With nine days to go until Christmas, Beethoven’s birthday is the only day on which you reliably won’t be slammed with ho ho ho. Tune in to WWFM – The Classical Network to celebrate “Ludwig van” with nine hours of his music, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST.
While you’re there, consider supporting the station and, in the process, pick up a nice boxed set of Beethoven’s complete works on 86 CDs. Details available on the station’s home page, at wwfm.org, or by calling 1-800-232-1212.
Only 11 days to Christmas. Tune in this afternoon to hear music for the season by Howard Hanson, Joseph Jongen, Benjamin Britten and Cecilia McDowall. We’ll also mark the birthday anniversaries of Ron Nelson, Rosalyn Tureck, Christopher Parkening, and maybe even Spike Jones.
There’s a lot to celebrate this afternoon, as we continue our countdown to Christmas, from 4 to 7:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
Christmas now is drawing near.
Join me this afternoon to hear Rutland Boughton’s “Bethlehem,” a choral drama adapted from the 14th century Coventry Nativity Play. Composed in 1915, and written very much in the English pastoral idiom, the work incorporates settings of familiar carols, such as “O come, all ye faithful” and “The Holly and the Ivy.” If you gravitate toward the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams, I think you’ll really enjoy this.
It will come your way following today’s noontime concert, as I sit the board for a recorded program, “A Spanish Christmas Celebration,” featuring the Philadelphia-based Piffaro, The Renaissance Band. WWFM’s David Osenberg will co-host with Piffaro’s founders and artistic directors, Joan Kimball and Robert Wiemken.
Piffaro’s next set of concerts, “La Nochebuena,” will take place this weekend, at Trinity Center for Urban Life in Philadelphia on Friday at 7:30 p.m., the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill on Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and Immanuel Church Highlands in Wilmington, DE, on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. For more information, consult the group’s website at piffaro.org.
Rutland Boughton’s “Bethlehem” will begin at 2:00 this afternoon.
Join us today for theses ghosts of Christmases past, from noon to 4 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
So how soon is too soon to unleash the pent-up forces of Christmas? It’s less than two weeks away. I’ve got enough in my library, probably, to program the entire month, without repeating – and yet I’ve felt sheepish about already letting slip the fairly secular “Tuttifäntchen” by Paul Hindemith and Constant Lambert’s “Les Patineurs” (“The Skaters”) after Meyerbeer.
Where do I start? How much do I play? These are but some of the decisions that weigh on the conscience of the classical music programmer. In the full knowledge that I can’t please everyone, I will rouse my slumbering inner elf and gradually crank up the volume of egg nog and mistletoe.
It won’t be all glitter and ho ho ho. There may be a few more cantatas and oratorios than some would like. Then again, how many brass arrangements of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” can one take?
Wish me luck. We’ll also have music by Swedish composer Kurt Atterberg on the anniversary of his birth, this afternoon from 4 to 7 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.
IMAGE: Peace and goodwill – or else!
December 6 is the Feast of Saint Nicholas.
The historical and legendary Nicholas, fourth century Bishop of Myra, is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, travelers, brewers, prisoners, prostitutes, Russia, and of course children. THAT Nicholas is celebrated for his secret acts of charity, even if he could be rather short-tempered and a bit severe. Nicholas is said to have punched a few heretics, on occasion.
One famous episode tells of Nicholas saving three daughters of a poor man from a life of prostitution by tossing bags of gold down their chimney, thereby providing them with proper dowries. The episode is reflected in the familiar pawnbrokers’ symbol of three gold spheres suspended from a bar (and also the practice of hanging stockings by the chimney with care).
In another legend, three boys are slain by a butcher, chopped up and pickled in brine, with the goal of passing them off as ham. Nicholas restores the youths, and the butcher repents. The episode forms the basis of “Nicolas and the Pickled Boys,” from the cantata “Saint Nicolas,” by Benjamin Britten. I’ll be playing it this afternoon, sometime after our noon concert.
We’ll also hear the musical equivalent of Clement Moore’s conception of St. Nick in the “Santa Claus Symphony,” by 19th century Philadelphia composer William Henry Fry.
Today’s edition of “The Classical Network in Concert” will feature the Manhattan Choral Ensemble, in a program titled “Noel: Christmas in France.” It was recorded live last December at the Church of St. Jean Baptiste, East 76th Street and Lexington Avenue, in New York City. The ensemble’s next set of concerts, “A Russian Christmas,” will take place on December 9, at 8 p.m., and December 11, at 3 p.m., at St. Nicholas of Myra Orthodox Church, 288 East 10th Street, also in NYC. You can find out more at the choir’s website, http://www.mce.nyc.
I hope you’ll join me for Christmas and more (or Moore, as the case may be), from 12 to 4:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
IMAGES: The original “Bad Santa” (left); with Thomas Nast’s reinvention, after Clement Moore
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