A Christmas Cantata (Nils Lindberg)
Nils Lindberg is not by any means an ordinary composer. Most composers, even 20th-century composers, can be classified according to the nature of their work, i.e., classical, pop, choral, symphonic, religious, etc. while Lindberg has composed in all of these genres.
From the first, he took a very unconventional path to his present position: Born in Uppsala, in June, 1933, where his father was a senior lecturer at Uppsala university, his family’s real roots were in a small town in west central Sweden (Dalarna province, home of the iconic red horse), and the family returned there after his father’s death in 1938. From an early date he was fascinated by composition, trying his hand at a piano sonata when he was just eight years old. By the age of 16, he had formed a band (concentrating on bop, which was the “far out” genre in 1949), and continued jazz experiments while studying music history at Uppsala. His breakthrough came in 1960 with the recording, by Decca, of Sax Appeal, for small modern jazz group. He continued as a performer by arranging and playing piano for a Stockholm restaurant to keep bread on his table. In 1963 he composed a work for symphony orchestra and jazz group, and by 1966 he was composing and arranging for the North German Radio Symphony. From then on he was in demand; he toured in Europe and in South America, and, after 1975, in the U.S. He performed with numerous American artists in a variety of genres: Josephine Baker, Mel Torme, Judy Garland, Duke Ellington (Ellington recorded one of his compositions), Thad Jones, and Herb Geller among them. Among his compositions are many that embody music from his native province, but he has also set Elizabethan lyrics and music from other parts of Sweden, and even composed an opera. His output was primarily secular until about 1980, when he began to incorporate religious folk music in his works; in 1986 he composed music for the funeral of Prime Minister Olof Palme, and then was commissioned to write music for the Pope’s visit to Sweden in 1989. In 1993 both a mass and a requiem mass premiered. Other religious works followed, and A Christmas Cantata was performed for the first time in Stockholm in 2002. He continues to compose—recent works have included settings of Shakespeare sonnets and choral settings of Swedish poetry. He has been awarded numerous
prizes and citations.
Like much of Lindberg’s work, A Christmas Cantata utilizes a mélange of styles, mixing some traditional melodies – Deck the Hall, Ding Dong Merrily…, God Rest Ye Merry… a Swedish Carol and some of his own compositions, all of them influenced by jazz idiom as well. It is scored for “…big band, mixed chorus, and two soloists”, clearly within the broad path of Lindberg’s experience. Perhaps surprisingly, the sections which are most original utilize Scriptural passages of Lindberg’s own selection. And while Isaiah’s prophecy, the descriptions of Jesus’ birth, the visits of the shepherds and the Magi all appear, the cantata closes with a thoroughly secular celebration – just what one might expect from its unconventional composer.
Christmas Songs
The distinction between a “Christmas carol” and a “Christmas song” is not something one can easily define. American Yuletide music has, over more than a century, incorporated a lot of more-or-less-secular songs, from Jingle Bells to Feliz Navidad and beyond, covering a range of styles including country and western, rock, various ethnic imports (e.g., polkas), and humorous songs such as All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth. It is more than sinful to
subsume all of these offerings under the heading of “jazz”, but certainly some of this wide range of material qualifies. The Christmas songs in this concert are all
secular at root, but they exemplify the kind of variety that one might find in the “big band”, “pop”, and “jazz” genres, from sentimental to jivey. Following are just
a few facts on each of our selections.
–Silver Bells First performed in the movie, “The Lemon Drop Kid”, which hit theaters in early 1951, starring Marilyn Maxwell and Bob Hope; a recording by Bing Crosby and Carol Richards appeared during the 1950 Christmas season. Jay Livingston and Ray Evans collaborated on both words and music.
–Let It Snow Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn, two of the giants of 20th-century popular music, wrote the music and the words to this tune in July 1945—in Hollywood, and, ironically, on one of the hottest days on record. The first recording, released shortly thereafter, was by Vaughn Monroe.
–It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year This song was written in 1963 by Edward Pola and George Wyle; the latter, a vocal director, was supplying music
for the “Andy Williams Show”, and that venue saw the first performance. It appeared on Williams’ Christmas album that year, but was not used in the promotion for that album.
–We Need a Little Christmas Jerry Herman wrote both words and music for this song for his Broadway hit, “Mame”, in 1966, and it was sung first by the star of
that show, Angela Lansbury.
–White Christmas This great-granddaddy of Christmas songs was penned by Irving Berlin in 1940. The circumstances of its writing are fuzzy; one story is that Berlin called his secretary to take down the song, calling it “the best song that anyone’s ever written.” It was first performed by Bing Crosby on the Kraft Music Hall show on Christmas Day, 1941. It was used in the film “Holiday Inn” in 1942, sung by Crosby and Marjorie Reynolds (her voice was actually dubbed by Martha Mears). Curiously, its initial appearance did not garner much attention, but by October 1942 it had the top spot on Your Hit Parade, and the Armed Forces Network was flooded with requests for the song; the nostalgia brought about by the War undoubtedly contributed to its success. Crosby, whose version—actually a 1947 re-recording—has always had the top of the list, is quoted as saying, “ A jackdaw with a cleft palate could have sung it successfully”. But it remains the only single to have had three separate runs at the top of the Billboard charts (1942, 1945,1946).
J. R Fancher, 2012