Written by Emma Myhre ’19
The original blueprint for CinCC was a blend of liturgy, music, and dance, built on The Nine Lessons and Carols, a British Christmas Eve tradition celebrated at Gustavus through the 1960s. But Reverend Elvee envisioned the new CinCC as a gift to the Gustavus community—an opportunity to come together, celebrate the season, and marvel at Gustavus student excellence.
“Elvee is a genius with an incredible creative intellect,” says Greg Aune, Professor Emeritus and former Gustavus Choir director. “He created CinCC and the Nobel Conference. There are no other celebrations like these in the world.”
The thousands of alumni who’ve been a part of one know that the preparation and execution of Christmas in Christ Chapel is a year-long affair that pulls in almost every member of the Gustavus community: technicians, dining services, designers, musicians, dancers, actors, student workers, and more. Though its core remains as it was in 1973, the theme evolves each year. Services have been inspired by global Christmas traditions, political moments, specific Biblical texts, and liturgical takes on subjects like ecology. “It’s difficult to compare each year because they have almost nothing in common except our traditions and the Chapel,” says Aune. “But it’s successful because each is unique, and I can remember every one.”
The service’s technical capacities have increased as technology and devoted alumni have made it possible. Throughout the 2000s, the choirs and music ensembles continued to grow in size. In 2012, Jon Young ’77, a CinCC alum who played in the brass, volunteered the services of his event company, Heroic Productions. Their expertise and technology have brought a Broadway- level polish to the service ever since. Then, in 2014, Jon and his wife Anita Thomsen Young ’77, an usher at the first CinCC, proposed livestreaming online. “This technology was just coming into the public, and we knew this would allow us to show CinCC the way Gusties knew best,” Young says. “We don’t add anything musically or programmatically. We take all of that good and put it in a package for the world to see.”
After two successful years of award-winning livestreams and a tripling of the CinCC audience, Twin Cities Public Television approached Gustavus with an offer: broadcasting Christmas in Christ Chapel nationally. The 2016 and 2018 CinCC performances were shown in television markets throughout the country during the holidays.
“Christmas in Christ Chapel forced us
to become a better, more capable Music Department.”—Al Behrends ’77, former fine arts director
The global pandemic that shuttered events in 2020 demonstrated how important CinCC has become to the Gustavus community. As colleges across the U.S. canceled concerts, Brandon Dean, the Jon and Anita Thomsen Young Distinguished Endowed Chair in Music and Conductor of the Gustavus Choir, and Young were determined to find a solution guided by safety. For the first time, CinCC was performed in October for recording. There was no audience in the Chapel. And instead of shoulder-to-shoulder and chair-to-chair, performers wore masks and stood six feet apart.
“I remember standing in the choir loft and seeing all the little Xs where the students would stand. I started to tear up,” Young says. “But I knew we were going to do it, and we had done it carefully.”
Now, upon the 50th anniversary of CinCC, the tradition remains a touchstone for the Gustavus community. As we have faithfully done in fall semester for half a century, Gustavus students, faculty, and staff prepared a program. Then, the first week of December, alumni, parents, and friends of Gustavus made the pilgrimage to the Chapel. Before the service, choir students filled the halls of Nobel with their hums of Silent Night, huddled and swaying together. And, like every year, the herald trumpets rang in a jubilant Christmas season.
“Elvee is a genius with an incredible creative intellect.”
—Professor Emeritus
Greg Aune
ELVEE LOVED HIS COPES
A cope is a full-length cloak worn by clergy. “Elvee had increasingly ornate, extravagant ones that he would have made,” says Al Behrends ’77, long-time fine arts director, now retired. “I don’t know who paid for them. The Pope doesn’t have anything as ornate.” The one pictured here, adorned with animals from around the world, took 1,200 hours to stitch. It’s an incredible piece of art handmade by Angela Tuckner, Mary Richards (mother of Brad Richards ’88 and Trevor Richards ’90), and sisters Lynn Barberg Lindahl ’83 and Ann Barberg ’88. This year’s CinCC featured a selection of Elvee’s copes on display.
ONE TIME AT CINCC…
In 1974, the second year, Gustavus Choir conductor Philip Knautz ’48 walked outside with assistant vice president of alumni relations Cec Eckhoff ’56 during an instrumental piece to smoke a cigarette. They got caught up in conversation—Cec was known to be chatty. They didn’t come back. Says Behrends, who was singing in the choir, “People started to look around. Where’s Phil?” Finally, a student, Rich Aulie ’75, stepped out of the G Choir ranks and conducted the next piece. “It was an act of professionalism by someone who was maybe 20 years old.” Knautz never said a word about it after. Aulie went on to a career as a conductor.
In 2016, as the show was to start on opening night, the orchestra stand lights, which were on dimmers, didn’t come on. A safety check the night before resulted in GFI limiters being installed, unintentionally disabling the dimmers. The house was full. Swift and dramatic action was needed. Says Behrends, “I dropped down by the west aisle and belly-crawled through the flute and violin sections. I saw an electrician’s hand coming through a vent on the floor. We connected cables right there under the orchestra, and there was light.”
COUP D’E?-HA!
Sometimes ticket takers greet audience members holding tickets for Concordia’s or St. Olaf’s Christmas performances. They’d have shown up at the wrong place at the right time. “We said that’s fine, and of course we took them,” says Behrends. “It was a little coup.”
THE CINCC WORLD ACCORDING TO ELVEE
“We had a vision to do something exciting with the Chapel. The walls. The sounds. We had a staff that was very good at executing that. No one wanted to take over, so I usually got my way.”
“We wanted deep themes. Things were very literal, but the meaning was spiritual. Often they had something to do with the contemporary society. When the wall came down in Berlin, we did a tremendous salute to Leipzig, Germany.”
“We always saw Christmas in Christ Chapel as a gift to the community.”
“CinCC and The Nobel Conference are experiences that we create on this piece of land, with this Chapel. I thought, ‘You can’t have the experience unless you’re here.’ I was wrong.”
ABOUT THOSE HERALD TRUMPETS
They were the brainchild of music professor emeritus Mark Lammers. And they’re perfect for a brass instrumentalist who loves a good challenge. “Those who have tried know they are terrifically hard instruments to play,” says Behrends. “Identical to a standard trumpet except in length, it should be easy to play. But you play a good B flat trumpet, then pick up this thing at the end of 90-minute service and you’re supposed to go out and play it? It’s unbelievably difficult.” So is the arrangement, commissioned in 1976. The spectacular, spine-tingling moment when they herald the finale is always worth it.
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TOP 10 CINCC SONGS There have been 812 different musical pieces performed at Christmas in Christ Chapel. Here’s what we’ve done the most. Sung 5 times 10. “And the Glory of the Lord” (from Messiah) by George Frideric Handel 9. Finnish folksong “Lost in the Night” arranged by F.M. Christiansen 8. French carol “Angels We Have Heard on High” arranged by Edward Barnes 7. “Joy to the World” by George Frideric Handel, arranged by Antioch 6. “Savior of the Nations, Come” by Martin Luther, arranged by Hugo Distler Sung 6 times 5. “Silent Night, Holy Night” by Franz Gruber, arranged by Mark Hayes Sung 7 times 4. 15th century processional “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” arranged by David Willcocks 3. “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing” by Mendelssohn, arranged by Jerry Fielding 2. “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming” by Hugo Distler Sung 48 times 1. “O Come, All Ye Faithful” arranged by G. Winston Cassler |
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