We will experience the final echoes of the Christmas season soon at St. Peter's.

First, this Sunday, when we celebrate the Epiphany.

The Epiphany is always January 6, the day after the conclusion of the twelve days of Christmas. But it doesn't always fall on a Sunday. This year we have a great opportunity to celebrate Epiphany to the fullest with some marvelous music for the day. 

The Epiphany music begins before the 10:30 a.m. service with the organ prelude. 

First is a piece I've never performed before: Epiphany by Garth Edmundson (1892–1971). Edmundson lived most of his life in Pennsylvania. In Epiphany Edmundson joins that great late romantic and twentieth-century impulse toward "exoticism" – capturing the sound of the "other" in western classical music. The tempo marking reads "Orientale" and Edmundson explicitly notes three "themes" that constitute the music. 

1. Right hand: "Oriental theme"
2. Left hand: "Camel theme"
3. Pedal (a single, held note!): "Desert theme"

It's a clever idea, and the piece is fascinating, but the more I've practiced this piece, the more I wonder if Edmundson didn't manage to capture the "East" as much as he did the American West. Those camels sound an awful lot like sauntering horses that you might encounter on the plains of Kansas, or, heck, even Missouri.

The second organ prelude is a miniature masterwork based on the proper plainsong Introit for the day (Ecce advenit) by French composer Maurice Duruflé (1902–1986).

We're doing a captivating arrangement of "The First Nowell" by Canadian composer Paul Halley (b. 1952). It's very rich, harmonically speaking, probably bordering a bit on the "Hollywood" side of things. I think it will be a fun way to celebrate the day, and I've made indications in the service bulletin where I think the congregation can join in the arrangement quite easily.