—Martin Luther (after a Latin hymn)
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​Peter Bender describes the text of the Agnus Dei, “Lamb of God”:

In Christ, the Lamb of God, the two-part plan of the Passover is fulfilled: kill the lamb and eat the lamb. The death the of Lamb of God is a once-for-all, calendar-day event. But the eucharistic eating of the Lamb continues around the world until Christ returns. We are accustomed to singing the three-fold Agnus Dei one time, but Art Just notes the Medieval precedent for singing it ”as long as there was bread to break” (Christ’s Gifts in the Liturgy: The Theology and Music of the Divine Service, p. 41). How fitting that Jesus is described as the Lamb of God thirty times in the eschatology of the book of Revelation, where Jesus is enthroned as the Lamb who is worthy “to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing” (Rev. 5:12).
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—Antiphon for Trinitytide
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​Peter Bender describes the role of the Sanctus (please see the Latin and English text below) as the fourth of the five pillars (along with the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, and Agnus Dei) of the Divine Service:

Isaiah’s encounter with the holy set the precedent for the Lord’s Supper as “the holy things for the holy ones,” i.e., the holy body and blood of Christ are only for those who have been made holy through Baptism and have heard the cleansing word of Absolution. The Lord’s words to Isaiah in his temple vision also apply to us in the means of grace: “Your sin is taken away and your guilt is atoned for.”
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—From the Tenth-Century Latin Hymn,
​“Be present, holy Trinity”

In our five-part survey of the settings of the ordinary of the Mass by Frank Martin (1890–1974) and Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958), we now come to the heart of the Mass ordinary and its unique opportunities for text painting, the Nicene Creed. Consider, for a moment, the five parts of the Mass which have inspired countless composers through the centuries:

Kyrie (“Lord, have mercy”)
Gloria (“Glory be to God on high”)
Credo (“I believe in one God”)
Sanctus (“Holy, holy, holy”)
Agnus Dei (“Lamb of God”)
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—St. John 1:14
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Recall from the first installment of this special series on settings of the Mass for double choir by Frank Martin (1890–1974) and Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958) that these two choral masterworks overlap historically and stylistically. Martin began writing his Mass in 1922, finished it in 1926, but curiously concealed it until the early 1960s. Vaughan Williams (hereinafter RVW) wrote his Mass in G minor in 1922, but with no idea that Martin was writing a similar work, much less any notion that the two works would become unofficial ‘choral companions’ a century later. Stylistically, both works draw upon older compositional methods, perhaps most notably the motet, a compositional process in which the musical themes change with each word or phrase of the text. But both composers also employed newer compositional methods, earning both works a permanent place in the choral repertoire. Please join me during this, the latter portion of the Easter season, to explore how these composers treat the Gloria.
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— I Peter 5:4
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—Revelation 5:5
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“There is one thing to preach, the wisdom of the cross.” These oft-quoted words of Luther come from a sermon fragment from 1515, wherein Luther was answering the question, “What shall I preach?” Hermann Sasse (1895–1976) summarizes what this means for the church, especially as she prepares yet again to ponder on Jesus’ Holy Passion: “The wisdom of the cross, the word of the cross, a great stumbling block to the world, is the proper content of Christian preaching, is the Gospel itself. So thinks Luther and the Lutheran Church with him.” To be sure, the centrality of the cross does “does not mean that for the theologian the whole church year shrinks to Good Friday.” Rather, Sasse says, it means that “one cannot understand Christmas, Easter, or Pentecost without Good Friday” (Letters to Lutheran Pastors, 1:387).
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“Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

—St. Luke 17:13
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Among the significant anniversaries in sacred music in the year 2022 are two musical settings of the Mass, both with origins in the year 1922. Frank Martin (1890–1974) began writing his Mass in 1922. Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958) wrote his Mass in G minor in 1922. Both are scored for double choir, are similar in scope and sequence, and have risen to the top of choral gems of the twentieth century. Please join me this year to explore each movement of both settings, beginning with the Kyrie, with four more issues to follow, arranged according to the seasons and readings of the church year.
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—From a Collect after Psalm 130
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As the church approaches Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent, it is fitting to explore one of the penitential psalms, Psalm 130, with special focus on Luther’s hymn after this Psalm, “From depths of woe I cry to Thee.” Composers of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries have worked wonders with Luther’s hymn. This issue will focus on three composers—Johann Walter, Matthäus Le Maistre, and Heinrich Schütz—who worked in Dresden and who set Luther’s hymn to music.
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— Hymn by Henry J. Pye
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Nota Bene: During my ministry in Queens, NY, my wife and I developed a close friendship with Rev. John Stoudt (Emmaus Lutheran, Ridgewood) and his wife, Faith, who taught at my church’s elementary school. During this time (2002–2015), we attended the annual Candlemas service and banquet at Emmaus. Faith was diagnosed with cancer about two years ago and fell asleep in Jesus after suffering a stroke last month. This column on Candlemas and departing this world in peace is dedicated to her memory, 1958–2022.

According to the Gospel Lesson for this day, St. Luke 2:22–40, forty days after his birth, the infant Lord was presented in the Temple to fulfill the promise of Malachi, “The Lord whom ye seek will suddenly come to His temple” (3:1), as well as the Mosaic Law for purifying mothers after child birth (Lev. 12:2–5). Jesus’ parents offered the alternative sacrifice of two turtledoves or two pigeons, the offering of the poor who could not afford a lamb, showing the poverty and humility of Joseph and Mary. And yet, no lamb was necessary because the infant Jesus is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Simeon prayed the Nunc Dimittis, a prayer of great comfort and consolation for all who hold Christ in the arms of faith and in the Holy Eucharist.
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— The Litany
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Hymns for Christmastide are generally based on St. Luke’s Christmas narrative (Luke 2:1–21) or St. John’s Prologue on the Word made flesh (John 1:1–14). Hymns expounding on Luke 2 (“Once in Royal David’s City,” “What Child Is This,” et al.) generally focus on the history of the Christmas story and the response of penitent faith. Hymns based on John 1, however, usually proclaim the theology of the incarnation and how the Christ is enfleshed among us: “Not by human flesh and blood, By the Spirit of our God, Was the Word of God made flesh” and “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, Hail the incarnate Deity.” Sacred choral music for the season also follows these two complementary theological paths, which the church year traces from Christmas Eve (usually focused on Luke 2) to the Christ-Mass, with its appointed Gospel Lesson from John 1. Christmas Eve having passed this year, please join me during the Twelve Days of Christmas to explore three settings of selected verses of John 1 in Latin, German, and English, all coincidentally written by composers whose last name starts with the letter “H.”
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