Sing Ye All, Now, Rejoice (Gaudete) is from Piae Cantiones (Latin for devout songs), a collection of late medieval carols for Christmas and other seasons, published in Finland in 1582. The collection includes 74 Latin songs, mostly religious, although some are secular. The songs spread in the Lutheran churches in both Finland and Sweden. Some were translated and used in Lutheran hymnals in Finland and Sweden as well as Germany. A copy Piae Cantiones was given to Rev. John Mason Neale, who in 1853 translated some of the carols into English. In 1910, George R. Woodward published the first English edition, with some translated, and some with new words to the tunes. Some other familiar carols from the collection include Puer natus in Bethlehem ("A Boy is Born in Bethlehem"), Resonet in laudibus (the tune of "Joseph Dearest, Joseph Mine"), and Tempus adest floridum (a secular spring carol, the tune of which Woodward used for "Good King Wenceslas".)
Quem pastores laudavere was first published in Germany in the XVI century, although it is surely much older. According to at least one source, it was traditionally sung by four groups of boys, each group singing one line of each stanza.
Shepherds Rejoice! is an arrangement of a madrigal by Thomas Morely (who wrote tunes to most of Shakespeare’s songs), with words suitable for Christmas by John Haberlin.
Max Reger (1873-1916) composed a large variety of music in all genres in his short 20 years of composing. Reger, who considered himself in the tradition of Beethoven and Brahms, often combined these ideas with the harmonic world of Liszt and Wagner. Mariä Wiegenlied, or The Virgin’s Slumber Song (Opus 76, No. 52) has appeared in a variety of forms since Reger’s transformation of it from the famous folk song Joseph Dearest, Joseph Mild in 1912. With the English translation by Edward Teschemaacher’s, the gentle rocking of a cradle is evident. The version we present today is for unison men’s choir.
Blessed be that maid Mary is an old anonymous English tune with original text in Middle English, this version arranged by Louis Halsey is taken from The Cowley Carol Book, First Series (London: A. R. Mowbray & Co., Ltd., 1902, Revised and Expanded Edition 1929), carol #2, and modernized for that version by George Radcliff Woodward. Other versions of this piece are found in Charles L. Hutchins Carols Old and Carols New (Boston: Parish Choir, 1916), carol #734. This version was taken from William Ballet’s Lute Book, which contains a large number of popular tunes from the sixteenth century. Currently it is housed in the library of Trinity College, Dublin (D. I. 21).
A Christmas Carol is a setting by the American composer Norman Dello Joio of a poem by the English writer G. K. Chesterton.
Herbert Fromm’s Hanukkah Madrigal: Mi y’mallel (Who Can Recount [or Express]?), from his Six Madrigals, a series of contrapuntal a cappella pieces, is one of the best-known nonliturgical Hanukkah songs. Its lyrics are ascribed to Menashe Ravina (Rabinovich), who actually assembled them from biblical and Talmudic sources. The opening four words of the Hebrew lyrics, mi y’mallel g’vurot yisraeli (Who can recount the mighty acts of Israel?), are a paraphrase of a passage from Psalm 106:2, mi y’mallel g’vurot adonai? (Who can recount the mighty acts of the Lord?). The substitution of Adonai for yisrael is indicative of the writer’s secular Zionist orientation. The origin of the tune is undetermined. —Neil W. Levin, Milken Archive Artistic Director
Personent Hodie is another selection from Piae Cantiones.
Good Ale is part of a collection of secular pieces for the winter season that John Rutter wrote, which includes two songs from Shakespeare’s plays, namely, "When icicles hang by the wall", from Love’s Labour Lost, and "Blow, blow, thou winter wind", from As You Like It.
Deck the Halls in 7/8 is a wonderful arrangement by James McKelvy for SSA choir from the traditional "Deck the Hall". Set in 7/8 time (seven beats per measure) this version is delightfully fun and fast-paced. Listen for the division of women into three parts during the final verse, and the sudden change in meter from 7/8 to 6/8 to 4/8, and finally back to 7/8 again.
Perhaps the song most frequently associated with Christmas really has nothing to do with it, for it is merely a winter song, is Jingle Bells. John Lord Pierpont was the son and brother of Unitarian ministers. In 1832, while at boarding school, he wrote to his mother about a sleigh ride in December. Two years later he ran away to sea. He was in San Francisco during the gold rush, but his business failed. In 1853, his brother became minister of a Unitarian congregation in Savannah, Georgia. John followed him to become organist and choirmaster. But because the Unitarians were abolitionists, the church closed in 1859. His brother returned home, but John had remarried and stayed, and joined the Confederate army, much to his family’s chagrin. After the war, he and his family remained in Georgia. "Jingle, bells" was written by James Lord Pierpont, and copyrighted in 1857, under the title "One Horse Open Sleigh". He reissued it two years later under the present title. Neither time was it a hit. His son, Dr Juriah Pierpont, fought to retain the copyright, and to be certain that the song was associated with his father’s name.
Leroy Anderson wrote Sleigh Ride during a heat wave, and completed in 1948 as an orchestral piece for the Boston Pops Orchestra. Two years later, Mitchell Parrish added the words.
The traditional Austrian carol Still, Still, Still is set to the "Salzburg Melody" dating from around 1819. This arrangement by David Brunner (b. 1953), features a beautiful and modern piano accompaniment with harmonic momentum.
For notes on Seven Joys of Christmas, see this off-site page.
Program notes by Jenni Brandon and Tony McQuilkin, unless otherwise noted.)