The State of the Christmas Carol: 2020
by Ray Rojas
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We moved into the new decade of the 2020s with already some sadness in the Christmas carol world.
In the last decade we lost three former former directors of the Choir of King College, Cambridge. We also saw several retirements of people who have provided a host of carol recordings and performances in the last forty years.
In 2014, Edward Higgenbottam retired
after 35 years as director of music position at New College, Oxford. We also
had Rene Clausen who led many a Christmas festival at Concordia College leading
his last concert before his retirement. In 2018, Stephen Cleobury, director of
the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, directed his last Festival of Nine
Lessons and Carols. He later passed away in 2019. So it was a bit a gloomy, but
none knew how gloomy 2020 would be.
Twenty twenty came, and within a few months, the worldwide
pandemic had taken over headlines worldwide. Then, when 87% of the attendees
of a Seattle choir practice contracted COVID-19, fear ran across the choir
world. Although there was social distancing, sixty-one members got symptoms and
two died.
With governments locking things down across the globe,
and people self isolating, the classical music world practically shut down. Concerts
were cancelled and others moved outdoors. Performers were forced to distance at
performances often wearing masks. There was a hope the worse of the pandemic
would pass before the 2020 holiday season when Christmas concerts would take
place.
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The global pandemic deeply affected professional
musicians because this is their livelihood. One BBC radio essay focused on the
effect of the pandemic on composers. The majority of new commissions are for
the holiday season. If Christmas concerts, services, and masses were not going
to happen, no petitions for commissions were going to occur either. No
commissions, no honorariums for composers.
In the United States, church and state clashed regarding
religious gatherings even as some religious gatherings led to surges in
positive COVID-19 cases. Other religious groups voluntarily cancelled large
gatherings, often moving online. Open defiance of mask wearing and building
capacity restrictions made many to allege a “War or Christmas.”
In the United Kingdom, carol singing was somewhat banned to avoid people gathering. By the end of November, the state of many Christmas concerts and religious performances were in limbo. An effort led by John Rutter, Aled Jones, Tamin Little, Julian Lloyd Webber among others, sent an open letter to the British government advocating to let Christmas carols concerts and caroling proceed. The letter stated that Christmas carols were a “fundamental part of the UK’s culture.”
The government lessened restrictions, limiting indoor performances
to performers only. For caroling, it asked carolers stay two meters apart and away
from the threshold of houses.
World’s
Favorite Christmas Broadcast
It was the Superbowl of Carol Services that would be in
question. The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, performed at King’s College,
Cambridge by the Choir of King’s College has been the high mark of the
Christmas season for carol advocates.
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The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) broadcasts the
Christmas Eve service across the globe. In late November, the college announced
that there would be no congregation in the chapel this year. Although slightly
depressing because who does not love when the congregation joins the choir
singing “Once in Royal David’s City,” “Hark the Herald Angels,” or “O Come all
ye faithful” — we took it in good stride.
Within a week before Christmas, two choral scholars of
the choir tested positive for COVID-19. Although they only suffered mild symptoms,
this would mean the other choral scholars were probably exposed and would not
be able to participate in the Christmas Eve service. For those of you who do
not know who “choral scholars” are, they are usually the undergraduates who
sing with the trebles, the trebles being young boys.
From what I can gather, the choir was recording a backup
concert around the same time. With a forty-eight-hour notice, the King’s
Singers were asked to replace the choral scholars and the service was recorded.
The Telegraph called it, “The race to
save the nation’s favourite Christmas broadcast.”
Later, the college announced the services on Christmas
Eve would not be live, but the earlier recorded service would be broadcasted. The
college stated that with further lockdowns by the government as well as travel
restrictions, it would be irresponsible for the college to have singers, staff,
and faculty travel to Cambridge.
Virtual
Caroling
There was a great effort to have King's College's service broadcast
live. Many choirs and classical ensembles went virtual for their concerts. In
addition, where there use to be only a handful of cathedrals and great churches
that use to broadcast their compline, vespers, masses, and evensongs, now, many
went to virtual religious services. What you might never see in one’s lifetime,
you can suddenly see carols services from Ely Cathedral, see Conspirare
performing live from Austin, Texas, a live Christmas concert by singers in
hardhats from Notre Damn Cathedral in Paris.
