2017-10-26 From the Granary

From the Granary

From the Granary by Ben Goldberg.

Bandcamp Link: From the Granary

Mr Goldberg spent the summer of 2017 on an artistic retreat in an Italian castle. These are songs and sketches, mostly solo clarinet, he recorded while staying there.

If you know me, you know I like environmental sounds, so my favorite track is Part One of, “THE VISIT TO SAN SEPOLCRO for Dana Prescott”, with its bird sounds intersecting with Mr Goldberg’s playing. “Low Key for Ilaria Locchi”, with it’s use of split tones is also quite nice.

#TodaysCommuteSoundtrack #BenGoldberg #Clarinet

Seven Minutes, More or Less

After finishing with this phase of the Lutheran Hymnal Project, I wanted to move in a different direction, and cover some popular songs, along with learning to use techniques like real time audio effects and looping.

The first primary sound source is my recording of Lutheran Hymn 602, aka “Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow”, aka the Doxology. The second primary sound source was a feedback loop I made of the ambient sound in my work office building.

Everything is chopped, mangled, and looped in various ways, mostly using the features of an audio program called, “AudioMulch”.

Play it loud.

Seven Minutes, More or Less, by Erik Ellestad

Seven Minutes, More or Less, by Erik Ellestad

7 track album

Source: erikellestad.bandcamp.com/album/seven-minutes-more-or-less

The Wayfaring Stranger

Poor Wayfaring Stranger

Whew.

As I mentioned, my plan for the next phase is to do more arranging.

For “The Wayfaring Stranger”, I challenged myself to write a piano part along with the 4 clarinet parts.

Clarinet/Piano Arrangement:Poor_Wayfaring_Stranger

Which wouldn’t have been so bad, except I ran into a weird problem with Apple’s GarageBand about half way through.

I’d written a part for the piano, exported it to a midi file. And whenever I imported it into GarageBand, it started doing some sort of weird auto-transposing of all the other parts. It took me about a week, but I finally figured out what was going on.

If you choose the option to “Import Tempo Information” from your midi track, GarageBand does this. I have no idea why, but the easy solution is to choose not to import Tempo Information from your midi track.

The Wayfaring Stranger” is thought to be a traditional American song, but no one knows for sure where it comes from.

Some historians have traced its genesis to the 1780s, others, the early 1800s. Depending on who you’re talking to the song may be a reworked black spiritual, a lifted native hymn, or even a creation of nomadic Portuguese settlers from the southern Appalachian region.

It has been covered, as far as I can tell, by just about everyone in the universe.

Harmonically, the melody is quite similar, being Pentatonic, to the Irish song, “Keg of Brandy,” and the Who’s, “Behind Blue Eyes,” among many other songs.

One of my favorite songs.

1 I’m just a poor wayfaring stranger,
I’m trav’ling through this world below;
There is no sickness, toil, nor danger,
In that bright world to which I go.
I’m going there to see my father,
I’m going there no more to roam;
I’m just a going over Jordan,
I’m just a going over home.

2 I know dark clouds will gather o’er me,
I know my pathway’s rough and steep;
But golden fields lie out before me,
Where weary eyes no more shall weep.
I’m going there to see my mother,
She said she’d meet me when I come;
I’m just a going over Jordan,
I’m just a going over home.

3 I want to sing salvations story,
In concert with the blood-washed band;
I want to wear a crown of glory,
When I get home to that good land.
I’m going there to see my brothers,
They passed before me one by one;
I’m just a going over Jordan,
I’m just a going over home.

4 I’ll soon be free from every trial,
This form will rest beneath the sod;
I’ll drop the cross of self-denial,
And enter in my home with God.
I’m going there to see my Saviour,
Who shed for me His precious blood;
I’m just a going over Jordan,
I’m just a going over home.

148 – Stars of the Morning

Please turn your hymnals to number 148 and join with the clarinets in, “Stars of the Morning”.

Number: 148
First Line: Stars of the Morning
Name: TRISAGION.
Meter: 10 10, 10 10.
Tempo: In moderate time
Music: Henry Smart, 1813-79
Text: St. Joseph the Hymnographer, 883
Tr. John Mason Neale, 1818-66

This is the Final Hymn of the Church year, celebrating “St. Michael and All the Angels”.

It is also the final hymn of this phase of the “Lutheran Hymnal Project”.

I hope you have enjoyed, or been reminded of some feeling or thought.

