PALM SUNDAY SERVICE 2010 – NOTES ON THE SERVICE

The Palm Sunday Procession

From possibly as early as the first century AD, the Church has marked the commencement of Holy Week, the most sacred time in the Church’s year, with a procession on Palm Sunday. This represents our Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Historically, fresh greenery was carried in the procession, fresh and living because it was carried for the triumphal entry of a living King. This morning, we follow the English custom of carrying palm crosses. I am grateful to the members of the Choir who fashioned the Palm Crosses, which are no longer readily available commercially.

In his book ‘Fare Well in Christ’, Canon W.H. Vanstone tells the story of Ken, a soldier in the British Army, who was dying from terminal cancer. Vanstone and his colleague visited Ken each day to comfort him but by Palm Sunday, Ken was so desperately ill, that he could no longer speak. Father Vanstone had in his pocket a Palm Sunday cross handed out in Church that Palm Sunday morning and offered it to Ken who took it, and placed it in his pyjama pocket without speaking. Father Vanstone noticed however that over the next few days as Ken’s agony increased, he would move his right hand across his chest and take hold of his cross. By Good Friday, Ken was lying quite still, in obvious excruciating pain but with his right arm across his chest and the cross firmly in his hand. And so he remained until he died at noon on Easter Monday. Ken could not tell Father what the cross meant for him, because he could not speak at all, but Vanstone surmises that it meant more than all the other powerful comforts offered to him, including heroin and that when they all failed him, he groped for his cross and, having found it, held it until he died. Given the general loss of faith in the community and on-going lowering of standards, it is reassuring that the Cross has not lost its ancient power to heal.

Variations on Mein junges leben hat ein end

Jan Pietersz[oo]n Sweelinck was born in Deventer, Holland, in May 1562 and died in Amsterdam on 16 October 1621. From about 1580 until his death, Sweelinck was the organist of the Oude Kerk (Old Church) Amsterdam and is the most important of all the early Dutch organists, not only because he combined in his own works the influences of the previous schools of music of importance but because he was a famous teacher of organ. He was known as “The Maker of Organists”. The melody of Mein Junges is possibly of German origin from the 16^th century and the words are from a German hymn from the same period. The hymn contains 10 verses, of which the first verse runs as follows: “My young life is coming to an end, my joy and sorrow too. My humble soul will quickly leave my body. My life can no longer continue. It is under threat and must go –carried away with my sorrow”.

If any man will follow me

Sir George Thalben-Ball was born in Sydney on 18 June 1896 and died in London in 1987. I first met him in 1977. For 66 years from 1919 to 1985 he was the Organist and Director of the Choir of the Temple Church (not to be confused with the City Temple) London. His art was to convey the meaning of the words through his music, both in his organ accompaniments which were outstanding and in his leadership of the Choir. His liturgical compositions, of which the Introit sung this morning is a typical example, also bring the words to life. The arrangement this morning is mine.

All glory laud and honour

This hymn dates from the early Middle Ages and is the work of Saint Theodulph of Orleans (c.750-821). It is based on Matthew 21:1-17 and originally ran to 39 verses, being designed for the long processions which many churches had (and which some still have) on Palm Sunday. The tune ‘St Theodulph’ was written by Melchior Teschner, cantor and pastor at Fraustadt in Germany, and first published in Leipzig in 1615. Bach incorporated the melody into his Passion according to Saint John and we sing this version this morning.

“Ave verum corpus”

These words are traditionally associated with Holy Week and also with the Feast of Corpus Christi, which is still a public holiday in parts of Europe. The words are ascribed to Pope Innocent (d. 1276) in a 14^th Century manuscript of Reichenau. They are also found in a manuscript in the Bodleian Library, Oxford University, dating from circa 1340. Saint-Saëns was born in Paris and died in Algiers aged 86. He studied at the Paris Conservatory and privately, under Charles Gounod. He was organist of the Madeleine for 20 years. His music is intensely ‘romantic’ in style, as would be expected of a French composer from the 19^th century. His arrangement of Ave Verum evinces a thorough and intensely devotional understanding of the words.

Praise to the Holiest in the height

This hymn is extracted from Father Newman’s long poem ‘The Dream of Gerontius’ which traces the journey of an aged monk through the gate of death into the presence of Christ. As a clergyman, Newman moved from the Evangelical wing of the Church of England to the Anglo-Catholic wing and was the acknowledged leader of the Oxford Movement. In 1845, after much agonizing, he was received into the Roman Catholic Church and in 1879 he was made a Cardinal. There are moves afoot to canonize him. The tune ‘Gerontius’ was written specifically for this hymn by Father John Dykes and appeared with it in the 1868 Hymns Ancient and Modern. As usual with Dykes, the music fits the words like a glove. The arrangement of verse 7 is mine.

When I survey the wondrous cross

Isaac Watts is regarded as the father of English hymnody and vies with Charles Wesley for the title of the greatest hymn-writer in the English language. He wrote nearly 700 hymns, many of which are still in regular use today. ‘When I survey’ is one of the finest hymns ever written and the first in the English language to use the personal pronoun ‘I’ and to express the experience of Christian faith, rather than simply doctrinal matters. It was written as a communion hymn and first appeared in 1707. The tune ‘Rockingham’ was written by Dr Edward Miller around 1790 whilst he was organist of Doncaster Parish Church. The arrangement of verse 5 is mine.

A hymn to God the Father

John Donne was made Dean of Saint Paul’s Cathedral London in 1621 by King James I, not the Wren building that we know today, but old Saint Paul’s, burnt down in the Fire of London in 1666. In 1623, Donne was seriously ill and it was then that he composed this poem. It is at once utterly serious, yet witty: ‘when you have forgiven the sins I have confessed, you have not finished forgiving me, for [like all of us] I have more sins to confess. But when you have sworn to me that Jesus Christ still lives, and shines like the sun [‘I am the light of the world’], then ‘thou hast done’ and I am yours at last’. Donne caused the hymn to be sung often to the organ by the Choristers of Saint Paul’s, in his own hearing, and especially at Evensong. His biographer Isaac Walton records that Donne remarked ‘The words of this hymn have restored to me the same thoughts of joy that possessed my soul in my sickness when I composed it. And, O the power of Church music!’.

Exsultate jubilate

The opening words of this motet are: “Exult, rejoice, O you blessed souls, you who sing sweet songs; responding to your hymns of praise, the heavens give glory with me”. The author and origin are unknown. The music was written by Mozart in 1772 when barely 17 years of age, for the castrato Venanzio Rauzzini and sung by him on 17 January 1773 in Milan. Clearly, the motet is more secular than liturgical but there is no denying the liturgical exuberance of the concluding Alleluias sung this morning by Georgina and a fitting musical match to the exultation of Saint Paul in the Sixth Reading. Georgina graduated B.Mus from Sydney University and while teaching in the UK, studied this work with Dame Emma Kirkby at the Guildhall, London.