December is a time of traditions. And the Classics a Day feed is no different. We continue our tradition of making Classical Christmas our December theme.
The challenge is to post music related to the season. So sacred works for Advent and Christmas, secular works about winter, or even just music written and/or premiered in December.
Here are my posts for the fifth and final week in December.
12/26/22 Arnold Bax: Mater ora filium
Bax didn't write much choral music. But in the early 1900s, he did set this traditional text, that celebrates the journey of the Three Kings.
12/27/22 William Crotch: Lo! Star-led Chiefs
This choral piece is often sung in Anglican churches during Epiphany. It was originally part of William Crotch's oratorio "Palestine," published in 1818.
12/28/22 Peter Cornelius: Three Kings from Persian lands afar
In the mid-1800s, Cornelius was a renowned opera composer in his native Germany. In England, he was a one-hit-wonder. And that one hit was this tune from his Op. 8 Weihnachtslieder
12/29/22 Jacobus Clemens non Papa: Magi veniunt ab oriente
Most of Clemens' output was sacred music. This would have been sung at a Feast of the Epiphany service, marking the Magi visiting the Christ child.
12/30/22 Jacob Handl-Gallus: Omnes de Saba
The text is one of the graduals for Epiphany. Handl first published his setting in his 1586 collection Opus musicum.
December is a time of traditions. And the Classics a Day feed is no different. We continue our tradition of making Classical Christmas our December theme.
The challenge is to post music related to the season. So sacred works for Advent and Christmas, secular works about winter, or even just music written and/or premiered in December.
Here are my posts for the third week in December.
12/19/22 Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck: Hodie Christus natus est
Quite a few composers used this Gregorian chant as a starting point. For Sweelinck, it was an opportunity to explore the possibilities of polyphony.
12/20/22 Giovanni da Palestrina: Hodie Christus natus est
This setting comes from Palestrina's third volume of sacred motets. This collection was published in Venice in 1575.
12/21/22 Giovanni Gabrieli: Hodie Christus natus est
Gabrieli set this traditional Christmas liturgical text in 1615.
12/22/22 William Byrd: Hodie Christus natus est
Byrd's setting was published in Gradualia ac cantiones sacra, Liber 2, which came out in 1607. This volume featured 4-voice sacred music for Christmas and Epiphany.
12/23/22 Healey Willan: Hodie Christus natus est
Canadian organist and composer Willan wrote more than 800 works, most of them for voice. His setting of this text comes from 1935.
December is a time of traditions. And the Classics a Day feed is no different. We continue our tradition of making Classical Christmas our December theme.
The challenge is to post music related to the season. So sacred works for Advent and Christmas, secular works about winter, or even just music written and/or premiered in December.
Here are my posts for the third week in December.
12/12/2 Arnold Brunckhorst: Weihnachtmusik
Brunckhorst was active in the late 1600s. Despite having a long career as organist and kapellmeister, only a handful of his compositions survive, including this Christmas cantata from 1710.
12/13/22 Dietrich Buxtehude: Ihr lieben Christen, freut euch nun, BuxWV 51
Buxtehude's compositions served as models for the next generation of German composers (including Handel, Bach, and Telemann). As you can hear.
12/14/22 Arnold Bax: Winter Waters
Christmas isn't a joyous time for everyone. If you're one of them, this piece might be for you. Bax subtitled his 1915 piano piece "Tragic Landscape."
12/15/22 Eastern Orthodox Chant: In the Dark Night
Eastern Orthodox worship traditions are just as rich as those of Catholic or Protestant churches (and in some cases, even older). This Christmas chant is from Ukraine.
12/16/22 Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow: Von Himmel kam der Engel Schar
Zachow was Handel's first music teacher. When he died in 1713, Bach was invited to take over his position of Chormeister at Halle's Market Church.
December is a time of traditions. And the Classics a Day feed is no different. We continue our tradition of making Classical Christmas our December theme.
The challenge is to post music related to the season. So sacred works for Advent and Christmas, secular works about winter, or even just music written and/or premiered in December.
Here are my posts for the second full week in December.
