Lesser-known work: The Christmas Cantata was written by Italian composer Antonio Caldara, who had a "spectacular" career. Picture / Getty Images
Lesser-known work: The Christmas Cantata was written by Italian composer Antonio Caldara, who had a "spectacular" career. Picture / Getty Images
THE NIGHT BEFORE
Rimsky-Korsakov: Christmas Eve
An opera in which blacksmith Vakula woos his beloved Oksana by stealing an empress’s slippers. Because it’s Rimsky, the orchestral writing is inevitably wonderful, and for those who want just the music there’s a lovely orchestral suite. But second-hand shoes for Christmas?
IN THEMORNING
Antonio Caldara: Christmas Cantata (Vaticini di Pace)
Antonio Caldara is one of those lesser-known composers who nevertheless had a spectacular career. Born and trained in Venice, Caldara jumped to several of Europe’s grandest noble houses, including the Gonzaga court of Mantua and the imperial court in Vienna. The Christmas Cantata dates from between those two postings, when Caldara was maestro di capella to Prince Francesco Maria Ruspoli. The work’s subtext was political – Ruspoli hoped to reconcile the Pope with the Holy Roman Emperor – but you’d need a decent grasp of early-18th century history, and exceptional Latin, to know it, leaving you free to revel in the melodic invention instead.
This is no one’s idea of a masterpiece, but if you want Christmas music full of the joys of the season, Fry’s Santa Claus Symphony is for you. Fry is a relatively obscure figure who left an immense mark in the United States. He was passionate about creating and supporting a local classical music tradition and became the first American to write an opera anyone bothered to perform, pioneered US works for orchestra, and was a leading music critic. Most important: the Santa Claus Symphony uses a slithery bassoon to represent Father Christmas sliding down the chimney.
FOR CHRISTMAS LUNCH
Francesco Manfredini: Concerto Grosso Op 3 no 12
Corelli’s Christmas Concerto – Concerto Grosso Op 6, No 8 – is regularly performed at seasonal orchestral concerts. Less known is the Concerto Grosso Op 3, No 12 – Pastorale for Holiest Christmas by Francesco Manfredini. It’s a short but delightful work, with a final movement that evokes the pifferari, folk musicians identifiable by their pointed hats and heavy brown coats. Pifferari would emerge from the mountains at Christmas time to play on the streets of Rome, and have often been used in music to depict the shepherds present at Jesus’s birth.
AFTER-LUNCH LANGUOR
Tomás Luis de Victoria: O Magnum Mysterium
Victoria was the greatest composer of the Spanish Renaissance and specialised in religious music for unaccompanied voices. This gorgeous piece lasts only a few minutes, but let’s face it, you’ll be asleep before it finishes anyway.
