Sermon for September 29th, 2024 - Revision history

Iraneal at 03:40, 29 September 2024

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Iraneal at 00:09, 29 September 2024

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 ==Psalm 130==
 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. 2 Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications! 3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? 4 But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered. 5 I wait for the Lord; my soul waits, and in his word I hope; 6 my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning. 7 O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem. 8 It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.
 ==Soli Deo Gloria: The Music & Message of Johann Sebastian Bach - Part II==
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 “For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.”
-Our final piece is
+Our final piece comes from Bach’s collection “The Well-Tempered Clavier.”  A Clavier is an early precursor to the piano, and “well-tempered” is another way of saying “well-tuned.”  Bach wrote a prelude and a fugue in every major and minor key, as a way of making sure that the tuning of the instrument was acceptable.   But in Bach’s own words, he also composed the collection “for the benefit and use of musical youth desiring to learn, and especially for the pastime of those already skilled in this study.”  This collection would go on to inspire Mozart, Shostakovich, Chopin, and a young Beethoven, who had memorized all 24 pieces in the collection by the time he was eleven.  It has been called the “Old Testament” of classical music.
-*[The Well Tempered Clavier Fugue in B-Flat Major]
+*[https://youtu.be/Y9KHhjUwG14 The Well Tempered Clavier Fugue in B-Flat Major]

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 Fugue comes from a Greek and Latin word that means to flee or to be chased.  A fugue begins with a melody that is then followed (or chased) by another melody, sometimes similar and sometimes contrasting.  But I like to think of a fugue as a conversation—a musical question that is answered by other voices, then asked in a different way, and answered with other variations until all of the questions and answers swell into one giant, complex, melodious conversation.
-I think that Toccata and Fugue in D Minor represents a conversation between God and humanity.  It begins with a fall.  This is the toccata at the beginning: A couple of notes wavering…. [trill] then falling [first run].  This pattern is repeated three times, each time in a lower octave [second run]. This is a reminder that sometimes when we encounter God, when God “touches” us, it can be painful, catastrophic, even [third run]. At the very bottom of this pit—almost the lowest note on the organ, a cry of despair and anguish swells up powerfully:  “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.”  But at the end of that painful wail, the discordant notes finally resolve into a comforting major chord:  “If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.”  [chord build and resolve]
+I think that Toccata and Fugue in D Minor represents a conversation between God and humanity.  It begins with a fall.  This is the toccata at the beginning: A couple of notes wavering…. [trill] then falling [first run].  This pattern is repeated three times, each time in a lower octave [second run]. This is a reminder that sometimes when we encounter God, when God “touches” us, it can be painful, catastrophic, even [third run]. At the very bottom of this pit—almost the lowest note on the organ, a cry of despair and anguish swells up powerfully.
 After this, the running toccata notes reverse direction—moving up the scale, like piercing, demanding and questioning prayers ascending to heaven.  They fall again, unanswered, and the discordant wail rises again.  But after this, comes the fugue, the conversation.  Where the toccata was free form, and full of raw emotion, the fugue is punctuated with pulsing rhythm, like time itself:  “I wait for the Lord; my soul waits, and in his word I hope.”
@@ Line 27: / Line 29: @@
 That piece was the Prelude to Suite No. 2 in A Minor, part of a larger collection known as the English Suites, which Bach composed early in his career, while he was still in his twenties.  Vanessa has been playing the movements of this particular suite since she was nine years old.  And with her permission, this is her story (or at least part of it):
-When Vanessa was 22 years old, returning from a trip to Asia she became ill with unexplainable symptoms.  After trips to three Emergency rooms in California and Arizona, she finally made it home to El Paso for emergency surgery at Sierra Medical Center.  Her surgeon removed a pea-sized cyst from her brain that had almost killed her.
+When Vanessa was 22 years old, returning from a trip to Asia she became ill with unexplainable symptoms.  After trips to three different Emergency rooms in California and Arizona, she finally made it home to El Paso for emergency surgery at Sierra Medical Center.  Her surgeon removed a pea-sized cyst from her brain that had almost killed her.
 “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.”
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 “If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?”
-Vanessa spent a week at the hospital in a large room looking out at the flagpole on Scenic Drive (the same view that she has from her church office now).   During her time in the ICU, she was in a lot of pain and was concerned she might have forgotten things. So she took a pillow and played through all seven movements of Bach’s English Suite No. 2 in A Minor, hearing it in her mind and realizing that her fingers could still make those movements, that she could still remember the notes, which was a great comfort to her. She would keep on doing this in her mind during the five years of MRIs that followed, when she was confined in a closed machine and had to remain perfectly still over 45 minutes.
+Vanessa spent a week at the hospital in a large room looking out at the flagpole on Scenic Drive (roughly the same view that she has from her church office today).   During her time in the ICU, she was in a lot of pain and was concerned she might have forgotten things. So she took a pillow and played through all seven movements of Bach’s English Suite No. 2 in A Minor, hearing it in her mind and realizing that her fingers could still make those movements, that she could still remember the notes, which was a great comfort to her. She would keep on doing this in her mind during the five years of MRIs that followed, when she was confined in a closed machine and had to remain perfectly still for over 45 minutes.
 “I wait for the Lord; my soul waits, and in his word I hope.”
-Following her brain surgery, it would be another nine years before Vanessa began to play the piano again on a regular basis.  These days, she begins her daily piano practice with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach—by far the most soothing music to her.  And yes, if you know Vanessa’s youngest son, Sebastian, you’ve probably already figured out where his name comes from.
+Following her brain surgery, it would be another nine years before Vanessa began to play the piano again on a regular basis.  A few years after that, she began studying the organ, and God (who is indeed good) brought her to us. These days, she begins her daily piano practice with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach—by far the most soothing music to her.  And yes, if you know Vanessa’s youngest son, Sebastian, you’ve probably already figured out where his name comes from.
 “For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.”
-*[The WTK Fugue in B-Flat Major]
+Our final piece is

