The Most Wonderful Time of the Year – George Wyle/John Moss

Christmas Lights – Joe Derhake

The Nightmare Before Christmas – Danny Elfman/Michael Brown

Gesu Bambino – Pietro Yon/Mark Rogers

Holiday Portraits – Sean O’Loughin

Gaudete – Brian Beck

Dreidel Dance – Robert Thurston

How the Grinch Stole Christmas – Albert Hague/Larry Clark

Conductor Ted M. Hope has served as the conductor of the Fanfare Winds and Hillsborough Community College for the past 10 year.  He was affiliated with the Hillsborough County School District for 39 years and retired as the Supervisor of Middle and Secondary Music after 19 years of service in March of 2023.  He received his Associates Degree from Hillsborough Community College, Bachelor of Music Education from Florida State University, and his Master of Music Education and Education Specialist from the University of Southern Mississippi.   He subsequently taught in the public schools for twenty years as band director at Hillsborough High School (1984-1987) and Bloomingdale High School (1987-2004).  He is a member of the Florida Bandmasters Association where he served as chairman and secretary. Mr. Hope’s professional affiliations include Music Educators National Conference, Hillsborough County Secondary Music Council, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the Bay Area Saxophone Quartet and the Hillsborough Association of School Administrators . Mr. Hope is an active clinician and adjudicator in concert band, jazz ensemble, and marching band.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year (Words and Music by Eddie Pola and George Wyle, arr. by John Moss)

This is a popular Christmas song written in triple time in 1963 by Eddie Pola and George Wyle. It was recorded and released that year by pop singer Andy Williams for his first Christmas album, The Andy Williams Christmas Album. However, the song was not released as a promotional single by Williams’ record label (Columbia Records) that year, as they instead opted to promote his cover of “White Christmas” as the official promo single from the album. Thirty-four years later, the song peaked number 21 on the UK Singles Chart in 2007.

A well-known celebration and description of activities associated with the Christmas season, the song focuses primarily on get-togethers between friends and families. Among the activities included in the song is the telling of “scary ghost stories,” an outdated Victorian Christmas tradition that survives in the seasonal popularity of numerous adaptations of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

An enduring favorite, the song was selected as the theme song for Christmas Seals in 1968, 1976, 2009 and 2012 and has been recorded numerous times by other artists including Johnny Mathis, Garth Brooks, Andy Williams, Harry Connick, Jr., and BarlowGirl as well as parodies in advertising and films. It has appeared in Weekly Charts throughout the world, including within the top 10 songs in countries such as Latvia, Slovakia, Hungary, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Canada and Greece. (Wikipedia)

Christmas Lights – Holiday Gems from the Vinyl Age (Joe Derhake)

Take a ride back to a time when many of our most beloved Christmas pop tunes were born and the vinyl record was in its prime! This medley gives a friendly nod to the sounds of those classic recordings, including:

Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree: a now wildly popular Christmas song written by Johnny Marks (Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer, Holly Jolly Christmas) and recorded by Brenda Lee in 1958; also apears as background music in the 1964 TV Special “Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer”

Dominick the Donkey: is a Christmas song written by Ray Allen, Sam Saltzberg and Wandra Merrell, and was recorded by Lou Monte in 1960, on Roulette Records. The song describes a donkey who helps Santa Claus bring presents (“made in Brooklyn”) to children in Italy “because the reindeer cannot climb” Italy’s hills.

I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus: is a Christmas song with music and lyrics by British songwriter Tommie Connor and first recorded by Jimmy Boyd at the age of 13 in 1952. The song has since been covered by many artists, with The Ronettes version from 1963 being one of the most famous cover versions.
The song describes a scene where a child walks downstairs from his bedroom on Christmas Eve to see the mother kissing “Santa Claus” under the mistletoe. The lyric concludes with the child wondering how his father will react on hearing of the kiss, unaware of the implication that Santa Claus is merely his father in a costume.

Boyd’s record was condemned by the Roman Catholic Church in Boston when it was released on the grounds that it mixed kissing with Christmas. Boyd was photographed meeting with the Archdiocese to explain the song. After the meeting, the ban was lifted.

Mele Kalikimaka: Hawaiian-themed Christmas song written in 1949 by Robert Alex Anderson. The song takes its title from the Hawaiian phrase, “Mele Kalikimaka,” meaning “Merry Christmas”. The phrase is borrowed directly from English but since Hawaiian has a different phonological system – Hawaiian does not have the /r/ or /s/ of English and its phonotactic constraints do not permit consonants at the end of syllables or consonant clusters – “Merry Christmas” becomes “Mele Kalikimaka”. 

