Composers Datebook: “Welcome Christmas” Carol Contest

By John Birge | Your Classical

Published: Sunday, December 6

“Welcome Christmas” Carol Contest

Synopsis

On today’s date in 1998, two brand-new Christmas carols debuted in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during the “Welcome Christmas” choral concert of VocalEssence conducted by Philip Brunelle.

The two carols, “Sweet Noel” by Joan Griffith and “The Virgin’s Cradle Hymn” by Richard Voorhaar, were the prize-winning submissions entered in a contest arranged by the Plymouth Music Series and the American Composers Forum. The idea was to inspire contemporary composers to create new carols that—who knows?—might turn out to be classics over time.

As Brunelle put it, “The Christmas carols that we love to sing and hear have a timelessness about them wrapped in their music and words. Out of submissions from all across the USA, [we] selected two that we felt captured this feeling.”

Since 1998, the “Welcome Christmas” Carol Contest has continued as an annual tradition, and hundreds of worthy carols have been submitted. Each year, two are selected and premiered in December by Brunelle’s choral ensemble. These “Welcome Christmas” concerts are recorded by American Public Media for both regional broadcast and national distribution.

Music Played in Today’s Program

Richard Voorhaar The Virgin’s Cradle Hymn Vocalessence; Philip Brunelle, cond. Clarion 939

Additional Information

On This Day

Births

1550Baptism of Italian composer Orazio Vecchi, in Modena.
1920American jazz pianist and composer Dave Brubeck, in Concord, Calif..
1933Polish composer Henryk Górecki, in Czernica.
1955Chinese-American composer Bright Sheng, in Shanghai.

Premieres

1841R. Schumann: Symphony No. 4 (as his Symphony No. 2), by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Ferdinand David conducting. Schumann withdrew the score, revised it, and reintroduced it in 1853 with the Düsseldorf Municipal Orchestra as his Symphony No. 4 (his “other” Symphony No. 2 and a Symphony No. 3 have been premiered in the meantime).
1842Schumann: Piano Quintet in Eb, Op. 44, at a private concert in the Leipzig home of Carl and Heinrich Voigt. Schumann’s wife, Clara, was to perform, but took ill, and Felix Mendelssohn stepped in for the informal performance, reading the work at sight. Mendelssohn’s critic of the work’s original second movement led Schumann to write a livelier replacement (see also Dec. 8, 1844).
1846Berlioz: dramatic legend, “The Damnation of Faust,” at the Paris Opéra-Comique, with the composer conducting.
1876Tchaikovsky: opera “Vakula the Blacksmith,” at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg (Julian date: Nov. 24).
1880Tchaikovsky: “Capriccio italien,” in Moscow (Gregorian date: Dec. 18).
1890Berlioz: opera “La Prise de Troie” (The Capture of Troy), Acts 1 & 2 of “Les Troyens” (The Trojans), first staged performance in Karlsruhe, Germany at the Hoftheater.
1892Tchaikovsky: ballet, “The Nutcracker” and opera “Iolanta,” in St. Petersburg (Gregorian date: Dec. 18).
1919Stravinsky: symphonic suite, “Le chant du rossignol,” in Geneva, Ernest Ansermet conducting.
1929Stravinsky: “Capriccio” for Piano and Orchestra, at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, with the Paris Symphony conducted by Ernest Ansermet, with the composer as soloist.
1937Boris Blacher: “Concertante Musik,” in Berlin.
1940Schoenberg: Violin Concerto, by the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski, with Louis Krasner the soloist.
1949Prokofiev: Cello Sonata, Op. 119, at a private performance in Moscow, at the House of the Union of Composers, by cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and pianist Sviatoslav Richter. This first public performance, with the same artists, took place at the Moscow Conservatory on March 1, 1950.
1957Sessions: Symphony No. 3, by the Boston Symphony, Charles Munch conducting.
1974Wuorinen: Piano Concerto No. 2, in New York, with the composer as soloist on an amplified piano.
1977Corigliano: Clarinet Concerto, in New York.
1997Kernis: “Ecstatic Meditations,” in Minneapolis, by the Plymouth Music Series, Philip Brunelle, conducting.

Others

1786Mozart finishes his Symphony No. 38 in D, K.504 “Prag