Favorite Christmas Music

[TimeTraveller]

Might as well begin a topic of favorite Christmas music.

Without a doubt my favorite Christmas music is Une Cantate de Noël [A Christmas Cantata] (1953) for baritone, children's chorus, mixed chorus, organ and orchestra by French Swiss composer Arthur Honegger (1892-1955). The first third is slow going for the casual listener, but the middle picks up speed as Honegger combines five German, French and English Christmas carols simultaneously in their original languages, and the joyous finale is heavenly. I love it all. This video by Swiss conductor Charles Dutoit is excellent.

Arthur Honegger: Une Cantate de Noël
Tasuku Naono, Baritone
Kunitachi College of Music
Tokyo Broadcasting Children's Chorus
NHK Symphony Orchestra; Charles Dutoit, conductor
Christmas Day 1996
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHsN-IVtpZs
Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ni7cgSnjyo
Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm82Bq_KEwI

More information about the music:

Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia — Program Notes
Arthur Honegger: Une Cantate de Noël
http://www.mcchorus.org/prognt13.htm

Honegger began work on Une Canate de Noël in 1940 in collaboration with the Swiss poet Caesar von Arx, whose La Passion de Selzach formed the basis of the libretto. When von Arx committed suicide following the death of his wife, Honegger put the work aside until 1953, when he received a commission from the Basel Chamber Orchestra. Scored for baritone, chorus, children's chorus and orchestra, the work was premiered in December, 1953 and was to be Honegger's last composition.

Honegger imbued the cantata with a dramatic sweep, viewing it as the progression of man from darkness into light. After a somewhat dissonant instrumental introduction, the chorus enters with a wordless lament, like a longing for something imperfectly perceived, something which cannot be put into words. When it is finally articulated, Honegger uses the opening lines of Psalm 130, "Out of the depths I cry unto thee; O Lord, hear my voice." It seems an unusual text for a Christmas cantata, especially since that text is used liturgically in remembrances of the dead, but the psalm continues, in text which Honegger does not set but rather implies, "Let Israel wait for the Lord, for with the Lord is mercy, and he will redeem Israel from all their sins." This becomes explicit as the chorus builds to an anguished cry O viens Emmanuel! (O come, Emmanuel!). The children's chorus, like a choir of distant angels, provides a reassuring reply while the baritone solo sings the words the angel spoke to the shepherds announcing the birth of Christ.

The middle section of Une Cantate de Noël is in the form of a quodlibet, with five different Christmas carols being freely quoted. The effect is unusual, though, for the carols are sung simultaneously, with phrases or even single words being passed from voice to voice within the chorus. At one point carols in both duple and triple meters are being sung simultaneously. Honegger was a great admirer of the polyphonic style of Bach and this section represents polyphony in a thoroughly 20th-century idiom. The carols are each sung in their own language — Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen, Stille Nacht and O du fröhliche in German, Il est né in French and From Heaven on High in English. This not only serves to clarify the music but also represents the universality of the Christmas experience for Honegger.

The final section opens with the children's chorus singing another universal hymn of praise, the opening of Psalm 117 (Praise the Lord, all ye nations), in plainsong chant. The chorus picks up this text in an exuberant and joyous waltz, with the children's choir floating above with a chorale-like tune. An instrumental postlude reprises some of the carol music, bringing Une Cantate de Noël to a conclusion.

 

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