I am hereby sick of Christmas music.

I’ve been rehearsing it since early September, and listening to it since early November, and performing it since the day after Thanksgiving. I anticipate doing some arranging of it in the coming months in preparation for next year, but I think I will postpone that to a month that doesn’t end in -uary.

Thanks for the kind comments about the Christmas morning bonus – I thought they were fun to listen to after all these years, when Karen was seven, Steve was nine, Laurie was eleven, I was thirteen and Mom was…somewhat younger than she is now.

Onward to the new year!

It was a foggy night, maybe just like this one, many many many many years ago, almost 40 to be exact, when it was so foggy that the Merced High School A Capella Choir’s Christmas Concert had to be canceled because it would be too dangerous to drive through the pea soup.  It was to have been my first official concert in the choir as a freshman, and I was already decked out in my light blue choir blazer when the call came, and I was greatly disappointed.

Dad was working that night, so Mom (who is a genius) said we should have our own concert. So I hooked up the mikes to the family’s new tape recorder, got out my very first guitar, the Thrifty Drug Store Special (I’d guess I’d been playing for about four months or so by December 1969) and we began to sing.

Here then, without further comment, are the Von Phillips Family Singers! (Word to the wise: take it in small doses!)

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (fragment)

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Frosty The Snowman

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Must Be Santa

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Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer

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Winter Wonderland

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Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

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Silver Bells

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Jingle Bells

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Away In A Manger

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Joy To The World

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Deck The Halls (Laurie Von Phillips, soloist)

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Silent Night

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We Wish You A Merry Christmas (fragment – Steve Von Phillips, soloist)

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I Heard The Bells (fragment – Laurie Von Phillips, soloist)

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Jingle Bells (fragment – Karen Von Phillips, soloist)

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Merry Christmas! Let’s wrap up this list with Ring Those Christmas Bells by Fred Waring & The Pennsylvanians.

This has got to be the corniest song of the bunch, so it makes a perfect sentimental Christmas song. Replete with sound effects and a bonus chorus of Jingle Bells, it’s a happy, rollicking singfest – everybody’s having a great time. C’mon, you can’t help but sing along!

Oh, ring those Christmas bells,
Ring those Christmas bells.
While they chime we’ll have a happy time,
So ring those Christmas bells.

Some folks like to hear a Christmas song,
But I like Christmas bells that go ding dong,
Jingle-jangle, ding-a-ling, or just bing-bong –
I love to hear ‘em ring.

Up above the stars are clear and bright,
While all around the snow is soft and white.
Santa and his reindeer soon will be in sight
And you will hear him sing.

I like holly wreaths and mistletoe,
And fireplaces that are all aglow,
Children singing Christmas carols in the snow,
But best, I like the bells.

For the music of an open sleigh
When ev’ry jolly jingle seems to say,
“Happy, happy, happy, happy holiday!”
Come on and join the fun!

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For Christmas Eve I’ve selected Quem Pastores by The Swingle Singers from the album The Story Of Christmas.

The melody for this lesser-known carol may date back to the 13th century; it became very popular in Germany in the 16th and 17th centuries, where it was printed in a number of song and psalm books. It’s a song with the basic message of Christmas: the King of glory has been born; let us give him all glory, laud and honor.

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Today I present A Christmas Carol, sung by Chanticleer from their album Sing We Christmas.

This is a serene and lovely carol, written in the late 19th century by Charles Ives’ wife daughter Edith, and set by Ives himself in the 1920s.

Little star of Bethlehem!
Do we see Thee now?
Do we see Thee shining
O’er the tall trees?

Little Child of Bethlehem!
Do we hear thee in our hearts?
Hear the Angels singing:
Peace on earth, good will to men!
Noel!

O’er the cradle of a King,
Hear the Angels sing:
In Excelsis Gloria, Gloria! (Glory in the highest)

From his Father’s home on high,
Lo! for us He came to die;
Hear the Angels sing:
Venite adoremus Dominum. (Come let us adore God)

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Our song for the day is A hymn to the Virgin, sung by The Choir Of Trinity College Cambridge, directed by Richard Marlow from the album Carols from Trinity.

This is a piece I sang with the Bay Area Lutheran Chorale (now called Soli Deo Gloria) back in the late ’90s, I guess. I was a hired hand for a skimpy tenor section in their Christmas concert that year. I remember that we sang it ‘in the round’; the choir was lined up in the outside aisles of the church, surrounding the audience, with a small quartet singing the Latin responses at the front. I recall that the sanctuary was candlelit, making it a real challenge to read the music!

This is a 20th century composition by Benjamin Britten, one of his first works, composed in 1930 at the age of sixteen, and performed at his funeral in 1970.

