In November 2014 the German collecting society GEMA conducted a survey for its magazine Virtuos. They asked selected musicians about their childhood memories regarding Christmas. Here is Sergej Newski’s comment:

„In the Moscow of my childhood Christmas was secularized. All celebrations – including the Christmas tree, Santa Claus and presents – were transferred to New Year’s Eve. So there was no music that was connected to Christmas. At the same time European Christmas was present as an idea; and so was the art music that belonged to it. 

When we were children and teenagers, we knew Honegger’s Cantate de noel as well as Britten’s carols; and naturally, we also listened to all six cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Christmas oratorio. The Russian tradition of Christmas songs was less noticeable, even though we knew some Kolyadki (East-European carols) from the Ukrainian or North-Russian tradition, where Christmas rituals have been preserved longer. In general, however, celebrating Christmas or just listening to that kind of music in post-socialist Russia meant nothing different than being a part of European culture; even though this equitation might seem naïve today. We also all knew that Jospeh Brodsky, the best Russian poet, was writing a new Christmas poem each year in his home in New York. 

When I was 15, I bought a record (ETERNA, of course) of German Christmas songs sung by Kreuzchor Dresden – I probably would never do that in Germany. I remember that an arrangement of the Kyrie Maria durch ein Dornwald ging by Günther Raphael really got under my skin. 

Three years later, when I was already living in Dresden, I realized that the idea of Christmas often appears more romantic than the reality of Christmas in a big city. I got to learn the word “Weihnachtsstress” (Christmas stress), which has been one of my favorite top 10 words in German ever since – right next to “Versöhnungssex” (reconciliation sex) and “Christbaumständer” (Christmas tree stand).

When I saw those Crucians in festive clothes in the shopping arcade on Prager Straße who had to sing Praetorius and Schütz in front of a hectic audience, I had a strange feeling about it, even though the music was wonderful. I then realized that Christmas as an emotion can hardly be located – just like any other emotion – and that it can open up any time in any kind of music. Like the spirit that breathes in everything.” 

Sergej Newski

Source: Virtuos. Published with the kind permission of GEMA