The choir and organist-choirmaster Paul Reese will present a service of Choral Evensong and a half-hour organ recital on Sunday, March 22, at 4 p.m. at St. John's Church, East Market and Chestnut streets, Marietta.
This will be the second return visit of this choir and Reese, organist-choirmaster at St. John's Episcopal Church in Lancaster. The service will include Scripture, prayer, and music - a tradition that began in cathedrals and university chapels in England and spread across the entire English-speaking world.
The main choral singing will include settings by John Dykes of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis texts, the two traditional choral pieces in this service. Dykes is known around the world for his hymn tune to the "Holy, Holy, Holy" text and in the U.S.A as well for the music of the Navy hymn, "Eternal Father, Strong to Save."
The choir will also sing the anthem "Give Ear, O Lord, and Visit Me" by James A. Rogner, a late 20th-century Chicago-area church choir director. Dr. Karl E. Moyer, co-organist at the Marietta church, will accompany the choir.
The Rev. Regina Bautista, rector of the Marietta church, will read the parts of the service that are commonly spoken, and Reese will intone those texts that are usually sung. The congregation will be invited to join the choir in singing several hymns.
A sermon or organ recital is often added to the Choral Evensong service, and Reese will precede the musical prayer service with a half-hour of organ music on the church's organ. The major work of his recital will be the Prelude and Fugue in E-Flat by Bach. The fugue is often referr to as the "St. Anne Fugue." Two other organ pieces will round out the recital, and at the close of the Evensong service, Reese will play "Piece Heroïque" by Cesar Franck.
A reception will follow in the social hall, where the congregation may greet Reese and the choir. For more information, readers may contact Bautista at 717-557-3682.
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