Karolju is asuite of originalChristmas carols forchoir andorchestra by the American composerChristopher Rouse. The work was commissioned in 1989 by theBaltimore Symphony Orchestra with support from the philanthropist Randolph Rothschild and theBarlow Endowment. It was completed in November 1990 and first performed on November 7, 1991 by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Chorus conducted byDavid Zinman. The piece is dedicated to Rouse's daughter Alexandra.[1][2]
Rouse first conceivedKarolju in the early 1980s as a collection of Christmas carols in a form modeled after thecantataCarmina Burana by the German composerCarl Orff. Though the work wasn't commissioned until 1989, Rouse had already composed a number of the carols to be included in the work. He wrote in the score program notes:
As I wished to compose the music first, the problem of texts presented itself. Finding appropriate existing texts to fit already composed music would have been virtually impossible, and as I did not trust my own ability to devise a poetically satisfying text, I decided to compose my own texts in a variety of languages (Latin, Swedish, French, Spanish, Russian, Czech, German, and Italian) which, although making reference to words and phrases appropriate to the Christmas season, would not be intelligibly translatable as complete entities. It was rather my intent to match the sound of the language to the musical style of the carol to which it was applied. I resultantly selected words often more for the quality of their sound and the extent to which such sound typified the language of their origin than for their cognitive "meaning"per se.[1]
Rouse wrote the music in a manner that was "direct and simple in its tonal orientation," despite the trends of late20th-century classical music. Addressing the work's anachronistic qualities, he wrote, "Those who know other of my works may be surprised — some even distressed — byKarolju. While I can assert with assurance that this score does not represent a wholesale 'change of direction' for me and thus constitutes an isolated example among my compositions,Karolju is nevertheless a piece which I 'mean' with the most profound sincerity, one which I hope will help instill in listeners the same special joy which I feel for the season it celebrates."[1]
Though the music ofKarolju is original, the first and tenth movements of the work paraphrase the coda of "O Fortuna" fromCarmina Burana. The third movement also quotes a four-measure phrase fromThe Nutcracker by the Russian composerPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, which itself dates back to an 18th-century minuet.[1]
Karolju has duration of roughly 27 minutes and consists of 11 original carols:
The work is scored forSATB choir and an orchestra comprising twoflutes (2nd doublingpiccolo), twooboes, twoclarinets, twobassoons, fourhorns, threetrumpets, threetrombones,tuba,timpani, four percussionists (onglockenspiel, twotambourines,snare drum,triangle, two pairs ofcymbals,rute, small cymbals,bass drum,chimes,sleigh bells,maracas, andgüiro),harp, andstrings.[1]
Joshua Kosman of theSan Francisco Chronicle praisedKarolju, writing, "Rouse's plan, he says, was to write a collection of carols similar in form to Orff'sCarmina Burana; the joke is that the music, the texts and even the title are wholly invented. Yet Rouse's score, full of vivacious rhythms and sweet, simple harmonies, is as carol-icious as the real thing."[3] Julie Amacher ofMinnesota Public Radio also lauded the piece, calling it an "uplifting work" and writing, "Traditions are handed down from one generation to another. Christopher Rouse established a new tradition when he composedKarolju to celebrate his daughter's first Christmas in 1990. With this world premiere recording, this music can now become a tradition for all of us."[4]
Conversely, Anthony Burton ofBBC Music Magazine critically referred to the composition as "a rum affair" and wrote, "not only is the title a made-up word, but the composer’s texts, in eight different languages, are meaningless apart from the odd seasonal phrase. That’s hardly an incentive to clear enunciation or clear recording. And indeed the piece sounds like nothing so much as half-heard Christmas background music in some upmarket department store."[5]
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