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#ClassicsaDay #ClassicalChristmas Week 4
December is a time of traditions. And the Classics a Day feed is no different. We continue our tradition of making Classical Christmas our December theme.
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The challenge is to post music related to the season. So sacred works for Advent and Christmas, secular works about winter, or even just music written and/or premiered in December.
Here are my posts for the third week in December.
12/19/22 Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck: Hodie Christus natus est
Quite a few composers used this Gregorian chant as a starting point. For Sweelinck, it was an opportunity to explore the possibilities of polyphony.
12/20/22 Giovanni da Palestrina: Hodie Christus natus est
This setting comes from Palestrina’s third volume of sacred motets. This collection was published in Venice in 1575.
12/21/22 Giovanni Gabrieli: Hodie Christus natus est
Gabrieli set this traditional Christmas liturgical text in 1615.
12/22/22 William Byrd: Hodie Christus natus est
Byrd’s setting was published in Gradualia ac cantiones sacra, Liber 2, which came out in 1607. This volume featured 4-voice sacred music for Christmas and Epiphany.
12/23/22 Healey Willan: Hodie Christus natus est
Canadian organist and composer Willan wrote more than 800 works, most of them for voice. His setting of this text comes from 1935.