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Dec
26
2009
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Posted 2 years 58 days ago ago by Creator Staff  0 Comments
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A Look at the Choral Anthems of Jane Marshall
by William Lock
The year was 1954. Church choral music, having experienced no major changes for several years, was on a plateau. So when it came into print, it immediately changed the entire landscape. It was uniquely different. Based upon a translation of a 17th century Latin text, the Carl Fischer publication, still in use today, progresses from a single note to a magnificent climax which seems to reach for the heavens. Carefully coupled to Ihe text, the music with its colorful harmonics for the organ part has, at times, utterly simple chords for the singer. The varied compositional techniques employed include expressive contrary motion. waving chords against a pedal tonc, shifting dynamics and changing meters and tempos. And at certain points, imitation creates further interest in this significant work. Even with its old English text,
My Eternal King (CM 6752) remains a favorite in the repertoire of thousands of church choir directors and singers.
Its composer, Jane Marshall, graduated from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, with both a Bachelor and Masters degree in music. She has served in a number of United Methodist churches in Texas and taught in both public schools and at Southern Methodist University. A strong advocate of congregational song, she has written a number of hymn tunes as well as served on the editorial committees of several hymnbooks. A contributor to music journals, she is the author of
Grace Noted, a collection of homilies, essays and poems published by Hope Publishing Company.
Jane Marshall's compositions, many of which have taken on "classic" status include, from the 1950s,
My Eternal King and two other magnificent works for SATB:
He Comes to Us and
None Other Lamb. During the 1960s, she produced
We Would Offer Thee This Day and
The Prayers I Make. In the 1970s, choirs were singing her
Sometimes a Light, with its William Cowper text and
Come, My Soul, with a John Newton text.
Subsequent decades added saw her concentrate upon texts from the Psalms, including the release of
Psalms Together, a 1986 collection of six unison antiphons for cantor or choir and congregation using psalm texts from the Common Lectionary, which may be performed in a variety of ways. Verses from Psalm 85 were selected for her simple yet expressive
A Psalm of Peace, and a new translation of Psalm 100 by Gary Chamberlain is the basis for the vivacious a cappella work,
Shout To The Lord. Finally, Psalm 145 provides the inspiration for another winner -- her extended anthem for SATB, organ and handbells,
I Will Extol Thee. Here, a swirling accompaniment undergirds the lively and spirited vocal lines which are frequently in unison.
She has also written many sacred choral compositions with non-scriptural texts. Although based upon the New Testament passage, I Corinthians 13, the Christopher Wordsworth text for
The Greatest of These is an original poem. All four stanzas are sung in a strophic manner, the congregation being invited to sing with the choir on the first and last stanzas. David Mowbray's prayer text
Come to Us, Creative Spirit thoughtfully deals with the skills of "poet, painter, music maker." Here Marshall has sympathetically given marvelously melodic lines to each of the choral parts.
In the 1990s. there appeared four selections for unison choir and congregation in the
God Speaks series. Each one begins and ends with an antiphon using the text of Psalm 119:105. ln each case, the middle section is a different scriptural text and new music. All are most singable.
Marshall has consistently and purposefully selected meaningful. un-hackneyed texts for her compositions. An example is the two-part mixed voice composition
Love, Joy, and Peace. In its call to share Gods gifts of love, joy, and peace, the contemporary text of English hymn writer Fred Pratt Green counteracts the present predominant quest on the part of many to get rather than give. In
You Call Us, Lord there is an interesting combination. The original text is by the composer. However, an alternate wedding text by Fred Pratt Green has also been provided. The musical basis is the admirable John Edwards tune RHOSYMEDRE (if you do not know this tune, search it out--it is wonderful). The first stanzas have a rhythmic baroque-like accompaniment in contrast to the steady longer note values of the sung melody. The accompaniment for the second stanza is a relaxed triple figure whereas the third stanza is in a traditional chorale style with the melody placed in the tenor part.
Thus has Jane Marshall altered the landscape of sacred choral music in America. A look at her compositions for church choirs is a look at musical mountains across a broad tableland. The view is wonderful.
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