The Prelude to this Sunday's service was composed by Gerre Hancock (1934- 2012), a noted organ improviser and composer who was the Organist and Master of the Choristers at St. Thomas Church in New York City for many years. His Meditation on “Draw us in the Spirit’s tether” is based on the splendidly tuneful anthem of the same name by Harold Friedell (1905-1958), who was Organist and Master of the Choir at the nearby St. Bartholomew’s Church, New York.

There are so many small musical elements of our liturgy that (hopefully) coalesce to make a satisfying whole. If you begin doing the math about every organ piece, introit, service music, anthem, and motet, you can see that the music list adds up quickly. This is not to mention, of course, the hymns! There are at least four at every service, and often, the sopranos of the Choir sing a descant on one or more of these hymns.

This week, we will sing two decsants. The first is by the Director of Music to the opening hymn "The Church's one foundation;" the second, by Gerre Hancock (the composer of the prelude) to the sequence hymn "Be thou my vision."

Tantum ergo is one of four motets by Maurice Duruflé (1902–1986; pictured) dedicated to Auguste Le Guennant, the director of the Gregorian Institute in Paris. The motets are all based on traditional Gregorian plainsong melodies. In this motet, Duruflé eschews rhythmic suppleness in favor of a harmonic sumptuousness, with free points of imitation in the tenor.

You might remember that we also sang one of these Duruflé motets last week. We are gearing up to sing all four of them in concert along with the Duruflé Requiem on Sunday, October 27 at 4:00 p.m. I hope you will mark your calendar and come along to hear all of this marvelous sacred music.