A FESTIVAL OF NINE LESSONS & CAROLS

THE CENTENARY SERVICE

Sir Stephen Cleobury

SIR STEPHEN CLEOBURY CBE

Six months after the centenary service of A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, Stephen Cleobury was appointed Knight Bachelor in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. This richly-deserved recognition of his ‘services to choral music’ brought tremendous pleasure and delight to the Choir and College, and to the many more who have attended Chapel services and listened to broadcasts, webcasts and recordings since Stephen became Director of Music in 1982. Since that time, he has chosen and conducted the music for 37 years of choral worship: for Christmas and Easter, as well as for thousands of daily chapel services. The sound of the Choir under his direction has reached the ears and touched the hearts of countless millions of people. Hundreds of boys and young men have been Choristers or Choral Scholars and there have been no fewer than 23 Organ Scholars. His influence as a teacher and a role model to young musicians has been as extraordinary as the way in which he has extended the reach of the Chapel’s music through recording, broadcasting and touring. As the College makes this recording of the Centenary Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols available, we once again salute Sir Stephen’s extraordinary achievements and pay tribute to the qualities of musicianship, leadership, commitment and dedication that lie behind all that he has given, and all that we have so gratefully received.

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The Revd Dr Stephen Cherry Dean The Revd Andrew Hammond Chaplain

Ian Griffiths Dean’s Verger

A FESTIVAL OF NINE LESSONS & CAROLS

Malwina Sołtys Deputy Dean’s Verger

THE

The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge Sir Stephen Cleobury Conductor

CENTENARY SERVICE

Henry Websdale & Dónal McCann Organ Scholars

Guy Johnston Cello Soloist As Mayor of Cambridge and representing the City, Councillor Nigel Gawthrope read the Sixth Lesson. We record with great sadness that Nigel died in January 2019.

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• CD
• 81:55

Processional Hymn

1

Once in royal David’s City

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H. J. Gauntlett and A. H. Mann, desc. S. Cleobury

4:21 3:17

2

The Bidding Prayer, Lord’s Prayer and Benediction

Invitatory Carol

3

Up! good Christen folk

|

Piæ Cantiones, harm. G. R. Woodward

1:20

4

First Lesson

2:44

Carols

56

Adam lay ybounden Jesus Christ the apple tree

|

Boris Ord

1:11
2:40

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Elizabeth Poston

7

Second Lesson

1:03

Carols

89

In dulci jubilo I saw three ships

|

German traditional, arr. Robert Lucas de Pearsall
English traditional, arr. Simon Preston

3:05
2:15

|

10 Third Lesson

1:08

Carol

11 Nowell sing we

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Mediæval, ed. Stephen Cleobury

3:08

Congregational Hymn

12 Unto us is born a Son 13 Fourth Lesson

Carols

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Piæ Cantiones, arr. David Willcocks

2:21 1:59

14 A Spotless Rose

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Herbert Howells

2:45 3:07

15 The Lamb John T avener

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16 Fifth Lesson

2:31

4

Carol

17 Joys Seven

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Traditional, arr. Stephen Cleobury

3:15

Anthem

18 Bogoróditse Dyevo 19 Sixth Lesson

Carol

|

Arvo Pärt

1:16 1:01

20 What sweeter music

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John Rutter

4:09

Anthem

21 Stille Nacht

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Franz Gruber, arr. Philip Ledger

2:29 1:40

22 Seventh Lesson

Carol

23 In the bleak mid-winter

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Harold Darke

4:08

Congregational Hymn

24 While shepherds watched their flocks by night

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After C. Tye, desc. Stephen Cleobury

2:54 2:45

25 Eighth Lesson

Carols

26 O mercy divine

|

Judith Weir

3:57 1:44

27 Sir Christèmas

|

William Mathias

28 Ninth Lesson

2:09

Congregational Hymn

29 O come, all ye faithful

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Adeste fideles, desc. David Willcocks

4:23 1:06

30 Collect and Blessing

Congregational Hymn

31 Hark! the herald angels sing

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Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, desc. Stephen Cleobury

3:25 2:37

Organ Voluntary

32 In dulci jubilo, BWV 729 Johann Sebastian Bach

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COMMISSIONED CAROL

Judith Weir (KC 1973) Master of the Queen’s Music

The words of ‘O Mercy Divine’ come from a collection called ‘Hymns for the Nativity of our Lord’ by the Revd Charles Wesley (1707–1788). I have set to music nine of its fifteen brief, almost haiku-like verses, whose theme is the humble circumstance of Jesus’ birth and the important example this sets for mankind. Beginning in the stable, the view widens to the sky, with singing angels in it, followed by the arrival of the wise men, whose grand appearance in the inn is not incongruous; because, as the poet says, ‘The inn is a palace, for Jesus is there’. The carol includes a solo cello playing a generally fast-moving, bass-register accompaniment, intended as a musical ‘flying carpet’, on which the Choir can comfortably tread and later float above.

