#ClassicsaDay #ClassicalChristmas 2024 Week 3
By Ralph Graves
lassicsaDay #ClassicalHoliday 2024 Week 3
December is a time of traditions. And #ClassicsaDay posing the #ClassicalHoliday challenge is one of them. In December, post classical performances in your social media feeds. The performances should be works written for a December event (sacred or secular) or composed in December.
For my part, I’ll be posting works from the Middle Ages up to the present. We really don’t have to put up with novelty Christmas tunes.
12/16/24 Michael Praetorius: Christmas Mass
Michael Praetorius was Kapellmeister for the Elector of Saxony in the 1610s. It is there that he most likely mounted this mass, which would have been performed on Christmas Day.
12/17/24 Max Reger: Weihnachstraum (Christmas Dream) Aus der Jugendzeit, Op. 17, No. 9
Reger published his collection of piano pieces “From my Youth” in 1902. One of the movements was a fantasy on “Silent Night.”
12/18/24 John Rutter: Angels’ Carol
Rutter wrote the text and the music for this carol. It was originally composed for a choral competition in the 1980s. It has since become one of his most-performed works.
12/19/24 Anon 11th C. Magnificat
The Liber Usualis is a book of commonly used Gregorian chants. It was compiled in the 11th Century and is organized by days of the church year. The Magnificat is traditionally sung during Advent.
12/20/24 Marc-Antoine Charpentier: Noel sure lest Instruments H. 534 No. 5 A la venue de Noel
Charpentier published two collections of popular French carols. The first “Carols for Instruments” volume came out in 1690. The second followed in 1693.
