Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Hodie

Noel! Hodie Christus natus est. Today Christ is born.

Vaughan Williams’ Christmas Choral work, Hodie, begins with this text.

The text is taken from the Vespers for Christmas Day.

That’s an interesting choice for a composer who wrote Anglican Hymns like they were going out of style. Currently Anglican Hymns are out of style so maybe Vaughan Williams was onto something.

Hodie may begin with a Latin text but the majority of the work is in English and comprised of poems by several poets including Milton and Hardy.

Vaughan Williams was in his early eighties when he wrote this work but it is has the energy of a much younger composer.

Hodie has been criticized for being inconsistent in style. I get that but I don’t care. I think this music is joyous and appropriate for the season.

The structure of Hodie is a collection of Christmas poems tied together by narration.

In the role of narrator is a children’s chorus. The children’s chorus is a sly inclusion because it involves the kids in the telling of the Christmas story.

When has Christmas been more magical then when we were children? I’m not sure but I like it.

Hodie is also one of a handful of classical Christmas compositions that aren’t Bach or liturgical.

What I like most about Hodie is that to me if “feels” more like Christmas than some of the other classical works for the season.

Perhaps that’s because the modern “Christmas spirit” evolved out of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and Vaughan Williams is also British? It’s hard to quantify.

Should you go out of your way to hear Hodie this season? Sure why not? Listen to Nat King Cole a few more times and then give Vaughan Williams a shot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM05a6-Qhx4&feature=related

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Jazz guitarist Alex Ciavarelli pays tribute to pianist Oscar Peterson

“I had to extract the elements that spoke to me and realize them on my instrument”
Next Article

At 4pm, this Farmer's Table restaurant in Chula Vista becomes Acqua e Farina

Brunch restaurant by day, Roman style trattoria by night

Noel! Hodie Christus natus est. Today Christ is born.

Vaughan Williams’ Christmas Choral work, Hodie, begins with this text.

The text is taken from the Vespers for Christmas Day.

That’s an interesting choice for a composer who wrote Anglican Hymns like they were going out of style. Currently Anglican Hymns are out of style so maybe Vaughan Williams was onto something.

Hodie may begin with a Latin text but the majority of the work is in English and comprised of poems by several poets including Milton and Hardy.

Vaughan Williams was in his early eighties when he wrote this work but it is has the energy of a much younger composer.

Hodie has been criticized for being inconsistent in style. I get that but I don’t care. I think this music is joyous and appropriate for the season.

The structure of Hodie is a collection of Christmas poems tied together by narration.

In the role of narrator is a children’s chorus. The children’s chorus is a sly inclusion because it involves the kids in the telling of the Christmas story.

When has Christmas been more magical then when we were children? I’m not sure but I like it.

Hodie is also one of a handful of classical Christmas compositions that aren’t Bach or liturgical.

What I like most about Hodie is that to me if “feels” more like Christmas than some of the other classical works for the season.

Perhaps that’s because the modern “Christmas spirit” evolved out of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and Vaughan Williams is also British? It’s hard to quantify.

Should you go out of your way to hear Hodie this season? Sure why not? Listen to Nat King Cole a few more times and then give Vaughan Williams a shot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM05a6-Qhx4&feature=related

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Garrett Harris you scoundrel...lol

Next Article

Hubert Parry and Charles Stanford

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader