For all its talk of merriment and happiness, Christmas can be a stressful time.
It involves a lot of the things that are the most stressful to many people: family, eating, shopping, managing money. How are we supposed to find comfort and joy in all that?
I don’t know, but I do have a useful tool for stress reduction. Baroque music.
Of all the styles of music that get (incorrectly) thrown under the umbrella of ‘classical music,’ I find Baroque music to be the most relaxing. It doesn’t have the excitement and unpredictability of contemporary music, or the unrestrained emotion of the Romantic era, but there’s a form and flow that I find soothing. When listening I often find my head making involuntary swaying movements that are a bit embarrassing when I glimpse myself peripherally in a mirror.
If you need an introduction to Baroque music, Bach should be your starting point. But if you’re looking for a slightly lesser-known master, Marc-Antoine Charpentier is it.
And if you’re looking for a little musically-enhanced “me time” in the middle of holiday madness, this is the piece to plug into.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. Like a lot of the best Baroque, it swings effortlessly from major to minor. Lulling you to sleep with your egg nog in hand.
2. Some phrases flow into each other, but some phrases end with a couple seconds of surprising silence. Waking you just long enough to stop yourself from dropping the egg nog on the floor.
3. At 3:22, the bells give the only overt clue that this is a song for the Christmas season. Reminding you to refill your egg nog. I’m starting to think I need to cut back on egg nog.
Recommended listening activity:
Shamelessly avoiding all the items on your holiday to-do list.