Although Christmas & classical music -- like wine and cheese – make for a delectable pair, Christmas Day is hardly the time for attending classical concerts. Truth is, not much is going on. Church services, on the other hand, tend to step up their game on the holiday, which is exactly what happened this past Christmas Day at the Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, PA, where, according to the Morning Call, Cathedral Church Organist Stephen Williams (joined by three Bethlehem musicians) presented his 31st Organ Noels program in a Christmas Day recital. At the center of it all was, of course, the organ -- the church’s staple instrument.
“Noel”, meaning carol, is also the French word for Christmas. The French are notable for influencing the direction of modern carols, many of which were the work prominent organists of the French Baroque period, including Louis-Claude Daquin, Claude-Benigne Balbastre, Henri Mulet, Jean Bouvard, and Denis Bedard. Frequently overlooked as an accompaniment instrument, the organ was in fact a staple instrument of public performance for hundreds of years.
An abstract by Janet Satre explores the history of French organ tradition (from which Cathedral Church organist Stephen Williams and other Bethlehem musicians have been pulling for 31 years). Satre writes: “By the seventeenth century, instrumental versions of the noels appeared, and at the end of the century the first keyboard variations on the noel tunes were published.” From this point forward, at Christmastime especially, the organ’s celebratory role began to embed itself in the hearts of Frenchmen, with Christmas Day recitals springing up throughout Europe.
Organist Stephen Williams endeavors to keep these organ noels an integral part of his Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem, PA, maintaining a tradition that is now in its 31st year: a Christmas Day recital held in front of a dedicated local audience who don't mind taking the time out of their holiday to enjoy the historical music. Joined by Bethlehem musicians Soprano Lauren Smith, Baritone Ian Murphy, and Pianist Samuel Martin, Stephen Williams modeled the program on the traditional noel, improvising on familiar carols and "re-shaping it as he played".
Selections of carols for the Christmas Day recital included "An Old Carol" by Roger Quilter, "Sweet Little Jesus Boy" by Roger MacGimsey, Michael Head's "The Slumber Song of the Madonna", and "Le sommeil de l'Enfant Jesus" by Henri-Paul Büsser. American works were also a favorite of Williams, such as "Sleigh Ride" from "Three Short Tone Poems" by Frederick Delius (a British composers who wrote much of his work in the U.S.)
St. John's Evangelical Church in Allentown had been the home of the Organ Noels program for many years until 2014, when Organist Stephen Williams obtained the position of organist and music director at the Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, PA -- a new location for his already popular tradition.
Williams and the Bethlehem musicians delivered their Christmas Day Recital at 3 p.m.
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