De l'Annonciation jusqu'à la venue des trois mages Jan Haderman nous raconte l'histoire de la Nativité à travers quatre noëls flamands anciens. / Het was en maged uitverkoren (?Une vierge a été choisie?) : Marie a été choisie par Dieu pour donner naissance à son fils Jésus-Christ. / Maria die zoude naar Bethlehem gaan (?Marie se rendit à Bethléem?) : En ce temps-là parut un décret pour faire recenser le monde entier. Joseph monta de la ville de Nazareth à la ville de Bethléem avec Marie son épouse qui était enceinte. Dans une humble étable Marie donna naissance à Jésus son fils premier-né. / O kerstnacht schoner dan de dagen (?O nuit de Noël plusbelle que les jours?) est un choral majestueux qui célèbre la naissance du Christ. / Wij komen van Oosten (?Nous venons de l?Est?) : Gaspard Melchior et Balthazar trois mages venus d'Orient ont fait route jusqu'à Bethléem guidés par la lumière d?une étoile. En entrant dans l?étable ils virent l'enfant avec Marie sa mère ; et tombant à genoux ils se prosternèrent et l?adorèrent ; puis ils lui offrirent leurs présents : de l'or de l'encens et de la myrrhe. L?histoire se termine par un retour festif du choral extrait du troisième mouvement.

Contrasting colors and varied orchestration techniques make this majestic setting of OH LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM come alive for Christmas. Of the three different tunes that are commonly associated with the original carol text this arrangement uses the melody that???s best known in England. ENGLISH CAROL FANTASY remains entirely accessible to bands at this level and plenty of cueing makes sure it???s useful for ensembles of all shapes and sizes. Feature your deserving young trumpet section leader on the easy solo or let the entire first trumpet section play it soli. The low woodwinds and brass also get some ???well doubled??? exposure so playing this one will be fun for all.Try it!

Transeamus is a wonderful adaptation of the famous Christmas song Let us go to Bethlehem. The work is eminently suitable as the opening theme of your Christmas concert. Arranger Klaas van der Woude arranged it for fanfare band. Transeamus is een prachtige bewerking van het bekende kerstlied Let us go to Betlehem. Het werk is bij uitstek geschikt als openingsnummer van het kerstconcert. Arrangeur Klaas van der Woude bewerkte het werkje op fraaie wijze voor fanfare-orkest.

The Battle on the Heath On 24 January 1597, the ?Tielenheide? - a stretch of moorland near the Belgian village of Tielen, south of Turnhout-was the scene of a great battle. Prince Maurice of Nassau, commander of the Dutch army, crushingly defeated Count Varax, a Burgundian general of the Spanish army. In military circles, the Battle of Turnhout caused quite a stir: a Spanish army of five thousand men was initially held up for hours through daring short moves by fifteen cavalrymen and a few hundred foot-soldiers -and subsequently, this Spanish army was overpowered by barely a thousand cavalrymen, without the help of the infantrymen. New weaponry proved its value that day. The Dutch cavalrymen were not armed with spears, as previously, but with long, carbine-like pistols . Before the pikemen of the Spanish army could stick their fearsome, six-metre-long spears into the ground to protect themselves against the onrushing horses, they were shot to pieces or knocked down. During the battle, the state troops seized a number of flags, which would embellish the Ridderzaal (Knights? Hall) in The Hague for years.In a contemporary Dutch military magazine, the victory at the ?Tielenheide? has been described as ? the heaviest blow ever delivered by the Dutch cavalry?. The location where the battle took place is no langer moorland: it is now a pine forest planted more than a century age, to meet the demand for wood in the old coalmines of Limburg . Part of the forest is now the military territory of the Third Paratroop Batallion, and part is now the De Waal nature reserve: it is not accessible to the public. In Tielen there is still a street called the Tielenheide, near the former moorland.

A tranquil setting of the song O Little Town of Bethlehem interspersed with references to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.