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MUSICAL COMMENTARY ON "FOX NOEL"
Fox Noel is an album inspired by the grandeur and uniqueness of both the organ and magnificent architectural setting of the Fox Theater in Atlanta. It, along with its’ companion album “1001 Nights” are released in honor of the 80th anniversary of the premiere of “Mighty Mo” on December 25, 1929. They also coincide with what has been declared by the American Theater Organ Society as the 100th anniversary year of the birth of the Wurlitzer Theater Pipe Organ, as well as the 50th Anniversary of the first regular presentation of performances of the “Nutcracker” by the Atlanta Ballet on the stage of the Atlanta Fox Theater. The program has been carefully selected on both albums to reflect these unique and important anniversaries.
The Atlanta Fox Theater with its’ magnificent 4678 seat auditorium opened on Christmas Day, 1929. Described by the Atlanta Journal at the time as possessing "a picturesque and almost disturbing grandeur beyond imagination…”, it was designed principally by Olivier Vinour of the firm Marye, Alger and Vinour and is one of the outstanding examples of an ‘atmospheric’ theater anywhere in the world. Originally commissioned by the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (more commonly refeered to as the “Shrines”) as the Yaarab Temple Shrine Mosque, they were not able to fund the completion of this massive 2.75 million dollar project. Final execution and funding of the project were the result of the efforts of William Fox who gave the theater its current name, and the building was signed under him with a twenty one year lease. The 4 manual/42 ½ rank Möller, affectionately dubbed “Mighty Mo” by audiences, has become famous as one of the finest, most complete, and most original unaltered examples of this builder’s work. The immensity and versatility of the tonal resources in this instrument almost defy description—it is a true miracle of sound possessing 3,622 pipes in 5 chambers ranging from less than 3” to over 32’ in total length along with an entire battery of tuned and un-tuned orchestral percussion as well as sound effects or “foley” for appropriate accompaniment of silent pictures.
Quite possibly one of the most difficult challenges facing any person proposing to assemble an album of Christmas music is the great difficulty of balancing both a respect for the great and, to some extant, unvarying core of “classic” Christmas carols with the larger body of unexplored or seldom played music. This album, then, purposely seeks out that music which is not necessarily frequently played by Theater Organists. More importantly, it is structured as the Christmas journey is structured—with a definite mix of the secular and sacred and (with regard to the latter) a progression which celebrates as much the beginning of that journey at the manger in Bethlehem through the Epiphany and journey of the Wise Men.
Jerry Herman’s We Need a Little Christmas comes from the musical Mame of 1956. Set in New York City during the Great Depression, it is a fitting start to such a work, not only because of its infections energy and lilt but because the Fox Theater itself opened in this era, a mere two months after the great 1928 Wall Street crash.
Among the several representatives of Christmas classics is “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” by Eddie Pola and George Wyle. The song really says it all, and in a way provides a wonderful entry to the soft and lyrical arrangement of Greensleves which follows.
Relatively new to the larger musical public are the marvelous Christmas carols of Alfred Burt. They are compositions of keen and sincere beauty, marvelously setting the texts which originated as family Chritmas cards. The artist has a special affiliation with Burt being both a Michigan native and graduate of the University of Michigan as he was in 1942.
Also holding a special place of sentiment in the performers’ heart from singing it for many years as a child is the seldom heard carol “Good King Wenceslaus” who as the first line of the carol goes, “…went out on the feast of St. Steven...”. The carol goes on to tell of a miracle said to have happened that day (December 26) when King Wenceslaus sees a poor man gathering wood for his fire. Learning from his page where the man lived, he goes on in the text of the carol speaking to his page: “Bring me flesh and bring me wine; Bring me pine logs hither; Thou and I shall see him dine When we bear them thither…”. The peasant thus served by the King goes on to repay him a hundredfold for his kindness. It is a carol reminding those who sing it of the importance and of hospitality and service. Wenceslaus, who died a martyr, was succeeded to throne by his brother and murderer Boleslaus. History has not forgotten this tragedy and to this day, the crown of his successors bears the former saint’s name.
Many Christmas carols have stories such as these, and few could pertain more to the organ (or lack thereof!) that Franz Xaver Gruber’s Silent Night. It was on Christmas Eve of 1818 in the village church of Obrndorf, Austria that the carol was first heard as the bellows of the church’s organ, according to legend, expired before Midnight Mass necessitating the accompaniment of the now universally known piece on the guitar.
Although the Suite of Eight Danses from “The Nutcracker” Op. 71a by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky are by no means strangers to the mobs of Christmas shoppers in every mall across America, and especially on the minds of all aspiring ballet dancers, the work is not often heard on the organ given the unique difficulties accompanying orchestral transcription. The artist, again, has a connection to this work being one of the descendants in the family tree of the composer.
Few people realize that one of the greatest and most moving of all the many pieces in the sacred repertoire is also the first piece of music ever to be broadcast over the radio. On Christmas Eve 1906, Reginald Fessenden, a 33 year old professor from Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana and engineer for Thomas Edison, became the first man to broadcast over the airways using a new type of radio wave generator. Astonished helmsmen in ships hundreds of miles off the coast of Massechusetts hear him quoting the gospel of Luke “…And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed…" and then picked up his violin and played Cantique de Noël (O Holy Night).
This arrangement of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas is inspired by the sentimental and elegantly orchestrated version now immortalized by Judy Garland in the 1944 MGM musical Meet Me in St. Louis. Garland performed the tune extensively for troops overseas during World War II, and it remains as poignient today as it was then. Curiously, though, the song wasn’t an immediate hit with Garland who, along with, her co-star Tom Drake and director Vincente Minnelli reportedly initially criticized it as “depressing”!
That the album concludes with We Three Kings is no accident. Interestingly, this arrangement came about as a direct result of the composition work on the film score for the 1925 MGM feature picture “Ben Hur” which features an wonderful example of silent film special effects as the Christmas star leads the three kings to Bethlehem and the manger. Although the Christmas season technically concludes with the feast of the Presentation in the Temple on February 2, the arrival of the Magi has been an important part of the Christmas journey since ancient times. This arrangement focuses not on the grandeur of the kings, but rather on the nothingness and utter silence of the desert, and magical, haunting brilliance of the start. Everything relates to this journey—the thematic importance of the star motif and, more significantly, the varied application of cannon to the melody.
The Atlanta Fox Theater has, as with the rest of the entire facility, made a strong commitment to the preservation and restoration of this instrument exactly as it was originally installed. The organ, therefore, operates as it did originally solely on the original pneumatic relay and combination action. In addition to its’ outstanding historic integrity, unique architectural setting and magnificent orchestral properties, this instrument was chosen for this recording specifically because it is a fine and altogether too rare example of originality. The console contains only six generals and six divisionals, and the entire recording was performed in real time without resorting to any multi-tracking or post production manipulation of the final musical performance. As this recording demonstrates, the only limitations imposed upon the performer by original technology are those of the imagination.
-Steven Ball
