Americana

Our All-American musical offerings today start with a movement by Margaret Sandresky, who, like any good Southern lady, has kept information with respect to her date of birth a closely guarded secret… A celebrated teacher of Music Theory and Composition, she is Professor Emerita of Salem College in Winston-Salem, NC – also her alma mater. ‘L’homme armé is the name of a French secular song from the Renaissance – about an ‘armed man’ – and was then as well known as, say, ‘Twinkle, twinkle little star’ is today. A tune with an interesting structure and topography, it has been used by composers as the basis for contrapuntal treatment in every age since.

Jane Marshall’s ‘O God of Love’ was written for the wedding of Brad and Jane Kisner, setting a text of William Jenkins. The sentiment of being ‘One in Christ’ holds for everyone in this room this morning, as much as for any wedded couple – and so serves as an apt Opening Prayer for our corporate worship.

Bruce Neswick moved to New York City this past Summer to assume the duties of Music Director at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, a fitting cap to significant career. Written also for a wedding, ‘Let the Peoples’ is notable for a certain infectious flow, and an organ accompaniment that is perfectly idiomatic…

-Keith Weber