THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2022 BURL IVES AND GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL

 THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2022 - CHRISTMAS MUSIC - DAY FOUR

Today, I’m looking at Burl Ives and George Frideric Handel. Two rotund composers!!

Burl Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995) was an American musician, actor, and author with a career that spanned more than six decades.

Ives is often associated with the Christmas season. He did voice-over work as Sam the Snowman, narrator of the classic 1964 Christmas television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Ives also worked on the special's soundtrack, including the songs "A Holly Jolly Christmas" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", both of which continue to chart annually on the Billboard holiday charts into the 2020s.

 

Ives had a unique voice and that added to his singing (and acting career).

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A Holly Jolly Christmas Music link

 

HOLLY JOLLY CHRISTMAS

 

Have a holly, jolly Christmas
It's the best time of the year
I don't know if there'll be snow
But have a cup of cheer
Have a holly, jolly Christmas
And when you walk down the street
Say hello to friends you know
And everyone you meet

 

Oh, ho the mistletoe
Hung where you can see
Somebody waits for you
Kiss her once for me

 

Have a holly, jolly Christmas
And in case you didn't hear
Oh by golly have a holly jolly Christmas
This year

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Burl Ives sang this song in the Rankin - Bass animated TV Christmas special: "Rudolf, The Red-Nosed Reindeer" while doing the voice of "Sam the Snowman". He also sang the theme song, sang "Silver and Gold", and narrated the story

 

And, as he was already famous, the animated character resembled the roly-poly singer.  

 

And, a comment - has mistletoe gone out of Christmas?

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And, another composer - George Frideric Handel - and the Messiah

 

George Frideric Handel's Messiah was originally an Easter offering. It burst onto the stage of Musick Hall in Dublin on April 13, 1742. The audience swelled to a record 700, as ladies had heeded pleas by management to wear dresses "without Hoops" in order to make "Room for more company."

"The feelings of joy you get from the Hallelujah choruses are second to none," says conductor Cummings. "And how can anybody resist the Amen chorus at the end? It will always lift your spirits if you are feeling down."

Handel composed Messiah in an astounding fast time, somewhere between three and four weeks in August and September 1741. "He would literally write from morning to night," says Sarah Bardwell of the Handel House Museum in London. The text was prepared in July by the prominent librettist, Charles Jennens, and was intended for an Easter performance the following year. "

 

A standing tradition: Audience members usually rise to their feet when the famous "Hallelujah" chorus begins. Supposedly King George II was so moved during the London premiere of the Messiah that he stood and then everyone else in the theater followed so as not to offend him.

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As an instrumental musician, who has played the music for the Messiah, as a choir member who has sung the Messiah, and as a Christian who knows most of the verses and settings for the work, the Messiah is one of my Christmas traditions.  

 

Here is a link to the Hallelujah Chorus: Händel Messiah - Hallelujah Chorus

 

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Two composers - centuries apart - and yet part of my Christmas traditions!!

 

LOVE WINS!
LOVE TRANSFORMS

KAREN ANNE WHITE, ©, DECEMBER 8, 2022