December 24-25, 2011

Martin Schongauer, Nativity, Staatliche Museen, Berlin, c.1475

  
Christ Church Cathedral Choir Notes 

Christmas 

Click to go immediately to:

1) The Music Programme Homepage

 2) The Music Calendar for the Festival of Lessons and Carols and for Choral Eucharist 

3) The Concert Calendar

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The organ prelude for midnight Mass is Louis-Claude Daquin, Noël en dialogue. The postlude for Christmas Day Eucharist at 10:00 am is  Noël suisse.  Click to hear all 12 of Daquin's Noëls performed by Pierre Bardon play on the 18^th-century Isnard organ of Saint-Maximin-en-Provence.                                                                              

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Once in Royal David's City sung by Edward Burrowesand 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 / John Eliot Gardiner / 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

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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 Berlioz, L'Enfance du Christ, about the flight into Egypt, with Nicolai Gedda, Victoria de los Angeles, Ernest Blan, Roger Soyer, the René Duclos Choir, l'Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, André Cluytens conducting.

Click to go to a second performance with Yves Saelens, Miyaghi Osada,  Olivier Lallouette,André Cognet, Gregory Reinhart, il Coro della Radio Televisione Svizzera Italiana (Diego Fasolis, chorus master); l'Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Serge Baudo conducting.

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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 Gardiner, Harnoncourt, Herreweghe,  Koopman, Leonhardt, Leusink, Onofri, Pickett and Richter.


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


Click to go to Johann Sebastian Bach, Unser Mund sei voll Lachens / May our mouth be filled with laughter, Cantata 110, with performances by Gardiner, Harnoncourt 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); 

Bach Choir; 

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 Choir; Huddersfield 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.

December 18, 2011

Fra Angelico, The Annunciation, Convento di San Marco, Florence, 1430s

Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word [NRSV, Luke 1:38a].

The Fourth Sunday of Advent

December 18, 2011

Click to go immediately to:

1) The Music Programme Homepage

2) The Music Calendar for Choral Eucharist and Evensong.

3) The Concert Calendar

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Edward Burne-Jones / William Morris, Nativity, Trinity Church, Saugerties, New York

Patrick Wedd will perform, Olivier Messiaen, La Nativité du Seigneur, on the Wilhelm organ ofChrist Church Cathedral, on Saturday, December 17, at 5:00 pm.  Free admission / voluntary contribution.

Listen to La Nativité du Seigneur online performed by Messiaen himself, Jennifer Bate, Olivier Latry, and Simon Preston (click on name).

Click to listen to Messiaen's La Nativité du Seigneur from Pipedreams, Minnesota PBS, each movement performed by a different organist.

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Eric Gill: O

The O Antiphons are very much a part of Advent prayer.  They had their origin as antiphons for the Magnificat in Roman Catholic vespers during the week before Christmas.  

Click to read about he O Antiphons and listen to a number of different versions.

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The organ voluntaries for evensong this coming Sunday are both chorale preludes, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland.

Zanobi Strozzi (attrib.), Nativity, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1412-68

 Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (orig.: Nu kom der Heyden heyland, Engl.: Now come, Saviour of the gentiles) is a Lutheran chorale of 1524 with words written by Martin Luther, based on Veni, redemptor gentium by Saint Ambrose. The chorale was used as the prominent hymn for the first Sunday of Advent for centuries. It was used widely in organ settings by Protestant baroque composers. It is now best known as the base for Johann Sebastian Bach's chorale cantata Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 62 (1724) and the opening movement of his cantata Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 61 (1714).

