What the &%$#? Election Musings.

In the wake of recent Electoral Events, I will be posting a series of Commentaries, probably beginning next week through early December. I truly hope to contribute to the dialogue, and invite your comments on my posts.

Unlike the Republicans during President Obama’s administration, I do not hope for and will not work for a failed Trump Presidency. I hope he jettisons all of his campaign rhetoric and does a great job, and I support him in any good things he will do.

These blogs will be for perspective, and for going forward.

Note: I have strong opinions and statements, and I back up what I say with evidence. If you share ideas, please back them up with evidence, not just feelings. I’ll outline that in my blogs. You are free to have feelings, but feelings ≠ (do not equal) evidence.

I do not believe—no, I know—that there are not two sides to every story (there are sometimes, but not always). Sometimes one side is true, and one side is false, and no amount of believing will make the other side true: e.g. Earth is round: Case Closed. Our Media must realize this and act accordingly.

God Bless America!

Future topics:

• Theoretical Methodology. What are facts and Truth, as opposed to Truthiness?
  • A Reading List that will allow you to understand exactly what is taking place
  • The creation of Idiot America where the gut rules, and intellect is despised.
• The context of this election against the understanding of the Eleven Nations of North America.
• How I dealing with my stages of grief.
• How the 2016 Election results happened.
  • How the Republican obstructionist, the Tea Party and Movement Conservatism opened the door.
  • How Trump manipulated the electorate
    • Dog Whistle arguments
    • Enlisting White Rage
    • Enlisting Misogyny
    • Rhetorical techniques
    • Who is Trump after all?
  • How the Democrats were asleep at the switch
  • The Media’s epic failure to cover this election equitably
    • What’s wrong with the media’s approach of two sides to every issue, when there are really not?
  • Extra-campaign factors
    • James Comey and the FBI: motivations
    • Wikileaks
    • Putin and Russia
    • The European phenomenon of whites-first politics (Brexit, Austria, Hungary, Finland, et al.)
• How Movement Conservatism has bamboozled America (It’s a Con of awesome proportions, let me tell you!)
  • How they have created a state of Invincible Ignorance in almost half of our nation’s people
    • How to invade and conquer Invincible Ignorance
• Exposing the Right-Wing efforts–successful–to suppress voting
• The guilt of Fundamentalist and right wing Protestants, and Right-Wing Catholic Bishops in this whole mysoginistic mess as they betray Christ and drive people away from Him and toward the Right-Wing.
• How we can neutralize the Electoral College without a Constitutional Amendment or Convention, and  enter 21st Century reality.
• How we progressives can and must work humbly and contritely to convince America that our agenda is good for Everyone!
  

Steven A. Armstrong

 

Update: Here’s a posting I sent to friends (real friends) on Facebook:

 

OK my (real, not FB) friends, since you’ve all been in the discussions.  I’m not going to belabor this, since I am preparing probably a month of Blog Posts putting forth my whole argument. See the preview at www.stevenaarmstrongsf.com . Here are my basic points:

 

