Prayers from me

Since I became a pianist for a Nordstrom store in Chicago many years ago, I've been playing that song for many years. And now that I play every week at the Mayo Hospital here, there are many others here from Chicago. I am so thankful to be living where I am now, but also very, very thankful for the millions of blessings that I received growing up in the Chicago area. And there are many who visit the hospital who appreciate Chicago also.

This a show tune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel that was written in 1945. I was 8 years old when this came out, and I started accompanying the high school choir with that piece in 1950, when I was 12, starting high school, because I had skipped 2 grades in grade school. I've always enjoyed the lyrics, reminding me that God is with me every minute of the day. And I'm so thankful for that!

A quote from Matheson about writing the lyrics for this hymn is, "My hymn was composed in the manse of Innellan on the evening of the 6th of June, 1882. Something happened to me, which was known only to myself, and which caused me the most severe mental suffering. The hymn was the fruit of that suffering. It was the quickest bit of work I ever did in my life. I had the impression rather of having it dictated to me by some inward voice than of working it out myself. I am quite sure that the whole work was completed in five minutes, and equally sure it never received at my hands any retouching or correction. I have no natural gift of rhythm. All the other verses I have ever written are manufactured articles; this came like a dayspring from on high. I have never been able to gain once more the same fervor in verse." It's as if he were touched by an angel. Hopefully you enjoy this arrangement.

The lyrics for this hymn were written as a processional hymn for children walking from Horbury Bridge, where Baring-Gould was curate, to Horbury St Peter's Church near Wakefield, Yorkshire, at Whitsuntide in 1865. It was originally entitled, "Hymn for Procession with Cross and Banners." According to the Centre for Church Music, Baring-Gould reportedly wrote "Onward, Christian Soldiers" in about 15 minutes, later apologising, "It was written in great haste, and I am afraid that some of the lines are faulty." He later allowed hymn-book compilers to alter the lyrics. For example, The Fellowship Hymn Book, with his permission, changed the phrase "one in hope and doctrine" to "one in hope and purpose." For the 1909 edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern, he changed the fifth line of the same verse from "We are not divided" to "Though divisions harass." However, Baring-Gould’s original words are used in most modern hymnals. I don't know the arranger of this piano version that I'm playing, but it is one of my favorites. I hope you enjoy it.

This is from The Paramount Pictures Production, "Breakfast at Tiffany's". It's a piece that a volunteer who saw me walking to the parking lot where I had parked to play at the Mayo Hospital said to me, "I never hear you play 'Moon River' anymore." He was right, it wasn't even in my book. So I decided that not only should it be in my Mayo book, I should play it so he could see it whenever he pleased.

I found this in one of my music books, that I used to play at Nordstrom, and decided to play it a Mayo Clinic. After playing it, some lady came up to me and said "I'm so thankful you played this because my father sang that when I was young, and that's what encouraged me to be a Christian". She was there to visit her father, so it was touching. This song is the most popular song from the 1965 Broadway musical Man of La Mancha and is also featured in the 1972 film of the same name starring Peter O'Toole. The complete song is first sung by Don Quixote as he stands vigil over his armor, in response to Aldonza (Dulcinea)'s question about what he means by "following the quest". It is reprised partially three more times – the last by prisoners in a dungeon as Miguel de Cervantes and his manservant mount the drawbridge-like prison staircase to face trial by the Spanish Inquisition. There is a long list of versions and renditions of it. I hope you enjoy it.

This hymn was fully composed at a workshop at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. Stassen is claimed to have come up with the tune while taking a shower, before taking the tune to the workshop. This hymn has been used as a protest song which was sung by many Christians and non-Christians during the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests. I was asked to play the new church piano for 10 minutes before the beginning of the Easter service, so I played the Hallelujah Chorus and then this piece. It's a good reminder that we need to keep thanking God for sending Jesus, letting him be hung on a cross, and then raising him from the dead. I hope you enjoy it.

George Frideric Handel was born in Halle, Germany in 1685. Handel’s crowning achievement, Messiah, was not an immediate success. In 1741, Handel was heavily in debt following a string of musical failures. He had previously worked with Charles Jennens and wrote a string of operas that celebrated the lives of biblical characters using the King James translation of the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. The Church was not receptive. Handel was preached against, the promotional posters were torn down, and they soon became bankrupt. Living alone he had a minor stroke and was dogged with depression. After this, there were two events that coincided and miraculously changed his life. First, he got a letter from Jennens who suggested they compose an oratorio about the Divinity of Christ. He sent Handel a compilation of Old and New Testament texts. Second, Handel received a letter from a musical admirer in Dublin who asked him to compose a work to raise money to free men out of Dublin’s debtor’s prison, and to support two hospitals. Handel accepted both challenges and set out to produce a musical work that could be performed to raise money for charities. He buried himself in the Scriptures, prayed and composed. The exercise would be a spiritual epiphany for him. One day a friend who brought him his meals walked in on Handel and found him physically and emotionally exhausted. He had just completed the “Hallelujah Chorus.” The teary composer told him he had had a vision: “I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God Himself!” Like the Psalmist, like Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and St John, Handel had had a vision of the throne room of God! And so he drenched the Chorus with praise. This is the accompaniment that Handel wrote for that piece. I started playing it when I was very young, but even without the voices, it gives the message. Many blessings to you all on this special day.

This is a piece given to me by my high school piano teacher when I was 13 years old. For most of it the left hand has triplets while the right hand has sixteenth notes. It was a fun piece for me to play and may be the reason that I was chosen to be the accompanist for the Lake County Philharmonic when I was only 14 years old. However, the very best piano teacher I had, had been a Julliard piano professor but he got sick and was unable to play, so he transferred to DePauw University in Indiana. I was at Eastman School of Music then and a graduate of DePauw was getting her Master's degree at Eastman and told me about him. So I transferred there my junior year. He was super good! He made me count out loud when I played, and if I played louder than I counted he would yell at me - "Count louder! Count louder!" Consequently that loud counting enabled me to play much better. So not long ago I decided to go back to Fantaisie Impromptu and COUNT OUT LOUD. That really helped me play it even better than I had when I was young. So I've been playing it at Mayo and I played it on the new piano that we have at church and many people have appreciated it.

The claims are that it was Artur Rubinstein himself who put Chopin’s original on the map. Ernst Oster explained that the Fantaisie-Impromptu draws many of its harmonic and tonal elements from Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, which is also in C♯ minor, and from the third movement in particular. He continues that The Fantaisie-Impromptu is perhaps the only instance where one genius discloses to us—if only by means of a composition of his own—what he actually hears in the work of another genius.

This hymn was originally titled “The name of Jesus” in its first printing. I was included in Sacred Poems and Prose (1861), by its author, Frederick Whitfield (1829-1904). The earliest evidence of the lyrics are claimed to be in Goodman’s Village Hymn Book (1864). There are different tunes that became associated with these lyrics, Dwight Moody used a different tune in his Gospel Hymns (1896), so it is unclear when the lyrics and music for this hymn were originally combined. This arrangement by Fred Bock is very nice. I hope you enjoy it.