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An Early Advent

© Jennifer T. Stack

Music helps us express the full range of human emotion, and no season's music provides that range better than Advent. The emotions of this season range from heartbreak over the slaughter of the innocents, to the joyful glimpse of Christmas to come. Yet predominant mood is one of quiet expectation. Advent is also the time for many winter carols, that reflect the pre-Christian winter solstice and the secular aspects of the holiday.

Although Advent doesn't really begin for weeks, immersing ourselves in this music can help us address tragedy in our lives. This music is also appropriate for children who are just learning the Christmas story. Although Advent has a special meaning for Christians, people who hold other beliefs can appreciate these pieces for their musicality and historical importance.

I have found two albums that particularly capture the diverse feelings and spirit of Advent.

Lorena McKennitt: A Winter Garden This very short (a little over 20 minutes long) album is a rare delight. It begins with the 15th century Conventry Carol, a lullaby that expresses grief over the slaughter of the innocents. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen tells the good news over 6 verses. McKennitt's vocal tone makes clear that she is hoping we will be able to rejoice despite hardship and sorrow. Good King Wenceslas is the best known track on the album, getting airplay on pop radio stations as well as folk broadcasts during the Christmas season. The instrumentation and sense of movement combined with a splendid vocal quality makes this version sound like no other. The 19th century Snow is purely a winter ballad, beautiful and haunting. McKennitt's musical style is evident in this piece and the other she composed, Seeds of Love, which ends the album on its most lovely musical note.

The Waverly Consort, Director Michael Jaffee: A Waverly Consort Christmas This album represents "Christmas from East Anglia to Appalachia" very well. Beginning with a favorite secular carol Gloucestershire Wassail, eight verses in praise of wassail, Christmas, food, and of course more wassail. Each verse grows more raucous than the last, but the good spirit of the song is irresistable, even when the carolers begin threatening the butler to bring a bowl of the best, and not the small. The rare 13th century Gabriel, Fram Heven-King, the story of the annunciation sung in Middle English is perhaps the album's most beautiful. William Billing's Bethlehem (While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night) represents the early American tradition. The beautiful shape-note Exultation (Come Away To the Skies) reminds us that Advent as well as Lent is a time to reflect on the promise of everlasting life. There are many more wonderful and seldom-heard pieces on this album. The consort's instruments, which include banjo, psaltery, medieval cup bells, vielle, violone, guitar, recorders, hammered handbell, and hurdy gurdy, are as enticing as their voices, which alternately seem to shimmer or glow.