Music Notes – Sunday, February 2nd:
This Sunday’s musician is UUCC Pianist Karin Tooley
Prelude: There Is a Love – Norton/Parker
“There Is a Love” is a simple but powerfully moving song with words and music by two strong UU women. The music was composed by Elizabeth Norton (b. 1959), who is a performer, composer and the longtime music director at First Parish (UU) in Concord Massachusetts. The words were written by the Rev. Dr. Rebecca Ann Parker (b. 1953), a minister, author and theologian who served as president of the UU Starr King School for the Ministry from 1999 to 2014.
Song: Come, Sing a Song with Me – McDade
#346 in our Singing the Living Tradition hymnal, “Come, Sing a Song with Me” is a well-known and beloved hymn to many Unitarian Universalists. The words and music were written by Carolyn McDade (b. 1935), a self-described songwriter, spiritual feminist, and social activist. McDade is also the composer of two other UU favorites: “Spirit of Life” and “We’ll Build a Land”.
Centering Music: Gymnopédie No. 1 & 2 – Satie
Erik Satie (1866-1925) was a French composer and member of the Parisian avant-garde movement of the early 20th Century. Satie disliked being labeled or categorized as an artist or as a person, and was known to refer to himself as a “gymnopedist” to defy those who attempted to pigeonhole him. His Trois Gymnopèdies, originally written for solo piano, were published starting in 1888 and were a clear departure from the Romantic Period music that was popular at the time, with their minimalist structure and deliberate use of unresolved dissonant chords. Satie’s friend and colleague Claude Debussy would later write orchestral arrangements of two of the three pieces, and Satie’s Gymnopèdies have also been arranged and recorded by many others, including versions for harp, jazz guitar, electronic instruments, and more.
Offertory Music: Gnossienne No. 1 – Satie
Postlude: Gnossienne No. 3 – Satie
Satie followed up his Gymnopèdies with Trois Gnossiennes, which he composed around 1890 and were first published in 1893. As with the Gymnopèdies, Satie’s Gnossiennes had a unique and enigmatic title and pushed against the boundaries and expectations of piano composition of their time. The Gnossiennes were mostly in free time (meaning there is no perceivable meter) and also bucking conventional ideas of harmony, rhythm, and form.
Song: Love Will Guide Us – Rogers
Sally Rogers is an award-winning folk musician, songwriter, and children’s arts educator. 2019 marked Sally’s 40th year as a songwriter, performer, and educator, and she is still steaming ahead, warming hearts and minds wherever she goes. Her songs “Lovely Agnes” and “Touch of the Master’s Hand” have frequently been mistaken for traditional, while “Love Will Guide Us” and “Circle of the Sun” are now anthems for rituals of passage and protest (from sallyrogers.com). Rogers’ gospel-inspired “Love Will Guide Us” is #131 in our Singing the Living Tradition hymnal and is a favorite of many UUs.
-Mike Carney, UUCC Music Director