In truth, as a Christmas carol fanatic, one found it hard
to keep up. You wanted to watch everything. Yet, this year we at Christmas Carols
& Sacred Music, we posted links to live performance after live performance.
Classical MPR, Classic FM, and Classical-Music.com, posted lists of online performances
as well.
Carol
Fandom
At Christmas Carols & Sacred Music, we also decided
to keep a running list of new Christmas classical albums instead of putting it
out after Christmas as we usually do. Furthermore, the list is to be “working,” meaning we will
continually update it with the assistance of the carol-loving community. We
also created a working list of carol premieres and Christmas musical commissions
because we saw the need to keep track of the new carols out there.
Among other news, one scholar in an article said, “Once
In Royal David’s City," ‘Away in a Manger," and "Good King
Wenceslas," were not "real" carols tempting us to look back at
the real carols of early music.
Chris Westbrook won the BBC’s Carol
competition. Alastair Boyd has won the TMC Choral Composition with his "A Hymn on the Nativity" (see it performed on the Toronto Mendelson Choir's Festival of Carols concert). The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King’s College did not have
a commissioned carol this year, although it did release a recording of "Peace on Earth" by Errollyn Wallen, one of the last carols King’s recorded
with Cleobury.
Various new Christmas recordings were released. Among
them, new recordings by Queen’s College Oxford, Winchester College Chapel
Choir, Trinity Boy’s Choir, Choir of St. John’s Cambridge, SWR Vokal Ensemble,
Musica Bohemica, Choir of Keble College Oxford, the Godwine Choir, Chanticleer
to mention a few.
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Favorite Carols
“O Holy Night” was voted the nation’s (UK)
favorite carol on Classic FM. Why does the United States not have a similar
survey? The choice of the favorite carol, often gives a measure of the mood of
the country. In the United States, we have to rely on Billboard, iTunes downloads, and Spotify plays of popular Christmas
music. Unfortunately, there is a desert of carols on these lists. Surveying
many of them, “O Holy Night” was the only carols listed. One list had “O Holy
Night” in the top 10 (sung by Josh Groban). The next carol ranked was “O Holy
Night” again at 65 (Carrie Underwood). On another list, The Bare Naked Ladies
recording of “God Bless You Merry Gentleman” ranked in the 70s. On the iTunes list, the Pentatonix version of the same carol barely cracks the top 100.
In 1906, “O Holy Night” was the first piece
of music to be broadcast on the radio. We at Christmas Carols & Sacred
Music have called “O Holy Night” the “Star-Spangled Banner” of Christmas carols
because so many soloists butcher it. Andrew Gant described “O Holy Night” as an
“art song,” one “meant for a soloist, preferably one as plump and confident as
the Christmas turkey.”[1] Gant
goes on saying, “It doesn’t’ really work sung by a choir, and certainly not by
a congregation.” There are some exceptions that prove him a little wrong, but
we half way agree with him. Those exceptions being John Rutter and John
William’s (Home Alone)(liners nots says it not his arrangement, but he had something to do with it) arrangements.
We can take these informal surveys as a measure of what the favorite carol in the States and the UK are in 2020. Observing the lyrics, maybe as we “Long lay” “in sin and error pining til He appears and the soul felt its worth,” bring some hope to self-reflections on sin.
Themes
However, in all the cancelations, moves from
live audiences to virtual, I notice new Christmas compositions and concerts this
year dealt with a variety of social justice topics, aside from the traditional
Christmas charity. With the rise of open racism and Fascism again, some
composers dealt with it by composing pieces about racism, reconciliation, and #BlackLivesMatter.
Other did concerts on themes of “All Earth is Hopeful,” “Sun of Justice, Reveal
of Dawn,” and “For Everyone Born.” Issues revolving around the pandemic have
piled on to the plight of the poor, the refugee, and the hungry — themes we
usually associate with Christmas. Others called for peace, much more than the
traditional carols' pleading. Others focused on reunions and hope after a year
of sequestering and socially distancing, that soon “we all will be together.”
New Carols
Even Mr. Christmas John Rutter appears to have written a carol on the whim as only he can do, writing “Joseph’s Carol” in honor of the Oxford Vaccine Group. It was premiered by the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra with Bryn Terfel. VocalEssence carol competition featured Travis Ramsey’s new carol on the tradition text “Little Lamb” as well as the premiere of Kim Andre Arnerson's "Nordic Christmas." Diana Burrells wrote of tradition greenery in “Green growth the holly” for the Choir of St. Catherine’s College, Cambridge. Also for the same college, a new version of “O Antiphones” by Christopher Fox.
For the Choir of Bath Abbey, Huw Williams
wrote a new version of “Away in a Manger.” For University College, Dublin, Ivo
Antognini used the text of “Christe Redemptor” for a really lovely new carol. Many
other new compositions and arrangements are mentioned on our post on the
subject.
The Bristol Choral Society asked Judith Wier
and Stephen Jackson to judge for its First Carol Competition in memory of Mary
Otty (Mary Otty Prize 2020). The five final carols were to be performed we
assume by the choral society in December. Wier states on her blog that there
were 70 submissions from around the world. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19
restrictions, the winners’ carols were not performed, but 1st Prize
went to Pamela Slatter ("I saw three ships"), with a motet by James Williams ("Christ’s Nativity") at 2nd. Weir
does not mention the place of the others, but states they were Mark Chaundy ("There is no Rose"),
Jamie Brown ("‘Nu tändas tusen Iuleljus’"), and Matthew Heyburn ("I saw a faire Maiden").
If we listen to the music historians, carols
were once dances, not necessarily songs. Carols were sung in secret during
religious oppression or even Puritan canceling of Christmas, carols were sung
in congregations like that first Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King’s
College in 1918 (though not the first Nine Lessons and Carols), a response to
the aftermath of World War I (199 former King's College choristers died in the war)[2] and like today, a global pandemic, the 1918 one
being the Flu Pandemic.
Despite our pandemic worries, carol writing
and singing continued in 2020, maybe in smaller places with smaller crowds, but
there was no reluctance to bring out the carol even though we had every right
to lament this year. All this new music and continued caroling occurred despite
the sickness, loneliness, and death that pervade our present time.
In my at-home carol music, I was moved to
take out the “grand” recordings with full orchestra, choir, and chorus with
brass heavily exaggerated, and I found I played these repeatedly. These were recordings
like the John Alldis Choir with the London Symphony or the Cambridge Singers
with the City of London Sinfonia. To use vaccination jargon, a much larger
dosage of carols was needed this year. Recordings like these satisfied that
craving. Maybe it was a longing for the live concert, or maybe the longing to
hear larger groups of people sing together.
On Christmas Eve, as I listened to the Choir
of King’s College and the King’s Singers finish the Festival, I knew it was not
a live broadcast, and I knew the congregation was not singing along. However,
the spirit of caroling still rang out in the chapel. “Hark the Herald Angels”
was being sung, ending the festival. As the first chords of “In dulci jubilo”
by Johanne Sebastian Bach blared out on the organ and the radio announcer
stated this had been a broadcast of the festival live from King’s College,
Cambridge, you still feel that warmth. As the lyricist (or poet) for “O Holy
Night” wrote in the original French text:
“ …love unites
those whom iron once held in chains…People, arise! Song of your deliverance.”
[1]
Gant, Andrew. The Carols of Christmas: A
Celebration of the Surprising Stories Behind Your Favorite Holiday Songs,
Nelson Books, 2015, p. 84.
[2] Summerley, Jeremy. "Carols from King's: Centenary Celebration," lecture for Gresham College 13 December 2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKdXgh8hG2Y&list=PLF7z6sStd01lZEjwpsj7GtJ-2SDL9UTk5&index=3&ab_channel=GreshamCollege
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