Sermon: Roses and Chocolates
Scripture: I Corinthians 13

Music of Love and Romance

Prelude: Liebeslied: Widmung (Lovesong: Dedication) by Robert Schumann, arr. Liszt Music for this Sunday’s service revolves around the theme of love – both human and divine, romantic and spiritual. The prelude features music of Frederic Chopin (1810-1849) and Robert Schumann (1820-1869). In 1840 Schumann composed a song-cycle for his future bride, both as a declaration of love and a means of proving his financial stability.

He titled his cycle Myrthen (Myrtles), which is a flowering plant that was associated with wedding rituals, and Widmung opens the set. Through the poetry of Friedrich Rückert, Schumann’s music declares to Clara Wieck, his beloved bride, that she is his bliss, heaven, rest, and peace, a place to lay his grief, his good spirit and better self. In 1849 Franz Liszt created this transcription of the song for solo piano and, although countless pianists have played it, it became a signature piece for the young Van Cliburn; it is his solemn rendition that forever rings in my ears and my heart.

Last-minute Alleluias

Introit: Alleluia from Coronation Anthem No. 4 by Georg Frideric Handel (1685-1759) In the Christian Year, or Liturgical Calendar, there are two great cycles: the Resurrection Cycle, which was historically the first to develop, and the Nativity Cycle, which spans Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. We are coming to the close of Epiphany and will soon be entering the Resurrection Cycle of Lent, Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost. We know Lent to be a 40-day period (excluding Sundays) of repentance and preparation for Easter which corresponds to the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness. But for a time Lent was extended to 70 days, and there were three Sundays before Lent that were considered a time of preparation for the time of preparation, so to speak.

As we are in this time of preparing for the start of Lent we may be pondering what we are going to give up this year in our annual rite of self-denial. I have thought of many potential give-up items, mostly involving food, and it has made me hungrier than ever this week; as a result I’m on a kind of pre-deprivation gorge-fest! One thing the Church herself has traditionally given up during Lent is the word “Alleluia.” This acclamation of praise – literally “Praise Jahweh” – is traditionally omitted in worship for the next six Sundays. It makes a grand return, serving as the opening to the Easter service in what is called the Great Shout, said three times by the congregation: “Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!”

This Sunday, therefore, both congregation and choir will be singing robust Alleluias as a rousing finale to Epiphany and prelude to Lent. The choir opens with the final Alleluia movement of Handel’s Coronation Anthem: Let Thy Hand Be Strengthened. It’s always fascinating to hear different interpretations of the same work, and so I’ve included two samples with wildly varying temperaments. The first, performed by the choir of King’s College, Cambridge under Sir David Willcocks, is heroic and grand, with a hard-edged brilliance. The second, by the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields under Neville Mariner, is light and swift, with a buoyant, if somewhat breathless, elegance.

Handel composed his four Anthems for the coronation of George II in Westminster Abbey in October, 1727. The choice of their biblical texts had been established a century earlier in the coronation of Charles I, and three of the anthems end with jubilant Alleluias. Apparently the four Anthems were much loved at the dress rehearsal, but in their premiere performance a general disarray prevailed. The Archbishop of Canterbury scribbled on his program, “The anthems in confusion: all irregular in the music.” Hopefully this will not be the case in worship this Sunday!

Charity and Love

Anthem: Caritas et Amor by Z. Randall Stroope The 10th-century Ubi Caritas is one of the most revered chants and frequently-set texts in Christian music. It originated as an antiphon sung during the Mandatum, or Maundy Thursday liturgy. The text, “Where there is charity and love, God is there” echoes the parting commandment of Jesus to His disciples: “Love one another as I have loved you; by this the world shall know you are My disciples.” (John 13:34-35)

In this profoundly beautiful anthem, the popular contemporary choral composer Z. Randall Stroope makes frequent references to the opening phrase of the original chant, building sonic reflections to that theme using new material, albeit in a chant style. A middle section, “Gaudium quod immensum est!” (Joy that is immense!) serves as a joyful cry of love’s fulfillment, the culmination of the compassion and promise inherent in the opening Ubi Caritas text. I recommend listening to this with eyes closed, and let yourself be transported by the ethereal beauty of the music.

Love Divine

Hymn and Postlude: Love Divine, All Loves Excelling (Hyfrydol) This famous text by Charles Wesley (1707-1788) first appeared in 1747 in London in his collection, somewhat pompously titled, Hymns for Those that Seek and Those that Have Redemption in the Blood of Jesus Christ. Historians take Wesley’s text, Love Divine, All Loves Excelling, to be a spiritual parody of the “Song sung by Venus in honour of Britannia” in John Dryden’s King Arthur:

Fairest Isle, all isles excelling,
Seat of pleasures and of loves;
Venus here will choose her dwelling
And forsake her Cyprian groves.

Wesley makes it clear that love’s true dwelling is no earthly place, no matter its physical beauty, but rather Christ alone: “Jesus, Thou art all compassion, pure, unbounded love Thou art.”

The Welsh hymn-tune, Hyfrydol, was composed by Rowland Hugh Prichard in 1830, when he was but twenty years old. Though its vocal range is confined to that of a mere five notes (rising to a sixth just before the final cadence), the breadth and depth of this stirring tune has captured the spirits of worshippers the world over. The Canadian organist and composer, Healey Willan (1880-1968), wrote a festive Chorale-Prelude on Hyfrydol which serves as this week’s postlude, and is included in the audio sample above.

Now faith, hope, and love abide, these three;
And the greatest of these is love.