HOLIDAY MAGIC!

Albert Hague/Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) Arr Eugene Poddany | How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966) (30’) Arr. Bob Cerulli | Holiday Pops Sing Along (6’) IntermissionLeroy Anderson/Choral Arr Russell Robinson | A Christmas Festival (6') J. S. Bach Arr. Merle J. Isaac | Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring (4’) Robert MacGimsey Arr. Jack Schrader | Sweet Little Jesus Boy (3’) Arr. Bill Holcombe/ String Orch Cason Rothrock Festive | Sounds of Hanukah (7’) Franz Xaver Gruber | Silent Night (4’) Leroy Anderson | Sleigh Ride (4’) Running time with intermission is 84 minutes Celebrate over a decade of Holiday Magic! with Dr. Ryan Dudenbostel returning to conduct. This performance features How The Grinch Stole Christmas!, baritone Richard Hodges, the BSO Chorus, and holiday favorites. Tickets start at just $15. Check out our ticket discounts page for information on FREE Orchestra for All tickets. The original How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is a 26-minute animated TV special that premiered on CBS on December 18, 1966. Directed by Chuck Jones, this classic adaptation features Boris Karloff as both the narrator and the voice of the Grinch, with music by Albert Hague. Composer Albert Hague and writer Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel teamed up for the 1966 How the Grinch Stole Christmas! special. Hague instantly won the job after playing his, "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" melody for Geisel who then said, “Anyone who slides an octave on the word Grinch gets the job.” The organ at St. Nicholas’ Church in Oberndorf was broken, so Gruber was asked by Father Joseph Mohr to create a guitar-based melody to a poem Mohr had written in 1816. Leroy Anderson began writing the song in July 1946 during a severe heat wave and drought while he dug a trench at his summer home in Connecticut. He noted that the winter imagery was a “mental cooling” exercise. The piece is famous for its literal “sound painting.” The slapstick imitates a whip crack, temple blocks stand in for horse trotting, and a trumpet is used at the very end to mimic a horse's whinny. WATCH “Sleigh Ride” has been covered by an incredible range of artists across all genres, from Ella Fitzgerald and Johnny Mathis to The Ronettes, Gwen Stefani, and TLC. WATCH Austrian school teacher and church organist Franz Xaver Gruber (1787–1863) composed the melody for “Silent Night” (“Stille Nacht”) on Christmas Eve 1818 in just a few hours. ART HISTORY The Art of Dr. Seuss project Dr. Seuss, The Grinch 1957, Mixed-Media Pigment Print Theodor Seuss Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, began his career as a little-known editorial cartoonist in the 1920s. Geisel single-handedly forged a new genre of art that falls somewhere between the surrealist movement of the early 20th century and the inspired nonsense of a child’s classroom doodles. There will be no Pre-Concert Talk for HOLIDAY MAGIC! Have a little one in your life that loves music? Join us for Classical Kids at our dress rehearsals. Learn more and sign up here. First time at the Symphony? Check out our Concert FAQs to find out more about how we share the joy of LIVE music. *All programs subject to change