Music Notes 12-22-24

Once again, Christmas is upon us and I’m delighted to be able to bring to FPCE the Christmas

Story According to St. Luke, which I’m intending to make a yearly tradition. The piece is a

particular favorite of mine, and I was lucky enough to have performed it under the baton of its

creator, the late, great Roger Wagner. The piece involves a narrator, so I’ve asked a friend of

mine, the wonderful actress Marta Kristen, to help us out. In her words:

“Adopted from a Norwegian orphanage at the age of 5, it is always a wonder to me that I am

standing in front of an audience here in California doing what I love most, storytelling. I have

been fortunate to work in many movies, commercials, and TV shows, most notably in the classic

“Lost in Space." In theatre, I was a founding member of the esteemed theatre company, “West

Coast Ensemble,” voted as the best small theatre company in Los Angeles by NPR. My late

husband, Kevin Kane, an elder abuse lawyer, was introduced by June Lockhart to the

incomparable Jim Raycroft, who leads the "Legal Voices", chorus of the Los Angeles Lawyers

Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus. I now, too, have the honor to work with Jim--and your

singers and musicians--to read the story of the wonder of the birth of our Christ Jesus. I dedicate

this reading to Kevin, my daughter Lora and my granddaughter Lena...and to you. Thank you.”

In 1963, NBC contacted the legendary Roger Wagner about creating a Christmas show to be

broadcast live. The result was a 20 minute concert of Christmas carols, separated by incidental

music that underscored a narrator, who narrated the story of Christmas according to St. Luke.

Roger chose a selection of 8 carols, some familiar like We Three Kings and Joy To The World,

and a couple less familiar – Gesu Bambino by Pietro Yon and The Virgin’s Slumber Song by Max

Reger. Pietro Yon was an Italian-born organist and composer who was organist at the Vatican

when he was offered a job as organist at St. Francis Xavier Church in Manhattan in 1907. It was

during this tenure that he wrote Gesu Bambino (1917), and in 1926 became assistant organist at

St Patrick’s Cathedral, and then in 1928 became music director at the Cathedral until his death in

1943. Max Reger was a German composer who worked primarily in the Leipzig area from the

late 1800’s to the early 1900’s and wrote hundreds of pieces of music. The Virgin’s Slumber

Song was originally a folk song to the tune of the German Christmas carol “Joseph dearest,

Joseph mild”, and Reger took this song in 1912, near the end of his life, and transformed it into

an art song, originally called Maria Wiegenlied. Edward Teschemacher supplied the English

translation we now know. The show was broadcast in 1964, sung by the Roger Wagner Chorale,

accompanied by the NBC Orchestra, conducted by Roger and narrated by Tennessee Ernie Ford.

An accompanying album was released by Capitol and is still available on Amazon. From that

year on, The Christmas Story According to St. Luke was the closer for every Christmas concert

performed by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and was always narrated by a celebrity narrator,

like Jean Stapleton and Orson Wells. I was fortunate to have experienced the last such concert

(Christmas of 1985), as Roger retired from the Master Chorale at the end of that season. The

narrator that year was Pernell Roberts, star of the hit television show Trapper John, M.D. (and

Bonanza before that), and I recall that the concert was so long (2 hours and 45 minutes) that it

forced the Chorale management to pay us overtime. I’m fond of this piece, as I think it has a

strong appeal to young and old – classic without being trendy – and brings the story of the first

Christmas to life in a way that’s accessible to pretty much everyone.

2024 saw the sad closing of Panorama Presbyterian Church. There was a bright spot, however.

They agreed to gift their handbells to FPCE, and their handbell director and resident bell trio

came with them. Director Sherron Corner works for LA Unified as a crossing guard and is not

only a knowledgeable bell director, but she has a marvelous alto voice and has begun singing

with the choir. The Belfry Trio - Dawn Corner, Megan Lee and Sherron Corner – have already

begun to bring their magic to our services and are joining us this Sunday to add their unique

music to the celebrations.