With that said, what keeps me eternally excited about Advent and Christmas again coming around in the ever-circling seasons is the music. There is so much beautiful Advent and Christmas music that sometimes I find myself trying to "overdo it" in programming. My suggestion, then, is to focus on one more difficult piece during Advent to allow more work on what will undoubtedly be a more involved Christmas Mass. Allow me to share my programming for Advent:
1st Sunday of Advent: "Sleepers Wake" (Wachet Auf) by Felix Mendelssohn. CPDL also has it available in the original German. This is a chorale from Mendelssohn's "St. Paul Oratorio". It is effective, short, and simple. For those who direct non-Catholic choirs that don't require simplicity of instruments during Advent, there are also parts for three trumpets. Catholic choirs can easily make use of the trumpet solo stop on the organ.
2nd Sunday of Advent: "This is the Record of John" by Orlando Gibbons. This is a traditional "verse anthem" that is great to introduce your choir to polyphony. It is accompanied by the organ and the soloist (generally alto, but there's also an edition pitched a minor third lower that has the solo for a tenor) carries half the weight of the piece, which cuts back on rehearsal time. The second Sunday of Advent is traditionally "Baptist Sunday", recounting the story of St. John the Baptist, so this piece is an excellent yearly regular.
3rd Sunday of Advent: "Veni Emanuel" arranged by modern German Composer Christoph Dalitz. This piece is simple, but a great way to work on proper plainsong singing with your choir. It's a tune they know, so more time can be spent on technique. This is as early as I will program this text (which, in English, is "O Come, O Come Emanuel"). The verses from this ancient hymn are the traditional "O" antiphons, which are antiphons attached to the Magnificat for Vespers from December 17th thru December 23rd. While even the 3rd Sunday of Advent sometimes falls before Dec. 17th, it is generally close. However, far too often the moment the Advent Purple comes out, "O Come O Come Emanuel" starts being sung. It simply doesn't fit in the first half of Advent.
On a side note, the third Sunday of Advent is traditionally called "Gaudete Sunday". This from the text of the Introit for the day: "Gaudete Ierusalem!" "Rejoice Jerusalem!". This piece is then particularly proper as the refrain continuously repeats "Gaude! Gaude!". The tone of the Advent season takes a decisive shift today. The texts become more intense about our need for a savior. We move from thinking about Christ's coming in the past to thinking about his future coming. Advent, after all, isn't merely a time to prepare for Christmas, but a time to prepare for Christ's coming for the final time, both at the end of time, as well as our own personal end. To mark this shift, we take a moment from our penitential tone to "rejoice"! While the rest of the season refrains from any instrumental solo music, today the organ may be played without restraint.
4th Sunday of Advent: "Ave Maria" by Jacob Arcadelt. The fourth Sunday of Advent tends to be Marian in character, generally including the gospel reading about either the Annunciation or Mary proclaiming her Magnificat. This setting of the Ave Maria is actually based on a madrigal written by Archadelt and arranged by French composer Pierre-Louis Dietsch. It is simple and homophonic, giving you plenty of times to focus on the Christmas Holiday, which is merely days away.
In the next post, we'll take a look at the much anticipated Christmas Season...
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