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 There is back and forth between the melodies as the dialogue intensifies and other voices join in:  “O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.”   And just like the conversation between God, Job and his friends in the Book of Job, Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor never quite answers the question in the way we might want.  There are moments of upbeat joy and quiet beauty woven into the conversation, but still the sorrow and angst remain constant as well.  The piece ends with a giant, foreboding minor chord—not this time the wailing cry of the Psalmist, but rather the awesome, magnificent power of God, the creator of the universe.
 *[https://youtu.be/bwPekl2xMMk English Suite Prelude in A Minor]
-English Suite Prelude in a minor – Bach wrote six English Suites and also French Suites.  Each English suite has seven movements or dances.  Usually they begin with the prelude that is showier and meant to entice the listener.  It’s not to be danced to.  The middle ones (Allemande, Courante, Bourees, Gigue) are dances, and the Sarabande is a beautiful slow movement that has suggested ornamentation for the repeat.  There are no repeats in the prelude, it’s more a sonata/fugal format.  I have played all seven movements of this particular suite my whole life, probably learned around age 9.  My mother really likes music in minor keys, and so the ones I tended to gravitate towards were this suite, as well as the third (in g minor).  I don’t remember really performing this suite in its entirety but I must have performed movements during a recital or competition at some point.  I was studying it under Dr. Neil Stannard, who was a piano professor at UTEP.  He always encouraged me to play Bach.  It wasn’t until recently that he told me (from California) that my hands were too small to play the larger more difficult romantic pieces (I still have small hands for a pianist and cannot reach a 10th, despite being tall.)
+That piece was the Prelude to Suite No. 2 in A Minor, part of a larger collection known as the English Suites, which Bach composed early in his career, while he was still in his twenties.  Vanessa has been playing the movements of this particular suite since she was nine years old.  And with her permission, this is her story (or at least part of it):
-After graduating college at age 22, I was in Asia and became ill with (undiagnosed) hydro-encephalitis.  It took me weeks to get home to El Paso, after heading to ER’s in Los Angeles, Phoenix and Tucson, while driving my car home with all my belongings.  I was finally treated at Sierra Medical Center just down the hill, and had emergency brain surgery on July 3, 2001 to remove a pea-sized cyst, a congenital defect I was unaware of and that almost killed me.  I spent a week at the hospital in a large room looking out at the flagpole on Scenic Drive, which is the same view (but different angle) that I have from my church office now.  During the craniotomy, my corpus callosum, which connects the two halves of the brain, was severed, and I had to relearn how to do some basic tasks such as walking (surprisingly, one of the harder things the brain does).
+When Vanessa was 22 years old, returning from a trip to Asia she became ill with unexplainable symptoms.  After trips to three Emergency rooms in California and Arizona, she finally made it home to El Paso for emergency surgery at Sierra Medical Center.  Her surgeon removed a pea-sized cyst from her brain that had almost killed her.
-−
-            During my time in the ICU, I was in a lot of pain and I was concerned I might have forgotten things (I didn’t yet know the physical limitations of walking).  I took a pillow and played through all seven movements of this particular English Suite, hearing it in my mind and realizing my fingers could still make those movements, and that I remembered the notes, and it was of immense comfort.  I would do the same thing in my mind during the five years of MRIs that I would undergo, when you were confined in a closed machine and had to remain perfectly still over 45 minutes (twice, with and without resolution).   Yet following my brain surgery, I didn’t play the piano or engage much with music for nearly another nine years, as I didn’t have my own piano, I lived in different cities and worked in other fields.  When I moved in with my future husband, his brother brought their mother’s piano into our house so that I could begin to play again.  Today I (like Andras Schiff did) begin all my piano practices with Bach, a half hour or an hour if it’s a longer practice.  It is by far the most soothing music to me.  When I had my second son, I decided to name him Sebastian after J.S. Bach.  (These notes are not meant to be read, but happy to expand or have you elaborate, I’m just giving you the basics of what I’m comfortable sharing).
+“Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.”
-*The WTK Fugue in B-Flat Major
+*[The WTK Fugue in B-Flat Major]