1. I love you as my friends, and nothing will change that. Bottom line.
2. The Donald has to prove himself to me. See #9 below for how he’s blowing it so far. The clock is ticking.
3. I have messaged the poster of the homophobic car note and asked him to verify. He is an Episcopal Priest. I have heard back and the note is genuine. I have verified it. This happened to a real Gay Episcopal married priest, not the poster. Shame!!
4. I’m sorry the college student lied about the Hijab. That’s wrong, and perhaps actionable. She made a very bad mistake which then plays into the other camp’s hands.
5. Anything I post, please fact-check. I want to be accurate about facts.
6. I can assure you—and you know me to be an honorable man—there are millions of us out here who are terrified at the promises DJT made during the Campaign. If you don’t accept that, I don’t know what to say. Talk to people outside your circle.
   1. I must be honest with you. A vote for Trump viscerally feels to me like a repudiation of everything I have worked for my entire life. Sorry, but that what it feels like to me. It doesn’t mean I don’t still like my friends who voted for Trump, but this is personal for me.
   2. We are particularly terrified at the possible effects on SCOTUS. God help us!
7. I heard a very wise statement the other day: “Those who took Trump seriously, did not take him literally. Those who did not take him seriously took him literally.” I take the man at his word…and it scares the hell out of me.
8. I cannot for the life of me understand how we listened to the exact same Trump rallies and speeches and tweets, and you don’t see how hate-filled his whole campaign was with Dog Whistles everywhere.
9. World perspective: White Europeans and their descendants are trying to claw back the power they have lost since they conquered the world in the 16^th-19^th Centuries: see Brexit, Austria, Hungary, Finland, Russia, and now us. As a Sion of Spain, Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales, I reject this movement: Anathema Sit!
10. I cannot for the life of me understand how we listened to the exact same Trump rallies and speeches and tweets, and you don’t see how he either lied or just made stuff up as he went along. No drought in CA, no Climate change, and so forth and so on. No contact with Russia, when Russia affirms his staff was in contact.
11. I cannot for the life of me understand how when you see the gang of thieves, cut-throats, white supremacists, homophobes, and cronies he is loading his transition team with, you are not as appalled as I am. My heavens, Steve Bannon, the very heart and soul and enabler of the evil Alt-Right! How can you countenance that?
    1. Doesn’t it bother you that White Supremacists and the KKK laud him? They know his true agenda.
12. I do not care in the slightest that George Soros may be assisting the protests. The Koch Brothers do the same thing with the Tea Party, etc. I’m a Soros fan! Thank God we have some rich guys on the peoples’ side.
13. One of the ways Trump won was by the racist voter suppression laws in many States which are tantamount to a resurrected Jim Crow. I believe that the US should issue a free National ID Card to all actual citizens, and that all citizens be compelled to vote as in Australia. They can vote a blank ballot if they want. Any one—like Fr. Deacon Paul Weyrich, with whom I served at the Altar, one of the founders of Movement Conservatism and its unholy alliance with Right-wing Christianity—who says “We don’t want everyone to vote” is un-American. I pray for his repose. He died of a terrible illness. A great Deacon, a terrible politician. We both loved trains. You see, I have been at the Heart of the Beast and understand it from the inside.
14. Some of my basic principles:
    1. There are not two legitimate sides to every story. The media does not have to give time to “both sides” when one is demonstrably false by any valid test. For example, Pence says tobacco doesn’t cause cancer. Sorry Mike, you are just wrong. No justification for listening to you on that. The world is round: No time need be spent on alternate theories.
    2. The greatest evil threatening our nation is “Movement Conservatism,” which is a quasi-religious Cult. I’m not talking about ordinary conservative thinkers. I mean the doctrinaire cult that brought us trickle-down economics, etc., and now has control of Congress. Far more dangerous to us and to the world than Daesh or Al Qaida. And the Republican Party, once the dignified GOP of Eisenhower and Rockefeller, is its biggest victim.
       1. Example: The Left and Right are not equivalent. Liberal think-tanks were created to examine problems from a purely objective standpoint and avoid all partisanship, finding fact-based solutions. Conservative think-tanks eschew all objectivity and were created solely to press for the Movement Conservative agenda. The first is genuine, the second is partisan hogwash.
    3. The New Deal is the greatest achievement of our Nation’s social policy. Of course it had flaws and needs updating over time, but I stand by Our Father and Mother among the Saints, Franklin and Eleanor. I will fight every attempt to destroy it.
    4. The Left, and in particular, the Democratic Party, has made many mistakes. I do not claim infallibility for them at all. In particular, in this election, they did not take account of the rise of White Rage, the disaffection of many of the white middle-class, and the fickleness of minority voters. They did not effectively get out the vote.
       1. The rule by experts of Kennedy and Johnson administrations had many missteps. It’s still the right way, but we need to humbly admit it needs work.
    5. Finally, I intuit very deeply that we are in mid-1930s Germany.
       1. Trump wants to keep holding rallies! Can we say Nuremberg and Reichsparteitag?
       2. He has no concept of how a Democracy works. Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer.
       3. Here are the key notes of Fascism. They sound like DJT to me:

Nationalism: Fascism seeks to solve economic, political, and social problems by achieving a millenarian national rebirth, exalting the nation or race above all else, and promoting cults of unity, strength, and purity

Totalitarianism: It opposes liberal democracy, rejects multi-party systems, and supports a one-party state, which we now have with all the power with the Republicans.

Economics: Some of this does not fit Trump. I am an honest guy. But this part does: Fascists criticized egalitarianism as preserving the weak. They instead promoted social Darwinist views.

Action: Fascism emphasizes direct action, including supporting the legitimacy of political violence, as a core part of its politics. See his rallies.

Age and gender roles: His misogyny, sexual abuse, and a retrograde gender view.

1. My conversations with my European and other foreign friends confirm that everyone else in the world already sees this. Those who cannot see it here are simply self-deluded. I’m sorry, I must be blunt. There is no American Exceptionalism.
2. This is my credo. I will not be silent:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me. — Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984)

i.

I am doing this for you, to save all of us! You have no idea the evil that has been loosed upon us.

Enough for tonight. I will continue my battle tomorrow and the next, and the next until we have built Jerusalem in America’s green and pleasant lands.

 

Please God, Truly bless America, and make her The City set on a Hilltop.

My modern adaptation of the Troparion of the Holy Cross in my Byzantine Christian tradition:

“O Lord, save Thy People and Bless Thine Inheritance,
granting to Thy People Victory over any who oppose Justice!
And by the Power of Thy Cross, Preserving Thy Commonwealth!”

Here’s the video:

NB: Some of the accents are wrong in the Greek–not my doing! They forgot the rule about grave accents on the ultima before other words. Ah well!

The sacred meaning is still intact!

 

Christmas Music Matters: Twelfth Night

Welcome to the 12th Day of Christmas: The Holy Theophany and Epiphany of Christ.

Since the Christian Day, like the Jewish Day, begins at sundown, last night was Twelfth Night!

Christmas is not only on December 25. Here’s the story:

Originally, most Christians had one feast for all of the Revelations of Christ: The Expectation of Christ’s Birth, The Nativity, the visit of the Magi, the Circumcision and Naming, the Baptism, and the Encounter with Simeon and Anna in the Temple. All celebrated at once, usually around January 6.

