Synopsis
Christmas is one of the most anticipated festive seasons of the year and Orquestra Clássica do Sul loves to celebrate it. With works by famous composers and singing by the voices of our Community Choir, we will present you with the most beautiful songs of this festive season, such as “Hallelujah” and “Zadok the Priest” by Haendel and “The First Nowell” and “God rest you merry, gentlemen” from the unmissable Christmas Carols, among others. Don't miss it!
Programme Notes
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was born in London. In his early years, his father, who was a doctor, was unable to succeed in Britain, and thus returned to Sierra Leone. At the age of five Samuel Coleridge-Taylor proved to be talented with the violin and, in 1890, with the generous support of a Presbyterian choir conductor, entered the Royal College of Music where he studied under Charles Villiers Stanford. Having an enormous potential as a composer, he died in Croydon at the age of 37. The work “Christmas Overture” was published posthumously in 1925.
As a boy E. Elgar composed some tunes for use in a play staged by the young members of the Elgar family. He noted the tunes down in a sketchbook and in 1907, four decades later, he arranged the music as the two Wand of Youth suites.
This is the best known of the four coronation anthems written by Handel for the coronation of George II at Westminster Abbey in 1727. It has been performed at every British coronation since.
A long, slow introduction for oboes, bassoons and strings leads to a stately chorale for full orchestra. Then follows a livelier section in triple-time. The work finishes with a fugue-like movement.
God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen is one of the most famous English Christmas carols, integrating the rich list of Christmas Carols originally from that country, but universally known. The oldest known manuscript dates from 1650. However, given its melodic structure, many researchers consider it to be Renaissance or even medieval.
Also knowned as Adeste Fidele, this Christmas carol has been attributed to various authors, including John Francis Wade (1711-1786), John Reading (1645–1692) and King John IV of Portugal (1604–1656), believing that the true authorship is of the latter, at least for some.
The First Nowell, A bright and modest example of traditional English Christmas carols, simple, congregating and emotional, it was first published in 1823 in the Carols Ancient and Modern compendium and later in 1833 in the Gilbert and Sandys Carols.
The creation of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing involved the words originated by the well-known hymn writer Charles Wesley. Just over a century later, Felix Mendelssohn wrote the cantata Festgesang, a paean to Johannes Gutenberg, the man credited with the invention of movable type. In 1856, the British musician William Cummings effected a marriage of Wesley's text, which by that time had evolved into its present form, and the music from the second number (Vaterland, in deinen gauen) of Mendelssohn's cantata.
Born in Germany, Handel spent all of his adult life in England, becoming a British subject in 1727. The oratorio "The Messiah" is probably his most famous composition. The Hallelujah chorus is certainly the most appreciated piece from that work, glorious and galvanizing.
Programme
COLERIDGE TAYLOR (1875 – 1912)
Abertura de Natal
(Christmas Overture)
E. ELGAR (1857 – 1934)
The Wand of Youth, Suite 2
I.March
II. Little Bells
III. Moths and Butterflies
IV. Fountain Dance
V.The tame bear
VI.The wild bears
G. F. HANDEL (1685-1759)
Zadok the priest
D. WILLCOCKS (1919-2015)
God rest you merry, gentleman
O Come, All Ye Faithfull
The First Nowell
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
G. F. HANDEL (1685-1759)
Hallelujah Chorus (do “Messiah”)
Orquestra Clássica do Sul
Pablo Urbina, Guest Conductor
OCS Communitary Choir
Rui Baeta, Coordinator and vocal coach
18/12
QUARTEIRA
Igreja S. Pedro do Mar
04.00 pm
Free entry subject to room limitation
Informações: T: 289 400 820
Município de Loulé, Organization
#OCSorquestra
