To begin: things British – including Sebastian Wesley’s choral gem ‘Thou Wilt Keep Him…,’ a fragment from a larger ‘verse anthem.’ The grandson of Charles Wesley, Sebastian had a notable career in the Church of England, serving at the Chapel Royal, at Exeter, Winchester and Gloucester Cathedrals as well as the Leeds Parish Church. His music, of which this is a prime example, is marked by clear counterpoint wrapped up in a well-paced and sumptuous harmonic structure. The ‘voicing’ here is SATTB, the extra tenor part adding substantial warmth.

Matthew’s wonderful French double-manual harpsichord, built by John Phillips of Berkeley, CA [the same builder who is making the St. Philip harpsichord…], is on the campus this week for rehearsals of Ars Lyrica Houston’s next installment – ‘Women on the Verge…’ And so, we thought we’d take advantage of this and use the instrument in worship today. Two offerings:

Schütz

A superb composer, born in Germany and trained in Italy [with Gabrieli, in Venice], Schütz spent his life in Dresden serving the Saxon court. This duet is one of his many ‘Geistliche Konzerte' or ‘Sacred Concertos;’ short, vivid pieces for solo voices and continuo. This setting of fragments from Psalm 27 is typically vibrant, imitative and in the service of the text…

The girls are singing the German words today because the rhythms of the piece are so closely linked to the native syntax… An English translation of material like this doesn’t do the music justice.

Bach

Matthew plays the first movement of a solo keyboard concerto in the Italian style, published in 1735 as the first half of ‘Clavierübung Part II,’ a set of pieces meant for the training of keyboard players. This movement, rare in its lack of a tempo indication, achieves the ‘concerto’ effect [contrasting textures] with the use of two manuals with contrasting sounds, forte and piano.

‘Women on the Verge’ takes place this Friday evening at 7:30pm in the Hobby Center, featuring Melissa Givens, the scintillating French Mezzo-soprano Marie Lenormand and Houston’s own Sonja Bruzauskas. Please come by – the programming is marvelous!

To learn more about John Phillips and his wonderful custom-made and superbly-crafted instruments, visit http://www.jph.us/