Music Notes
October , 2008

Our celebration of Harvest Home reflects the rich history of St. Peter’s. We celebrate an English thanksgiving festival, and some of our windows are decorated by the descendants of the founding families of the parish.
As I was reflecting on our history, I found a recently published anthem that is steeped in history for our celebration of Harvest Home. This anthem was commissioned by the Chancel Choir, First Presbyterian Church, Lexington, Kentucky, to celebrate the renovation of their 1876 Sanctuary and rebuilding of its historic 1897 Kimball organ in April, 2007. The text of the anthem is a paraphrase of Psalm 19:
The heavens declare the glory of God, *
And the firmament shows his handiwork…(Book of Common Prayer, p. 606).
Michael Morgan wrote and published his paraphrase of the psalm in 1999 in the Psalter for Christian Worship. The psalm will be an old friend to us, because we will read it as part of the Propers on October 5.
John Ferguson, who is the organist at St. Olaf’s College, arranged a setting of the hymn tune, Ellacombe, to Morgan’s text. The tune was originally published in Wurttemberg, in 1784. W.H. Monk published the tune and a harmonization in the appendix to Hymn, Ancient & Modern (1868). We have no clue as to why the English editors of the collection decided to name this German tune “Ellacombe,” which is a village in Devonshire. The tune appears in our 1982 Hymnal with an Easter text (Hymn 210).
The anthem has four verses in this arrangement, and YOU are drafted to join the choir in the singing of verse 4. This fourth verse will serve as our Presentation of our offering for Harvest Home, so you need to sing! There will be an insert in your bulletin. The organ accompaniment before you sing will change from an appropriate accompaniment for our choir to something that is quite loud and present. That is your cue to get ready to sing. No dithering please, just have fun and sing.
Our choirs are open to all who have a desire to sing or ring with us. There are no auditions, and the only requirement is that you wish to offer your music to the glory of God, and that you attend a majority of rehearsals. Our choirs are volunteer choirs, and we do not expect anyone to attend all rehearsals. Don’t be shy; don’t be afraid, for we are here to share the wonder of God’s gift of music. It is freely given to us in grace, and our musical offering is freely accepted in the same grace.

Marc Liberman