FROM DR. DAVID HURD: AN ANTHEM IS BORN

In February of 2023, I received an inquiry from Maxine Thévenot, canon precentor, director of music and organist at the Cathedral of Saint John in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Dr. Thévenot is also artistic director of the Friends of Cathedral Music at Saint John’s. Her e-mail to me began a dialogue and process which reached its fulfillment a few weeks ago on 17 November 2024.

The music program at Saint John’s Cathedral has a long history of providing distinguished choral and liturgical leadership. My first visits to the Cathedral were in the late 1970s when the Reverend Dr. Geoffrey Butcher was organist and choirmaster. He and I served together on the Standing Commission on Church Music, and at his initiative several committee meetings were hosted at the Cathedral in the early days of the revision of The Hymnal 1940. Incidentally, in 2003 during Bruce Barber’s tenure as Cathedral music director, I was commissioned to compose a setting of Psalm 84 for the institution of the Very Reverend Alan Dennis as the Cathedral’s Dean. Since 2006, beginning with composer Stephen Paulus, the Friends of Cathedral Music under Dr. Thévenot’s artistic direction have maintained a pattern of annually commissioning and premiering choral anthems from leading North American and British composers. In its November 2016 issue, The Diapason magazine carried a feature story on the first ten years of this ambitious and imaginative program. Integral to their commissioning process, the Cathedral has invited each commissioned composer to a brief residency during which he or she meets and gets to know the choir and the benefactors and assists in preparing and executing the premiere performance. Allowing for this personal connection between the composer, the commissioning body, and the performing ensemble is a highly valued piece of the process.

So, having read the November 2016 Diapason article, and being familiar with Dr. Thévenot’s reputation, and that of the Cathedral’s program, I was very pleased to receive her invitation to be the Cathedral’s commissioned composer for 2024. The first major decision was to agree on a weekend for the residency and premiere of the intended new piece. With a weekend chosen, nineteen months out, the next step was to choose a text to be set. The sponsors of Cathedral commissions understandably are invested in the choice of words to be set to music. Music has the capacity to elevate the impact of texts, and texts which are strong in their own right can be deepened further by fine musical settings. With the date for the premiere established, the lectionary could be consulted for thoughts about the text to be set. In the end, it was Dr. Thévenot’s suggestion of The Altar, a poem by George Herbert, which seemed to be the best fit. I had previously set six other Herbert poems, and each time I had found the process of entering Herbert’s word-world through the accents of my own musical sound-world to be a rewarding exercise.

George Herbert (1593–1633) was an English poet and priest of the Church of England. Recognized as one of the foremost British devotional writers, he is considered one of the metaphysical poets along with John Donne, Richard Crashaw, and several others of that time. A few of Herbert’s poems have made the jump to hymnals. The Hymnal 1982 contains four of Herbert’s poems, twice as many as were included in The Hymnal 1940. However, the vast majority of Herbert’s poetry is considered too complex to be sung meaningfully by congregations as hymns or set forth in recurring hymn-tune stanzas. Choral settings of Herbert’s poems are found as early as works by Henry Purcell (1659–1695) and John Blow (1649–1708). Skipping ahead, twentieth- and twenty-first-century British and American composers have composed liberally on the Herbert canon, and I am pleased to have had the invitation to add one more setting of a Herbert poem to the choral repertory.

The Altar is the first poem in the section labeled The Church of Herbert’s The Temple—Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations, published in 1633. The poem is laid out on the page of the original edition with its text arranged to suggest the shape of a table with pedestal and column supporting a top surface. While there are many useful and interesting commentaries on this and other poems of Herbert, the glory of poetry often is in discovering the layers of expression baked into the language which exceed the normal expectations of prose writing. The poem is greater than the sum of its words. Likewise, a musical composition can be greater than the surface appreciation of its notes. That said, it was my intention to have the organ provide a literal heartbeat behind the choir’s recitation of Herbert’s words in The Altar. A significant musical cross-reference is that the melodic figure to which “These stones to praise thee may not cease” is sung is the same melodic figure used in my setting of Richard Wilbur’s A stable lamp is lighted (Hymn 104) for the text “and every stone shall cry.”

