Lutoslawski Christmas Carols

Synopsis

Today, some unfamiliar Christmas carols — or perhaps very familiar ones, if you’re Polish.

In 1946, the Director of Polish Music Publishing asked composer Witold Lutosławski to make some new arrangements of old Polish carols. During World War II, Poland had been under the control of Nazi Germany, and after the war dominated by the Soviet Union. In addition to material hardships, in the cultural sphere 1946 was a difficult time for Polish artists. Overnight Communist ideology was imposed on all endeavors, including music. The Polish Music Publishing director probably thought collecting and publishing Christmas carol arrangements was a relatively safe activity.

And so, Lutosławski collected and arranged 20 old Polish Christmas carols for voice and piano, and these were premiered in Kraków soon after. In the political and cultural turmoil of the decades that followed, these arrangements were pretty much forgotten until almost 40 years later, when Lutosławski re-arranged them for solo soprano, chorus, and orchestra. 

And, even if you don’t speak Polish, if you sing in a choir looking for some new Christmas music, you should know these Lutosławski carol arrangements are available in English-language versions, too.

Music Played in Today's Program

Witold Lutosławski (1913-1994): The Angels Came to the Shepherds and Hey, We Look Forward Now (excerpts), from 20 Polish Christmas Carols; Polish Radio Chorus, Kraców; Polish National Radio Chorus and Symphony; Antoni Wit, conductor; Naxos 8.555994

On This Day

Births

• 1583 - Baptism of English composer and organist Orlando Gibbons, in Oxford

Deaths

• 1845 - German composer Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach, 86, in Berlin. His father was the “Buckeburg” Bach, Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (The last of J.S. Bach’s composer-children).

• 1871 - Russian composer Alexander Scriabin (Gregorian date: Jan. 6, 1872)

Premieres

• 1723 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 63 (Christen, Ätzet Diesen Tag) and Magnificat performed on the First Day of Christmas as part of Bach’s first annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1723/24)

• 1724 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 91 (Gelobet Seist du, Jesu Christ) performed Christmas Day as part of Bach’s second annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1724/25)

• 1725 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 110 (Unser Mund sei voll Lachens) performed on Christmas Day as part of Bach’s third annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1725/27)

• 1728 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 197a (Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe) probably performed in Leipzig on Christmas Day as part of Bach's fourth annual Sacred Cantata cycle (to texts by Christian Friedrich Henrici, a.k.a. “Picander”) during 1728/29

• 1734 - Bach: Part 1 (Jauchzet, Frohlocket) of the 6-part Christmas Oratorio, in Leipzig

• 1815 - Beethoven: cantata Meeresstille und Glückliche Fahrt (Sea Calm and Prosperous Voyage) and the Namensfeier (Name Day Fest) Overture, at the Redoutensaal in Vienna, conducted by Beethoven, at a benefit for the Citizens’ Hospital Fund

• 1818 - Franz Gruber: Silent Night, in St. Nicholas Church, Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria, composed the night before (Christmas Eve)

• 1870 - Wagner: Siegfried Idyll, at his villa in Switzerland as a combined birthday and Christmas gift to his wife, Cosima (she was born on Dec. 24, 1837), Hans Richter playing trumpet and Wagner conducting an ensemble from the top of the staircase. The work is named for their son Siegfried who was six months old on that Christmas morning, and who later also became a composer.

• 1902 - Rimsky-Korsakov: opera Kashchey the Immortal, in Moscow, Ippolitov-Ivanov conducting (Julian date: Dec. 12)

• 1934 - Shostakovich: Cello Sonata, in Leningrad, by cellist Viktor Kubatsky, with the composer at the piano

Others

• 1821 - Beethoven finishes his Hammerklavier Piano Sonata (No. 29)

• 1931 - First national radio broadcast of a complete opera, Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, from the stage of the Metropolitan Opera, New York City

• 1937 - Arturo Toscanini conducts his first radio concert by the NBC Symphony Orchestra, consisting of a Vivaldi concerto, Mozart Symphony No. 40 and Brahms Symphony No. 1.