Welcome to Celebrating the 5oth anniversary of the Beulah Neece Ware Organ Demonstration and Recital, the fourth presentation of FBC's OPUS 48 Artists Series. We believe that the development and sharing of God-given talents is part of our Christian stewardship of life and resources. This philosophy is foundational to FBC Music Ministry endeavors. Our OPUS 48 Artist Series offers a venue for concerts, lectures and master classes and an opportunity for music ministry participants to share their artistry in the name of Christ. The moniker for the series, OPUS 48, is based upon a scripture verse found in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi: Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. The scriptural reference is Philippians 4:8, hence the title OPUS 48. Our desire is to present the very best we have to offer, in keeping with the beauty and excellence expressed in the scripture. This series includes plenty of musicians, of course, but also others active in the performing and creative arts. The series venue will usually be here at First Baptist. Depending upon the content of the concert, recital or lecture, the OPUS 48 Artists Series is presented in our Chapel, Sanctuary, Life Center, and even The Gathering Place. We plan for two or three presentations each year. Thank you for being present today! Join us in the prayer that this series serves “the edification of the saints.” Billy Orton Minister of Music and Worship
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Darrell Eldridge and Dru Murphree, special lighting for today’s recital Karen Kilpatrick, cover artwork for Opus 48 series
JUST PUBLISHED! The First Casavant Frères Limitée Organ In Alabama by Elizabeth Hostetter is a definitive history of our church’s magnificent organ. Containing rich detail and many unique photographs and illustrations, this brand new book will be a treasure for years to come. Copies are available in the Music Ministry Office for a nominal charge.
Organ Demonstration and Recital Opus 48 Artists Series at First Baptist Huntsville September 27, 2015 | 2:00 p.m. Welcome - Billy Orton, Minister of Music and Worship Hymn 309 ............................................................................................................................................................ Congregation When, in Our Music, God Is Glorified Sherry Upshaw, organ
Organ 101 ..........................................................................................................................................................Michael Moore Organ Hymn ................................................................................................................................... Raymond Haan (b. 1938) For God alone my soul in silence waits; from him comes my salvation. ~ Psalm 62:1 Michael Moore, organ
Prelude in E-flat, BWV 552, 1 .................................................................................. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750) Dan Lawhon, organ
Hymn 335 ............................................................................................................................................................ Congregation Praise the Lord! Ye Heavens, Adore Him Dan Lawhon, organ
Chant de Paix (Song of Peace) ................................................................................................. Jean Langlais (1907-1991) Epilogue sur un theme de Frescobaldi pour pedal solo ......................................................................................... Jean Langlais Sherry Upshaw, organ
Prayer of Saint Gregory ....................................................................................................... Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000) Werner Smock, trumpet Sherry Upshaw, organ
Scenes of Childhood............................................................................................................................ John Leavitt (b. 1956) Autumn Fires Rain The Cow The Moon Pirate Story Sherry Upshaw, organ Reader – Matthew Ponder
Toccata from Symphony No. 5 ...................................................................................... Charles M. Widor (1844 -1937) Sherry Upshaw, organ
Following today’s organ demonstration and concert, tours of the organ chambers will be available from Michael Moore. (Tour group sizes will necessarily be limited.)
PROGRAM NOTES Organ Hymn – Raymond Haan Raymond H. Haan was born in Falmouth, Michigan in 1938. He is a graduate of Calvin College and the University of Michigan. He studied music education with Joseph L. Sullivan, organist and choirmaster with St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Mr. Haan is the Director of Music for the Cutlerville East Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, and has had this position since 1960. He is the composer of some four hundred compositions for organ, voice, choir, handbells, piano and other instruments.
Prelude in E-flat, BWV 552, 1 – Johan Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany, into a great musical family. His father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, was the director of the town musicians, and all of his uncles were professional musicians. His father probably taught him to play the violin and harpsichord, and his brother, Johann Christoph Bach, taught him the clavichord. Apparently at his own initiative, Bach attended St. Michael's School in Lüneburg for two years. After graduating, he held several musical posts across Germany: he served as Kapellmeister (director of music) to Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen, and as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, a position of music director at the main Lutheran churches and educator at theThomasschule. He received the title of “Royal Court Composer” from Augustus III in 1736. Bach’s abilities as an organist were highly respected during his lifetime. His music is revered for its technical command, artistic beauty, and intellectual depth. He is now generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in E-flat, BWV 552, also serves as the first and final pieces for his Clavierübung III, a collection of 27 (or 3 x 3 x 3) works for large or small organ. The German word “-übung” normally means some sort of exercise, but here the word refers to exercises for listening and enriching the soul, not perfecting finger technique. In fact, Albert Schweitzer nicknamed the collection “mass for organ.” The Prelude derives from three thematic and stylistic sections, and, again, Schweitzer is often attributed as the originator of the now popular symbolism that this represents the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The “Father” theme employs the dotted-eighth note to sixteenth-note rhythm of the French Overture of Bach’s day, while the “Son” theme is more playful and simple. The “Holy Ghost” theme consists of a sinuous 16th-note melody that divides into two different alternating lines. These sections then intermingle, but maintain their distinct characters.
