A happy, quiet alternative to the boisterous William Mathias treatment is Gustav Holst’s "A babe is born."
It is especially good, I think, to draw attention to this carol in the waning days of Holst's 150th anniversary year.
From a set of Four Old English Carols (1907), this one, scored for SATB with piano accompaniment, can also be rendered very effectively on harp. Heard this way, it brings to mind Benjamin Britten's Ceremony of Carols, written in 1942. One wonders whether Britten considered this old text for that famous suite with harp.
If you're in need of another treatment of "A babe is born", this text also appears elsewhere.
Labels: 12 Carols for Christmas, Britten, Christmas, Holst, Mathias
The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King's College, Cambridge is surely single most listened to regularly occurring church service in the world. Through live and delayed radio and web broadcasts, this service reaches millions of listeners annually.
It has reached that magical point of the year where it comes time to examine what we shall hear at this year's Festival.
We at sinden.org also made some predictions and we need to see how our crystal ball performed.
- The first carol will be "Once in Royal David's city" - Yes, it is. Obviously.
+1 Point; Score: 1 - Rutter's "What sweeter music" seems quite overdue - Well, it still is. We said it would be the Invitatory Carol, but that slot is occupied by "A Babe is Born" by William Mathias. This carol was last sung in 2007. Music by Rutter was last sung in 2012 ("All bells in paradise").
-1 Point; Score: 0 - We haven't heard the Warlock "Adam lay ybounden" in a long while - We hedged our bets in this instance, and said that if it wasn't the Warlock it would be the Ord. But, of course, it's neither. It's the setting by Philip Ledger, director of music at King's 1974-1982, who died in 2012.
-2 Points; Score: -2 - The second carol after the Third Lesson will be "God rest ye merry, gentlemen". - Wrong again! For the third year in a row, the hymn is "Unto us is born a Son". There have not been three consecutive years of the same hymn in this position (this same hymn was sung here in 2012 and 2013). HOWEVER, the hymn is sung later in the service.
-.5 Points; Score: -2.5 - Cleobury will put down his own "Joys Seven" after the Fifth Lesson - Yes, he did. This carol was last sung in 2009.
+7 Points, one for each joy; Score: 4.5 - "While shepherds watched their flocks by night" will be the second carol sung after the Seventh Lesson. It isn't. For the first time in the last six years, the carol has changed to God rest ye merry, Gentlemen.
-1 Point; Score: 3.5Final Score: 3.5 not a great showing this year.
A larger number of carols have not been addressed by our predictions. Here they are, in order.
After the first lesson we hear Remember, O thou man by Thomas Ravenscroft. This lovely, simple carol was last sung in 2011.
After the second lesson we hear the Peter Maxwell Davies carol "One Star, at Last". This carol, with words by George Mackay Brown was commissioned for this service in 1984. It was the second in the series of annually commissioned carols in Stephen Cleobury's tenure.
Sung much less often that the Pearsall setting, the older setting by Hieronymus Praetorius of In dulci jubilo follows. This eight part motet was last sung in 2008.
The unbeatable Sussex Carol arranged by David Willcocks follows the third lesson. It last appeared in 2011.
The immaculate A spotless rose of Herbert Howells follows fourth lesson. It is the only Howells carol to appear in the service (at least in recent memory*), and it has not been sung since 2008. As it's superb final cadence fades, the choir will take up the strains of the medieval "There is no rose", a carol that appears frequently in the service of the years, and was last sung in 2009.
The fifth lesson brings the simple Gabriel's Message by Edgar Pettman, last sung just a couple years ago.
Harrison Birtwistle's "Lullaby" comes up after the sixth lesson. Though it hasn't been sung before, Birtwistle's "The Gleam" was the commissioned carol in 2003. The Birtwistle is followed by the familiar Gustav Holst setting of In the bleak midwinter. This carol was last sung in . . . wait a minute. We think the choir has recorded this, but we can't find any indication that it has been sung in this service in recent memory*. The homophonic ease of this carol is probably need as a foil to (we presume) the polyphonic difficulty of the Birtwistle.
Similarly, Hector Berlioz's L'adieu des Bergers (The Shepherd's Farewell), has also been sung by the choir (see below) but never at this service -- note that Carols from Kings, pre-recorded for television broadcast, is not the same as the Christmas Eve service, which is broadcast live on the radio only.
Director Stephen Cleobury has commissioned a new carol every year since 1983. This year the commission goes to Swiss composer Carl Rütti. His setting of "I wonder as I wander" (see below) is familiar to listeners to this service. "I wonder" was last sung in 2011. We will update this paragraph with information about this year's commission De Maria Virgine as that information becomes available.
