Programme Notes
Christmas with The King’s Singers Sat 20 December 2025 • 20.15 Sun 21 December 2025 • 14.15
PROGRAMME conductor Eduardo Strausser vocal ensemble The King’s Singers Leroy Anderson (1908–1975) Sleigh Ride (1948) Trad. Three Christmas Carols (with orchestra) • Here We Come A-wassailing • I Wonder as I Wander (John Jacob Niles) • Ding! Dong! Merrily on High
Cover: Silent Night. Photo Aaron Burden (Unsplash)
Christmas time in Rotterdam. Photo Guido Pijper
Jules Massenet (1842–1912) From Thaïs (1894): Méditation violin solo Marieke Blankestijn Trad. Three Christmas Songs (a cappella) • Veni, veni Emmanuel • Dormi, dormi • Noël nouvelet Trad. Three Christmas Songs (with orchestra) • It Came Upon the Midnight Clear • Still, still, still • Gaudete!
intermission Franz Xaver Gruber (1787–1863) Silent Night (1818) Isaac Watts (1674–1748) Joy to the world (1719) Adolphe Adam (1803–1856) O Holy Night (Cantique de Noël) (1847) Frank Churchill (1901–1942) and Oliver Wallace (1887–1963) From Dumbo (1941): When I See an Elephant Fly
Leigh Harline (1907–1969) From Pinocchio (1940): When You Wish Upon a Star Jacques Offenbach (1819–1880) From Les contes d’Hoffmann (1881): Barcarolle (instrumental) Trad. (Irish) The Wexford Carol Bernard de la Monnoye (1641–1728) and Georges Bizet (1838–1875) Patapan en Farandole concert ends at around 22.15 / 16:15 uur
The scent of pine and glow of candles Our well-loved traditions of Christmas are a melting pot of Germanic, but especially British, customs. Because if Christmas feels like a real Christmas anywhere, it is in Britain. In fact, Britain is responsible for our present-day creation of the Christmas spirit thanks to one man: Charles Dickens. Through the materialism that grew alongside expanding industrialisation in 19th-century Britain, the traditional Christian spirit fitted less well into the mood of the times. Brutal factory work left little time for reflection or compassion. A backlash was inevitable, and this came in the writing of Charles Dickens, one of the country’s most influential voices. His seasonal tale A Christmas Carol, a wonderfully packaged work of social criticism published in 1843, struck a chord and became an immediate best seller. Around the same time there developed a fashion for sending Christmas cards, whilst the age-old tradition of singing Christmas carols saw a passionate revival. As Dickens wrote: ‘I have always thought of Christmas time as a good time, a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.’ Through this tale the author’s life became so entwined with the spirit of
Christmas that on hearing of his death in 1870 one girl exclaimed in sorrow: ‘Then will Father Christmas die too.’
Common denominator
Although the way in which we celebrate Christmas can largely be traced back to 19th-century Britain, Christmas music is something that all Christian countries share, throughout the ages. Each period of history lays claim to its own Christmas melodies; each country has developed its own Christmas traditions over two thousand years. Nevertheless there is a common denominator. Whether traditional carols from various parts of the globe, such as the English carol Here We Come A-wassailing, the eighth-century hymn Veni, veni Emanuel and the Italian Dormi, dormi, or more recent pieces of identifiable composers, such as Sleigh Ride, It Came Upon the Midnight Clear, Cantique de Noël and Silent Night, what unites them all is a magical feel and an embracing melody that exudes warmth and light. And if it is these qualities that evoke the fine scent of pine needles and the warm glow of candles, don’t songs from Disney films and pieces such as Massenet’s
A Christmas Carol: frontispiece from the first edition (1843). Illustration by John Leech
Méditation and Offenbach’s Barcarolle also fit perfectly into a Christmas programme?
