Holiday Cheer, Part 2

And now, the conclusion of Everett’s Top 10

5. I’ll be home for Christmas

In a time when so many servicemen and women are not able to celebrate Christmas with their loved ones, I feel it’s necessary to include this one on my list. It really speaks volumes about how cherished family time is, especially at this time of year.

4. Silent Night / First Noel

I know, I know. I cheated last time, and I’m cheating this time, including two songs under one line item. These are both such classics in terms of words and melody that I can’t bear to exclude one or the other. Of course, the first half of my list included mostly modern songs. With this pair of songs I am headed back a century. Both of these date back to the mid nineteenth century. While Stille Nacht has a composer that we know (Gruber), the First Noel has a more indeterminate history. We don’t really know who wrote the music, although we can trace it back to some songbooks from Great Britain in the 19th century.

3. Messiah

For those of you well acquainted with Handel’s Messiah, you will not question its inclusion here. If you don’t know it well or have never sung it, it is well worth it. It’s been reported that a number of poets have learned Italian simply to be able to read Dante’s Divine Comedy. I would say that a musical analogy, at least to sacred vocal music, would be that it would be worth learning to read music if only to be able to sing Handel’s Messiah. There are so many scriptures that I have memorized simply because I have sung the Messiah so many times. And while I’ve sung the Hallelujah chorus too many times for it to hold much of a special musical draw for me, there are so many other great arias and choruses… Thou wilt not leave his soul in hell, I know that my Redeemer liveth, Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows… And many, many more!

2. O Holy Night

Originally set to a French poem (Placide Cappeau) by the composer of French operas, Adolphe Adam, this is one of the most vocally rewarding of Christmas carols to sing. Maybe the fact that an opera composer wrote it has something to do with that. I mean, really, when it comes down to it, it’s an opera aria. So for those of you who say you don’t like opera, if you like this song, then you might want to give opera a chance. A special note regarding the lyrics: our well known English version differs significantly from the French in numerous respects. But just to iterate one of the key differences, instead of “O Night, Divine, O Holy Night” at the end, the French translates to “Christmas, Christmas, here is the Redeemer,” a much more fitting emphasis, to my understanding.

1. And finally, my favorite Christmas carol is . . . drum roll please . . . Adventi ének. I mentioned this in a Notes post back in 2007. And while I’m sure you don’t recognize it from this title. My favorite arrangement of this song is by the Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály. And you can view it here, courtesy of YouTube. The tune dates back hundreds of years and has a storied past. Please click on one of the links and give it a listen, if you are interested in finding out my favorite Christmas carol of all time.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!