My residency in Albuquerque was a short but enjoyable one. I met the choir of nearly forty voices on Saturday morning, 16 November, and conducted them in rehearsal. They had been wonderfully prepared by Dr. Thévenot and were very responsive. Edmund Connolly, assistant organist, accompanied with intuitive musical understanding. At the rehearsal’s end we made a “dress rehearsal” recording of The Altar. (Not unlike at Saint Mary’s, outdoor sirens are known to impose themselves on the sound-world of the liturgy, and one cannot count on getting a clean live recording of music at a service.) As the final music of the morning, Dr. Thévenot invited me to conduct the choir in my setting of Taste and See, which they had sung on a recent Sunday. It was a treat for me, and they sang it beautifully. Then we all adjourned to a local restaurant for a joyous lunch together.

The following morning, after a brief warm-up with the choir, I was asked to make a presentation to the congregation and field some questions about my life and career in the church and in music. During the talk, I was delighted to see the Reverend Meg Buerkel Hunn, a General Seminary alumna, seated in the nave. Mother Hunn was the preacher that morning, and her fine sermon made extensive reference to hearts and stones. It all came together.

It was a pleasure and honor to be at the Cathedral of Saint John in Albuquerque that weekend, sharing in worship through new music which they had summoned into being. I am thankful to clergy, musicians, and generous lay people who support the ongoing renewal of music offered to the praise of God.

Please let George Herbert’s poem from nearly four hundred years ago reveal its timeless expression. Please also click to hear the  “dress rehearsal” recording of my newly composed musical setting of Herber’s The Altar. — David Hurd

A broken ALTAR, Lord, thy servant rears,
Made of a heart and cemented with tears:
Whose parts are as thy hand did frame;
No workman's tool hath touch'd the same.
A HEART alone
Is such a stone,
As nothing but
Thy pow'r doth cut.
Wherefore each part
Of my hard heart
Meets in this frame,
To praise thy name:
That if I chance to hold my peace,
These stones to praise thee may not cease.
Oh, let thy blessed SACRIFICE be mine,
And sanctify this ALTAR to be thine.

PRAYING FOR THE CHURCH & FOR THE WORLD

We pray for an end to war, division, violence, and injustice, especially in Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti, Ukraine, Russia, Myanmar, Sudan, and Darfur.

We pray for the people and clergy of our sister parish, the Church of All Saints, Margaret Street, London, UK.

We pray for those who have asked us for our prayers, for Beverly, Martha, Tim, Henry Kaci, Molly, Gary, Jane, Renee, Ruth Ann, Michele, Vicki, Georgia, Janet, Zoë, Desarae, David, Jacques, Claudia, Suzanne, Stephanie, Amelia, Kenneth, Rolf, Adair, Susanna, Dorian, James, Margaret, Leroy, Steve, Josh, Maddie, Tony, Hattie, Paul, Nettie, Maureen, Chrissy, Tessa, Robert, Duncan, Justin, Audy, Jan, Pat, Marjorie, Sharon, Quincy, June, Barbara, Carlos, José, J.C., Gene, Dennis, Hardy, Gypsy, Bob, and Liduvina; Laura Katharine, Keith, James, Jim, Barbara-Jean and Eleanor-Francis, religious; and Jay, Jean, Julie, Robby, and Stephen, priests.

We pray also for Andrew, Tilly, and Dax, who are to be baptized on January 12, and for Joachim, who is to be received into the Episcopal Church on December 15.

We pray for the repose of the souls of all those who died this week in places of violence, warfare, and natural disaster; and we pray also for the repose of the souls of Brian Thompson, Tim Dlugos, Jonathan, Mary Lou, and those whose year’s mind falls on December 8: Catherine Amelia Birdsall (1892); Joseph McDowell (1907); Margaret Dunbar (1913); Clara Hilda Cross (1924); Emma Widmayer (1946); George S. Wallace (1956); Pearl K. Roberts (1958).

WE ARE GRATEFUL

We are grateful to the Reverend Deacon Ignacio Solano Goméz who assisted Father Jay Smith on Saturday afternoon. Father Smith celebrated the Eucharist, Deacon Solano preached, and they administered Holy Baptism to two children of a family who recently immigrated to the United States from Ecuador.

UPCOMING AT SAINT MARY’S

Monday, December 9
The Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (tr.)
Morning Prayer 8:00 AM
Sung Mass 12:10 PM
Organ Recital 5:30 PM
Solemn Mass 6:00 PM

Saturday, December 14
Advent Quiet Day 9:00 AM–3:00 PM
Confessions 11:00 AM
Monthly Requiem Mass 12:10 PM in the Mercy Chapel

Tuesday, December 24
Morning Prayer 8:00 AM
Last Mass of Advent 9:00 AM
Christmas Eve
A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols 4:00 PM
Music for Choir and Congregation 9:30 PM
Procession and Solemn Mass 10:00 PM

Wednesday, December 25
Christmas Day
Solemn Mass and Procession to the Crèche 11:00 AM

Thursday, December 26
Saint Stephen
Mass 10:00 AM

STEWARDSHIP CAMPAIGN 2025

Many of Saint Mary’s supporters plan each year to have a regular monthly contribution sent to us by a bank or via a credit card. And they intend to continue that contribution. However, unless you make a pledge once again, telling us that you plan to continue giving in 2025 in the same way as you did during the previous year, we have no way to know that you’ve made a pledge for the coming year or to prepare the budget in a way that takes account of your generous gifts. Please return your pledge card by placing it in the collection basket or pledge online. And we thank you for your generous support of Saint Mary’s.

During the last few weeks, we have been hearing from members of the Stewardship Committee, telling their stories and why they make a pledge each year to Saint Mary’s. Our offering this week comes from parishioner MaryJane Boland:

After many years of Sundays filled with brunches, museum visits and plans with friends, I returned to worship and church membership in 2001 with enthusiasm and the desire to “have it all.” To be as close to worship as I could get, I learned to be an acolyte. To be as involved with everything at Saint Mary’s, I am or have been an usher, photographer, volunteer with Neighbors in Need, a member of the Open Doors team that raised the money to repair our façade, a member of the stewardship team, and volunteer assistant to the priest in charge for special projects. I still have those friends and brunches and museum visits, but what I do at Saint Mary’s has brought me rich rewards and real joy. Speaking of joy, I once found a little pamphlet about stewardship on the usher’s table that asked if one should “give until it hurt” and responded that one should give until it made one feel joyful. Year after year, I’ve raised my pledge and will do so again this year. Everything I do at Saint Mary’s brings me joy, and I am especially joyful to give back financially to this wonderful church as much as I possibly can. I invite you to join me – in pledging a joyously significant amount and in volunteering for some aspect of Saint Mary’s life.

LIFE AT SAINT MARY’S

A Message from the Bishop of New York . . . On November 25, we launched a campaign to help families across the Diocese for Thanksgiving, Advent, & Christmas. With your support, Episcopal Charities will offer 34,000 meals through over sixty congregations and partner organizations in every region of the Diocese. The campaign will end on December 31. The need is urgent—more New Yorkers rely on food pantries than before the pandemic, including many working families. Most programs serve asylum seekers from around the world. Every gift makes a difference: $20 provides 10 meals, and $1,000 provides 500 meals.  Our goal is $25,000. Together, we can brighten Advent & Christmas and ensure that no one in our neighborhood goes without a meal. Make your gift today and share the light of hope and love this season. You may donate here. — + Matthew Heyd

Adult Formation . . . Come join us for class on Sunday, December 8, at 9:45 AM, in Saint Joseph’s Hall, as Father Peter Powell continues his series of classes on The Passion and Resurrection Narratives in the Gospels. This series continues every Sunday through and including December 15 (and resumes again on Sundays in Lent). Father Pete says his plan for this coming Sunday, December 8, is to talk about Jesus at Gethsemane and how each Evangelist narrates the events there in a different way. For instance only Matthew and Mark name it as Gethsemane. Luke identifies it as at the Mount of Olives. John simply says it’s a garden across the Kidron Valley from Jerusalem. We will see that there are much greater differences as we examine the texts. Please come and join us. No prior experience or knowledge is assumed. Coffee, tea, and something to eat are provided.

