Nochebuena Choral Series

Notes:

The Puerto Rican aguinaldo originated as a poetic form in the 19th and 20th centuries. “A la media noche” is one setting of well-known verses in hexasyllabic form that centers around tellings of the Catholic nativity narrative. The Journal of American Folklore published collections of these aguinaldos in their 1918 publication, where several versions of these verses can be found. This setting is a plena, a style of music described as a periodico cantado or “sung newspaper” meant as a form of communication across the working class. “A la media noche’s” melody can be found in another very popular secular aguinaldo, “Si me dan pasteles,” usually sung by children as they knock door to door asking for loose change to fund their holiday celebrations. Sung recordings of this tune by Aurora Calderón can be found as far back as the 1939 in the Library of Congress’s digital archives.

Both of these tunes have origins in the aguinaldo jíbaro song style, which the opening lines of each stanza refer to in the melody, and which cuatro puertorriqueño players (a stringed instrument similar to a guitar or ukelele) still learn to play, accompanied by plena rhythm on percussion. This arrangement of the aguinaldo utilizes onomatopoeia in the voices, as well as an Afro-Cuban clave rhythm not present in the original melody..

Pronunciation Guide:

*Universal/Neutral Spanish pronunciation should be attempted in performance. 

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Notes:

Honduras’ religious demographics differ from much of Latin America, with a majority practicing Catholicism at only 38%. This, in addition to Honduras having an underdeveloped music recording industry in the early 20th century has resulted in a shortage of accessibly documented Honduran Christmas music. Classical soprano Isabel Salgado Castillo (1930-2020) relied on international travel and success to sustain her operatic singing and recording career. “Canciones Navideñas de Ayer y Hoy” (1969) touts a playlist of popular folk and contemporary Honduran villancicos, but without labeling clearly the source of each tune. Castillo sings this lesser known tune “Campanita de navidad” with quartal harmony on piano and her signature bel canto tone, as if an art song.

This new arrangement maintains the directness of the vocal line in 2-part voices, with a toy-box sounding piano accompaniment that rings nostalgic to an American Christmas aesthetic.

Pronunciation Guide:

*Universal/Neutral Spanish pronunciation should be attempted in performance. 

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Notes:

Canciones de Nochebuena is a choral Christmas cantata that weaves together Hispanic culturally-Catholic songs (villancicos), reflecting the mix of Indigenous, African, and European influences found in post-colonial Latin American mestizo culture. Additionally, this cantata incorporates elements that speak to the current diaspora in the USA, including bilingual English/Spanish lyrics, Latin Jazz percussion, and Classical/Folk fusion. These create a unique blend, a mestizaje, that celebrates Latiné identity’s multiple influences.

The Spanish verses of Canciones de Nochebuena draw from familiar tunes tied to specific regions, each narrating a segment of the nativity story; poetically translated by David García Saldaña.

Pronunciation Guide:

*Universal/Neutral Spanish pronunciation should be attempted in performance.

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Perusal & Purchase

Notes:

“Del cielo ha bajado” (LOURDES HYMN) speaks to the power that religious colonization has over Hispanoamérica. The Pew Research Center’s 2014 survey claims 69% Catholic identity of the participants across Latin America. Catholic practices have proliferated across different national Christmastime celebrations, notably in different novenas for this period. Some cultures celebrate leading up to the 25th, while others celebrate after. Nicaragua has an especially unique novena November 28-December 8, referred to as “La Purísima” and culminating in “La Gritería,” national celebrations and adorations of the Virgin Mary.

In the same way Hispanoamérica reclaimed the Spanish colonizer-religion through re-imagining the ceremonies and traditions, this arrangement of “Del cielo ha bajado” intentionally takes a piece of European Catholicism that still holds power over Hispanoamérica and transforms it into something authentically inauthentic through the creative power of musical re-imagination.

Pronunciation Guide:

*Universal/Neutral Spanish pronunciation should be attempted in performance. 

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Notes:

This version of the Annunciation offers a view of Venezuelan Christmas imagery and traditions. Here, the local shephards offer Venezuelan foods and treats to the child, Mary and Joseph camp underneath the Araguaney tree, and local bioluminescent insects provide the holy glow for the scene. The songwriter, Francisco Carreño, contributed to the development of the Servicio de Investigaciones Folklóricas Nacionales and founded the Escuela del Folklore Venezolano (School for Venezuelan Folklore). Carreño’s populist sentiments and research led to political persecution throughout the 1960s, until his death.

“El ángel Gabriel” is an aguinaldo venezolano, typically accompanied by a cuatro (a stringed instrument similar to the guitar) and written in a 5 time signature (3+2), which the opening bars of the choral arrangement has rewritten in 6 and borrows from an Argentinian chacarera hemiolic percussion pattern. The chacarera originally is accompanied by guitar/accordian in 6 time and a bass drum, the bombo legüero, on beats 2 & 3 of the 3 time. This arrangement suggest playing the rhythm on a cajón.

Pronunciation Guide:

*Universal/Neutral Spanish pronunciation should be attempted in performance. 