Gradually, in a kind of Liturgical “Big Bang,” different Churches began to distribute these Feasts over several months. To make a long story short, here is how they ended up in the Roman (Western) Tradition, which includes Anglicans and many Protestant Christians, on the one hand, and in the Byzantine Greek Tradition:

Western:

• Four Weeks of Preparation: Advent
• The Nativity: Christmas Day: December 25
• The Circumcision: January 1 (no longer on the Roman Calendar)
• The Visit of the Magi: Epiphany: January 6 (now the nearest Sunday for RCs). Twelfth Night
• The Baptism: January 13 (or nearest Sunday)
• The Presentation in the Temple (February 2)

Byzantine:

• 40 Days of Preparation: The Christmas Lent (begins November 15)
• The Nativity & the Visit of the Magi: Christmas Day: December 25
• The Circumcision: January 1
• The Baptism of Christ: Theophany: January 6
• The Encounter with Simeon and Anna in the Temple (February 2)

It should be noted that Dec 25 corresponds to the Winter Solstice, the Birth of the New Light, and February 1-2 is the ancient Fire Festival of Imbolc, at which the Goddess Bridget becomes the nursemaid for the New Light born at the Solstice. It is therefore most natural that the ancient observances would shine through both these Christian calendars. The Feast of St. Bridget is also on Feb 2!

The Christmas Season of celebration, therefore, has its core at December 25-January 6 (The Twelve Days of Christmas), and continues until the formal close with the Feast on February 2.

In Rome, the church Christmas decorations, including the manger scenes, remain until February 2. Try as I might, I can’t convince Chris to leave the Tree up that long! In New Orleans, Twelfth Night (January 5/6) is the beginning of Mardi Gras Season, which runs until midnight between Fat Tuesday and Ash Wednesday.

So…that having been said, how about some appropriate music?

First, let’s listen to the Byzantine Chant for the very important Great Feast of the Theophany:

Russian Tone (English):

Greek Tone (Arabic and English):

The Great Blessing of Water at Theophany in the Orthodox Church of Japan (Russian Tones, sung in Japanese):

Greek Tone (English-Arabic) Great Blessing of Waters in Virginia:

(I hope my point is getting across, that the Byzantine Tradition is not something distant and foreign. It is thoroughly planted all over the world, including here in the U.S.!)

Great Blessing of the Missouri and Kansas Rivers:

Now, on to the reveling!

Shakespeare (whoever he was, he was certainly associated with the Rosicrucian Movement) wrote a play for the end of the Christmas Season (Feb 2), and called it Twelfth Night for the Feast of Jan 5/6. I was lucky enough to be part of a production of the play at Yale years ago with Jim Kramer.

Here are some selections to conclude our musical journey that we have taken together this Christmas:

Twelfth Night begins with this wonderful soliloquy by Duke Orsinio:

If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken and so die.
That strain again! It had a dying fall;
O, it came o’er my ear like the sweet sound
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing and giving odour! Enough; no more;
‘T is not so sweet now as it was before.
O spirit of love, how quick and fresh art thou!
That, notwithstanding thy capacity
Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there,
Of what validity and pitch soe’er,
But falls into abatement and low price,
Even in a minute! so full of shapes is fancy
That it alone is high fantastical.

Twelfth Night, Act I Scene 1

And a musical setting by John Gardiner:

The Clown has four songs in Twelfth Night:

Come Away Death:

Come away, come away, death,
And in sad cypress let me be laid;
Fly away, fly away, breath;
I am slain by a fair cruel maid.
My shroud of white, stuck all with yew,
O, prepare it!
My part of death, no one so true
Did share it.

    Not a flower, not a flower sweet,
On my black coffin let there be strown;
Not a friend, not a friend greet
My poor corpse, where my bones shall be thrown.
A thousand thousand sighs to save,
Lay me, O, where
Sad true lover never find my grave,
To weep there!

O Mistress Mine:

O mistress mine, where are you roaming?
O, stay and hear; your true love’s coming,
That can sing both high and low:
Trip no further, pretty sweeting;
Journeys end in lovers meeting,
Every wise man’s son doth know.

What is love? ‘T is not hereafter;
Present mirth hath present laughter;
What’s to come is still unsure.
In delay there lies no plenty,
Then come kiss me, sweet and twenty,
Youth’s a stuff will not endure.

I am gone Sir:

I am gone, sir,
And anon, sir,
I ‘ll be with you again,
In a trice,
Like to the old Vice,
Your need to sustain;
Who, with dagger of lath,
In his rage and his wrath,
Cries, ah, ha! to the devil:
Like a mad lad,
Pare thy nails, dad;
Adieu, goodman devil.

The Play then ends with the Clown singing this ditty:

When that I was and a little tiny boy,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
A foolish thing was but a toy,
For the rain it raineth every day.

     But when I came to man’s estate,
With hey, ho, &c.
‘Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gate,
For the rain, &c.

     But when I came, alas! to wive,
With hey, ho, &c.
By swaggering could I never thrive,
For the rain, &c.

     But when I came unto my beds,
With hey, ho, &c.
With toss-pots still had drunken heads,
For the rain, &c.

     A great while ago the world begun,
With hey, ho, &c.
But that’s all one, our play is done,
And we’ll strive to please you every day.