The ultimate Christmas carol
It is striking that numerous Christmas carols we now regard as classics were to some extent a fortuitous combination of text and music. Think, for example, of Minuit, chrétiens, written in 1847 by French wine trader and part-time poet Placide Cappeau. A singer friend introduced him to Adolphe Adam, who had recently enjoyed great success with his ballet Giselle. At Cappeau’s request, Adam composed the melody that became known as the Cantique de Noël. In 1855 the song reached the ear of American music critic John Sullivan
Dwight. He translated the text into Oh Holy Night, and slightly altered the melody in a few places. A Christmas hit was born. Another example is Joy to the world composed by Eric Watts in 1719. He based his hymn on Psalm 98 and the Book of Genesis, text never envisaged to become a Christian carol, until the mid-19th century when American Lowel Mason borrowed some notes of Handel’s Messiah to provide the text with a memorable tune. It would become one of the best-loved American carols. But even these achievements are perhaps surpassed by the origins of the ultimate carol. In 1816 an Austrian chaplain Joseph Mohr composed the poem Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!
Two years later these words were carried by a melody that over the course of the 19th century would spread around the world, having been translated since by Catholic and Protestant missionaries alike into around three hundred different languages. The story goes that at Christmas time of that year the organ of the Parish of St. Nicholas in Oberndorf was broken. In desperation, Mohr handed the poem to Franz Gruber with the request to set it to music, for two solo voices, choir and guitar accompaniment. Had Gruber any idea that on a dismal winter’s afternoon he had written a global hit?
Had Gruber any idea that on a dismal winter’s afternoon he had written a global hit? Folk dance and three wise men
The carols of Adam, Watts and Gruber all appeal to the Dickensian sense of the transformative power of Christmas. This sense can also be found, with a little searching, in works such as Méditation vby Massenet and the Barcarolle from Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann – and even in the songs from Disney’s cartoon classics such as Dumbo and
Pinocchio. ‘Your holiday isn’t complete until you have seen Dumbo’, Disney advertised in December 1941, two months after the film’s premiere, thereby building on a new Christmas tradition: a family trip to the cinema to watch a cheery family film together. The songs that close this programme take us back to times of yore. The Wexford Carol is a traditional Irish carol reputed to date back to the fifteenth or sixteenth century. The final carol Patapan and Farandole likewise enjoys a long history. Jeremy Jackman, a countertenor formerly with the King’s Singers, made a musical arrangement that combined Patapan, a late seventeenth century carol written by Bernard de la Monnoye, with the Farandole, taken from Georges Bizet’s musical suites to accompany the play L’Arlésienne. Bizet based this French folk dance in turn on La Marche des Rois, a mediaeval French carol depicting the three Wise Men from the East. Although it shares none of the Victorian Christmas feel of Dickens, its nativity story addition of Caspar, Balthazar and Melchior, bringers of the three gifts of gold, Frankincense and myrrh, completes the manger scene. Paul Janssen
Farewell Jos Verspagen
Photo: Eduardus Lee
This is the last concert week of our trumpet player Jos Verspagen. After 27 years with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, he is now retiring.
