Under-appreciated Carols for Advent/Christmas

The_RivThe_Riv Shipmate
edited November 2024 in Heaven
It's coming down to the wire for Advent/Christmas music to be selected and in hand for the coming seasons. I'd be curious to know your opinions on Carols you consider to be excellent, yet for some reason under-appreciated and therefore too infrequently presented.

One that I always enjoy hearing is Bethlehem Down by Peter Warlock (Philip Arnold Heseltine (1894–1930) but if I don't program it for Lessons & Carols I don't hear it. Maybe it's the minor mode. Maybe it's the adventurous harmonies. I dunno. I'm just always glad to hear it.

A second is Steven Heitzeg's little tree, though I always need to be careful when I listen to this one. It always brings on a lump in the throat and if I let them, the tears will roll. Everyone may not consider this to be a proper carol, but it's required listening for me every Christmastide. If you listen, make sure your environment is quiet -- there are some very soft and sensitive moments. I should add that it's the last track on the album I linked to.

I have more, but I already know about those! Please share your under-appreciated, under-performed favorites.
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Comments

  • I like Bethlehem Down too. My favourite is Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour (All for Love’s sake, becamest poor)
  • Depends on whether we’re including Advent hymns as carols (and IME this is a thing, and getting them sung is a constant battle) - in which case Lo He Comes With Clouds Descending and Hills of the North Rejoice are nowhere near as commonplace as they should be IMO.

    Back on strict carols, the Coventry Carol is always good
  • Depends on whether we’re including Advent hymns as carols (and IME this is a thing, and getting them sung is a constant battle) - in which case Lo He Comes With Clouds Descending and Hills of the North Rejoice are nowhere near as commonplace as they should be IMO.
    Well, if we’re going to get really technical, there’s nothing that says carols are just for Christmas. There are Passiontide carols, Easter carols, spring carols and more. Just check out the Oxford Book of Carols. Although now the word is almost never used for anything other than Christmas carols, the word simply means a kind of traditional, celebratory song, originally typically having a refrain and verses and perhaps a dance-like feel.


  • I like the Sans Day Carol, a variation on the popular - and perhaps pagan! - holly (and ivy) theme. Here it is, performed by the Albion Christmas Band back in 2013:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgEbxam7wBA
  • betjemaniacbetjemaniac Shipmate
    edited November 2024
    I like the Sans Day Carol, a variation on the popular - and perhaps pagan! - holly (and ivy) theme. Here it is, performed by the Albion Christmas Band back in 2013:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgEbxam7wBA

    I was waiting for someone to mention the Albion Christmas Band!

    Having said that, and despite owning much of their output, a tiny bit of me always finds them a bit cynical- it’s a cash cow that taps into those as likes such things (YMMV).

    I appreciate another way of looking at it is the folk rock glitterati having a lovely time, and I do try and see it as that, but at the same time I struggle!

    ETA, just read this back out loud and Mrs B insists I clarify that part of this is driven by my opinion of Fairport as simultaneously almost my favourite band (in the top 2 or 3) and now the exemplar of a pipe and slippers waste of time.
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited November 2024
    Well, by way of contrast, here's a Cornish carol from about 1820 (more of an Epiphany song, perhaps), cobbled together (!) by a large number of singers and musicians during lockdown:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zGX2J8qD-A

    Not sure if the average Carol Service congregation could manage it, but it would do well as a choir anthem at (say) Epiphany Mattins or Evensong.
  • There's also the Gallery Carol - "Rejoice and be merry".'

    I sang "Bethlehem Down" at school c.1966.
  • There's also the Gallery Carol - "Rejoice and be merry".'

    I sang "Bethlehem Down" at school c.1966.

    Do you have a link to Rejoice and be merry ?

    There's one we sometimes sang at The Tin Tabernacle Of My Youth, which had the refrain:

    Aye, and therefore be merry,
    Rejoice, and be ye merry,
    Cast sorrow aside!
    Christ Jesus our Saviour was born on this tide.


    The first verse began A virgin most pure, so the prophet foretold, though there are different versions. I've looked on YouTube, but can't find the rather cheerful tune we used to warble!

    I think it's in my Oxford Book of Carols, but that's on a Dark Shelf, and it's getting late...
  • As I may have mentioned before, I am fond of "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day."
  • There's also the Gallery Carol - "Rejoice and be merry".'

