As this Octave of Christmas begins to wind down (In the Roman Catholic Church, Christmas Day is celebrated over eight days, hence the word octave), I have reflected on how Christmas carols have been such a great influence in my life. I have found an “other wordly” quality within the melodies and texts, many of which are not part of the usual standard Christmas carol fare we hear in churches.
I know that this is quite contrary to the experience of many people I know. One of the most common complaints I hear from people during the commercial Christmas Season (from the Friday following Thanksgiving Day to Christmas Day), is the incessant noise pollution of Christmas songs being blared over the sound systems of retail stores of all types, radio and television commercials, and on radio and television programming. Indeed, the most irritating and annoying commercial this year was one by AT&T, with mock carolers adapting the Carol of the Bells in an attempt to tempt people to buy the newest incarnation of the iPhone.
The majority of commercial Christmas songs bear such names as “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree”, “Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire”, and their like; all largely forgettable sound dribble which instead of fighting the depression that accompanies the shorter days and long nights, only increases that depression. I am very grateful that American commerce has not appropriated any of my most beloved Christmas carols to appeal to the avarice of the public.
This blessed time following the commercial Christmas season is now free of all that sound clutter, and beginning with Christmas and the days following, at least to the feast of the Epiphany, traditionally, January 6th, we are able to finally focus on the birth of the Messiah. Liturgically, this is the time to sing and to listen to all those beloved carols that have touched and shaped our lives.
Now in my seventies, I reflect fondly on the carols of the Christmas Season. My two years in singing with the Chorale of the College of St Catherine’s (at the time, my alma mater, College of St Thomas had not become coed), under the direction of Dr. Maurice A Jones (not to be confused with the other infamous Dr. Jones aka Indiana Jones). The first Christmas concert, sung in the beautiful acoustics of the College chapel, was utterly magical for me. Maurie Jones introduced me to the beautiful Christmas motets of French composer Francois Poulenc, French carols, like Bring a Torch Jeanette Isabella, Masters in this Hall, plainchant, and so much more. All sung a capella, our voices played off the walls, ceiling, and floors of the chapel.
Bring a Torch Jeanette Isabella is a simple little French carol. Yet, within its simple melody and childlike lyrics, it has a great power to move the human heart to the wonder, the amazement, and the unbelievable joy of Christ incarnated in a little baby.
Bring a torch, Jeanette, Isabella!
Bring a torch to the stable call!
Christ is born, tell the folk of the village
Jesus is born, and Mary’s calling.
Ah! Ah! Beautiful is the Mother.
Ah! Ah! Beautiful is her Son!
It is wrong when the Child is sleeping,
It is wrong to talk so loud.
Silence, now, as you gather around,
Lest your noise should waken Jesus.
Hush! Hush! See how He slumbers;
Hush! Hush! See how fast He sleeps!
Softly now unto the stable,
Softly for a moment come!
Look and see how charming is Jesus,
Look at Him there, His cheeks are rosy!
Hush! Hush! See how the Child is sleeping;
Hush! Hush! See how He smiles in His dreams!
The main choral work that night in the Chapel at St Catherine’s was Francois Poulenc’s set of four Christmas motets. In contrast to the simplicity of Bring a Torch Jeanette Isabella, the choral settings of Poulenc were very challenging harmonically to sing. He engaged all sorts of vocal qualities, vocal textures, consonance and dissonance to nuance the Latin text upon which all four motets were based. There is a transcendence in the music that is very beautiful.
Quatre motets pour le temps de Noël
O magnum mysterium
et admirabile sacramentum
ut animalia viderent Dominum natum
jacentem in praesepio.
Beata Virgo cujus viscera
meruerunt portare Dominum Christum
(English Translations)
O great mystery
and wondrous sacrament
that animals might see the newborn Lord
lying in a manger.
Quem vidistis pastores dicite:
annuntiate pro nobis in terris quis apparuit.
Natum vidimus,
et choros Angelorum collaudantes Dominum.
Dicite quidnam vidistis,
et annuntiate Christi nativitatem.
