It's too early for Christmas carols!
We're now firmly at that time of year when all retailers would have us believe it's Christmas - an incredibly drawn-out period which exceeds the bounds of Advent, to the effect that the sense of excitement is over before it's had much of a chance to get going.
As I don't feel particularly Christmassy and am saved the ignominy, in my department at least, of Do they know it's Christmas? and the like, I refuse to play any carols. That said, in the best tradition of classical record departments, I am in a fine position to run rings around management as, in the event of their complaining that I'm not playing anything Christmassy, all I need do is point to the recording of Bach's Christmas oratorio on the playlist. It's suitably festive but not so obvious as to annoy me - or my customers ...
As I don't feel particularly Christmassy and am saved the ignominy, in my department at least, of Do they know it's Christmas? and the like, I refuse to play any carols. That said, in the best tradition of classical record departments, I am in a fine position to run rings around management as, in the event of their complaining that I'm not playing anything Christmassy, all I need do is point to the recording of Bach's Christmas oratorio on the playlist. It's suitably festive but not so obvious as to annoy me - or my customers ...
posted by Anthony at
23:10
9 Comments:
Count your lucky stars of Bethlehem that you're not in the U.S. can caught up in this whole ridiculous "war" over Christmas. This post you just wrote was enough to get you boycotted by the AFA.
By
Andy, at 6/12/05 19:36
I'm not particularly au fait with the AFA's views on the importance of Christmas but feel that a point must be made. My niggle comes in wanting to differentiate between Advent and Christmas; the two are not synonymous.
A case in point: a couple of weeks ago, after choir rehearsal, we were discussing which hymns could be identified as being specific to Advent. "Oh come, oh come Emmanuel" was the only one we could come up with.
The fact is, there is a lot of music written to celebrate Christmas, compared to very little for Advent - quite unlike Easter and Lent, which are much richer musically, not to mention their being of infinitely greater significance. Christmas may have usurped the public conscience in terms of its perceived importance, but no Christian can seriously deem the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ a lesser event.
As long as the AFA does not lose sight of this, I have no argument with them (on this point, at least). That said, my refusal to wallow so blatantly in festive cheer at this stage does not prevent me from celebrating the birth of Christ later this month.
By
Anthony, at 7/12/05 00:37
Well, the AFA is not exactly an organization that takes an intellectual approach to theology...or anything else. In fact, they tend to be rather vehemently anti-intellectual. They suffer from this bizarre delusion that Christians in America are somehow both the vast, vast majority and a horribly persecuted, threatened minority all at the same time. Yes, it's true there's not a lot of Christ in commercialized Christmas, but there's a LOT of Christmas going on.
By
Andy, at 7/12/05 19:16
I'd say you've earned yourself a boycott of your very own!
Christmas sounds even more commercialised in the US than it is here, which is a tad dispiriting.
By
Anthony, at 7/12/05 20:08
I know Europeans resent it when Americans act like they invented everything, but trust me, we wrote the book on crass commercialization. Or, commercialisation, in your world.
By
Andy, at 8/12/05 18:55
I'm really not sure that's something to be proud of!
Of course, in my family, being very keen on all things Chinese, I was taught at an early age that the Chinese invented pretty well everything, and more often than not a good few centuries before their invention in the West.
By
Anthony, at 8/12/05 22:32
Here's some Advent favorites of mine:
The various different settings of the "Advent Prose", including the Richard Lloyd setting called "Drop down, ye heavens".
Then there's the counter-tenor classic: "This is the record of John", by Gibbons. Or rather, as it's sometime now called "This is the downloaded MP3 of John".
By
Anonymous, at 13/12/05 20:00
I tend to call it "This is the record of John - it's hip hop", or something equally unlikely. Fantastic piece though.
By
Anthony, at 13/12/05 20:10
Perhaps it should be "The podcast of John"
By
Anonymous, at 14/12/05 13:50
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