Lexington Presbyterian Church will host a Lenten Music at Noon organ concert on Wednesday, April 16, at noon with a recital by William Mc-Corkle. The program will feature the church’s C.B. Fisk pipe organ (opus 128, 2007).
The April 16 concert will focus on three important hymns which have inspired organ compositions. The program will open with a set of three pieces composed in 1699 by the French musician, Nicolas de Grigny (1672-1703) on the 14th-century plainchant melody to which is sung the 6th-century text of the “Pange Lingua” (“Sing, My Tongue, the Glorious Battle”).
The Lutheran Reformation hymn “Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ” (“I call to you, Lord Jesus Christ”) inspired a great number of organ settings. The April 16 program will include a group of four variations (on the tune of this hymn) by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (15621621), an important organist in Amsterdam in the early 17th century.
The program will conclude with three works based on the Reformation hymn “Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir” (“Out of the depths I cry unto you”), a versification of Psalm 130. Musical settings of the “Aus tiefer Not” will be by Friedrich Wilhelm Zachau (1663-1712), Max Reger (1873-1916), and Johann Sebastian (1685-1750).
Assisting McCorkle will be baritone Michael McLaughlin, who will sing the hymn melodies as preparation for the playing of the organ compositions.
