Antonio Vivaldi - Gloria
Gustav Holst - Christmas Eve
Pavel Tschesnekoff - Salvation is Created
This week my goal was to have fun. I wanted to do pieces that for me feel like Christmas. This is my first year in a church that truly observes and understands the meaning and purpose behind Advent so for me there is a real sense of arrival as we prepared the music for Christmas Eve.
The Vivaldi Gloria RV 589 is one of two surviving settings of the Gloria by Vivaldi a third is thought to have been written but has been lost. This piece is an exuberant and accessible (both very important qualities at Christmas) setting of the Gloria. The energy for this piece comes primarily from the highly motivic accompaniment with its leaping octaves and tremolos. This piece was likely composed for the choir of the Ospedale della Pietà a convent, orphanage, and music school where Vivaldi was employed. This Baroque gem is filled with bursts of energy and for me is a fitting setting for Christmas Eve.
Christmas Day by Gustav Holst is a piece that I first encountered about 5 years ago when looking for a Christmas Eve anthem. I found this piece but tucked it away for the right group. I was pleasantly surprised to find it in the library at St. David’s. Also, I was told by Mr. Hannett that the choir has a bit of a Holst connection from their trip to England which made me even more pleased with my choice. The piece features four familiar carols that are strong together utilizing soloists and passages for the full choir with colorful accompaniment from the organ (I even get to use the Zimbelstern if that’s not Christmas I don’t know what is.)
For the communion anthem we turn to the Russian school and the music of Pavel Tschsnekoff the great choirmaster and conductor. His anthem Salvation Is Created was introduced to me as a piece for concert band. I more recently encountered it (oddly enough at the same church I found the Holst at) in its original form for choir. Tschesnekoff taught at the Moscow Conservatory wrote for the Russian Orthodox Church but when Communism was established in Russia the church closed its doors and in order to save his family he never wrote another piece of sacred music. It is unlikely that he ever heard this piece performed. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall this piece has become the unofficial anthem of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The organ music for Christmas Eve is a smattering of settings of (mostly) familiar carols by some well and some lesser-known composers. The pieces are designed to invite us into the Christmas season and to help prepare us for the worship experience.
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