The Bells of Saint Petersburg

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At The Listeners’ Club, every Christmas we remember Karl Haas, the German-American musicologist and host of the long-running radio program, Adventures in Good Music. One of the program’s most popular episodes, The Story of the Bells, aired for many years on Christmas Eve. It documented the varied sounds of church bells across Europe and the Middle East. As the bells of Zurich faded away in the episode’s opening moments, with infectious enthusiasm Haas declared, …

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Rachmaninov’s “Rejoice, O Virgin”: Robert Shaw Festival Singers, Tenebrae

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Rejoice, O Virgin (Ave Maria) forms the sixth movement of Sergei Rachmaninov’s All-Night Vigil, Op. 37 (also known as the “Vespers”). Scored for a cappella chorus, the All-Night Vigil was composed over the course of two weeks in January and February of 1915. It has been called “the greatest musical achievement of the Russian Orthodox Church.” The monumental liturgical work, completed during the First World War, represents the culmination of a sacred musical tradition …

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The Italian Christmas Concerto: Music of Corelli, Vivaldi, and Locatelli

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In one of Italy’s most enduring Christmas traditions, shepherds from the mountains enter towns to perform carols on the piffero (a reed instrument similar to the oboe) and the zampogna (a kind of bagpipe). The impromptu concerts recall legends in which shepherds in Bethlehem celebrated the birth of Jesus through the music of their pipes. These rustic sounds enter the Baroque Christmas concerto, a form of concerto grosso popularized by numerous composers …

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Schoenberg’s “Weihnachtsmusik” (“Christmas Music”): A Chamber Fantasia

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As dean of the Second Viennese School, Arnold Schoenberg was one of the twentieth century’s greatest exponents of atonal music. Yet, Schoenberg resisted dogma. Long after developing his twelve-tone system, he asserted that “there is still much good music to be written in C major.” Weihnachtsmusik (“Christmas Music”) is one of the rare pieces in which Schoenberg embraces the tonal consonance of C major. Composed in 1921, the brief fantasia is scored for …

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Ives’ “Adeste Fideles” in an Organ Prelude: Inversion and Bitonality

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Charles Ives (1874-1954) led a fascinating duel life as a Yale-educated insurance executive and a maverick composer. By the age of 14, Ives was also a professional church organist. Between 1889 and 1902, he “held a series of six posts as an organist or organist-choir master at Congregational, Baptist, Episcopal, and Presbyterian churches in Danbury, New Haven, Bloomfield (New Jersey), and New York.” (James B. Sinclair) The virtuosity of his organ playing …

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Debussy’s “Christmas for Children Who No Longer Have a Home”: A Carol of Patriotism and Defiance

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In 1915, German armies occupied much of France, and Paris fell under aerial bombardment via Zeppelin airships and mono and biplanes. Throughout Europe, civilians were displaced. In December of 1915, Claude Debussy composed the brief popular song, Noël des enfants qui n’ont plus de maison (“Christmas for Children Who No Longer Have a Home”). The raging words, also written by Debussy, form a prayer for French children, orphans, and the homeless. It …

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Handel’s “Ah Mio Cor” from “Alcina”: Julia Kirchner and Operatic Puppetry

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Handel’s 1735 opera, Alcina, tells a fantastic story of sorcery, harrowing adventure, and heartbreak. The beautiful and treacherous Alcina seduces all of the men who land on her enchanted island. Eventually growing tired of each of her lovers, she transforms them into animals, plants, or stones. When the dashing knight, Ruggiero, falls under Alcina’s spell, his fiancée, Bradamante, seeks to rescue him. Bradamante is disguised as her brother, Ricciardo. Her plan is …

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