Stars of the morning, so gloriously bright,
Filled with celestial resplendence and light,
These that, where night never followeth day,
Raise the ‘Thrice Holy, Lord!’ ever and aye:

These are thy minions, these dost thou own,
Lord God of Sabbaoth, nearest thy throne;
These are thy messengers, these dost thou send,
Help of the helpless ones, man to defend.

Still let them succor us; still let them fight,
Lord of angelic hosts, battling for right,
Till, where their anthems they ceaselessly pour,
We with the angels may bow and adore. Amen.

And as a bit of an indication of what is to come, here is some fun I had with Stars of The Morning and a real time audio processing called AudioMulch.

Red Service Book and Hymnal
Red Service Book and Hymnal

147b – O Wondrous Type, O Vision Fair

Please turn your hymnals to number 147 (Second Tune) and join the clarinets in, “O Wondrous Type, O Vision Fair”.

Number: 147 (Second Tune)
First Line: O Wondrous Type, O Vision Fair
Name: CAMERONIAN MIDNIGHT HYMN.
Meter: L.M.
Tempo: In moderate time
Music: Scottish Hymn Melody
Text: Latin Hymn, XV cent.
Tr. John Mason Neale, 1818-66 a.

Clarinet Arrangement: 147b-OWondrousTypeOVisionFair

“Cameronian Midnight Hymn” is probably the best name for a hymn ever.

However, “Carmeronians” were another cult, like the Hauges.

From the Merriam Webster Dictionary:

Definition of Cameronian
One that holds the ecclesiastical and political doctrines of Richard Cameron and his followers who refused to recognize any civil government that did not explicitly admit that it derived its power from Jesus Christ, who were called Scottish Covenanters after 1680, and who later formed the Reformed Presbytery that in time became the Reformed Presbyterian Church.

Which, I guess, IS interesting, since the 45th President of the United States self-identifies himself as, “Presbyterian”.

Anyway, it is a pleasant, and somewhat Martial hymn, whose folk roots are quite apparent.

Red Service Book and Hymnal
Red Service Book and Hymnal

147 – O Wondrous Type, O Vision Fair

Please turn your hymnals to number 147 (First Tune) and join with the clarinets in, “O Wondrous Type, O Vision Fair”.

Number: 147 (First Tune)
First Line: O Wondrous Type, O Vision Fair
Name: CONDITOR ALME SIDERUM.
Meter: Irregular
Tempo: Unison
Music: Mode IV
Arr. by Ernest White
Text: Latin Hymn, XV cent.
Tr. John Mason Neale, 1818-66 a.

Boy, I’m starting to get psyched! I’m almost done with the Church Year. Only two more songs to go after this one!

I started this project in March of 2016, (with “Hark! A Thrilling Voice is Sounding“,) nominally with the goal of getting through the songs of the Church Year. It did take a bit more than a year, but what can you do. But, boy, my clarinet playing and recording has come a long way in that year.

It has been a super helpful exercise.

After finishing with the Church Year, I’ll probably take a break from hymns. Maybe try a bit more arranging. So expect fewer updates, as that will be more work.

This is a pretty typical Edmund White take on a Latin chant. In a lot of ways, these hymns are the most challenging in the book. The parts are far less symmetrical than most modern hymns.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

Red Service Book and Hymnal
Red Service Book and Hymnal

146b – In Heaven Above

Please turn your hymnals to number 146 (Second Tune) and join the clarinets in, “In Heaven Above”.

Number: 146 (Second Tune)
First Line: In Heaven Above
Name: HAUGE.
Meter: 8 6, 8 6, 8 8 6.
Tempo: With movement
Music: Norwegian Folk Melody
Text: Laurentius Laurentii Laurinus, 1573-1655
Revised Johan Åström, 1767-1844
Tr. William Maccall, 1812-88

Clarinet Arrangement: 146b-InHeavenAbove

This is actually a pretty fun arrangement with counter movement in both the bass and tenor parts.

I don’t know that it is a particularly well known hymn melody, it is only used for this hymn that I can tell, and I can only find the information from the hymnal about it, that it is a, “Norwegian Folk Melody”. Not knowing enough about Norwegian Folk Melodies, I can’t tell you more than that.

