Photos and Sounds from A Vintage Brass Christmas

The Vintage Brass Band at First Presbyterian Church in Springfield, IL - Photo by Liz Murphy Thomas

Vintage Brass Band’s first gala concert, A Vintage Brass Christmas, was a great success! We would like to thank to the First Presbyterian Church of Springfield for providing a beautiful location for this concert which was attended by over 100 people.

Sound Clips:

Of Welsh origin, this holiday classic, “Deck the Hall” has been performed for centuries as a winter and Christmas carol.  This contemporary brass quintet arrangement is by Keith Snell.

Transcribed by G.W. Anthony and published as “Antiphony No. 2,” this work is more commonly known as “O Magnum Mysterium.”  It is from a Christmas Motet by Venitian Composer Giovanni Gabrieli (1557-1612).  This arrangement, instead of featuring choirs of voices and brass instruments contrasts two choirs of brass, one cylindrical and one conical.

Modern audiences may not be aware that one of our favorite holiday carols, “Jingle Bells,” was composed by James Lord Pierpont (1822–1893) in 1857 under the title “One Horse Open Sleigh.”  Vintage Brass Band Artistic Director Todd Cranson collaborated with soloist Mona Kreitner to create this arrangement from an 1857 publication of “One Horse Open Sleigh” for piano and voices.

May 28, 2009 Photo Shoot at Old State Capitol – Springfield, IL

The individuals pictured in these photos are dressed to represent four musical time periods depicted by the Vintage Brass Band.

R. Todd Cranson, Artistic Director in modern dress; Rose Schweikhart Cranson, Executive Director and Ted Zelinski - Civil War Military;  Dawn Henry and Ted Henry - 1860’s formal; Randy Langellier and Amy Zepp - 1910.

These photos are intended to represent the band and our mission but do not include our full membership.

Photos by Liz Murphy Thomas.

Pictures from the Humboldt Project – Sousa Archives, April 18, 2009

Special thanks to the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, home of the Carl Busch Papers and Musical Instrument Collection. Photos by Ted Henry.