Advent Calendar 2011 - 18 December : Hark! The herald angels sing
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bibliographical data
| Comp. | Mendelssohn, Felix |
| Lyrics | |
| Title | Hark! The herald angels sing |
| Performers | Perceval Allen (soprano) / Edna Thornton (alto) John Harrison (tenor) / Stewart Gardner (bass) |
| Year | [1915]. |
| Publisher | HMV |
| Record no. | 04121 |
| Matrix no. | HO 587 AL |
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- December 1st
Sancta Maria (Faure) - December 2nd
Jerusalem - December 3rd
Ave Maria (Bach/Gounod) - December 4th
Mitt hjerte alltid vanker - December 5th
Noel (Gounod) - December 6th
Silent night - December 7th
Zipoli Pastorale - December 8th
Jeg er så glad hver julekveld - December 9th
Jeg er så glad hver julekveld - December 10th
Stille nacht - December 11th
O Helga natt (Caruso) - December 12th
Jeg synger julekvad - December 13th
O jul med din glede - December 14th
Saa gaar vi rundt om en enebærbusk - December 15th
O Jul med din glede - December 16th
Silent night (Paul Whiteman orchestra) - December 17th
Noël Provencal - December 18th
Hark! The herald angels sing - December 19th
Shepherds' farewell (Berlioz) - December 20th
Rejoice greatly (Händel, Messiah) - December 21st
Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen (Praetorius) - December 22nd
In dulci jubilo (Walther) - December 23rd
Glade jul (Arne Hendriksen) - December 24th
In dulci jubilo (Bach Orgelbüchlein) - December 25th (bonus)
Halleluja Chorus (Messiah)
Advent Calendar 2011
18 December - Hark! The herald angels sing
"Mendelssohn"
(Wikimedia Commons).
"Gutenberg, the great man” - but what does he have to do with Christmas?
24 June 1840 saw the first performance in Leipzig of Mendelssohn's so-called "Gutenberg Cantata” or Festgesang zur Eröffnung der am ersten Tage der vierten Säkularfeier der Erfindung der Buchdruckerkunst, a work composed to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Gutenberg's invention of the printing press. The second movement of the work is entitled "Vaterland, in deinen Gauen", and in this movement “Gutenberg, der deithsche Mann” , "Gutenberg, der grosse Mann”,and "Gutenberg, du wackrer Mann”, is celebrated in successive verses.
This cantata has been largely neglected, but the melody at least has been remembered – it was borrowed by the Englishman William H. Cummings and re-used for a Christmas carol written by the Methodist Charles Wesley in 1739. In this carol it is not Gutenberg but angels that are celebrated. "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing" came to be perhaps Britain's best-known Christmas carol.
Maud Perceval Allen (born in 1880 in Ripley and died in London in 1955), is the soloist in this performance. She was a famous soprano, familiar from both opera and oratorio performances in the USA, Australia and Europe.
Listen
Length: 3:43
