Carols

[ceebeegee]

Last night Chris (Goatboy) worked late and, being in my neighborhood, called me up and asked me if I wanted to grab something to eat. We went to Galaxy and I maued a rare blue cheeseburger. We were commenting on the various Xmas songs we were hearing; I'm gradually starting to like that cheesy-ass song "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year." Normally I loathe generic Xmas songs but I like the bridge, especially the part that says "we'll tell scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago." I liked the thpookiness of it--we were saying that there wasn't much mention of ghosts with Christmas except for, as Chris pointed out, A Christmas Carol (one of my favorite books EVER, as Doug knows. I'm dying to play Marley, so I can cry "MANKIND was my business! The common welfare...was my business! Charity, mercy, forbearance, benevolence were my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop...in the comprehensive ocean of my business"). Chris said that Satan never seemed to get much mention in religious songs--I quoted "A Mighty Fortress is Our God," a Lutheran hymn that is also in the Episcopal hymnal. The Prince of Darkness grim/We need not fear from him/His rage we can endure/For lo, his doom is sure/One little word shall fell him. This hymn is also referenced in a Simpsons episode--somebody rings the Flanders's doorbell and the chimes rattle off the opening phrase. I also mentioned "This Little Babe," one of the pieces in Benjamin Britton's neo-medieval song cycle A Ceremony of Carols. This is an awesome work, written for women's voices, that I sang several times as a child in my church choir for Christmas, and at both Mount Holyoke and Sweet Briar. The pieces are so ethereal and haunting and transporting. Leve we all this werdly mirth/And follow we this joy...ful...birth...Transeamus. "This Little Babe" has a much faster tempo than the others--it's essentially a call to arms, with the Christ Child as the head of the Army of God. This little babe so few days old/is come to rifle Satan's fold...With tears he fights and wins the field/His naked breast stands for a shield...His camp is pitch-ed in a stall/His bulwark but a broken wall. With each successive verse, the chorus splits into more groups and staggers their entrances, so by the third verse you have this wonderful echoing effect--Hiscamphiscamphiscamp is pitch-ed in a stall/His bulwark but a brokenbrokenbroken wall. It sounds really, really cool. It's just a great piece in a whole song cycle of them. When we got back to my apartment, I played it for Chris and he was all "That...is...awesome." Yay! Love turning people on to art music.

Comments

[king-duncan.livejournal.com]

I sang A Ceremony of Carols back when I was a soprano. I love "This Little Babe".

"God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" is the only traditional Christmas carol that references Satan, if I recall.

[ceebeegee.livejournal.com]

I figured you might have sung also--I wonder if Rachel (as someone with a strong classical background) has as well. I think you're right about well-known carols; I also remember another one, not well-known unless you have a strong grounding in sacred music, called "Sing Lullaby" that anticipates the whole arc of Jesus's career. Soon comes the cross, the nails, the piercing/Then in the grave at last reposing. You can see, with such upbeat lyrics as this, why it never really caught on with the public at large! (Although the Coventry Carol is pretty fucking depressing.) Anyway, I seem to remember there's a reference to Satan there as well--it's been at least 20 years since I've sung this.

Never mind, I just checked it--no direct reference to Satan.