Lo! the Apostolic train join your sacred name to hallow;
Holy God, We Praise Your Name
Prophets swell the glad refrain, and the white-robed martyrs follow;
And from morn to set of sun, through the church the song goes on.
On March 25, 1984, I stepped into Tenth Presbyterian Church for the first time. My mother was not bringing me to a worship service. No, we were of good Methodist stock, my mother having grown up in a Methodist minister’s household! But Tenth did happen to have the most famous organist in Philadelphia as its Music Director. Since about age ten my mom and I had travelled around the Philly area to hear a variety of organists. We had heard Robert Elmore play several times before, but never at his home church.
Now that I was 16 years old and a budding organist with my own church job, I had my organ recital routine down pat. The first thing was to arrive early enough to get a good seat. A side-view of the organ console was preferable so I could see the organist’s feet while he or she played. The second was to get a program and see what the organist would be playing. There was no internet and newspaper ads were expensive, so the content of organ programs was rarely known ahead of time. The moment of opening the program was one of my favorite parts of attending a concert. I wanted to see if some of my favorite organ pieces would be played, and especially if there would be any music by Johann Sebastian Bach.
When we arrived at Tenth that day, my Panasonic tape-recorder in hand, there were two immediate problems. First, the church was already significantly filled. I had seldom seen so many people at an organ concert; would there be a good seat? But second, I remember a palpable wave of disappointment came over me when I realized the organ was fixed in the balcony where no one could see it! For a young organist this was about as exciting as listening to a baseball game on the radio. The one ray of hope was when I opened the program and saw there were two Bach pieces on the program, and one of my all-time favorites, the great Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor. My mother and I found a seat somewhere on the 18th Street side and waited.
Then it happened! Someone came out and announced that, since the church was filling up, Dr. Elmore was going to welcome people to sit up in the choir loft with him. This called for immediate action, so we bolted up into the rear balcony where we found seats less than 10 feet from the organ bench, with the perfect side view! With precision I pressed “record” on my Panasonic as he began playing the first piece by Mendelssohn. Dr. Elmore always played from memory, and his playing was colorful and exciting. But when he finished nothing happened…everyone just sat there silently. Dr. Elmore got up from the organ bench, went to the microphone and quietly said, “applause is permitted.” The sound of joyful laughter and clapping replaced the awkward tension. I had never heard the phrase “frozen chosen,” but now I look back on that moment with some amusement!
I was glad the first two pieces on the program were short, because that meant it wouldn’t be long until I got to watch Dr. Elmore perform Bach’s Passacaglia. I used to go to sleep every night with Bach organ music playing in my room, so I knew every note of this 15-minute masterpiece. A high-wire act could not have held my attention more closely! Every sound, every movement of his hands and feet brought such excitement. As with many other organ concerts I attended, this was just another confirmation that being an organist was what I felt called to do with my life.
The recital continued for another 45 minutes or so after that. Dr. Elmore’s programming was always very entertaining and played at the highest artistic level. The people ate it up, demanding encores. The first encore was “The Stars and Stripes Forever,” which only increased the audience’s excitement. He followed that with a Concert Study for organ pedals of ridiculous difficulty by his former teacher, Pietro Yon, the composer who wrote “Gesu Bambino.” The audience exploded with a standing ovation.
The next moment of the concert is what still moves me. When the audience calmed down, Dr. Elmore went to the microphone and said, “If you think I can top that…you’re crazy!” He got right back onto the organ bench and played a few chords and then I heard at Tenth what I have now heard hundreds of times, the people singing in full voice, “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow…”
Johann Sebastian Bach is my favorite composer. He’s my favorite because his music has never been surpassed. He is universally respected as one of the greatest of all time. He’s my favorite because, unlike Beethoven or Mozart, he wrote lots of amazing organ music. He’s my favorite because he worked tirelessly as a church musician. In his job as Cantor in Leipzig he was responsible for the music at four of the city churches! His 5 complete cycles of cantatas for the church year as well as the great Passion settings stand at the pinnacle of western church music. But the biggest reason he is my favorite is because he has helped me understand how to live for and point others to the glory of God. He would often inscribe the initials J.J. at the beginning and S.D.G. at the end of his manuscripts. J.J. stands for “Jesu Juva – Jesus help.” The initials S.D.G. stand for “Soli Deo Gloria – To God alone be glory.” Soli Deo Gloria is carved into the side of Tenth’s organ console and is a reminder to me every time I sit down to play that my calling as a minister of music is to help people give glory to God alone.
Our concerts at Tenth are meant to promote the glory of God to a watching world. They are an easy pathway to invite friends, family members, and acquaintances into our doors to begin to experience the fellowship of God’s people. This Bach birthday concert will feature a program of organ music by the great master, including the Passacaglia. We will have a large screen at the front of the church so everyone can see! And we will have a fun cupcake reception afterward to celebrate God’s faithfulness together. Like my experience at Dr. Elmore’s recital years ago, the music may stop, but the song continues in the hearts of God’s people for eternity.