“Brain Rot”: An Advent Meditation . . . Bishop Mary Glasspool came to the Diocese of New York as assistant bishop in April, 2016. Previously she had been suffragan bishop of Los Angeles (elected December 2009, consecrated May 2010). She was born on Staten Island, raised in Goshen, NY, where her father, Douglas Murray Glasspool, served as rector of Saint James’s Church until his death in 1989. Bishop Glasspool has for many years been sharing her thoughts with the Diocese by way of her “Unofficial [E-mail] Letters.” In her letter dated, December 6, 2024, she gives a somewhat technical but very timely report of the most recent meeting of the House of Bishops. But, then, in passing, she mentions that she had recently “learned that the Oxford Dictionary Word of the Year (2024) is ‘brain rot.’” This seemed worth investigating. Scientific American explains, “The phrase ‘brain rot’ spiked 230 percent from 2023 to 2024, according to the makers of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) . . . ‘Brain rot’ is the official Word of the Year for 2024, according to the OED’s publisher, Oxford University Press. Here’s how that august chronicler of English defines the phrase: brain rot is the ‘supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state,’ resulting from the ‘overconsumption’ of trivial material—especially stuff found on the Internet. Brain rot is a symptom of mindless scrolling through nonsense memes and sludge content. It is the sensation of faculties warmly smothered by one too many AI-generated pictures; see the off-putting depictions, popular on Facebook, of Jesus fused with crustaceans . . . ‘‘Brain rot’ speaks to one of the perceived dangers of virtual life, and how we are using our free time,’ Oxford Languages president Casper Grathwohl said in a press release. ‘It feels like a rightful next chapter in the cultural conversation about humanity and technology.’” It strikes us that Advent, this beautiful season of waiting and watching in great expectation of the One who is of immeasurable value, may be a good time to turn away from the “trivial” and the “mindless” in order to seek and be sought by the Pearl of Great Price. — JRS

Steven Eldredge is a member of the parish and a member of the parish’s Board of Trustees. He worked for many years at the Metropolitan Opera. He mentioned to us in passing that he had once given an interview about his life as a musician and his work at the Met. We tracked down a link to the interview and thought many of our readers would be interested in reading it. Thank you, Steven, for sharing this with us and thank you for all that you do for Saint Mary’s. (By the way, Steven is an expert at polishing brass. We expect that he will be polishing some brass this coming Sunday after the Solemn Mass during the Altar Guild work session. Come and join him!)

News from Zach Roesemann, Saint Mary’s Resident Iconographer . . . We were very excited to learn that Zach has been invited to be a Guest Artist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in January 2025. He will be doing three different events in conjunction with the Met’s current exhibition, Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300-1350:

• January 5 at the Met Cloisters, uptown, in Fort Tryon Park, 99 Margaret Corbin Dr., New York, NY 10040: “How Did They Do That?”, a demonstration and discussion of the painting and gilding techniques used by the fourteenth-century artists—the very same ones Zachary uses to create his icons.

• January 11 at the Met Fifth Avenue, Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street—“Open Studio”, a Saturday afternoon in the Medieval Hall, when Zachary will once again discuss and demonstrate medieval painting.

• January 17 at the Met Cloisters—“Met Experts Gallery Talk”, when he will talk about a specific medieval painting in the Met Cloisters collection. The public is warmly invited to all of these events. We will provide more details soon!

The EDNY Young Adult Network will be hosting their annual Saint Nick’s Celebration at Saint Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery on Saturday, December 7th at 7:00 PM! The Young Saint Marian’s Group plans to attend this fun, festive gathering for young Episcopalians and invites you to join us. Please email Katherine to RSVP!

Come join us for some loneliness prevention in Advent . . . “I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” You are invited to join some of your fellow Saint Marians on Saturday, December 7, at 12:45 PM, following the noonday Mass, for some communal Christmas “scribing.” The plan is to send messages of hope to 50 people who are incarcerated—all of whom have asked for a card or note during the Christmas season. The event is being organized and led by parishioner Jennifer Stevens, who will bring bagels and materials for the mailing. This gathering is also an opportunity for us to write Christmas cards to some of our fellow parishioners who are homebound or unable to visit us in person. Who knows, maybe we will even be inspired to fold some origami to include for our parishioners? Let’s see what God has in store for us. If you cannot join us on December 7, please pray for our endeavor. You can also help by making donations of cards or stamps. Please contact Jennifer if you plan to come.

Second Sunday Tours of the Church . . . On Sunday, December 8, we will offer the first “Second Sunday Tour” of our beautiful church building—we plan to offer these tours on the second Sunday of every month. Father Sammy will lead the tour, which will begin after the end of Solemn Mass and should last about fifteen minutes. If you’d like to join the tour, please meet Father Sammy in the narthex (i.e., the vestibule) at the Forty-sixth Street entrance to the church fifteen minutes after the end of Dr. Hurd’s postlude, and be prepared to learn about our fascinating, historic—and, yes, beautiful—church building!

