2024

A Christmas Garland by: Conrad Susa (1936-2013)

Oak Ridge Chorus & FUMC Adult Choir

Clayton Scarborough, Tenor; Mark Brumbelow, Baritone; Paul Davis, Bass

The audience is invited to sing the following bold text when directed:

God rest ye merry, gentlemen, let nothing you dismay,

For Jesus Christ our Savior was born on Christmas Day;

To save us all from Satan’s pow’r when we were gone astray.

O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy;

O tidings of comfort and joy!

O-o, Star of wonder, star of night,

star with royal beauty bright,

Westward leading, still proceeding,

guide us to thy perfect light.

O-o, Star of wonder, star of night,

star with royal beauty bright,

Westward leading, still proceeding,

guide us to thy perfect light.

O come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,

O come ye, o come ye to Bethlehem;

Come and behold Him,

born the King of Angels,

O come let us adore Him,

o come let us adore Him,

O come let us adore Him,

Christ the Lord!

Sing, choirs of angels,

sing in exultation,

Sing all ye citizens of heav’n above!

Glory to God, all glory in the highest,

O come let us adore Him,

o come let us adore Him,

O come let us adore Him,

Christ the Lord!

Joy to the world! The Lord is come;

let earth receive her King;

Let ev’ry heart prepare Him room,

and heav’n and nature sing,

And heav’n and nature sing,

and heav’n and heav’n and nature sing!

He rules the world! In truth and grace;

and makes the nations prove

The glories of His righteousness,

and wonders of his love,

And wonders of his love,

and wonders,

wonders of his love!

Maurice Casey’s request for a medley of carols for his Cantari Singers with orchestra and audience participation activated an old desire to write such a piece. But what would connect the carols? The answer came in early October of 1988 as I watched my dear friend Nikos Kafkalis leave this world. He had hoped to live until Christmas.

A glittering orchestral ritornello with cries of “Noel” garlands the verses of “God rest ye merry,” in which the angels announce the principal message of comfort and joy. The orchestra dances into “The Holly and the Ivy” but the chorus sings “I saw Three Ships,” asking “what was in those ships all three?” The answer according to an old legend is given by the men: “We Three Kings.” Arriving at the manger the King finds the Child being soothed by “The Coventry Carol.” The audience, awestruck at first, joins the choral adoration with “O Come, all ye Faithful.” Celebration breaks out in “Joy to the World,” humorously deconstructed to show its relationship to several of Handel’s works. The ritornello with its “Noels,” now all embracing and triumphant concludes the work.

—Conrad Susa

On This Silent Night by: Sarah Quartel (b. 1982)

Oak Ridge Chorus

Canadian composer, educator, and conductor Sarah Quartel has a gift for writing choral music that connects singers and audience members. Her use of rich harmonies and forward-moving rhythms is captivating, as demonstrated in her piece On this Silent Night. The music paints the image of a cozy night by the fireside,

as a winter storm closes in.

—Sarah Henrich

A Winter Breviary, mvmt. III Text by: Rebecca Gayle Howell (b. 1975)

Music by: Reena Esmail (b.1983

Oak Ridge Chorus

This set of three carols, on new texts by poet Rebecca Gayle Howell, traces a journey through the solstice, the longest night of the year. The texts follow the canonical hours of Evensong, Matins and Lauds, and the music maps onto Hindustani raags for those same hours (Raag Hamsadhwani, Malkauns and Ahir Bhairav). This set is a meeting of cultures, and of the many ways we honor the darkness,

and celebrate the return of light.

In the third carol, “The Unexpected Early Hour (Lauds– Raag Ahir Bhairav)” dawn breaks. We are rushed by bells of gratitude—“Praise be! Praise be!”—the spirit’s shock that light indeed arrives. And in the dawn, the substance of things hoped for are, surprisingly, seen: the darkness did not stop the river from flowing, it did not keep the fields from growing. The Earth’s hope and our place in it cannot be found, because it was not ever lost. Change itself is the gift.

—Reena Esmail & Rebecca Gayle Howell

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing Setting by: David Willcocks (1919-2015)

Oak Ridge Chorus, FUMC Adult Choir, & Audience

The audience is invited to stand and sing the following bold text:

Hark! The herald angels sing,

Glory to the newborn King;

Peace on earth and mercy mild,

God and sinners reconciled;

Joyful all ye nations rise,

join the triumph of the skies,

With th’angelic host program,

Christ is born in Bethlehem,

Hark! The herald angels sing,

Glory to the newborn King.

