Tune: OLD HUNDREDTH by Louis Bourgeois

Nick Bowden, organ

 The hymn “All People That on Earth Do Dwell” is likely the oldest hymn in common use today as well as the oldest continuously sung congregational song in North America.  The music, first published in the 1551 edition of the Genevan Psalter (a collection of Psalms), was composed by Loys "Louis" Bourgeois, a French composer and music theorist of the Renaissance. In the Anglo-Genevan Psalter of 1561 the music was set to the versification of Psalm 100 written by Scottish clergyman William Kethe.

English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) wrote an arrangement of this hymn for the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

By Gabriel Fauré

Colleen Daly, soprano
Isaiah Shim, piano

Translation:
As the voice of a child can reach You,
O my Father,
Hear my prayer, on bended knee before You!
As You have chosen me to teach
Your laws on earth,
I will know how to serve You, noble
King of kings, O Light!
On my lips, Lord, place the salutary
truth,
In order that he who doubts should with
Humility revere You!
Do not abandon me, give me the
necessary gentleness,
To ease suffering, to relieve sorrow,
Misery!
Reveal Yourself to me, my Father, in whom I
trust and hope:
For You I wish to suffer and to die on
The cross, at Calvary!

By Gabriel Fauré

Becca Vanover, soprano
Nick Bowden, organ

By Charles Gounod

Kelli Young, soprano
Nick Bowden, organ

By George Frideric Handel
Transcribed by Marcel Dupré

Charles Higgs, organ

George Frideric Handel, one of the Baroque era’s greatest composers and a formidable organist, began writing organ concertos that he himself would play during intervals of his oratorio performances, a tactic for boosting audience turnout and combating severe financial hardship. German-born, Handel spent most of his life in England, becoming an important part of court life.  He wrote ceremonial music, a coronation anthem, and Italian operas for London stages, among other genres.  The lion’s share of Handel’s creative powers was devoted to composing operas, which was experiencing decreasing popularity in England in the 1730s. As the British public’s appetite for operas waned, Handel shifted his energies to composing English-language oratorios—large works for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra without acting, costumes, or scenery, typically telling a biblical story.

“Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major”, one of six organ concertos published as Handel’s Op. 4, premiered during a 1735 revival of the biblical oratorio Esther that was presented in London’s Covent Garden. Despite Handel’s reputation as a stellar organist and critical acclaim, the tickets still failed to sell. Though Handel was unsuccessful in drawing audiences to his performances with his new approach, the composer’s Op.4 organ concerti remain a staple of the organ repertoire.

Handel struggled with failing health over the last two decades of his life, including progressive blindness and suffering a stroke. He died on April 14, 1759, at the age of 74.  His funeral drew more than 3,000 mourners, reflecting the composer’s esteemed position in the musical world.  Handel’s vast body of work and contributions to opera, oratorio, choral music, and instrumental compositions have earned him a lasting place in the canon of classical composers.

Tune: LOURDES HYMN

Charles Higgs, organ

The origins of “Immaculate Mary” trace to 1873 when French priest and seminary director Jean Gaignet wrote the hymn for pilgrims traveling to Lourdes, thus the alternate title of “Lourdes Hymn.”  The author of the melody is unknown, with theories suggesting that the tune may have originated in the Pyrenees region in southwestern France or a small town in Belgium, among other ideas.

By Gabriel Fauré

Colleen Daly, soprano
Becca Vanover, soprano
Charels Higgs, organ

By J. S. Bach and Charles Gounod

Kelli Young, soprano
Charles Higgs, organ

Brandon Henley, Director of Music at St. Francis

from The Hunchback of Notre Dame
by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz

Colleen Daly, soprano
Brandon Henley, Director of Music at St. Francis

Tune: PICARDY
Arranged by Gustav Holst

By Louis Vierne

Nick Bowden, organ

Louis Vierne’s “Carillon de Westminster, Opus 54, No. 6” is a set of variations on “Westminster Quarters”—the tune played by the Big Ben bell inside the Palace of Westminster’s clock tower. 

Vierne reportedly had two encounters with the famous clock-chime melody before he composed his piece in summer 1927, part of the “24 Pièces de Fantaisie” collection of organ works.  The first occurred in a clock shop in Switzerland in 1916, where he asked the owner to write it down for him (Vierne was born almost completely blind).  The second encounter took place at Westminster Cathedral in London in January 1924, where a new organ was being installed. Henry Willis, the organ’s builder, hummed the four-note sequence that Vierne would improvise during his recital concert at the cathedral.  Three years later, Vierne performed Carillon de Westminster for the first time at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, using it to end a Forty Hours Devotion service.  An instant success, the piece has since become a favorite of organists and audiences alike.

About Vierne

From 1900 until his death in 1937, Louis Vierne held the prestigious post as titular organist of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris. Throughout much of his tenure, however, the organ was in a state of disrepair, “filled with dust and dead bats and swallows and perishing from mildew and dry rot,” as the organist himself described. To raise funds for the instrument’s restoration, Vierne embarked on a concert tour in Europe and North America, not only raising significant amounts of money, but also building his reputation as one of the finest organists worldwide.

Despite his professional success as organist and composer, Vierne’s life was marked by health problems and personal misfortunes. Born almost completely blind, a series of treatments to restore some of his eyesight were largely unsuccessful. At the height of Vierne’s career, a street accident in Paris shattered his leg, with the recovery and task of completely relearning the pedal technique consuming nearly one year. Vierne’s marriage ended in a bitter divorce. He lost a son and brother to the battlefields of World War I and was twice passed over for a prestigious professorship at the Paris Conservatory. Yet despite the setbacks, Vierne was said to have been a kind man, generous teacher, and an inveterate, improbable optimist.

Tune: ST. LOUIS by Lewis Redner
Text: J. Dausch

Nick Bowden, organ