Vaughan Williams' "Hodie": My Favorite Christmas Piece

[@carolminshall6863]

So excited to be singing this wonderful work tonight in Cape Town ! It's the South African Premiere!

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Have fun! I wish I could be there.

[@Dblondn]

How did it go?

[@carolminshall6863]

​Absolutely fabulous ! ​@@Dblondn

[@WellDone-o1x]

All I know is that every time I listen to RVW's Hodie, I cry

[@andersonrearickiii6392]

My college, Eastern Nazarene College n Boston in the 1970s, gave up its traditional Messiah performance to perform Hodea instead. I was in the choir and loved it.

[@maestralala7993]

In 1962 or '63 when I was 9 or 10 yrs old I sang the children's choir part of the complete Hodie from memory with the Los Angeles Symphonic Choir (soon to become the Los Angeles Master Chorale) and LA Philharmonic conducted by G, Malcolm Groher, in the LA Music Center's Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. A young, fervent, fresh-voiced Shirley Verrett was the female soloist. I later spent 35 yrs as an international operatic/symphonic/recital/recording soloist, singing with Bernstein, vonKarajan, Levine, and Kleiber, and I've been a Distinguished Professor and chair of Voice/Opera at UCLA for 27 yrs, and even after all of that, I can still sing that children's choir part from memory; I agree 100% -- Christmas isn't Christmas without Vaughan Williams' Hodie.

[@steveschwartz8944]

I fell in love with this work when the Willcocks recording came out in the 60s. It was also my intro to Janet Baker. Who knew Milton's poetry could melt your heart?

[@waynesmith3767]

Always heard bad things about Vaughan Williams music from the Music Police when I was very young; then came my first hearing of one of his symphonies and I have been a fan ever since.

[@robhaynes4410]

Thank you so much for bringing attention to this neglected masterpiece. RVW wrote so much wonderful Christmas music. From the gorgeous Fantasia on Christmas Carols, to On Christmas Night & the First Nowell, piles & piles of carol & hymn settings, Folksongs of the Four Seasons... And all of it's been recorded. You could spend the entire day just listening to RVW's Christmas music. And you should! Merry Christmas, all!

[@jgesselberty]

Completely agree. I listen to it often. At the words "He shall be great" I get goosebumps. It is the spiritual equivalent of his "Behold the Sea." Thanks for featuring this great and neglected work. All the best to you and yours.

[@maggi3320]

My college choir performed Hodie for Christmas in 1974. I’ve loved it ever since.

[@ludoyle1684]

Did you go to the University of Illinois? My choir there performed it that year.

[@skulptor]

Agree. Messiah and Hodie are compulsory Christmas listening in our house. Merry Christmas everybody.

[@sandc411]

We did it at university for the annual Christmas pageant one year. Played percussion. Awesome.

[@kamatsu8]

One thing I love about the Hodie is that it, unlike most other christmas music, doesn't shy away from the terrifying aspect of the angels whenever they speak. When the full chorus of angels comes in ("Emmanuel!" etc.) it sounds joyful, yes, but also terrible (in the original meaning of the word) and awe-inspiring. The incarnation of God on Earth isn't just songs about snow and sleeping babies.

[@tarquinmidwinter2056]

I sang this with my college choir 50+ years ago. Never heard a live performance of it since then. Sadly neglected.

[@denisehill7769]

Thank you so much for this....Britten IMHO wasn't fit to lick RVW's boots (he was certainly very bitchy about his music, as well as that of Elgar). Many years ago in my previous life as a church chorister we loved singing Vaughan Williams, both his hymns and his Christmas pieces - just lovely stuff. Later in life I've come to love his other works; he can make you laugh and cry in equal measure and he sums up, for me, what it is to be British without jingoism, and to revere the land he loved and pictures so beautifully in musical depictions. So there. Have a great holiday season!

[@williammoreing3860]

I’ve adored this masterpiece since I first sang in it over fifty years ago in my community college choir. What has always affected me most is the transformation of the haunting, heartbreaking theme sung by the soprano soloist and female chorus (“It Was the Winter Wild”) into as triumphant a choral finale (“Ring Out, Ye Crystal Spheres”) as I’ve ever enjoyed. Thanks, Mr Hurwitz, for sharing your generous appraisal. Cheers!

[@bostonviewer5430]

Yes! A great work that I tend to forget so thanks for reminding all of us. Many decades ago I was (briefly) a conservatory student in the school chorus. We had most of the resources and performed this work though without the organ. 🥺So full of spirit; a kaleidoscope of beautiful music!

