December 24-25, 2012

Click to go to the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Dec. 23, 2012.



Martin Schongauer, Nativity, Staatliche Museen, Berlin, c.1475
  
Christ Church Cathedral Choir Notes 
Christmas 

Click to go immediately to:



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The organ voluntaries for the Christmas Day Choral Eucharist are by Louis-Claude DaquinClick to hear all 12 of Daquin's Noëls performed by Pierre Bardon at the eighteenth century Isnard organ of the Saint Mary Magdalene Basilica in Saint-Maximin-en-Provence.



                                                       

Once in Royal David's City sung by Edward Burrowes and the St. Paul's Cathedral Choir, John Scottconducting. (The painting is by Piero della Francesca, 1470, and hangs in the National Gallery, London.)

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California Boys' Choir

One of Benjamin Britten's very popular accomplishments is his Ceremony of Carols.

Click to read about the Ceremony of Carols.

Click to hear the Ceremony of Carols performed by the California Boys’ Choir

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Fra Filippo Lippi and Workshop, The Nativity, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., c. 1445

Online performances of Johann Sebastian Bach, Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248, with versions conducted by Georg Christoph Biller / Riccardo Chailly / Diego Fasolis / Phillip Ledger / Karl Münchinger) 

Cantata I for the 1st Day of Christmas 

Cantata II for the 2nd Day of Christmas 

Cantata III for the 3rd Day of Christmas 

Cantata IV for New Year's Day 

Cantata V for the Sunday after New Year 

Cantata VI for the Feast of Epiphany

 

Sir John Eliot Gardiner conducts the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists in a video performance of Bach's Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248, to begin their year long Cantata Pilgrimage. Soprano: Claron McFadden; Alto: Bernarda Fink; Tenor: Christoph Genz; Bass: Dietrich Henschel. [YouTube]

Video performance by Rachel Harnisch, soprano; Sonja Philippin, soprano (echo); Anke Vondung, mezzo-soprano; Maximilian Schmitt, tenor (Evangelist); Christian Immler, bass; Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks; Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Peter Dijkstra, conducting.  Recorded at Herkulessaal, Residenz München, 2010 [YouTube]

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Vittore Carpaccio, Flight into Egypt, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1500

Click to go to an online performance of Hector BerliozL'Enfance du Christ, about the flight into Egypt, with Nicolai GeddaVictoria de los AngelesErnest BlanRoger Soyer, the René Duclos Choir, l'Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du ConservatoireAndré Cluytens conducting.

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Charles Tournemire, L'orgue mystique: Nativity Cycle, Op. 56: No.3



 
Mass of the Feast of the Nativity of the Lord

Prelude for the Introit [YouTube]
Offertory (Molto Adagio)  [YouTube]
Elevation [YouTube]
Communion [YouTube]
Paraphrase  [YouTube]
  
Click for the entire performance of L'Orgue mystique by Georges Delvallée.
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Bach Cantatas for Christmas Day



Francesco di Giorgio Martini, Nativity, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena, 1475

Click to go to Johann Sebastian Bach, Christen, ätzet diesen Tag / Christians, engrave this day, Cantata 63, with performances by GardinerHarnoncourt, Herreweghe,  KoopmanLeonhardtLeusink, Onofri, Pickett and Richter.

Click Click to go to Johann Sebastian Bach, Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ / Praised be you, Jesus Christ, Cantata 91, with performances by GardinerLeonhardt and Leusink.

Click to go to Johann Sebastian BachUnser Mund sei voll Lachens / May our mouth be filled with laughter, Cantata 110, with performances by GardinerHarnoncourt and Leusink.


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Click here to go to Heinrich Schütz, History of the Joyful and Merciful Birth of the Son of God and Mary, Jesus Christ, our only Mediator, Redeemer and Saviour (Die Weihnachtshistorien / The Christmas Story), performed by Franz-Josef Selig, Michael Volle, Peter Kooy, Thomas Herberich, Andrea Egeler, et al; Kammerchor Stuttgart, Musica Fiata Köln, Stuttgart Baroque Orchestra; Frieder Bernius conducting.



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Click on artist(s) for a wide selection of Christmas Carols:


American Boychoir (1996); 

Bryn Terfel


Britten: A Ceremony of Carols, etc. by King's College, Cambridge;


Clare College Singers and Orchestra, Cambridge (John Rutter) (1988);


Clare College Singers and Orchestra, Cambridge (John Rutter (2009)


Eileen Farrell

Harrow Philharmonic ChoirHuddersfield Choral Society


King's College, Cambridge (2003);


King's College, Cambridge (2004); 


King's College, Cambridge (2007);


Taverner Consort (Andrew Parrott) (1999);


Taverner Consort (Andrew Parrott) (2007); 


Trinity College, Cambridge (Richard Marlow);


Windsor Choir of St. George's Chapel.