Linden Innes-Hopkins (w/Michelle Boylan) Music for Advent and Christmas - St Mary’s Church, Welwyn.

Music for Advent and Christmas. Recorded Live on Saturday 5 Dec at 11.15 am
Permission to podcast / stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE, License #A​ -737334.​ All rights reserved.
Vom himmel hoch Garth Edmundson (1892 - 1971)
‘From heaven above’...where the Christmas story all began. This Toccata is the final movement in Edmundson’s Christus advenit, first published in 1937. The old German hymn tune,
whose opening three notes descend - pictorially, if you like - ‘from heaven’ is heard in the
organ pedals, accompanied by scintillating cascades of figuration in the manual parts.
4 Preludes for Advent
1. Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 659 J S Bach (1685 - 1750)
Bach’s prelude is based on one of the most famous German Advent hymns. There are three elements in the music. The melody itself, in the RH, is treated with such freedom that the original tune itself is barely perceptible. The ‘walking bass’ in the pedals suggests a quiet solemnity. In between, the two LH parts interweave and imitate each other. The whole effect expresses powerfully and exquisitely the mystery of the Incarnation.
2. Maria sollte nach Bethlehem gehn - Opus 39 No 5 Flor Peeters (1903 - 1986)
Like Shakespeare, Peeters - A Belgian composer - died on his birthday: 4 July.
He wrote many organ works, many of them relatively small-scale. Opus 39 contains a number of Christmas-season pieces. I was curious about this one, not knowing the text; having found and, with the help of a friend, translated the text, I can play with better understanding.
Although the text (printed at the end of this programme) refers to
hail and snow, Peeters focuses on Mary and Joseph travelling together to Bethlehem. The manual parts move along throughout in perfect synchronicity.
3. Gabriel’s message (Dance) Michael Bedford (b. 1949)
A short and bright piece based on the well-known French carol, The Angel Gabriel
4. Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 645 J S Bach (1685 - 1750)
his famous Prelude is based on the tune we in England know as Sleepers, wake!, in which the wise virgins fill their lamps with oil and foolish virgins, as they do every year, don’t bother and so are not ready when the Bridegroom arrives!
2 Songs
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion - G F Handel (1685 - 1759)
Text from Zechariah, which anticipates the coming of the Messiah: ‘Rejoice greatly! Behold, thy King cometh unto thee...and he shall speak peace’.
The little road to Bethlehem - Michael Head (1900 - 1976) Words by Margaret Rose
And so here is today’s first taste of Christmas! The sheep-bell calls the lambs home;
when they arrive, they find Mary singing a lullaby. She looks up and sees the star shining above.
Magnificat Primi Toni Dietrich Buxtehude (1637 - 1707)
The Magnificat is the song that Mary sang when her sister Elizabeth visited her; at the time, they were both pregnant. Mary speaks of God’s greatness and mercy, and of how the world’s power balance is to be reset. In Gregorian chant, there are several different ‘Tones’ to which the Magnificat is sung. Buxtehude presents a piece with many contrasting sections, although it is hard to find an exact correlation between the Magnificat verses and the music’s different sections.
Noël (Grand Jeu et Duo) Daquin (1694 - 1772)
Daquin was a child prodigy and was known to have played for King Louis XIV aged six, and held organists’ posts from the age of 12. He spent the entirety of his life in Paris. The registration
(i.e. the organ colours chosen) in French ‘classical’ organ music is very prescriptive. ‘Grand jeu’ means ‘pretty well everything’; ‘Duo’ demands two different colours on two separate manuals.
The words of the carol are about the gifts that are given to the Baby Jesus by ‘young and old’.
The theme is developed thus: ‘Jesus our Lord...took the gifts...to make it known that he had
the qualities symbolized by these gifts...of a true King of glory in whom we must believe’.
My guess is that this sentiment was most pleasing to the King of France!
2 Songs
O magnum mysterium Morten Lauridsen (b. 1943)
Lauridsen is an American composer who has written many choral pieces, of which this is one. The text reflects on the extraordinary mystery that the birth of the King of Heaven was witnessed by the ox and ass in a stable. This version for Soprano was made by the composer and first performed in 1999.
The Christmas Song Mel Tormé (1924 - 1999) and Robert Wells (1922 - 1998)
Postlude sur un Noël (Bring a torch, Jeannette, Isabella - French carol) Denis Bédard (b. 1950)
Denis Bédard is a Canadian composer of organ and choral works. This rollicking finale is based on a French carol, the tune of which was adapted from an earlier work by M A Charpentier. The words are an enthusiastic encouragement to one and all to come along to the stable to admire the beautiful baby and his equally beautiful mother, and to celebrate, party-style, Jesus’s birth. Oh! but don’t make any noise, in case you wake the baby!