Christ, by highest heav’n adored,

Christ the everlasting Lord,

Late in time behold him come,

offspring of a virgin’s womb.

Veiled in flesh the God-head see,

hail th’incarnate Deity!

Please as man with man to dwell,

Jesus our Emmanuel.

Hark! The herald angels sing,

Glory to the newborn King.

Hail the heav’n born Prince of Peace!

Hail the Son of Righteousness!

Light and life to all he brings,

Risen with healing in his wings;

Mild he lays his glory by,

Born that man no more may die,

Born to raise the sons of earth,

born to give us second birth.

Hark! The herald angels sing,

Glory to the newborn King.

The Word Was God by: Rosephanye Powell (b. 1962)

FUMC Adult Choir

The text (taken fromh John 1:1-3) and the theme of the piece are introduced simply, beginning in unison and growing into homophony in the men’s voices. The simplicity represents the nothingness that existed before creation. The unison represents the oneness of God and Christ (who is the Word). The homophony represents the distinctness of God and Christ in their roles. All that existed was God and the Word (Christ). All of creation grew out of these two who are one. Although the text has roots in the story of creation, the piece is often used near Christmas as its repetitive and tense nature hearkens to the tumultuous and pain-filled world that lies in wait for a savior. This common Advent theme comes to a head at the end of the piece as it builds to a final climax in which the promised Christ (the Word of God) finally arrives.

—Rosephanye Powell & Josh Sumter

Christus Natus Est Text by: Countee Cullen (1903-1946)

Music by: Rosephanye Powell

Oak Ridge Chorus & FUMC Adult Choir

Christus Natus Est is a setting of a poem of the same title by African-American poet Countee Cullen (1903-1946), a major figure of the Harlem Renaissance. As I read Cullen’s poetry, I found myself transported back in time, imagining the hope of Christ’s birth in the lives of my forefathers and mothers as they struggled for equality, justice and freedom during the time of slavery through the Civil Rights Movement. A spiritual that was very familiar to and impactful for me as a child was Go Down Moses. Because its message is so well aligned with Cullen’s poetic rumination, and because it points back to the biblical place and time about which Cullen speaks, it seemed fitting as a musical underlay.

Christus Natus Est expresses both the angst of hope deferred and the expectation of hope for that which is to come—both of which are exemplified in the birth and return of Christ. Cullen powerfully addresses and questions societal woes with such poignant words as “For bird and beast He did not come, but for the least of mortal scum. Who lies in the ditch? Who begs his bread? Who has no stitch for the back or head? Who wakes to weep, lies down to mourn? Who in his sleep withdraws from scorn? Ye outraged dust, on field and plain, to feed the lust of madmen slain”. His answer for all of these is the latin text

“Christus Natus Est” (that is; for these Christ is born).

I believe that as the poet agonizes over the injustices in the world, he hopes in the return of Christ, heard in the phrase “Christ must and will come to his own”. Cullen resolves that life’s ills will remain until Christ returns to his own—not as the innocent child in the manger but as a warrior for freedom and justice.

—Rosephanye Powell

The First Noel Setting by: David Willcocks

Oak Ridge Chorus, FUMC Adult Choir, & Audience

The audience is invited to stand and sing the following bold text:

The first Nowell the angel did say

was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay;

In fields where they lay,

keeping their sheep,

on a cold winter’s night that was so deep:

Nowell, nowell, nowell, nowell,

Born is the King of Israel!

They looked up and saw a star,

shining in the east, beyond them far;

And to the earth it gave great light,

and so it continued both day and night:

Nowell, nowell, nowell, nowell, Born is the King of Israel!

And by the light of that same star,

three wisemen came from country far;

To seek for a king was their intent,

and to follow the star wherever it went:

Nowell, nowell, nowell, nowell, Born is the King of Israel!

Then let us all with one accord

sing praises to our heav’nly Lord,

That hath made heav’n and earth of naught,

and with his blood mankind hath bought:

Nowell, nowell, nowell, nowell, Born is the King of Israel!