Chant de Paix (Song of Peace) and Epilogue pour pedal solo – Jean Langlais Born on February 15, 1907, in La Fontenella, Brittany, France, a small village near by the Mont Saint-Michel, Jean Langlais became blind from the age of two. Sent to the Paris National Institure for the Young Blind in 1918, he studied piano, violin, harmony and organ. Professor for forty years at the National Institute for the Young Blind, he also taught at the Paris Schola Cantorum. In 1945, he became the successor to Cesar Franck and Charles Tournemire at the prestigious organ tribune of Sainte-Clotilde in Paris. He left that position in 1987 at the age of 80. Langlais’s music is written in a late, free tonal style, representative of mid-twentieth-century French music, with rich and complex harmonies and overlapping modes, more tonal than his contemporary, friend and countryman Olivier Messiaen, but related to his two predecessors at Sainte-Clotilde, Franck and Tournemire. The “Hommage a Frescobaldi” is an organ suite; the Epilogue is the last movement of this suite which has become a pedal showpiece for organists. The middle of the piece is a short fugue written for pedals. This piece is played using only the organist’s feet until the last three measures when the hands join in on three large chords.
Prayer of Saint Gregory – Alan Hovhaness Hovhaness was born on March 8, 1911 in Somerville, Massachusetts. Hovhaness was a very prolific composer, having written over five hundred works of music during his lifetime. Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000) was one of the 20th century’s most prolific composers. Of Armenian and Scottish descent, Hovhaness grew up in the Boston area, studying music at the New England Conservatory. As far back as his student days, he showed great interest in non-Western music. Listening to the Armenian singer Komitas, Hovhaness learned about “saying as much as possible with the fewest possible notes.” This was a radical path to take in the 1940s, and one from which he rarely strayed. The Prayer of St. Gregory illustrates Hovhaness’s style of despair. Depicting St. Gregory the Illuminator, the patron saint of the Armenian Apostolic Church who was imprisoned for twelve years, this musical piece embodies a powerful and stirring prayer, a cry for help and forgiveness. In the beginning, there is a soft organ melody, emphasized by a group of lightly played chords, setting the scene of Gregory’s prison. The trumpet solo starts with an expressive concert C pitch. This begins to illustrate Gregory’s emotional and heartbreaking prayer. The popular Prayer of Saint Gregory, whose lyrical trumpet line is intoned over rich string chords, is a prime example of the simple nobility and affirmation of faith found in much of his music.
Scenes of Childhood – John Leavitt The combination of music by respected composer John Leavitt and poetry by Robert Louis Stevenson creates an entertaining musical selection. This piece was commissioned by the Wichita, Kansas chapter of the American Guild of Organists. The poetry is taken from Stevenson’s “A Child's Garden of Verses” and original music relating to each poem demonstrates the various families of sound on the organ. It’s like Peter and the Wolf for organ! John Leavitt is a composer, conductor, pianist, and teacher, whose music continues to captivate listeners and musicians of all ages. His music has been performed in 30 countries across the globe and his recordings have been featured nationally on many public radio stations. An extraordinary composer, performer, and clinician for church and school music literature, Leavitt continues to teach, lecture, and guest conduct numerous workshops, festivals, and symposia.
Toccata from Symphony No. 5 – Charles M. Widor Widor was born in Lyon, to a family of organ builders, and initially studied music there with his father, François-Charles Widor. In January 1870, the 25-year-old Widor was appointed as “provisional” organist of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, the most prominent position for a French organist. The organ at St-Sulpice was Cavaillé-Coll’s masterwork; the instrument’s spectacular capabilities proved an inspiration to Widor. Despite his job’s ostensibly “provisional” nature, Widor remained as organist at St-Sulpice for nearly 64 years, until the end of 1933. He was succeeded in 1934 by his former student and assistant, Marcel Dupré. Widor himself was a master of the instrument: he succeeded his fellow French composer César Franck as Professor of Organ at the Paris conservatoire. Widor’s best-known single piece for the organ is the final movement, Toccata, from his Symphony for Organ No. 5, which is often played as a recessional at wedding ceremonies and at the close of the Christmas Midnight Mass at Saint Peter’s Basilica (The Vatican City, Rome). The Toccata from Symphony No. 5 is the first of the toccatas characteristic of French Romantic organ music, and served as a model for later works by Boëllmann, Mulet, and Dupré. The Toccata first became popular around 1880: the combination of rather frantic right-hand decorative lines with sturdy, melody notes from the pedals of the organ became a pretty instant hit.
