December is an interesting time to be a church music director. As of this evening, I still do not know whether we will have power for the service tomorrow (which means no organ…or heat or lights, probably even more important!) I will leave early tomorrow morning, bundled up in sweaters, ready to tune the harpsichord and brilliantly substitute another anthem for the choir, depending on who makes it in and what instruments (if any) are usable. At a concert this evening another musician was speaking hopefully of snow tonight, and I nearly started screaming…a huge windstorm is enough for one week!
While the weather is beyond my control, I’m pleased to have finally finished planning music for the 9:00 pm Eucharist on Christmas Eve. It’s a complicated convergence: a very public service which commemorates a very intimate event; and a distractingly large wealth of repertoire from which to choose pieces which must fit within the practical boundaries of rehearsal time, service length, and parish resources.
One of my guidelines in choosing music for the choir is Fr. John’s insistence that we keep Advent and Christmas seperate from the frenzied pace and expectations of secular culture. I decided to focus on three responses to the Nativity:
1) AWE: the mystery of the incarnation
There’s nothing more countercultural than plainchant! For the introit, I found a beautiful and unusual piece in “Voices Found”, a hymnal which features texts and music by women. “O mundi domina” is by 15th century composer and poet Magyar Gregorianum, and I love the last line in particular:
“…he lies in the crib, who rules the stars.”
2) JOY: at the darkest time of year, we rejoice in new life
The anthem “Gaudete” is a contemporary arrangement of a tune from 1582. The Latin refrain features a lively dance-like rhythm, with particular insistence on the title word (”rejoice”).
3) SWEETNESS: the bond of mother and child
Two anthems at communion reflect on this picture: the Tudor-period “Lute-Book Lullaby” by William Ballet, and a setting of the 15th cent. anonymous poem “I sing of a maiden that is makeless”. Many composers have used the latter text, including Benjamin Britten in his famous “Ceremony of Carols”. I’ve chosen a 1937 setting by Charles F. Waters which has a peculiarly English pastoral quality, well-suited to the text. While he only used half of the poem, the whole thing is a lovely read. Here’s a version from the Oxford Book of English Verse:
I sing of a maiden that is makeless [matchless]:
King of all kinges to her son she ches [chose].
He came all so stille there his mother was
As dew in Aprille that falleth on the grass.
He came all so stille to his mother’s bower
As dew in Aprille that falleth on flower.
He came all so stille there his mother lay
As dew in Aprille that falleth on the spray.
Mother and maiden was never none but she;
Well may such a lady Goddes mother be.
***
Many thanks to the choir from their hard work this season, and I look forward to joining them in sharing this wonderful music with the Redeemer community. (And for those singers not in the choir: remember to come early for the carol sing at 8:30!)
Cheers, Sheila