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 There is back and forth between the melodies as the dialogue intensifies and other voices join in:  “O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.”   And just like the conversation between God, Job and his friends in the Book of Job, Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor never quite answers the question in the way we might want.  There are moments of upbeat joy and quiet beauty woven into the conversation, but still the sorrow and angst remain constant as well.  The piece ends with a giant, foreboding minor chord—not this time the wailing cry of the Psalmist, but rather the awesome, magnificent power of God, the creator of the universe.
-*English Suite Prelude in a minor
+*[https://youtu.be/bwPekl2xMMk English Suite Prelude in A Minor]
 *The WTK Fugue in B-Flat Major

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 Fugue comes from a Greek and Latin word that means to flee or to be chased.  A fugue begins with a melody that is then followed (or chased) by another melody, sometimes similar and sometimes contrasting.  But I like to think of a fugue as a conversation—a musical question that is answered by other voices, then asked in a different way, and answered with other variations until all of the questions and answers swell into one giant, complex, melodious conversation.
-I think that Toccata and Fugue in D Minor represents a conversation between God and humanity.  It begins with a fall.  This is the toccata at the beginning: A couple of notes wavering…. then falling.  This pattern is repeated three times, each time in a lower octave.  This is a reminder that sometimes when we encounter God, when God “touches” us, it can be painful, catastrophic, even.  At the very bottom of this pit—almost the lowest note on the organ, a cry of despair and anguish swells up powerfully:  “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.”  But at the end of that painful wail, the discordant notes finally resolve into a comforting major chord:  “If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.”  After this, the running toccata notes reverse direction—moving up the scale, like piercing, demanding and questioning prayers ascending to heaven.  They fall again, unanswered, and the discordant wail rises again.  But after this, comes the fugue, the conversation.  Where the toccata was free form, and full of raw emotion, the fugue is punctuated with pulsing rhythm, like time itself:  “I wait for the Lord; my soul waits, and in his word I hope.”   There is back and forth between the melodies as the dialogue intensifies and other voices join in:  “O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.”   And just like the conversation between God, Job and his friends in the Book of Job, Bach’s Toccata and Fugue never quite answers the question in the way we might want.  There are moments of upbeat joy and quiet beauty woven into the conversation, but still the sorrow and angst are there, too.  The piece ends with a giant, foreboding minor chord—not this time the wailing cry of the Psalmist, but rather the awesome, magnificent power of God, the creator of the universe.
+I think that Toccata and Fugue in D Minor represents a conversation between God and humanity.  It begins with a fall.  This is the toccata at the beginning: A couple of notes wavering…. [trill] then falling [first run].  This pattern is repeated three times, each time in a lower octave [second run]. This is a reminder that sometimes when we encounter God, when God “touches” us, it can be painful, catastrophic, even [third run]. At the very bottom of this pit—almost the lowest note on the organ, a cry of despair and anguish swells up powerfully:  “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.”  But at the end of that painful wail, the discordant notes finally resolve into a comforting major chord:  “If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.”  [chord build and resolve]
-−
-−
 *English Suite Prelude in a minor
 *The WTK Fugue in B-Flat Major

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:16, 29 September 2024
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	Fugue comes from a Greek and Latin word that means to flee or to be chased. A fugue begins with a melody that is then followed (or chased) by another melody, sometimes similar and sometimes contrasting. But I like to think of a fugue as a conversation—a musical question that is answered by other voices, then asked in a different way, and answered with other variations until all of the questions and answers swell into one giant, complex, melodious conversation.		Fugue comes from a Greek and Latin word that means to flee or to be chased. A fugue begins with a melody that is then followed (or chased) by another melody, sometimes similar and sometimes contrasting. But I like to think of a fugue as a conversation—a musical question that is answered by other voices, then asked in a different way, and answered with other variations until all of the questions and answers swell into one giant, complex, melodious conversation.