    I sang "Bethlehem Down" at school c.1966.

    Do you have a link to Rejoice and be merry ?

    There's one we sometimes sang at The Tin Tabernacle Of My Youth, which had the refrain:

    Aye, and therefore be merry,
    Rejoice, and be ye merry,
    Cast sorrow aside!
    Christ Jesus our Saviour was born on this tide.


    The first verse began A virgin most pure, so the prophet foretold, though there are different versions. I've looked on YouTube, but can't find the rather cheerful tune we used to warble!

    I think it's in my Oxford Book of Carols, but that's on a Dark Shelf, and it's getting late...

    Indeed it is, number 4. I learned it at school.

    I have a recording ( which I no longer have the means to play) of my school choir singing Rejoice and be Merry.

    I love Bethlehem Down, but it is hard to keep the pitch. The harmonies are interesting.
    There are many carols I love, but this is one of the best.
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited November 2024
    I think Rejoice and be merry must be a different carol altogether to A virgin most pure.

    Does Britten's A Ceremony of Carols count as under-appreciated? I don't think I'd ever heard it in full until last Christmas, when it was performed (in Latin, Middle English, and Tudor English) by some of the choir trebles of Uppsala Cathedral, Sweden.

    The singers were accompanied by a solo harpist, and the performance was made into a liturgical service - there was a good-sized congregation in the Cathedral's chancel - by the interpolation of a couple of very short Gospel readings, a couple of prayers, and the Lord's Prayer (all in Swedish).

    It made a very refreshing and minimalist change from the *traditional* Carols & Nine Lessons sort of thing...
  • We used to sing Like silver bells in a distant shrine at my boarding school in the late 50s, but I've never heard it anywhere since.
  • It made a very refreshing and minimalist change from the *traditional* Carols & Nine Lessons sort of thing...

    My problem is that these are more or less the only ones I am familiar with and I feel comfortable with them.
  • I’m a fan of Bethlehem Down. We sang it several times around Christmas prior to Covid but for some reason not since. (Unfortunately for me it has a slightly bizarre connection to Donald Trump - I was travelling for work at the time of the 2016 election and it was the one and only piece of music I had on my iPhone that I could use to wake up to in the morning - I still remember waking up to Bethlehem Down and the election results.)

    We’ve also sung Paul Manz’s Een So Lord Jesus Quickly Come several times around advent and will be singing it again this year. Another excellent not so well known piece.
  • Baptist TrainfanBaptist Trainfan Shipmate
    edited November 2024
    Here is "Rejoice and be merry": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2MeSX19H24

    However this IMHO is definitely not how to sing it - it needs to be in a raunchier rustic style, with more rhythm and oomph.
  • cgichard wrote: »
    We used to sing Like silver bells in a distant shrine at my boarding school in the late 50s, but I've never heard it anywhere since.
    'bells' should be 'lamps' - just in case any of you are looking for it.

  • SpikeSpike Ecclesiantics & MW Host, Admin Emeritus
    My favourite has to be The Blessed Son of God by R Vaughan Williams. I suggested this to the director of a choir I sing in and was amazed he’d never heard of it.
  • Nor have I.
  • I like the New Year carol 'Here we bring new water/all from the well so clear/For to worship God with/ This merry new year'. I've only heard it sung once, and may have got the words slightly wrong.
  • We sang “This little babe” from A ceremony of carols “ in first form in school.
    I love some of the carols sung by Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band — particularly “Sing, Sing all Earth.”. It’s a great shame that they will be disbanding, but they are not the youngest anymore!
  • We have that on on of their CDs. We actually have a large collection of Advent/Christmas carols, mostly sung by folk groups; as carols were essentially "music of the people" until the late Victorian period, we much prefer their robust and earthy approach to the (dare I say it?) rather twee interpretations by many church choirs. (Of course there are more modern carols written specifically for that context, but that's a different matter).
  • [tangent] they are in Abergavenny in December [/tangent]
  • Spike wrote: »
    My favourite has to be The Blessed Son of God by R Vaughan Williams. I suggested this to the director of a choir I sing in and was amazed he’d never heard of it.

    It’s part of the Cantata Hodie which may be why not as many people are familiar with it as a freestanding work. Also quite beautiful from that cantata is the penultimate choral - No sad thought his soul affright, especially the second verse with words written by Ursula Vaughan Williams.

    Unfortunately Hodie isn’t performed very often as a whole - it requires a full orchestra, organ, and boys and mixed choirs. It’s a work with many highlights including the recitatives (Narrations) written for treble voices and organ. Many years ago my college choir sang The Blessed Son of God, together with the Narration that precedes it, at an Advent Carol Service, which is how I discovered the larger work.
  • Priscilla wrote: »
    [tangent] they are in Abergavenny in December [/tangent]

    Ah, thanks ... we heard them in Ipswich aeons ago, and Maddy Prior had a cold! I have a full School Governors' meeting that day, alas.
  • I love The Three Drovers, one of the Australian Christmas Carols, which I guess is only known by us Australians. There are many other lovely Australian carols written by the same composers, William James & John Wheeler.
  • Priscilla wrote: »
    I like Bethlehem Down too. My favourite is Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour (All for Love’s sake, becamest poor)
    Thank you for this -- glad to learn of it (unfamiliar before now).
    Depends on whether we’re including Advent hymns as carols (and IME this is a thing, and getting them sung is a constant battle) - in which case Lo He Comes With Clouds Descending and Hills of the North Rejoice are nowhere near as commonplace as they should be IMO.

    Back on strict carols, the Coventry Carol is always good
    We are including Advent (as the thread title demonstrates :wink:), and yes -- it's a constant battle to enrich Advent with Advent carols, and delay bone fide Christmas carols for as long as liturgically possible. I do love "Coventry Carol," and I hear that fairly often each year. I'll add that IMO Dale Warland's arrangement is quite nice. I'll need to look up "Hills of the North Rejoice," though -- great! And thanks!

    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Depends on whether we’re including Advent hymns as carols (and IME this is a thing, and getting them sung is a constant battle) - in which case Lo He Comes With Clouds Descending and Hills of the North Rejoice are nowhere near as commonplace as they should be IMO.
    Well, if we’re going to get really technical, there’s nothing that says carols are just for Christmas. There are Passiontide carols, Easter carols, spring carols and more. Just check out the Oxford Book of Carols. Although now the word is almost never used for anything other than Christmas carols, the word simply means a kind of traditional, celebratory song, originally typically having a refrain and verses and perhaps a dance-like feel.
    Have you ever considered teaching a Music Appreciation class at a Community College local to you, @Nick Tamen? All true re: the "carole."

    I like the Sans Day Carol, a variation on the popular - and perhaps pagan! - holly (and ivy) theme. Here it is, performed by the Albion Christmas Band back in 2013:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgEbxam7wBA
    "Sans Day Carol" (John Rutter's arrangement) -- a staple of both my father-in-law's and my own annual L&C programs seemingly forever. Delightful organ part if an orchestra isn't available. I also enjoy hearing The Chieftans perform it on their The Bells of Dublin album.
    Well, by way of contrast, here's a Cornish carol from about 1820 (more of an Epiphany song, perhaps), cobbled together (!) by a large number of singers and musicians during lockdown:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zGX2J8qD-A

    Not sure if the average Carol Service congregation could manage it, but it would do well as a choir anthem at (say) Epiphany Mattins or Evensong.
    Thank you for this!
    There's also the Gallery Carol - "Rejoice and be merry".'

    I sang "Bethlehem Down" at school c.1966.
    Wow -- Gallery Carol sounds fun -- rhythmic and jazzy -- refreshing.
    There's also the Gallery Carol - "Rejoice and be merry".'

    I sang "Bethlehem Down" at school c.1966.

    Do you have a link to Rejoice and be merry ?

    There's one we sometimes sang at The Tin Tabernacle Of My Youth, which had the refrain:

    Aye, and therefore be merry,
    Rejoice, and be ye merry,
    Cast sorrow aside!
    Christ Jesus our Saviour was born on this tide.


    The first verse began A virgin most pure, so the prophet foretold, though there are different versions. I've looked on YouTube, but can't find the rather cheerful tune we used to warble!

