Saturday, December 14, 2024, Trinity Lutheran Church, Worcester and livestreamed
Sunday, December 15, 2024, Old South Church, Boston

The Darkest Midnight in December         18th c. Irish carol

Chant de L’Eglise en Concerto (excerpts)         Esprit-Joseph-Antoine Blanchard (1696-1770)

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing         Samuel Arnold (1740-1802)

Sinfonia in Pastorale         Pietro Antonacci (18th c.; dates unknown)

Frohe Hirten eilt from Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248          Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Como aunque culpa         Manuel de Zumaya (c.1678-1755)

Lulajze, Jezuniu          Trad. Polish carol, arr. by F. Chopin (1810-1849) and the ensemble

Hört der Menschenkinder all          George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

Engel Gottes künden          Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart (1791-1844)

Oh Lovely Peace from Judas Maccabaeus, HWV 63          Handel

Pastorella a 3          Daniel Alois František Milcinský (1732-1808)

Siehe! Der Herr kommt gewaltiglich, GWV 1102/27          Christoph Graupner (1683-1760)

Carley DeFranco, soprano
Carrie Cheron, mezzo-soprano
Jonas Budris, tenor
Suzanne Stumpf, traverso
Sarah Darling and Jesse Irons, violins
Marcia Cassidy, viola
Daniel Ryan, cello
Kelly Savage, harpsichord

These concerts are supported, in part, by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

Program Notes

This program encompasses a broad variety of Yuletide works from the 18th century, selected from many nationalities across the Western Hemisphere. The featured composers run the gamut from some of the most beloved Baroque masters in our modern vernacular to mysterious musicians about whom little biographical information has surfaced.

The carol The Darkest Midnight in December is from the small village of Kilmore in County Wexford, Ireland. It is among a group of carols that has been preserved through oral tradition since the mid-18th century. It is thought that the parish priest Peter Devereaux started this tradition and, at least until the 1980s, a member of the Devereaux family has always participated in the singing and teaching of these carols to the younger generations.

The French noël’s origins can be traced to the 13th century. By the 15th century, the noël developed into the form that characterized it through the 18th century—a strophic song sung in the local language, often of folksong roots. By the 17th century, completely instrumental noëls began to appear. E.-J.-A. Blanchard was one of many French Baroque composers who created instrumental settings of popular noël melodies. He served at various churches in southern France before his appointment to the Chapelle Royale in Versailles. His noël settings, entitled Chant de L’Eglise en Concerto, are his only surviving instrumental works.

Hark! The Herald Angels sing was composed by the Englishman Samuel Arnold. Early in his career he wrote for the London theatres, then served as organist at the Chapel Royal and Westminster Abbey. When organs started to appear in New England churches at the end of the 18th century, repertoire using organ began to be published in the region. This anthem was included in the collection Harmonia sacra, first compiled and published in London by Thomas Butts in 1767 and reprinted in Andover, Mass. in 1816.

The original manuscript source for Pietro Antonacci’s Sinfonia in Pastorale is found in the library of the Conservatory of Milan and dates from the mid-18th century. No biographical information about Pietro Antonacci survives. An intriguing feature of this piece is that the central Pastorale movement contains a setting of the Neapolitan folk song Quanno nascette ninno. (As Handel’s aria He Shall Feed His Flock from Messiah bears a strong resemblance to that folksong, it is very likely that Handel took inspiration from that folksong as well.) 

Johann Sebastian Bach’s masterful aria Frohe Hirten eilt is from Part II of his Christmas Oratorio. It delightfully conveys the hurrying of the shepherds to the manger through virtuosic running passagework in the tenor and flute lines.

The Mexican musician Manuel de Zumaya is the first known classical composer of indigenous descent. A highly-respected composer, he was maestro at the Mexico City and Oaxaca cathedrals. His evocative cantata Como aunque culpa uses the harmonic progression of a descending scale in the bass line, coupled with an upwardly spiraling repeated melody in the trebles. Its text is about the coming of Christ to repair the damage to mankind and the earth brought on by the fall of Adam.

Lulajze, Jezuniu is a Polish carol dating from the 17th century. Frédéric Chopin incorporated this sweet lullaby in the calm central section of his frenetic Scherzo op. 20 for piano. Chopin’s beautiful setting of this lullaby inspired us to create our version for chamber ensemble.

The aria Hört der Menschenkinder all is a period arrangement of an aria from Handel’s opera Alexander Balus. In this version the arranger substituted a Christmas text and reduced the instrumentation, creating an intimate chamber version.

Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart was the younger of the two surviving children of W.A. Mozart and his wife Constanza. Franz Xaver was an esteemed composer in his own right, admired by Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann.The duet Engel Gottes künden is a work in the style of the rustic pastorella of southern Germany and Austria, with a folksong character that includes imitations of the hurdy-gurdy in the instrumental parts.

Oh Lovely Peace is taken from Handel’s outstanding oratorio Judas Maccabaeus. This aria, near the conclusion of the work, celebrates the arrival of peace after the long struggle of the Jewish people against religious oppression.

Daniel Alois František Milcinský was a Czech composer for whom no biographical information has been found. His Pastorella a 3 is a two-movement work that includes a lilting rustic pastorale, followed by a fugal movement that contains quirky modal elements and surprising harmonic modulations.

Christoph Graupner’s early musical training included studies at the Thomasschule in Leipzig under Johann Schelle and Johann Kuhnau. He later composed for and performed at the Hamburg opera and in 1712 become Kapellmeister at the court of Darmstadt. It was there that he wrote the majority of his works, encompassing more than 1,000 cantatas and hundreds of instrumental compositions. His cantata Siehe! Der Herr kommt gewaltiglich was composed in 1727 for the second Sunday in Advent. Its
fiery text by the court librettist J.C. Lichtenberg along with texts from Isaiah, is intended to instruct and inspire the listener to renounce the corrupt ways of the world and prepare for the arrival of the savior as a man and for the “new Eden above.” As is the nature of Graupner’s writing, the instrumental motifs and harmonies amplify and enhance the delivery of the texts. This performance marks the modern- day premiere of the work. 

—DANIEL RYAN AND SUZANNE STUMPF