Albert F. Bayly (1901-1984) wrote “Praise and Thanksgiving” to “meet the need for harvest thanksgiving hymns which remind us that we can thank God rightly only if we are ready to do [God’s] will by sharing those gifts with others, so they can rejoice with us.” It was first published in a collection printed privately by the Rodborough Tabernacle Congregational Church in Gloucester, England, called the Rodborough Hymnal (Gloucester, 1964).
Bayly was born in England and studied at St. Mary Magdalen School in Sussex, Hasting Grammar School, the Royal Dockyard School at Portsmouth, London University, and Mansfield College, Oxford. He became a Congregational minister and served a number of Congregational churches. He wrote his first hymn in 1945. It was published in 1951 in his Rejoice, O People, the BBC Hymn Book, and Congregational Praise. He prepared the librettos for three of W. L Lloyd Webber’s cantatas and was recognized on this side of the Atlantic when Westminster Choir College made him an honorary fellow in 1968.
Today’s hymn is set to BUNESSAN, a Scottish tune from the nineteenth century. It was first printed in Lachlan MacBean’s Songs and Hymns of the Gael — sometimes given as Songs and Hymns of the Scottish Highlands. There it was paired with “Child in the manger” by Mary MacDonald, who was born near Bunessan on the Isle of Mull in Scotland. The melody spans a little more than an octave and repeats the same rhythm with two juxtapositions: 1) triads versus conjunct motion and 2) rightside-up and upside-down versions of both in quarter notes. It is often referred to as an Irish folk tune, takes its name from the Scottish place of MacDonald’s birth, and brings with it an animated delight. It is a tune with the capacity to carry multiple texts well, which explains its repeated use in many hymnals including our Evangelical Lutheran Worship.
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Our postlude this morning is by Jean-Adam Guilain(c. 1680 – after 1739), a German organist and harpsichordist who was mostly active in Paris during the first half of the eighteenth century. Little is known about his life. He was born in Germany, possibly around 1680 (the exact dates of birth and death are unknown). For an unknown reason he moved to France some time before 1702, and almost certainly became one of Louis Marchand’s pupils, a prominent organ teacher. Although he came from Germany, Guilain’s musical style appears to be in the pure French
tradition.
A single collection of organ pieces (Pièces d’orgue pour le Magnificat sur les huit tons différents de l’église) was published in 1706 in two volumes, of which only one is now extant. The full collection included eight suites of pieces for use with the Magnificat , one suite for each church mode. Each suite contained seven short movements that were to alternate with the vocal parts of the liturgy . Today we will hear one movement, “Dialogue” from the Suite du premier ton.