Twelfth Night, ending song. Act IV Scene 3

Here are all four by Garth Baxter:

And a Madrigal setting:

Thus we come to an end of our musical journey. I have shared the music I know. I invite you to share yours!

To end, we’ll take our cue from another of the Bard’s plays, The Tempest:

Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.

William Shakespeare
From The Tempest, Act 4 Scene 1

Merry Christmas!

Steven A. Armstrong
Tutor, Editor, Consultant

Exeunt Omnes.

Christmas Music Matters: Christmas Laughs

Happy 11th Day of Christmas!

Today, something for a laugh and some social commentary!

Comedians love to poke fun at the foibles of society, and Christmas comes in for its share of laughs. Today I wanted to share some of my favorite ones with you.

Green Christmas by Stan Freberg (1958):

I got turned on to Stan Freberg recordings in High School, and have had a love affair with them ever since. In a larger sense, it was my introduction to humor in music, a topic I’ll do a series of blogs on at another time. Needless to say, I am a hopeless Doctor Demento fan.

I’ll step aside and let the hilarity begin with this skit:

Tom Lehrer – A Christmas Carol

Tom Lehrer was a master of music satire. Here is his “Christmas Carol”:

PDQ Bach – A Consort of Choral Christmas Carols

P.D.Q. Bach is the brainchild of musician Peter Schickele. (Remember him as Joan Baez’s collaborator on her Noël? There will be a quiz on all these blog posts, you know!) He has given us 50 years of musical hilarity with his antics.

For Christmas, PDQB penned some carols:

http://www.schickele.com/composition/consortchristmas.htm

Here they are:

“Throw the Yule Log On, Uncle John”:

“O Little Town of Hackensack”:

“Good King Kong Looked Out”:

“Weird Al” Yankovic – Christmas At Ground Zero

What can I say?

And as a bonus:

Bob Rivers – The 12 Pains of Christmas

Since we are doing the 12 Days of Christmas here:

Stephen Colbert – Another Christmas Song:

From our new master of comedy!

Celtic Elvis – Kill a Tree for Christ

Satire from California’s Celtic Elvis:

Lon Chaney, Jr. – Monsters’ Holiday (1964)

Elmo & Patsy – Grandma Got Run over by a Reindeer

Finally, the classic:

I hope these brought a smile to your ears!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Steven A. Armstrong
Tutor, Editor, Consultant

Christmas Music Matters: The Carols of Alfred Shaddick Burt

Happy 10th Day of Christmas!

Alfred Burt (April 22, 1920 – February 7, 1954) was an American Jazz Musician who is best known for the composition of 15 Christmas Carols.

Some of these you will know, and others you may not:

1. “Christmas Cometh Caroling” (1942)
2. “Jesu Parvule” (1943)
3. “What Are the Signs” (1944)
4. “Ah, Bleak and Chill the Wintry Wind” (1945)
5. “All on A Christmas Morning” (1946)
6. “Nigh Bethlehem” (1947)
7. “Christ in the Stranger’s Guise” (1948)
8. “Sleep Baby Mine” (1949)
9. “This Is Christmas” (also known as “Bright, Bright, the Holly Berries”) (1950)
10. “Some Children See Him” (1951)
11. “Come, Dear Children” (1952)
12. “O, Hearken Ye” (1953)
13. “Caroling, Caroling” (1954)
14. “We’ll Dress the House” (1954)
15. “The Star Carol” (1954)

Burt died less than 24 hours after finishing “The Star Carol,” and all of them were produced posthumously. I first hear them on one of my favorite’s  Tennessee Ernie Ford‘s Christmas specials and albums, and  Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians and Nat King Cole also sang some of them.

They have been covered through the years by many artists. All of them are available at the  Family’s web site http://www.alfredburtcarols.com.

Here are some outstanding examples:

“Some Children see Him” sung by the incomparable Tennessee Ernie Ford:

Simon and Garfunkel’s 1967 recording of “The Star Carol”:

“O Hearken Ye”:

“Caroling, Caroling”:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Steven A. Armstrong
Tutor, Editor, Consultant

Christmas Music Matters: Carols at the Symphony: Carol Symphony

Welcome to the 9th Day of Christmas!

Victor Hely-Hutchinson composed his Carol Symphony in 1927. He was “a British composer, born in Cape Town, Cape Colony (now in South Africa).”

Wikipedia conveniently gives us the outline of this fun and delightful symphony:

• The first movement (Allegro energico) is based on O Come All Ye Faithful. It is in the style of a Bach chorale prelude.
• The second movement is a scherzo (Allegro molto moderato) on God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, similar to the Russian Balakirev compositions.
• The third movement (Andante quasi lento e cantabile) is a slow movement whose outer sections are based on the Coventry Carol, with a central interlude on The First Nowell.
• The finale (Allegro energico come prima) recapitulates material from the first movement, and also uses Here We Come A-Wassailing before concluding with a re-statement of O Come All Ye Faithful similar to a style of Charles Villiers Stanford in a fugal structure.

This selection has the symphony itself, complemented by wonderful visuals. You can learn about the visuals here.

All very British, that!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Steven A. Armstrong
Tutor, Editor, Consultant

Christmas Music Matters: Carols at the Symphony: Fantasia on Christmas Carols

Greetings on the 8th Day of Christmas!

