Program Notes
Christmas Festival – Leroy Anderson
Leroy Anderson (1908 – 1975) was an American conductor, arranger, and composer. He wrote many light orchestral pieces with memorable, optimistic melodies. A Christmas Festival is a medley of traditional carols written for the Boston Pops Orchestra in 1950. Anderson selected eight of the most popular Christmas carols and one Christmas song, “Jingle Bells.” Using these songs, he built a concert overture that is about 9 minutes long. “A Christmas Festival” has long been a staple of concert performances for both bands and orchestras.
– Program Notes by Juanita Jackson, 2023
Deck the Halls – Carmen Dragon
Carmon Dragon was born in Antioch, California, near San Francisco Bay in 1914 and died in 1984. His parents were Italian immigrants, and there was music in the family. Dragon’s big musical break occurred in the 1930s, when a dance band arrangement he wrote caught the attention of future Music Man composer Meredith Willson, who, at the time, was the music director for the Western Division of NBC Radio. Impressed by his writing, Willson brought Dragon with him to Hollywood, and opened the door to him working in show business. Dragon conducted many orchestras, including the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra, and was a composer and arranger who also worked in radio, film, and television.
Dragon’s arrangement of Deck the Halls was recorded in 1957 by the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra. The first time Deck the Halls was published with English lyrics was in 1862. The popular Christmas carol that dates back to the 16th century and wasn’t always associated with Christmas. T he melody comes from a Welsh winter song called “Now Galan,” which is about New Year’s Eve.
– Program Notes by Juanita Jackson, 2023
Waltz of the Flowers – Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Tchaikovsky was born in 1840 in Votkinsk, Russia and died in 1893 in St. Petersburg, and he was the most popular Russian composer of all time. “Waltz of the Flowers” is the final dance in the second act of the ballet “The Nutcracker” where all the Sugar Plum Fairy’s sweets celebrate Clara and the prince. The waltz music, popular in Austrian, German, and French culture was among the most common ballroom dance forms in the 19th and 20th centuries. This ballet was premiered in 1892 and is based on E. T. A Hoffmann’s 1816 fairytale The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, which tells the story of a young girl who adventures into the ‘Land of Sweets’ on Christmas Eve. During this time Tchaikovsky was experiencing some emotional turmoil after the death of his sister. While he was at sea, Tchaikovsky penned much of the music for The Nutcracker, and often struggled for inspiration. He famously used his fear of mice to create the dynamic music for the army of mice and the battle. He used the love he had for his sister to create the iconic melodies from Waltz of the Flowers.
– Program Notes by Juanita Jackson, 2023
Stille Nacht – Franz Gruber
Stille Nacht (Silent Night) was written on Christmas Eve in 1818 in the Austrian Alps for a small village church’s special service to celebrate the Lord and Savior. Church organist Franz X. Gruber (1787-1863) composed this melody to go with a poem written by a local clergyman. Decades later, “Stille Nacht” has been translated into over 200 languages and has become one of the most universal religious songs of Christmas, and Chip Davis (b. 1948) arranged this instrumental version made famous by Manhein Steamroller. Mr. Davis is the founder of American Gramafone records, and produces very successful albums under the name of “Fresh Aire by Mannheim Steamroller”.
– Program Notes by Kate Prestia-Schaub, 2023
Sleigh Ride – Leroy Anderson
Sleigh Ride, written by Leroy Anderson is a light hearted orchestral standard played to the audiences delight each Christmas season. It was written over the course of 2 years and finished in February 1948. Leroy Anderson was one of the great American Masters of Light Orchestra Music. Ironically, Mr. Anderson started writing this piece in the summer of 1946 during a heat wave! The Boston Pops premiered this performance as well as recorded the piece in 1949.
– Program Notes by Kate Prestia-Schaub, 2023
Selections from Messiah – George Frideric Handel
George Fridric Handel 1685 – 1759
Geroge Fridric Handel’s Messiah was originally an Easter offering first performed in Dublin on April 13, 1742 and received its London premiere nearly a year later. When Handel had originally settled in London in 1712 where he lived for 49 years until his death in 1759 at age 74, there was a thriving Italian opera scene, but, due to the high expense of production and changing musical tastes, the audiences for opera had largely dried up. Handel had invested heavily in his own opera company and was facing financial ruin, so he started turning his attention towards oratorios which had the large-scale orchestra and voices of opera but without the costumes, scenery, and dialogue.
Handel composed Messiah in only twenty-four days, an extraordinarily brief span of time for such an iconic work. The Messiah’s move to Christmas was based more on marketing than on anyone suddenly realizing that the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ and other parts of the oratorio would magnify the significance of the celebration of Christ’s birth. For some years, Handel’s oratorio was part of both the Christmas and Easter holiday experiences, especially in England. But by the 1960s, the Messiah had been almost completely transformed into a Christmas event.
Messiah has remained popular for nearly 300 years because of the strength and enduring qualities of its melodies. Handel wrote Messiah in English, rather than German or Italian, which appealed to the middle class in England and Ireland, where the work first appeared back in the mid-1700s.
Scholars are divided on the story about standing during the Hallelujah chorus, a tradition said to have begun in 1743, when King George II rose from his seat, enthralled by the beauty of the music. Not wanting to offend the king, the audience also stood, which is still a tradition to this day. There is no evidence that King George the Second ever saw a performance of Messiah, or that he stood up during it, but this certainly does not stop audience members continuing to stand for this great work of music.
WENDI TURK
