#ClassicsaDay #ClassicalHoliday Week 4 2024
By Ralph Graves
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. Here are my selections for the fourth and final week of #ClassicalHoliday.
12/23/24 Jan Pieterzoon Sweelinck: Nun freut euch, lieven Christen gmein
Sweelinck’s music became the standard for sacred music throughout Europe. Although he never traveled far from Antwerp, his works appear in contemporary collections from England to Italy.
12/24/24 Randall Thomson: Alleluia
Thomson is best remembered for his choral works. “Alleluia” was commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky for the inaugural opening of the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood.
12/25/24 Ralph Vaughan Williams: Hodie
This cantata was written in 1953 and dedicated to Herbert Howells. It premiered at the Three Choirs Festival in September 1954.
12/26/24 Roxanna Panufnik: The Christmas Life
Panufnik is one of Britain’s pre-eminent choral composers. She wrote this work in 2002.
12/27/24 Christoph Graupner: Frohlocke werte Chrsitenheig, GWV 1105/45
Graupner was a contemporary and friend with Telemann and J.S. Bach. He composed over 1,400 church cantatas. This work is one of over 50 he composed for the Christmas season.
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. Here are my selections for the fourth and final week of #ClassicalHoliday.
Next Month:
