Richard Wagner believed that the finale of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony was proof that music works better with words. This was in opposition to the idea at that time of instrumental music being “absolute music.”
Music history or historical musicology, like art history, researches music over time. In order to analyze a piece of music better it is sometimes broken down to simpler and smaller parts. And that’s where our Musicological Journey primer begins.
Let’s say you take a song like “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” However, you change the name to “A Musicological Journey Through the Twelve Days of Christmas” (Craig Courtney).
Then you break it down into 12 smaller parts, one for each of the 12 days. Now, you assign a specific music composer to each of those 12 days from various countries around the world (France, Rome, Italy, Germany, Austria, Russia and United States) in chronological order! But here’s the rub — you still continue to sing “The Twelve Days of Christmas” on top of the variations of composition, anywhere from Gregorian chant to early 20th-century Sousa.
If this sounds amazing, it is! The remarkable Ellen MacIntosh, musical director, brings a new “best” to the choir’s repertoire. Not to mention how extremely versatile accompanist Sheilagh Sparks has to be in performing and quickly switching from each of the famous classic works.
Come and try to see if you can match the composer and style with the correct day. Helpful hints: Plainchant, Wagner, Mozart, Haydn, Sousa, Strauss, Rameau, di Lasso, Saint Saëns, Vivaldi, Offenbach and Tchaikovsky.
And if that isn’t enough, MacIntosh has pulled together a wonderful supporting program of songs this year to delight all ages. The choir invites you to join it for an enchanting celebration of the musicology of sound and words!
The BICC Winter Celebration Concert will be held Dec. 10 at 2 and 7:30 p.m. at Cates Hill Chapel. Tickets are available at the pharmacy and at the door: adults $15, seniors and students $10, children (aged 6 to 12) $5.
Make sure to secure your tickets soon as December concerts usually sell out.
