advent3aThank you to Jackie and the choir of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Abington, Pa., for singing my hymn, Powers of Heaven yesterday. The hymn is a setting of an Advent text by the Rev. Dr. Michael Tavella at Holy Trinity.

It was Vespers for this Third Sunday of Advent, preceded by the Vesper Recital in which the hymn was sung. Cellist Elena Smith played the obbligato for a second week in a row, amazing everyone, not least of all, her proud father. She topped that with the Prelude from the Bach Suite No. 2 in D minor. So that’s how you write for cello.

Vespers featured the Praetorius Magnificat super Ecce Maria et Sydus ex claro. Strong, exalted, deceptively simple. So that’s how you write for choir.