Ralph Vaughan Williams published his Fantasia on Christmas Carols in 1912. In musical parlance, a Fantasia is a loose musical form which more closely imitates improvisation.

In this meditative piece, Vaughan Williams uses “English folk carols “The truth sent from above“, “Come all you worthy gentlemen” and “On Christmas night all Christians sing” (i.e. the Sussex Carol), all folk songs collected in southern England by Vaughan Williams and his friend Cecil Sharp a few years earlier. These are interposed with brief orchestral quotations from other carols, such as The First Nowell.”

Enjoy this beautiful meditation on Christmas Carols as the joys of the Season continue!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Steven A. Armstrong
Tutor, Editor, Consultant

Christmas Music Matters: Some Wonderful Christmas Albums

Dear Friends,

On this New Year’s eve, there are probably post-Christmas sales going on, and so I wanted to share with you some of my favorite Christmas Albums! Perhaps you’ll like one or more of them!

Of course, I love all of the Wyndham Hilly type of New Age Christmas Albums, Celtic Christmas series, and the like. I have a whole CD rack of them. What I am giving here is albums with something very special in them.

From Canyon Records

One pre-Christmas favorite is Canyon Records’ Our Lady of the Roses, a musical version of the story of Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe, produced by my High School Classmate and best friend, Robert Doyle:

I highly recommend the album, which is beautiful, poignant, moving, and has a refreshing take on the whole story! They have now also staged a new version as an Opera in the Valley of the Sun! Congratulations Robert and Canyon!

Also from Canyon, one of my all-time favorites is R. Carlos Nakai’s and William Eaton’s Christmas album, Winter Dreams. This is a masterpiece! It’s a must have! Here’s a sample:

Joan Baez

Joan Baez created a Christmas Album with Peter Schickele (PDQ Bach), Noël, in 1966. Here is Wikipedia’s completely accurate summary:

Working with arranger-conductor Peter Schickele (PDQ Bach), Baez, for the first time, recorded an album outside the standard guitar-based folk format. She would go on to work with Schickele on her next two albums, both of which also featured classical orchestration.

Unlike holiday albums by many other popular artists, Baez included mostly traditional material, avoiding more lighthearted or commercial fare in favor of a somber, understated tone. She included both familiar (“The Little Drummer Boy”) and more obscure (“Down in Yon Forest”) material. The album also contains several brief instrumental selections arranged by Schickele.

Here are two tidbits to interest you:

“I Wonder as I Wander”:

…and a truly Mystical, “Down in Yon Forest”:

Loreena McKennitt

One of my all-time favorite musicians is Loreena McKennitt, from Canada. She has created to Enchanting Christmas albums:

• To Drive the Cold Winter Away
• A Midwinter’s Night Dream

McKennitt imparts mystery and magic to every piece she renders. Here’s some of the marvels you’ll encounter:

“God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” with Eastern hints:

“Noël Nouvelet” with a North African flavor:

Julie Andrews

Julie Andrews has recorded many Christmas Albums, but her first, A Christmas Treasure (1968) is not only her finest, but it is an amazing partnership with André Previn which features many carols unknown to most Americans. The source material came mainly from British Hymnals. If you are a fan of the full, lush orchestrations of late 1960s movie music, as I am, this is a rare treat for Christmas!

Here’s a beautiful “Angels From the Realm of Glory”:

“The Bells of Christmas” with the unmistakable Previn orchestration:

“The Irish Carol”:

Bruce Cockburn

Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn (pronounced “Co-burn”), created his Christmas album in 1993 with international Christmas music, including, as we have already seen, the Huron Carol.

Here is “Ríu Riu Chíu,” a 16th Century Spanish villancico:

Ríu, ríu, chíu, la guarda ribera,
Dios guardó el lobo de nuestra cordera.

“[With a cry of] Ríu, ríu, chíu, the kingfisher, God kept the wolf from our Lamb [Mary, spared of the original sin at birth].”

El lobo rabioso la quiso morder
Mas Dios Poderoso la supo defender
Quíso la hacer que no pudiese pecar
Ni aun original esta virgen no tuviera.

“The raging wolf sought to bite her, but God Almighty knew to defend her; He chose to make her so that she could not sin; no original sin was found in that virgin.”

Éste que es nacido es el Gran Monarca
Cristo Patriarca de carne vestido
Ha nos redimido con se hacer chiquito
Aunque era infinito finito se hiciera.

“This one that is born is the Great King, Christ the Patriarch clothed in flesh. He redeemed us when He made himself small, though He was Infinite He would make himself finite.”

Yo vi mil Garzones que andavan cantando
Por aqui volando haciendo mil sones
Diciendo a gascones Gloria sea en el Cielo
Y paz en el suelo pues Jesús nasciera.

“I saw a thousand boys (angels) go singing, here making a thousand voices while flying, telling the shepherds of glory in the heavens, and peace to the world since Jesus has been born”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T0I6hx3aW4

Here is his French version of the carol we know of as “Angels we have Heard on High.” It was composed in  Languedoc, my favorite magical region of France, and has been translated into many languages. I presume the original was in Occitan, the language of Languedoc.

