Author: william

Sonata Op. 14 No.2 Mv.1 L. van Beethoven (1770-1827) Andante H. Scholes (1657-1720) Beethoven once dismissed a housekeeper, who was in other respects an excellent servant, because she had told an untruth with a view to benefiting him. A lady friend who had procured him this housekeeper, was questioning him about his severity, when he…

Magnificat on the Sixth Tone Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706) Canzona Dieterich Buxtehude (1638?-1707) When the angel tells Mary that she’s going to have The Baby, she breaks into a song/poem that begins “My soul doth magnify the Lord…” In Latin this is “Magnificat anima mea…”, so in musical circles Mary’s song has come to be known…

“Tak” (“Gratitude”) Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) “Ich Dank Dir, Lieber Herre” (“I Thank You, Dear Lord”) Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877-1933) Ethel Smyth (1858-1944, English composer and leader of the women’s suffrage movement) praised one of Grieg’s works but suggested that the ending section of one piece was not of the same quality as the rest. “Ah, yes,”…

Organ Concerto Op.4 No.4 ‘Andante’ George F. Handel (1685-1759) Toccata William Zeitler When Messiah was first performed in London, the audience was exceedingly struck and affected by the music. Some days after its first performance, Mr. Handel went to pay his respects to Lord Kannoul, with whom he was particularly acquainted. His lordship, as was…

Reflections on "Ein' Feste Burg" Zeitler (The remaining music supplied by bagpipes.) The 'Reformation' was about reforming much more than theology: Martin Luther (1483–1546) introduced quite a number of non-theological reforms as well (e.g. priests could marry). Many of his reforms fall under the general category of reducing the gap between the "1%" (the nobility…

“Morning Mood” (from Peer Gynt) Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) Passacalio Biagio Marini (1594-1663) Concerto in C Prince Johann Ernst (1696-1715) Our prelude was composed by Edvard Grieg, a Norwegian composer who whose youthful triumphs so boosted national morale that the Norwegian government awarded him a state pension in 1874—at age twenty-nine. “Morning Mood”, one of his…

Sonata Op. 13 Mv.2 L. van Beethoven (1770-1827) I thought I might take a moment to share some thoughts about music in worship. Plato (c.424-348 B.C.E.) said that there were three Primary Virtues: Truth, Goodness and Beauty, and all other virtues derive from these. Many philosophers and theologians since Plato have found this idea useful.…

"A World With No Tears" William Zeitler The Bible begins in Genesis with the Garden of Eden containing the Tree of Life, and ends in Revelation with another Tree of Life in the New Jerusalem, where God will 'wipe away every tear'. In between is the cataclysmic drama of the Fall, and all that it…

Sonata Op.14 No.2 Mv.2 L. van Beethoven (1770-1827) In 1790 there were two 'musical capitals' in Europe — London and Vienna, and a young Beethoven had taken Vienna by storm as a concert pianist and composer. Concert bookings and commissions for new compositions were piling up, and life was very good for a 19-year-old Beethoven.…

The Eremite's Desire     William Zeitler An ‘eremite’ is a religious recluse — from the Greek words eremia (‘desert’) & eremos (‘solitary’). In a broader sense, it is not necessary for an eremite to physically leave society—an ‘eremite’ is someone who goes against the grain of society to follow their own spiritual star, such…