Noel (Joan Baez album)
Encyclopedia
Noël was a Christmas
album by Joan Baez
, released in 1966. Working with composer Peter Schickele
(PDQ Bach), Baez, for the first time, recorded an album outside the standard guitar-based folk format. (She would go on to work with Schickele on her next two albums, both of which also featured classical orchestration.) Unlike holiday albums by many other popular artists, Baez included mostly traditional material, avoiding more lighthearted or commercial fare in favor of a somber, understated tone. She included both familiar ("The Little Drummer Boy") and more obscure ("Down in Yon Forrest") material.
A 2001 CD reissue of the album included the following bonus tracks:
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
album by Joan Baez
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
, released in 1966. Working with composer Peter Schickele
Peter Schickele
Johann Peter Schickele is an American composer, musical educator, and parodist. He is best known for his comedy music albums featuring his music that he presents as music written by the fictional composer P. D. Q...
(PDQ Bach), Baez, for the first time, recorded an album outside the standard guitar-based folk format. (She would go on to work with Schickele on her next two albums, both of which also featured classical orchestration.) Unlike holiday albums by many other popular artists, Baez included mostly traditional material, avoiding more lighthearted or commercial fare in favor of a somber, understated tone. She included both familiar ("The Little Drummer Boy") and more obscure ("Down in Yon Forrest") material.
Track listing
- "O come, O come, EmmanuelO come, O come, EmmanuelO come, O come, Emmanuel is a translation of the Latin text by John Mason Neale and Henry Sloane Coffin in the mid-19th century. It is a metrical version of a collation of various Advent Antiphons , which now serves as a popular Advent hymn...
" (traditional) - "Coventry CarolCoventry CarolThe "Coventry Carol" is a Christmas carol dating from the 16th century. The carol was performed in Coventry in England as part of a mystery play called The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors. The play depicts the Christmas story from chapter two in the Gospel of Matthew...
" (traditional) - "Good King WenceslasGood King Wenceslas"Good King Wenceslas" is a popular Christmas carol about a king who goes out to give alms to a poor peasant on the Feast of Stephen . During the journey, his page is about to give up the struggle against the cold weather, but is enabled to continue by following the king's footprints, step for step,...
" (traditional) - "The Little Drummer BoyLittle Drummer Boy"The Little Drummer Boy," originally known as "Carol of the Drum," is a popular Christmas song written by the American classical music composer/teacher Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941. It was recorded 1955 by the Trapp Family Singers and further popularized by a 1958 recording by the Harry...
" (K. Davis, H. Onorati, H. Simeone) - "I Wonder As I WanderI Wonder As I Wander"I Wonder as I Wander" is a Christmas carol written by John Jacob Niles. The carol has its origins in a song fragment collected on July 16, 1933 by folklorist and singer John Jacob Niles....
" (traditional) - "Bring a Torch, Jeanette, IsabellaBring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella"Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabelle" is a Christmas carol which originated from the Provence region of France in the 16th century. The song is usually notated in 3/8 time....
" - "Down in Yon Forrest" (traditional)
- "The Carol of the Birds" (traditional)
- "Angels We Have Heard on HighAngels We Have Heard on High"Angels We Have Heard on High" is a Christmas carol. The song commemorates the story of the birth of Jesus Christ found in the Gospel of Luke, in which shepherds outside Bethlehem encounter a multitude of angels singing and praising the newborn child....
" (traditional) - "Ave MariaEllens dritter GesangEllens dritter Gesang , in English: "Ellen's Third Song", was composed by Franz Schubert in 1825 as part of his Opus 52, a setting of seven songs from Walter Scott's popular epic poem The Lady of the Lake, loosely translated into German.It has become one of Schubert's most popular works under the...
" (Franz SchubertFranz SchubertFranz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
) - sung in GermanGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union.... - "Mary's Wandering" (traditional)
- "Deck the Halls" (traditional)
- "Away in a MangerAway in a Manger"Away in a Manger" is a Christmas carol first published in 1885 in Philadelphia and used widely throughout the English-speaking world. In Britain it is one of the most popular carols, a 1996 Gallup Poll ranking it joint second.-History of the lyrics:...
" (J. Murray) - "Adeste Fideles (O Come, all ye Faithful)Adeste Fideles"Adeste Fideles" is a hymn tune attributed to English hymnist John Francis Wade . The text itself has unclear beginnings, and may have been written in the 13th century by John of Reading, though it has been concluded that Wade was probably the author.The original four verses of the hymn were...
" (traditional) - "Cantique de Noël (O Holy Night)O Holy Night"O Holy Night" is a well-known Christmas carol composed by Adolphe Adam in 1847 to the French poem "Minuit, chrétiens" by Placide Cappeau , a wine merchant and poet, who had been asked by a parish priest to write a Christmas poem...
" (A. Adam) - "What Child Is This" (traditional)
- "Silent NightSilent Night"Silent Night" is a popular Christmas carol. The original lyrics of the song "Stille Nacht" were written in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria, by the priest Father Joseph Mohr and the melody was composed by the Austrian headmaster Franz Xaver Gruber...
" (F. Gruber)
A 2001 CD reissue of the album included the following bonus tracks:
- "The First NoelThe First NoëlThe First Nowell is a traditional classical English carol, most likely from the 18th century, although possibly earlier...
" (traditional) - "We Three KingsWe Three Kings"We Three Kings", also known as "We Three Kings of Orient Are" or "The Quest of the Magi", is a Christmas carol written by the Reverend John Henry Hopkins, Jr., who wrote both the lyrics and the music. It is suggested to have been written in 1857 but did not appear in print until his Carols, Hymns...
" (traditional) - "Virgin Mary" (traditional)
- "Good Christian KingsIn Dulci JubiloIn dulci jubilo is a traditional Christmas carol. In its original setting, the carol is a macaronic text of German and Latin dating from the Middle Ages. Subsequent translations into English, such as J.M...
" (traditional) - "Burgundian Carol" (traditional)
- "Away in a MangerAway in a Manger"Away in a Manger" is a Christmas carol first published in 1885 in Philadelphia and used widely throughout the English-speaking world. In Britain it is one of the most popular carols, a 1996 Gallup Poll ranking it joint second.-History of the lyrics:...
" (J. Murray) - alternate version sung in French