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Christmas is the time of 'Lessons and Carols' -  lessons coming from the Biblical tradition and carols first intoduced by St. Francis of Assisi in the 13th century, becoming popular throughout Europe in the 15th century. The male vocal ensemble, Cantus joined with Theater LatteDa of Minneapolis Friday night at Yardley Hall to teach a lesson of a different sort with carols from all over Europe.

The program was divided into two parts.  The opening, Carols for Male Voices, was arranged by, then WWI soldier, Ralph Vaughn Williams.  They are a popular set among men's choruses and gave the singers a chance to introduce their gorgeous sound, blend and individuality through solos to the audience.

The second part, All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914, was like a radio drama where the voices of actors spoke powerful first person accounts of the experience while the voices of Cantus provided a musical context.   Researched and written by Peter Rothstein, 29 different people were cited for the text.  Their letters and diary entries provided the compelling narrative.  From Winston Churchill to Private W.T. Colyer of the Artists' Rifles Brigade, a broad perspective of the truce was told.

The actors were remarkable.  John Catron's ability to affect the regional accents of soldiers from Ireland, Scotland, Wales and even the different London dialects, from cockney to hackney, was spot on.  Alan Sorensen played the pompous, self-important generals and commanders to perfection and David Roberts presented fathers, sons, brothers and friends with a heartfelt poignancy.

The men of Cantus had their role to play as well.  Caroling in the trenches of both the German and the British was common.  According to the play, they engaged in loud singing to annoy the enemy.  Cantus sang with the gusto of a raucous fraternity.  It is doubtful, though,  that the blokes in the trenches sounded as good.

Intoning a single bagpipe-like drone, the basses and baritones laid a solid foundation for tenor, Shahzore Shah to sing the lilting melody of Will Ye Go to Flanders? A quintet of voices then joined in with a horn-pipe chord, ascending and descending in time in this innovative arrangement by Erick Lichte.  Mr. Lichte along with Timothe C. Takatch arranged roughly 28 different carols that functioned like an extended medley for the program. 

The entire performance was memorized, so no annoying books were being bobbled around, allowing the singers and actors to communicate completely with the audience.  It is rare to hear professional vocal ensembles "off of their music" these days and this reviewer was thrilled.

The section called Christmas set up a quiet, lonely, starry night.  The men were allowed a little rum, they missed their loved ones, and singing ensued.  Then one German soldier crawled out of the trench and sang, Stille Nacht, alone, in No Man's Land.   No one shot or sniped.  An Englishman joined him and then both sides put down their weapons and sang together in a dramatic act of peace and Christian love.
They exchanged tokens, shared whisky and rum, signed to each other, laughed, buried each other's dead and even played soccer.  Then, they were ordered back to the trench, and the killing resumed.  A war they all thought would be over by Christmas senselessly lasted another four years.

The soldiers had all been materially changed by that night and hearing Cantus, along with Catron, Sorensen and Roberts, retell the legendary tale, we were all transformed.  Traditional Lessons and Carols teach us about peace through the Christmas story.  Cantus' All is Calm, taught us about the courage to have peace, if only for a night, through the historical accounts of soldiers in World War I.  My hope is that Cantus will return next year, at the World War I Memorial auditorium so that audiences can see the artifacts after hearing their program.

If you missed this performance, KPR FM 90.5 will rebroadcast it on Wednesday December 16^th at 7:00 p.m. In addition, The World War I Museum will be offering a free showing of the movie Joyeux Noel (2005) about the Christmas Truce of 1914 on December 26 at 1 p.m. in the J.C. Nichols Auditorium.  For more information go to their website at www.theworldwar.org.

REVIEW:
Cantus
All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914
Friday December 11, 2009
Yardley Hall at Carlsen Center
12345 College Blvd., Overland Park, KS
www.jccc.edu/TheSeries

Cover photo by Rick Spaulding

By Megan Browne Helm

Classical, Vocal and Theatre Contributor

Megan Browne Helm grew up singing, dancing and acting.  Inspired by Emma Kirkby as a high school student in St. Louis she went on to study voice and sing with the Collegium Musicum at the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio where she also had a radio show of contemporary classical music on WOBC.  At the University of Kansas she had the pleasure of working with former Kings’ Singer, Simon Carrington in his Collegium Musicum and Oread consort. Years later, she was a choral fellow at the Yale School of Music’s  Norfolk Chamber Music Festival.  She is currently singing with the Kansas City Symphony Chorus under the direction of Charles Bruffy. 

 As a freelance music and culture writer her work can be found on KCMetropolis.org, presentmagazine.com, the Lawrence Journal World, Shawnee Magazine, Leawood Lifestyle Magazine and KC Parent.  She was one of 26 journalists in the country chosen as a NEA Institute Fellow for Classical Music and Opera at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. 

Her current interest is how classical music remains relevant through active collaborations with artists in different fields, including science.  She also sees a connection between classical music, travel and food as a way to engage all of the senses in a 360 degree cultural experience.  She blogs at raworganum.wordpress.com.