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Notes:

This villancico has a well-documented performance history with mixed choir as a centuries old lullaby to the newborn Jesus. The word “ru ru” has no lexical definition, but rather is a coo meant to lull a baby to sleep. This is sometimes also found as “ro ro,” “rururru”, “alarururru” or “arrorro.” All of these have come to be translated as “lullaby” and interchangeably are used as lyrics and titles of different canciones de cuna (lullabies).

This arrangement juxtaposes the calmness of musical pads for stasis in the refrains with the boisterous verses, where the joy of those present bursts in sudden exclamations of joy! This, to the arranger’s ear, adds a familiar flamboyance of their experience with Mexican folk songs. In several ways, “El rorro” parallels “Stille Nacht (Silent Night).” Both sing of the newborn baby of Jesus at the end of the nativity story, peaceful and resting… although only one of the two mentions mosquitos and elephants!

Pronunciation Guide:

*Universal/Neutral Spanish pronunciation should be attempted in performance. 

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Notes:

“La buena nueva” (translates to “The Good News”) comes to international attention because of a famous 1965 recording of villancicos, “Ronda de Navidad,” sung by a Peruvian Catholic school’s children’s choir, the Coral Infantil Colegio “Manuel Pardo de Chiclayo.” This tune is often misattributed in textbooks and hymnals as a traditional Peruvian villancico, but is most likely written by contemporary Criollo singer-songwriter Mario Cavagnaro Llerena (1926-1998), unpublished, and often mistitled “Rueda, rueda por la montaña” or “Huayno navideño.” Some early recordings also title this tune “Navidad en el Perú.”

This arrangement embeds a huayno rhythm, an indigenous Peruvian rhythm, in the vocal polyphony. This rhythm, played on indigenous large drums, is abbreviated in the score for frame drum (low). A rain stick addition pays homage to the Andean origin of the instrument as well.

Pronunciation Guide:

*Universal/Neutral Spanish pronunciation should be attempted in performance. 

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Notes:

Los Pibes Trujillo recorded their “Villancicos Navideños” album in 1970, bringing popular Ecuadorian villancicos to international acclaim. “Lindo niño,” among Salvador Bustamante Celi’s (1876-1935) popular villancicos, had a bright waltz feel on the album, contrasting the tragic story of child abuse underpinning the recording process. Similarly tragic, Celi, in 1910, had to escape Lima due to war with Perú at the border, and traveled to Guayaquil. Although economic and political instability tends to correlate with weakened historical and cultural documentation, Ecuador and some of it’s neighboring countries have maintained a unique Catholic novena (nine day religious celebration) from December 16-24 named the “Novena del Niño” or “Novena de Aguinaldos” that includes daily villancico singing and prayer.

Upon listening to Pamela Cortés’s recorded version, the joyous hope from anticipating the arrival of the child feels poignant against the melancholic musical background. This arrangement builds on Cortés, with the primary melody often falling out of alignment with the instrumentation, forming hemiolas, before the rhythmic motive returns to alignment.

Pronunciation Guide:

*Universal/Neutral Spanish pronunciation should be attempted in performance. 

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Notes:

Many cultures of Latin America celebrate the novena following Christmas Day, leading to the Epiphany and the arrival of the three Wise Men, or Holy Kings (Reyes Magos), to Jerusalem. In Puerto Rico, children receive gifts from the three Reyes Magos as most American children are told Santa delivers. Epiphany rivals the importance of Christmas Day. This aguinaldo, “Los tres Santos Reyes,” originally a parranda (similar to caroling) in an upbeat plena style, provides a festive backdrop to the end of the Christmastime season, complete with the mystery of following a star to distant locales, led by faith that their actions would be in service of a better world.

The arrangement may be sung a cappella, or with a minimum of a guiro and conga, with a demonstration rhythm abbreviated below the vocal parts. The plena is a simple, but structured form, with the accompaniment focused on providing a stable backdrop to improvised sung lines and lyrics. The masters of plena are able to strew together large form narratives with intricate melismatic melodies.

Pronunciation Guide:

*Universal/Neutral Spanish pronunciation should be attempted in performance. 

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Notes:

“Vamos, pastores, vamos” has an elusive origin story, with the popular “Flor y Canto” hymnal crediting Evaristo Ciria Sanz, a Spanish Catholic priest and musician, while more sources claim authorship by Jeremías Quintero Gutiérrez, a prolific Colombian songwriter claimed to have written over 3,000 villancicos. Quintero is credited with other popular villancicos thematically centered around pastores including “Venid Pastorcillos” and “Pastorcillos de Naplusa”. This tune, though, has permeated throughout the American continents, becoming a ubiquitous villancico.

The text retells the announcement to the shepherds of Jesus’s birth, and captures the excitement and journey that the shepherds took to go to Bethlehem. This arrangement composes a new musical section that sonifies the jingle jangle of the rush to Bethlehem, using polyphony to capture the various voices of anticipation and joy (gusto) of the journey to see the newborn baby. The text is a recombination of the original verses in order to present a more secular telling of the story.

Pronunciation Guide:

*Universal/Neutral Spanish pronunciation should be attempted in performance. 

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