Long, long ago, when I used to sing solos in Christmas programs, my standard was “What Child is This?” I made a point of doing all three variant choruses. I’m happy to note that the divine Sissel does the same (no doubt she was a fan of mine).
A blessed Christmas to you and yours.
Related to Lars’ American Spectator post on the sagas, here’s a classic western song with a bit of backstory.
I have only known one person in my life who died in war, that I’m aware of. His name was Gordon Gunhus, he graduated from high school with me, and he died in Vietnam. We weren’t particular friends, but I have every reason to believe that the life he laid down was a life of considerable promise. Blessed be the memory.
I don’t have anything on my mind tonight, so I’ll fall back on a YouTube video. This clip captures a definitive moment in the career of Sissel Kyrkjebø (the Greatest Singer in the World). It was 1986, and she was selected to sing an “interval” number during the Eurovision Song Contest, which is a big deal over there every year. She dressed in the traditional bunad (folk costume) of her home city, Bergen, and sang Bergen’s official anthem, “Jeg Tok Min Nystemte Cithar i Hende” (“I Took My Newly Tuned Zither in Hand”). This was her first introduction to a wider European public, though she was already pretty famous in Norway. I think you’ll understand why she was a hit.
Have a good weekend.
Thanks to Andrew Peterson for his great music.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day. I may spend the day in the kitchen, making Irish soda bread and tomorrow’s lunch, but you go have fun or something.
We are wonderfully blessed to have a Northern Irish couple writing music for modern church. Songs like “In Christ Alone” and “The Power of the Cross” are contemporary songs worthy of the hymnal for their lyrical richness and musical flow. See the rest of Keith and Kristyn Getty’s music on their site. I see they are holding a St. Patrick’s Day sale on their website, 17% discount.
Terry Teachout writes about a composer whom Dana Gioia says: “one of the few living composers whom I would call great.”
Says Mr. Lauridsen: “There are too many things out there that are away from goodness. We need to focus on those things that ennoble us, that enrich us.” The musical language in which he embodies this simple belief is conservative in the best and most creative sense of the word. His sacred music is unabashedly, even fearlessly tonal, and his chiming harmonies serve as underpinning for gently swaying melodic lines that leave no doubt of his love for medieval plainchant. Nothing about his music is “experimental”: It is direct, heartfelt and as sweetly austere as the luminous sound of church bells at night.
Sissel and the MTC again. A short version, but they haven’t PC’d the lyrics.
Merry Christmas to you all.
Stephen Paulus’ “Pilgrims’ Hymn” from his 1997 opera, The Three Hermits.