ABOUT THE PERFORMERS Sherry Upshaw currently serves as Associate Minister of Music and Organist at FBC. A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Sherry received the Bachelor of Music Education from Oklahoma Baptist University, Shawnee, Oklahoma graduating Cum Laude. She was awarded the Master of Music in Organ Performance from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, where she studied with Dr. Albert L. Travis. Sherry did postgraduate study at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, with Dr. Russell Saunders. She has played concerts across the United States, in Europe and Brazil. Before moving to Huntsville in July 2012, Sherry was Organist/Music Associate at First Baptist Church in Shreveport, Louisiana, for almost 30 years. Prior to that time, she served at First Baptist Church, Amarillo, Texas as Organist/ Music Assistant. Sherry has a great love for ministry and wonderful musical abilities. In addition to playing the organ for worship services, funerals, weddings and special events, Sherry accompanies the Sanctuary Choir, Student Music and FBC Orchestra. She also coordinates the handbell choirs at FBC. In addition to her love of music, Sherry enjoys reading, traveling, singing in the Huntsville Community Chorus, and spending time with family and friends.
Michael Moore studied organ with Dr. Sam Batt Owens of Birmingham Southern College. Upon moving to Huntsville in 1971, Mr. Moore has continuously served as substitute organist. He studied with David Lowe while David was organist and organ instructor with the University of Alabama Huntsville. Upon the departures of David Lowe, Michael Dell, Jonathan Crutchfield, Dan Lawhon and the retirement of Elizabeth Hostetter, Mr. Moore served as interim organist each time for extended periods. As a result, he has worked with more pastors and ministers of music than any of the organists at First Baptist Church. Michael has been a prolific hymn introduction, interlude, modulation and arrangement composer and improvisationalist. He performed the Saint-Saens “Organ Symphonie” with the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra. He continues to play for services, weddings, funerals and with the orchestra as needed.
Dan Lawhon is a Kentucky native. He received a Bachelor of Music degree from Belmont University, studying organ with Helen Trotter Midkiff. Dan received his Master of Church Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the School of Church Music at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky where he studied organ with Boyd M. Jones, II and Donald P. Hustad. Dan also studied improvisation with Donald P. Hustad. He studied conducting with Jerry M. Warren and W. Irwin Ray, Jr. at Belmont and S. Milburn Price at SBTS. Dan began playing in church at the age of nine and has served churches throughout the Southeast. Most recently Dan served St. Matthews Baptist Church and Temple Emanuel B’Rith Shalom in Louisville, KY and First Baptist Church Huntsville, AL for nine years as Organist/Music Associate before accepting the post of Organist—Choirmaster at Baptist Church of the Covenant in Birmingham, AL in 2008 . Dan has served on the adjunct music faculties for SBTS, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Oakwood College, the University of Alabama in Huntsville and currently Samford University. Dan is the musical director for the Heritage Ringers of Huntsville, an auditioned handbell choir. He is currently the Chair Elect for the Area VI American Guild of English Handbell Ringers. Dan has served as a keyboard clinician, accompanist, recitalist and handbell clinician through much of the United States as well as Toronto, Vancouver and Moscow. His hobbies include water skiing, running and cooking. Werner Smock started studying choral music at age 5 with Daphine Baten and Eugene Brasher. At age 8, his Father, a Trombonist, started teaching him how to play Trumpet. Werner is very thankful that his Father made him practice playing Trumpet everyday. Werner’s father, Mr. Alden Smock, was the chairman of the Organ Selection Committee. Attending Westlawn Jr. High School, Werner studied with Bill Priest, the band director there, a fine Trumpet player himself. Also studied choral music with H. Kendall Smith. At Butler High School, Werner had more advanced studies in Music Theory and Music History as well as learning jazz in the Stage Band there. Most significantly, he was privileged to play in the excellent Concert Band under the direction of Frank Kendeigh. Also during the high school years, Werner played with the Huntsville Youth Orchestra under the baton of Russell Gerhart. Mr. Gerhart had him start playing with the Huntsville Symphony, too. Dr. Marx Pales became conductor of the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra (HSO) and Werner was privileged to play with some very fine musicians along with some of the world's finest soloists. In the 1990's Werner played in the HSO under Taavo Virkhaus. Attending Louisiana Tech University, Werner studied with James Christianson and at University of Alabama Huntsville (UAH) he studied with George Kavanagh. There he also played in the Ruston Civic Orchestra. After leaving the HSO, Werner played with Huntsville Opera Theatre with conductors, Dennis Johnson, Viljar Weimann and with Hunter Thomas.
MUSIC MINISTRY STAFF Billy Orton, Minister of Music and Worship; Sherry Upshaw, Associate Minister of Music and Organist; Jeremy Wilkerson, Minister of Contemporary Worship; Emily Parker, Children’s Choir Coordinator; Lea Anne Hardy, Music Ministry Assistant; Amy Helser, Music Ministry Assistant
The Living Christmas Tree
featuring Ken Medema and the 170 voice choir with orchestra
December 1717-20, 2015 visit our website for new presentation times www.fbchsv.org/lct
FREE Tickets available at the LCT Ticket Office and online November 30 – December 18
A Festival of Hymns featuring Dr. Albert Albert Travis with Sanctuary Choir and Orchestra
May 15, 2016 | 5:00 p.m. in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Beulah Neece Ware Organ
First Baptist Huntsville | 600 Governors Drive | www.fbchsv.org