Saturday, Sunday concerts scheduled

The Marshall Community Chorus will present its annual Christmas performance, "The Glorious Sounds of the Season," on Saturday, Dec. 9, and Sunday, Dec. 10, at the First Baptist Church in Marshall. The Saturday evening concert begins at 7 and the Sunday matinee begins at 3. The performances will be held in the church sanctuary.

Guests for the concerts will be the Marshall High School Singers and Choraliers. The choirs will perform separately and unite for several selections at the conclusion of the concert. The choirs will draw on the different traditions of various cultures spanning almost 700 years of Christmas music.

Among the selections to be performed are traditional Christmas standards such as "O Come All Ye Faithful," "The First Nowell" and "Silent Night." Newer selections include the lively "Wintertime Cheer" by American composer Jay Althouse and "Rejoice and Be Merry" by British composer John Rutter.

The choirs will also present some historically significant music on this concert.

Reaching back to the 14th century, one of the selections, "Personent Hodie," tells the Christmas story in Latin, from Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem to the arrival of the three kings and their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

From 15th Century England comes the "Coventry Carol." A tradition at Christmas Eve services in England for hundreds of years, no one is sure of the composer of this lovely, bitter-sweet carol. It takes its name from the area of England where the carol became popular.

From the 16th century comes the traditional English carol "The First Nowell" and from the late 1700's comes another English carol, "Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day." The arrangement of the "The First Nowell" that the Community Choir will perform was done by Mack Wilberg for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and is becoming a standard in holiday choral literature.

The choirs will combine for the closing of the concert which will feature a medley of songs including "Ding-Dong Merrily on High," "I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day" and "Carol of the Bells." That concert will conclude with George Friedrich Handel's Hallelujah Chorus from the oratorio "The Messiah."

The Marshall Community Choir Concerts are always free and open to the public. There is plenty of seating in the church sanctuary.

The choirs are under the direction of Ron Sayer and accompanied by Julie Lewis.