Christmas Concerts during Advent

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Advent_Puzzle

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PLEASE help settle this long-time dispute! šŸ™‚

I completely understand and agree with performing only Advent music at Masses during Advent, however Iā€™ve yet to find any guidance on the subject of Sacred Music Concerts during Advent.

Our music director continues to argue the point that he is not ā€œallowedā€ to perform Sacred Christmas music in a concert format during Advent season.

We argue that if an Advent Lessons & Carols service can include both Advent and Christmas music, why canā€™t a Sacred Music Concert contain the same? Again, not Massā€¦just a Concert setting.

To avoid the conflict this year, heā€™s scheduled our Christmas Concert for January 9th. Itā€™s the last Sunday of the Christmas season. Nobody wants to hear Christmas music at this time, and for that matter, as a group, weā€™re not exactly interested in singing Christmas music in January.

Your first thought is, ā€œWhy arenā€™t they seeking the guidance of their Bishop?ā€ Our music director is practically forbidding us to discuss the topic so weā€™re not about to bother our bishop with this.

What is the Canon Law, if any? Please provide us with some hard-fast ruling that we can quote so we can end this once and for all.
 
This isnā€™t regulated by ecclesiastical law. The Church simply does not control what music you can put on in a concert. You could have a jazz concert, or show tunes, or hip-hop, or the music from Mozartā€™s Requiem, or whatever else you felt like staging and thought people would turn out for.

What the Church does regulate is the use of music during the liturgy. But a concert is not liturgy. And even if it were, the regulations that exist are of a more general sort (music should be ā€œfitting,ā€ ā€œappropriateā€) not specific (ā€œChristmas music is not to be used before December 25.ā€)
 
Where does your parish priest stand on this? He should certainly be the first person to take this matter to rather than the bishop. Personally, I donā€™t think the bishopā€™s office would thank you for landing this on their desk. Is it not possible to arrange a meeting where this matter can be rationally discussed by the relevant parties?
 
Iā€™m going to side with your choir director. I think he might be going over the top by saying you canā€™t even talk about it (ok, he is going over the top. You have a write to ask the bishop. He canā€™t take that away.)

But I wouldnā€™t play Christmas music in advent. I just wouldnā€™t. Despite what you see in the culture, Christmas doesnā€™t start until the 25. This bishopā€™s letter explains this well.

te-deum.blogspot.com/2010/11/bishop-puts-brakes-on-christmas.html
 
Advent_Puzzle said:
PLEASE help settle this long-time dispute! šŸ™‚

I completely understand and agree with performing only Advent music at Masses during Advent, however Iā€™ve yet to find any guidance on the subject of Sacred Music Concerts during Advent.

Our music director continues to argue the point that he is not ā€œallowedā€ to perform Sacred Christmas music in a concert format during Advent season.
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The question that comes to mind is, ā€œNot allowed by whom? Or by what?ā€

Church law? Diocesan law? The Pastor? The Parish Finance committee? His sense of seasonal aesthetics? His personal conscience?

I agree that Advent should not be turned into Christmas. But thereā€™s a difference between something not being the best idea and something being forbidden.
 
I voted ā€œnoā€ too. In fact I believe that there is an article on Pewsitter about a Bishop that has forbidden or at least discouraged Christmas music, decorating, etc. until December 24th.
Advent season is to be celebrated as such. and Christmas season in its proper time.

We donā€™t celebrate Easter during Lent.
 
I am in the choir and we donā€™t have any music like angels we have heard on high or such as HE hasnā€™t come yet as we are preparing. We are celebrating his anniversary of His first coming awaiting the second. O Come emmanuel yes. Well this is the rules at our Mass.

We donā€™t put the baby in the crib ither till the eve of Christmas.
 
