The ring of church bells, warm brass harmony, and choral singers’ high melodies all conjure a certain time, place, and feeling—the holidays.
With centuries of traditional celebrations around Christmas and New Year’s, musicians have added ornaments and tunes of their own to the cultural zeitgeist each year. But even when trying to write the next holiday hit, those artists still rely on those familiar instruments and musical tricks that have been passed down for generations.
The Santa Maria Philharmonic Orchestra has celebrated the holiday season for several years now with a concert of beloved Baroque music, including at an upcoming Nov. 30 concert.
The Baroque period was the span of musical history from 1600 through 1750, typified by composers like Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, and Antonio Vivaldi, all of whom wrote extensively for church programs and celebrations. The Philharmonic’s program will include all three of those genre-defining composers who all left their own mark music history, explained Maestro Michael Nowak.
“These composers in general celebrated the holidays a bunch, especially Christmas,” Nowak told the Sun. “This was a big deal in their time, the preparation for Christmas and the celebration of the birth. The music became very joyous and a kind of representation of the best of times in that age of enlightenment.”
Much of the traditional holiday sound came from churches, Nowak explained, which were the principal employers of composers at the time. For those like Bach and Handel, writing something for a Christmas service was expected.
Famous examples include Handel’s “Messiah,” or Bach’s setting of the “Magnificat,” but the Philharmonic isn’t dipping into any sacred choral music for the Nov. 30 concert. The pieces on the program are all instrumental works for a chamber orchestra, Nowak explained, which include all of the pathos and jubilation of those composers’ sacred works, just without the vocals.
“That music puts us in the spirit of the times and that’s what we like,” Nowak said. “It’s got a lot of energy and a lot of color. Everybody leaves feeling uplifted and inspired and liking that music even more than they thought.”
While the sound of a chamber orchestra has its own Dickensian charm, plenty of holiday seasons have passed since the modern orchestra came around.
For Brian Asher Alhadeff, the music director and maestro for the Lompoc Pops Orchestra, that ensemble’s upcoming performance on Dec. 2 represents “the full orchestral experience during the holidays.” The concert will include beloved modern songs like “Sleigh Ride,” “The Christmas Song,” and “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” which all require a broader, more lush sound.
The Allan Hancock College Concert Band performs a concert including holiday selections on Nov. 30 at 7:30 p.m. at the First Baptist Church, 2970 Santa Maria Way, Santa Maria. Cost is $10. More info: (805) 922-6966, Ext. 3252, or hancockcollege.edu.
The Lompoc Valley Master Chorale presents the concert Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 at the First United Methodist Church, 925 North F St., Lompoc. Cost is $5 to $20. More info: lvmasterchorale.org.
The Santa Ynez Valley Master Chorale, youth ensemble, and orchestra present a program of holiday music on Dec. 8 at 7:30 p.m. and Dec. 9 at 3 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial Building, 1745 Mission Drive, Solvang. More info: (805) 688-7529.
Even in the era of Hollywood and Broadway songwriting, composers who wanted to achieve that familiar holiday ethos relied on some tried and true methods, Alhadeff explained.
“I think there’s always a heavy lean towards the sleigh bells and a lot of percussion is what sort of characterizes holiday music,” Alhadeff said. “Sleigh bells; tubular bells, which sound kind of like church bells; the glockenspiel, which is sort of an homage to the Nutcracker; and organ solos that also sort of capture that religious, non-secular style and sound.”
Pieces like “Sleigh Ride” are supposed to be evocative, he added, with sleigh bells and piccolos conjuring up images of prancing ponies and snowy streets.
“These are the pieces that our culture really does sort of recognize as the sound of December, the sound of Christmastime,” he added.
The concert will also include some vocal soloists, Alhadeff explained, and the program culminates with an audience sing-along. That’s a Lompoc Pops tradition as well, he said, to get everyone involved in the show.
The format of an orchestra like the Lompoc Pops is to perform and celebrate popular American music rather than classical music, Alhadeff explained. Even though music penned for the holidays goes back centuries, there’s page after page of modern and contemporary songs to choose from for the orchestra as well, he said.
“A pop orchestra’s job is to essentially present popular music of all genres and time periods, delivered by a classical music entity,” he said. “So when we talk about holiday time, holiday music is extremely popular, so when you throw a dedicated pops orchestra at it at Christmastime, then we have an opportunity to amazingly represent this time of year.”
Managing Editor Joe Payne is already humming holiday tunes. Contact him at [email protected].
