As you know we are going down the list of composers who have been commissioned by King's College to write a carol for their Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols.
We've decided to alternate between male and female composers and this one is special because if we are correct, she is the only composer to be commissioned twice. Weir was the first female to be commission and the third overall. Her first was "Illuminare Jerusalem" in 1985. Her second commission was "O Mercy Divine" in 2018.
Weir is also the current as well as the first female Master of the Queen’s Music.
Born in Cambridge, England, she studied with John Tavener at North London Collegiate School and with Robin Holloway at King’s College, Cambridge. Best known
for her operas she has also written works for orchestra and chamber works. She
became the Master of the Queen’s Music in 2014, succeeding Peter Maxwell Davies.
Her first King's College commission, "Illuminare Jerusalme" was adapted from the Bannatyne manuscript in John MacQueen; Winifred MacQueen (1972), A Choice of Scottish Verse, 1470–1570. Here' is the Choir of King's College:
You can also watch a retrospective on the carol in this video:
Her "Ave Regina Caelorum" (2014), here performed by the Cambridge Chorale under Owain Park:
On Wise Classical Music's webpage, this piece is described:
"This
very short setting of a text associated with the Matins service at Advent was
written in 1983 and first performed by the Choir of Trinity College Cambridge,
as part of the very beautiful Advent Carol Service held every year in Trinity College Chapel. The music has a plainsong-like shape
(although not based on any real plainsong) and swells from unison to 8-part
harmony and back again within a couple of minutes’ music."
"Drop Down, Ye Heavens, from Above" (1984), here sung by the Ora Singers:
I've also seen it go by the name "Advent Prose." Here is the Choir of Jesus College, Cambridge:
"Holy
Innocents" (2016), here performed by Vox Feminina:
"Commissioned through the generosity of the St Albans
Ex-Choristers Association to mark the 20th Anniversary of St Albans Abbey Girls
Choir. First performance given by the choir at Evensong on 25th June 2016,
conducted by Tom Winpenny. Christina Rossetti (1830-94)"
(Wise Music)
As stated above, "O Mercy Divine" was the 2018 commission for the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King's College, Cambridge. It premiered on December 24, 2018. The text is by Charles Wesley:
"Guardian Angel" below is performed by the Ora Singers. The text reads "The Angel that presided o’er my birth Said, “Little
creature, form’d of Joy and Mirth, Go love without the help of anything on
Earth. Alleluia." I've also seen it called "Alleluia":
"Guardian Angel"
Here is Kammerkoor JIP:
"Alleluia"
Weir also has written a "Magnificat and Nunc Dimittas":
Magnificat
Nunc Dimmitas
Not necessary a Christmas song, "True Light" was commissioned by the Choir of Westminster Abbey for a Service to mark the Centenary of the Armistice (WWI). You be the judge. Here is the text:
"The darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. O give thanks
unto the Lord, for he is gracious, and his mercy endureth for ever. Let
them give thanks whom the Lord hath redeemed and delivered from the hand
of the enemy; and gathered from out of the lands, from the east, and
from the west, from the north, and from the south."
"True Light"
Some none-choral works: her Three Chorales for Cello and Piano has a piece in it call "Angel Bending Near the Earth":
There is also a string composition called "Winter Song" (2006) that I could not find a video for. The same goes for Weir's "Ave Maria Stella." When I search for it, I get every other composer's "Ave Maria Stella" but Weir's.
Another piece called "Leaf from Leaf Christ Knows," "...was given its first performance
by the Choir of Wells Cathedral, James Kealey (organ) and Matthew Owens
(conductor), during the festival new music wells 76–16, on Thursday 20th
October 2016. It was commissioned by Cathedral Commissions of Wells Cathedral
with the generous support of private donors" (Wise Music). Text is by Christina Rosseti. We could not find a video of this.
There is also a piece called "Little Tree" which was commissioned by the Young People's Chorus of New York City
for Transient Glory. We could not find a video for this. (Wise Music).
