The Waverly Consort has been performing “the Christmas Story” for nearly 50 years to appreciative audiences around the world. The ensemble of eight singers and five period instrumentalists was gathered by founders Michael Jaffee and his wife Kay to perform European music from the 10th through the 15th century. “This is a mixture of liturgical and secular music telling the story of the birth of Christ and the slaughtering of the innocents by Herod,” Jaffee said. “There is minimal stage movement because the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus and Agnus Dei are sung reverently in Latin, as they were at services in religious sanctuaries during medieval times. The secular songs telling the story come from Spain, Italy, France and England. Sometimes we go back to the original sources, but most of the material we use was studied and transcribed by scholars and is available in modern editions.”
| IF YOU GO |
| The Waverly Consort |
| Where: George Mason University Center for the Arts |
| When: 8 p.m. Friday |
| Info: $21 to $42; 888-945-2468; cfa.gmu.edu |
Several Consort members double on the medieval instruments that include trumpets, harp, recorder, shawn, psaltery and rauschpfeife, a double-reed instrument preceding the oboe. Along with a nun’s fiddle, so called because they were played by nuns, there are two sets of bells, one set of medieval cup bells struck with a hammer and another set played by hand. Jaffee plays the citole, a mandolin-like string instrument from 14th century France.
He finds that the presentation affects audiences deeply because they have a hunger to return to a time when people were not surrounded by the superficiality dominating the Christmas season today. Many of the antiphons and scriptural passages used are flexible adaptations from early times. They were performed during the Mass, the focal point of worship in medieval services.
Although the ceremony in rustic chapels would have been modest, it was presented with pomp and dignity in the great cathedrals where each segment took place in designated locations. For instance, the nave and sanctuary represented Bethlehem and Jerusalem, respectively, and the spaces about the altar became Jerusalem’s heavenly courts. In this format, the adorations of the shepherds and kings took place in the space just to the left of the choir.
One of the Waverly Consort’s most popular “Christmas Story” venues is the Cloisters in New York City’s Tryon Park overlooking the Hudson River. The magnificent structure was reassembled in the early 20th century from parts of five French abbeys obtained by a grant from John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
The Consort utilizes early instruments in other unique programs. One of American music from the Revolution to the Civil War features banjo and fiddle players, masters of improvisation, performing music brought by immigrants from Ireland, England and Scotland to Appalachia. Their programs of music that originated in Iberia have taken them to Portugal and on eight tours of South America. The keystone of their artistry, however, is “The Christmas Story.”
“We do it as a serious affair compared with most of the holiday programs,” Jafee said. “We go back to the way people would have observed the celebration in a church, when Christmas was not secular but a deeply moving experience of belief and spirituality.”
