R.I.P. John Langstaff (The Christmas Revels)
leno...@yahoo.com
Christmas Eve.
Susan Cooper's poem, "The Shortest Day," is always read at the end of
every performance of the Revels - in nearly ten cities around the U.S.
I will be there, in MA this month, quite often.
Lenona.
See:
http://www.revels.org/about_revels/revels_people_JL2.htm
http://revels.bizland.com/store/page17.html
(music to buy)
http://www.nyrevels.org/news00.html
(you MUST read an amazing anecdote in this article - it's about
halfway down. Search on "David Arnold.")
http://www.sheldonbrown.org/revels/jlangstaff.html
(unofficial page on Langstaff)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0964083612/
("Christmas Revels Songbook" - I'm infuriated that there's no way to
see the contents here, but here's what information there is! One of the
songs, as I remember, is "There Was a Pig Went Out to Dig.")
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/ref=s_sf_b_as/002-7608871-8124006
(other books of his, such as "Frog Went a-Courtin' ")
The Boston Globe, December 14, 2005 Wednesday
JOHN LANGSTAFF, 84; AUTHOR, SINGER FOUNDED CHRISTMAS REVELS
BYLINE: BY SCOTT ALARIK
It seems strangely like John Langstaff to leave us at
Christmastime. Though he achieved fame as a concert
baritone, influential music educator, author, and cultural
activist, his life and art always seemed to revolve around
the holiday season.
Mr. Langstaff died of a stroke yesterday in Switzerland. He
lived in Cambridge and also had a home in Vermont. He was
84.
In 1971, he founded the Christmas Revels in Cambridge, which
will entertain more than 19,000 people this month with its
trademark blend of traditional music, dance, ritual, and
theater. Annual Christmas Revels productions in eight other
cities will be seen by more than 60,000 people this month. A
Revels production is also held here in the spring.
Mr. Langstaff was not just drawn to the merriment of
midwinter, but to how much the season incorporates the
passions that guided his life and career.
"There's a need for art that connects us to each other," he
told the Globe in 2000. "You go far enough back in any
culture, and you find these rituals, these ways of bringing
people together. I think that connectedness is so important
to us. It always has been, you know; the rituals tell us
that."
Mr. Langstaff was born on Christmas Eve in 1920 in Brooklyn
Heights, N.Y.; and it is helpful in understanding his
holiday obsession to know that was no accident. His parents,
who hosted huge music parties that time of year, yearned for
a Christmas baby, he said. On Dec. 24, Mr. Langstaff's
mother ran up and down stairs and moved furniture around
trying to induce labor.
Among his most cherished childhood memories were sitting by
his mother at the piano, watching the faces of partiers as
they sang together. He never lost that desire to see music
shared.
After studying voice at Grace Church Choir School, the
Curtis Institute of Music, and the Juilliard School, he
began his career as a concert baritone. In the 1940s and
'50s, he gained international renown, and made more than 30
recordings. In England after he served in the US Army
duringWorld War II, he made several EMI recordings with
George Martin, who later achieved fame as the Beatles'
producer.
"When I first started working at EMI," Martin said yesterday
from his home in England, "he was already a fine, fine
singer. He was extremely well-respected by his peers, but
never really had pretensions to be a great classical singer.
His main forte was in getting people involved with music. He
was wonderful at that, and he was frightfully good with
young people; just sort of a bundle-of-fun with music, which
is what music should be."
As Mr. Langstaff's own family grew, he became increasingly
interested in teaching children the joys of music. He hosted
a popular BBC TV show for children, "Making Music, and
Children Explore Books" on NBC.
In 1955, he became head of music education at the Potomac
School in Virginia, serving for 13 years before filling the
same role at the Shady Hill School in Cambridge for six
years. He wrote 25 books, most either for children or guides
for teaching music, including the Caldecott Award-winning
"Frog Went a-Courting."
"Whenever I am asked to go to schools," Mr. Langstaff told
the Globe, "I always tell them, `I'm not coming here to sing
for you; I'm coming to make music with you.' "
In 1957, he produced "A Christmas Masque of Traditional
Revels" at New York's Town Hall. In 1966, NBC asked him to
produce a similar "Christmas Masque" as a Hallmark Hall of
Fame special. Among its cast was the soon-to-be-famous
Dustin Hoffman, playing the dragon slain by St. George.
In 1971, his daughter Carol coaxed him into reviving his
Revels idea at Sanders Theater. Together, they smartly
turned its re-creation of ancient music and ceremony into
the modern holiday tradition of the Christmas Revels.
"He had a gift for bringing out the best in other people,
because he always looked for that," Carol said yesterday
from her home in Sharon, Vt. "He believed in encouraging
people, looking for what was best in them. I don't think he
had to learn that; it was always in him. I just think life
was very, very exciting to him. He was always a student,
always learning, all his life."
As Revels became more popular, Mr. Langstaff presided over
its expansion into a national empire. After retiring as
artistic director in 1995, Mr. Langstaff continued to help
Revels Inc. branch out into marketing recordings, books, and
educational kits aimed at helping teachers and parents share
music with children.
"Jack was amazing to work with," said Revels executive
director Gayle Rich. "He was never a person who appeared to
have a strong ego, or a sense of `Do-it-my-way-or-else.' And
yet you knew he had a clear idea of how he wanted things to
be. I learned so much watching how he worked with people,
how he encouraged them, and created community. He knew how
to let people blossom."
Martin laughed softly, a little sadly, confessing that he
somehow never imagined Mr. Langstaff would die. Something
about his spirit remained so boyish, so eager for more.
"I think he'll be well remembered for giving a lot of joy to
a lot of people," he said, "and for encouraging young people
to get involved with music. And his work with Revels will
unquestionably be his monument. I mean, he's already there,
isn't he? He was a legend in his own time."
Besides his daughter Carol, Mr. Langstaff leaves his wife,
Nancy Trowbridge Langstaff of Cambridge; two other
daughters, Deborah of Basel, Switzerland, and Caitlin of New
York City; two sons, John of Winston-Salem, N.C., and Gary
of Beverly; nine grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
A memorial is being planned for late February.
leno...@yahoo.com
"Nova! Nova!," "The Boar's Head Carol," "Oken Leaves," "King Herod &
the Cock," "Alle Psallite cum Luya," "Jolly Old Hawk," "Please to See
the King," "Sussex Mummer's Carol," "Lord of the Dance," "Go Tell it on
the Mountain," "Deck the Hall," "O Little Town of Bethlehem"
(Anglican/Forest Green/Ploughboy's Dream version), "Gower Wassail,"
"The Holly and the Ivy," "The First Nowell," "Silent Night," "Huron
Indian Carol," "Dame, Get Up and Bake Your Pies," "Children, Go Where I
Send Thee," "Cornish Wassail," "Kentucky Wassail," "Orientis Partibus,"
and "Personent Hodie."
And many more.
Lenona.