We also could not find a video for Weir's arrangement of "O Viridissima" (2015).
This work was written as a gift for the Late Music Concert
Series and was first performed by the Albany Trio on 6th June 2015. O Viridissima is a realisation/recomposition
of Hildegard of Bingen’s monodic hymn, O Viridissima Virga (‘O greenest
branch’). Hildegard’s melody (slightly ornamented) is heard throughout, on
violin, cello or both, whilst simultaneously undergoing registral and timbral
variations. Towards the end a simple tonality emerges from the pitches of the
melody.
(Wise Music)
Weir has a prolific YouTube presence with many interviews about composing. VocalEssence's Phillip Brunelle put out a video on Weir:
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Choristers of St Paul’s Cathedral sing Christmas carols during a photo call inside the Cathedral in central London December 22, 2014. (Luke MacGregor/Reuters). Photo is
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The State of the Christmas Carol: 2020
by Ray Rojas
Note: We had some issues with the text on the blog going from white to black and tried every effort to fix it to no avail. Our apologies.
We moved into the new decade of the 2020s with already
some sadness in the Christmas carol world.
In the last decade we lost three
former former directors of the Choir of King College, Cambridge. We also saw
several retirements of people who have provided a host of carol recordings and
performances in the last forty years.
In 2014, Edward Higgenbottam retired
after 35 years as director of music position at New College, Oxford. We also
had Rene Clausen who led many a Christmas festival at Concordia College leading
his last concert before his retirement. In 2018, Stephen Cleobury, director of
the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, directed his last Festival of Nine
Lessons and Carols. He later passed away in 2019. So it was a bit a gloomy, but
none knew how gloomy 2020 would be.
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Twenty twenty came, and within a few months, the worldwide
pandemic had taken over headlines worldwide. Then, when 87% of the attendees
of a Seattle choir practice contracted COVID-19, fear ran across the choir
world. Although there was social distancing, sixty-one members got symptoms and
two died.
With governments locking things down across the globe,
and people self isolating, the classical music world practically shut down. Concerts
were cancelled and others moved outdoors. Performers were forced to distance at
performances often wearing masks. There was a hope the worse of the pandemic
would pass before the 2020 holiday season when Christmas concerts would take
place.
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The global pandemic deeply affected professional
musicians because this is their livelihood. One BBC radio essay focused on the
effect of the pandemic on composers. The majority of new commissions are for
the holiday season. If Christmas concerts, services, and masses were not going
to happen, no petitions for commissions were going to occur either. No
commissions, no honorariums for composers.
In the United States, church and state clashed regarding
religious gatherings even as some religious gatherings led to surges in
positive COVID-19 cases. Other religious groups voluntarily cancelled large
gatherings, often moving online. Open defiance of mask wearing and building
capacity restrictions made many to allege a “War or Christmas.”
In the United Kingdom, carol singing was somewhat banned
to avoid people gathering. By the end of November, the state of many Christmas
concerts and religious performances were in limbo. An effort led by John Rutter,
Aled Jones, Tamin Little, Julian Lloyd Webber among others, sent an open letter
to the British government advocating to let Christmas carols concerts and
caroling proceed. The letter stated that Christmas carols were a “fundamental
part of the UK’s culture.”
The government lessened restrictions, limiting indoor performances
to performers only. For caroling, it asked carolers stay two meters apart and away
from the threshold of houses.
World’s
Favorite Christmas Broadcast
It was the Superbowl of Carol Services that would be in
question. The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, performed at King’s College,
Cambridge by the Choir of King’s College has been the high mark of the
Christmas season for carol advocates.
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The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) broadcasts the
Christmas Eve service across the globe. In late November, the college announced
that there would be no congregation in the chapel this year. Although slightly
depressing because who does not love when the congregation joins the choir
singing “Once in Royal David’s City,” “Hark the Herald Angels,” or “O Come all
ye faithful” — we took it in good stride.
