Monthly Archives: October 2009

+ Paul Manz + A Retrospective

MANZmemorialI remember the first time I heard of Paul Manz.  My organ mentor was passing the torch, so to speak, and she passed along her sheet music to me.  Included in that collection were my introductions to Burkhardt, Behnke, and of course Paul Manz.  Of all the books, the several Concordia Manz editions were the most ragged with detached covers from frequent use.  She said, something like “get to know these, you will love them.”  And so the rest is history.  Like many organists, Manz has become a staple of my core repertoire.

This morning with wide eyes I read the e-mail from MorningStar Music that Paul Manz had entered into eternal glory on October 28, 2009 (MorningStar has more detailed information and Manz resources).  While I had never met Manz or ever heard him in person, he had, through his music on the organ rack and CDs, become a sort of close friend (and at times an irritating one at that!).  It was a friendship that I had to “grow into”.  There are still plenty of pieces awaiting further practice.

His organ works, primarily on hymn tunes, shows the careful interaction between text and tune.  Many of Manz’s works were composed to introduce hymns and reflect on the text — a very practical purpose.  Frank Senn, in an essay in the Manz biography, notes that “when Manz played a solo on a stanza, giving the congregation a rest especially on hymns with many stanzas, what he performed was practically an improvised poem” (158).  He was a leader of the people’s song.

Senn ends his essay with these words:

The responsibilities of the cantor as the leader of the people’s song has been seldom greater than it is today.  Paul Manz has shown the generations following him how to do this job.  May their tribe increase. (164)

In closing, I will let Manz speak for himself:

Thank you for the grace of singing with me across the years in good times and in bad, when our words have stuck in our throats and when our eyes have overflowed with joy. It has ever been a Song of Grace: ‘Love to the loveless shown that we might lovely be.’ I have just been the organist. Thank you for letting me play. (Noted in obituary by Scott Hyslop)

The Lutheran Study Bible: ESV++

After much anticipation, my copy of The Lutheran Study Bible arrived about two weeks ago and I’ve spent some time getting to know it.  The ESV has been my translation of choice since CPH released their hardback ESV Reference Bible a few years ago and I have appreciated the readable and rhythmic translation.

When I initially made my pre-order 8 months ago, I ordered a standard genuine leather edition for myself and a larger genuine leather edition for my mother.  I thought I had fairly decent eyesight — no glasses and pretty sharp vision.  Fortunately, CPH phased the release of the different editions and sent out the standard hardback edition weeks before the leather editions.  My church library received a hardback edition and I eagerly opened it and found that even for my eyes the study notes and footnotes were kind of small and densely situated on the page — readable, but small.  The font size for the Bible text wasn’t bad.  Hmm.  What should I do?   At just about the same time, Pastor McCain had a blog post about the larger print edition he got for his son.  Maybe the larger print edition would work for me.  Next step:  Called CPH to change my order BEFORE the leather editions shipped AND added two ribbon sets and Gerhard’s A Comprehensive Explanation of Holy Baptism and Lord’s Supper for good measure.

Then it was just a matter of waiting for CPH to ship and FedEx to deliver.

My initial reaction:

This is a BIG Bible (and that is not necessarily bad – keep reading).  8 1/8″ wide x 10 3/8″ long x 2 1/2″ deep and about 5.3 pounds (according to the kitchen scale).   It’s larger than my college dictionary which I thought was big.  BUT, I like it (referring to the Bible, not the dictionary).  There’s something to be said for having an imposing Bible like this in your life.

Continue reading →

A Case for Hymnody

Pastor Peters at Pastoral Meanderings makes a compelling case for the use of the church’s vast wealth of hymnody: This treasury helps teach the faith to each generation. In many cases hymns (or what we sing) are remembered far longer by the people in the pews than the pastor’s sermon (and I don’t mean any disrespect to pastors – I highly value the sermon).

Here’s a brief selection from Pastor Peter’s post.

We ARE heirs of an astonishingly rich heritage. But what we receive from those who have gone before is not some museum piece but a living faith and a living heritage. From them we learn, to them we add the best of what we have, and through these both we pass on the grand legacy to those whose voices have not yet been added to theirs and ours . . .