    I think it's in my Oxford Book of Carols, but that's on a Dark Shelf, and it's getting late...
    This Charles Wood arrangement of "A Virgin most pure" s the carol I know best with that text as a refrain: https://youtu.be/eRiC4HvG4K0?si=HyTp1z52L_Lt9g4b -- I like that a lot.
  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host
    I really like the Gardner setting of Tomorrow shall be my dancing day (YouTube)
  • HarryCH wrote: »
    As I may have mentioned before, I am fond of "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day."
    Ooo, I'm not sure which tune you might mean, here, but for better or worse I have The Carpenters rendition of this text burned into my brain (thanks, Mom): https://youtu.be/-UTLZyCYrpQ?si=rPOb7yd-itotA_Vn .
    I think Rejoice and be merry must be a different carol altogether to A virgin most pure.

    Does Britten's A Ceremony of Carols count as under-appreciated? I don't think I'd ever heard it in full until last Christmas, when it was performed (in Latin, Middle English, and Tudor English) by some of the choir trebles of Uppsala Cathedral, Sweden.

    The singers were accompanied by a solo harpist, and the performance was made into a liturgical service - there was a good-sized congregation in the Cathedral's chancel - by the interpolation of a couple of very short Gospel readings, a couple of prayers, and the Lord's Prayer (all in Swedish).

    It made a very refreshing and minimalist change from the *traditional* Carols & Nine Lessons sort of thing...
    The Britten work counts, indeed! Harpists are pretty rare, so it's not often performed. And yet, Rivlet1 (a DMA Voice student) is singing this piece with harp in a month or so. Though, O can't say whether it's the women only version, or the arrangement for SATB (I'm hoping it's the former).
    cgichard wrote: »
    We used to sing Like silver bells in a distant shrine at my boarding school in the late 50s, but I've never heard it anywhere since.
    I found a PDF of this online in hymn form -- thank you!
    Marsupial wrote: »
    I’m a fan of Bethlehem Down. We sang it several times around Christmas prior to Covid but for some reason not since. (Unfortunately for me it has a slightly bizarre connection to Donald Trump - I was travelling for work at the time of the 2016 election and it was the one and only piece of music I had on my iPhone that I could use to wake up to in the morning - I still remember waking up to Bethlehem Down and the election results.)

    We’ve also sung Paul Manz’s Een So Lord Jesus Quickly Come several times around advent and will be singing it again this year. Another excellent not so well known piece.
    Yikes! re: Bethlehem Down -- I hope that someday it can extricate itself form those memories! I know the Manz, and I'd agree that it's not so well known. Another carol largely in the minor mode.
    Here is "Rejoice and be merry": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2MeSX19H24

    However this IMHO is definitely not how to sing it - it needs to be in a raunchier rustic style, with more rhythm and oomph.
    Thank you!!
    Spike wrote: »
    My favourite has to be The Blessed Son of God by R Vaughan Williams. I suggested this to the director of a choir I sing in and was amazed he’d never heard of it.
    YESSIR!!! For me, it is *not* Christmas without this carol.
    Marsupial wrote: »
    It’s part of the Cantata Hodie which may be why not as many people are familiar with it as a freestanding work. Also quite beautiful from that cantata is the penultimate choral - No sad thought his soul affright, especially the second verse with words written by Ursula Vaughan Williams.

    Unfortunately Hodie isn’t performed very often as a whole - it requires a full orchestra, organ, and boys and mixed choirs. It’s a work with many highlights including the recitatives (Narrations) written for treble voices and organ. Many years ago my college choir sang The Blessed Son of God, together with the Narration that precedes it, at an Advent Carol Service, which is how I discovered the larger work.

    Hodie is a tragically underperformed masterwork -- yes! I've been fortunate to perform it twice: once as a singer, and once as the conductor. The logistics are a challenge, and here int the US it takes quite a bit of doing to prepare a group of boys well enough (if a standing boychoir isn't available). "The Blessed Son" and "No Sad Thought..." have enjoyed their own successes, but I'd wager that if people 'knew' anything from Hodie it's "The blessed Sion of God.'
  • The_Riv wrote: »
    Hodie is a tragically underperformed masterwork.
    True of much of RVW's oeuvre, I think.

  • Priscilla wrote: »
    My favourite is Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour (All for Love’s sake, becamest poor)
    Known in this household as, "What's that funny smell?" from its tune.

  • Baptist TrainfanBaptist Trainfan Shipmate
    edited November 2024
    Well, by way of contrast, here's a Cornish carol from about 1820 (more of an Epiphany song, perhaps), cobbled together (!) by a large number of singers and musicians during lockdown:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zGX2J8qD-A.

