The 4th or 5th century Christian Hymn, Te Deum Laudamus [We Praise Thee, O God…], is so verbose that most musical settings of it qualify for the teasing moniker – ‘Tee-Dium…’

But the text is so rich and so vivid and so important, even in its carryings on, that we persist – not only in the commissioning of new settings, but also in the singing of them for VERY special occasions. And so we mark this Reformation Sunday, 2008, with a particularly good [and relatively concise] setting by Franz, Joseph Haydn, in C Major – a treatment sparse and clean and clear…

In three sections – Fast; Slow; Fast – Haydn dispatches the text in crisp, vivid detail. We have included both Latin and English in the bulletin so that you can follow along and delight in the text-painting along the way.

The ‘Te Deum’ traces, roughly, the outline of the Creeds – describing, in detail, the nature of God the Father and Christ the Son while incorporating accounts of how and by whom they are to be praised. It’s the last line, though, that hits home for me:

‘…O Lord, in Thee have I trusted. Let me never be confounded.’

Indeed. This simple prayer of intellectual and emotional surrender has power.

To start off, though, we offer the wonderful Chorus and Trio that punctuates Part One of Papa Haydn’s oratorio, CREATION (1798). Our intrepid Staff Singers – Stacey, Cristian and Gabe – take up the roles of Archangels, urging us to notice the glories Heaven and Earth…!

Thanks to the HOUSTON HIGHLANDERS – all 15 of them, with our own Kelley Fair amongst the ranks – for making this service resonate with History…

-Keith Weber