Carols, Cocoa, and Karolju – A Concert of Carols old and faux
Karolju
If our concert audience regulars heard that Naperville Chorus was programming a work with nonsense texts, they probably would say, “Oh, some more Alice in Wonderland”, remembering settings of those famous Lewis Carroll poems which have graced one or two of our recent concerts. The subject work here is a very different breed of cat— definitely not Cheshire: A 1989-90 product by the now 67-year-old Juilliard professor Christopher Rouse, it is quite unrepresentative of his other output: First, it is orchestral and choral: Only two of his works (the other is his 2007 Requiem) fit that description. Secondly, it is tonal, i.e., not especially dissonant. While his output is by no means entirely atonal, he has used that technique enough to be obliged to defend this work in his notes:
Those who know other of my works may be surprised—some even distressed—by Karolju. While I can assert with assurance that this score does not represent a wholesale “change of direction” for me and thus constitutes an isolated example among my compositions, Karolju is nevertheless a piece which I “mean” with the most profound sincerity, one which I hope will instill in listeners the same special joy which I feel for the season it celebrates.
Rouse notes that his inspiration for this work comes from two sources—“… the great body of Christmas carols written over the centuries…”, and, of all things, Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, a boisterous and even bawdy setting of secular troubador poetry from as early as the eighth century (which the Chorus has performed on four programs since 1983). Rouse explains that his original conception was a collection of carols in a form similar to the Orff assemblage, but when this work was commissioned by the Baltimore Symphony in 1989 (the BSO’s David Zinman conducted the 1991 premiere with that orchestra and has also conducted it with the Chicago Symphony), Rouse decided to compose music which evoked the sound of carols from each of the countries represented. To carry out that plan, he chose words which he felt had the quality of such carol texts, without necessarily being translatable as complete thoughts. Thus, for example, you will hear, in the Latin sections, “Christus natus est”, that is, ‘Christ is born’, but the remainder of the text does not necessarily mesh with those phrases. And the same is true for Swedish, French, Russian, Czech, German, and Italian texts, each placed in a melodic and harmonic context that, at least for the composer, evokes Christmas songs that typify the corresponding ethnic celebrations. (One should also remember that many carols have traveled very widely, and are not always identified with their homeland, e.g., Adeste Fidelis— now thought to be of French origin– and the Italian Santa Lucia, which serves as the centerpiece of a Swedish Yuletide holiday!) In a 1994 Chicago interview with WNIB’s Bruce Duffie— given shortly after his Trombone Concerto received a Pulitzer prize–, Rouse commented,
I believe the purpose of music is to convey something meaningful, nourishing, enlightening from the human spirit that speaks of the creator of the work to the listener, the viewer, the reader, to other human spirits about what it is to be alive.
And he went on to quote the twentieth-century German composer Alban Berg, who said he wanted his audience to be moved by the ‘dramatic and expressive elements of the work’. Certainly this is what great composers of all ages have wanted. We hope you will find such movement from tonight’s performance.
Carol Cantata III
Robert Russell Bennett (1894-1981) is probably best known as orchestrator and arranger for Broadway musicals—as many as 300 of them!– including “Showboat”, “South Pacific”, “My Fair Lady”, and “The Sound of Music”. A characteristically outspoken man –”Nobody asked for my opinion, and maybe nobody wants it… They’re going to get it anyway…”–he says of his craft, “No orchestration should ever try to be bigger or better than the music orchestrated.” He admits, nonetheless, that he has not always adhered to his own rule. But he also poses unanswerable questions: “What is a melody? Why is it attractive or unattractive? Which melodies are inspired and inspiring, and which ones lose you after a few bars? I don’t know, and can’t tell you…”. Commenting specifically on his four Carol Cantatas, of which this is the third, he adds, “There hardly seems to be any end to the number of beautiful words and melodies that have been inspired by the birth and childhood of Jesus…Doing all the arrangements for [a musical], one has to work with one or two big song hits… In the Cantatas one goes from one big song hit to another. Not only a hit, but one that has refused to die through centuries. Whether this example of immortality is in the words, the music, or the imperishable nature of the faith that is in them, they are the stuff good things are made of.”