[@fshepinc]

Hodie was the very first piece I formed after college (where I got to do Serenade to Music). With the same conductor I was fortunate to do both the RVW Dona Nobis Pacem and the Respighi Lauda that you mentioned. Yes, Hodie can be difficult -but it's a joy to sing. There are several sections that are more than a little reminiscent of Britten's St. Nicolas cantata (another one I got to do in college). I never realized just how lucky I was to perform all those pieces!

[@bbailey7818]

What a great piece. I've been lucky to have heard a live performance of it once. Thank heaven for recordings! The same goes for Pilgrim's Progress which, pace RVW, I think would work best in concert form. My go to recording of Hodie is still the Willcocks on EMI with the powerhouse trio of Janet Baker, Richard Lewis, and John Shirley-Quirk.

[@HoraceInExile]

Spending the morning listening to Christmas music, like the good atheist I am. As you said: it's about the music. Thank you for directing me to Hodie. And thanks to Classics Today for pointing me to the recent release "The Apple Tree" by Seraphic Fire. That album is definitely going to be on the annual rotation for the holidays. All the best to everyone here today!

[@vidyakara]

Yes, like others who have commented, i would like to thank you for bringing this wonderful piece to my attention. You have truly given me a great Christmas gift.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

So glad you enjoyed it! Happy Holidays!

[@IHSACC]

Yes! What a great work it is. Thank you for your advocacy. It really is a summation of all aspects of his style, and as such is a tremendous experience. I remember reading with considerable frustration the contemporaneous review from Donald Mitchell in Michael Kennedy’s biography. As you mentioned, there was a real turn in England against RVW after WWII. That insecurity came in and they thought that they had to promote Britten at the expense of RWV-and Walton and others for that matter-because Britten was more “progressive.” There is another reason that I heard once for the neglect of RWV’s choral music in this country which I think is true-given whom I heard it from: Robert Shaw did not like Vaughan Williams, nor did other prominent choral conductors and teachers who were trained by post WWII German teachers, most of whom either didn’t know or disparaged English music. Fortunately all of this changing in later generations, and American choral conductors are increasingly doing English choral music and lots of RVW. I had the temerity to try doing parts of Hodie with a church choir I was conducting, and they did find it rather difficult. It’s strength, beauty, and spiritual depth are accessible to all, but it does seem to require professional treatment to make the full impact. Fantasia on Christmas Carols, on the other hand, can be done (and I have) with a church choir without undue difficulties.

[@bravhorn22]

Thanks for sharing about this piece, one of my favorites (RVW + Christmas = a win for me!). Sadly it is probably too big to perform regularly, but there are 2 or 3 choral selections from Hodie included in the Oxford Carols for Choirs, which hopefully keep it from being forgotten music!

[@WesSmith-m6i]

Thank you so much, Dave. I have never heard Vaughan Williams' Hodie. I guarantee you, it will be the next piece I to turn to.

[@richardadams2447]

This is why I love David’s channel - because he advocates for these neglected masterworks that really should be better known. Like VW, I consider myself a “happy agnostic” but Hodie almost makes me a believer in the divinity of the Christmas story. I listen to it every Christmas Eve and always in the Willcocks version. The Hickox has better choral singing but the soloists can’t begin to compete with the older EMI. I hate the Naxos version and gave it away after I first heard it. I wish someone like Andrew Davis or David Hill would re-record it but until then, we have the excellent Willcocks.

[@jerelzoltick6900]

Listening to the piece conducted byDavid Willcocks with LSO..singers are very fine Janet Baker, Richard Lewis, John Shirley-Quirk. I have a LP of this that I purchased years ago since I am such fan of Janet Baker..Presently it is in the EMI Vaughn Williams Box. It is a beautiful choral work - soft and dramatic passages - very lyrical with beautiful vocal sections...

[@onnoalink6694]

About ± 12 years ago I attended a performance of Howie by the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and the Groot Omroepkoor in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and it was a triumph. Indeed a very impressive work when you hear it live, with a good organ. RVW's love for JS Bach is clearly noticeable. It's my favourite Christmas piece too.

[@jsk7591]

Two of my most favorite works for Christmas are on the same recording from director Uwe Gronostay: Max Bruch's "Gruss and die heilige Nacht", Op. 62 and Hugo Wolf's "Christnacht". Both are a joy to listen to at Christmas or at any time of the year. I bought the CD decades ago in Tower Records and it remains one of my treasures.

