The MSO’s annual presentation of “A Madison Symphony Christmas” has become a beloved musical holiday tradition in Madison. This year includes everything you’ve come to expect: fine choral performances by the Madison Symphony Chorus, Madison Youth Choirs, and a rousing Gospel conclusion led by the Mt. Zion Gospel Choir. We also welcome two fine vocal soloists, Madison-based soprano Vanessa Becerra, and baritone Craig Irvin.

For many years Joy to the World was credited to Handel—who almost certainly did not write it. One of the first to publish the melody, hymn writer William Holford printed it with Handel’s name in the early 1830s, probably because of its close resemblance to a few bits from the ever-familiar Messiah. The great Methodist hymn writer Lowell Mason also credited Handel when he revised the tune in 1839 and used it to set the Christmas hymn text Joy to the World by Handel’s contemporary Isaac Watts. While Mason usually gets credit for this melody, the composer of the original version remains a mystery. It is heard here in a suitably grand arrangement by Mack Wilberg, conductor of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir since 2008.

Next is a piece of genuine Handel, a brilliant aria from his oratorio Messiah. In 1717, George Frideric Handel moved to England to compose and produce opera. For nearly two decades, Handel was the most successful opera impresario in England, but by the 1730s, Italian opera had gone out of fashion, and he turned increasingly to the English oratorio. His oratorios—dramatic renderings of Biblical stories familiar to his English audiences—were enormously successful, and their popularity endured and grew long after Handel’s death. Messiah of 1741 is, of course, Handel’s most enduring hit, but it is somewhat unusual among his oratorios in that his text is a pastiche of direct quotes from the “King James” version of the Bible. The baritone aria The Trumpet Shall Sound, comes from Part III. This adapts the da capo form heard in most of his earlier opera arias. It opens with a brilliant trumpet passage, and when the bass enters it is with sweeping fanfare motive of his own. Baritone and trumpet weave counterpoint around one another in the opening section. The baritone is left alone for the more pensive middle section, before a joyful ornamented repeat of the opening.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart created a large body of music for the Catholic church: eighteen Masses (including the unfinished Requiem), four Litanies, three Vespers, and dozens of shorter settings of Latin texts. While much of this liturgical music was composed for the Archbishop of Salzburg, the solo motet Exsultate jubilate, composed a few days before Mozart’s seventeenth birthday, was written during a visit to Milan in the winter of 1772-73 Exultate jubilate was not originally composed for a woman’s voice, but rather for the castrato Venanzio Rauzzini, who had sung the principal role in Mozart’s opera Lucio Silla a few weeks earlier, in December of 1772. This piece is not really a motet in the traditional sense, though it does set a Latin text for the Virgin Mary, but a sort of operatic scena for soprano and small orchestra. (The text may have been written by Rauzzini himself, a noted composer in his own right.) The style is that of Mozart’s opera buffa, with three arias grouped around a central recitative. The opening section, Exsultate, jubilate, is a joyous aria with an orchestral introduction, giving extensive play to the word psallat (sing). The brilliant concluding Alleluia is frequently performed as an independent coloratura showpiece.

Alfred Burt was born in Michigan, son of an Episcopal minister. He spent most of his all-too-brief career working as a jazz trumpeter and arranger. He is best known today for a series of fifteen fine Christmas carols he wrote beginning in 1942. Burt’s carols were first intended only for the annual family Christmas card, sent out to his father’s parishioners, and to Burt’s family and friends. Fortunately for us, he began to let them circulate more widely in the early 1950s, and while he was stricken with lung cancer, he conducted a recording of the first twelve carols in Hollywood in 1953. That year, Burt wrote three new carols, including Caroling, Caroling, completing them just months before his death at age 33. The full collection of Alfred Burt Carols was published in 1957. Caroling, Caroling, like many of Burt’s later carols had a text by Wilha Hutson, the organist at his father’s church and a family friend. It was a huge hit for the singer Nat “King” Cole in 1960 and this song remains the most often-performed of Burt’s carols.

Everywhere Christmas Tonight was written in 2011 by noted choral composer Joseph Martin. This is a rollicking setting of an exuberant 19th-century poem by Phillips Brooks, in an arrangement for treble voices by Brant Adams. Michael W. Smith is a huge star in Contemporary Christian music: a winner of several Dove Awards, a sought-after songwriter, and a popular singer in his own right. His All is Well, composed in 1989, is a wonderfully simple setting of words by Wayne Kirkpatrick. It is well-suited to this emotional arrangement, by Ronn Huff for vocal soloists and young voices.