The Nightmare Before Christmas (Danny Elfman/Michael Brown)

From the master of the dark and unusual, Tim Burton, the classic movie The Nightmare Before Christmas features deliciously sinister music by composer Danny Elfman. “Halloween Town” is a dream world filled with citizens such as deformed monsters, ghosts, ghouls, goblins, vampires, werewolves, and witches. Jack Skellington (“The Pumpkin King”) leads them in a frightful celebration every Halloween, but he has grown tired of the same routine year after year. Wandering in the forest outside the town center, he accidentally opens a portal to “Christmas Town.” Impressed by the feeling and style of Christmas, Jack presents his findings and his (somewhat limited) understanding of the holiday to the Halloween Town residents. They fail to grasp his meaning and compared everything he says to their idea of Halloween. He reluctantly decides to play along and announces that they will take over Christmas.

Jack’s obsession with Christmas leads him to usurp the role of Santa Claus. Every resident is assigned a task, which Sally, a rag doll woman who is created by the town’s mad scientist, begins to feel a romantic attraction towards Jack. However, she alone fears that his plans will become disastrous. Jack assigns Lock, Shock, and Barrel, a trio of mischievous children, to abduct Santa and bring him to Halloween Town. Against Jack’s wishes and largely for their amusement, the trio deliver Santa to Oogie Boogie, a gambling-addict bogeyman who plots to play a game with Santa’s life as the stake.

Christmas Eve arrives and Sally attempts to stop Jack, but he embarks into the sky on a coffin-like sleigh pulled by skeletal reindeer, guided by the glowing nose of his ghost dog Zero. He begins to deliver presents to children around the world, but the gits (shrunken heads, Christmas tree-eating snakes, etc.) only terrify the recipients. Jack is believed to be an imposter attempting to imitate Santa, and the military goes on alert to blast him out of the sky. The sleigh is shot down and he is presumed dead by Halloween Town’s citizens, but in fact he has survived the crash. Although he is depressed by the failure of his plans, he quickly regains his old spirit, having come up with new ideas for next Halloween. He then rushes back home to rescue Santa and put things right.

Meanwhile, Sally attempts to free Santa but is captured by Oogie. Jack slips into the lair and frees them, then confronts Oogie and unravels his outer covering to spill out all the bugs that live inside him. With Oogie gone, Santa reprimands Jack before setting off to deliver the right presents to the world’s children. He makes snow fall over Halloween Town to show that there are no hard feelings between himself and Jack; the townspeople are confused by the snow at first, but soon begin to play happily in it. Jack reveals that he is attracted to Sally just as she is to him, and they embrace under the full moon in the cemetery. (Wikipedia)

Gesu Bambino (Pietro Yon/Mark Rogers)

Gesù Bambino is an Italian Christmas carol composed by Pietro Yon in 1917. The melody and lyrics of the chorus are derived from the chorus of “Adeste Fideles” (O Come All Ye Faithful). Pietro Alessandro Yon (1886 -1943) was an Italian-born organist who graduated with honors at Rome’s Accademia di Santa Cecilia, provided a command performance before the King of Italy, and enjoyed an appointment as deputy organist of the Vatican—all before he was twenty-one, after which he made his career in the United States.

Yon was brought to America in 1907 as organist-choirmaster at the church of St. Francis Xavier and quickly became a major force in New York’s, and even the nation’s, musical life. His choir became known for its lush singing and attractive programming; he maintained a busy concert schedule, crisscrossing the United States as a recitalist; and in the meantime he composed. His music made it to St. Patrick’s Cathedral before he did, as early as 1910, immediately earning a place in the Cathedral’s permanent repertoire. By the 1920s, Yon had become a genuine media star: the first-ever Titular Organist of the Vatican, organist at Enrico Caruso’s funeral, conductor of his own music on the brand-new CBS and NBC radio networks, designer of Carnegie Hall’s organ . . . and of course, the man who wrote the evergreen Christmas classic “Gesù Bambino.” It was probably inevitable that he would be asked to join the St. Patrick’s music department. In 1927, he became assistant to his old friend, music director James Ungerer. With Ungerer’s retirement in 1929, Yon took the helm.

