Music: Sun Dec 18

A wide range of Christmas-themed music is featured as part of Sunday morning’s worship service. The Prelude opens with a solo piano arrangement of the Catalonian Christmas carol “The Song of the Birds”, popularized by cellist Pau Casals. A charming waltz in honor of the holiday by Tchaikovsky is also included, as is a clutch of fun arrangements of popular Christmas tunes by Donald Waxman, a well-known composer of early-level methods for piano students. Franz Liszt, better known as a composer of virtuoso show-stoppers, is responsible for the delightful version of “O Come All Ye Faithful”, from a collection of Christmas pieces written for his granddaughter. Finally, our own Kim Force shares her talents in Xavier Montsalvatge’s sultry “Lullaby for a Little Black Baby”, taken from his cycle of songs on texts by Cuban poets, and in a pastoral excerpt from Handel’s Messiah. Read on for programming details.

Prelude: Adam Kent, piano

The Song of the Birds            

Traditional Catalonian Christmas Carol arr. by Joaquin Nin-Culmell

Christmas, Op. 37, No. 12

                                                Pyotr Ilyitch Tchaikovsky

A Christmas Pageant

Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabelle

Deck the Halls

Good King Wenceslas
We Three Kings

Ding Dong Merrily on High

Bohemian Bell Carol

Yule’s Come and Yule’s Gane

O Let Us Sing, I Pray You
The Boar’s Head Carol

                                                Donald Waxman

Opening Music: Kim Force, soprano

“He Shall Lead His Flock” from Messiah

                                    George Frederick Handel

Cuban Lullaby for Pageant:

Canción para dormir a un negrito

                                                Xavier Montsalvatge

Offertory: Adeste Fideles from The Christmas Tree

                                                Franz Liszt