Another favourite piece of mine uses the same folk carol tunes -- noëls -- as the Daquin organ music.
This, too, comes from the Baroque era in France. Marc-Antoine Charpentier created one of the most unique pieces of choral music ever when he composed his charming Messe de minuit pour Noël. No other composer is known to have set the entire Ordinary of the Mass to the tunes of the traditional noëls. The result could have sounded contrived, but in practice it is completely successful.
This is due to Charpentier's great skill in the handling of his material. Not only are the traditional tunes beautifully fitted to the Latin text of the Mass, but the total effect -- orchestration, harmony, and all -- is so joyful and yet gentle that it is totally suited to the Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.
My recording is an EMI CD which contains the Messe and another more extrovert musical hymn of praise, the same composer's Te Deum in D Major. The recording of the Messe de minuit dates from 1967 and is conducted by David Willcocks. The Te Deum is a 1976 recording conducted by Philip Ledger. Both use the King's College (Cambridge) Choir and the English Chamber Orchestra. Some people think this sounds too "English" for music of such strong French character, but I don't find that at all. Every bit of the Messe de minuit sounds just as utterly charming as it must. This performance uses for organ interludes a selection of organ settings of noëls by Nicolas Lebegue. As a further point of interest, the organist was a very young Andrew Davis, who was Organ Scholar at King's at the time. A new recording of the same combination has just appeared from Naxos, with the Aradia Ensemble conducted by Kevin Mallon. I haven't heard it, but if it is as fine as other recorded performances from this team then it would be well worth having.
I've just been listening to another delightful Baroque work, equally well-suited to Christmas Eve. This is Die Weihnachtshistorien ("The Christmas Story") by Heinrich Schütz. This work may date from 1660 or thereabouts, making it much earlier than Bach's Christmas Oratorio. In any case it is a much lighter and shorter work.
The backbone of the piece is the lengthy narration of the entire Christmas story by a tenor Evangelist. This is all in recitative, accompanied by organ. It sounds boring, but there are so many lovely turns of melody in the writing that it continually piques the ear. In between the lengthy recitatives of the narration come eight numbered sections called Intermedium. These too are part of the Biblical story, containing the words of angels, shepherds, wise men, and King Herod.
The only departures from the Biblical text are the opening and closing choruses. The opening simply announces "The Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ as it has been recorded by the Holy Evangelists." This chorus has had to be editorially "reconstructed" since the source material contains only a figured bass line under the text. The concluding chorus of thanksgiving to God is thus the only part of the entire work which steps away from the Biblical story of Christmas. Contrast that with the numerous arias and choruses of commentary in the Bach Christmas Oratorio.
This recording is from The King's Consort conducted by Robert King. It adheres scrupulously to the composer's directions for the varied instrumental ensembles to accompany each Intermedium as well as the opening and closing choruses. Immediately obvious is the restraint of the scoring; trombones and cornetti (or trumpets) are used only in a couple of numbers. The net effect then is of a gentler, quieter musical experience, again very well adapted to a service on Christmas Eve. Following on the main work is a selection of Christmas motets by Schütz's first teacher of composition, the renowned Giovanni Gabrieli. These too are beautifully performed.
These Baroque Christmas works are a far cry from the grand splendours of Bach and Handel, but they each have their own rewards to offer, and I hope you'll feel moved to check them out.
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