I think some of the responses seem to have lost sight of the fact that what was being discussed was a concert, not liturgy. The OP made a valid point about people not wanting to attend a ā€œChristmas Concertā€ on January 9th. Iā€™ve been part of too many Catholic organizations that had holiday fund-raisers by staging a ā€œChristmas Concertā€ during December. I would agree that ā€œGloria in Excelsisā€ probably is inappropriate before Christmas itself, but surely there is a wide selection of choir concert music appropriate to put people in an appropriately anticipatory mood. And no, I donā€™t put the Christ Child in the manger until Christmas, and yes, our tree stays up until after Epiphany, but the mindset reflected in some of these responses would basically rule out Christmas Concerts at all until a date when people had lost interest. Surely a program of seasonal sacred music in a choral setting is preferable to societyā€™s erasing of the very word ā€œChristmas.ā€

On a related note, do people really think bishops should be in the business of telling people when they can put trees up or play music in their homes?
 
Advent_Puzzle said:
To avoid the conflict this year, heā€™s scheduled our Christmas Concert for January 9th. Itā€™s the last Sunday of the Christmas season. Nobody wants to hear Christmas music at this time, and for that matter, as a group, weā€™re not exactly interested in singing Christmas music in January.
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Pop culture is so obsessed with marketing their consumerist version of Christmas even before the end of October. As soon as Christmas Day is over, they have a big sale to get rid of the stuff they didnā€™t sell before Christmas & act as if they just realized all the decorations are infested with some horrible disease or something- they act as if they canā€™t throw it all out fast enough. Choir directors can slowly change the culture- at least among Catholics. Right now, if I want to listen to any live Christmas music at all, Iā€™ll have to do it during Advent. Itā€™s not how it should be, but itā€™s reality. Iā€™m thankful to know that at least one person out there who can do something about it is doing it. We do penance for several weeks during Lent. Advent is also a penitential season (though not in the same way as Lent). The Church gives us these things for a reason- but it also gives us a long time of rejoicing after those seasons are over. Why shorten our season of rejoicing to just one day?
 
I did not vote because the question is "Is Christmas Music allowed in a Concert Setting during Advent?"

I strongly disagree with having Christmas parties and concerts (etc.) during Advent. But who is to say what is actually ā€œALLOWEDā€ in this case?

A great improvement would be to hold all Christmas concerts, plays, parties, etc. between December 25th and January 6th. In fact, Iā€™ve always been puzzled that ā€˜Christmas specialsā€™ on TV are not shown during the Christmas season while the kiddies are off school.
 
Tarpeian_Rock said:
On a related note, do people really think bishops should be in the business of telling people when they can put trees up or play music in their homes?
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I think this bishop is exercising is right and duty over his flock, and I applaud him. This is an issue in todayā€™s times.
 
Music is part of the preparation for the coming of Christ, not just part of the celebration.

If you do not participate in concerts before Christmas, then I assume that you donā€™t play ANY Christmas music until Christmas Day. I consider this kind of sad, since the music ā€œgets us readyā€ for His coming. Music helps us to prepare our hearts and souls to welcome Jesus.

Since childhood, I have always looked forward to Thanksgiving weekend as the time to get out the Christmas records and start playing Christmas music on the piano. Itā€™s the best way for me to start preparing for Christmas, and thatā€™s what Advent is supposed to beā€“a time of preparation and anticipation.

We pray during Advent, right? (I hope!) Well, sacred/Christmas music is prayer. It definitely brings our thoughts to Jesus and the Nativity.

On Thanksgiving weekend, the Choral Union in our city presented the 65th Annual Concert of Handelā€™s Messiah. For 65 years, this has been done the weekend of the first Sunday of Advent as a way of helping people begin to PREPARE for the Coming of the Lord. Do you consider that improper? Good heavens, I hope not! We had well over a thousand people come to our concert, and we will be featured next year in the American Profile Magazine. (One elderly woman has never missed singing in a concert for all 65 years, and sheā€™s also on our executive board.)

And hereā€™s a practical pointā€“most Catholic schools are on break before Christmas through New Yearā€™s Day. So it makes sense for the music teacher(s) to hold a Christmas Concert (recital/academic exhibition) BEFORE the holiday break.

