Fiat Lux

A happy Christmas to all in the Concert Hall.

Fiat Lux means Let There Be Light and this is one of the pieces that I think goes very well at the conclusion of Christmas Midnight Mass.

Dubois's instructions are to gradually crescendo from ppp to ffff. He notes that no further direction is needed since the characteristics of an individual instrument will dictate how best to do this.

Although this is a fine piece of music, Dubois has a black mark against his name in our household because he was one of a group of very conservative Parisian composers who tried to stop the music and teaching of Cesar Franck from coming to prominence. In fact Dubois was also forced to retire early as director of the Paris Conservatoire at age 68 after a public scandal caused by the faculty's blatant attempt to stop Ravel from winning the Prix de Rome. But in private life he was known to admire the music of Wagner, Debussy and Ravel.