[@Rozsaphile]

Yes! One of my favorites and an annual Christmas listen. (Also for my non-religious wife.) The great poetry (Milton), the unfamiliar poetry (Drummond), the recapitulation of VW's stylistic jouney, the contrast of biblical simplicity and grandeur . . . I did manage to hear a live performance once (in St. Patrick's Cathedral). Acoustics not great there, but what a mighty organ! Granted, Hodie is expensive to produce, but the involvement of a children's chorus can help to involve the community (schools and parents). And if the length is a deterrent, cuts could be made. I do think that the penultimate section (Ursula's poem on the Magi) is the weakest and runs too long. But then comes the recapitulated triumph of "Emanuel - God with us!" and the mighty Miltonic "Ring Out, Ye Crystal Spheres" truly music of the heavens.

[@glennsolva1567]

Happy Holidays & speedy recovery wishes from Sweden. 🎼🎶🎶🎶

[@kostastopouzis7479]

Thank you for the recommendation, Dave. I'll make sure I listen to this work. Vaughan Williams wasn't on my radar in my 20's, but thanks to you I discovered his 5th symphony, which is astounding, and I'm listening to more of him. By the way, I think it would be interesting to devote a video on the "Grand N"arrative of "History of Music" books written in the 20th century that present a linear, evolutionary stylistic procession inexorably leading to the avant-garde. These books did some serious damage to me when I was young. They always seemed to imply that the older styles are to be discarded and replaced by newer ones, concealing the agenda behind them which was not so much honest history but the propagation of certain stylistic preferences. That's how I thought for years that Vaughan Williams, Martinu, Bloch, and many others were "conservative", with the implication of being boring, irrelevant and "music for old people". I am very happy to see this Hegelian evolutionary narrative change lately. Sorry for the big comment. Merry Christmas to all. I hope we all have a nice holiday.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

I have talked about that topic in several videos, but I do have a take on it that I may try soon. Thanks for giving me a push.

[@truBador2]

Thank you Mr. Hurwitz.

[@jimcochran1408]

Our college music dept. performed this work with orchestra and organ in the 70's. I was a graduate student and got to do several rehearsals. What a thrilling opening movement. I was always amazed at the few recordings. Of course, it is one of my favorites! Thanks for this video.

[@pow309]

I love Hodie for its grand moments of exultation and its quiet moments of contemplation like the setting of Thomas Hardy's poem "The Oxen." Thanks also for plugging Respighi's Lauda, another piece that should be better known.

[@SoiledWig]

In my several years in a university choir, one of the most memorable and rewarding pieces to perform was Vaughan-Williams's Benedicite. i'll definitely have to find the Hodie. Strangely enough, Benedicite was for the annual Christmas program; we should have done the Hodie, but i suppose 45 minutes would have been too long. The longest "central" work we ever did between the Ave Marias, et al, was Chichester Psalms (also a major highlight).

[@petercable7768]

Love your enthusiasm for this work. After quite an interval I played it last week and my love for it was rekindled all over again. I did have the Wilcocks recording of this work but, frustratingly it seems to have disappeared from my cd collection. However, I do have the Richard Hickox recording of the work and that too is very satisfying. Another Christmas work I would like to commend is Parry's Ode on the Nativity. I notice that in the comments no one seems to have mentioned this work and I do think it quite lovely and one of the best things that Parry ever did. It does come on a marvellous Lyrita disc also containing VW's The Sons of Light and Holst's The Mystic Trumpeter. I am a non believer but it such a testament to VW's music that I can be moved to near tears by it.

[@williamhallett327]

I share your enthusiasm for this work, Dave. The words are also very special. It’s good to know this work has wider appeal (writing from the UK). As you mention RVW vocal works with unusual forces may I mention personal favourites the Fantasia on the old 104th, and the Oxford Elegy, again marvellous, somewhat nostalgic words. Thank you for all your entertaining and perceptive reviews!

[@robertdandre94101]

in the guide to sacred choral music, published by Fayard, a fairly well-supplied guide series and yet well recognized by music lovers, "hodies" by Vaughan Williams is not even mentioned....to add to that that I had purchased many years ago the choral works of Vaughan Williams on HMV (5 LP) with excellent texts (as always) by Micheal Kennedy, and of course the discovery of ''hodies'' under the direction by david wilcocks was a revelation

[@erikdaumann8589]

I wrote my master exam on Hodie back in 2008. It is such an important and impressive work and I'm listening to it every Christmas. But my impression is that I'm the only person in Germany who knows it and likes it. Maybe there are others, so tell me.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Good for you!