Without more information, I am going to guess that this song might be named after Hans Nielsen Hauge, based on the following:

Because Hauge’s preaching coincided with the years during which many Norwegians were migrating to America, the Haugeaninfluence on Lutheranism in America has been considerable.[20] The Lutheran Church in America had a Hauge SynodEielsen Synod and Lutheran Free Church all indicative of that influence.[21][22][23] Hauge is remembered on the liturgical calendar of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on March 29 as one of the Renewers of the Church.[24]

From wikipedia:

Hans Nielsen Hauge (3 April 1771 – 29 March 1824) was a 19th-century Norwegian Lutheran lay minister, spiritual leader and author. He led a noted Pietism revival known as the Haugean movement. Hauge is also considered to have been influential in the early industrialization of Norway.[2] [3]

He had a poor and otherwise ordinary youth until 5 April 1796, when he received his “spiritual baptism” in a field near his farm. Within two months, he had founded a revival movement in his own community, written a book, and decided to take his mission on the road. He wrote a series of books in his lifetime. In a total of 18 years, he published 33 books. Estimates are that 100,000 Norwegians read one or more of them, at a time when the population was 900,000 more-or-less literate individuals.[4]

In the next several years, Hauge traveled – mostly by foot – throughout most of Norway, from Tromsø in the north to Norway in the south. He held countless revival meetings, often after church services. In addition to his religious work, he offered practical advice, encouraging such things as settlements in Northern Norway. He and his followers were persecuted, though their teachings were in keeping with Lutheran doctrine. He began preaching about “the living faith” in Norway and Denmark after a mystical experience that he believed called him to share the assurance of salvation with others. At the time, itinerant preaching and religious gatherings held without the supervision of a pastor were illegal, and Hauge was arrested several times.

Hauge faced great personal suffering and state persecution. He was imprisoned no less than 14 times between 1794 and 1811, accused of witchcraft and adultery, and of violating the Conventicle act of 1741[6] (at the time, Norwegians did not have the right of religious assembly without a Church of Norway minister present). His time in prison broke his health and led to his premature death. Upon his release from prison in 1811, he took up work as a farmer and industrialist at Bakkehaugen near Christiania (now Oslo).[7][8]

In 1815, he married Andrea Andersdatter, who later died in childbirth that same year. In 1817, he married Ingeborg Marie Olsdatter (1791-1872) and bought the Bredtvet farm (now the site of Bredtvet Church in Oslo) where he died. Three of his four children died in infancy. His surviving son, Andreas Hauge, became a priest in the Church of Norway and Member of the Norwegian Parliament.[9]

Moreover, the name Hauge seemed familiar to me, as in “Hauge Church”, from when I was growing up in Wisconsin.

Hauge Log Church

Notes: Also known as Hauge Lutheran Old Church. Before 1850 the pioneers of Perry Township had no way of liturgical worship..  In 1850 the congregation relied on circuit preachers.  On March 28, 1851, the first formal Norwegian worship was held.  The congregation decided to build a 20’ x 20’ building.  The building was comprised of logs and constructed in 1852.
During its early years dissension grew among the members over the form their worship should take.  Those who were interested in change to a less formalized service before they left Norway and were followers of the Haugean Movement  and those who wanted the formal “high-church” style of the state church of Norway.  At a meeting held in November of 1854, the faction loyal to the State Church of Norway voted to form its own congregation. The settlers who chose to remain with the 1852 congregation affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and later became known as the Hauge Congregation.  In 1927 the original 1852 church building was restored.  The church is on the National Register of Historic Places. 

146a – In Heaven Above

Please turn to number 146 (First Tune) and join with the clarinets in, “In Heaven Above”.

Number: 146 (First Tune)
First Line: In Heaven Above
Name: LAURINUS.
Meter: 8 6, 8 6, 8 8 6.
Tempo: Majestically
Music: Swedish Koralbok, 1697
Text: Laurentius Laurentii Laurinus, 1573-1655
Revised Johan Astrom, 1767-1844
Tr. William Maccall, 1812-88

Clarinet Arrangement: 146a-InHeavenAbove

I thought, for sure, with a name like “Laurentius laurentii Laurinus” there would be something about this guy. But this is it. He was a Swedish Rector, Dean, and poet.

In any case, it is a nice hymn!

Short Name: Laurentius Laurentii Laurinus
Full Name: Laurinus, Laurentius Laurentii, 1573-1655
Birth Year: 1573
Death Year: 1655
Laurinus became a principal in Söderköping, Sweden, in 1603, and in 1609, a rector in Haradshammar in Linköping diocese, Östergötland, later a dean. But he was known as a poet in the Swedish, German and Latin languages.

Red Service Book and Hymnal
Red Service Book and Hymnal

145 – The Saints of God

Please turn your hymnals to number 145 and join with the clarinets in, “The Saints of God”.

Number: 145
First Line: The Saints of God
Name: NYBERG.
Meter: 8 8, 8 8, 8 8.
Tempo: Smoothly
Music: Berndt Mikael Nyberg, 1871-1940
Text: William Dalrymple Maclagan, 1826-1910

Clarinet Arrangement: 145-TheSaintsOfGod

A pleasantly minor, and old-fashioned hymn, especially considering its relative youth.