(English translation)
Whom did you see, shepherds, speak,
tell us: on earth, who has appeared?
The newborn child we saw,
and choirs of Angels praising the Lord.
Tell of what you saw,
and announce Christ’s nativity.
Videntes stellam Magi
gavisi sunt gaudio magno:
et intrantes domum
obtulerunt Domino aurum,
thus et myrrham.
(English translation)
Upon seeing the star, the Magi
rejoiced in great joy:
and entering the house
they offered gold,
frankincense and myrrh.
Hodie Christus natus est
Hodie Salvator apparuit,
Hodie in terra canunt angeli
Laetantur archangeli,
Hodie exultant justi, dicentes:
Gloria in excelsis Deo,
[Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.
(English translation)
Today Christ is born.
Today the Savior appears.
Today angels sing to the earth,
Archangels rejoices.
Today the just rejoice, saying:
Gloria in the highest to God,
And on earth, peace to people of goodwill.
Alleluia.
I remember all the wonderful choral concerts played on Minnesota Public Radio. My favorite was always Dale Warland’s Singers, Echoes of Christmas Concert performed live, followed by the Lessons and Carols from King’s College in England. As a director of liturgy and music, I tried to schedule my rehearsals so that I would be free to listen to these concerts. When I could, I would try to record them on my cassette tape/radio player so I could listen to them again and again. When my kids got older, if I unable to reschedule a rehearsal to listen to the concert, I would ask one of my kids to record it for me. On the rare occasion, they would do it.
My all time favorite Christmas carol is a 16th century carol entitle, “Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day.” It is a carol that tells the story of the Jesus from the incarnation, through his passion and death, and ending with his resurrection. The Dale Warland Singers had a marvelous arrangement of the carol which focused only on the the story of the incarnation. Needless to say, when I directed music, I always worked this carol into the songs sung by the choir during the Christmas season.
Tomorrow shall be my dancing day;
I would my true love did so chance
To see the legend of my play,
To call my true love to my dance;
Chorus (sung after each verse)
Sing, oh! my love, oh! my love, my love, my love,
This have I done for my true love.
Then was I born of a virgin pure,
Of her I took fleshly substance
Thus was I knit to man’s nature
To call my true love to my dance.
In a manger laid, and wrapped I was
So very poor, this was my chance
Betwixt an ox and a silly poor ass
To call my true love to my dance.
The music of all these Christmas carols were never the standard carols pounded to death in churches. Whenever some of the standard carols were sung, it was usually with the skilled choral arrangements composed by John Rutter, Stephen Paulus and other outstanding choral composers.
Unlike the music pounded to death in stores and media, these carols had a way of transporting one to a deeper, reflective place, which Martin Buber would call the interior threshold in which one communes face to face with God; the place of origin in which the psalmist in Psalm 139 would say one was created by God. I often would sit in a quiet place, lit by a candle, and listen to the music. I thought of it as a grotto of both transcendence and immanence; transcendent is which it felt other worldly and immanent in that the presence of God was personally felt. This grotto of musical transcendence and immanence was a respite from the busyness of parish ministry.
From this place toward the end of the Octave of Christmas, we live in a world and a nation torn and shredded by war, violence, and violent political rhetoric. I still minister to families torn by divorce, domestic violence, and the deaths of loved ones. Many instead of finding any peace in the Holy Days of Christmas, just want to “get the damn season over with.” In order to cope or to forget, many enter into a modern version of the bacchanalia of the Winter Solstice. Clearly, the pablum of commercial Christmas music and all it represents, cannot treat the malaise that quite a few people feel. And yet, what makes this time of history any different from any other Christmas, including the first Christmas? The same violence, the same brokenness of today has been present through thousands of generations of human beings.
I hope and I pray that as this Octave of Christmas winds down, we may find a reprieve from all that tears our hearts. I pray that we may be able to create that quiet place, that grotto of transcendence and immanence in which we sit in peace with the God who created us. And, if you need a reprieve from the darkness of the world, play the Christmas carols that stir within you joy, peace, and mystery.