12/05/22 Arnold Bax: Winter Legeneds
Bax described this large-scale work for piano and orchestra as "a northern nature piece full of sea and pine forest and dark legends."
12/06/22 William Billings: Boston
Billing's "Boston" is one of America's earliest original Christmas hymns. It was published in "The Singing Master's Assistant" of 1778.
12/07/22 Johann Kuhnau: Wenn ihr fröhlich seid an euren Festen
Kuhnau was the kapellmeister at St. Thomaskirche, Leipzig for 18 years. Upon his death, Johann Sebastian Bach was hired as his replacement.
12/08/22 Louis-Claude Daquin: Noel VI
Daquin's 1757 publication Nouveau livre de noëls is standard repertoire for organists. It features his settings of traditional French carols.
12/09/22 Georg Philipp Telemann - Cantata am Feste der heiligen drei Konige from Harmonischer Gottes-Dienst
I could do the entire month of posts with Telemann Christmas cantatas. We'll settle for this one from 1726 -- for now
December is a time of traditions. And the Classics a Day feed is no different. We continue our tradition of making Classical Christmas our December theme.
The challenge is to post music related to the season. So sacred works for Advent and Christmas, secular works about winter, or even just music written and/or premiered in December.
Here are my posts for the first week in December (short though it was).
12/01/22 Claudio Monteverdi: Magnificat
The Magnificat (My soul magnifies the Lord) is Mary's response to the angel Gabriel. Monteverdi wrote this setting for St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice, where he served for many years.
12/02/22 Charles Tomlinson Griffes: A Winter Landscape
Griffes wrote this in 1912, the same year he composed "The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan," one of his most popular works.
Classical Christmas 2019
This marks the third year running that the Classics a Day team made Christmas music the December theme. I guess that makes it a tradition. When it comes to the music of the season, there's plenty to choose from. Since the 1100s composers have written sacred music for Advent and Christmas -- and plenty of songs and dances for the secular winter feasts, too.
The challenge is to post a classical work that's related to Christmas in some fashion. I further limited myself to selections I haven't posted before in December. As you'll see, there is more to holiday music than "Sleigh Ride" or "Messiah."
Here are my #ClassicsaDay posts for the fourth and fifth weeks of #ClassicalChristmas
12/22 Bob Chilcott - The Shepherd's Carol
Chilcott was a member of the King's Singers and turned to composition full time after leaving the ensemble. As might be expected, many of his works are choral compositions.
12/24 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Sleigh Ride, K.605
This piece is part of "Three German Dances" published in 1791. Mozart wrote the set while serving a short-lived role as Imperial Chamber Composer to Emporer Joseph II.
12/25 Johann Heinrich Schmelzer: Sacro-Profanus Concentus Musicus: Sonata 12
Schmelzer's collection of concertos was published in 1662. Sonata 12, one of the "sacred" concertos, has become associated with Advent.
12/26 Claude Debussy: Des pas sur le neige
"Footprints in the Snow" is from Debussy's first book of Preludes (1909). The work is only 36 bars long, yet effectively paints an Impressionist picture of falling snow.
12/27 Andreas Hammerschmidt: Allelujah! Freuet euch, ihr Christem alle
Hammershmidt, the "Orpheus of Zittau," was one of the most popular Protestant composers of the early 1700s. Over 400 of his sacred works survive, including this Christmas motet.
12/30 PDQ Bach: Throw the Yule Long On, Uncle John
This carol comes from PDQ Bach's "A Consort of Choral Christmas Carols." If nothing else, it illustrates the importance of punctuation.
12/31 Roxanna Panufnik: A Tibetan Winter
This movement comes from Panufnik's 2007 work "Four World Seasons." Inspired by Vivaldi's work, Panufnik depicts each season in a different part of the world, using musical instruments from that region in her composition.
This marks the third year running that the Classics a Day team made Christmas music the December theme. I guess that makes it a tradition. When it comes to the music of the season, there's plenty to choose from. Since the 1100s composers have written sacred music for Advent and Christmas -- and plenty of songs and dances for the secular winter feasts, too.
The challenge is to post a classical work that's related to Christmas in some fashion. I further limited myself to selections I haven't posted before in December. As you'll see, there is more to holiday music than "Sleigh Ride" or "Messiah."
