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ON CHRISTMAS NIGHT t There Is No Rose [2.47] y That Yongë Child [1.58] Belinda Morley alto 1 Away in a Manger W.J. Kirkpatrick, arr. David Willcocks [3.05] u Balulalow [1.30] 2 In Dulci Jubilo arr. Robert Pearsall [3.14] Andrea Pringle soprano 3 O Come All Ye Faithfull John Francis Wade [5.26] i As Dew In Aprille [1.04] Philip Ledger descant o This Little Babe [1.33] 4 Hope Finds a Way * Jonathan Roberts [3.50] p Interlude [4.22] 5 Stille Nacht Franz Gruber [3.36] a In Freezing Winter Night [4.32] 6 Sussex Carol arr. David Willcocks [1.46] Anna Bolton soprano 7 Mistletoe * Jonathan Roberts [4.03] Belinda Morley alto s 8 Once in Royal David’s City Henry John Gauntlett [4.30] Spring Carol [1.10] Elizabeth Edwards soprano James O’Donnell descant Kzinia Reynolds soprano 9 O Magnum Mysterium Morten Lauridsen [6.41] d Adam Lay I-Bounden [1.12] 0 God Rest You Merry Gentlemen Traditional [3.27] f [1.58] David Willcocks descant Recession q Ding Dong Merrily On High arr. Charles Wood [1.50] * World Premiere Recordings w Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin, arr. Peter Gritton [2.55] Total timings: [69.53] A Ceremony of Carols, Op.28 Benjamin Britten e Procession [1.54] ARMONICO CONSORT CHRISTOPHER MONKS MUSICAL DIRECTOR r Wolcum Yole [1.29] www.signumrecords.com ON CHRISTMAS NIGHT The tune of In dulci Jubilo (In sweet rejoicing) voices with harp. The second carol is appropriately The arrangement by Sir David Wilcocks heard on first appears in the Codex 1305, a manuscript entitled Mistletoe. this recording is especially fine. The word ‘carol’ or rather ‘carole’ is of dating from about 1400 preserved in Leipzig medieval origin from French and Anglo-Norman University, but may date from an earlier time. Silent Night is originally from Austria (Stille Once in Royal David’s City began life as a poem tradition and usually meant a dance-song Using a macaronic text (a blend of Latin and nacht, heilige Nacht), composed by Franz by Cecil Frances Alexander (also responsible or circle dance accompanied by singing. In German) it was printed widely in collections Gruber in 1818 and possibly the most famous for All Things Bright and Beautiful) The carol French, the equivalent word is Noel and in from the 1530s onwards. Robert Pearsall’s carol of all, having been translated into over was first published in 1848 in Miss Cecil German, Weihnachtslied, both of which mean lovely arrangement of 1837 is the version 140 languages. It was even awarded the Humphreys’ hymnbook Hymns for Little a song for Christmas. It became closely most often used today. curious title of Intangible Cultural Heritage by Children and a year later, the organist Henry associated with the Christmas season from UNESCO in 2011. In this anniversary year of John Gauntlett set it to music. Since 1919, about 1500 onwards and the traditional carol O Come All Ye Faithful is a cornerstone of the the centenary of the Great War, it is worth the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols on developed, irrespective of changing musical 18th century carol tradition and was originally remembering that Silent Night was sung Christmas Eve at Kings College, Cambridge, styles, over the next 400 years. The present sung in Latin as Adeste Fidelis. John Francis simultaneously in French, English and German has used this famous carol as its Processional. collection groups some of the most famous Wade (1711-1786) is the composer, although by troops, during the famous Christmas truce carols from the 18th and 19th centuries, some sources attribute the melody to King of 1914, as it was the one carol that soldiers O Magnum Mysterium is a responsorial chant together with more recent examples, and John IV of Portugal from the mid 16th century. on both sides of the conflict actually knew. from the medieval Choral Matins for Christmas. concludes with one of the great 20th century The English words are by a Roman Catholic A large number of composers have reworked choral masterworks - Benjamin Britten’s A Priest, Frederick Oakley and date from 1841, The Sussex Carol does not appear to have the chant into a contemporary setting and Ceremony of Carols. while the harmonisation used today comes from its origins in Sussex. Its words were first there are famous examples by Byrd, Victoria, the English Hymnal of 1906. published by the Rev Luke Wadding, a 17th- Gabrieli, Palestrina, Poulenc and many others. Away in a Manger is one of the most famous of century Irish bishop, in a work called Small The work recorded here is by the modern all and, like many carols, is of German origin. Two very recent carols by the young English Garland of Pious and Godly Songs (1684). Its American composer Morten Lauridsen (born At