Looking for some volunteers on Sunday, December 8 . . . The Flower Guild begins its season of cleaning, polishing, decorating, and flower arranging. They will start after Coffee Hour this coming Sunday with an afternoon of polishing and cleaning in anticipation of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, celebrated the following day, December 9. Much of these labors will bear fruit at Christmas as well. Come and join us! Conversation and good humor provided.

A Gift Idea, or Two . . . If you’re looking for a gift for that special someone, we still have a few copies left of our updated parish history, The Church of St. Mary the Virgin, New York City, a history, on sale for $30.00, including shipping. You can either “click to give” via our donation page or send a check to the parish office. Either way, please indicate that your donation is for “The History of Saint Mary’s,” and, of course, please tell us where we should ship your copy of the book. Please email Mary Robison if you have questions. We also have some Smoky Mary’s mugs for sale. Speak to Father Jay or José Vidal if you’d like to purchase a mug, $15.00 each.

2025 Saint Mary's Calendars are now available! Click here for a preview of the calendar. The suggested donation for each calendar is $20 in-person and $25 online (which includes shipping) and $40 for international shipping. Calendars are available in-person after Solemn Masses and Evensong & Benediction in Saint Joseph’s Hall during the month of December 2024. Click here to order your calendar online. Saint Mary’s Flower and Altar Guilds have produced the 2025 Saint Mary’s Calendar and all proceeds will help fund critical guild supplies and restore antique furnishings. Please contact Brendon Hunter with any questions about the 2025 Saint Mary's Calendar.

Neighbors in Need . . . If you would like to volunteer or make a cash donation, please speak to MaryJane Boland. We are also eager to receive donations of new or lightly used sneakers and shoes, in all sizes, for both men and women. The November Drop-by was held on Friday, November 15, when we served 52 people.

This month’s Drop-by will take place on the SECOND Friday of the month, not the third: December 13, not December 20. The January Drop-by will take place on Friday, January 17.

We have an urgent need for donations of COATS in all sizes for both men and women. The temperatures are dropping, and we anticipate that there will be a great demand for coats at this month’s Drop-by. Please look in your closets and see if there are some things you are willing to part with. And we thank you for your generosity!

We are looking for a few more good volunteers, who feel called and inspired to give this work a try. Please speak to MaryJane Boland or Father Jay about our work and how you might help.

We invite you to help us prepare the church for Christmas . . . Volunteers are needed to ready the church for upcoming holy days! We will start with an afternoon of polishing and cleaning after Coffee Hour on Sunday, December 8, in anticipation of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary observed this year on December 9. Work will pick back up again on December 18, continuing daily through December 24. There is a particular need for people of any skill level (no flower arranging happening) to help unpack deliveries on Wednesday, December 18, from morning through afternoon, and on Friday, December 20, in the morning. Additional preparations will take place after Coffee Hour on Sunday, December 22, including a brief origami workshop to make peace cranes and hanging greens in the church! Anyone interested in arranging the crèche, creating flower arrangements, preparing vestments, candles, and the like, or even carrying buckets and pushing a broom is most welcome during the week of December 18-24. Please contact Grace Mudd if you are able to help or have any questions.

Monday, December 9, The Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (tr.) . . . Morning Prayer at 8:00 AM; Mass Sung Mass 12:10 PM in the Lady Chapel; Organ Recital 5:30 PM; Solemn Mass 6:00 PM. A reception follows the Solemn Mass in Saint Joseph’s Hall. The Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary is our Patronal Feast Day!

