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
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
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
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
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
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
