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A Note from the Artistic Director
The Christmas works featured in this concert revolve around those words sung by the angels to the shepherds in the second chapter of St. Luke's gospel, announcing the birth of a saviour, "Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra pax, bonae voluntatis," or, "Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men."
Fully half of the pieces in this concert feature the words "Gloria in excelsis," or at least "Gloria." And those that do not were still chosen with that scene in mind, of the angels appearing to the shepherds on what I imagine to be a cold hillside in the middle of the night. The final work of the concert summarizes the evening, in a way, recounting the entire story in both word and song, being J.A.C. Redford's telling of the event from the point of view of the shepherds.
While many of the works speak for themselves in this Christmas concert, special note must be made of the first piece in the second half, a significant, multi-movement work in the form of a Mass, called "Music for the Victims of Our Earth" by John White. This work at first appears as an incongruously somber element in an otherwise celebratory concert. Yet, just as the Christmas story has solemn and tragic elements to it (the massacre by Herod of all Judean infants under the age of two, for instance); and just as the peace and love embodied in the coming of the divine child are still yet unfulfilled in this world of violence and woe; so I wish to acknowledge in these final days of 2005 the death of nearly a hundred thousand people in the last year to natural disasters across the globe. John White, mere days after witnessing the
devastation in southeast Asia on December 26, 2004, was moved to write a Mass "to remember the victims and survivors of the Tsunami of 2004-05." This Mass is given its world premiere at these concerts, one year after the actual events, and is imbued with additional poignancy in view of the additional victims of earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, and other disasters, who have died since then.
It is hoped hereby to demonstrate how the importance of this season -- of all the December religious and civic celebrations in addition to Christmas -- is not something we have in isolation of each other, but that we are all interconnected through our habitation of this earth. And the message of "peace on earth, good will towards mankind" is one that I and the board and singers of St. Martin's Chamber Choir wish to share with all of you.
Timothy J. Krueger
December 2005
© 2005 Timothy J. Krueger |