The Organ Recitalist at 5:30 PM on the Feast of the Conception, December 9: Dr. Jordan Prescott . . . Jordan has been hailed as an “organ star” (The Baltimore Sun) whose playing “encompass[es] the church in a wild wind” (The Washington Post), Dr. Prescott has distinguished himself as an organist, conductor, and scholar with a sensitive, versatile, and striking artistry. A highly-sought-after performer, Jordan enjoys an active recital career in such esteemed venues as the Piccolo Spoleto Festival (Charleston), Saint Thomas Fifth Avenue (New York City), the Cathedral of Saint Philip (Atlanta), Grace Cathedral (San Francisco), and the West Point Military Academy Cadet Chapel. He is also regularly featured at regional and national conventions of the American Guild of Organists and the Organ Historical Society. Dr. Prescott is organist-choirmaster at Grace and Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church in Baltimore and a member of the music theory faculty at the Peabody Institute from which he earned the Doctor of Musical Arts. His research is regularly published in The American Organist and The Tracker magazines, and, in 2019, he was named one of Diapason magazine’s “20 Under 30” most influential young artists. Jordan has studied in the United States with John Walker, Andrew Scanlon, and Christopher Jacobson and in Paris with Marie-Louise Langlais. Jordan Prescott is represented in North America by Seven Eight Artists. His Saint Mary’s program will include works of Charles Tournemire, Marcel Dupré, Jehan Alain, Jeanne Demessieux, and Kerensa Briggs.

Our Guest Preacher at the Solemn Mass on December 9: Father Steve Rice . . . Father Rice is the rector of Saint Timothy’s Church, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He studied psychology at Erskine College, where he received his B.A. in 2000. He earned his Master of Divinity degree from the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in 2004 and the Doctor of Ministry degree from Nashotah House in 2015. He is studying now in a master’s program in theology, mission, and ministry at Saint Stephen’s House, Oxford. Father Rice was ordained deacon and then priest in 2005. He has been the rector of Saint Timothy’s since 2008. He is from Greenwood, South Carolina, and is married with three children.

“Waiting for God Who Waits for Us,” An Advent Quiet Day, led by Father Sammy Wood . . . The Church inhabits time differently from the world around us—or at least we should. And that is never more apparent than in the season of Advent. While Times Square and Fifth Avenue are bustling their way toward Christmas, we are invited to wait for the God who graciously waits for us. Join us at Saint Mary’s for our annual Advent Quiet Day on Saturday, December 14, from 9:00 AM until 3:00 PM. Doors open at 9:00 AM—coffee and tea available. We will begin the day praying Morning Prayer together, then sit for three short reflections led by Father Wood before heading into long periods of reflection and silence. There will be two reflections in the morning, followed by Mass and then lunch. Father Wood will deliver his third and final reflection at around 1:30 PM and the day will conclude with prayer at around 3:00 PM.

Throughout the day we will draw on the writings of people like Paula Gooder—The Spirit of Advent: The Meaning is in the Waiting (Paraclete 2008); James K. A. Smith—How to Inhabit Time: Understanding the Past, Facing the Future, Living Faithfully Now (Brazos 2022); and Fleming Rutledge—Advent: The Once & Future Coming of Jesus Christ (Eerdmans: 2018). Lunch will be provided, so please RSVP to Father Wood by December 11 so we can have ample food for all of us.

Saturday, December 14, 12:10 PM, Monthly Requiem Mass in the Mercy Chapel.

A Chance to Learn More about the Met’s Siena Exhibition . . . The Metropolitan Museum's acclaimed exhibition—Siena: the Rise of Painting—runs through January 26, and you can learn more about the city and region through a talk on “Siena, the Heart of Tuscany,” to be held in Saint Joseph's Hall on Friday, January 17, at 5:30 PM. Parishioner Mary Robison’s brother-in-law Roberto Bechi, whose family has lived in Siena for hundreds of years, will discuss the history and culture of this beautiful part of the world. Please join us!

Mark Your Calendar: Parish Retreat . . . If you’re unable to join us for the Advent Quiet Day on December 14—and even if you are—we hope that you will be able to join us on Saturday, January 11, for a Parish Retreat. The theme of the retreat is “The Benedictine Promise”—Benedictine Spirituality and Practice. The retreat, which will take place here at Saint Mary’s, will be co-hosted with our friends from uptown at the Church of the Holy Trinity, Inwood, and will be led by Sister Michelle Heyne of the Order of the Ascension. For more information, please speak to Father Wood.

Preparing for baptism . . . We expect to have several candidates for Father Smith to baptize on January 12, his last Mass before retirement, and Father Sammy Wood is coordinating their preparation. If you are interested in receiving the sacrament of baptism, or having your child baptized, please contact Father Wood.