Here are my #ClassicsaDay posts for the third week of #ClassicalChristmas
12/16 Francis Poulenc- Quem Vidistis Pastores
This motet is the third of Poulenc's Quatre Motets pour le temps de Noël. Written in the 1950s, the work blends contemporary harmonies with medieval Latin sacred texts.
12/17 Arnold Schoenberg; Weihnachtsmusik
Schoenberg "Christmas Music" is a setting of "Es ist ein Ros entsprungen." Schoenberg most like wrote this 1921 work for family and friends to play at a holiday gathering.
12/18 Johannes Ockeghem - Ave Maria
Ockeghem was one of the most prominent composers of the 15th Century. Like most of his surviving music, his setting of the Ave Maria is difficult to date. The music comes from the Chigi Codex, collected after Ockeghem's death.
12/19 Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina - O magnum Mysterium
This Christmas motet was published in 1569. The Latin text translates "O great mystery and wonderful sacrament, that beasts should see the new-born Lord lying in a manger."
12/20 John Knowles Paine - Christmas Gift, Op. 7
Paine was one of the older members of the Boston Six. He was one of the first American-born composers to write symphonies and oratorios. Christmas Gift is one of his many piano miniatures.
This marks the third year running that the Classics a Day team made Christmas music the December theme. I guess that makes it a tradition. When it comes to the music of the season, there's plenty to choose from. Since the 1100s composers have written sacred music for Advent and Christmas -- and plenty of songs and dances for the secular winter feasts, too.
The challenge is to post a classical work that's related to Christmas in some fashion. I further limited myself to selections I haven't posted before in December. As you'll see, there is more to holiday music than "Sleigh Ride" or "Messiah."
Here are my #ClassicsaDay posts for the second week of #ClassicalChristmas
12/9 Ralph Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on Christmas Carols
RVW's work was premiered at the Three Choirs Festival in 1912. It's a medley of traditional carols collected by Vaughn Williams and Cecil Sharp a few years earlier.
12/10 Eric Whitacre; Little Tree
American choral composer Whitacre wrote this carol in 1996, while still a student at Julliard. The text is based on a poem by e e cummings.
12/11 Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky: Christmas Waltz
The "Christmas Waltz" is actually the December entry in Tchaikovsky's "The Seasons" Op. 37b. This set of 12 piano pieces was published in monthly installments in a Russian music magazine.
12/12 Paul Hindemith; The Long Christmas Dinner
The setting for Hindemith's 1963 one-act opera is a Christmas dinner table. It depicts 90 years of holiday meals as generations of family members come and go from the table.
12/13 Edward Elgar; A Christmas Greeting, Op. 52
Elgar completed this work while visiting Rome in December 1907. The poem is by his wife, Alice.
12/16 Poulenc Quem Vidistis Pastores
https://youtu.be/Krw2mQJ2SJ4
This marks the third year running that the Classics a Day team made Christmas music the December theme. I guess that makes it a tradition. When it comes to the music of the season, there's plenty to choose from. Since the 1100s composers have written sacred music for Advent and Christmas -- and plenty of songs and dances for the secular winter feasts, too.
The challenge is to post a classical work that's related to Christmas in some fashion. I further limited myself to selections I haven't posted before in December. As you'll see, there is more to holiday music than "Sleigh Ride" or "Messiah."
Here are my #ClassicsaDay posts for the first week of #ClassicalChristmas
12/2 Christoph Graupner: Jauchzet ihr Himmel, erfreue dich Erde, GWV 1105/53
In his day, Graupner was as famous as Telemann. His cantata "Rejoice, heaven, and earth" was composed for Christmas Day, 1753.
12/3 Heinrich Schütz: Weihnachtshistorie SWV435
Schutz's "Christmas Story" was first performed in Dresden, Christmas 1660. The text comes almost exclusively from Martin Luther's German translation of the Bible.
12/4/ William Billings: Shepherd's Carol
American hymnodist wrote both words and music for this carol. It was first published in "The Suffolk Harmony" in 1786.
12/5 Conrad Susa: This Endrys night
American composer Conrad Susa studied with William Bergsma and Vincent Persichetti. His setting of this medieval text comes from his Three Mystical Carols.
