On the 8th or 9th Day of Christmas* (depending on enumerations beginning December 25 / 26) Love Bade Us Welcome to bestow more gifts with
Harriet,
Megan,
Hector,
Tisha, and Claire --
the latter two ready to make their adventure again back to the Northwest. Adieu! Adieu! On! On!
Beginning to repost the 2007 Myspace blog, now with pictures @ (surprise) markalburger2007.blogspot.com (The initial entry and beyond which now supercede
http://markalburger2008.blogspot.com/2008/01/january-26-here-we-are.html as the earliest daily posts) and continuing,
on this second sunny / sunsetty day of the year,
to compose Portraits of ___ (Some Multiple of Three) Women: I. Teacher in Red Glasses.
***
*All of below from Wikipedia...
The Twelve Days of Christmas...
is a festive Christian season to celebrate the nativity of Jesus. In most Western Church traditions Christmas Day is the First Day of Christmas and the Twelfth Day falls on January 5, but for others, the twelve days begin on December 26 and end on January 6.
Traditionally, the Feast of the Epiphany is celebrated on January 6, which is either the last of the Twelve Days or the day immediately after them. But now, in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, the rule concerning the date of the Epiphany feast is: "The Epiphany of the Lord is celebrated on 6 January, unless, where it is not observed as a holy day of obligation, it has been assigned to the Sunday occurring between [January] 2 and 8 . . . ." For the Church of England also, the celebration the Epiphany is . . . on January 6 or transferred to the Sunday falling between January 2 and 8 . . . .
For some Christian denominations, such as the Anglican Church and Lutheran Church, the Twelve Days period is the same as Christmastide; for others, such as the Catholic Church, Christmastide lasts a little longer; the Twelve Days are different from the Octave of Christmas, which is the eight-day period from Christmas Day until 1 January.
In Anglicanism, the term "Twelve Days of Christmas" is used liturgically in the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, having its own responsory in the Book of Common Prayer for Matins. The term "Christmastide" is not used in it. In the historical Book of Common Prayer used in the Church of England neither term appears, but the alternative set of services, Common Worship that the Church of England introduced in 2000, It provides "Additional Prayers for use at Christmasttide" and elsewhere, within the same volume, says that the Christmas season is often celebrated "for twelve days, ending with the Epiphany," or "lasts for a full forty days."
The Twelve Days of Christmas...
is an English Christmas carol that enumerates in the manner of a cumulative song a series of increasingly grand gifts given on each [day] . . . . The [lyrics], first published in England in 1780 without music as a chant or rhyme, is thought to be French in origin. The Twelve Days of Christmas has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 68. . . . The standard [melody] now associated with it is derived from a 1909 arrangement of a traditional folk [song] by English composer Frederic Austin, who first introduced the now familiar prolongation of the verse "five gold rings."
Frederic Austin (March 30, 1872 - April, 10 1952)...
was an English baritone singer, a musical teacher and composer in the period 1905–30. He is . . . remembered for his restoration and production of The Beggar's Opera, by John Gay and Johann Christoph Pepusch, and its sequel, Polly, in 1920–23. He was born and died in London.
Frederic Austin, brother of the composer Ernest Austin (1874–1947), was sent at the age of about 12 to live at Birkenhead, where he received organ and music lessons, and had singing training from Charles Lunn. By 1896 he had obtained a B.Mus. from Durham University and was organist in several Birkenhead churches. He became a teacher of harmony, and later of composition, at Liverpool College of Music.
At Liverpool he became close friends with the composer Cyril Scott, and through him was introduced to H. Balfour Gardiner, who became a lifelong friend. Through them he was received into the circle of young English composers known as the Frankfurt Group, and their friends. These included Scott, Gardiner, Norman O'Neill, Roger Quilter, Percy Grainger (owing to their training at the Hoch Conservatory) in Frankfurt and such friends as Benjamin Dale, Gervase Elwes, Eugène Goossens, fils and Arnold Bax.
This group, in which Frederick Delius sometimes appeared, often performed each other's music in informal surroundings, and Austin in particular used to improvise at the piano with Arnold Bax. In August 1900, he completed his first orchestral work, the concert Overture Richard II, which received its first performance on December 12, 190,1 by the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra under Dan Godfrey. In 1902, the year of his marriage to Amy Oliver, Austin gave lessons in composition to Thomas Beecham, sang Tchaikovsky's Pilgrim's Song for a Henry Wood promenade concert, and was introduced to Hans Richter, for whom he later sang in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 ("Choral") and Missa solemnis, and Bach's St. Matthew Passion. . . .
***
Nice expanding basic structure to the mixed-meter F Major song: AB ACB ACDB
A - "On the ___ Day of Christmas . . ." Sol Sol Sol Do Do Do Ti . . .
B - "And a Partridge . . ." Mi Fa Sol La Fa . . .
C - New Gifts except "Five" Sol Re Mi Fa . . .
D - "Five Golden Rings, Four Calling" . . . Sol La Fi Sol, Sol Fa Mi Re . . .