Les anges dans nos campagnes

Ont entonné l’hymne des cieux,

Et l’écho de nos montagnes

Redit ce chant mélodieux

Gloria in excelsis Deo (Bis)

Bergers, pour qui cette fête ?

Quel est l’objet de tous ces chants ?

Quel vainqueur, quelle conquête

Mérite ces cris triomphants :

Gloria in excelsis Deo (Bis)

Ils annoncent la naissance

Du libérateur d’Israël

Et pleins de reconnaissance

Chantent en ce jour solennel

Gloria in excelsis Deo (Bis)

Cherchons tous l’heureux village

Qui l’a vu naître sous ses toits

Offrons-lui le tendre hommage

Et de nos cœurs et de nos voix

Gloria in excelsis Deo (Bis)

Bergers, quittez vos retraites,

Unissez-vous à leurs concerts,

Et que vos tendres musettes

Fassent retentir les airs

Gloria in excelsis Deo (Bis)

Angels we have heard on high

Sweetly singing o’er the plain

And the mountains in reply

Echoing their joyous strain

—Chorus—:

Gloria, in excelsis Deo!

Gloria, in excelsis Deo!

Shepherds, why this jubilee?

Why your joyous strains prolong?

What the gladsome tidings be?

Which inspire your heavenly songs?

Chorus

Come to Bethlehem and see

Christ Whose birth the angels sing;

Come, adore on bended knee,

Christ, the Lord, the newborn King.

Chorus

See Him in a manger laid,

Jesus, Lord of heaven and earth;

Mary, Joseph, lend your aid,

With us sing our Savior’s birth.

“Chorus”

The Christmas Revels

Any recording from The Christmas Revels is a gem! These local productions across the Nation are a seasonal treat, and they have published many albums. You can find them here. I have enjoyed these since I first discovered them in High School.

Here just a couple of examples:

You can find many, many of these on YouTube!

Orthodox Hymns of Christmas

St. Vladimir’s Seminary in Crestwood NY, a seminary of the Orthodox Church in America publishes wonderful recordings of Byzantine Liturgical Music. Their Album for Christmas is marvelous!

Here is a selection from the Matins Canon for Christmas from this recording. Awesome!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Steven A. Armstrong
Tutor, Editor, Consultant

Christmas Music Matters: The Huron Carol

Today, I’d like to listen to a Christmas song that has a long history in Canada.

In or about 1642, St. Jean de Brébeuf, S.J. wrote a Christmas Hymn in the Wyandot language (Huron) at the Mission station at  Sainte-Marie. The French Jesuits worked among the First Nations on what is today both sides of the Canadian/US border. He used a French folk carol, Une Jeune Pucelle (1557) for the melody:

Une jeune pucelle de noble coeur priant en sa chambrette

Son createur, l’ange du ciel, descendit sur la terre

Lui conta le mystere de notre salvateur,

ce Dieu si redoutable est homme comme toi,

est homme comme toi.

Entend ma voix fidelle, pasteur, suis moi.

Viens témoigner ton zèle au divin Roi;

Ce Dieu si grand est né dans une étable,

Ce Dieu si redoutable est homme comme toi.

est homme comme toi.

A young maiden of noble heart was praying in her little chamber
Her creator, the heavenly angel descended to earth
Recounting to heer the mystery of our Salvation,
The God so redoubtable is a man like you,
A man like you.

Listen to my faithful voice, Shepherd, follow me.
Come and testify to your zeal to the Divine King;
God so Great is born in a stable,
God so redoubtable is a man like you.
A man like you.

De Brébeuf adapted the melody, and wrote lyrics to explain the circumstances of Christ’s birth in imagery he believed would be culturally adapted for the Native peoples. Here is the carol in its original Wyandot version:

Ehstehn yayau deh tsaun we yisus ahattonnia
O na wateh wado:kwi nonnwa ‘ndasqua entai
ehnau sherskwa trivota nonnwa ‘ndi yaun rashata
Iesus Ahattonnia, Ahattonnia, Iesus Ahattonnia.

Ayoki onki hm-ashe eran yayeh raunnaun
yauntaun kanntatya hm-deh ‘ndyaun sehnsatoa ronnyaun
Waria hnawakweh tond Yosehf sataunn haronnyaun
Iesus Ahattonnia, Ahattonnia, Iesus Ahattonnia.

Asheh kaunnta horraskwa deh ha tirri gwames
Tishyaun ayau ha’ndeh ta aun hwa ashya a ha trreh
aundata:kwa Tishyaun yayaun yaun n-dehta
Iesus Ahattonnia, Ahattonnia, Iesus Ahattonnia.

Dau yishyeh sta atyaun errdautau ‘ndi Yisus
avwa tateh dn-deh Tishyaun stanshi teya wennyau
aha yaunna torrehntehn yataun katsyaun skehnn
Iesus Ahattonnia, Ahattonnia, Iesus Ahattonnia.