one time it was even spuriously attributed composer Jonathan Roberts (born 1983) were later association with Sussex appears to be 1943) and dates from 1994, although it respects to Martin Luther and was called ‘Luther’s written expressly for the Armonico Consort, as through Ralph Vaughan Williams, who heard its ancient stylistic antecedents. Cradle Song’. However its melody is definitely part of their regular educational workshops, with it being sung by a Harriet Verrall of Monk’s Gate, from the mid 19th century and it first appeared which he has been much involved. Hope Finds near Horsham, Sussex (hence “Sussex Carol”). God Rest You Merry Gentlemen is a traditional in print as late as 1884. a Way is to a deeply felt text by Jonathan’s The tune to which it is generally sung today English carol first published in its present father, the Rev Vaughan Roberts, and like is the one Vaughan Williams took down form in 1833 by William B. Sandys, though Britten’s Ceremony of Carols, is scored for treble from Mrs. Verrall and then published in 1919. its author is unknown. The earliest known - 4 - - 5 - publication of the carol appears on a rare altered and it has recently become a favourite berthed at Halifax, Nova Scotia, where Britten vocal effects are clearly designed to reflect the 1760 broadsheet, where it is described as a item for choirs, for concert use. The present came across a book of medieval poems and considerable acoustic possibilities afforded “new Christmas carol”, suggesting its origin is a capella arrangement by composer Peter immediately began to set them, but without by a traditional church space, rather than a actually from the mid-18th century. It became Gritton, director of music at St Paul’s School, any fixed plan of the work as we know it today. concert hall. The remarkable variety of moods famous after it was referred to in Dickens’ dates from 1989. and the exciting contrast in his frenetic A Christmas Carol in 1843, when: “...at the The unusual addition of the harp may have been rhythms, together with the complex melodic first sound of ‘God bless you, merry gentlemen! A Ceremony of Carols, Opus 28 - because Britten had intended to write a harp interplay between the individual lines makes May nothing you dismay!’, Scrooge seized the Benjamin Britten concerto at this time and had been studying A Ceremony of Carols one of the most difficult ruler with such energy of action that the singer Britten’s first published choral work was A the instrument. The harp solo which comes and rewarding 20th century choral works fled in terror......” Boy was Born in 1933 and it heralded the about half way through, is based on the same to perform. arrival of a major figure in the setting of opening plain chant, along with a few other Ding Dong Merrily on High is another carol from words to music, who would eventually become motifs from the first carol, Wolcum Yole, to The first (incomplete) performance took place the 16th century that has become synonymous a worthy successor to Henry Purcell. It is further unify the composition. In addition (not under Britten’s direction) on December with the festive season. The tune first appeared interesting that his next major choral work the later movements This Little Babe and Deo 5, 1942 at Norwich Castle by the Fleet Street in print in a book entitled Orchésographie, would also focus on the story of the Nativity, Gracias have the choir declaiming harp-like Choir. In 1943, Britten added That yonge child circa 1550, although the words by George clearly a theme which resonated with Britten. effects, by employing imaginative and complex and the solo harp interlude. It is interesting to Ratcliffe Woodward date from the 20th century. canonical devices. note that originally, Britten specified women’s Charles Wood harmonised the famous tune A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28, is scored for voices. Only somewhat later did he become when it was first published with Woodward’s text three-part treble or soprano chorus, solo voices, The collection only became a cycle when Britten convinced that it would be better suited to in The Cambridge Carol Book in 1924. and harp and consists of eleven movements, added a framing processional and recessional boys, perhaps to underline the innocence with texts drawn from medieval and 16th chant, sung in unison, based on the Gregorian and freshness of the story and its special Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas is not century poems. Most of it was written in antiphon Hodie Christus natus est (Today, importance for children, the world over. He a Christmas Carol as such, having started 1942, about the same time as the Hymn to St Christ is born).

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