Christmas concerts

An enjoyable part of the holiday season for us has been attending a couple of concerts. The first was recommended to us by the French family we met at our Thanksgiving dinner at the American Church in Paris. This concert, at the church, featured three choirs that sang a variety of carols, Christmas classics, and other holiday songs, first as individual choirs and then as a collective group.

It was fun to both hear the singing of the French carols as well as hear the distinctive French accents as they sang the English-language songs ("Leyt eet snow, leyt eet snow, leyt eet snow"). The concert wrapped up with the audience singing a number of carols. We finished with "Silent Night", in both English and French. There is something wonderful to me about hearing a familiar Christmas carol sung in another language. It sounds so beautiful and shows the common heritage and traditions we share. (I also had the pleasure this past week of hearing "O Tannenbaum" sung in Bonn, Germany, not as a performance but by a group of people meeting for a private Christmas celebration.)

Here is a recording I did of "Silent Night". If you listen closely, you can hear the French accent in the English verses. I hope you also enjoy the French verse. I love listening to it. (Be patient, it might take a little while to download and hopefully you have the right software on your computer for it to play properly.)

Silent night, Holy night, all is calm, all is bright, Round yon virgin mother and child! Holy infant, so tender and mild, Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.

Douce nuit, sainte nuit, dans les cieux l'astre luit. Le mystère annoncé s'accomplit. Cet enfant sur la paille endormi, c'est l'amour infini, c'est l'amour infini.

Silent night, Holy night, Son of God, love's pure light, Radiant beams from heaven afar; Heavenly hosts sing alleluia, Jesus, Lord, at thy birth, Jesus, Lord, at thy birth.  

The other concert Erin and I attended recently was a performance of Monteverdi's "Vespers of 1610" at the Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris. This late Renaissance/early Baroque piece has been one of my favorites so it was a pleasure to be able to hear it in person in the magnificent Notre Dame. We were also intrigued by some of the period instruments that were used in the performance -- such interesting shapes to them. Makes me wonder when and why those instruments died out.