Within a week before Christmas, two choral scholars of
the choir tested positive for COVID-19. Although they only suffered mild symptoms,
this would mean the other choral scholars were probably exposed and would not
be able to participate in the Christmas Eve service. For those of you who do
not know who “choral scholars” are, they are usually the undergraduates who
sing with the trebles, the trebles being young boys.
From what I can gather, the choir was recording a backup
concert around the same time. With a forty-eight-hour notice, the King’s
Singers were asked to replace the choral scholars and the service was recorded.
The Telegraph called it, “The race to
save the nation’s favourite Christmas broadcast.”
Later, the college announced the services on Christmas
Eve would not be live, but the earlier recorded service would be broadcasted. The
college stated that with further lockdowns by the government as well as travel
restrictions, it would be irresponsible for the college to have singers, staff,
and faculty travel to Cambridge.
Virtual
Caroling
There was a great effort to have King's College's service broadcast
live. Many choirs and classical ensembles went virtual for their concerts. In
addition, where there use to be only a handful of cathedrals and great churches
that use to broadcast their compline, vespers, masses, and evensongs, now, many
went to virtual religious services. What you might never see in one’s lifetime,
you can suddenly see carols services from Ely Cathedral, see Conspirare
performing live from Austin, Texas, a live Christmas concert by singers in
hardhats from Notre Damn Cathedral in Paris.
In truth, as a Christmas carol fanatic, one found it hard
to keep up. You wanted to watch everything. Yet, this year we at Christmas Carols
& Sacred Music, we posted links to live performance after live performance.
Classical MPR, Classic FM, and Classical-Music.com, posted lists of online performances
as well.
Carol
Fandom
At Christmas Carols & Sacred Music, we also decided
to keep a running list of new Christmas classical albums instead of putting it
out after Christmas as we usually do. Furthermore, the list is to be “working,” meaning we will
continually update it with the assistance of the carol-loving community. We
also created a working list of carol premieres and Christmas musical commissions
because we saw the need to keep track of the new carols out there.
Among other news, one scholar in an article said, “Once
In Royal David’s City," ‘Away in a Manger," and "Good King
Wenceslas," were not "real" carols tempting us to look back at
the real carols of early music.
Chris Westbrook won the BBC’s Carol
competition. Alastair Boyd has won the TMC Choral Composition with his "A Hymn on the Nativity" (see it performed on the Toronto Mendelson Choir's Festival of Carols concert). The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King’s College did not have
a commissioned carol this year, although it did release a recording of "Peace on Earth" by Errollyn Wallen, one of the last carols King’s recorded
with Cleobury.
Choir of King's College, Cambridge: "Peace on Earth" by Errollyn Wallen
Various new Christmas recordings were released. Among
them, new recordings by Queen’s College Oxford, Winchester College Chapel
Choir, Trinity Boy’s Choir, Choir of St. John’s Cambridge, SWR Vokal Ensemble,
Musica Bohemica, Choir of Keble College Oxford, the Godwine Choir, Chanticleer
to mention a few.
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Favorite Carols
“O Holy Night” was voted the nation’s (UK)
favorite carol on Classic FM. Why does the United States not have a similar
survey? The choice of the favorite carol, often gives a measure of the mood of
the country. In the United States, we have to rely on Billboard, iTunes downloads, and Spotify plays of popular Christmas
music. Unfortunately, there is a desert of carols on these lists. Surveying
many of them, “O Holy Night” was the only carols listed. One list had “O Holy
Night” in the top 10 (sung by Josh Groban). The next carol ranked was “O Holy
Night” again at 65 (Carrie Underwood). On another list, The Bare Naked Ladies
recording of “God Bless You Merry Gentleman” ranked in the 70s. On the iTunes list, the Pentatonix version of the same carol barely cracks the top 100.
