Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) wrote little for the organ but wrote 11 chorale preludes the last summer of his life, most likely in memory of his dearest friend, Clara Schumann, who had passed on the year before. For this Sunday's prelude, I will play No. 7, "O God, Thou Faithful God", playing the actual choral first, which was harmonized by J.S. Bach.

Our processional hymn is a favorite, 518, "Christ is made the sure foundation". Note that. although the text is 7th century, the music was written by the famous English composer of the Baroque period, Henry Purcell, who also composed the day's postlude. Yes, this is the man who composed a number of "trumpet tunes" you know well.

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A Johann Pachelbel setting of the Epiphany hymn, "How Brightly Shines the Morning star", is the organ prelude this first Sunday after Epiphany. Pachelbel (1653-1706), was 27 years old when JS Bach was born, but obviously, their lives overlapped and some stylistic traits of Pachelbel can be found in Bach's compositions, although no one has ever composed on the scale, complexity, and beauty as Bach.

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This Fourth Sunday of Advent prelude will be the Leo Sowerby setting of "Let all mortal flesh keep silence", the hymn we will sing before the Gospel reading. Sowerby (1895-1968), as you may remember, was known as "the dean of American church musicians", and also won a Pulitzer prize in 1946.

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We are fortunate this Sunday to have Otho Hoyte playing both the prelude and the postlude (as well as the processional and closing hymns). I am most grateful to have both Pam and Otho Hoyte with us, both of whom have extensive training and experience. The prelude will be a Paul Manz setting of "Prepare the Royal Highway, Prepare the Way, O Zion", a very familiar 17th-century Advent hymn, which we will also sing at the close of the service. Otho will play the hymn first, improvising the harmonies.

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We will open and close with J.S.Bach this second Sunday of Advent, the prelude being 2 movements from the second Sonata for flute and harpsichord, with our own Nanette Woodwirth on flute. Bach wrote 6 sonatas for flute, but only 4 with harpsichord. We do not have a harpsichord, but I will attempt to play the part on the digital keyboard using the harpsichord sound. The second of the 2 movements is the famous "Siciliano", a great favorite for good reason.

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For our first Sunday in Advent, maybe my favorite church season, you will hear 2 different tunes for "Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus", both different from what we often sing, which is hymn 66 in our hymnal. The organ prelude tune is based on the tune "Jefferson", and is a setting by the American, Wilbur Held (1914-2015-- yes, he lived to be 100).

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Sunday's music will feature several early German composers. First, the prelude will begin with a J. S. Bach harmonization of the chorale, or hymn, "Now Thank, my Soul, thy Master", followed by two settings of said melody, the first by Johann Pachelbel (who overlapped Bach's life but was 32 years older), and Michael Pratorius (sometimes spelled ""Praetorius"), who lived earlier (1571-1621) and was known for his settings of protestant hymns. Pratorius wrote in the late Renaissance and early Baroque style, whereas Pachelbel was known to have brought the south German school to it's height; Bach, of course, brought the Baroque style to its height. Some differences can be heard in these renditions, but one would have to listen to such more to get a true sense of the stylistic differences.

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The prelude to Sunday's service is one of Charles M Widor's most beloved pieces, the "Andante Sostenuto" from his "Gothic Symphony", so named because it honored The Church of St. Ouan in Rouen, where a Cavaille Coll organ had been built. These organs are still probably the most respected for French romantic organ literature, and Widor himself played the finest of these organs, at Saint Sulpice in Paris, for 63 years!

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The prelude is a Johannes Brahms setting of the "chorale", or hymn, "O God, Thou Faithful God". This is from the collection of 11 chorale prelude settings that Brahms wrote. Although beautifully written (typical of Brahms's perfectionism), he wrote comparatively little for the organ, as compared to his output as a whole.

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Sunday's prelude is a "partita" on the hymn tune, "Liebster Jesu", best known with the text of hymn 440, Blessed Jesus, at thy word", but we will be singing the text of hymn 631 as the processional, as this text complements our reading from Second Timothy. The organ prelude with variations on the tune is by the American contemporary, Jonathan Reuss. A "partita" is generally a suite of dances, but the designation is often loosely applied, and here some of the settings may be in question as far as being "dances".

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