A Christmas concert, “The First Noel,” will be presented by the Fredericksburg Chorale on Saturday, Dec. 6, at St. Joseph’s Halle.
Performances will be at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.
The concert is open to the public.
Admission is by donation and the public is encouraged to come early for good seating.
Under the direction of Mark Hierholzer, the Fredericksburg Chorale will present a wide variety of music both new and old. The concert will include an audience sing-along of traditional carols of the season.
The concerts will begin with works of the Renaissance Masters. “Noe, Noe, noe Psallite” by Jean Mouton followed by two settings of “Ave Maria,” the first by Nicholas Gombert and the second by Josquin de Prez will open the program.
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“De Prez is widely considered to be the one of the great geniuses of the period and a landmark composer before the Baroque period which gave us Bach and Handel,” Hierholzer said.
The second set of pieces is a choral setting of three selections from Ranier Maria Rilke’s “Book of Hours.” The settings are by Chorale member Aimee Corbyn.
“These prayers are of a deeply spiritual nature and important contributions by one of the great poets of the 20th century,” Hierholzer explained.
These new works will be premiered at this concert.
Following this will be a Christmas Cantata, “For Us a Child is Born,” formerly thought to have been written by Bach but now attributed to his predecessor, Johann Kuhnau, at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig.
Hierholzer said, “This vibrant work will be sung in German as Kuhnau composed it.”
For more on this story, read this week’s print and online editions of the Fredericksburg Standard-Radio Post. If you are a print subscriber, your full online subscription is free. All you need to do is call 830-997-2155 to get a password. If you are not a subscriber, call 997-2155 or click on the ‘Subscribe’ button on the left side of the home page and sign up today!