In 1906, “O Holy Night” was the first piece
of music to be broadcast on the radio. We at Christmas Carols & Sacred
Music have called “O Holy Night” the “Star-Spangled Banner” of Christmas carols
because so many soloists butcher it. Andrew Gant described “O Holy Night” as an
“art song,” one “meant for a soloist, preferably one as plump and confident as
the Christmas turkey.”[1] Gant
goes on saying, “It doesn’t’ really work sung by a choir, and certainly not by
a congregation.” There are some exceptions that prove him a little wrong, but
we half way agree with him. Those exceptions being John Rutter and John
William’s (Home Alone)(liners nots says it not his arrangement, but he had something to do with it) arrangements.
We can take these informal surveys as a
measure of what the favorite carol in the States and the UK are in 2020. Observing the lyrics, maybe as we “Long lay” “in sin and error pining til He appears and the soul felt its worth,” bring some hope to self-reflections on sin.
Themes
However, in all the cancelations, moves from
live audiences to virtual, I notice new Christmas compositions and concerts this
year dealt with a variety of social justice topics, aside from the traditional
Christmas charity. With the rise of open racism and Fascism again, some
composers dealt with it by composing pieces about racism, reconciliation, and #BlackLivesMatter.
Other did concerts on themes of “All Earth is Hopeful,” “Sun of Justice, Reveal
of Dawn,” and “For Everyone Born.” Issues revolving around the pandemic have
piled on to the plight of the poor, the refugee, and the hungry — themes we
usually associate with Christmas. Others called for peace, much more than the
traditional carols' pleading. Others focused on reunions and hope after a year
of sequestering and socially distancing, that soon “we all will be together.”
"Joseph's Carol" by John Rutter
New Carols
Even Mr. Christmas John Rutter appears to have
written a carol on the whim as only he can do, writing “Joseph’s Carol” in
honor of the Oxford Vaccine Group. It was premiered by the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra with Bryn Terfel. VocalEssence carol competition featured
Travis Ramsey’s new carol on the tradition text “Little Lamb” as well as the premiere of Kim Andre Arnerson's "Nordic Christmas." Diana
Burrells wrote of tradition greenery in “Green growth the holly” for the Choir
of St. Catherine’s College, Cambridge. Also for the same college, a new version
of “O Antiphones” by Christopher Fox.
For the Choir of Bath Abbey, Huw Williams
wrote a new version of “Away in a Manger.” For University College, Dublin, Ivo
Antognini used the text of “Christe Redemptor” for a really lovely new carol. Many
other new compositions and arrangements are mentioned on our post on the
subject.
"Christe Redemtor" by Ivo Antognini (performed by the Choral Scholars of University College Dublin)
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The Bristol Choral Society asked Judith Wier
and Stephen Jackson to judge for its First Carol Competition in memory of Mary
Otty (Mary Otty Prize 2020). The five final carols were to be performed we
assume by the choral society in December. Wier states on her blog that there
were 70 submissions from around the world. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19
restrictions, the winners’ carols were not performed, but 1st Prize
went to Pamela Slatter ("I saw three ships"), with a motet by James Williams ("Christ’s Nativity") at 2nd. Weir
does not mention the place of the others, but states they were Mark Chaundy ("There is no Rose"),
Jamie Brown ("‘Nu tändas tusen Iuleljus’"), and Matthew Heyburn ("I saw a faire Maiden").
Global Flu Pandemic 1918
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If we listen to the music historians, carols
were once dances, not necessarily songs. Carols were sung in secret during
religious oppression or even Puritan canceling of Christmas, carols were sung
in congregations like that first Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King’s
College in 1918 (though not the first Nine Lessons and Carols), a response to
the aftermath of World War I (199 former King's College choristers died in the war)[2] and like today, a global pandemic, the 1918 one
being the Flu Pandemic.
Despite our pandemic worries, carol writing
and singing continued in 2020, maybe in smaller places with smaller crowds, but
there was no reluctance to bring out the carol even though we had every right
to lament this year. All this new music and continued caroling occurred despite
the sickness, loneliness, and death that pervade our present time.
