Music for Winter

winter-webinar

Webinar: Tuesday, Jan. 18 at 8 pm Eastern Snow, ice, blasts of wind, grey cover of clouds, plus a some of those icy blue days of winter sunshine: winter is among us. For some of you “up North” as we say in the South, winter … Read more

Friday Performance Pick – 347

cantiga-santa-maria

Santa Maria, Strela do Dia The Cantigas de Santa Maria (Canticles to Saint Mary) consist of 420 poems written in the 13th century during the reign of Alfonso X of Castile (The Wise) (r. 1252-1284). These monophonic songs in medieval Galician-Portuguese songs honor the Virgin Mary. … Read more

From the Desk of Professor Carol

I always wanted memo paper with the phrase “From the desk of” printed up top. It sounded so grown up, especially in my day when typewriters were grown-up machines. Typists tended to be at least the age of high schoolers who took typing class and … Read more

Friday Performance Pick 346

auld-lang-syne

Anonymous, Auld Lang Syne I realized a little late—but not too late—that this performance of Auld Lang Syne was available to mark the New Year. Tradition dictates its singing at the stroke of midnight as a way of bidding farewell to the old year. We … Read more

Personent Hodie

nativity

Surprising us as it does every year, the eve of Christmas has arrived. In churches that follow the liturgical cycle, texts for today’s morning services still belong to the Advent cycle. But thereafter, someone from the altar guild will arrive, the violet cloths will be … Read more

Nativity Cradle Songs

Trevisani

Would you be surprised that the Cradle Song is a serious genre within the Western classical tradition? Of course, people everywhere sing to babies and need no musical training to do so! They generally pass on the same folk-based tunes their parents sang to them. … Read more

Seraphim

seraphim

‘Tis the season of Angels. They can be spotted midflight on Christmas cards, wrapping paper, and tree ornaments. In the marketplace, though, angels broke out of Christmas mode some time ago. Images of angels adorn almost anything these days, from jewelry and mugs to wallets … Read more

Sparkles

sparkles

There is a lot of sparkle around these days. Glitter-edged teddy bears, sparkly gel pens, sweaters with sequined appliqué, and let’s not forget those “fairy threads” women can weave into their hair. How did we come to be so steeped in sparkles? Looking back on … Read more

Pastoral

Shepherds

The coming of Christmas brings out a desire for a specific sound more rightly associated with summer: the pastoral music of shepherds. The word “pastoral” goes back to the Latin verb pascere (to lead to pasture, set to grazing, or cause to eat). From pascere … Read more

Fathers

de-la-Tour

On our minds is the subject of fathers, since tradition calls for the father of the family to light the fourth candle in the Advent wreath. So let us concentrate on the marvelous role model of fatherhood in the person of Joseph, the husband of … Read more