Second Presbyterian Church

Second's organist, Lenora Morrow, will present an afternoon of reflective music contemplating the passion journey of Christ. Music from the great composers including J.S. Bach and Felix Mendelssohn will be featured as well as winsome, fresh and engaging settings of the well-known Lenten hymns 'O Sacred Head' and 'What Wondrous Love.' Come and let your heart be inspired and renewed in contemplation of the wondrous love of Christ through these musical offerings.

Program Notes

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: Sonata IV
Mendelssohn was single-handedly responsible for the resurrection and resurgence of the great organ and choral masterworks of Johann Sebastian Bach in the latter part of the 19th century. Mendelssohn would pay homage to Bach throughout his career. The four movements of this sonata cover the broad range of Mendelssohn’s abilities as a composer and also his command over the organ’s palette of color.  

Johann Sebastian Bach: Toccata and Fugue, d minor, BWV 538
The scourging Dorian Toccata and Fugue in d minor (designated dorian because of its modal and minor harmonic tonality) was chosen for this program because of its punishing and unrelenting nature. The perpetual motion and ritornello or “returning” forms in the toccata are much like the North German and French organ music of the 17th century.

Settings of O Sacred Head, Now Wounded
The chorale tune O Sacred Head, Now Wounded was written in 1601 by Hans Leo Hassler. The settings for today’s program were chosen for their contrasting nature and different compositional time periods. One cannot omit the classic Bach harmonization of the chorale that we know so well. Timothy Flynn’s setting is quiet, fresh, modern, yet meditative, and utilizes the softer flute and string stops. The Leupold fugue setting hearkens back to the familiar, sharp, sparkly sound of Bach, but is certainly a more flourished and straightforward setting of the tune.

Samuel L. Barber: Variations on Wondrous Love
Samuel Barber was a 20th century American composer who won two Pulitzers during the course of his lifetime. He mainly focused on vocal music for the greater part of his compositional output, which makes this organ piece on a Southern Harmony folk hymn an interesting study. Listen to the inventive ways in which Barber takes a simple tune, and weaves it in and out of various textures. The final setting, which is the most atonal (or “not tonal”), obscures the melody most of all; it is layered heavily, brought to a mighty climax, and then brought home to rest by Barber, quietly and gently.

Eugene Gigout: Toccata
“and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.” – Luke 23:44-45
The conclusion to the program is another toccata, which comes from the Italian toccare, meaning ‘to touch.’ This piece runs through the listener like a bolt of lightening — violently, with maddening runs and spectacular passages. It is two minutes of compressed energy. Gigout was a French symphonic era organist and as such wrote for the organ as he would a symphony orchestra. Violence and chaos rule the texture, yet the radiance of the piece arrests the listener; one cannot help but wonder.

About the Artist

Lenora Lynn Morrow has been the organist at Second Presbyterian Church of Memphis since September of 2007. She holds degrees in organ performance from Winthrop University (B.Mus. 2001) and musicology from the University of South Carolina (M.Mus. 2005), studying organ with David Lowry and William H. Bates. Her keyboard experience is broad, ranging from harpsichordist for the Winthrop University Collegium Musicum Early Music Ensemble, to jazz keyboards for Carolina Alive, the University of South Carolina’s jazz combo. She began accompanying as an undergraduate at Winthrop University, where she played for instrumental and vocal studios as well as the Chorale and Chamber Singers. Miss Morrow also served as organist of Ebenezer Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church from 1997 to 2002.

She has regional and international experience as a choral accompanist, touring five countries of the world with the University of South Carolina Concert and Chamber Choirs. Performances include high mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Mozart’s Requiem in Austria, and the world premiere of the oratorio The Martyrdom of Polycarp by Hollywood film composer, J.A.C. Redford. Her final performance with the Concert Choir before leaving USC was Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem. Since her arrival to Memphis in 2007, she has performed Saint-Saens’ Organ Symphony, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Handel’s Messiah. Miss Morrow has had master classes with world-renowned organists such as Marilyn Keiser, Gerre Hancock, Christopher Young, Joan Lippincott and Richard Elliott. She is a member of the American Guild of Organists.