Windows

July 13 & 20, 2023

Bem-Vindo, João Batista and Rosângela!

Next month First Presbyterian will welcome Pastor João Batista and his wife Rosângela from Natal, Brazil. João Batista is pastor of our partner church in the neighborhood of Felipe Camarão and also serves as the business manager of our partner school, Bethel School, where Rosângela serves as the director. This will be their second visit to Bristol (they were last here in April 2016) and the fourth visit from our Brazilian partners over our 23-year connection!

João Batista will preach with a translator on Sunday, August 13, and many activities are being planned for the time they will be with us. (More information to follow!) Would you like to be involved in planning for their visit? Or would you and your family (or you and a group of friends) like to host them for lunch or dinner or a trip to Blackbird Bakery? They are very eager to practice English, and you’ll be amazed how easily language barriers can be overcome as friendships grow! Please contact John (423-360-1153) or Karen (424-502-0114) Vann to discuss.

July Mission: Classroom Supplies for Fairmount

For several years now, FPC has partnered with Fairmount Elementary School, fostering a deep and meaningful connection with its community. We recognize the importance of providing teachers and students with the tools they need to thrive in their educational journey. Therefore, during the month of July we are collecting classroom supplies for Fairmount teachers. (Please note that we are not collecting monetary donations for supplies.) These are the most commonly requested materials: crayons, tissues, Clorox wipes, pencils, glue sticks, Ziploc bags, scissors, Expo dry-erase markers, composition notebooks, and first aid supplies. Please place your donations in one of the collection bins outside the fellowship hall and the sanctuary. For more information, email Justin Miller.

Gifts to the Church

Memorials and honoraria are published in the newsletter only after the family has been personally notified by our business office. Today we gratefully acknowledge the following gifts:

In memory of:

• Nancy Lilly: to the Minister’s Discretionary Fund from Frances Emerson & George Huber
• Carl McGrady: to the Minister’s Discretionary Fund from Anita Musselwhite

In honor of:

• Dean Millard (father of Rachel Cherry): to the Minister’s Discretionary Education Fund from Ben & Rachel Cherry; to the Minister’s Discretionary Fund from Ben & Rachel Cherry
• Jerry Poteat: to the Minister’s Discretionary Fund from Nancy Whitesides
• Dave Whitesides: to the Minister’s Discretionary Fund from Nancy Whitesides

Organist's Footnotes

July 16: The seventh installment in our series on blind organists continues with Antonio de Cabezón (1510–1566), a Spanish Renaissance composer and organist who became blind in infancy. He may have been educated at the Palencia Cathedral by the organist there, García de Baeza. In 1526 Cabezón entered into the service of Queen Isabella, wife of Charles V, and remained with the royal family for the rest of his life. His duties included playing the clavichord and the organ, and he also assumed the position of organist at the chapel Isabella organized soon after her wedding.

In 1538 Cabezón was made músico de la cámara (chamber musician) to Charles. After Isabella’s death in 1539, Cabezón was appointed music teacher to her children: Prince Felipe and his sisters Maria and Joan. In 1543 Felipe became Regent of Spain, and he made Cabezón his court organist. Cabezón's duties included playing a portative organ for Felipe on his journeys. On July 19, 1546, Cabezón's brother Juan, also an organist and composer, was appointed musician in the royal chapel of Prince Felipe. From the late 1540s, Antonio and Juan accompanied Felipe on his various trips and visited Italy, the Netherlands, Germany (in 1548–49), and England (in 1554–56), where Antonio’s variations may have influenced William Byrd and Thomas Tallis, who later took up the form.

Practically nothing is known about Cabezón's personal life. He married Luisa Nuñez de Mocos from Ávila, and the couple had five children. The bulk of Antonio’s compositions was published posthumously by his son, Hernando de Cabezón (1541–1602), in a volume titled Obras de música para tecla, arpa y vihuela (Madrid, 1578). From this volume I have selected “Duuiensela” for our opening voluntary. Upon listening to a recording of this piece played on a clavichord, I decided I should do the same. So I dusted off and tuned my clavichord, which I built from a kit years ago. This very quiet instrument would never have been played in any large room, least of all a sanctuary our size. To overcome this I will be relying on modern technology and our master audio technician, Dave Williams, to help make it audible.

For the closing voluntary I have chosen to play “Diferencias sobre el canto llano del Caballero” (“Variations on the Song of the Knight”). Although it was intended for harpsichord, I have decided here as well to throw authenticity out the window and play it big on the organ, using Joseph Bonnet’s highly edited and enhanced arrangement.

July 23: Henry Thomas Smart (1813–1879) was born in London, a nephew of the conductor Sir George Smart and the son of a music publisher, orchestra director, and accomplished violinist (also called Henry Smart). He was educated at Highgate School, then studied for the law, but soon gave it up for music.

Smart held four organist posts in London throughout his 48-year career. Though highly rated as a composer by his English contemporaries, he is now largely forgotten, save for his hymn tune “Regent Square” (“Angels from the Realms of Glory”). Harry Emerson Fosdick greatly admired “Regent Square” and wrote his own “God of Grace and God of Glory” specifically in the hope that it would be generally sung to that tune. He was horrified when, in 1935, The Methodist Hymnal instead set the lyrics to John Hughes’s “Cwm Rhondda.”

In the last 15 years of his life, Smart was practically blind. He composed by dictation, primarily to his daughter Ellen, who was married to Joseph Joachim’s brother Henry Joachim. Smart died at his residence near Primrose Hill in London in July 1879.

“Grazioso” (our opening voluntary) is a gentle pastoral that reminds me of Mendelssohn, minus the master’s genius. “Voluntary in G” (closing voluntary) is a straightforward, marchlike piece that is satisfying to listen to. I suggest you linger for a minute of two before departing. /Bob Greene

We want to pray for and celebrate with you! Send us your prayer requests and glad tidings.



Condolences

Our love and sympathy are with Katie Vande Brake and her family in the death of Dr. Lynn Henry Vande Brake, June 28 in Michigan; with J.B. Madison and his family in the death of his mother, Antonia Madison, June 29 in Florida; and with Robert Havlik and his family in the death of his mother, Viola Alma Havlik, July 3 in Yoakum, Texas.

In Our Prayers

We have several unnamed or private requests. Please pray for the members of our community

who wish to remain anonymous.

The session continues to encourage masks for those at higher risk of complications from COVID-19 or not fully vaccinated. The session encourages everyone to consult their medical professional about vaccinations and boosters.

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701 Florida Avenue | Bristol, TN 37620 | 423-764-7176 | fpcbristol.org