Samuel Barber’s “Die Natali” is from his “Chorale Preludes for Christmas, Op. 37,” written for orchestra in 1960. Barber was a huge fan of the music of German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach, who had written 46 chorale preludes for organ, mostly from 1708 through 1717.

Barber based the melody of “Die Natali” on the popular Christmas carol, “Silent Night,” composed in 1818 by Austrian composer and primary school teacher Franz Gruber. The Cavaliers’ performance of the piece during “The Cavalier Anthems: The Advent Collection” is remembered for the use of giant windsocks that started out as metallic blue and were then inverted to become shiny silver.