Music Notes 3-1-26

Engelbert Humperdinck – the real one, not the British pop singer who was born Arnold Dorsey

and who took his name – was a composer and music teacher who was born and trained in

Germany, but while in Italy became acquainted with the famous opera composer Richard

Wagner. Wagner invited him to join Wagner at his opera house in Bayreuth. He spent 1880-

1881 assisting Wagner with the production of his last opera Parsifal by copying the score and the

parts (writing that he “learned more about orchestration during those few weeks than he could

have in a conservatory in as many years”), and by taking charge of the training of the “Grail

Choir” in Parsifal, for which he chose schoolboys from Bayreuth. He also was music tutor to

Wagner’s son Siegfried. It was a suggestion from his sister to create a children’s musical play

that ultimately resulted in his most famous work – Haensel und Gretel, based on the Grimm’s

fairy tale. Wagner’s influence can be heard throughout the opera, and it was the first opera that

the Royal Opera House in London chose for their first live radio broadcast in 1923, and it was

the first opera transmitted live from the Met eight years later. The Prayer is a simple child’s

prayer that the children sing in the opera just before going to sleep. The text is based on an old

German children’s song, and the melody came from Humperdinck’s pen.

God Help The Outcasts is a song from the 1996 Disney movie The Hunchback of Notre Dame,

with words by Stephen Schwartz (of Godspell fame) and music by Alan Menkin. It’s the only

song of the character Esmeralda, and was sung by singer Heidi Mollenhauer (the character was

voiced by Demi Moore). It was considered for replacement with the song Someday, but

ultimately God Help The Outcasts, with its religious overtones (the song is sung by Esmeralda in

the church) was considered to be more appropriate. The pop version, for the end credits, was

sung by Bette Midler, and was dubbed by critics as being too sentimental and overwrought. The

original is a sweet ballad where Esmeralda asks God to shield the outcasts, like Quasimodo, and

the Roma, such as herself, from racism and discrimination. It was ultimately covered by such

artists as Canadian artist Lara Fabian, who released the song in an “official” French version, and

the voice of the little mermaid, Jodi Benson.

Make Me A Channel Of Your Peace is also commonly known as the Prayer of St. Francis.

However, it was almost certainly not written by St. Francis. The true author is unknown and it

was more probably written around the time of the outbreak of World War One. It is also

incorrectly called the Serenity Prayer of St. Francis. The Serenity Prayer is, in fact, a different

prayer from the 20 th century written by Reinhold Neibuhr. Sebastian Temple adapted the words

in 1967 to create the hymn that we know now.

Hailing from the small coastal town of Bangor in Northern Ireland, the Rend Collective is a

group of “twenty-somethings” that gathered at Rend, what the band describes as “a ministry for

spiritually hungry young adults, desperately seeking an authentic, raw and real expression of

church, which was informally pastored by bandleader, Gareth Gilkeson.” Their first album –

Homemade Worship by Handmade People – was released in 2012, and was followed by a string

of hits in the contemporary Christian music world. Their music is based around older

instruments - their native Irish folk instruments, old rock and roll guitars and assorted other

whimsical musical toys - and has a raw, uninhibited style that gets the toes tapping and the feet

stomping. They don’t call themselves a folk band, but insist rather “We are not actually an indie-

folk band - despite all the beards and bow-ties and banjos. We are a celebration band. It’s just a

coincidence that folk music and celebration make a great pairing!” Their song My Lighthouse is

a classic foot-stomper that never fails to engage the listener and was released in 2014 on the

album The Art Of Celebration.