The Holy Eucharist: Rite II on Easter 5, April 28, 2024, Calvary Episcopal Church, Pittsburgh, PA

The Holy Eucharist: Rite II on The Fifth Sunday of Easter, April 28, 2024 at 11 a.m. at Calvary Episcopal Church, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Rt. Reverend Matthew Cowden, Bishop of West Virginia was the preacher. Assisting: The Reverend Jonathon W. Jensen, Rector, The Reverend Cameron J. Soulis, Associate Rector, The Reverend Geoffrey S. Royce, Deacon, Alan Lewis, Director of Music, Jon Tyillian, Assistant Organist.
Calvary welcomes the Rt. Rev. Matthew Cowden, Bishop of West Virginia, to be our preacher at 11 o’clock today. He was consecrated as Bishop Coadjutor of West Virginia on March 12, 2022, and became Bishop Diocesan on October 14, 2022. After an early career as a college theater professor, he followed his joy to pursue ordained ministry and received his Master of Divinity degree at Virginia Theological Seminary. Bishop Cowden was ordained deacon and priest in 2006. He served parishes in the Dioceses of Virginia and Northern Indiana. Bishop Cowden is a friend and recent colleague of our former Associate Rector, the Rev. T.J. Freeman.
Musical Notes: The Prelude is one of Bach’s several treatments of the tune associated with Martin Luther’s German paraphrase of the Gloria in excelsis, a canticle included in the Western Eucharistic liturgy since medieval times. (An English translation of Luther’s hymn, with its traditional melody, appears as No. 421 in The Hymnal 1982.) Bach sets it here as a trio, the two hands playing both imitative figuration derived from the melody, and slower-moving lines carrying the melody itself, mostly unadorned. These melodic lines sometimes migrate to the pedal, as well, which otherwise simply furnishes a supporting bass-part.
The authorship of the Postlude is sometimes questioned; no authoritative source contains the credit to Bach, and perhaps the piece has simply seemed to some commentators to be too frivolous to attribute securely to the serious-minded Bach. A survey of his other music offers ample instances of similar jollity, and no convincing argument for another composer has yet been advanced, so, in the absence of such evidence, we’ll simply trust tradition and credit it to Bach.
The Choir sings Evensong in observance of Ascension Day on Thursday, May 9 at 7:30 p.m. Please join us.
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