GOOD KING WENCESLAS: A Bohemian Christmas

Early Music New York: Medieval/Renaissance Chamber Ensemble

Saturday, December 14th at 7:30 PM

First Church of Christ, Scientist, Central Park West at 68th Street
~ subsequent performances take place at ~
Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, Amsterdam Ave at 112th Street

Sunday, December 15th and 22nd at 2:00 PM
Wednesday, December 25th 2:00 PM & 7:30 PM

Tickets: $30.00 w/full season subscription, $35.00 w/partial subscription,
$40.00 reserved
$20.00 student (w/valid ID, available at door, day of)
Ticket Info: 1) Phone: (212) 280-0330,
2) On-line: www.EarlyMusicNY.org
3) At the door, ½-hour prior to performance.
Group discounts available by telephone. All major credit cards accepted.

Recorded by EM/NY in association with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the repertoire on the CD “A
Bohemian Christmas” serves as a point of departure for this year’s holiday program. Cathedral Artist in Residence, Early Music New York will celebrate another joyous holiday season, bringing in its thirty ninth New Year to traditionally sold-out performances in the month of December.

St. Wenceslas (Václave), prince and martyr (ca. 907–929), is the patron saint of the Czech lands, Bohemia and Moravia. Whereas the theme of the familiar English Christmas carol “Good King Wenceslas” has no historical basis, the famous Czech song Svatý Václave (“St. Wenceslas”), probably originating from the beginning of the 14th century, is an invocation of this beloved saint. Bohemia, situated in central Europe, occupying the western and middle thirds of the present-day Czech Republic, has nurtured so many heterogeneous cultural elements that its history reveals periods in which no one type of music can be singled out as particularly characteristic. Foreign influences, easily assimilated by the Bohemians, helped to mold the culture of their country; the final result is a combination of foreign cultural influences by the various indigenous national groups.