Happy Easter - early this year!

Well, here we are, on the cusp of Spring, finally, and Easter arrives this very weekend. Earlier than usual, you say? Right you are! We'll talk a little Easter trivia this week before getting to some Easter-related music you might be interested in, courtesy my website, A Web of Fine Music (www.finemusic.ca).

I received some of this information courtesy my website designer, the affable Lex Parker of St. Catharines, who is always searching for interesting information to share. First of all, let's talk about Lent, the 46-day period (including Sundays) between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday. The word Lent is from the Anglo-Saxon lencten, meaning spring. Lenctentid, or springtide, was the Saxon name for March because March is the month in which days begin to lengthen (also a root of "tent"). The Great Fast, falling as it does largely in the month of March, adopted the term.

Okay, so we're almost at the end of Lent this year, as Holy Week is upon us. So why is Easter so early this year? Well, as you may know, Easter is always the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox, which this year is March 20th. This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar Hebrew people used to identify Passover, which is why it moves around on our Roman calendar. So, based on that information, Easter can actually be one day earlier than this year, on March 22nd, but that is pretty rare.

Quite frankly, this year is the earliest Easter many of us will ever see in our lifetimes, and only the most elderly of our population have ever seen it this early before. If you were, say, 95 years old this year, you might have remembered the last time Easter fell on March 23rd, in 1913. The next time Easter will be this early again will be in the year 2228, or 220 years from now. The next time Easter will fall a day earlier than this year, March 22nd, will be in the year 2285, or 277 years from now. The last time it fell on March 22nd was in 1818, so no one alive today has or ever will see it any earlier than this year. Something to think about, right?

So, how do we tie this in with music, which is what we usually write about in this forum? Well for many, myself included, Easter is synonymous with music, and specifically the music written by Johann Sebastian Bach. His several Easter cantatas have been recorded many times over the years, but four of them, numbers 4, 31, 66 and 134 have been collected onto a wonderful two-cd package from Berlin Classics featuring the Thomanerchor, Leipzig, with the Leipzig Gewandaus Orchestra. Very well priced at $ 27.00 plus tax for the collection. Another very well priced Easter collection is Music for Eastertide, featuring various artists and excerpts from Bach's St. Matthew Passion, as well as the cantatas 4, 56, 106 and 134. This is exceptionally well priced at $ 10.00 plus tax, from Edel Classics. Also available at the same price from Berlin Classics, although not Easter-themed but again the music of Bach, is a collection featuring the Kammerorchester Berlin directed by Peter Schreier and soloists Edith Mathis and Theo Adam along with Schreier in performances of Bach's Coffee and Peasant Cantatas. Still not enough Bach for you? How about an exceptionally well-priced 10-cd set from Berlin Classics featuring complete performances of the Mass in B minor; St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion and the Christmas Oratorio? Many ensembles and soloists are featured here, and the price of only $ 60.00 plus tax is truly astounding. All of these collections just arrived and are available for ordering through A Web of Fine Music (www.finemusic.ca). And as always, shipping is free within Canada.

Happy Easter, everyone!