I suppose the music teachers could wait until after the break and hold the concert during the Christmas season, but again, the music that the children and teenagers make helps us to prepare our hearts for the coming of Jesus Christ. Why not include this in our preparation time? Also, after the break, the music teacher(s) want to move on to repertoire for spring concerts, school musicals, choir festivals (often held in the spring), and school music competitions.
 
I think the Bishopā€™s letter is great. I also think it is a good idea to have the Christmas concert during Christmas and not Advent. It is the perfect way to cathecize the masses about the Christmas season.

The music of the season is so beautiful! But we donā€™t sing ā€œJesus Christ is Risen Todayā€ during Lent to prepare for Easter so I donā€™t think we should sing the Christmas songs during Advent, either.
 
As others have pointed out this is not liturgy. One has to keep in mind the secular reasons for doing a Christmas concert in Advent. I agree a Christmas concert on Jan. 9 makes no sense whatsoever. A case could perhaps be made for doing a Christmas concert during the Octave or Christmas eve.

Our choir sometimes do concerts (Gregorian chant only), quite often in fact in seniorsā€™ residences. And Advent is often a popular time for those.

However we often do a concert that is a ā€œtrip through the liturgical yearā€, where we sing the best-known pieces from each season. For example, for Advent weā€™ll do Rorate Coeli, and Christmas, the Magnificat antiphon for Christmas day Hodie Christus Natus Est

My suggestion would be to try to incorporate a couple of traditional Advent hymns into the concert, at the start of the concert, as a reminder that Christmas has a preparation time.

But nobody needs ā€œpermissionā€ to hold a Christmas concert during Advent, unless you plan to hold it in a church in which case you are at the mercy of the priestā€™s feelings on the issue.
 
  1. It is a CONCERT.
  2. CONCERTS can play what they want.
  3. Who would go to a Christmas concert in January?šŸ˜¦
It is not a mass.
 
Catholic90 said:
  1. Who would go to a Christmas concert in January?šŸ˜¦
It is not a mass.
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I would go. I would fervently support anyone who believed in keeping Advent a holy season of anticipation, and didnā€™t shred the Christmas tree and burn the stockings on December 26th.

It isnā€™t liturgy, but liturgy governs the spirit of our lives. We donā€™t drink green beer on St. Valentineā€™s Day, and we donā€™t rejoice that ā€œChrist is risen!ā€ on All Souls Day (well, maybe we do, if itā€™s Sunday?)

[bibledrb]Ecclesiastes 3:1-11[/bibledrb]
 
TheMc said:
I think this bishop is exercising is right and duty over his flock, and I applaud him. This is an issue in todayā€™s times.
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Before the bishops start exercising governance over when people can put up Christmas trees in their homes, perhaps they should address such things as, say:

Poor Eucharistic catechesis
Falling Mass attendance
Failing Catholic schools
Failure of Catholics to adequately support their parishes
Poorly-performed / abusive liturgies
Vocation shortages
Lack of reverence at Mass
Poor quality homilies
    • to name just a few things
THEN maybe they might have a word on Christmas trees. But until then . . .
 
I join in the chorus here, Itā€™s about ā€˜Christmas Concerts during Adventā€™.

In the entire English speaking world the custom is that we have Christmas Music in concerts, say from about mid December to Christmas Eve/Day. Schools, Colleges, Music groups, Municipal councils, churches, all hold their Christmas concerts and pagents during this time. Thatā€™s how it goes in this country anyway. Again, I am not talking about liturgical events.

No-one I have heard of has held a Christmas music concert after Christmas Day/Boxing Day.

Iā€™ve been active in music since I was about 13 and for all the concerts Iā€™ve been in we would start practising from about mid November. Iā€™ve already started singing religious Christmas carols on Sunday hymn hour for a nursing home I work at so as to prepare the residents (dementia ward) for Christmas.

I deeply respect Advent and mark it in my life each day and especially on Sundays but for secular concerts I have no qualms about singing Christmas carols.
 
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