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Juletide take center stage across the country

Date 12/2/1999 12:00 AM | Topic: News

All around the country, trees are being cut down, lights are going up, and people are getting ready for Christmas. Here at Luther, we're getting ready for Juletide.

People make pilgrimages from far and wide and flock in great numbers to Luther College in early December simply for the sake of witnessing the spectacle of Juletide. Obtaining tickets is suspiciously like playing the lottery, but perhaps with worse odds.

Tara Henderson ('00) co-chair of Cantorei, a four year old women's choir, commented on why Juletide tickets are so hard to get.

"It's a wonderful experience. It's like no other Christmas concert you can go to," Henderson said.

There are 700 people involved in the concert.

Eli Larson ('00) agreed with this analysis, saying, "The power of all the Luther choirs singing at once is outstanding. I think that so many good choirs in one place singing so many powerful and emotional songs about Christmas is a big draw."

Theme

This year's Juletide theme is "Glory to the Newborn King." Seven Luther choirs and the Chamber Orchestra are involved in the massive Christmas concerts. The selections include traditional, sacred Christmas selections as well as some new, lesser-known literature. The songs range from "Lift up Your Heads" by Handel to John Rutter's "O Holy Night" and Mack Wilberg's "Angels We Have Heard on High."

Several old favorites are being sung this year, including the processional "Personent Hodie" by Lara Hoggard.

Juletide performances are Thursday night at 5:30 p.m. for the Decorah and Luther community, Friday night at 7:00 and 9:15, and Sunday afternoon at 2:00. All performances are in the CFL.

This is the first year that a selection from Messiah will be sung at the Juletide concerts. Pike Kor director Sandra Peter is excited about the addition.

"It's one more thing we can share about Luther," Peter says.

TV Preparation

Every year brings joy to those who experience Juletide, but this year is even more special due to Iowa Public Television broadcasting the event.

Initial conversations about possibilities of broadcasting Juletide started eighteen months ago, and the actual planning started the day after Juletide ended last year. Pioneer Seed Company is underwriting the production cost.

Broadcasts of Juletide are December 16 and 22 at 8 p.m. and December 23 at 12:30 p.m. on Iowa Public Television. Juletide was broadcast ed once in 1995.

Organizing this year's performance has been even more time-comsuming because all performances on Thursday and Friday will be taped by IPT. This means people across the country will be able to view Juletide this year. The last time Juletidewas taped for television was 1995, but it didn't appear nationally until 1996.

Nordic choir member Kadee Crottier ('01) had a few things to say about the impact of the taping. "They are really overdoing Juletide this year because it's being televised," she commented.

They are constructing an elaborate backdrop and throwing in some choreography which is not in the traditional style of Juletide. "It will be more elaborate than it has been in the past," she said, but she knows people would not be as interested in watching it on television if people are only standing and singing with no visual stimulation.

Cooper also commented on the way the television broadcast will affect the performance. "There's even more pressure this year. We have extra rehearsals," she said. It seems to be a big promotional tool for Luther, and the intent is to reach out to prospective students. Cooper also said some of the songs in this year's program are repeats from other years that have received the best feedback because the show is being taped.

Brian Lensch ('00), a third year member of Nordic Choir, has expressed concern over the implications of this broadcast.

"We even have choreographed moves this year for TV," he said with some degree of disgust.

"This isn't high school show choir," he added. Lensch showed further concern, saying, "They will probably be really strict on things like not touching your face and not looking really stupid in case the camera is on you. It might be even more tense because it's being videotaped because they'll want everything just so."

Changes

Despite the high publicity, not much will be different about this year's Juletide. The music and audience participation will be at the same high level of other years.

The main differences in this year's Juletide are the visual effects. The choirs will process in while singing, and the performances will be more choreographed than in the past. There is a new backdrop and other accent pieces to give the CFL color and artistic enhancement. The backdrop was designed by IPTV's artistic theater designer Bob Sundermann and was painted and completed by Sundermann, his assistants, and various Luther students.

The other difference in this year's Juletide is the rehearsal schedule. The rehearsal schedule for the week before performance weekend is also affected by the presence of television crews. On Wednesday, the crew will set up in the CFL, and everyone involved will do a run through for technical purposes. Usually, Wednesday night is the mass Messiah rehearsal, but because of Iowa Public Television, Messiah was bumped back to Tuesday. Thursday is normally the dress rehearsal, but this year is considered a true performance, said Sandra Peter.

History

Juletide has been an annual favorite with the public and the people of Luther for many years "People in the Midwest love to share in the Lutheran college tradition," director Tim Peter says. "The St. Olaf choir, the Concordia-Moorhead Christmas concert, and Juletide."

However, Juletide is a different celebration than any other school's Christmas concert. There are a large number of students involved-more than any traditional Christmas concert. The CFL main hall lends itself to movement, unlike other performance spaces. Also, the CFL has an organ and superior acoustics. Most other performances of this type are done in a gym, where the acoustics are poor and there is no accessible accompaniment.

There have been Christmas concerts on Messiah weekend since 1981, but Juletide as we know it started just over a decade ago. At first it was just one concert, but as time went on the number of concerts and participants grew until it became the Juletide that we have now. Given how short a time Juletide has been around, the popularity is astonishing. Visitors are coming from places as varied as New Orleans, Holland, France, and India in hopes of getting tickets. Among the reasons people give for coming to Juletide are seeing all the participants and listening to the high caliber of literature and performance at Luther.

Juletide started as a Christmas choir concert with elements of the current Juletide in the early 1980s. There is no clear cut date that can be nailed down as the first time Juletide was performed. "Juletide as we know it is only about 10 years old," Tim Peter commented.

According to the December 7, 1989 edition of Chips, the Juletide tradition began in 1983 with three Luther choirs singing the week after the Messiah performances. It was in 1989 that President Anderson decided the high demand for Juletide tickets warranted an additional show. The initial reaction among students was in disbelief that they would be required to stand on their feet for that many hours.

"It's great to help the first-year students be a part of their first Juletide," Sandra Peter says.

"It's the most wonderful time of the year," says Weston Noble, "and in so many ways it is. It's a blessing to give and to receive."

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Kendra Korte and Cristin Grant
Chips Staff Writers

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