This Sunday, Catholics the world over celebrate Pentecost:
Pentecost commemorates the coming of the Holy Spirit to the apostles. After Jesus rose on Easter, he appeared to the apostles over the next 40 days, teaching them the significance of what had happened to Him. They listened, but didn’t really understand, so Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit, who would enlighten them and give them everything they would need to carry the Good News to people all over the world.
Then Jesus ascended into heaven, and the apostles were more confused than ever!
They gathered in an upper room with the mother of Jesus to pray. Ten days later they heard a loud noise, and the Holy Spirit descended upon them in tongues of fire. When that happened, they received spiritual gifts that transformed their lives and gave them the power to touch the lives of other people.
They ran into the streets and began to tell people about Jesus. Each person in the crowd understood the apostles in his or her own language. Thousands became believers that day.
Today we celebrate Pentecost as the birthday of the Church.
I love the Sequence of Pentecost, whether I’m singing it myself, or just listening – this tribute to the Holy Spirit is is one of the most powerful invocations of the Church.
So imagine my delight when I found this rare audio recording. The Sistine Chapel Choir director, Baron Rudolf Kanzler conducted the Augustinian Fathers singing the “Veni Sancte Spiritus” (Sequence from Pentecost). Recorded in 1904 for the Gregorian Congress.
A song about the unconditional love of mothers - written and performed by Glen Shulferin loving memory of his own mom:
Lyrics:
I will remember you and everything you’d been through.
Seems like it’s still so hard for me, that I would do anything for love.
I wasn’t far away, but I found it hard to say:
I couldn’t let you go; I never let you know in time.
You were the only friend that I had.
Forgive me for every time I made you feel sad.
Now I would do anything for love.
And when there’s love, you would give everything without bounds.
And when there’s love, you would hold me up when I fall down.
And when there’s love, you’d never asked much,
and you never would judge what I’d do, when there’s love.
Seeing you lying there, feelings I could not bear.
Seems like the best of me is gone. Now I would do anything for love.
For love.
I couldn’t let you go; I never let you know in time.
When you were nearly passing away, your only concern was that I’d always be ok.
Now I would do anything for love.
And when there’s love, you would give everything without bounds.
And when there’s love, you would hold me up when I fall down.
And when there’s love, you’d never asked much,
and you never would judge what I’d do, when there’s love.
And when there’s love, you would give, give us everything without bounds.
And when there’s love, and you would hold me.
You would hold me up till I could stand alone.
And when there’s love.
For the sixth Sunday of Easter, a Taize hymn, “Don’t Let Your Hearts Be Troubled”. It starts in unison, and ends in four parts – all sung by one individual.
For the fifth Sunday of Easter, John Sheppard’s, I Give You a New Commandment, from John 13: 34-35
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Sung by the University of New Hampshire Chamber Singers, conducted by William Kempster, performed at the Bruckner Festival in Linz, June 2011:
For this Sunday’s hymn, I’ve chosen the classic Hail Redeemer King Divine music by Charles Rigby; words by Patrick Brennan (1877-1952), additional verses by John McHugh.
Hallelujah was originally written and sung by Leonard Cohen, but it’s been covered many times by various other artists such as Allison Crowe, Kate Vogele, and Jeff Buckley. It was performed by John Cale in the Dreamworks film, Shrek. A later CD version of the song was performed by Rufus Wainwright.
This version is sung by Espen Lind, Askil Holm, Alejandro Fuentes, Kurt Nilsen in that order – and it’s pretty special.
There has been a choir of boys and gentlemen at St Paul’s Cathedral for over nine centuries. The earliest records date from 1127, when the Bishop of London, Richard de Belmeis, founded what was the first choir school and made provision for ‘almonry’ boys to serve the cathedral.
2nd of December 1697 saw the opening of Wren’s great cathedral following the Great Fire of 1666. John Blow, the Minister of the Choristers, wrote his anthem I was glad when they said unto me to be sung at this grand occasion. He was assisted by his pupil Jeremiah Clarke, who was to become the first official Organist of the new Cathedral. Purcell’s Te Deum and Jubilate was also performed, accompanied by Father Smith’s large new organ, esteemed the best in Europe according to the diarist John Evelyn.
In 1860 a significant change in the building took place when the screen on which the organ was housed was removed and in 1872 the Cathedral took two major steps – building a new organ and appointing John Stainer as Organist.
Stainer proposed a choir of 40 boys and 18 men (or Vicars Choral) to achieve the necessary vocal power to fill the cathedral following the removal of the choir-screen. He demanded more rehearsal time for the Vicars Choral and encouraged a more professional approach altogether. This meant that he was able to extend the musical repertoire enormously, and began to sow the seeds of the musical tradition we know today.
The present Cathedral Choir consists of 30 choristers (boy trebles), eight probationers (who will become choristers) and 12 professional adult singers (or Vicars Choral): four altos, four tenors and four basses.
At the very heart of the Choir’s being is the ancient monastic tradition of singing daily services. You can hear the Choir during term time as follows.
For Palm Sunday, I present the ancient melancholy hymn about the sacrificial suffering of Jesus Christ for the sake of mankind in six different settings.
O Sacred Head Now Wounded – Fernando Ortega with images from The Passion of The Christ:
“O Sacred Head, Now Wounded” sung by the Choir of King’s College:
This is the traditional version version sung by most choirs. Listen for that gorgeous alto line….