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And through all his wondrous childhood he would honour and obey,

THE ORDER OF SERVICE

love and watch the lowly maiden in whose gentle arms he lay; Christian children all must be mild, obedient, good as he.

Processional hymn

For he is our childhood’s pattern: day by day like us he grew; he was little, weak and helpless, tears and smiles like us he knew; and he feeleth for our sadness, and he shareth in our gladness.

¶ The congregation will be invited to stand when the Choir is ready in the Ante-chapel, so that all may be silent when the hymn starts. All join in singing at the third verse.

And our eyes at last shall see him through his own redeeming love, for that child, so dear and gentle, is our Lord in heaven above; and he leads his children on

Solo

Once in royal David’s city stood a lowly cattle shed, where a Mother laid her baby in a manger for his bed; Mary was that Mother mild, Jesus Christ her little child.

to the place where he is gone. Not in that poor, lowly stable with the oxen standing by

Choir

we shall see him, but in heaven, set at God’s right hand on high; when, like stars, his children, crowned, all in white shall wait around.

He came down to earth from heaven who is God and Lord of all, and his shelter was a stable, and his cradle was a stall; with the poor and mean and lowly lived on earth our Saviour holy.

¶ All remain standing.

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children; all who know not the Lord Jesus, or who love him not, or who by sin have grieved his heart of love.

THE BIDDING PRAYER

Lastly, let us remember before God all those who rejoice with us, but upon another shore and in a greater light, that multitude which no man can number, whose hope was in the Word made flesh, and with whom, in this Lord Jesus, we for evermore are one.

These prayers and praises let us humbly offer up to the throne of heaven, in the words which Christ himself hath taught us:

Dean

Beloved in Christ, be it this Christmas Eve our care and delight to prepare ourselves to hear again the message of the angels; in heart and mind to go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which is come to pass, and the Babe lying in a manger.
Our Father;

All

Our Father, which art in heaven,
Let us read and mark in Holy Scripture the tale of the loving purposes of God from the first days of our disobedience unto the glorious Redemption brought us by this Holy Child; and let us make this Chapel, dedicated to Mary, his most blessed Mother, glad with our carols of praise: hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation;

• but deliver us from evil.
• But first let us pray for the needs of his whole world;

for peace and goodwill over all the earth; for unity and brotherhood within the Church he came to build, and especially in the dominions of our sovereign lady Queen Elizabeth, within this University and City of Cambridge, and in the two royal and religious Foundations of King Henry VI here and at Eton:
For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

Dean

The Almighty God bless us with his grace:
Christ give us the joys of everlasting life: and unto the fellowship of the citizens above may the King of

• Angels bring us all.
• And because this of all things would rejoice his heart,

let us at this time remember in his name the poor and the helpless, the cold, the hungry and the oppressed; the sick in body and in mind and them that mourn; the lonely and the unloved; the aged and the little

All

Amen.

¶ The congregation sits.

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INVITATORY CAROL

Ding-dong-ding: Ding-a-dong-a-ding: Ding-dong, ding-dong: Ding-a-dong-ding.

Up! good Christen folk, and listen how the merry church bells ring, and from steeple bid good people come adore the new-born King:

Tell the story how from glory God came down at Christmastide, bringing gladness, chasing sadness, show’ring blessings far and wide.

Born of mother, blest o’er other, Ex Maria Virgine, in a stable

[from the Virgin Mary]

(’tis no fable), Christus natus hodie.

[Christ is born today]

Words and harmony: G. R. Woodward

Melody: Piæ Cantiones, 1582

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woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

FIRST LESSON

And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Read by a Chorister

God tells sinful Adam that he has lost the life of Paradise and that his seed will bruise the serpent’s head.

And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
Thanks be to God.

Genesis 3.8–15, 17–19

And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: and I will put enmity between thee and the

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• CAROL
• CAROL

The tree of life my soul hath seen, laden with fruit and always green: the trees of Nature fruitless be
Adam lay ybounden, bounden in a bond; four thousand winter

• thought he not too long.
• compared with Christ, the apple tree.

His beauty doth all things excel: by faith I know, but ne’er can tell the glory which I now can see in Jesus Christ, the apple tree.
And all was for an apple, an apple that he took, as clerkes finden written in their book.

For happiness I long have sought, and pleasure dearly I have bought; I missed of all, but now I see,
Ne had the apple taken been, the apple taken been, ne had never our lady

• ’tis found in Christ, the apple tree.
• a been heavené queen.

I’m weary with my former toil, here I will sit and rest awhile: under the shadow I will be of Jesus Christ, the apple tree.
Blessed be the time that apple taken was, Therefore we moun singen Deo gratias.

[thanks be to God]

Words: Anon, 15^th century Music: Boris Ord

This fruit doth make my soul to thrive, it keeps my dying faith alive; which makes my soul in haste to be with Jesus Christ, the apple tree.