12/6 Louis-Claude Daquin: Noel X
French Baroque composer Daquin was also a renowned harpsichordist and organist. His 12 Noels was published in 1757, and are still used in churches today.
This is the second year the #ClassicsaDay team went with a Classical Christmas theme. And that's fine. If you think about it, composers have been writing works for the season as long as there's been notation to preserve them.
For my contributions, I tried to avoid the obvious choices. In the process, I discovered some wonderful works that I'll be returning to again and again.
Here are my posts for the last full week of #ClassicalChristmas, plus the last day of December.
Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel (1690-1749) Christmas Oratorio: Ach, dass die Hülfe aus Zion über Israel käme.
Like Bach, Stölzel wrote an oratorio that was a set of six cantatas. Each cantata corresponded to one of the feast days of Christmas. "Ach, dass die Hülfe" is for the first day of Christmas, 1720.
Kevin Oldham - Silent Night
A beautiful reimagining of this familiar carol.
Louis-Claude Daquin: Noel X
Daquin was a virtuoso organ and harpsichord player. In 1757 he published Nouveau livre de noëls, a collection of 12 traditional French carols with new settings.
Max Reger - Weihnachten, Op. 145 No. 3
"Weihnachten" was originally part of a set of seven organ pieces in 1915. In its orchestrated form, the work has become a mainstay for holiday orchestra concerts.
Joan Szymko - The Peace of Wild Things
I first heard this work on the album Raunächte - The Twelve Nights after Christmas. I love it.
PDQ Bach - Good King Kong Looked Out
"Good King Kong" was part of PDQ's "Consort of Choral Christmas Carols." Why end the year with a PDQ Bach selection? Because he never fails to disappoint.
This is the second year the #ClassicsaDay team went with a Classical Christmas theme. And that's fine. If you think about it, composers have been writing works for the season as long as there's been notation to preserve them.
For my contributions, I tried to avoid the obvious choices. In the process, I discovered some wonderful works that I'll be returning to again and again.
Here are my posts for the third week of #ClassicalChristmas
Giovanni Gabrieli - Magnificat a 14
Gabrieli was principal organist and composer for St. Mark's Basilica in Venice. His setting of the Magnificat was written with the acoustics of the basilica in mind.
Michael Torke - Winter's Tale for Cello and Orchestra
According to Torkie, his 2014 work "Winter's Tale" isn't based on Shakespeare's play. Rather, it's an expression of the mood winter evokes.
Christoph Graupner - Cantata - Wer da glaubet dass Jesus sei der Christ, GWV 1103/40
A cantata for the 3rd week of Advent. Graupner was the second choice for the Thomaskirche Leipzig music director's position. Telemann was the first. Leipzig settled for J.S. Bach when Graupner turned it down.
Thomas Tallis - Missa Puer Natus in Bethlehem
Tallis' mass was premiered Christmas, 1554. The text (a child is born in Bethlehem) was chosen to obliquely celebrate the pregnancy of Queen Mary I (which turned out not to be).
Charles Ives - Christmas Carol
Ives wrote this carol in 1894 before he began his studies with Horatio Parker (and gained a reputation as a musical rebel).
This is the second year the #ClassicsaDay team went with a Classical Christmas theme. And that's fine. If you think about it, composers have been writing works for the season as long as there's been notation to preserve them.
For my contributions, I tried to avoid the obvious choices. In the process, I discovered some wonderful works that I'll be returning to again and again.
Here are my posts for the first week of #ClassicalChristmas
Heinrich Schutz - Rorate Caeli, SWV 322
A traditional Latin text, it was frequently used by the early Protestant churches during Advent.
Victor Hely-Hutchinson - Carol Symphony
Hely-Hutchinson completed the Carol Symphony in 1927. It's a set of four movements, each based on a different carol, and each imitating the style of a different composer.
Jean Mouton - Nesciens Mater Virgo Virum
The Latin text celebrates the Virgin Mary as a mother, nurturing the baby Jesus at her breast. Mouton's 1555 setting is a masterpiece of strict 8-part counterpoint.