[@richfarmer3478]

I first heard it on KZbin a few years ago and thought it was wonderful.

[@paradisi12]

Love this work, the Willcocks with Janet Baker and Richard Lewis (his narration is incredible at least for me). So much variety and for me links with VW's Dona Nobis Pacem and Britten's Spring Symphony - love the works. Try Hodie it's well worth it. Bit late with this.

[@Bobbnoxious]

Honegger's Christmas Cantata (1953) was THE last thing he composed. He was very ill and completed the piece while hospitalized in Basel, Switzerland. The opening and closing are pretty gloomy but the central section is glorious.

[@kylejohnson8877]

Indeed, it might be my favorite Christmas-related work! Its progression from darkness to light is quite moving, and it has the benefit of being very concise. Similarly beautiful and concise is Finzi's “In terra pax".

[@Moshmorenko]

I'm struggling to hear a gloomy ending! And as the other poster has implied, the progression from darkness to light is the point of the piece - the development into what you call the glorious music makes sense in the context of what comes before.

[@kylejohnson8877]

@@Moshmorenko You’re exactly right, the ending isn’t gloomy at all - only the opening!

[@HassoBenSoba]

It's somewhat disappointing to learn that Honegger's wonderful Christmas Cantata consists largely of unused music written a decade earlier. He was working on a large-scale choral work (the "Selzach Passion") from 1941 to '44, but it was abandoned. From Dec '52-Jan '53, he re-fashioned this material into his new Cantate de Noel, but composed only a few new passages (the opening and closing organ solos, the baritone solos, and a fragment here and there). The majority (including all of the wonderful carol passages) dated from 1941-44. Honegger finished the orchestration on 10/16/53 in a Zurich hospital. LR

[@steveschwartz8944]

Respighi's Lauda! Yes!

[@scp240]

Excellent recommendation, I listened to this for the first time, streaming the Naxos recording on Presto. An outstanding service, by the way. My favorite in this category is L'enfance du Christ by Berlioz. I'm partial to La Chapelle Royale, Collegium Vocale, Orchestre des Champs Elysees, directed by Philippe Herreweghe, recording some years ago on Harmonia Mundi.

[@elendil504]

Same. It's the first selection on 12/25 and has been for decades.

[@denisehill7769]

You must be Aragorn, son of Arathorn? :)

[@jimslancio]

Arnold Bax's Mater Ora Filium is also worth a listen. It calls for the first sopranos singing a sustained high C over several bars of polyphony, so it won't get performances too often.

[@GordonThompson-jk6fk]

Add, for me, two seasonal pieces by RVW's great friend Gerald Finzi --- "In Terra Pax" and "New Year Music."

[@fredericmorris2931]

Thanks, new to me, thought I knew most all RVW. Two similar pieces - On Christmas Night and The First Nowell (mentioned by another commenter) - appear on a wonderful Chandos disk with Richard Hickox.

[@ToddBaldwin-kl4sw]

Another great under-performed Christmas work is Saint-Saens’ Christmas Oratorio. For the life of me I don’t know why that and VW Hodie don’t get more attention!

[@ruramikael]

I'm struggling with Hodie, I bought the Naxos recording a year or two ago. The Fantasia on Christmas Carols is still my favourite VW Christmas work.

[@erikdaumann8589]

The Naxos recording is boring. You should try the 1965 recording with Janet Baker, Richard Lewis, John Shirley-Quirk with David Willcocks conducting.

[@respighi3]

(papaphrasing) "...NORMAL people don't care about politics or styles---they just want to hear GOOD MUSIC!"

[@KingOuf1er]

For me, nothing surpasses ‘In Terra Pax’ by Gerald Finzi. It contains not one but two of the moments that always make me cry: the first when the soprano soloist sings ‘Fear not, fear not, fear not’ with those affecting falling fifths, the second at the very end when the melody of ‘The First Nowell’ suddenly appears - the first time, harmonised as if the melody needs to carry on, but then repeated with different harmony providing a sense of completion. And that such a perfect Christmas piece should be written by an atheist of Jewish heritage adds extra poignancy.

[@haroldstover5834]

Another Christmas work by an octogenarian composer that should be heard more often is Heinrich Schütz’s Weihnachts-Historie from 1664.

[@davidforbes2795]

I agree that you don’t have to be a Christian to enjoy this music. Vaughan Williams would certainly have agreed with you. He was agnostic if not an atheist. Maybe that’s why the music is so good??

[@paulharmon557]

Saint Seans Christmas Oratorio is beautifully written.