Calling all tenors! Trinity's adult choir is in need of a couple volunteer tenors. If this might be you, please reach out to our Director of Music Meg Harper at harperm@trinityprinceton.org!
A note on the music selections for the first Sunday of Advent
This Sunday, we will experience some extraordinary music to celebrate the first Sunday of Advent. I thought it might be useful to explain a few of the selections so that they can be more fully enjoyed.
At the 10:30 a.m. Holy Eucharist this Sunday, Trinity's staff singers, alongside musicians from the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, will present Johann Sebastian Bach's cantata on the hymn "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland" ("Come now, savior of the nations"). This hymn was typically sung on the first Sunday of Advent in Baroque German Lutheran churches (Bach's context), and as a result, there is a wealth of deeply meaningful musical settings of it written through the succeeding centuries. We will intersperse the various movements of this throughout the service, with each verse in a context in which its text pairs well with the readings and prayers of the day.
The opening choral movement, set in the style of a French overture, bids Jesus come and reminds us that his coming has been prophesied. These words will be the formal opening of our season of Advent, and remind us all of the focus of these weeks.
The processional hymn may surprise some: "All glory, laud and honor." In my research of Bach's musical selections for the first Sunday of Advent at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, I found a fascinating pattern. Bach often selected musical settings of the text "Hosanna to the Son of David" for the offertory motet for this day. This is a text traditionally associated with Palm Sunday. By using it for the first Sunday of Advent, Bach drew a liturgical line between the various entries of Christ into the world. This, of course, pairs very effectively with the text of "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland," a hymn he programmed for that day and on which he wrote several cantatas for the same occasion. To emphasize this connection, we will sing "All glory, laud, and honor," which we typically sing as the processional hymn on Palm Sunday.
At the offertory on Sunday, we will hear a recitativo and aria from Bach's cantata that explore Christ's suffering and once again invite him to us. The communion music will be the recitativo "Siehe, ich stehe vor de Tür und klopfe an" ("Look, I stand before the door and knock"). This is a fascinating piece of music, where pizzicato strings create the effect of Christ knocking on the door of the church. The aria "Öffne dich, mein ganzes Herze" ("Open yourself, my whole heart") follows with sweeping melodic lines, speaking of God's graciousness to us.
We will close the 10:30 service by singing the hymn on which the cantata was based as the recessional hymn. The prelude and postlude will also be organ settings by Bach of the same hymn melody. My hope is that this will be an enthusiastic and deeply meaningful way to contemplate Christ's coming into our midst!
I hope you will also consider joining us on Sunday evening for our service of Advent Lessons & Carols at 5:00 p.m. This annual service presents hymns and choral offerings interspersed with readings that prophecy about the coming of Jesus. This year's musical selections include some perennial favorites (Paul Manz's "E'en so, Lord Jesus," Charles Wood's "O thou the central orb," and more). But we will also feature music with a close connection to Trinity Church. Richard Webster, who for years directed the brass ensemble at our annual service of Christmas Lessons & Carols and has a long relationship with this church, will be represented in his setting of "Adam lay ybounden." And we will have music by several living women composers: a setting of "A tender shoot" by Kerensa Briggs and "Earth grown old" by Ghislaine Reece-Trapp. This service is a great opportunity to invite friends who don't already attend Trinity Church to come, enjoy some great music, and participate in a meaningful introduction to the season of Advent!
All my best,
Meg
Sing, My Soul, His Wondrous Love
Sing, my soul, his wondrous love,
who, from yon bright throne above,
ever watchful o'er our race,
still to us extends his grace.
Heaven and earth by him were made;
all is by his scepter swayed;
what are we that he should show
so much love to us below?
God, the merciful and good,
bought us with the Savior's blood,
and, to make salvation sure,
guides us by his Spirit pure.
Sing, my soul, adore his Name!
Let his glory be thy theme:
praise him till he calls thee home;
trust his love for all to come.
https://youtu.be/865z0idLQf8?si=gFs_XTJRjT-TvJXJ
The author of this hymn text, published first in 1800, is unknown. I find it to be a tremendously beautiful reflection on God’s goodness to us. Life is complicated, and sometimes it’s difficult beyond measure. This text reminds us that the bedrock under all that is the love of God, and the beauty to which that love gives birth.
As we approach kickoff Sunday (just a couple weeks now - it’s on September 8 this year), I find myself thinking about why I do what I do, and why church matters. For me, the core of this is recognizing the beauty and goodness that God gives us, and how we express that as God’s people. Music is often spoken about as a “language beyond words” and there is truth to this.
Choral music has a particularly effective role in communicating meaning because it pairs art forms together. With choral music, we have the combination of “pure” music with poetry. When finely crafted words come together with music written specifically to amplify their meaning, we get a 1+1=3 effect. I think there is a parallel here to the effect God’s love has on our lives. This is what happens when we welcome God’s love and share it within community: the cumulative impact we have becomes greater than that of the individual efforts we put in.
As we embark on this coming program year, with all its gifts and also with the challenges it is sure to bring, I hope we can dwell in the abundant goodness of God’s love, and use every opportunity before us in turn to share it. Each week, as the choirs of Trinity Church sing in our liturgies, know that our music is given as a gift, both to our community and to God, as the very best reflection we can manage of the beauty of God’s love.
Here’s a link to a setting of the above poem by Sarah MacDonald, which the choir will sing on kickoff Sunday this year. I hope you enjoy it!
Looking forward to all that this year holds,
Meg