    Now that is my kind of carol! And with a fuguing tune!

  • Priscilla wrote: »
    We sang “This little babe” from A ceremony of carols “ in first form in school. I love some of the carols sung by Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band — particularly “Sing, Sing all Earth.”. It’s a great shame that they will be disbanding, but they are not the youngest anymore!
    Looking up "Sing, sing all earth," thank you! (And Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band :blush:)
    rhubarb wrote: »
    I love The Three Drovers, one of the Australian Christmas Carols, which I guess is only known by us Australians. There are many other lovely Australian carols written by the same composers, William James & John Wheeler.
    This is great -- thank you!
    Eirenist wrote: »
    I like the New Year carol 'Here we bring new water/all from the well so clear/For to worship God with/ This merry new year'. I've only heard it sung once, and may have got the words slightly wrong.
    I love this, too! Definitely underperformed, maybe because of Christmas fatigue, but a wonderful carol to be sure. The text makes for an interesting study on its own. When I had a Choir of Men & Boys at an Episcopal Parish years ago, we had an annual dinner/concert/silent auction fundraiser for the guys on 12th Night every year. We always included "A New Year Carol." :wistful:
  • The_Riv wrote: »
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Depends on whether we’re including Advent hymns as carols (and IME this is a thing, and getting them sung is a constant battle) - in which case Lo He Comes With Clouds Descending and Hills of the North Rejoice are nowhere near as commonplace as they should be IMO.
    Well, if we’re going to get really technical, there’s nothing that says carols are just for Christmas. There are Passiontide carols, Easter carols, spring carols and more. Just check out the Oxford Book of Carols. Although now the word is almost never used for anything other than Christmas carols, the word simply means a kind of traditional, celebratory song, originally typically having a refrain and verses and perhaps a dance-like feel.
    Have you ever considered teaching a Music Appreciation class at a Community College local to you, @Nick Tamen? All true re: the "carole."
    Ha! Maybe that’s what I can do in retirement. My family would certainly be grateful for me to have someone else to share my “Well, actually” and “Did you know” comments with. :lol:
    Here’s another vote for “Bethlehem Down.”

    While it may not sound like anyone’s conception of a Christmas (or Epiphany) carol, I love “Star in the East,” which draws on “Brightest and Best of the Sons of the Morning.” (The version to which I linked is a concert version, though it does preserve the traditional harmonies. For the “native” version, try here.)

    And living as I do in a place with noticeable Moravian influence, I do wish “Morning Star, O Cheering Sight” was better known outside Moravian churches and the areas influenced by them. It’s traditionally sung at the Christmas Love Feast and perhaps also on Christmas Eve, with a child/children singing the solo lines and the congregation responding, as here.

    Both Sydney Carter’s “Every Star Shall Sing a Carol” and Ken Carmichael’s “Bring We the Frankincense of our Love” have appeared in hymnals of my tribe, but no longer do. (I think “Bring We the Frankincense” was only ever published in two or three hymnals.) They are both lovely, I think. I know why “Every Star” disappeared; I’ve tried to figure out how to make the line “God above, Man below” inclusive yet still poetic, but have had no success.

    And this is a small thing, but I still grieve the loss in our more recent hymnals of the harmonization for “Infant Holy, Infant Lowly” in my tribes 1955 The Hymnbook. Granted, it lacked the repetition of the last phrase, but the harmony on the third line is simply sumptuous.

    Meanwhile, for many years, when children were younger and my wife needed to stay home with them, I would go by myself to sing in the choir at the midnight service. On the solitary drive home, it became my practice to listen to Morten Lauridsen’s O Magnum Mysterium. That is still the musical definition of Christmas Eve/early Christmas morning for me.
    Paging @RecoveringCynic. I think he’d enjoy this thread, and have ideas to add, but I think he mainly looks at Ecclesiantics.


  • RecoveringCynicRecoveringCynic Shipmate
    edited November 2024
    I've been summoned! (Thanks @Nick Tamen ...I sometimes venture up to All Saints but rarely make it all the way up here!) I could go on for a long time about this topic, but I'll just give a few of the top of my head.

    I love Brightest and Best (but only to STAR IN THE EAST as I am a big shape note fan). Shawn Kirchner has an excellent choral version.

    Another gem is Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light...a beautiful chorale that I think gets slept on a lot as it only has one verse.

