My latest podcast is a Christmas podcast—music “of the season” and “for the season.” (I did not mean to sound like the Gettysburg Address.) That podcast is here.
In my introduction, I say, “Chronological order is not the only order—the only order in the world. But it’s not a bad order.” Right? I start in the sixteenth century, with “Gaudete, Christus est natus.” I stay in the sixteenth century with “Ding Dong Merrily on High.”
Hey, is “Ding Dong” as old as that? The tune is (though the words were written in the twentieth century).
William Walton composed his “What Cheer?” in 1961. But that carol hearkens back to an earlier form, and its words date to, indeed, the sixteenth century. Here’s how they begin:
What cheer? Good cheer!
Be merry and glad this good New Year!
“Lift up your hearts and be glad
In Christ’s birth,” the angel bade,
Say each to other, if any be sad:
“What cheer!”
I have some Bach, naturally—a chorus from his Christmas Oratorio. I’ve got traditional carols such as “I Saw Three Ships.” There is a German art song, by Reger. There’s jazz, courtesy of George Shearing and Bill Evans. There are spirituals.
There’s Marian Anderson, too. Singing a spiritual? No, “Jingle Bells.” Can you believe it? (Neither could I, when I discovered that track.)
For two millennia, Christmas has occasioned an outpouring of art, and the repertoire of Christmas music is almost inexhaustible. I am offering a sampling. Hope you enjoy, and merry, merry Christmas.
