This is a re-post of a diary I put up around this time last year.
I am a snob. A really specific kind of snob.
I have rather highbrow taste in Christmas music -- I like it old and I like it a capella. I listen to Palestrina, Tomas Luis de Victoria, Thomas Tallis, Josquin Desprez, Gregorian chant. Facebook friends post YouTube videos of Madonna singing "Santa Baby" and Elvis singing "Blue Christmas" - or even Bing Crosby or Perry Como, thinking, in their adorable little misinformed way that Bing and Perry Christmas recordings are "classics" -- and I cringe and crank up my iTunes, which features easy-to-dance-to tunes like the ones over the fold.
My love of 'early music' (as it's often called) comes from my high school choir teacher, who was quite the aficionado. I learned to love to sing it and I still love to listen to it. Thanks, Doc, wherever you are.
The first of the pieces in this video is Hodie Christus Natus Est by Giovanni Pierluigi de Palestrina (1525-1594). It's a piece for two choirs and if you listen carefully you can hear both choirs singing back and forth to each other. I sang this in a choir once and it's remained my single favorite Christmas song.
Hodie Christus natus est:
hodie Salvator apparuit:
hodie in terra canunt Angeli,
lætantur Archangeli:
hodie exsultant justi, dicentes:
Gloria in excelsis Deo,
et in terra pax hominibus bonæ voluntatis:
Noe, Noe, Noe.
English translation:
Today Christ is born:
today the Savior has appeared:
today the Angels sing,
the Archangels rejoice:
today the righteous rejoice, saying:
Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace and good will towards men:
Noel, noel, noel.
The second piece in the video is the Gloria from Palestrina's Missa Hodie Christus Natus Est, a short mass he wrote using themes and melodies from the song of the same name.
This is O Magnum Mysterium by Tomas Luis de Victoria (1548-1611)
O magnum mysterium
et admirabile sacramentum,
ut animalia viderent Dominum natum,
jacentem in præsepio.
Beata virgo, cujus viscera meruerunt
portare Dominum Christum, Alleluia!
English translation:
O great mystery
and wondrous sacrament,
that animals should see the newborn Lord
lying in their manger.
Blessed is the Virgin whose womb was worthy
to bear the Lord Jesus Christ. Alleluia!
This is probably the best-known of all Gregorian chants: Veni, Veni Emmanuel (O Come, O Come Emmanuel). This is believed to date back to the ninth century AD.
Veni, veni Emmanuel;
Captivum solve Israel,
Qui gemit in exilio,
Privatus Dei Filio
Gaude! Gaude! Emmanuel,
Nascetur pro te, Israel!
Veni, veni, O Oriens;
Solare nos adveniens,
Noctis depelle nebulas,
Dirasque noctis tenebras
Gaude! Gaude! Emmanuel,
Nascetur pro te, Israel!
Veni, Clavis Davidica!
Regna reclude caelica;
Fac iter tutum superum,
Et claude vias inferum
Gaude! Gaude! Emmanuel,
Nascetur pro te, Israel!
Veni, veni Adonai!
Qui populo in Sinai,
Legem dedisti vertice,
In maiestate gloriae
Gaude! Gaude! Emmanuel,
Nascetur pro te, Israel!
English translation:
O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Day-star, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads to Thee,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come to lead us Adonai,
Who to the tribes on height of Sinai
In ancient times did'st give the Law,
In cloud, and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
This is a traditional Spanish carol called Riu Riu Chiu
Riu, riu, chiu
La guarda ribera
Dios guarde el lobo
De nuestra cordera.
El lobo rabioso la quiso morder,
Mas Dios poderoso la supo defender;
Quisole hazer que no pudiesse pecar,
Ni aun original esta Virgen no tuviera.
Riu, riu, chiu, etc.
Este qu'es nascido es el gran monarca,
Cristo patriarca de carne vestido;
Hanos redimido con se hazer chiquito,
Aunqu'era infinito, finito se hizera.
Riu, riu, chiu, etc.
Muchas profecias lo han profetizado,
Y aun en nuestros dias lo hemos alcancado.
A Dios humanado vemos en el suelo
Y al hombre nel cielo porqu'er le quisiera.
Riu, riu, chiu, etc.
Yo vi mil Garzones que andavan cantando,
Por aqui bolando, haciendo mil sones,
Diziendo a gascones Gloria sea en el cielo,
Y paz en el suelo qu'es Jesus nascieta.
Riu, riu, chiu, etc.
Este viene a dar a los muertos vida
Y viene a reparar de todos la caida;
Es la luz del dia aqueste mocuelo;
Este es el cordero que San Juan dixera.
Riu, riu, chiu, etc.
Pues que ya tenemos lo que desseamos,
Todos juntos vamos presentes llevemos;
Todos le daremos nuestra voluntad,
Pues a se igualar con el hombre viniera.
Riu, riu, chiu, etc
English translation:
Riu, riu, chiu (nightingale's sounds)
The river bank protects it,
As God kept the wolf
from our lamb.
The rabid wolf tried to bite her,
But God Almighty knew how to defend her,
He wished to create her impervious to sin,
Nor was this maid to embody original sin.
Riu, riu, chiu, etc.
The newborn child is the mightiest monarch,
Christ patriarchal invested with flesh.
He made himself small and so redeemed us:
He who was infinite became finite.
Riu, riu, chiu, etc.
Many prophecies told of his coming,
And now in our days have we seen them fulfilled.
God became man, on earth we behold him,
And see man in heaven because he so willed.
Riu, riu, chiu, etc.
A thousand singing herons I saw passing,
Flying overhead, sounding a thousand voices,
Exhulting, "Glory be in the heavens, and peace on Earth, for Jesus has been born."
Riu, riu, chiu, etc.
He comes to give life to the dead,
He comes to redeem the fall of man;
This child is the light of day,
He is the very lamb Saint John prophecied.
Riu, riu, chiu, etc.
Now we have gotten what we were all desiring,
Go we together to bear him gifts:
Let each give his will to the God who was willing
To come down to Earth man's equal to be.
Riu, riu, chiu, etc.
One that most of you have heard of -- one oldest known Christmas carols, the Coventry Carol, which dates back to the fifteenth century:
Finally, and for a complete change of pace, this is a medley of Christmas carols sung in the American shape note, or Sacred Harp, tradition. Shape note singing isn't to everyone's taste, but I love it.
I hope you enjoy. Merry Christmas.