    Less of a carol, strictly speaking, but I love Rory Cooney's Canticle of the Turning version of the Magnificat to STAR OF THE COUNTY DOWN.

    Prepare The Way O Zion (BEREDEN VÄG FÖR HERRAN) is a fun Advent romp, especially if you add some instrumental color to it, along similar lines to "On Jordan's Bank" to PUER NOBIS or Comfort, Comfort to the Genevan tune.

    When I was young, I always enjoyed Angels, From the Realms of Glory to REGENT SQUARE. Frequently sung in my neck of the woods, but I always felt underappreciated. It just felt pleasantly Christmassy.

    Let All Mortal Flesh is one that is frequently in the Eucharist sections of hymnals, but it was in the Advent section of our hymnal growing up, and I always like it in that context.


    I have too many favorite arrangements and anthems to count...

  • Prepare The Way O Zion(BEREDEN VÄG FÖR HERRAN) is a fun Advent romp, especially if you add some instrumental color to it, along similar lines to "On Jordan's Bank" to PUER NOBIS or Comfort, Comfort to the Genevan tune.
    Ah, the bolded are two of my favorites for Advent. You might like this version of “Comfort, Comfort.”. It makes me want to dance. (Yes, I suspect Calvin would not approve. :lol: )


  • Nick Tamen wrote: »
    Prepare The Way O Zion(BEREDEN VÄG FÖR HERRAN) is a fun Advent romp, especially if you add some instrumental color to it, along similar lines to "On Jordan's Bank" to PUER NOBIS or Comfort, Comfort to the Genevan tune.
    Ah, the bolded are two of my favorites for Advent. You might like this version of “Comfort, Comfort.”. It makes me want to dance. (Yes, I suspect Calvin would not approve. :lol: )


    Ha...I considered linking that one :lol:

    I do enjoy making that tune "dance" as if it were done by a medieval consort.
  • The_RivThe_Riv Shipmate
    edited November 2024
    Thank you, @RecoveringCynic! Worthy additions, indeed! Mrs. The_Riv's paternal great-grandfather was a Singing School Teacher who traveled a regular circuit throughout northern MS, southwestern TN and parts of southeastern AR. Her dad has arranged a number of pieces in that tradition.

    Speaking of Epiphany music, @Nick Tamen, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention "There shall a star from Jacob come forth" by Mendelssohn. I think of it as a carol, but opinions vary. I'd say it's definitely underperformed. Of course, I think Mendelssohn is underperformed in general. This piece was from an unfinished oratorio, Christus. It finishes on a straightforward verse of "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern," which always came as a relief to my choristers!

    Back to Christmas proper, and one of the more ambitions carols I've ever taught and directed is "Joys Seven" arranged by Stephen Cleobury. Input it in the same category as Sans Day Carol: it's lilting, cheerful, infectious, even charming. The sixth verse describes Mary's 'joy' as "to see her own son, Jesus Christ, upon the crucifix," and despite the cognitive dissonance of a mother experiencing joy in that moment, the harmonies are a lovely, seven-part, a cappella departure from the previous five verses. Soaring treble/soprano descant over the seventh verse with an opened-up reedy organ... wonderful!

    I can't let Vaughan Williams discussion wane before mentioning "The truth from above," another extraction of sorts from a slightly larger work (his Fantasia on Christmas Carols). Truly, I'd be nowhere without RVW (not really, but you get my drift -- biiig fan -- HUGE fan! :smile:)

    Ave Maria-s are everywhere during Advent/Christmas, but I wish Javier Busto's setting was presented more. It's simply lovely, and with an atmospheric Latino quality.

    Speaking of Latino carols, Conrad Susa's Carols and Lullabies from the Southwest is replete with them, including "A la nanita nana" and "El rorro."

    What can I add to what @Nick Tamen has already said about "O magnum mysterium?" I have been fortunate to sing and conduct Lauridsen's full "O Nata Lux" a number of times, and the whole thing is glorious.

    In that same vein is Howard Helvey's "O lux beatissima." Run -- don't walk -- to hear this well sung in a supportive acoustic!!!
  • The_Riv wrote: »
    Speaking of Epiphany music, @Nick Tamen, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention "There shall a star from Jacob come forth" by Mendelssohn. I think of it as a carol, but opinions vary. I'd say it's definitely underperformed. Of course, I think Mendelssohn is underperformed in general. This piece was from an unfinished oratorio, Christus. It finishes on a straightforward verse of "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern," which always came as a relief to my choristers!
    I guess this is where I confess that I really, really dislike Mendelssohn’s vocal music in general, and his choral music in particular. A fellow bass in the choir at church and I have a running joke about it, as Mendelssohn is his favorite.

