Jubilant celebration, lavish festivities, and countless religious and cultural traditions have historically marked the dark month of December. Civilizations as far back as prehistoric times were impelled to commemorate the turning point of the year, often in eager anticipation of lengthening days ahead and a return toward the life-giving seasons of spring and summer. Ancient Rome’s celebration of Saturnalia, the hugely popular week-long winter solstice festival beginning December 17, and Dies Natalis Invicti Solis, the December 25th birthday of various sun gods, provided a convenient backdrop for the eventual transference of these pagan holidays to the birth date of Christ. The fourth century decision to celebrate the Feast of the Nativity on December 25 was thus more a result of practical than historical considerations, yet, needless to say, no other feast day in the calendar year has inspired more works of greater significance or beauty throughout Western music than Christmas. From this immense repertoire, we have chosen both ancient compositions and ancient texts set by modern composers.

Composer John Vergin writes of his piece, “The inspiration for 'There Is No Rose of Such Virtue' is the lovely medieval lyric itself. The refrain, in its simplicity and recurrence, is a meditation. With each verse the music gradually expands, as the image of the rose—symbol for Mary — steadily unfurls from its contained state (embodying, amazingly, the essence of all) to a full-blossoming anthem of angels. The music pauses, falls back to the refrain; then with freshened awareness contemplates the mystery of change, and continues on.”

Just a few weeks before Christmas, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8 celebrates Mary’s conception without sin and recalls the cult of the Virgin that was of particular importance between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries. It has the honor of being a holy day of obligation for Catholics and is the only specifically Marian feast found in December. The oft-set Ave Maria has served as the offertory antiphon for this feast’s Mass since the eighth century, while Tota pulchra es is the amalgamation of five antiphons taken from the feast’s Liturgy of Vespers. In contrast, the lilting Generosa Iesse plantula from fourteenth century England features a non-liturgical text that gracefully depicts the Virgin Mary’s purity and “unblemished” state.

Celebrated on December 28, the Feast of the Holy Innocents was established in the fifth century to commemorate all the male children slaughtered by the order of King Herod in his attempt to kill the child Jesus. The haunting Coventry Carol was composed for the final scene of a sixteenth century mystery play, “The Pageant of the Shearman and Tailors.” Attempting to hush their children to sleep in hopes of eluding Herod’s soldiers, the mothers’ lullabies are sung in vain as soldiers burst in and tragically slay the infants. Also written for the same feast but exuding a completely contrasting mood is Personent hodie, presented here in an arrangement by Craig Kingsbury, which preserves the joyfully triumphant character of the hymn tune.

The early Christian custom of commemorating the deaths of martyrs as their birth into heaven eventually led to the organization of the liturgical year whereby nearly every day of the calendar was designated a feast day of a particular saint. December 26, the day after Christmas, honors Saint Stephen, one of the first deacons of the early Church and the protomartyr of Christianity. The feast of Saint Stephen was celebrated as a major holy day for centuries as evidenced by Pérotin’s monumental work: Sederunt principes. Easily one of the greatest pieces ever written for this feast and representative of the earliest extant pieces set for four voices, it was the Gradual sung for Mass on Saint Stephen’s Day in 1199 at the Cathedral of Notre Dame. This exceptional example of quadruplum organum or four voice organa features the Gregorian chant melody in the bottom voice while the upper three parts elaborately interweave rhythmically charged melodic material back and forth, often crossing one another in imitation and inversion. The result is a mesmerizing texture rich with vitality and breathtaking to hear.

The Feast of Saint Nicholas on December 6 marks the beginning of the Christmas season in several European cultures. The many medieval liturgical dramas and polyphonic motets composed in honor of Saint Nicholas attest to the popularity of this fourth century Bishop of Myra during the Middle Ages. Legendary tales surrounding his gift-bearing reputation and association with children served as the source for the nineteenth century evolution and development of modern day Santa Claus. The two final selections on our program display the ever-cheerful sentiments inspired by this revered saint, and those that characterize the joyful Christmas season in the otherwise bleak month of December.