THE MILLENNIA COLLECTION The History and Music of Christmas

The Millennia Collection is quite likely the only compilation of the history and music of Christmas. It is a boxed set of a hard cover book with the finest collection of Christmas art from as far back as the 15th century and a CD of the original or most popular music described in the book.

NEWS RELEASE
Date: November, 2002
Contact: Laine Latimer
             503-859-2299      
             laine@latimergroup.com

THE MILLENNIA COLLECTION
The History and Music of Christmas

North Cape May, NJ...Ron Clancy was raised in a Roman Catholic orphanage. At six years old, while Ron was attending the mandatory Christmas Midnight Mass, he had a profound experience of the choir and the music of Christmas. That was the beginning of a lifelong love. Hence came the research and compilation of Best Loved Christmas Carols and American Christmas Classics collections, a Sony Music Special Product. "There was the smell of the Christmas tree, a huge manger scene, and the nuns singing. To hear the carols played, was magical. That was the seed", says Clancy.

American Christmas Classics", distributed in The Smithsonian Institute Catalog, is the ultimate in fine, boxed sets of Christmas music on CDs performed by the most popular artists. The artists range from The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Bing Crosby, Nat King" Cole, and Kate Smith to Ray Price, Gene Autry and Tammy Wynette! "Best-Loved Christmas Classics," another deluxe box set, is on display at The National Gallery of Art store and other museum stores around the country and include recordings by The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Marilyn Horne, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and The Vienna Boys Choir.    

The sets also include a hard cover book revealing the detailed history of the songs with illustrations of the most famous Christmas art from over the centuries. The art is by such greats as Norman Rockwell, Rembrandt, Botticelli, N.C. Wyeth and Grandma Moses. And Best-Loved Christmas Carols" includes a soft cover songbook of 25 Christmas carols.

The research for these collections of music and art is meticulous. Clancy spent countless hours in esteemed libraries all over the East for years, buried in his research, surrounded by towering stacks of books about carols and Christmas music. In Best-Loved Christmas Carols", we learn that O Holy Night" (Cantique de Noel), a wonderful French carol, was actually detested by Church authorities. The second volume, American Christmas Classics", is a fascinating look at Americas contribution to timeless Christmas music. Did you know that Mary Had a Baby" and Go Tell It on the Mountain" were contributed to the American carol repertoire by black slaves?

Most of the songs you hear on Mary Smith's or whomever's music collection are in the public domain. That keeps the cost of that CD down. That's not true in my case," says Clancy. His American Christmas Classics collection is about 70 percent copyrighted lyrics, which meant he had to track down all of the copyright holders to get permission. Trying to fuse history, art, song lyrics and music CDs in special packages was a tall order - there were 172 clearances needed for American Christmas Classics alone", says Clancy.
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Millennia Collection - pg 2

"Let's enjoy this music, reflect upon it, remember why it was written -- to commemorate the birth of Christ," Clancy says. "The essence of it now is the same as when some of this music was composed in the 15th century".

        And this is the essence of Christmas."

For more information, visit http://www.christmasclassics.com

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The "American Christmas Classics" set of book and three CDs costs $59.95.
"Best-loved Christmas Carols," which includes the book, a CD of 25 carols and a songbook for singing along sells for $39.95.

The Millennia Collections are available:

Barnes and Noble
Amazon.com

By calling 866-552-7742 or
In The Smithsonian Institute Catalog