Paul grew up in suburban Washington, D.C., but has lived most of his adult life in St. Louis and Kansas City. He has performance degrees in music from Oberlin College and Washington University (St. Louis), and has spent a year in Amsterdam studying harpsichord performance under a Fulbright grant. Paul has served in church music ministry for over 30 years. He is married to Cynthia, also an accomplished musician, and they have two grown daughters, Robin and Consie.
Every fall I go through a lengthy process of selecting music for the Christmas services. This year I have been very aware of stylistic differences among the various national traditions from which we draw Christmas music each year. (For this post, the phrase “Christmas music” refers to music with lyrics that deal with the Incarnation…
I would like to share a musical work by Handel that is not as well-known as his oratorio, Messiah, but arguably just as powerful and skillfully wrought. I’m referring to his Dettingen Te Deum, a musical setting of an early (3rd-4th c.) hymn of praise, similar to the Gloria text that we sing in church.…