Under his direction, music at St. Patrick’s entered a glory time. Yon and his high-octane Male Soloist Ensemble became famous at Sunday Masses, special services, outside concerts, national and international broadcasts. When the Cathedral’s organ was dedicated in 1930, the event drew 12,000 people and caused a near-riot on Fifth Avenue. Yon was profiled in Time and The New Yorker, and his musicians were enough of a draw that they were featured as headliners at the 1939 World’s Fair. Through it all he continued to write, a total of over 70 Mass settings and major works, including the oratorio The Triumph of St. Patrick which premiered at Carnegie Hall. His amazing output continued until he died from a stroke in 1943.

As a composer Yon was also famous for his Humoresque “L’organo primitivo “- Toccatina for Flute, for organ, and his Christmas piece Gesu bambino.

The music historian Salvatore Basile notes: “The song would achieve the near-impossible feat of surviving in the standard holiday repertoire, with important performances, innumerable recordings, and every kind of vocal and instrumental arrangement.” Basile also noted that no matter how busy he might be, Yon always had time for his other love—practical jokes. Neighbors found plastic dog droppings in the elevator; priests were served soup with dribble spoons; even his prospective daughter-in-law, at their first meeting, found a whoopee cushion on her chair. As it turned out, she loved the joke (and married into the family anyhow).

Holiday Portraits (Sean O’Loughin)

Holiday Portraits is a contemporary arrangement of classic Christmas carols. You will hear a potpourri of festive tunes, such as Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Deck the Halls, Good King Wenceslas and O Come All Ye Faithful cleverly woven together with snippets of symphonic music favorites.

The composer says, “With this setting, I imagined several carols weaving in and out of each other to create a fantasy of sounds and melodies. Throughout this journey, I sprinkle in treatments of these carols in the style of some of my most beloved classical composers. Try to spot the tributes to Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Gershwin, Bartók and even Bernstein along the way. The bright and flashy opening is a collection of phrases from O Christmas Tree and O Come All Ye Faithful. Splashes of woodwind and brass colors build up to a treatment of Angels We Have Heard on High. A jovial setting of Deck the Halls follows with a featured duet of piccolo and tuba. After some whirlish woodwinds, the music moves towards a rhythmic setting of Good King Wenceslas. A small dose of Joy to the World transitions the piece into a heroic setting of O Come All Ye Faithful to bring the piece full circle. The joyous opening material returns as a natural ending to a fantastic holiday journey.”

Gaudete (16th Century Carol) (arr. Brian Beck)

Gaudete (“Rejoice Ye”) is a sacred Christmas carol, thought to have been composed in the 16th century. It was published in Piae Cantiones, a collection of Finnish/Swedish sacred songs published in 1582. No music is given for the verses, but the standard tune comes from older liturgical books.

In one 1970’s recording by a British folk group, it was one of only three top 50 British hits to be sung fully in Latin as well as one of only a handful of a cappella performances to become hit singles. It has been recorded by many other artists, some secular, others not, as recently as 2018.

Gaudete Sunday is the third Sunday of Advent, falling on December 12 this year. Known as the Sunday of Joy or “Rose Sunday” reflecting the color of the vestments. Despite the otherwise somber readings of the season of Advent, which has as a secondary theme the need for penitence, the readings on the third Sunday emphasize the joyous anticipation of the Lord’s coming.

The theologian Henri Nouwen described the difference between joy and happiness. While happiness is dependent on external conditions, joy is “the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved and that nothing – sickness, failure, emotional distress, oppression, war, or even death – can take that love away.” Thus joy can be present even in the midst of sadness. (Wikipedia)

Dreidel Dance (Robert Thurston)

Dreidel Dance is a lighthearted theme-and-variations mashup of The Dreidel Song and Hava Nagila. Both of these highly spirited tunes are run through a musically stylistic funhouse, culminating in a breathtaking flurry of high-speed energy in flying technical passages and a whirlwind presentation.

The Dreidel Song is a children’s Chanukah song in the English-speaking world which also exists in a Yiddish version called “lkh Bin A Kleyner Dreydl” (I am a little dreidel). The song is about making a dreidel and playing with it. A dreidel is a spinning top with four sides, each marked with a different Hebrew letter (nun, gimel, hay, and shin). The custom of playing dreidel on Hanukkah is based on a legend that, during the time of the Maccabees when Jewish children were forbidden from studying Torah, they would defy the decree and study anyway. When a Greek official would come close they would put away their books and take out spinning tops, claiming they were just playing games.