Cello and Choir: Marcelo Zigaran performing : O SACRED HEAD NOW WOUNDED:
Marcelo Zigaran, cellist performing with Firts Methodist Houston choir in a performance broadcasted on Houston TV. O Sacred Head Now Wounded, piece by J. S. Bach arranged for cello, choir and piano by J. Raney:
This song also appeared on Hear It In Our Voice: Volume III by The Acappella Company, Favorite Hymns of The Firemen by The Firemen, Never Grow Old by Revival, and This Little Light by The Sounds of Glory.Lead: Brian Randolph.
This one starts out a little weirdly (some might say inappropriately) – but give it time. Perhaps the cheery beginning is meant to signify Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem? Then it slows down significantly as Christ’s passion begins. More images from The Passion of the Christ:
This lovely guitar/cello duet of O Sacred Head Now Wounded is performed by Jack Marti & Elisabeth Montague:
Some background on this Palm Sunday staple via Wikipedia:
The hymn is based on a long medieval Latin poem, Salve mundi salutare,[1] with stanzas addressing the various parts of Christ‘s body hanging on the Cross. The last part of the poem, from which the hymn is taken, is addressed to Christ’s head, and begins “Salve caput cruentatum.” The poem is often attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153), but is now attributed to the Medieval poet Arnulf of Louvain (died 1250). The seven cantos were used for the text of Dieterich Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri addressing the various members of the crucified body
The poem was translated into German by the prolific Lutheran hymnist Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676). Although Gerhardt translated the whole poem, it is the closing section which has become best known, and is often sung as a hymn in its own right. The German hymn begins, “O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden”. The closing section has also been translated into English, by several writers, but is best known as “O Sacred head, sore wounded”.
English translation
The hymn was first translated into English in 1752 by John Gambold (1711–1771), an Anglican vicar in Oxfordshire. His translation begins, “O Head so full of bruises.” In 1830 a new translation of the hymn was made by an American Presbyterian minister, James Waddel Alexander (1804-1859). Alexander’s translation, beginning “O sacred head, now wounded,” became one of the most widely used in 19th and 20th century hymnals.
Another English translation, based on the German, was made in 1861 by Sir Henry Baker. Published in Hymns Ancient and Modern, it begins, “O sacred head surrounded by crown of piercing thorn.”
In 1899 the English poet Robert Bridges (1844-1930) made a fresh translation from the original Latin, beginning “O sacred Head, sore wounded, defiled and put to scorn.” This is the version used in the 1940 Hymnal (Episcopal), the 1982 Hymnal (Episcopal; stanzas 1-3 and 5), and the Church of England‘s New English Hymnal (1986) and several other late 20th-century hymn books.
The English Hymnal, 1906 has a translation atrributed to “Y.H.”, referring to Bridges’ translations for the Yattendon Hymnal, of which he was the editor.
Melody
The music for the German and English versions of the hymn is by Hans Leo Hassler, written around 1600 for a secular love song, “Mein G’müt ist mir verwirret”, which first appeared in print in 1601. The tune was appropriated and rhythmically simplified for Gerhardt’s German hymn in 1656 by Johann Crüger. Johann Sebastian Bach arranged the melody and used five stanzas of the hymn in his St Matthew Passion, stanza 6 also in his cantataSehet, wir gehn hinauf gen Jerusalem, BWV 159. Bach used the melody on different words in his Christmas Oratorio, both in the first choral (#5) and the triumphant final chorus. Franz Liszt included an arrangement of this hymn in the sixth station, Saint Veronica, of his Via Crucis (the Way of the Cross), S.504a. The Danish composer Rued Langgaard composed a set of variations for string quartet on this tune.
Text: Anonymous; trans. by Paul Gerhardt and James W. Alexander
Music: Hans L. Hassler, 1564-1612; harm. by J.S. Bach, 1685-1750
1. O sacred Head, now wounded,
with grief and shame weighed down,
now scornfully surrounded
with thorns, thine only crown:
how pale thou art with anguish,
with sore abuse and scorn!
How does that visage languish
which once was bright as morn!
2. What thou, my Lord, has suffered
was all for sinners' gain;
mine, mine was the transgression,
but thine the deadly pain.
Lo, here I fall, my Savior!
'Tis I deserve thy place;
look on me with thy favor,
vouchsafe to me thy grace.
3. What language shall I borrow
to thank thee, dearest friend,
for this thy dying sorrow,
thy pity without end?
O make me thine forever;
and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never
outlive my love for thee.
Man, it took me awhile to find a decent version of this favorite lenten hymn, The King of Love, My Shepherd Is, words by Henry W. Baker an English Pastor, first published in his Hymns Ancient and Modern (London: 1868). Music is St. Columba, a traditional Irish melody. The BYU version? No thank you – it puts me to sleep.
There are so many wonderful hymns written for the season of lent, it’s hard to choose which ones to post. One of my very favorites is, “I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say.” Here it is masterfully performed by the Choir of Manchester Cathedral, under the direction of Christopher Stokes.
A lenten admonition - Return to God -with all your heart….
This liturgical hymn was written by Marty Haugen and interpretted here by BDPam on guitar accompanied hymns for the Padre Pio’s Family Minstrels (PPFM) at Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish (SHJP – Alabang) … an unpolished and raw recording, posted here on the request of the community and friends of PPFM for sharing of church music on guitar … this material is also for the SHJP Music Ministry …