Photo: Chales Brooks
Photo: Benjamin Ealovega
Eduardo Strausser • conductor
The King’s Singers • vocal ensemble
Born: São Paulo, Brazilë Current position: Principal Conductor and Music Director Norrlandsope Education: conducting at the Zurich University of Arts with Johannes Schlaefli Breakthrough: 2015, conducting La Traviata at the Teatro Verdi di Padova Subsequently: concert appearances with Detroit Symphony, San Diego Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Hallé, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Bamberger Symphoniker, Deutsches SymphonieOrchester Berlin, Oslo Philharmonic, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony; opera with Opernhaus Zürich, Theater Basel, Staatsoper Hannover, Theater Magdeburg, Northern Ireland Opera Polyglot: Eduardo Strausser is fluent in eight languages, including German, Italian, French, Spanish and Hebrew Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2025
Formed: Cambridge, 1968 Current ensemble: Patrick Dunachie, countertenor, Edward Button, countertenor, Julian Gregory, tenor, Christopher Bruerton, baritone, Nick Ashby, baritone, Piers Connor Kennedy, bass Repertoire: around 2,000 vocal works of all styles, more than 300 of which commissioned from the world’s leading composers Live on stage: over 100 concerts worldwide every season Discography: over 70 albums Awards: two Grammy Awards, one Emmy Award, and a place in Gramophone magazine’s inaugural Hall of Fame Educational activities: biannual residency at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in Lübeck, Germany; around a dozen additional masterclasses throughout the year Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2002
Agenda Thu 8 January 2026 • 20.15 Sun 11 January 2026 • 14.15 conductor Giedrė Šlekytė cello Truls Mørk Dvořák Cello Concerto Schubert Symphony No. 8 ‘Unfinished’ Koldály Dances from Galanta Thu 15 January 2026 • 20.15 Fri 16 January 2026 • 20.15 conductor Lahav Shani violin Vilde Frang Bartók Violin Concerto Dvořák Symphony No. 8
Musicians Chief Conductor Lahav Shani Honorary Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin Principal Guest Conductor Tarmo Peltokoski
José Moura Nunes Kerstin Bonk Janine Baller Francis Saunders Veronika Lénártová Rosalinde Kluck León van den Berg Olfje van der Klein Jan Navarro
Alberto Sánchez García Clarinet/ Bass Clarinet Romke-Jan Wijmenga Bassoon Pieter Nuytten Lola Descours Marianne Prommel
Cello First Violin Bassoon/ Emanuele Silvestri Marieke Blankestijn, Contrabassoon Gustaw Bafeltowski Concert Master Hans Wisse Joanna Pachucka Vlad Stanculeasa, Daniel Petrovitsch Concert Master Horn Mario Rio Quirine Scheffers David Fernández Alonso Eelco Beinema Hed Yaron Meyerson Carla Schrijner Felipe Freitas Music for Breakfast 3 Saskia Otto Wendy Leliveld Sun 25 January 2026 • 10.30 Pepijn Meeuws Arno Bons Richard Speetjens HAKA Gebouw Yi-Ting Fang Laurens Otto Killian White musicians and programme: rpho.nl/en Rachel Browne Maria Dingjan Pierre Buizer Paul Stavridis Marie-José Schrijner Fri 13 February 2026 • 20.15 Noëmi Bodden Trumpet Double Bass conductor Tarmo Peltokoski Petra Visser Alex Elia Matthew Midgley violin Simone Lamsma Sophia Torrenga Adrián Martínez Ying Lai Green Brahms Violin Concerto Hadewijch Hofland Simon Wierenga Jonathan Focquaert Vaughan Williams Symphony No. 3 Annerien Stuker Jos Verspagen Arjen Leendertz ‘Pastoral’ Alexandra van Beveren Ricardo Neto Marie Duquesnoy Javier Clemen Martínez Trombone Sun 1 March 2026 • 14.15 Pierre Volders conductor and piano Lahav Shani Second Violin Alexander Verbeek Flute Charlotte Potgieter Dukas The Sorcerer’s Apprentice Remko de Jager Juliette Hurel Frank de Groot Shostakovich Suite for Variety Joséphine Olech Laurens van Vliet Bass trombone Orchestra Manon Gayet Rommert Groenhof Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 2 Elina Staphorsius Jun Yi Dou Strauss Till Eulenspiegel Flute/Piccolo Bob Bruyn Tuba Beatriz Baião Eefje Habraken Martijn van Rijswijk Thu 12 March 2026 • 20.15 Maija Reinikainen Oboe Fri 13 March 2026 • 20.15 Babette van den Berg Karel Schoofs Timpani/ Sun 15 March 2026 • 14.15 Percussion Melanie Broers Anja van der Maten conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali Danny van de Wal Tobias Staub cello Senja Rummukainen Sarah Decamps Oboe/Cor Anglais Ronald Ent Rimski-Korsakov Capriccio espagnol Martijn Boom Ron Tijhuis Elgar Cello Concerto Viola Shostakovich Symphony No. 6 Harp Anne Huser Clarinet Albane Baron Roman Spitzer Julien Hervé Galahad Samson Bruno Bonansea