Music Monday - Holiday Music #5

Today I was reminded of several early music Christmas works that have been favorites of mine since my undergraduate days. One of them made the BBC 50 Greatest Carols list.

1. Psallite unigenito by Michael Praetorius. Praetorius was a late 16th century German composer who was much loved by a music professor of mine. Said professor was also the director of the chamber choir with which I sang for three years, and every year at the holidays we would sing this beautiful, albeit short 4-part song:

Prætorius was also one of the most prolific composers of his generation in Germany, listing over forty volumes of printed music at the end of the Syntagma musicum, including sacred and secular works of all kinds for voices, choirs, instruments, and organ.

From Goldberg, the Early Music Portal, which I just discovered tonight! What a resource.


2. Gaudete (thanks, Barb!). This tune from the Renaissance is in a minor key and has such a rousing beat that it is fun to listen to--the recording I have that I like best is that of John Rutter and the Cambridge Singers on the cd, A Christmas Festival, but that's not available to listen to via an Amazon widget. There's a recording out there somewhere that I like better, but I haven't been able to find it--it uses period instruments and the small group of singers have excellent Latin. But for fun, listen to this recording by Steeleye Span, for the mangled Latin with the added bonus of Cockney accents!



3. O Magnum Mysterium, by Tomás Luis de Victoria. This motet did make the top 50 carols in BBC Music Magazine, coming in pretty high up the list at number fifteen. Victoria was another 16th century composer, this one from Spain. The beginning is gorgeously ethereal (if done correctly, and Chanticleer has one of the best recordings I could find), and the work ends with a rousing Alleluia.

Holiday Music #4 - Traditional Irish

Dating back from the 12th century, the Wexford Carol comes from the town of Enniscorthy in, yes, County Wexford, Ireland. Beginning 'Good people all, this Christmas time,' it has become familiar to many today through John Rutter's beautiful arrangement of 1978 which begins with a melodious, if frighteningly exposed, baritone solo.

From "The 50 Greatest Carols," in the December, 2008 issue of BBC Music Magazine.

I love the medieval sound of this carol. In fact, it's such a favorite that I arranged it for string quartet and used it as my wedding processional--in September! Its sound is due to the fact that it is not in a key like D major, but is rather based around an older mode called Mixolydian, where the seventh note of the scale is a half-tone flatter than it is in the modern major (or Ionian) scale. Sing Do-re-mi-fa-sol-la and then sing ti down a half-step (te), do.There is an excellent written explanation of musical modes here.

This was another carol I remember hearing Julie Andrews sing back in the 1970s, but I also like what is probably its most recent incarnation, on the cd, Songs of Joy & Peace, by Yo-Yo Ma and Friends. The track features Alison Kraus on vocals, Natalie McMaster on fiddle, and Yo-Yo Ma on ukelele (kidding).

Holiday Music #3 - Gustav Holst (1874-1934)

The cover article of BBC Music Magazine's December, 2008 issue is called "The 50 Greatest Carols, as Voted by the World's Finest Choirmasters." While only two of those choral experts who voted were women (a topic for another day, perhaps), I found myself agreeing by and large with the carols I recognized on the list. Especially intriguing to me was a sidebar written by Harry Christophers, the director of The Sixteen, which was devoted to "5 Ancient Carols," though many of the carols in the top fifty were also composed before 1600. Coming soon--a post on my experience listening to the tracks Christophers recommends. ☺

But today I want to touch on a favorite carol of mine, which was very high up on the BBC list, with text by Christina Rossetti and music by various composers: "In the Bleak Midwinter." I like Gustav Holst's version, which I remember hearing Julie Andrews singing when I was a tween (not that such a term existed way back then).




Even though Holst is well-known for his symphonic work, The Planets, the majority of his works were either choral or vocal, or written for the stage. Holst was largely passed over in my undergraduate music history classes, merely mentioned as a contemporary and friend of Ralph Vaughan Williams and, oh, yes, he wrote that "popular" piece, the one about the solar system or something. Even though I was a music performance major, and we were supposed to be above music that crowds adore, I secretly loved listening to bombastic "Jupiter" and whimsical "Mercury," not to mention vehement "Mars" when I was in a snit (who, me?). And then there was also Holst's other popular orchestral work, St. Paul's Suite, which had plenty of celtic-sounding folksong in it to charm me, too.




Egdon Heath, a tone poem inspired by Thomas Hardy's fictional populated heath, is considered by many to be the finest of Holst's compositions, though I must admit to unfamiliarity with the piece. Ah, well. My holiday wish list and my list of "music with which to acquaint myself" grow ever longer.

"In the Bleak Midwinter," with music by another composer, Harold Darke, is also much sung by choirs around the world. I like this one, too, but the Julie Andrews recording pushes the Holst one over the top for me.