Music Notes – Sunday, December 24th:
This week’s musicians are UUCC Music Director Mike Carney, UUCC Pianist Karin Tooley, Amy Collins, The Chancel Choir, and numerous youth musicians from our congregation.
Pre-service Music – beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Astrid Burkle: The Star (Collins/Taylor)
Originally composed for youth choir, “The Star” is a musical interpretation of a poem of the same name, more commonly known as “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”, which was the most famous work of English poet and author Jane Taylor (1783-1824). The song was written by St. Louis-based composer Charles Collins.
Anya Ustin, vocal solo: White Christmas (Berlin)
When Irving Berlin first conceived the song “White Christmas”, he envisioned it as a throwaway — a satirical novelty number for a vaudeville-style stage revue. By the time Bing Crosby introduced the tune in the winter of 1942, it had evolved into something far grander: the stately yuletide ballad that would become the world’s all-time top-selling and most widely recorded song. (from Jody Rosen’s White Christmas: The Story Of An American Song)
Niko Ustin, piano: Joy to the World (Mason/Watts)
One of the best-known of sacred Christmas Carols, “Joy to the World” was written in 1719 by English minister, hymnwriter, and theologian Issac Watts (1674-1748). The tune is commonly misattributed to Georg Frideric Handel (1685-1759), but despite some similarities between this tune and the beginning of the “Lift Up Your Heads” chorus from Handel’s Messiah, musicologists agree that this carol was written by Watts, with some modifications made later by American composer and hymnist Lowell Mason (1792-1872).
Abs Burkle: The Christmas Waltz (Styne/Cahn)
“The Christmas Waltz” was written by lyricist Sammy Cahn (1913-1993) and composer Jule Styne (1905-1994) for iconic American singer and actor Frank Sinatra (1915-1998), who made the first recording of the song in 1954. “The Christmas Waltz” song is one of many classics written by Cahn and Styne – among their many other well-known songs are “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!”, “Three Coins in the Fountain”, and “The Things We Did Last Summer”.
Sophie Watkins and Becky Burns, piano duet: Ukrainian Bell Carol (Leontovich/Wilhousky)
The Ukrainian Bell Carol, commonly known as “Carol of the Bells”, was created by Mykola Leontovich (1877-1921) in 1916 as a variation of the Ukrainian folk song “Shchedryk”, which is about a sparrow and the bountiful year that awaits a family. The song was performed as a New Year’s carol for years until Peter J. Wilhousky (1902-1978) wrote the now-famous Christmas lyrics in 1936.
Glesius family: We Wish You a Merry Christmas (Traditional English Carol)
The traditional carol “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” dates back more than 400 years and likely originated in England or Wales. The carol itself is typical of an ancient “Wassail” carol, in which the carolers request (or sometimes even demand) food and drink in exchange for their singing.
Anya and Ella Ustin: Double Violin Concerto in D minor, 2nd movement (Bach)
Without question, Baroque master Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was one of the most important and influential composers in the history of European music. Bach’s output as a composer was wide-ranging, including choral, orchestral, and chamber works. Composed around 1730, Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, BWV 1043, was written to be part of a concert series Bach organized as the Director of the Collegium Musicum in Leipzig, Germany.
Opening Hymn: #253 O Come, All Ye Faithful – Wade
The traditional hymn “O Come, All Ye Faithful” was first published in France in 1851 under its original Latin title “Adeste fidelis”. There is some dispute over the original sources of the music and lyrics, but it is generally thought to have been written by English hymnist and educator John Francis Wade (1711-1786).
Centering Music: In the Bleak Midwinter – Holst/Rosetti
“In the Bleak Midwinter” (#241 in Singing the Living Tradition) is a lesser-known Christmas carol with words by the English poet Christina Rossetti (1830-1894), set to a gentle melody written by English composer Gustav Holst (1874-1934). On Christmas Eve, you’ll hear a piano improvisation on Holst’s melody by UUCC Pianist Karin Tooley.
Offertory: The Christians and the Pagans – Harris
Dar Williams (b. 1967 as Dorothy Snowden Williams) is an American author and singer-songwriter who is best known for folk music. Williams has five published books and has released 15 albums to date. She frequently tours with other artists, among them Ani DiFranco, Joan Baez, and Mary Chapin Carpenter. Released in 1996, “The Christians and the Pagans” tells the story of a pagan lesbian couple who spend the winter holidays with the devoutly Christian uncle of one of the women. As the song progresses, the couple and the older uncle begin to discover they are not as different as they originally believed and find a way to share a joyous season together. This Christmas Eve, you’ll hear “The Christians and the Pagans” sung by UUCC’s own Amy Collins, accompanied by Karin Tooley.
Hymn #244: It Came Upon the Midnight Clear – Sears
“It Came Upon the Midnight Clear” was written in 1849 by Edmund Sears (1810-1876), who was the minister at that time for the First Parish Unitarian Church of Wayland, Massachusetts – a church that is still around today, and recently celebrated their 375th year. Sears’ original poem, which was soon set to music, carried a message that was not often found in other hymns and carols of its day; a message that the world needs to hear now as much as it did then: an end to war and strife and a striving for peace on earth and goodwill to all.
Special Music: Breath of Heaven – Grant & Eaton, arr. Larson
“Breath of Heaven” was co-written by Amy Grant (b. 1960) and Chris Eaton (b. 1958) and released by Grant on her 1992 album Home for Christmas. Eaton is a British singer and songwriter who is primarily known for his work with Contemporary Christian artists, which include Grant as well as Cliff Richard, Jaci Velasquez, and several others. Amy Grant, who is a native of Augusta, Georgia, rose to fame during the 1980s in the world of Christian Contemporary music, eventually crossing over to mainstream pop music as well. Grant is a 6-time Grammy Award winner, has sold more than 30 million albums to date, and received Kennedy Center Honors in 2022. In our Christmas Eve service, “Breath of Heaven” will be sung by our Chancel Choir, accompanied by Lucy Carney and featuring soloist Molly Watkins.
Closing Hymn: #251 Silent Night – Gruber & Mohr
The origins of ‘Silent Night’ make for an interesting story: as legend has it, Joseph Mohr (1792-1848), the assistant priest at St. Nicholas Church in the Alpine village of Oberndorf, Austria learned the day before Christmas that the church organ was broken and would not be repaired in time for the Christmas Eve service. Mohr wrote three stanzas that could be sung by choir to guitar music, which was hastily written by the church’s organist and music director, Franz Gruber (1787-1863). “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht” was heard for the first time at that Midnight Mass in 1818. Today, Silent Night has been translated into more than 180 languages and has touched the hearts of millions of people.
-Mike Carney, UUCC Music Director