John Rutter - Magnificat
This is the first of three settings of the Magnificat I'll be sharing. Rutter's 1990 work mixes contemporary classical and pop music idioms in a performer-friendly setting.
Arvo Pärt - Magnificat
Pärt's 1989 setting of the Magnificat is a model of his tintinnabulation technique. Equally important to the sounds is the silence between the sounds.
This is the second year the #ClassicsaDay team went with a Classical Christmas theme. And that's fine. If you think about it, composers have been writing works for the season as long as there's been notation to preserve them.
For my contributions, I tried to avoid the obvious choices. In the process, I discovered some wonderful works that I'll be returning to again and again.
Here are my posts for the first week of #ClassicalChristmas.
Georg Philipp Telemann - Cantata - Nun komm der Heiden Heiland, TWV 1:1174
Composed for the first week of Advent, 1717.
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor - Christmas Overture
Originally this overture was part of some incidental music to a children's play, "The Forest of Wild Tyme." It was extracted, orchestrated, and -- with its many quoted carols -- become a holiday favorite for orchestras.
William Billings - Judea - A virgin unspotted
Billings was the first major American choral composer. Though self-taught, his choral collections were popular, and his music was in widespread use during the Colonial and Federal Periods. Judua was first published in his "Singing Master's Assistant" of 1778.
Frederick Delius - Sleigh Ride
This work was completed in 1899, and is sometimes known by its original title, "Winter's Night."
Arthur Sullivan - All this night bright angels sung
Sullivan was best known as the musical part of "Gilbert and Sullivan." He also composed many other types of music, included a small number of Christmas carols. "All this night" was first published in 1916.
I'm a regular contributor to the #ClassicsaDay Twitter feed. In December 2017, I focused on the music of the season that doesn't get a lot of exposure -- but should. Below is an annotated list of the works I featured in the feed with the supporting hashtag #ClassicalChristmas.
Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704) - "Messe de Minuit pour Nöel" H9
Charpentier spent 17 years in service to Marie de Lorraine, Duchesse de Guise, first cousin to Louis XIV. During that time he wrote an extraordinary amount of music, both for Mlle. de Guise and other nobility who commissioned works. After her death, he entered the Jesuit order and thereafter wrote primarily sacred works. Messe de Minuit pour Nöel was composed around 1690 and is one of Charpentier's best-known works. Woven into the music is ten traditional French carols.
Jakub Jan Ryba (1765-1815) - Czech Christmas Mass
Music teacher and composer Jakub Jan Ryba wrote his Czech Christmas Mass in 1796. it incorporates traditional Czech carols and uses the Czech language to tell the Christmas story. Performing the work has become a holiday tradition in Bohemia, and is frequently performed throughout Eastern Europe. Although Ryba wrote many masses and pastorales, the Ceská mše vánocní "Hej mistre!" his only work that's still heard today.
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) Vom Himmel Hoch
Mendelssohn is credited with reviving the music of Johann Sebastian Bach or at least bringing it back into the public consciousness. His deep study of J.S. Bach's music influenced his own work. This was especially true with Mendelssohn's choral works. The Christmas cantata "Vom Himmel hoch" is based on a hymn tune by Martin Luther. The treatment of the tune and the structure of the cantata show Bach's influence. "Vom Himmel hoch" was premiered in 1831 and remains a staple of the repertoire.
Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) Christmas Eve: Orchestral Suite
Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov wrote the opera Noch' pered Rozhdestvom (Christmas Eve) in 1895. It was based on a popular short story by Nikolai Gogla. Rimsky-Korsakov was not the first -- three other composers, including Tchaikovsky -- had based an opera on the tale. The plot involves the Devil stealing the moon on Christmas Eve, and being thwarted by Vakula the blacksmith. It's perhaps least-Christmasy seasonal works in the seasonal repertoire. Rimsky-Korakov later created extracted an orchestral suite from the opera.
Daniel Pinkham (1923-2006) - Christmas Cantata
American composer Daniel Pinkham studied with Walter Piston, Aaron Copland, and E. Power Biggs. Pinkham was served as an organist and choir director. Although he's best remembered for his sacred compositions, Pinkham composed for orchestras, chamber groups, and solo music as well. The 1957 Christmas Cantata is one of Pinkham's most popular works.
