We process a lot here at Epiphany. At every service the choir and acolytes and clergy process in and process out. In Lent we chant the Great Litany while processing round and round inside the church. On Palm Sunday we process with blessed palms from the churchyard into the sanctuary. On Rogation Sunday we “beat the bounds” by processing all the way around the perimeter of the church property, thrashing away evil spirits (weeds!) and scattering grass seed on our beautiful lawn. On Christmas Eve we carry the infant Jesus in a procession to the manger. On Epiphany, we solemnly process three Wise Men to the crêche.
Today’s prelude concludes a series of pieces from Henri Mulet’s ”Esquisses Byzantine,” “Byzantine Sketches.” It dramatizes the majestic “Procession” of the Blessed Sacrament around the exterior of the Sacré Coeur in Paris on the Feast of Corpus Christi (Body of Christ) to celebrate the institution of the Eucharist. You can hear the bells ringing in the campanile and almost smell the clouds of incense from the swinging thuribles!
The communion music is “Andante soavemente a dolce” in memory of Hubert Parry by fellow Englishman Charles Macpherson. The postlude is “Epilogue” by Norman Gilbert.
At the offertory the choir sings “King of glory, King of peace” (Hymn 382) by David Walken with an interwoven descant. The text by the great Mystical Poet, George Herbert, ends:
“E’en eternity’s too short to extol Thee.”
The concludes my Music Notes for our liturgical experience from October through July. I hope you’ve enjoyed them!
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John Roberts, Organist and Choirmaster
Church of the Epiphany, Norfolk, VA
Hope you will reconsider and continue your informative comments. Even though we do not worship at your church, we look forward to your postings each week as they enrich our understanding of the church in general, and the music in particular.
Yes John, we have enjoyed your music notes and the wealth of information within them. Reading your writings or listening to you speak (teach) is like having a proverbial living library of dictionarys, encyclopedias and is truly a treasury of knowledge. Thank you for sharing it all !!
Many of us will look ahead in anticipation of more from you in the future.