The Holy Eucharist: Rite II on Advent 2, December 10, 2023 at Calvary Episcopal Church, 11 a.m.

The Holy Eucharist: Rite II, on The Second Sunday of Advent, December 10, 2023 at Calvary Episcopal Church, Pittsburgh, PA, at 11 a.m. Rabbi Aaron Bisno was the preacher, The Reverend Leslie G. Reimer was the celebrant. Assisting: The Reverend Jonathon W. Jensen, Rector, The Reverend Cameron J. Soulis, Associate Rector, The Reverend Geoffrey S. Royce, Deacon, Dr. Alan Lewis, Director of Music, Jon Tyillian, Assistant Organist. Musical & Liturgical Notes: The hymn Savior of the nations, come is Martin Luther’s adaptation of an Advent hymn attributed to the fourth-century bishop of Milan, St. Ambrose. It became a fixture of Advent in Lutheran circles, and appears, too, in English translation in The Hymnal 1982, along with an English version of Ambrose’s text (they are Hymns 54 and 55, respectively; the music in Luther’s version may be his own distillation of the chant associated with Ambrose’s original.) The first two of Bach’s three settings of the Lutheran melody (all preserved in a late autograph collection of some of his finest hymn-based organ pieces) both present the melody, ornamented more or less lavishly, in the treble voice of the texture, accompanied in the first case by a three-voice elaboration of motifs from the successive phrases of the tune, and in the second piece by an evocation of a dialogue between two violas da gamba, likewise drawing heavily on the motific kernels of the hymntune. The third piece, heard as the Postlude, presents the tune in long notes, in the bass, under a busy fugal texture, perhaps less audibly drawn out of the tune than in the first two pieces, but still intrinically tied to the intervals that make up the melody. Visit our website at http://www.calvarypgh.org Download the bulletin for this service at https://www.calvarypgh.org/bulletins-... Visit our YouTube page where you will find an archive of our services, sermons, and classes at    / @calvaryepiscopalchurchpitt207