Hard to believe, but Christmas is almost here. The town is decorated with banners and lights, and the rain has stopped. My wife caught a cold from one of her students, and it has been hanging on, making her miserable. We tried to go to the Chanticleer concert last night (we had had the tickets for awhile), but had to leave after the first two pieces. Her cough chose to manifest itself at that time, and it became clear we would not be able to stay. So it goes. What we heard was lovely, so it wasn't a complete loss.
We're taking it easy today, as we have two services to sing on Christmas eve, featuring a lot of what is essentially solo work.
On a brighter note, I received a CD in the mail yesterday (won it for 99 cents on eBay) called "Should Auld Acquaintance be Forgot." It is a recording of original versions of a lot of popular carols and patriotic songs. I have been looking for it for a long time - the one I had had was stolen several years ago, and it is out of print. It contains the original Mendelssohn piece "Vaterland in deinen Gauen" from his Gutenberg Festgesang which was reworked into "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing." Mendelssohn's text is praise for Gutenberg, and the setting is for men's voices. There are some minor differences (especially in the "Joyful, all ye nations rise" strain) that are quite delightful and an entire contrasting "B" section. It is really a lot of fun.
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