    It would be boring if we were all the same.


  • S'ok. I forgive you, @Nick Tamen . (LOL)

    I suppose we'll always have Vaughan Williams. Though, if you don't like RVW either, well... I wish you all the best, and don't let the choir room door hit you on your way out!

    I once taught and conducted Mendelssohn's 2nd Symphony, his Lobegesang, Op.52 and quite enjoyed it. It's true that his music doesn't seem to be for everybody, though we should always remember that if it wasn't for ol' Felix, much more of JS Bach's music might be lost to us.

    PS: Check your DMs.
  • The_Riv wrote: »
    S'ok. I forgive you, @Nick Tamen . (LOL)

    I suppose we'll always have Vaughan Williams. Though, if you don't like RVW either, well... I wish you all the best, and don't let the choir room door hit you on your way out!
    I love VW, so be at ease. He and Copland are probably at the top of my favorite composers list.

    And check yours. :wink:


  • Nick Tamen wrote: »
    I really, really dislike Mendelssohn’s vocal music in general, and his choral music in particular. A fellow bass in the choir at church and I have a running joke about it, as Mendelssohn is his favorite.
    Thinking of carols, do look up what M's music now used for "Hark, the herald angels" was originally written for. You might be surprised!

  • Nick Tamen wrote: »
    I really, really dislike Mendelssohn’s vocal music in general, and his choral music in particular. A fellow bass in the choir at church and I have a running joke about it, as Mendelssohn is his favorite.
    Thinking of carols, do look up what M's music now used for "Hark, the herald angels" was originally written for. You might be surprised!
    Ah, the Festgesung and “Gutenberg, the German man.” I am familiar with it and, yes, it is amusing. Perhaps one bit of Mendelssohn’s choral music I find bearable. :lol:


  • EnochEnoch Shipmate
    Priscilla wrote: »
    ... I love some of the carols sung by Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band — particularly “Sing, Sing all Earth.”. It’s a great shame that they will be disbanding, but they are not the youngest anymore!
    . @Priscilla is this the one you mean?. It's the one I know as 'Shepherds Arise'. IMHO it's a cracker. I was going to suggest it, but if that is the one you mean, you've got in before me. It is also used in the Nativity sequence from the Harrison Mysteries.

    This version of While Shepherds Watched, known as Old Fosters, is another of my favourites. It is depressing when there are so many much better tunes for While Shepherds Watched that, by the action of the compilers of the first Edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern in 1861, it has become indelibly attached to Winchester Old, probably the dullest of all those options.

    Another tune that While Shepherds Watched goes particularly well to is Lyngham, It is a setting particularly popular in Cornwall, but for most people in the UK, that is the tune they expect for 'O for a thousand tongues'. I believe in the USA that is usually associated with a quite different tune, which I don't think is widely known here.


  • I know it's trendy to disparage John Rutter, but I love the Star Carol.
  • Missed the edit window! That's not the one I mean.
  • Not Rutter but Bob Chilcott. The Shepherds' Carol.
  • His Nativity Carol is very nice.

    I usually think that people who disparage John Rutter's music have heard of looked at very, very little of it.
  • jedijudyjedijudy Heaven Host

    Another gem is Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light...a beautiful chorale that I think gets slept on a lot as it only has one verse.

    I hope you will join us in Heaven more frequently, @RecoveringCynic!

    "Break Forth" is one of my all time favorite Christmas Carols! In the 1989 UMC Hymnal, there are three verses, which gave me three times the joy of playing it!

    "There Shall a Star" is another favorite. Way back in 1993 it was the first piece of music I played to accompany the choir my first Sunday after I was hired.

    So many wonderful Carols and Christmas Hymns in this thread!
  • jedijudy wrote: »
    "There Shall a Star" is another favorite. Way back in 1993 it was the first piece of music I played to accompany the choir my first Sunday after I was hired.

    So many wonderful Carols and Christmas Hymns in this thread!
    That is indeed a trial by fire! Kudos!
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