The lyricist for the English version is Samuel S. Grossman and the composer of the English version is listed as Samuel E. Goldfarb. The Yiddish version was both written and composed by Mikhl Gelbart, but he listed the author as Ben Arn, a pseudonym referring to himself as the son of Aaron. There is a question about who composed this music, as the melody for both the Yiddish and the English versions is precisely the same. The meaning of the lyrics to both versions is also largely the same. However, in English the singer sings about a dreidel, whereas in the Kafkaesque original Judeo-German version, the singer is the four-sided spinning top made out of ‘blay’, which is lead. The original version would be more historically accurate, since the clay supposedly composing the top in the English version is not easily spun.

The letters on the dreidel are the first letters in a Hebrew phrase that means “A Great Miracle Happened There” (“There” being the land of Israel). In Israel, the letter peh (for the Hebrew word “po,” meaning “here”) replaces the letter shin to spell out “A Great Miracle Happened Here.”

To play dreidel, each player begins with an equal number of game pieces, such as coins, candies, nuts, etc. At the beginning of each round, every player puts one game piece into the center “pot.” Players then take turns spinning the dreidel. When the top lands on nun, the player gets nothing; on gimel. the player gets the entire contents of the pot; hey, the player gets half of the pot; and shin, the player must put a piece (or coin) into the pot.

Hava Nagila (“Let us rejoice”) is an Israeli folk song traditionally sung at Jewish celebrations. It is perhaps the first modern Israeli folk song in the Hebrew language that has become a staple of band performers at Jewish weddings and bar/bat mitzvah celebrations. The melody is based on a Hassidic Nigun and was composed in 1915 in Ottoman Palestine, when Hebrew was being revived as a spoken language for the first time in almost 2,000 years (since the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE). For the first time, Jews were being encouraged to speak Hebrew as a common language, instead of Yiddish, Arabic, Ladino, or other regional Jewish languages.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas: A Medley Featuring Welcome Christmas and You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch (Lyrics by Dr. Seuss, Music by Albert Hague and Eugene Poddany, arr. by Larry Clark)

All the most popular tunes from Dr. Seuss’ infamous special. How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is a children’s story by Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel written in rhymed verse with illustrations by the author. It follows the Grinch, a grouchy, solitary creature who attempts to put an end to Christmas by stealing Christmas-themed items from the homes of the nearby town Whoville on Christmas Eve.

The story was published as a book by Random House in 1957, and at approximately the same time in an issue of Redbook. The book criticizes the commercialization of Christmas. Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association named it one of its “Teachers’ Top 100 Books for Children”. In 2012, it was ranked number 61 among the “Top 100 Picture Books” in a survey published by School Library Journal – the fourth of five Dr. Seuss books on the list. The book has been adapted as a 1966 animated TV film starring Boris Karloff, a 2000 live-action feature film starring Jim Carrey, and a 2018 3D computer-animated film adaptation starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

Albert Hague (born Albert Marcuse, (October 13, 1920 – November 12. 2001) was a German-American songwriter, composer, and actor. Hague was born to a Jewish family in Berlin, Germany. His father, Harry Marcuse, was a psychiatrist and a musical prodigy, and his mother, Minu (nee Heller), a chess champion. His family considered their Jewish heritage a liability and raised him as a Lutheran although he would later embrace his Jewish heritage after coming to the United States). Shortly before he was to be inducted into the Hitler Youth, he and his mother fled to Rome. Hague came to America in 1939 after his sister, who lived in Ohio, got him a musical scholarship al the University of Cincinnati. However, as he did not have a legal immigration status to be in the country, he was adopted by an eye surgeon associated with the university. After graduating in 1942, he served in the United States Army’s special service band during World War II.

And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before! “Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store.” “Maybe Christmas … perhaps … means a little bit more!”

Fanfare Concert Winds is a “Not for Profit” Organization. That means that all donations to our organization are 100% tax deductible.

Please consider a donation to Fanfare Concert Winds to help defray the cost of music.

Our tax number is 47-49031478.

You can give a check tonight (see Dana or Ted) OR:

You can mail a check to:
Fanfare Concert Winds
9465 Forest Hills Place
Tampa, FL 33612

Thank you for attending tonight’s concert!

VISION
The Fanfare Concert Winds will contribute to the musical culture and community throughout Hillsborough County by providing quality music performance and educational experiences for the young and the young at heart.

MISSION
• To facilitate a venue for music educators, professional and community musicians and Hillsborough Community College students to come together in a professional-level ensemble.
• To supplement the music education of the Hillsborough County Public Schools and Hillsborough Community College through clinics, side-by-side concerts, festivals and scholarships.
• To expose our members and audiences to quality musical literature.