Prelude Humoresque 'L'organo primitivo' – Pietro Yon
Anthem Thee we adore, O hidden Saviour, thee (plainsong)
Voluntary Adoro te devote – Filippo Capocci
Capocci (1840-1911) became organist of St. John Lateran in Rome in 1875. Organ teacher at the National Academy of St. Cecilia, his pupils included Pietro Alessandro Yon (1886-1943), later organist of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. Capocci's 'Adoro te devote' is a large-scale piece based on the plainsong hymn. Yon's delightful Humoresque, written to be played on one 8ft flute stop only, is anything but primitive! During the Communion, the choir sings the plainsong hymn on which Capocci's piece is based.
Sunday 11th August - Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Prelude O Mensch, bewein dein Sunde gross (BWV 622) – Johann Sebastian Bach
Anthem Wait for the Lord – Jacques Berthier
Voluntary O Mensch, bewein dein Sunde gross (BWV Anh.61) – Johann Pachelbel
Our first hymn this morning, NEH 479, is sung to the chorale 'O Mensch, bewein dein Sunde gross (O man, thy grievous sin bemoan). While Bach in the Orgelbuchlein (Little Organ Book) sets the melody using a solo combination over a soft accompaniment. Pachelbel puts the chorale melody firmly in long pedal notes under a busy imitative texture. This setting was at one time attributed to Bach, hence the Anhang (appendix) number in the 'Bach Werke Verzeichnis' (BWV – Catalogue of Bach's Works). 'Wait for the Lord' is one of the beautiful chants which Jacques Berthier wrote for the ecumenical community at Taize.
Sunday 18th August - Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Prelude Organ Concerto in C (first movement) – Antonio Salieri (263rd birthday today)
Anthem Give me the wings of faith to rise (tune: San Rocco)
Voluntary Organ Concerto in C (last movement) – Antonio Salieri
Antonio Salieri (18 August 1750 – 7 May 1825), whose birthday we celebrate today, was appointed director of the Italian opera by the Habsburg court in Vienna, a post he held from 1774 to 1792, at the same time that Mozart was also there. As one of Beethoven's teachers, Salieri is my own great-great-great-great grand-teacher!
The choir sing the hymn-tune 'San Rocco' by Derek Williams, written when he was organ scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge in 1968 for a service in Lichfield Cathedral to commemorate the college's founder, Bishop Selwyn. The tune is named after the Scuola di San Rocco in Venice, noted for its many paintings by Tintoretto, which was established in 1478 next to the church of San Rocco, from which it takes its name.
Sunday 25th August - Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Preludes Prelude on 'Rockingham' – C.H.H. Parry
Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen (op.122 no.8) – Johannes Brahms
Communion Schmücke dich, O liebe Seele (BWV 654) – J.S. Bach
Voluntary Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (BWV 645) – J.S. Bach
All the hymns and organ music this morning are taken from Fr Nick's funeral on 8th September 2006. Fr. Nick Richards, Rector of Rotherhithe from 1977 to 2006, died on August bank holiday weekend, since when it has become the custom in the parish to repeat his funeral music at this time.
programme_2013.08.pdf |