This chorale continues in modern usage, both in liturgically oriented Christian hymnals (for example, the Lutheran Book of Worship) and as the cantus firmus for organ compositions.  (Wikipedia)

Veni, Redemptor gentium [Latin text] [English trans. by John Mason Neale]

Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland [German text by Martin Luther]; [English trans. by William Morton Reynolds]

Johann Sebastian Bach, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, Cantata 61 [listen]

Johann Sebastian Bach, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, Cantata 62 [listen]  

Johann Sebastian Bach, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, Chorale prelude, BWV 659 [Kibbie: listen]

Dietrich Buxtehude, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, Chorale prelude, BuxWV 211, [Vincenzo Ninci]: YouTube]

Johann Pachelbel, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, Chorale prelude [Monika Koepke: YouTube]

Nicolaus Bruhns, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, Chorale prelude [Jean-Luc Ho: YouTube] 

Karl Stiller, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, Chorale prelude [YouTube]

Michael Praetorius, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, chorale [La Capella Ducale: YouTube]

Georg Philipp Tellemann, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, chorale [Erie Renaissance Singers: YouTube]

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Bach Cantata for the 4th Sunday of Advent

Click to go to Johann Sebastian Bach, Bereitet die Wege, bereitet die Bahn! / Prepare the ways, prepare the path!, Cantata 132, with performances by Leonhardt, Leusink, and Richter.

MaÎtre François, John the Baptist Preaching, Koninklijke  Bibliotheek, The Hague, c.1475-80

December 11, 2011

Anton Raphael Mengs, St. John the Baptist, The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, 1774

John said, "I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,'" as the prophet Isaiah said [NRSV, John 1:23].

The Third Sunday of Advent

December 11, 2011

Click to go immediately to:

1) The Music Programme Homepage

2) The Music Calendar for Choral Eucharist and Evensong.

3) The Concert Calendar

The incipit for the Gregorian chant introit from which Gaudete Sunday gets its name.

This coming Sunday, the Third Sunday of Advent, has traditionally been known as Gaudete Sunday, after the introit of the Latin Mass.  It will be chanted at Choral Eucharist. Rose vestments are sometimes worn and a rose candle is often lit on the Advent Wreath.

Gaudéte in Dómino semper: íterum dico, gaudéte. Modéstia vestra nota sit ómnibus homínibus: Dóminus enim prope est. Nihil solíciti sitis: sed in omni oratióne petitiónes vestræ innotéscant apud Deum. Benedixísti Dómine terram suam: avertísti captivitátem Jacob. 

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice; let your forbearance be known to all, for the Lord is near at hand; have no anxiety about anything, but in all things, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God.(Philippians 4:4-6).

Giovanni Vianini, Schola Gregoriana Mediolanensis, Milano, Gaudete in Domino,Tone 1 [YouTube] (preceded by BWV 722) 

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The Annual Handel's Messiah Sing-Along will take place at Christ Church Cathedral on Saturday, December 10, at 5 pm, with the Cathedral Singers and orchestra, Patrick Wedd directing. Scores are available. Free admission / voluntary contribution.

A free live (and on-demand) performance of Handel's Messiah by the Trinity Church (Wall Street) Choir with the Trinity Baroque Orchestra, Julian Wachner, conductor, will be webcast on Sunday, December 11, from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm. Program and text available.  Click here just before it is scheduled to begin.  

Click to read about Messiah with access to a number of free online performances.

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Edward Burne-Jones / William Morris, Nativity, Trinity Church, Saugerties, New York

Patrick Wedd will perform, Olivier Messiaen,La Nativité du Seigneur, on the Wilhelm organ ofChrist Church Cathedral, on Saturday, December 17, at 5:00 pm.  Free admission / voluntary contribution.

Listen to La Nativité du Seigneur online performed by Messiaen himself, Jennifer Bate, Olivier Latry, and Simon Preston (click on name).

Click to listen to Messiaen's La Nativité du Seigneur from Pipedreams, Minnesota PBS, each movement performed by a different organist.

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1730 Trost organ of the stadtkirche in Waltershausen, Germany

Click to go to Advent organ music programmes archived by Pipedreams: 2009 - 2006 - 2004 - 2002 - 2001 - 2000 - 1998. 

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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