−	I think that Toccata and Fugue in D Minor represents a conversation between God and humanity. It begins with a fall. This is the toccata at the beginning: A couple of notes wavering…. then falling. This pattern is repeated three times, each time in a lower octave. This is a reminder that sometimes when we encounter God, when God “touches” us, it can be painful, catastrophic, even. At the very bottom of this pit—almost the lowest note on the organ, a cry of despair and anguish swells up powerfully: “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.”	+	I think that Toccata and Fugue in D Minor represents a conversation between God and humanity. It begins with a fall. This is the toccata at the beginning: A couple of notes wavering…. then falling. This pattern is repeated three times, each time in a lower octave. This is a reminder that sometimes when we encounter God, when God “touches” us, it can be painful, catastrophic, even. At the very bottom of this pit—almost the lowest note on the organ, a cry of despair and anguish swells up powerfully: “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.” But at the end of that painful wail, the discordant notes finally resolve into a comforting major chord: “If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.” After this, the running toccata notes reverse direction—moving up the scale, like piercing, demanding and questioning prayers ascending to heaven. They fall again, unanswered, and the discordant wail rises again. But after this, comes the fugue, the conversation. Where the toccata was free form, and full of raw emotion, the fugue is punctuated with pulsing rhythm, like time itself: “I wait for the Lord; my soul waits, and in his word I hope.” There is back and forth between the melodies as the dialogue intensifies and other voices join in: “O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.” And just like the conversation between God, Job and his friends in the Book of Job, Bach’s Toccata and Fugue never quite answers the question in the way we might want. There are moments of upbeat joy and quiet beauty woven into the conversation, but still the sorrow and angst are there, too. The piece ends with a giant, foreboding minor chord—not this time the wailing cry of the Psalmist, but rather the awesome, magnificent power of God, the creator of the universe.
		+
		+

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:55, 29 September 2024
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	Fugue comes from a Greek and Latin word that means to flee or to be chased. A fugue begins with a melody that is then followed (or chased) by another melody, sometimes similar and sometimes contrasting. But I like to think of a fugue as a conversation—a musical question that is answered by other voices, then asked in a different way, and answered with other variations until all of the questions and answers swell into one giant, complex, melodious conversation.		Fugue comes from a Greek and Latin word that means to flee or to be chased. A fugue begins with a melody that is then followed (or chased) by another melody, sometimes similar and sometimes contrasting. But I like to think of a fugue as a conversation—a musical question that is answered by other voices, then asked in a different way, and answered with other variations until all of the questions and answers swell into one giant, complex, melodious conversation.
		+
		+	I think that Toccata and Fugue in D Minor represents a conversation between God and humanity. It begins with a fall. This is the toccata at the beginning: A couple of notes wavering…. then falling. This pattern is repeated three times, each time in a lower octave. This is a reminder that sometimes when we encounter God, when God “touches” us, it can be painful, catastrophic, even. At the very bottom of this pit—almost the lowest note on the organ, a cry of despair and anguish swells up powerfully: “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.”

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 What you just heard is far and away the most famous and recognizable organ piece in the world, played on El Paso’s largest pipe organ.  I doubt there’s a single person in this room who hasn’t heard that piece before, in a movie, in a concert, or maybe even in a haunted house around Halloween time!   There’s something in this piece that instantly stirs up strong emotions—whether it’s fear, sorrow, awe, or reverence.  It’s famous because it connects with us on a deep level, and so I want to take a few moments to consider why that may be.
-The piece is called Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, by Johann Sebastian Bach.  The letter D refers to the key it’s written in, and “minor” refers to its mode—minor keys often sound sinister or sad, although if you listen to the entire piece it certainly transcends those stereotypes.  Toccata is a type of musical composition—the name comes from an Italian word similar to the Spanish word “tocare” or in English “to touch.”   A toccata usually has fast, melodic runs on the keyboard.  The opening notes in this piece are the toccata.
+The piece is called Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, by Johann Sebastian Bach.  The letter D refers to the key it’s written in, and “minor” refers to its mode—minor keys often sound sinister or sad, although if you listen to the entire piece it certainly transcends those stereotypes.  Toccata is a type of musical composition—the name comes from an Italian word similar to the Spanish word “tocare” or in English “to touch.”   A toccata usually includes fast, melodic runs on the keyboard.  The opening notes in this piece are the toccata.
-And a fugue is a type of composition
+Fugue comes from a Greek and Latin word that means to flee or to be chased.  A fugue begins with a melody that is then followed (or chased) by another melody, sometimes similar and sometimes contrasting.  But I like to think of a fugue as a conversation—a musical question that is answered by other voices, then asked in a different way, and answered with other variations until all of the questions and answers swell into one giant, complex, melodious conversation.