Winter's Eve

Last updated
Winter's Eve
Winters Eve.jpg
Studio album by Nox Arcana
Released November 27, 2009
Genre Christmas music, Celtic new-age, Gothic, New Age, Neoclassical
Label Monolith Graphics
Nox Arcana chronology
Zombie Influx
(2009)
Winter's Eve
(2009)
Theater of Illusion
(2010)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Christmas ReviewsStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [1]
Gravedigger's Local 16Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [2]
Metal SoundStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [3]

Winter's Eve is the thirteenth studio album and second Christmas-themed album by Nox Arcana. It was released in 2009 on Monolith Graphics. Apart from traditional music for the Christmas season, the theme of this album evokes a medieval or pagan Yuletide celebration typical of the winter solstice.

Christmas music Music associated with Christmas

Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music normally performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or in the case of many carols or songs may employ lyrics whose subject matter ranges from the nativity of Jesus Christ, to gift-giving and merrymaking, to cultural figures such as Santa Claus, among other topics. Performances of Christmas music at public concerts, in churches, at shopping malls, on city streets, and in private gatherings is an integral staple of the Christmas holiday in many cultures across the world.

Nox Arcana is an American neoclassical dark wave, dark ambient musical duo of Joseph Vargo and William Piotrowski, formed in 2003. Their name in Latin translates to "mysteries of the night." All of Nox Arcana's music is released independently on the Monolith Graphics label, a publishing company owned by Joseph Vargo. With their third album, Nox Arcana became a Billboard Top Ten charting artist in the holiday genre.

Winter solstice astronomical phenomenon marking the day with the shortest period of daylight and the longest night of the year

The winter solstice, also known as midwinter, occurs when one of the Earth's poles has its maximum tilt away from the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere. For that hemisphere, the winter solstice is the day with the shortest period of daylight and longest night of the year, when the Sun is at its lowest daily maximum elevation in the sky. At the pole, there is continuous darkness or twilight around the winter solstice. Its opposite is the summer solstice.

Contents

Track listing

All music composed and performed by Joseph Vargo. "Greensleeves" (traditional) arranged by Joseph Vargo.

Greensleeves English folk song

"Greensleeves" is a traditional English folk song and tune, over a ground either of the form called a romanesca; or its slight variant, the passamezzo antico; or the passamezzo antico in its verses and the romanesca in its reprise; or of the Andalusian progression in its verses and the romanesca or passamezzo antico in its reprise. The romanesca originated in Spain and is composed of a sequence of four chords with a simple, repeating bass, which provide the groundwork for variations and improvisation. A broadside ballad by this name was registered at the London Stationer's Company in September 1580, by Richard Jones, as "A Newe Northen Dittye of ye Ladye Greene Sleves". Six more ballads followed in less than a year, one on the same day, 3 September 1580, then on 15 and 18 September, 14 December, 13 February 1581, and August 1581. It then appears in the surviving A Handful of Pleasant Delights (1584) as A New Courtly Sonnet of the Lady Green Sleeves. To the new tune of Green Sleeves.

  1. "The Messenger" — 1:18
  2. "Frozen Memories" — 2:45
  3. "Magic and Moonlight" — 3:25
  4. "The Rose of Winter" — 2:24
  5. "Enchanted Realm" — 2:35
  6. "The Ides of December" — 4:21
  7. "Gifts of the Magi" — 3:01
  8. "Season of Wonder" — 2:44
  9. "Solstice Dance" — 2:30
  10. "The White Queen" — 2:53
  11. "Winter's Eve" — 4:19
  12. "Starlight Serenade" — 3:31
  13. "Greensleeves" — 4:09
  14. "The Longest Night" — 4:02
  15. "Pax Terra" — 3:01
  16. "Winds of Change" — 3:39
  17. "Fading Embers" — 2:07
  18. "Crystal Chimes" — 2:08
  19. "Serenity" — 2:41
  20. "Winter Rhapsody" — 3:28
  21. "Time Slips Away" — 5:35

In the field of recorded music, a hidden track is a piece of music that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record or other recorded medium in such a way as to avoid detection by the casual listener. In some cases, the piece of music may simply have been left off the track listing, while in other cases more elaborate methods are used. In rare cases a "hidden track" is actually the result of an error that occurred during the mastering stage of the record's production.

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