After the Rutti commission follows the rather saccharine setting of Ding! Dong! merrily on high by Mack Wilberg. Though previously sung in 2007, 2009, and 2010, many of us question whether this carol will really have a long tenure in this service.
The other traditional elements of the service are in place: the final two hymns are "O come, all ye faithful" and "Hark! the herald angels sing". The service concludes, as always with the Bach Organ Prelude on "In dulci jubilo," BWV 729. The final organ voluntary, which changes year to year, is the Final of the Sixth Organ Symphony by Charles-Marie Widor.
Our spreadsheet of all the carols since 1997 has been updated
*We have resorted to the phrase "in recent memory" when necessary because our records only go back to 1997. We very much wish to continue this research, in person, in Cambridge, in 2016/17. Surely a sabbatical is needed.
Labels: Bach, Berlioz, Birtwistle, Cleobury, Holst, Howells, Mackay Brown, Mathias, Maxwell Davies, Ord, Pearsall, Philip Ledger, Praetorius, Ravenscroft, Rutter, Rutti, Warlock, Widor, Wilberg, Willcocks
Today, Tuesday 11 December 2012 the service leaflet for this year's service was posted online. Last year's leaflet was also released online about this time, Tuesday 13 December 2011.
The service will once again open with "Once in royal David's city".
We should have been more confident with our prediction that the Invitatory Carol would be "Up! good Christian folk and listen" by Woodward because it totally is that carol.
We missed the mark in regard to the first carol after the First Lesson. That carol is "This is the truth sent from above" by Ralph Vaughan Williams, which was last sung in 2010 as the Invitatory Carol. Before that, it was sung in this position in 2007.
Stephen Cleobury has thrown a curve ball with a setting of "Adam lay ybounden" by Christopher Brown, a new work first performed 9 December 2006 in Linton, Cambridgeshire. This is the first time in my records that the sung setting of this carol has been composed by someone other than Peter Warlock or a Director of Music at King's.
Philip Ledger, who died on 18 November is commemorated with two carols in this year's service: his arrangement of "Good Christian men, rejoice", and "A spotless rose". "Good Christian men, rejoice", sung after the Second Lesson, has not been previously sung at the service in this arrangement -- and we have not been aware of it before now. You can listen to a performance on the Christ's College, Cambridge recordings page. We had predicted that Pearsall's "In dulci jubilo" would be sung here, (the same tune. Likewise, we predicted Howells's a "A spotless rose" to be sung after the Fourth Lesson, the same position it held in last year's service. It returns, but in the exact same setting by Ledger. This carol was composed for the King's service in 2002, but it did not bear the distinction of being the commissioned carol that year (it was "The angel Gabriel" by Robin Holloway).
We were right in our prediction that the Sussex Carol is not being sung after the Third Lesson. It is instead, a repeat of last year's "Nowell sing we now all and some". This is one of four repeats of the internal carols from last year's service (not counting the three constant carols that bookend the service: "Once in royal", "O come, all ye faithful", and "Hark! the herald"). The four carols being repeated are:
- Nowell sing we now all and some
- A spotless Rose - Ledger
- The Hymn "While shepherds watched their flocks by night"
- The Three Kings - Cornelius
All this repetition from last year may be meant to offset some of the extra "newness". In addition to the commissioned carol there is a carol written for the choir's last CD, and that new (shocking!) setting of "Adam lay ybounden".
The hymn after the Third Lesson. It is "Unto us is born a Son". For the 16 years for which we have records it will have been sung six times in this slot. It just edges out "It came upon a midnight clear" which has beens sung five times.
The commissioned carol by Australian composer Carl Vine, "Ring out, wild bells is heard as the second carol after the Fourth Lesson. We're standing by our prediction that it will be awesome.
The hymn after the Seventh Lesson is not "God rest ye" as we thought it might be. It's "While shepherds", one of the four repeats mentioned above.
Since 2000, Stephen Cleobury has included one of his own carol arrangements in the service. The trend continues this year with "The Cherry Tree Carol", the melancholy story of pregnant Mary and indignant Joseph that could be equally at home in an Advent carol service. It was last sung in 2004.
John Rutter's "All bells in paradise" a carol written for the recently released Lessons & Carols CD on the college's new CD label is included in the service after the Sixth Lesson.
William Mathias's "Sir Christèmas" from his carol sequence Ave Rex is the final choir carol of the service. We don't believe that it has been sung at the King's service before.
The famous spreadsheet of all the carols sung at the service since 1997 has been updated.
Labels: Carl Vine, Christmas, Christopher Brown, John Rutter, King's College (Cambridge), Mathias, Philip Ledger
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