Piano,Viola - Level 2 - Digital Download SKU: A0.548681 Composed by Adam. Arranged by James M. Guthrie, ASCAP. Christian,Christmas. Score and part. 10 pages. Jmsgu3 #3410447. Published by jmsgu3 (A0.548681). Duration: 4:56. Score 5 pg. 44 ms. Solo part: 2 pg. Piano part: 3 pg.Cantique de Noël The French composer Adolphe Adam was already famous as a composer of many successful ballets and operas. Then, in the 1840’s he wrote his most famous work - O Holy Night. The original song title was Minuit Chretiens or Cantique de Noël.  Placide Cappeau provided the original song lyrics. The song was first performed in Roquemaure by the opera singer Emily Laurey at midnight mass in 1847. It became very popular among the French, much the way that Silent Night was famous elsewhere. In the 1850’s John S. Dwight, a Unitarian minister and music teacher translated the song into English.   Adolphe Adam In his younger years, Adam studied organ and composition at the Paris Conservatoire. He also played the timpani in the Conservatoire orchestra. Adam used his savings and borrowed money to open a new opera house - the fourth opera house in Paris in 1847. Unfortunately, the Revolution of 1848 forced him to close. He taught composition at the Paris Conservatoire from 1849 until his death in 1856. Placide Cappeau The poet Cappeau was an advocate of the French Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire.  Voltaire was renowned for criticizing the Catholic church, religious intolerance, and dogma in general. Consequently, Cappeau made the Redeemer figure in his song a kind of reformer of injustices, in particular, the problem of original sin. To begin with, people recognized Cappeau’s theology as eccentric, probably even doubtful. Theology In the earlier form of Minuit, the Christ figure descends to intervene with His Father’s plan to punish mankind.  Traditional doctrine pronounces that Christ came from love, not to intervene. This version also declares that Christ appeared to expunge the original sin of Adam. Cappeau removed this part from his poem years later, because he just didn’t believe it.  He preferred to portray Christ as the reformer of disparity and unfairness. Before long, the writer/politician Alphonse de Lamartine referred to the Minuit as the the Marseillaise of religion. Most French churchmen agreed with this idea but certainly did not consider it a tribute.  Register for free lifetime updates and revisions at www.jamesguthrie.com

Piano,Viola - Level 3 - Digital Download SKU: A0.549328 By Barry Manilow. By Bruce Johnston. Arranged by James M. Guthrie, ASCAP. Contemporary,Rock. Score and part. 8 pages. Jmsgu3 #3486067. Published by jmsgu3 (A0.549328). Duration: ca. 3:00, score: 5 pages, solo part: 1 page, piano part: 2 pages.Very famous song suitable for church, recital or nightclub. I Write the Songs is a popular song written by Bruce Johnston in 1975 and made famous by Barry Manilow. Manilow's version reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in January 1976[2] after spending two weeks atop the Billboard adult contemporary chart in December 1975.[3] It won a Grammy Award for Song of the Year and was nominated for Record of the Year in 1977.[3] Billboard ranked it as the No. 13 song of 1976.[4]The original version was recorded by The Captain & Tennille, who worked with Johnston in the early 1970s with The Beach Boys. It appears on their 1975 album, Love Will Keep Us Together. The first release of I Write the Songs as a single was by then teen-idol David Cassidy from his 1975 solo album The Higher They Climb, which was also produced by Bruce Johnston. Cassidy's version reached #11 on the UK Singles Chart in August of that year.[5]Johnston has stated that, for him, the I in the song is God,[2] and that songs come from the spirit of creativity in all of us. He has said that the song is not about his Beach Boys bandmate Brian Wilson.[6]Manilow was initially reluctant to record the song, stating in his autobiography Sweet Life: The problem with the song was that if you didn't listen carefully to the lyric, you would think that the singer was singing about himself. It could be misinterpreted as a monumental ego trip.[3] After persuasion by Clive Davis, then president of Arista Records, Manilow recorded the song, and his version of I Write the Songs was the first single taken from the album Tryin' to Get the Feeling. It first charted on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 15, 1975, reaching the top of the chart nine weeks later, on January 17, 1976. Wikipedia