Eyeh kwata tehnaunnte aheh kwashyehn ayehn
kiyeh kwanaun aukwayaun dehtsaun we ‘ndeh adeh
tarrya diskwann aunkwe yishyehr eya ke naun sta
Iesus Ahattonnia, Ahattonnia, Iesus Ahattonnia.
Have courage, you who are human beings: Jesus, he is born
The okie spirit who enslaved us has fled
Don’t listen to him for he corrupts the spirits of our thoughts
Jesus, he is born

The okie spirits who live in the sky are coming with a message
They’re coming to say, “Rejoice!
Mary has given birth. Rejoice!”
Jesus, he is born

Three men of great authority have left for the place of his birth
Tiscient, the star appearing over the horizon leads them there
That star will walk first on the bath to guide them
Jesus, he is born

The star stopped not far from where Jesus was born
Having found the place it said,
“Come this way”
Jesus, he is born

As they entered and saw Jesus they praised his name
They oiled his scalp many times, anointing his head
with the oil of the sunflower
Jesus, he is born

They say, “Let us place his name in a position of honour
Let us act reverently towards him for he comes to show us mercy
It is the will of the spirits that you love us, Jesus,
and we wish that we may be adopted into your family
Jesus, he is born

Here is Bruce Cockburn’s version sung in Wyandot:

There is English version which is not a translation of the original, but rather a 20th century reworking of the material. It’s not great textually, since it mixes Algonquin terminology with Huron, and could be seen to be patronizing, but some First Nations still use it. Here is a rather elaborate version by the Canadian Tenors:

Here’s another, more serene version by our own, San Francisco, Chanticleer:

‘Twas in the moon of wintertime when all the birds had fled
That mighty Gitchi Manitou sent angel choirs instead;
Before their light the stars grew dim and wondering hunters heard the hymn,
Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born, in excelsis gloria.

Within a lodge of broken bark the tender babe was found;
A ragged robe of rabbit skin enwrapped his beauty round
But as the hunter braves drew nigh the angel song rang loud and high
Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born, in excelsis gloria.

The earliest moon of wintertime is not so round and fair
As was the ring of glory on the helpless infant there.
The chiefs from far before him knelt with gifts of fox and beaver pelt.
Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born, in excelsis gloria.

O children of the forest free, O seed of Manitou
The holy Child of earth and heaven is born today for you.
Come kneel before the radiant boy who brings you beauty peace and joy.
Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born, in excelsis gloria.

Words: Jean de Brebeuf, ca. 1643; redone by Jesse Edgar Middleton, 1926
Music: French Canadian melody (tune name: Jesous Ahatonhia)

Finally, here’s a nice, meditative instrumental of the original melody, from one of my favorites, Loreena McKennitt:

Enjoy the meditations of the Season!

Merry Christmas!

Steven A. Armstrong
Tutor, Editor, Consultant

Christmas Music Matters: The Rose

Today, December 28, we’ll have something of a departure. “The Rose,” by Bette Midler, is not usually thought of as a Christmas song. However, I believe it fits the bill.

It is clearly a song of the Winter, and about Love, which is born at this time, and none too soon, in our Darkest Hour. Then too, It sings of the Multifoliate Rose, the symbol of our unfolding soul personalities, and the sign of Sacred Mysteries, “sub rosa.” Dat Rosa Mel Apibus Robert Fludd teaches us: The Rose gives Honey to the Bees.

The song was written by Amanda McBroom in 1977 or 1978, and made famous by Bette Midler in her 1979 film The Rose, loosely based on the life of Janice Joplin.

I therefor share with you a piece that has been very important in my life: Bette Midler’s  rendition of “The Rose.”

 

Some say love, it is a river
that drowns the tender reed.
Some say love, it is a razor
that leaves your soul to bleed.

Some say love, it is a hunger
an endless aching need.
I say love, it is a flower
and you its only seed.

It’s the heart afraid of breaking
that never learns to dance,
It’s the dream afraid of waking, that never takes the chance.
It’s the one who won’t be taken,
who cannot seem to give
and the soul afraid of dying, that never learns to live.

When the night has been too lonely
and the road has been too long,
and you think that love is only
for the lucky and the strong.

Just remember in the winter, far beneath the bitter snows
lies the seed
that with the sun’s love
in the spring
becomes the rose.

Merry Christmas!

Steven A. Armstrong
Tutor, Editor, Consultant

Christmas Music Matters: Good King Wenceslas

Now that we have both St. Stephen’s Days (Western: Dec 26 and Eastern Dec 27) with us, it’s time to turn to that wonderful carol, Good King Wenceslas!

As we know the carol is set on the Feast of St. Stephen, and the King’s Charity is manifested miraculously. We are bidden to imitate him in philanthropia: active love of our sisters and brothers.

We’ll get to the text in a minute. Both the melody and the poem have a fascinating history, fit for a big mug of egg nog!

John Mason Neale, in collaboration with his music editor Thomas Belmore, wrote the lyrics in 1853. It is based on the mediaeval legends of the Duke St. Wenceslas (Václav) of Bohemia (907–935 or 929). There is some evidence that Neale translated an older text by Czech writer Václav Alois Svoboda.

Duke Wenceslas

Wenceslas was indeed a man to be emulated. His life and martyrdom formed one of the bases, on the Continent and in Britain, of the type of the rex justus, the just King. A 12th century preacher said of him:

But his deeds I think you know better than I could tell you; for, as is read in his Passion, no one doubts that, rising every night from his noble bed, with bare feet and only one chamberlain, he went around to God’s churches and gave alms generously to widows, orphans, those in prison and afflicted by every difficulty, so much so that he was considered, not a prince, but the father of all the wretched.