Bennett’s Cantata features four traditional carols, but two others, In Dulci Jubilo and Deck the Halls, are cleverly juxtaposed into an intermezzo, while the reprise of The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy at the end of the Cantata contains original composition as well. The calypso origins of this latter carol brought it to widespread attention in the early 1960’s with renditions by Harry Belafonte and other folksingers.
O Come O Come Emanuel. The tune, “Veni Emanuel”, was originally a plainsong, i.e., written without a stated meter or time signature. It probably originated in Europe in the 11th or 12th centuries, and its text likely was Latin. The familiar adaptation used here is the work of Thomas Helmore, a nineteenth-century hymnodist.
In Dulci Jubilo. Familiar to most through its English lyric, “Good Christian Men, Rejoice”, this is also very early music, dating from 14th-century Germany. The Latin text was used in services in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; J. S. Bach reset the verse “Ubi sunt gaudia“.
Deck the Halls. While these verses are listed as “traditional” they are of later origin than the music, which is from a secular Welch song, “Nos Galan”. The words are probably English, and their focus on the celebratory aspects of the New Years’ season eclipses any sacredness that Christmas might otherwise convey upon Yuletide.
Wassail Song(We’ve Been A While A-Wandering). This is one of many ‘wassail’ songs which use similar texts, but which have different melodies and moods. “Wassail”, derived from the Middle English or Old Norse “wes heil”, is both the name of a drink and the act of drinking, and represents an English seasonal custom. This is one of many carols of the “Waits”, troubadors of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The tune in this version carries the name “Leeds” and is known to have been sung in the north of England. The repeated chorus– which here reads “For ’tis Christmas-time, and we travel far and near; May God bless you and send you a happy New Year”— begins in G-major and moves into minor with the word “send”, thus returning to the minor modality of the verse. Many of the other “Wassail” songs, in contrast, use a different text in their choruses: “Love and joy come to you, and to you your wassail too; May God bless you and send you a happy New Year, may God send you a happy New Year.” Some of these songs use major key throughout, while others follow the progression used here. Bennett is not alone in using the alternative chorus; the English composer Gustav Holst used it in his carol medley, “Christmas Day”, and it also appears in a Robert Shaw medley which resembles Bennett’s.
Carol of the Birds. This carol is of Catalan origin. It made its appearance in this country more or less contemporaneously with :
The Virgin Mary, but via different routes; one of its first outings in this country was as an unaccompanied cello solo, played, as an encore, in the Kennedy White House in a ground-breaking 1961 recital by the Catalonian master, Pablo Casals.
Many Moods of Christmas, Suite 4
This is one of four Christmas pastiches created by Robert Russell Bennett (see the discussion under “Carol Cantata III”) and Robert Shaw. Each of them contains several familiar tunes associated with the holiday season; there are five included in this one. The Chorus first performed this work in 1986:
Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light – The text of this historic chorale is attributed to Johann Rist, who included it in a songbook published in Leipzig in 1641. Some authorities credit the tune to Johan Schop, with an earlier origin. J. S. Bach included the tune, with a single verse, in his Christmas Oratorio, and this setting draws from his harmonization.
The First Noel – The Oxford Book of Carols puts this carol before 1700. However, some verses are apparently later additions. Although it references the birth of Jesus, it is believed to have been primarily an Epiphany carol. Some arrangements set it as a round, at least in part.
O Little Town of Bethlehem – The text of this hymn was written by Episcopal Bishop Phillips Brooks, based on an 1865 visit to Bethlehem during Christmas week. It was first sung in 1868, and first published in 1874. The tune was written by the Bishop’s organist, Lewis H. Redner, for that first singing in Philadelphia’s Holy Trinity Church.
I Saw Three Ships – The Oxford Book identifies this English carol from 1833, although multiple tunes have been used at various times, and some wording changes have been noted.
Deck the Halls – (See notes on Bennett’s Carol Cantata, above.)
-J. R. Fancher – 2016