Franz Joseph Haydn, in his sixties when he completed The Creation in 1798, considered this massive oratorio to be his greatest accomplishment, and a personal statement of faith. It was clearly inspired by Handel’s Messiah. (Haydn heard a festival performance of Messiah in May of 1791 while in England, and was profoundly moved, reportedly bursting into tears during the Hallelujah chorus.) The Creation likewise sets a series of quotations: in this case, extracts from the “King James” version of the Bible: from the first two chapters of Genesis and the Psalms. Interspersed with these Bible verses are passages adapted from Milton’s Paradise Lost. Parts I and II tell the story of the first six days of creation, narrated by Milton’s angels, while Part III is set in the Garden of Eden. As with Handel, the chorus plays a central role in the drama. Here we present the final chorus, Sing the Lord, ye Voices All. Capping a long, passionate duet by Adam and Eve, this is a grand closing to the oratorio, launching into a rousing fugal setting of the final words, “Jehovah’s praise for ever shall endure. Amen.”

Next is the well-known Sussex Carol (On Christmas Night All Christians Sing). This text was first published in 1684 by an Irish bishop, Luke Waddinge, though it is possible that Waddinge merely printed a hymn already in circulation. The carol was certainly part of the folk tradition in Britain, and it circulated with a few different melodies. The now-universal tune for the Sussex Carol was transcribed in about 1900 by the English song-collector Cecil Sharp and his student Ralph Vaughan Williams. Vaughan Williams heard this melody from a woman in the English county of Sussex, and published it as the Sussex Carol in 1919. It is heard here in an enjoyably “over-the-top” arrangement for orchestra and organ by Richard Elliot that manages to work in several sly references to the Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony!

As always, we return to Handel’s Messiah for the finale of our first half: the concluding Hallelujah chorus from Part II. This chorus, undoubtedly the single most famous work by Handel, has been a sensation since the first performance of Messiah in Dublin in 1742. The chorus is heard today in contexts that Handel—tireless self-promoter though he was!—never dreamed of: movies, TV ads and sitcoms, and in cover versions in styles ranging from gospel and jazz to rock, punk, and rap. The music is in no danger of becoming a mere cliché, however: it remains true to Handel’s original intent. Following the first performance of Messiah in London, the composer remarked: “My Lord, I should be sorry if I only entertained them. I wished to make them better.”

We open the second half with a feature for the orchestra. Composer Noel Regney and his wife, lyricist Gloria Shayne Baker wrote the Holiday standard Do You Hear What I Hear? in 1962 and it became a huge hit for Bing Crosby in 1963, selling over a million copies. Though usually heard as a sentimental song to the Baby Jesus, Regney later said “I am amazed that people can think they know the song, and not know it is a prayer for peace.” It was written in October 1962, at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, when nuclear war with the Soviet Union seemed imminent. Contrary to their usual practice, Regney wrote the lyric, and his wife wrote the melody. The result was a song that they found so moving that they couldn’t bear to sing it at first. The final stanza, with its “Pray for peace, people everywhere!” makes this as appropriate in 2024 as it was in 1962. It is heard here in a rich orchestral arrangement by Todd Hayen.

The most familiar of all holiday songs, Jingle Bells, was written in the 1850s by James Pierpont: a Unitarian minister, organist, photographer, and sometime songwriter who worked in Massachusetts California, Georgia, and Florida. Jingle Bells, published in 1857, was not intended as a “Christmas song” at all, but rather as a “sleighing song”—a popular genre at the time. Pierpont’s song caught on in the later 19th century, when it gained its exclusive association with the Holiday season. The lively arrangement presented here is by the eminent English choral director and arranger David Willcocks.

Next is a pair of Christmas villancicos (carols) from South America, in an arrangement by Madison’s own Scott Gendel, beginning with La buena nueva (The Good News) This was written in the early 1960s by Peruvian songwriter Mario Cavagnaro Llerena, a singer who strongly identified as criollo, a musical culture that freely mixes Spanish and Peruvian indigenous heritages with influences from across Latin America. the song was first recorded in 1965, and became a hit throughout South America. This lively Christmas tune is in the style of the Huayno—an ancient Andean form with roots in pre-Columbian music. Mi burrito sabanero (The Little Donkey from the Savannah – also known as The Little Donkey from Bethlehem). The popular Venezuelan singer and songwriter Hugo Blanco wrote this charming children’s song in 1972. The original song channeled the infectious rhythm of joropo—folk music of the vast grassland that stretches across Venezuela and Columbia—but the song has proven to be endlessly adaptable in a variety of styles. It became popular across Latin America in a 1974 cumbia-style recording by the children’s group La Rondollita, but since then has been recorded in Mariachi style, by Salsa bands, in a pop-style version by the Columbian star Juanes, and in Reggaeton remixes. Mr. Gendel provides the following note:

“Both La buena nueva and El burrito sabanero are delightful South American songs about getting nearer to Christmas morning, anticipation building as the birth of Jesus gets closer and closer. To depict that growing excitement, my arrangement begins with a lovely pastoral sound, but repeatedly changes to higher keys, faster tempos, and increased rhythmic complexity, until the medley ends with maximum wild energy, in a very different place than it began. First, the piece features a fairly straightforward arrangement of La buena nueva that incorporates some lush harmonies along with Peruvian rhythms. The “chorus” of that song is introduced by propulsive brass and percussion, kicking the energy up a notch as the medley transitions towards El burrito sabanero. That song takes a faster tempo, and has a less traditional arrangement (continuing its history as adaptable to so many different styles). My arrangement of El burrito sabanero dances with lighthearted jubilation until finally erupting with glee into a percussion section feature (drum solo!) that speeds up the tempo and ups the stakes once more. Finally, nearly twice as quickly as the medley began, La buena nueva returns with great excitement, in a higher key, with the brass playing El burrito sabanero in counterpoint, both songs combining into a frenzy of wild exuberance that whirls into a final flourish, nearly exhausted with anticipation for the coming of Christmas.”

My Grown Up Christmas List, was written in 1990 by lyricist Linda Thompson-Jenner and composer David Foster. This lovely song tells of an adult revisiting Santa and listing a more mature set of wishes: for peace, healing, friendship, justice, and love. It was first recorded in 1990 by Natalie Cole, but has also been covered by Kelly Clarkson, Amy Grant, and many others—a contemporary holiday classic.

Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town was written in 1932, a collaboration between composer J. Fred Coots, and lyricist Haven Gillespie. The song was not introduced until the Holiday season of 1934 by radio star Eddie Cantor, but it was popular as soon as it hit the airwaves, undoubtedly lifting the spirits of Americans in the depth of the Great Depression. This durable song sold millions of records for singers from Bing Crosby to Gene Autry to Perry Como to the Andrews Sisters, and even inspired an animated television special in 1970. Fast forward to 1995... For one of its early “Holiday Spectacular” concerts in 1995, the Madison Symphony Orchestra commissioned Jazz arranger Frank Mantooth to create an updated version of the song for that season. Mantooth’s swinging arrangement, building on a choral arrangement by Kirby Shaw, was premiered in December 1995 by the Madison Boychoir. Mantooth later adapted the piece for the larger Madison Symphony Chorus.

Randol Alan Bass’s Christmas Ornaments is a lushly-orchestrated choral fantasia on several familiar holiday tunes. The section labelled labeled Bell Carols, brings together a pair of bell-themed carols, beginning with Ding, Dong, Merrily on High, whose lively tune was adapted from a 16th-century dance. The familiar Carol of the Bells was written in 1916 by the Ukrainian composer Mykola Dmytrovich Leontovych for a Christmas concert by students in Kiev. The carol, originally part of a choral work titled Schedryk, was inspired by the traditional Ukrainian legend that all of the bells on earth rang of their own accord to announce the birth of Christ. The Carol of the Bells is a tintinnabular sound portrait of the pealing of bells of all sizes.

We end, as always, with a performance by Mt. Zion Gospel Choir, in arrangements written specifically for these concerts by the group’s director, Leotha Stanley. The first of these brings together two beloved and gentle Christmas songs, beginning with What Child is This. The lovely tune Greensleeves seems to have originated in 16th-century England, though it has never been clear who composed it. One story credits this song to none other than King Henry VIII, who supposedly wrote it for his lover and second wife Ann Boleyn. It’s a great story...but there is no evidence that it is true; though Henry was, in fact, an accomplished composer. In 1871, Sir John Stainer adapted this tune to set a Christmas hymn by William Chatterton Dix, What Child Is This. One of the most popular Christmas songs of recent years—Mary, Did You Know?—was written as a lyric in 1984 by singer Mark Lowry, as an interlude for a church Advent play. In an interview several years later, Lowry said, “I tried to picture Mary holding the baby Jesus on the first Christmas morning and wondered what she was thinking about that child...when I wrote it, I felt there was something special there, but I never imagined how wide-reaching it would become.” In 1990, composer Buddy Greene set the lyric to music, and the song quickly caught on, with recordings by some three dozen singers. It became a huge hit for American Idol star Clay Aiken in 2004 and remains an often-covered holiday favorite. It is heard here in a moving arrangement for soprano and full orchestra. Christmas Greeting, a Stanley original, was introduced at these concerts in 2012. Our grand finale, led by the Mt. Zion Gospel Choir, and featuring everyone on stage, is O Holy Night. Though he was respected in his day as composer of operas and ballet scores (including the well-known Giselle) Adolphe Adam is known to American audiences almost exclusively for his Christmas carol Cantique de Noël. Written in 1847 as a setting of a Christmas poem by Mary Cappeaux, this carol was later adapted by J. S. Wright with the English text O Holy Night.

And then, friends, it’s your turn to sing!

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program notes ©2024 by J. Michael Allsen