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GEORG PHILIPP TELEMANN (1681-1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he entered the University of Leipzig to study law, but eventually settled on a career in music, against his family’s wishes. He held important positions in a number of German cities before settling in Hamburg in 1721, where he became musical director of that city’s five main churches. One of the most prolific composers in history (at least in terms of surviving works), Telemann was considered by his contemporaries to be one of the leading German composers of the time, and was compared favourably both to his friend Johann Sebastian Bach, and to George Frideric Handel, whom he also knew personally. His music incorporates French, Italian, and German national styles, and he was at times even influenced by Polish popular music. Telemann’s enormous output, perhaps the largest of any classical composer in history, includes parts of at least 31 cantata cycles, many operas, concertos, oratorios, songs, music for civic occasions and church services, passions, orchestral suites and abundant amounts of chamber music – his music stands as an important link between the late Baroque and early Classical styles.

LOUIS BOURGEOIS (ca. 1510-1561) was a French composer and music theorist of the Renaissance. One of the main compilers of Calvinist hymn tunes in the middle of the 16^th century, he was also one of the three main composers of the hymn tunes in the Genevan Psalter. Unfortunately, he fell foul of local musical authorities and was sent to prison in 1551 for changing the tunes to some well-known psalms “without a license.” He was released on the personal intervention of John Calvin, but the controversy continued: those who had already learned the tunes had no desire to learn new versions, and the town council ordered the burning of Bourgeois’ instructions to the singers, claiming they were confusing. Shortly after this incident, he left Geneva, never to return, and settled in Lyon.

JACK SCHRADER (b. 1942) is an American composer, arranger, conductor, vocalist, pianist and organist. A graduate of the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, he also holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Nebraska. Further studies in theology culminated in Schrader’s ordination by the Evangelical Free Church of America. A past editor with Hope Publishing Company, his music is heard each Sunday in hundreds of churches throughout North America.

TIMOTHY-DUDLEY SMITH (b. 1926) is an English hymn writer and a retired bishop of the Church of England. As a hymn writer, Dudley-Smith has published some 400 hymn texts, many of which appear in hymnals throughout the English-speaking world and in translation. He is an honorary vice-president of the Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland, a Fellow of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada, and a Fellow of the Royal School of Church Music. In 2003 he was awarded an OBE ‘for services to hymnody’, and in 2009 an honorary Doctor of Divinity (DD) from the University of Durham in the UK.

DAN FORREST (b. 1978) has been described as having an undoubted gift for writing beautiful music that is truly magical, with works hailed as magnificent, cleverly constructed sound sculpture, and superb writing … full of spine-tingling moments. In the last decade, Dan’s music has become well established in the U.S., Canada, and abroad. The Fairlawn Senior Choir has presented the Canadian premieres of two of his critically acclaimed major works for choir and orchestra – Requiem for the Living (2014) and Jubilate Deo (2017). Jubilate Deo features the text of Psalm 100, sung in seven languages: Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Zulu, Spanish, and English. Dan holds a doctoral degree in composition from the University of Kansas, as well as a master’s degree in piano performance. He keeps a busy schedule doing commissions, workshops, recordings, adjunct professorships, and residencies with universities, churches and community choirs, teaching composition, coaching, and collaborating as an accompanist.

HOWARD THURMAN (1900-1981) was an American Baptist preacher, and one of the most influential theologians of the 20th century. He was also the first African American dean at a traditionally white American university (Boston University’s Marsh Chapel), and a founder of the first inter-racial interfaith congregation in the United States (the Church for the Fellowship of all Peoples in San Francisco). Born in Daytona Beach, Florida, he was the grandson of former slaves who stressed education as a means of overcoming racial discrimination. A meeting in 1934 with Mahatma Gandhi instilled within Thurman an appreciation for the value of nonviolent resistance in combating racial inequality, and for the remainder of his life, he attempted to live by the teachings of the Indian spiritual and political leader. His most famous book, Jesus and the Disinherited, uses New Testament gospels to describe how a non-violent civil rights movement could be successful. This book influenced a number of civil rights leaders including Martin Luther King, Jr., whose father was Thurman’s classmate at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1953, Dr. Thurman was named by Life Magazine as one of the greatest preachers of the 20th century. He has also been called one of the 50 most important figures in African American history.  

MACK WILBERG (b. 1955) has been the music director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir since 2008. He is a former Professor of Music at Brigham Young University and is active as a composer, arranger, guest conductor and clinician throughout the United States and abroad. His compositions and arrangements are performed and recorded by choral organizations throughout the world. In addition to the many compositions he has written for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, his works have also been performed by such artists as Renée Fleming, Frederica von Stade, Bryn Terfel, and the King’s Singers. Dr. Wilberg received his bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University and his master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Southern California.

FRANCES WHITMARSH WILE (1878-1939) was an American hymnist. Born in Bristol Valley, New York, she lived her later years in Rochester, where she helped found the Women’s City Club. It was also in Rochester where, as a parishioner of Rev. William C. Gannett (also a hymn writer), she wrote the words to “All Beautiful the March of Days”, and chose to set the lyrics to the traditional English melody known as Forest Green, heard in this morning’s closing hymn.

THE GATE OF THE YEAR was commissioned for the 2004 Alliance World Festival of Women’s Singing. The recording heard this morning is from the world premiere performance which took place on February 7, 2004 at the Mormon Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Utah. The piece was sung by 430 choristers, including Rebecca Whelan, Andrea Ludwig, Patti Vipond and Patricia Jones from Fairlawn Avenue, and conducted by E. Daley.

MINNIE LOUISE HASKINS (1875-1957) was a British poet and an academic in the field of sociology, best known for being quoted by King George VI in his Royal Christmas Message of 1939.The opening words of the poem “The Gate of the Year” struck a chord with a country facing the uncertainty of war. These words were from Haskins’ poem “God Knows” written in 1908 and expanded in 1912. However, she was not named as the author by the King and no one was able to identify the poet at the time. Finally at midnight on Boxing Day the BBC announced that the author was Minnie Louise Haskins. Haskins, by then 64 years old, did not know that the King would quote her words, and did not hear the broadcast. The next day, she was interviewed by The Daily Telegraph and said: “I heard the quotation read in a summary of the speech. I thought the words sounded familiar and suddenly it dawned on me that they were out of my little book.” The ‘little book’ was The Desert published in 1912. “The Gate of the Year” is now among the most quoted poetic works of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.