Especially unusual, for a Lutheran Hymn, in that it is 5/4, an “uneven” meter more common in folk music. On the other hand, not all that surprising considering the following information about the composer. (The following was translated from the Finnish language wikipedia.)

Berndt Mikael Nyberg ( February 7,1871Helsinki – January 11,1940Äänekoski ) [1] was a Finnish composer and poet who composed especially spiritual music.

Already in his studies, Nyberg collected folk tales from Southwest and Central Finland. He composed, in particular, spiritual solo and choir songs, school and children’s songs, singers and beggars in the choir book of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church . [2] The current hymnbook contains Nyberg’s hymn number 631, Oi Lord, if I travel a country . He has also written a script 342, so wonderful is the praise, the original Swedish-language words, spoken by Alpo Noponen in Finnish. In addition, Nyberg has translated some other, original Swedish-language hymns [3] Nyberg published in 1890 a collection of spiritual folk tales ( The People’s Gift to the Church ) together with Ilmari Krohn.

Red Service Book and Hymnal
Red Service Book and Hymnal

144b – For All the Saints

Please turn your hymnals to number 144 (Second Tune) and join with the clarinets in, “For All the Saints Who From Their Labors Rest”.

Number: 144 (Second Tune)
First Line: For All The Saints Who From Their Labors Rest
Name: PRO OMNIBUS SANCTIS (SARUM).
Meter: 10 10 10, 4.
Tempo: Broadly, with spirit
Music: Joseph Barnby, 1838-86
Text: William Walsham How, 1823-97

Clarinet Arrangement: 144b-ForAllTheSaintsWhoFromTheirLaborsRest

This is another rather harmonically modern hymn arrangement. Very close, almost dissonant harmonies, with an unusually lingering resolution.

Considering it’s composer seems to have been rather fond of Wagner, I guess this isn’t a surprise.

Short Name: Joseph Barnby
Full Name: Barnby, Joseph, 1838-1896
Birth Year: 1838
Death Year: 1896
Barnby was a composer, conductor and (like his father Thomas Barnby) an organist. He entered the choir of York Minster at age seven, and was an organist and choirmaster at twelve. In 1854 he went to London and entered the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied under Cipriani Potter and Charles Lucas. In 1856, he competed for the first Mendelssohn Scholarship. When the examinations were over, of the nineteen applicants, he was tied for first place with Arthur Sullivan. After a second test, Sullivan won.

Barnby was organist at Mitcham, St. Michael’s, Queenhithe, and St. James’ the Less, Westminster, before he was appointed to St. Andrew’s, Wells Street, where he remained from 1863 to 1871, establishing the musical reputation of the services. From 1871 to 1886 he was organist of St. Anne’s, Soho, where he instituted the annual performances of Bach’s Passion Music according to St. John, with orchestral accompaniment. In 1867, Messrs. Novello, to whom he had been musical adviser since 1861, established Barnby’s Choir, which gave oratorio concerts from 1869 to 1872, when it was amalgamated with the choir formed and conducted by M. Gounod at the Royal Albert Hall, under the title of the Royal Albert Hall Choral Society (now the Royal Choral Society). The same publishing firm also gave daily concerts in the Albert Hall, 1874-75, which Barnby orchestrated.

Barnby conducted the St. Matthew Passion in Westminster Abbey in 1871. He was appointed precentor of Eton in 1875, a post he kept until 1892, when he succeeded Thomas Weist-Hill as principal of the Guildhall School of Music.

In 1878, Barnby married Edith Mary Silverthorne. Also that year, he helped found the London Musical Society, becoming its first director and conductor. Under his baton, the Society produced Dvorak’s Stabat Mater for the first time in England.

In 1884, Barnby conducted the first performance in England of Wagner’s Parsifal as a concert in the Albert Hall. From 1886-8 he conducted rehearsals and concerts of the Royal Academy of Music, of which he was a fellow.

Barnby was knighted in 1892, and in the same year conducted the Cardiff Festival. He conducted the festival again in 1895.

Barnby’s compositions include an oratorio (Rebekah, 1870), a psalm (The Lord Is King, Leeds Festival, 1893), an enormous number of services and anthems, part songs and vocal solo, trios, etc. He also wrote a series of Eton Songs, 246 hymn tunes (published in one volume in 1897), and edited five hymnals, the most important of which was The Hymnary (1872).

Red Service Book and Hymnal
Red Service Book and Hymnal