-1893) Michèle Tacchia is probably better known to us as the director of Symphonie Jeunesse — a youth orchestra hosted by our church. But she is also a professional cellist, and we hear her in that capacity this morning. Here is…

Toccata & Fugue in F      D. Buxtehude (1637-1707) “Spirit of the Living God” Praeludium & Fuga in Dm from “Ariadne Musica” J.C.F. Fischer (1656-1746) In the story of Pentecost, isn’t it interesting that instead of the Holy Spirit making it possible for everyone in the crowd to understand the One Language in which…

In a former life I played at a church that had a really fine professional tenor available (as we do in Julio this morning), for whom I wrote a set of three sacred songs for Sunday worship: Thy Lovingkindness in the Morning (Ps.143:8) Thy Judgement As The Noonday (Ps.37:4-6) As the Evening Sacrifice (Ps.141:2-3) The…

Scenes from Childhood (selections) Robert Schumann (1810-1856): Of Foreign Lands and Places, Knight of the Rocking Horse, Dreaming, Child Falling Asleep, The Poet Speaks “Come Down, Oh Love Divine” “Fleeting Piece” Op. 15 No. 1 Clara Schumann (1819-1896) Pressured by his parents, Robert Schumann entered law school at age 18, but two years later left…

Les Bergeres (The Shepherds) L.C. Daquin (1668–1733) “The King of Love My Shepherd Is” Andante M. Lithgow (1735-1792) Louis-Claude Daquin was a French composer of Jewish ancestry, and a virtuoso organist and harpsichordist. He was born in Paris to a family originating from Italy, where his great-great-grandfather took the name D’Aquino after converting to Catholicism…

Andante (K616) for Mechanical Organ W.A. Mozart (1756–1791) An ‘automaton’ is a mechanical device (no electronics!) that generally does something humans would normally do. The word first appears in Homer in the 5th century B.C.E. (referring to automatically opening doors), and the ancient Greeks were quite adept at designing and building machines, including siphons, a…

Symphony No. 40, 1st mvt. W. Mozart (1756-1791) arr. Ulrich & Horn Steffi’s Undoing W. Zeitler Slavonic Dance Op.72 No.2      A. Dvořák (1841-1904) If you wanted to hear a piece of orchestral literature before 1877 (when Edison invented the phonograph) you had to live in a city large enough to support an orchestra…

Allegretto, Sonata No. 17 L. Beethoven (1770-1827) “Jesus Walked this Lonesome Valley” Andante R. Lithgow (1605-1666) In 1802, 32 years old, the inescapable reality of his deafness finally silently crashing in on him (in an era before hearing aids, lip-reading or sign language*), Beethoven wrote a letter to his two brothers: “Oh, you who think…