Vita brevis, Longa ars
(Life is Short, Art long - Hippocrates)
"O God, whom saints and angels delight to worship in heaven: Be ever present with your servants who seek through art and music to perfect the praises offered by your people on earth; grant to them even now glimpses of your beauty, and make them worthy at length to behold it unveiled for 'evermore; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen"
Music For The Liturgy
The opening voluntary this week is a setting of the "Pavanne" by Gabriel Faure. I love French music, period. The French are passionate, transcendental and "cosmic". They possess a unique "Language of the soul" unlike any other culture on earth. It has taken me most of my life to even begin to comprehend the hidden power of most great French music. Even so, we attempt to communicate this great "spiritual" vastness when we play - it goes far beyond the notes - it is hidden in the harmony and "color" of the sound of the key signature.
French composers love to "juxtapose" seemingly unrelated chords together on a level that is neither "atonal" or as we musicians say "tone painting". I am not even sure they understand their own musical language. They possess a lyricism that simply does not exist in any other culture. This "stuff" deeply moves me. My favorite composer of all time was the blind organist Louis Vierne ( born under the sign Libra/Horse, I am a Libra-Tiger) who was the organist at the Cathedral of Notre Dame most of his adult life.
I want to tell you a true story that I have only recounted to a few individuals. When I was organist at FBC Dallas I usually took a pile of music to the console to "read through" during my practice time. I began to notice a recurring phenomenon whenever I played the music of Vierne, particularly his compositions that intertwined lots of parallel 4ths, 5ths and 6ths. Suddenly out of nowhere - large and often huge horse flies would appear out of nowhere and literally bombard the music in front of me. This occurred in other places as well. I believe that this music is a form of "spiritual purge" and that those intervals dispel darkness in a room. So, I save his music for special occasions and it is no accident that we recorded one of Vierne's most mystical organ compositions "Cathedrals" at the end of our last album. I wanted to purge and transform the thoughts of our listeners and leave us all in a state of spiritual transformation and dispel darkness of the soul.
The offertory anthem is an original setting of "Fairest Lord Jesus" which I wrote during a particularly dark period of my life. There is one series of chords that I placed specifically in the music in honor of Louis Vierne toward the end of the piece. Amen , RDL |
Hymns For January 31, 2010
PROCESSIONAL HYMN 359 ToulonGod of The Prophets
SEQUENCE HYMN 457 Crimond
Thou Art the Way
COMMUNION HYMN
We See the Lord
RECESSIONAL HYMN 598 Mit Freuden ZartLord Christ, When First Thou Cam'st to Earth |
The Sounds of St. Matthew's
You can listen to a few clips of last week's service (1/24/2010) as well as clips from past services online by clicking one of the following links:
-St. Matt's Congregation
-Rick & Russ (Offertory)
-Rick & Russ (Communion)
-Russ & St. Matt's Congregation
-St. Matt's Congregation (Communion)
-St. Matt's Congregation (Recessional) |
Instrumental Service Music for This Week
PRELUDE
"Pavanne" G. Faure
OFFERTORY ANTHEM
"Fairest Lord Jesus" R. Land
INSTRUMENTAL IMPROVISATION
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Rick & Russ' Blog 
We would love to invite you to participate in a weekly discussion with Rick & Russ through their blog at www.RnRFusion.com.
We hope to engage our fellow worshipers in thoughtful discussion on many topics concerning worship, religious and humanitarian issues. Just click on the above web address link or logo and join in the discussion. You can contribute comments by filling out the form on the blog page at the bottom of the post. Let us know what your thoughts are on the subjects discussed about in our blog. Our discussions will be fun as well as provocative.
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