Sinden.org published its traditional preview of the music list for the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King's College, Cambridge late last month..
For the days leading up to the service, we have been offering a Kalendar of Carols: a more in-depth look at each piece of music to be sung.
So far, we've covered the opening hymn, Bidding Prayer, In the bleak mid-winter – Harold Darke, Adam's Fall – Richard Elfyn Jones, Love came down at Christmas – arr. Stephen Cleobury, How shall I fitly meet thee – Bach, I saw three ships – arr. Ledger, Illuminare Jerusalem – Judith Weir, and the hymn "O little town of Bethlehem".
It is well-known to choral aficionados and frequently sung at this service. (In fact, with the exception of "Here is the little door" in 2015, it is the only Howells ever sung at this service.
Patrick Hadley famously wrote to Herbert Howells about this piece in 1955.
O Herbert, that cadence to A Spotless Rose is not merely ‘one of those things’. Brainwave it certainly is, but it is much more than that. It is a stroke of genius. I should like, when my time comes, to pass away with that magical cadence. I expect you’ll say you hadn’t to think, it was already there
Labels: Christmas, Hadley, Howells, King's College (Cambridge), Lessons and Carols
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