Words: anon., Collection of Joshua Smith, New Hampshire. Music: Elizabeth Poston

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• SECOND LESSON
• CAROL

Read by a Choral Scholar

God promises to faithful Abraham that in his seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.
In dulci jubilo

[in sweet jubilation]
[in the manger]

let us our homage shew; our heart’s joy reclineth in præsepio, and like a bright star shineth Matris in gremio.
And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

[on his mother’s lap]

Alpha es et O.

[you are Alpha and Omega]

O Jesu parvule!

[O infant Jesus]

I yearn for thee alway! Comfort my heart’s blindness, O Puer optime! With all thy loving-kindness, O princeps gloriæ!

[O child most excellent]
[O prince of glory]
[draw me after you]

• Thanks be to God.
• Trahe me post te!

Genesis 22.15–18

O Patris caritas,

[O love of the Father]

O Nati lenitas!

[O gentleness of the Son]

Deeply were we stained per nostra crimina; but thou hast for us gained cælorum gaudia.

[for our sins]
[the joys of heaven]

O that we were there!

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Ubi sunt gaudia, where, if that they be not there? There are angels singing nova cantica,

[where are those joys?]

CAROL

[new songs]

there the bells are ringing in Regis curia:

[in the court of the King]

O that we were there!

Old German, transl. & arr.: Robert L. de Pearsall

I saw three ships come sailing in,

on Christmas Day, on Christmas Day,

I saw three ships come sailing in,

on Christmas Day in the morning.

And what was in those ships all three?… Our Saviour Christ and his lady,… Pray, whither sailed those ships all three?… O, they sailed into Bethlehem,… And all the bells on earth shall ring,… And all the angels in heav’n shall sing,… And all the souls on earth shall sing,… Then let us all rejoice amain!

on Christmas Day, on Christmas Day,

Then let us all rejoice amain!

on Christmas Day in the morning. English trad., arr.: Simon Preston

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• THIRD LESSON
• CAROL

Read by a representative of Eton College

The prophet foretells the coming of the Saviour.

Nowell sing we now all and some, for Rex Pacificus is come.

[the King of Peace]

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

In Bethl’em in that fair city, a child was born of a maiden free, that shall a lord and princë be,

a solis ortus cardine.

[from the farthest east]

Children were slain full great plenty, Jesu, for the love of thee; wherefore their soulës saved be,

hostis Herodis impie.

[O profane enemy Herod]

As the sunnë shineth through the glass, so Jesu in his mother was; thee to servë now grant us grace,

Thanks be to God.

O

lux beata Trinitas.

[O Trinity of blessed light]

Isaiah 9.2, 6–7

Now God is comën to worshipën us; now of Mary is born Jesus; make we merry amongës us;

exultet celum laudibus. [let heaven rejoice with praises]

Mediæval, ed.: Stephen Cleobury

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• CONGREGATIONAL HYMN
• FOURTH LESSON

• As the organ introduction begins, all stand to sing
• Read by a Fellow

• Unto us is born a Son,
• The peace that Christ will bring is foreshown.

King of quires supernal: see on earth his life begun, of lords the Lord eternal.
And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots: and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. With righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth.
Christ, from heav’n descending low, comes on earth a stranger; ox and ass their owner know, becradled in the manger.

This did Herod sore affray, and grievously bewilder, so he gave the word to slay, and slew the little childer.
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

Choir

Of his love and mercy mild this the Christmas story; and O that Mary’s gentle child might lead us up to glory.

O and A, and A and O, cum cantibus in choro, let our merry organ go, benedicamus Domino.

[with songs in the choir]
[let us bless the Lord]

Thanks be to God.

• ¶ All sit.
• Isaiah 11.1–4a, 6–9

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• CAROL
• CAROL

A Spotless Rose is blowing, sprung from a tender root, of ancient seers’ foreshowing, of Jesse promised fruit; its fairest bud unfolds to light amid the cold, cold winter, and in the dark midnight.
Little Lamb, who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee? Gave thee life, and bid thee feed, By the stream and o’er the mead; Gave thee clothing of delight, Softest clothing, woolly, bright; Gave thee such a tender voice, Making all the vales rejoice?
The Rose which I am singing, whereof Isaiah said,
Little Lamb, who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee? is from its sweet root springing in Mary, purest Maid; for through our God’s great love and might the Blessed Babe she bare us in a cold, cold winter’s night.
Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee, Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee: He is called by thy name, For he calls himself a Lamb. He is meek, and he is mild, He became a little child; I, a child, and thou a lamb, We are called by his name. Little Lamb, God bless thee! Little Lamb, God bless thee!

[the second verse is repeated]

Words: 14^th century anon., transl. C. Winkworth

Music: Herbert Howells
Words: William Blake Music: John Tavener

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of God. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

FIFTH LESSON

Thanks be to God.

Read by the Master over the Choristers

Luke 1.26–35, 38

The angel Gabriel salutes the Blessed Virgin Mary. And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son