In Terra Pax, Op. 39 by: Gerald Finzi (1901-1956)

Oak Ridge Chorus & FUMC Adult Choir

Joel Brown, Baritone; Alexandra Engle, Soprano

A series of tragedies profoundly affected Finzi in his early years. By the time he was eighteen he had lost his father, three elder brothers and his much-loved music teacher, killed in action. This dreadful sequence of events, and the appalling losses of the First World War that formed the backdrop to his adolescence, gave Finzi an acute awareness of the impermanence of life, confirmed with grim finality when at the age of fifty he discovered that he was dying of leukemia. These experiences to a large extent account for the hint of melancholy underlying much of his music.

Finzi’s musical inspiration sprang primarily from his love of literature and the English countryside- the same sources that inspired Elgar and Vaughan Williams. In Terra Pax was composed in 1954 and was almost the last piece that Finzi wrote, though its genesis can be traced to an event some thirty years previously, when one Christmas Eve he had climbed up to the church at the top of his beloved Chosen Hill, between Gloucester and Cheltenham. The sound of the midnight bells ringing out across the frosty Gloucestershire valleys evidently made a lasting impression on him, retrospectively providing the idea for In Terra Pax, as he told Vaughan Williams.

The work is a setting of two verses from Robert Bridge’s fine poem, ‘Noel: Christmas Eve, 1913’, subtitled Pax hominibus bonae voluntatis (Peace and goodwill to all men), which Finzi imaginatively and skillfully uses to frame St. Luke’s account of the angels’ appearance to the shepherds. In Terra Pax is subtitled ‘Christmas Scene’, and Finzi explained that ‘the Nativity becomes a vision seen by a wanderer on a dark and frosty Christmas Eve in our own familiar landscape’. This placing of the Biblical story into an English pastoral context is entirely consistent with Finzi’s close affinity with the English Romantic tradition, and his lifelong dedication to the creation of his own rural paradise at his home in Ashmansworth, near Newbury.

The two soloists and the chorus have clearly defined musical roles; the baritone soloist takes the voice of the poet, the soprano is cast as the angel, whilst the chorus narrates the familiar biblical text. In the opening section the poet is standing on a hill contemplating the events of the very first Christmas, the sound of the distant church bells becoming for him the sound of an angel choir. This image is expressed in a pealing-bells motif which, together with the refrain from ‘The First Nowell’, provides the musical fabric of the piece.

Finzi, perhaps more than most, must have been aware of the terrible irony of Bridges’ reassuring Pax hominibus being swiftly followed by the outbreak of World War I, yet despite this, and despite his own terminal decline, In Terra Pax is a radiant, optimistic work of great beauty and sincerity; a miniature masterpiece that unites emotions, images and the familiar events of the Christmas story into a compelling musical narrative that is at once personal yet universal.

—John Bawden

Love’s Pure Light (Silent Night) by: Elaine Hagenberg (b. 1979)

Oak Ridge Chorus & FUMC Adult Choir

When composing "Love’s Pure Light," I sought to reimagine "Silent Night" by capturing the tender voice of a mother rocking her child to a soothing lullaby. In the second verse, a familiar quotation from "Silent Night" emerges in long, sustained tones, leading the choir to build toward a bold, climactic refrain. On the words “Son of God,” the music erupts as if the heavens themselves have opened, with angels filling the sky to declare their good news. The piece then returns to its gentle simplicity, closing softly on “Love’s pure light” and leaving a lingering sense of awe and reverence.

—Elaine Hagenberg

Christmas Eve Schedule

4:00 p.m. Children’s Christmas Pageant (Sanctuary)

with candlelight and communion

7:00 p.m. Contemporary Christmas Eve (Multi-Purpose Room)

with candlelight and communion

11:00 p.m. Traditional Christmas Eve (Sanctuary)

with candlelight and communion

Donate Today

Donations may be made in the narthex at anytime before, during, or after the concert.

Just look for the brass plates and leave your cash or check.

Proceeds will go to help cover the cost of the concert and to help fund new youth music initiatives by both First United Methodist Church and by the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association.

These youth initiatives will help foster a love of music and will help ensure our community will be filled with music for years to come.

Thank you for your generosity!

Our thanks to Knoxville Fine Violins for distribution of orchestra music.

Our thanks to Knoxville Fine Violins for distribution of orchestra music.