I don’t really know anything about this carol or this arrangement, but I do know that it rocks.
Labels: 12 Carols for Christmas, Christmas, Corrette
Today’s carol has a very special place in the history of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King's College, Cambridge.
In his first year as director of music at King’s, Stephen Cleobury did not commission a new carol, but he did direct one. The Lamb had premiered only two days earlier at Winchester Cathedral, where it likely would have been directed by Martin Neary.
But I think the experience of hearing a brand-new carol, and such a good one at that, helped establish the idea of commissioning a new carol for each year's Christmas Eve service at King's. Cleobury began the commissioning process the following year, in 1983, with “In Wintertime” by Lennox Berkeley.
Labels: 12 Carols for Christmas, Berkeley, Cleobury, Tavener
Merry Christmas to you, dear reader!
To celebrate this twelve-day Christmas season, I am posting twelve carols that I am particularly enjoying so that they might be duly celebratory and edifying for all of us.
First up is the Song of the Nuns of Chester. This mysterious medieval carol broke through the noise for me this year. Then I stumbled on this interesting and compelling arrangement by Paul Halley (which begins the video below):
Halley writes:
'Song of the Nuns of Chester' derives from a fifteenth-century manuscript containing the Processional of St Mary's, Chester, a medieval nunnery of which nothing now survives. This version of the song was arranged by Paul Halley for the University of King's College Chapel Choir for the concert series "A King's Christmas' in 2016. Sung in procession with handbells, the text and tune alternate between Tenors and Basses, and Sopranos and Altos, with a semi-chorus of antiphonal voices offering the 'Lully lu' text almost as a showering from heaven. This work presents a very medieval sounding and atmospheric choral procession, used as an introit in a liturgical setting or to open a concert, which can easily segue into a carol or hymn.
Labels: 12 Carols for Christmas, Christmas, Paul Halley
Sinden.org maintains two carol service spreadsheets, one for the famous Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at Christmas at King's College, Cambridge, and one for the slightly less famous Advent Carol Service at St. John's College, Cambridge.
The spreadsheet the St. John's Advent Carol Service has just been updated with the music and lessons for this year's service.
After a couple years with rather radical changes, it was nice to see the service settle back to a more familiar rhythm. In the last two years, the first and final hymns have been changed from their usual pattern ("O come, O come, Emmanuel" and "Lo! he comes with clouds descending").
The traditional four pairs of lessons (Hebrew Bible and New Testament in each section) were mostly changed in 2023, but were restored the following year and remain in place for this year's service.
Many of us will be familiar with "Zion, at thy shining gates" arranged by George Guest, as found in the Oxford Advent for Choirs book. It has not previously been sung at this service, but this year, it makes an appearance before the first lesson.
Also new to this service this year: "I waited for the Lord" by Felix Mendelssohn, and A hymn of St. Columba by Edward Picton-Turbervill (a former organ scholar at St. John's). The commissioned carol, sung at the end of the service, is Nolo mortem peccatoris by Errollyn Wallen.
Two pieces that have made a long-expected (see what I did there?) return to this service are Benjamin Britten's A hymn to the Virgin (last sung in 2004) and the Magnificat from the Herbert Howells "St. John's" Service (last sung in 2006).
Now, the only question is how to actually listen to the service. Listeners outside the UK will be very unhappy with this link from the BBC.
Labels: Advent, Britten, Guest, Howells, Picton-Turbervill, Wallen
You didn't think we had forgotten, did you?
October 12th next falls on a Sunday in 2031. And you better believe we will see you then!
Previous mentions of this movement from Herbert Howells Partita (1971) on this blog:
- in 2014: Howells, Herbert - Sarabande for the 12th of any October
- in 2008: October - Sarabande for the Twelfth of any
Labels: Howells, organ music, Vaughan Williams
Even though Arvo Pärt’s 90th birthday snuck up on me this year, I’ve been thinking about it and his music ever since.
This includes this past Sunday morning, when I was reminded that the Introit for the day begins “Da pacem”.
“Wait a minute,” thought my foggy Sunday morning brain, “Doesn't Pärt have a piece by the same title?”
The answer is yes, he does. But did he write a piece of music based on the proper Introit for the Sunday nearest his birthday? The answer is no, he did not.
Pärt’s “Da pacem” sets the text of a different antiphon that begins with the same two words.
Anglicans are familiar with these words through Evensong: “Give peace in our time, O Lord.”
With the rising concern around poltiical violence, this piece is more timely than ever. It was written in response to the Madrid train bombings in 2004 (which happened on Pärt's half birthday).
This Sunday, the choir are singing a hymn-anthem by Healey Willan “Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates.”
As I went through the text, I couldn't help but notice all the “extra” words included in the Willan anthem. The text in the Hymnal 1982 is very familiar to me, but I wondered what the source of all the extra verses was.
In the Chorale Book for England, Catherine Winkworth writes stanzas of eight verses each in her English translation. The first four verses work as Long Meter (8.8.8.8), the final four verses are a more unusual meter of 8.8.6.6, so setting the entire hymn works perfectly with the chorale Macht hoch die Tür (8.8.8.8.8.8.6.6), but changes have to be made if it is set to the long meter, Truro.
There is something exuberant about the shorter phrase lengths at the end of this chorale. The sense of the hymn can be gleaned from the version in the Hymnal 1982, but in addition to all the lost text, the joyful effect of whittling down to these final two phrases is lost in translation.
The change that was made in the version in the Hymnal 1982 version (Hymn 436) is that much of each original stanza is ommited, so that everything fits into 8.8.8.8 meter. In the version below, I have bolded the sections from the original that are omitted in the Hymnal 1982 version.
Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates,
Behold the King of glory waits;
The King of kings is drawing near,
The Saviour of the world is here;
Life and salvation doth He bring,
Wherefore rejoice and gladly sing:
We praise Thee, Father, now!
Creator, wise art Thou!The Lord is just, a Helper tried,
Mercy is ever at His side,
His kingly crown is holiness,
His sceptre, pity in distress,
The end of all our woe He brings;
Wherefore the earth is glad and sings:
We praise Thee, Saviour, now,
Mighty in deed art Thou!Oh blest the land, the city blest,
Where Christ the Ruler is confest!
Oh happy hearts and happy homes
To whom this King in triumph comes!
The cloudless Sun of joy He is,
Who bringeth pure delight and bliss:
O Comforter Divine,
What boundless grace is Thine!Fling wide the portals of your heart,
Make it a temple set apart
From earthly use for Heaven's employ,
Adorn'd with prayer and love and joy;
So shall your Sovereign enter in,
And new and nobler life begin:
To Thee, O God, be praise,
For word and deed and grace!
Redeemer, come! I open wide
My heart to Thee,--here, Lord, abide!
Let me Thy inner presence feel,
Thy grace and love in me reveal,
Thy Holy Spirit guide us on
Until our glorious goal is won!
Eternal praise and fame
We offer to Thy name.
As you can see, portions of the fourth and fifth stanas become joined to make the concluding stanza in the Hymnal 1982 version.
So come, my Sovereign; enter in! Let new and nobler life begin; thy Holy Spirit guide us on, until the glorious crown be won.
Labels: Catherine Winkworth, Healey Willan, Hymn 436
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