This page uses cookies
By clicking “Accept All”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. View our Privacy Policy for more information.
.jpeg)
In September, 1964 I took a teaching position at San Francisco College for Women (now part of the University of San Francisco), and was told that I would be conducting the Chamber Singers. Knowing little about the school's music department, I assumed that the Chamber Singers were the most expert group, so I planned a challenging Christmas program. A week before the first rehearsal I held auditions. To my dismay, all who came were freshmen and only one had ever sung in a chorus before.
I scrapped my original program, and decided that I could write easy pieces for this group faster than I could search the literature.Fortunately, I had worked with inexperienced singers before, and had learned that anyone who can carry a tune can sing polyphony, so long as chromaticism and difficult leaps are avoided. (Even difficult rhythms can be learned by beginners.) Arrangements of carols was an obvious solution (but not the department store carols!), and I wanted to write more than simple chordal arrangements. When I decided on seven joys, I looked for carols from different countries which would express these joys of the season: the joy of love, of bells, of Mary, of children, of the new year, of dance and of song. I wrote and copied one piece a day, so the work was ready for the first rehearsal.
The choir sang well. I added a light keyboard accompaniment before the work was published, and later, at Roger Wagner's request, added a version using a chamber orchestra; still later, one for solo harp. I dedicated the work to my teacher, Randall Thompson “with affection, and in admiration of a lifetime devoted to the joy of song.” I am of course grateful for the success of Seven Joys, but find it somewhat odd that a piece with such humble, utilitarian origins should have become one of my most popular works. Could it be because the tunes of these carols are so wonderful? And because Christmas rolls around every year?
I should say a word about the last number of the set. It is called a "quodlibet," an old musical term for a piece which uses different tunes together, not one after another, like a medley, but in counterpoint, against each other. See how many familiar tunes you can pick out in this piece; you will meet some of the carols you heard in the preceding numbers, but several others as well, sometimes four different tunes at once. Composers have fun with this kind of music; it's like solving a crossword puzzle. I hope that all of you will enjoy the game too.
"Christmas music from England, France, Germany, Japan and Spain. . . The finale was a quodlibet of familiar Christmas tunes, all piled fantastically on top of one another in a wonderful witty shout of joy."
— Palo Alto Times
“ … a great piece. We all love it and perform it often.”
— Roger Wagner, conductor, Roger Wagner Singers, and Los Angeles Master Chorale