They are found on many street corners at Christmas, sometimes at shopping centers or tree-lighting ceremonies and up and down their neighborhood streets. By now, most readers will have guessed the identity of “they.” But, what about the “why?”
“Carol singers in medieval times took the word ‘carol’ literally — it means to sing and dance in a circle,” said trumpeter Phil Snedecor, one of the founders of the Washington Symphonic Brass. “So many Christmas services were spoiled by carol singers doing just this, that the Church at the time banned them and ordered the carol singers into the street.”
| Onstage |
| Washington Symphonic Brass Christmas Concert |
| Where: Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda |
| When: 8 p.m. Thursda |
| Info: $35 and up, 301-581-5100, strathmore.org |
Thursday at the Music Center at Strathmore, the four trumpets, four horns, four trombones, euphonium, tuba, timpani and percussion that comprise the WSB, will mark the winter solstice when the days are at their shortest and Christmas imminent. Sounds of celebration, anticipation, comfort and joy will ring from all areas of the large hall. A program of Medieval and Renaissance music will illustrate how these pieces evolved into the songs and carols no longer banned in churches. Many will be recognizable; but chances are good that audiences will never have heard them in quite the WSB fashion before.
“One of the exciting things about this concert is that we are utilizing every nook and cranny of [the hall.] We’ll have players everywhere.” Snedecor continued excitedly. “There will be two trumpets in the back of the hall, in the dark playing across from each other in a canonic way, ‘O Come, O Come Emmanuel.’ Then there will be a very dim light on stage as trombone and horn join [in.”]
Backstage, five brass instruments will perform the 16th-century Spanish carol, “Dadme Albricias Hijos d’eva.” The 16th-century English “Coventry Carol” will ring from the horns of six players situated in the balcony and so on until eventually all 17 performers end up on stage in what Snedecor calls “a kind of a surround-sound experience.”
And this is just the beginning of a program featuring the back and forth interplay of instruments presenting “Sing We Now of Christmas,” “I Saw Three Ships” and so on until the joyful “Here We Come A-Wassailing,” which literally means “Here We Come A-Caroling” brings us back to the 21st century and the glorious tunes that are no longer banned from the halls of churches.