ABOUT THE MUSIC AT THE SOLEMN MASS ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 8, 2024, THE SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Sunday’s organ voluntaries are based upon Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (“Come now, Savior of the Gentiles”). This chorale (54 in The Hymnal 1982) is Martin Luther’s sixteenth-century adaptation of the fourth-century Latin hymn Veni Redemptor gentium attributed to Ambrose of Milan (55 in The Hymnal 1982). (Saint Ambrose’s feast day is this week, on December 7.) Sunday’s prelude is a set of three short settings of this old chorale melody by David Hurd, organist and music director at Saint Mary’s. These pieces were composed in 2008 for a series of hymn-prelude collections released by Selah Publishing that year. The three settings, though modern, are crafted upon formal models well known to Baroque composers. These models include melodic embellishment and ground bass variation. The postlude today is the third of the three settings of Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland from the Great Eighteen Leipzig Chorales of Johann Sebastian Bach. (The first and second of this set of three were played as voluntaries last week on Advent I.) This third setting, BWV 661, is a vigorous fugue for the hands under which each of the four phrases of the chorale in turn is stated boldly in long tones played on the organ pedals.

The setting of the Mass on Sunday morning is the Missa in contrapuncto a 4 vocibus by Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer (c. 1656–1746). Fischer was recognized in his day as one of the finest German composers of keyboard music. He was strongly influenced by the French composer Jean Baptiste Lully, with whom he may have studied, and he conveyed French influences to the Italian-influenced German music of his time. Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frederick Handel were the two most notable musicians who knew and were influenced by Fischer’s work. Unfortunately, the record of Fischer’s life and career seems best documented in writings devoted to others and which only mention him in passing. Of Fischer’s works which were published in his lifetime are collections of sacred music from 1701 and 1711. His Mass for four voices begins with a fugal Kyrie which references the opening phrase of the chorale Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (“Come now, Savior of the Gentiles”) and is therefore particularly appropriate for Advent. While evidencing aspects of the stile antico (“antique style”), this Mass also clearly embraces German Baroque style. 

The motet Canite tuba by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525–1594) will be sung during the administration of Communion at the Solemn Mass on Sunday morning. This classic Advent motet “sounds the trumpet” thrillingly in five-voice chorus with two soprano parts. The motet begins with the three interior voices, to which the outer two are soon added. Palestrina alternates moments of full choir with trio passages featuring the upper three or lower three voices, almost giving the effect of a double choir. The text is the first antiphon at Lauds and Vespers for Advent IV and is derived from Joel 2:1 and Isaiah 40:4. — David Hurd

CONCERTS AT SAINT MARY’S

The New York Repertory Orchestra
Saturday, December 7, 2024, 8:00 PM

J.S. Bach/Webern: Ricercar a 6
Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 6
Admission is free. A $15.00 donation is gratefully received.

The Young New Yorkers Chorus
YNYC Mixed & Treble Ensembles present Holiday Modulations
Friday, December 13, 8:00 PM
Saturday, December 14, 8:00 PM

Witness the combined excellence of both YNYC Ensembles as they sing a program full of wintry, solemn, powerful repertoire about the holidays. Works by Joanna Marsh, Dale Trumbore, Saunder Choi, Zanaida Robles, B.E. Boykin, Joel Thompson, Eric William Barnum, and more! Please note that only Saturday night's performance will be livestreamed. Livestream ticket buyers will receive a link to the livestream via email on the day of the performance. Buy tickets here.

The Miller Theatre at Columbia University
Stile Antico
The Prince of Music
Saturday, March 29, 2025, 7:30 PM

The remarkable Stile Antico marks its twentieth season by honoring the 500th anniversary of one of the greatest masters of Renaissance polyphony, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, whose career was inextricably intertwined with the papacy and the great churches of Rome for which he composed. The program includes some of the composer’s most beloved and timeless motets, gems by other leading composers active in Rome at that time, and a new work by British composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad, written especially for this occasion.

We need your help to keep holding our services. Click below, where you can make one-time or recurring donations to support Saint Mary’s. We are very grateful to all those who make such donations and continue to support Saint Mary’s so generously.

Saint Mary’s is a vibrant Anglo-Catholic witness in the heart of NYC. With our identity in Christ and a preference for the poor, we are an inclusive, diverse community called to love God and each other for the life of the world.

This edition of The Angelus was written and edited by Father Jay Smith, except as noted. Father Matt Jacobson also edits the newsletter and is responsible for formatting and posting it on the parish website and distributing it via mail and e-mail, with the assistance of Christopher Howatt, parish administrator, and parish volunteer, Clint Best.