Otto Albert Tichý (1890-1973) - Missa pastoralis in honorem Jesu Infantiis in Praga
Czech composer Otto Albert Tichý studied with Vincent d'Indy. In addition to teaching and composing, Tichý was also a professional organist. Tichý did extensive research on Gregorian chant, and was an expert on church music in general. Most of his compositions are sacred works for choirs, or solo organ music. His "Missa pastoralis in honorem Jesu Infantiis in Praga" is one of the few Tichý compositions still performed today.
I'm a regular contributor to the #ClassicsaDay Twitter feed. In December 2017, I focused on the music of the season that doesn't get a lot of exposure -- but should. Below is an annotated list of the works I featured in the feed with the supporting hashtag #ClassicalChristmas.
Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672) - Weihnachtshistorie, SWV 435
Heinrich Schütz was one of the most famous -- and influential -- German composers of the generation before Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach used Schütz's sacred choral works as models for his own. The Weihnachtshistorie (Christmas Story) premiered in Dresden in 1623. It's a very Lutheran treatment of the text, with clarity paramount. The work features a six-part choir, an orchestra, and soloists.
Franz Liszt (1811-1886) - Weihnachtsbaum
Franz Liszt composed his Weihnachtsbaum (Christmas Tree) suite for his first grandchild, Daniela von Bülow. He played it for her on Christmas Day, 1881, when she was 21. The work has twelve sections, divided into three books. Several German Christmas carols are quoted in the work, including "Adeste Fidelis" and "O Holy Night." Lizst also created a piano 4-hands version of the work.
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594) - Missa Hodie Christus natus est
Often called "the Prince of Music," Palestrina's style became the standard for sacred music in the Roman Catholic Church for generations. Palestrina wrote music for all aspects of worship. The "Hodie Christus natus est" is one of 105 masses Palestrina wrote. Based on a motet of the same name, it was designed for the Christmas Morning worship service.
Gerald Finzi (1901-1956) - In Terra Pax, Op. 39
English composer Gerald Finzi set poetry by Robert Bridges with selections from Luke. This work is a modern contemplation of the Christmas story. As Finzi relates it, the inspiration came from an event of his youth. Finzi had climbed up a church tower and heard the midnight bells echoing over the snow-swept hills of Gloucestershire welcoming Christmas Day.
Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936) - Lauda per la Natività del Signore
Respighi drew the texts for Lauda per la Natività del Signore from two sources. He used a medieval hymn of praise and the writings of 13th C. cleric Jacophone da Todi. The work, written around 1930, focuses on the birth of Jesus and the Annunciation to the shepherds (and their visit). Respighi's scoring heavily relies on double reeds (oboes and bassoons) to evoke a pastoral feel.
I'm a regular contributor to the #ClassicsaDay Twitter feed. In December 2017, I focused on the music of the season that doesn't get a lot of exposure -- but should. Below is an annotated list of the works I featured in the feed with the supporting hashtag #ClassicalChristmas. (November's theme was Composers A-Z, which ran over into December. So I didn't start #ClassicalChristmas until the 6th.)
John Playford: To Drive the Cold Winter Away
This anonymous English tune first surfaced in the early 1600s. There are various texts that were set to the music. The tune is also known as "In Praise Of Christmas." "The Praise Of Christmas," and "All Hail To The Days." This particular version was published by John Playford in the 1651 edition of "The English Dancing Master."
Henry Cowell (1897-1865): Sweet was the Sound
Henry Cowell was recognized as a major force in American music in the 1930s. After the Second World War, his music became simpler and more accessible. And Cowell also began incorporating American folk elements into his works. The carol "Sweet was the Sound" comes from that period.
William Henry Fry (1813-1864): The Santa Claus Symphony
Fry holds the distinction of being the first native-born American to write orchestral works and operas (and to have them performed. Fry's symphonies have extra-musical themes, and The Santa Claus Symphony is no exception. The symphony premiered in 1853 and is one of the earliest works to use the then-new saxophone. From the beginning, the work was both admired by the public and derided by critics (as it still is).