In my at-home carol music, I was moved to
take out the “grand” recordings with full orchestra, choir, and chorus with
brass heavily exaggerated, and I found I played these repeatedly. These were recordings
like the John Alldis Choir with the London Symphony or the Cambridge Singers
with the City of London Sinfonia. To use vaccination jargon, a much larger
dosage of carols was needed this year. Recordings like these satisfied that
craving. Maybe it was a longing for the live concert, or maybe the longing to
hear larger groups of people sing together.
On Christmas Eve, as I listened to the Choir
of King’s College and the King’s Singers finish the Festival, I knew it was not
a live broadcast, and I knew the congregation was not singing along. However,
the spirit of caroling still rang out in the chapel. “Hark the Herald Angels”
was being sung, ending the festival. As the first chords of “In dulci jubilo”
by Johanne Sebastian Bach blared out on the organ and the radio announcer
stated this had been a broadcast of the festival live from King’s College,
Cambridge, you still feel that warmth. As the lyricist (or poet) for “O Holy
Night” wrote in the original French text:
“ …love unites
those whom iron once held in chains…People, arise! Song of your deliverance.”
John
Sullivan Dwight who translated the song could not make a literal translation of
the French, but he wrote “Truly He taught us to love one another.” It
has since given us much hope and peace, just as carols should.
[1]
Gant, Andrew. The Carols of Christmas: A
Celebration of the Surprising Stories Behind Your Favorite Holiday Songs,
Nelson Books, 2015, p. 84.
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In our post "Working List Choral Collections Focusing on Composer Christmas Works," we had laid out a wish list for a collections of Christmas carols, Christmas music, and winter-themed works by several composers. One of them was Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. We will start of series of composers who have been commissioned by the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King's College, Cambridge for a new carol.
So here it is: Carol Composers #1: Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.
On this post, there are some carols scattered about. We did not give into temptation to include other sacred music (maybe a little). There is plenty of it from Davies. Davies has a piece on Corpus Christi as well as other Marian-themed carols and compositions. We tried to stay on Christmas, winter, Annunciation, and Epiphany themes.
From his O Magnum Mysterium":
"Carol 1"
From same piece, "Carol 2":
From same piece, "Carol 3":
From same piece, "Carol 4":
From same piece, "Carol 5":
From same piece, "Carol 6":
Davies had another carol cycle just called Five Carols. Here are the carols performed by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge.
Here is "Carol 1":
Same piece, "Carol 2":
Same piece, "Carol 3":
Same piece, "Carol 4":
Same piece, "Carol 5":
Davies also wrote a carol on the text of "Out of Your Sleep Arise," performed here by the Choir of Westminster Abbey:
Davies' "Carol: An Heavenly Song":
"Jesus autem hodie"
"Carol: Lullay, My Child, and Weep No More":
"Carol: Kings and Shepherds," performed here by the Choir of Worchester College, Oxford under Stephen Farr:
"Fleecy Care Carol" is from the text of an English folk poem from Napton, Warwickshire. It was premiered by the Chapel Royal. He wrote it as Master of the Queen's Music. Here is the Chapel Royal and an arrangement by Andrew Gant:
"Carol: Child in a Manger," performed here by the Kantos Chamber Choir led by Eslpeth Slorach:
"Calendar of Kings" was commissioned by the Anonymous 4 for their album Wolcum Yule: Celtic and British Songs and Carols (Harmonia mundi 2005):
"One Star, At Last," was the second carol commission by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge for their Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols in 1984. Here's the BBC Singers:
"Advent Calendar" was a special commission by Queen Elizabeth. Here it is performed by the BBC Singers in their album Choir-Book for the Queen (Priory 2013):
Other pieces that are not necessarily carols or Christmas carols, but would make good on any carol collection album:
"The Lord's Prayer":
"Alma Redemptoris Mater" from "Four Christmas Carols". Here is the London Choral Sinfonia:
Further, Davies has some winter-themed pieces and cycles:
See the second entry in this series which was on Judith Weir.
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