Of one that is so fair and bright
Velut maris stella (like the star of the sea)
Brighter than the day is light
Parens et puella (Mother and maiden)
I cry to thee, thou see to me,
Lady, pray thy Son for me
Tampia, (So tender,)
That I may come to thee.
Maria.

All this world was forlorn
Eva peccatrice (Eve having been a sinner),
Till our Lord was y-born
De te genetrice (Of you, his mother).
With “ave” it went away
Darkest night, and comes the day
Salutis (Of salvation);
The well springeth out of thee.
Virtutis (Of virtue).

Lady, flow’r of ev’rything,
Rose sine spina (Thornless rose),
Thou bare Jesu, Heaven’s King,
Gratia divina (By divine grace):
Of all thou bear’st the prize,
Levedy, quene of paradys (Lady, queen of paradise)
Electa (Chosen):
Maid mild, mother es Effecta.

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Let’s have a little fun today with Jingle Bells by Bing Crosby with the Andrews Sisters from the CD White Christmas.

I have 2,056 songs in my iTunes Christmas library from I don’t know how many CDs and records – over a hundred, I guess. Fully one percent of them are different versions of Jingle Bells, by such divergent artists as Ella Fitzgerald, Dean Martin, Dave Brubeck, Earl Scruggs, Barry Manilow, and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. This version, however, has got to be my favorite of the lot.

I remember from when I was a kid that it was the first track on side 2 of the LP. Side one was mostly hymn-like songs, with maybe a sentimental track or two. But side 2 was no nonsense fun Christmas: Christmas In Kilarny, Silver Bells, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town and Mele Kelikimaka. But this track, man, Der Bingle and the Sisters are swingin’ for the fences!

Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh

Dashing through the snow
In a one horse open sleigh
O’er the fields we go
Laughing all the way
Bells on bob tails ring
Making spirits bright
What fun it is to ride and sing
A sleighing song tonight

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Here’s one of the most lovely carol you’ve never heard: The Shepherds’ Farewell To The Holy Family by The Swingle Singers from the album The Story Of Christmas.

Sometimes these carols can come at the subject from an angle little considered in our modern observance. Take this one, for example. The shepherds, already shaken to their core by the angel chorus appearing to them on the hillside, hie themselves to the side of the Christ Child’s cradle. Then comes news of the slaughter of all male infants that is surely to come to Bethlehem, so the Holy Family must flee to Egypt. Here the shepherds sing their farewell to Joseph, Mary and the Babe, praying safety for their journey.

Thou must leave thy lowly dwelling, the humble crib, the stable bare,
Babe, all mortal babes excelling, content our earthly lot to share,
Loving father, loving mother, Shelter thee with tender care!

Blessed Jesus, we implore thee with humble love and holy fear,
In the land that lies before thee, forget not us who linger here!
May the Shepherd’s lowly calling ever to thy heart be dear!

Blest are ye beyond all measure, thou happy father, mother mild!
Guard ye well your heav’nly treasure, the Prince of Peace, the Holy Child!
God go with you, God protect you, guide you safely though the wild!

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We’re in the home stretch – 7 days to go until the big day!

Again we harken back to the Renaissance for Nowell: Dieus vous garde by The Boston Camerata, Joel Cohen, director from A Renaissance Christmas.

This is the album that I have listened to more than all the others for the last several years. I always thought that this would make a wonderful candlelit concert on Christmas Eve…maybe someday. No matter what time of year I listen to it, I’m immediately transported to a cold crisp night at this time of year. The music seems a tentative step out of the dark ages into the enlightened period that would bring forth a movement based on humanism, arts, classics, and Christianity. This piece is sung in ancient English.

Nowell, nowell, nowell, nowell.

Who ys there that singith so,
“Nowell, nowell, nowell?”
I am heer Syr Cristesmass.
Wellcome my lord Syr Cristesmass
Wellcome to all, both moree and lass;
Come neer, nowell.

Dieus vous garde, byews sir, tydings y you bryng.
Hath a mayd born a chyld full ying.
The weche us causeth for to sing

Christ is now yborn of a clene mayd;
In an oxstall he ys ylayd;
Wherefor syng we all at a brayd

Beuvex bien partut a la company;
Make good cheer an be right mery;
And syng with us now joyfully

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We move back to the Latin with Ave Maria sung by Chanticleer from the album A KDFC Classical Christmas.

I’ve sung this with a couple of different groups, but the most significant memory is its performance by Chanticleer, the preeminent male ensemble based in San Francisco. Their recording made this piece a hit in the US and subsequently the world. Written by Franz Biebl in Germany, he composed it at the request of a singer in his choir, who was searching for a piece to do with a chorus of firemen of which he was also a member. The result was this Ave Maria for double choir.

In fact, I’ve seen Chanticleer perform this twice, both times in the sublime acoustics of Mission Santa Clara.

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