By Emily Tartanella

It’s that time of year. Festive, as it’s commonly considered. Frankly, between two papers, two oral exams, and one graphic novel to write, I’m not really feeling jolly. The closest I’ve come to Christmas is pulling a Santa and inhaling an entire box of cookies–with milk. The only thing under my mistletoe is an Italian textbook. I could keep going, but you get the picture.

But tonight’s musical presentation by the Chamber Singers of Haverford & Bryn Mawr Colleges was anything but trite or expected. With a remarkable performance of David Lang’s Pulitzer Prize-winning the little match girl passion, tonight’s event was a serious, moving, and often beautiful tribute to the power of the human spirit and the tragedy of human loss. All when the winter night is at its longest.

A fifteen-song suite that retells Hans Christian Andersen’s tragic fable of a young girl’s death, the little match girl passion is haunting and ephemeral, rife with moody and chilling lyricism and lush with sensuous harmonies. While its basic structure occasionally slips into (or rather deliberately encourages) a series of repetitive structures (namely one long, verbally-straightforward song followed by a plot-driven, lyrical number), the overall effect was anything but disappointing.

With softer, subtle numbers like opener “Come, daughter” and “Dearest Heart” contrasted with wordier pieces like “It Was Terribly Cold,” the little match girl passion is a true musical experience, and the choir performed it with remarkable acuity and dramatic integrity. “Have Mercy, My God,” a seemingly straightforward number towards the performance’s end, was truly chilling, featuring standout performances by the group’s sopranos, who took the song’s plaintive plea and elevated it to high tragedy. Haunting, ephemeral, and full of delicate longing, it was the show’s standout piece, and its melancholy beauty only meant that it lingered long after the series had ended.

Yet tonight was not solely a performance of the little match girl passion. Following that piece, the choir performed five traditional carols, including beloved favorites such as "Angels We Have Heard on High" and the classic "Silent Night." While "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear", "Angels We Have Heard on High", and "Silent Night" were all sing-alongs that encouraged the audience to join in, the true moments of precise beauty came from the choir’s straightforward interpretations of these traditional classics. They collectively call back to something we probably never possessed, a sense of faith and tradition so deeply embedded that the words expressing it become unnecessary.

It’s a poignant reminder that, in a time most often expressed with neon signs and expensive gifts, there are some things that can still ground us. And I’m not just talking about religious faith, though that’s where the sentiments behind these songs come from. I left this concert tonight thinking about something more, about our families and our histories, our collective, un-rooted past that brought us to Founders Hall on a freezing night, to hear stories and songs that have been told and re-told for centuries. It’s not simple, it’s not even explicable, but then again, that’s what the music is for.
 

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