“Doug, you gotta listen to this new CD!”
I was in my dorm room in 1995, and my friend Glen Segger had stopped by. This was
how we shared music back then.
“It’s a new recording of 17th century German music, and it’s NOT DULL!”
This was an important distinction. We musicians of that generation had listened to some pretty awful recordings of music from that time period. Midway through the 20th century folks started rediscovering period instruments and the practice of playing them, and let’s just say that it took some time to work out the kinks. Authenticity sometimes was devoid of emotion.
But, this Paul McCreesh recording of a reconstructed Christmas mass was not that at all. He used astonishingly sizable musical forces: multiple choirs, zillions of soloists, pipe organ, and early wind and string instruments…all in a giant, resonant space. I return to this recording every Christmas, because it is just that good.
I’ve been wondering for 30 years how to take some inspiration from McCreesh’s work. Because of a really generous gift to the music program, we have the funding to hire instrumental ensembles from time to time. I did a little searching and ran across the Washington Cornett and Sackbutt Ensemble. I reached out in the summer to inquire about a collaboration, and the group’s leader and I have been hard at work all fall putting together a service that would work for Ginter Park.
What on earth is a cornett? I’m not sure that the photo helps all that much. It’s a little like taking a trumpet mouthpiece and putting it into a grade-school recorder. They are constructed in two halves out of wood and wrapped in leather to hold the halves together. The mouthpiece is legendarily painful to get used to: “it’s like buzzing into a half-acorn made of brass.” It sounds a bit like a trumpet, but, without a brass bell as an exit for the tone, it is much more delicate and gentle.
Sackbutts are a lot like trombones. The photo shows one of each. The sackbutt (bottom) has a different bell shape and consequently a gentler sound. We will have four sackbutt players and two cornett players.
Just in case this ensemble isn’t strange enough, we’re rounding it out with one of the most bizarre instruments of all time: the theorbo. It’s kind of a bass lute with something around fourteen strings, and a double neck.
Most importantly, the music will be so exciting. Some of it is delicate and beautiful, like “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming”, easily Praetorius’ biggest hit. Some will be massive, with all instruments (including our pipe organ!) and choir and congregation going full throttle. Praetorius was a master of contrast, and his absolute delight with the Christmas story is unmatched in all of music history.
Love Feast is December 22 at 6:30 PM. There will be all of the buns and hot cocoa and “Silent Night”, of course!
If our math is correct, this will mark GPPC's music director Doug Brown's 21st Love Feast, including one on Zoom in 2020. If you can offer one or two of our instrumental musicians a place to stay on the evenings of December 20th and 21st, please let Doug know at dbrown.gppc@gmail.com .