Supportive of the poor, he was also even-handed to his Catholic and Orthodox subjects alike.

The Melody

The melody chosen for the Neale text was from a 13th Century Spring Carole first publish in Finland, “Tempus adest floridum” (The Time is here for Flowering). The lyrics of the original have nothing to do with the Wenceslas legend. Rather, they begin in a similar way to “Tempus adest floridum”of the Carmina Burana 1582, however, the Carmina text becomes much more earthy.

Neale’s “Good King Wenceslas” (1853)	“Tempus adest floridum” (Piae Cantiones, PC 74)	English translation of PC 74 by Percy Dearmer(1867–1936)	“Tempus adest floridum” (Carmina Burana, CB 142)	English translation of CB 142 by John Addington Symonds (1884)
Good King Wenceslas looked out, on the Feast of Stephen, When the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even; Brightly shone the moon that night, tho’ the frost was cruel, When a poor man came in sight, gath’ring winter fuel.	Tempus adest floridum, surgunt namque flores Vernales in omnibus, imitantur mores Hoc quod frigus laeserat, reparant calores Cernimus hoc fieri, per multos labores.	Spring has now unwrapped the flowers, day is fast reviving, Life in all her growing powers towards the light is striving: Gone the iron touch of cold, winter time and frost time, Seedlings, working through the mould, now make up for lost time.	Tempus adest floridum, surgunt namque flores vernales mox; in omnibus immutantur mores. Hoc, quod frigus laeserat, reparant calores; Cernimus hoc fieri per multos colores.	Now comes the time of flowers, and the blossoms appear; now in all things comes the transformation of Spring. What the cold harmed, the warmth repairs, as we see by all these colors.
“Hither, page, and stand by me, if thou know’st it, telling, Yonder peasant, who is he? Where and what his dwelling?” “Sire, he lives a good league hence, underneath the mountain; Right against the forest fence, by Saint Agnes’ fountain.”	Sunt prata plena floribus, iucunda aspectu Ubi iuvat cernere, herbas cum delectu Gramina et plantae hyeme quiescunt Vernali in tempore virent et accrescunt.	Herb and plant that, winter long, slumbered at their leisure, Now bestirring, green and strong, find in growth their pleasure; All the world with beauty fills, gold the green enhancing, Flowers make glee among the hills, set the meadows dancing	Stant prata plena floribus, in quibus nos ludamus! Virgines cum clericis simul procedamus, Per amorem Veneris ludum faciamus, ceteris virginibus ut hoc referamus!	The fields in which we play are full of flowers. Maidens and clerks, let us go out together, let us play for the love of Venus, that we may teach the other maidens.
“Bring me flesh, and bring me wine, bring me pine logs hither: Thou and I shall see him dine, when we bear them thither. ” Page and monarch, forth they went, forth they went together; Through the rude wind’s wild lament and the bitter weather.	Haec vobis pulchre monstrant Deum creatorem Quem quoque nos credimus omnium factorem O tempus ergo hilare, quo laetari libet Renovato nam mundo, nos novari decet.	Through each wonder of fair days God Himself expresses; Beauty follows all His ways, as the world He blesses: So, as He renews the earth, Artist without rival, In His grace of glad new birth we must seek revival.	«O dilecta domina, cur sic alienaris? An nescis, o carissima, quod sic adamaris? Si tu esses Helena, vellem esse Paris! Tamen potest fieri noster amor talis.»	«O my chosen one, why dost thou shun me? Dost thou not know, dearest, how much thou art loved? If thou wert Helen, I would be Paris. So great is our love that it can be so.»
“Sire, the night is darker now, and the wind blows stronger; Fails my heart, I know not how; I can go no longer.” “Mark my footsteps, good my page. Tread thou in them boldly Thou shalt find the winter’s rage freeze thy blood less coldly.”	Terra ornatur floribus et multo decore Nos honestis moribus et vero amore Gaudeamus igitur tempore iucundo Laudemusque Dominum pectoris ex fundo.	Earth puts on her dress of glee; flowers and grasses hide her; We go forth in charity—brothers all beside her; For, as man this glory sees in th’awakening season, Reason learns the heart’s decrees, hearts are led by reason
In his master’s steps he trod, where the snow lay dinted; Heat was in the very sod which the saint had printed. Therefore, Christian men, be sure, wealth or rank possessing, Ye who now will bless the poor, shall yourselves find blessing.

Here’s the original 13th Century Spring Carol. It’s actual mystical:

So then Neale and Belmore lifted the tune (“The tune has also been used for the Christmas hymn Mary Gently Laid Her Child, by Joseph S. Cook (1859—1933)) and “Good King Wenceslas” was born: “Ye who now will bless the poor, shall yourselves find blessing,” a lesson very much needed today!

And I just couldn’t not present you with these handsome Irish Lads having a go at the morality tale! The Irish Rovers seem to be able to interject the energy of the Spring Carol back into the carol, while cavorting in a fashion those of us of Irish heritage know all too well:

Here’s a bit more meditative version:

Meditate on the lesson of the Good King, and go out and help a sister or brother this season!

Merry Christmas!

Steven A. Armstrong
Tutor, Editor, Consultant