Star! Carl Wittrock / Arr. Anneke ten Napel

Program Notes

T.S. Eliot's poem Journey of the Magi approaches the story of the birth of Christ from an unexpected angle: it offers the reader a detailed and realistic description of the journey that the Magi had to make in order to meet and worship a newborn King, followed by a shocking account of their emotions after having witnessed the event:

this Birth was hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.

Traveling as such is a central theme in the entire story of Christmas Mary and Joseph themselves went to Bethlehem and on a more figurative level the Child itself, of course, embarks on His life's journey.

Going on a journey is the start of something new, but it is also an ending, for a traveller has to leave his old, familiar life behind. All of us go on a similar journey, literally and figuratively, and we discover new things, but we lose something too: the wiser we get, the more the child in us is lost.

Star is about the story of Christmas about the miracle of the Birth of Christ, but also about the joy of new beginnings.

Instrumentation

Choir (soprano alto tenor- bass)
Piccolo
Flute
Oboe
Bassoon
Bb Clarinet 1 - 2 - 3
Bb Bass Clarinet
Eb Alto Sax 1 - 2
BbTenor Sax
Eb Baritone Sax
Bb Trumpet 1 - 2 - 3
F Horn 1 - 2 - 3 - 4
C Trombone 1 - 2 - 3
C Baritone BC
C Bass
Timpani
Mallets
Percussion 1 - 2

Additional parts

Eb Horn 1 - 2 - 3 - 4
Bb Trombone 1 - 2 - 3 TC
Bb Trombone 1 - 2 - 3 BC
Bb Baritone TC
Bb Baritone BC
Eb Bass TC
Eb Bass BC
Bb Bass TC
Bb Bass BC