Music for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, 2018, Year C

Christmas Eve Monday 24th December
2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8:11-16
Psalm 89:19-27
Acts 13:16-26
Luke 1:67-79

Christmas Day: Proper I
Isaiah 62:6-12
Psalm 97
Titus 3:4-7
Luke 2:[1-7] 8-20

Christmas Day: Proper II
Isaiah 9:2-7
Psalm 96
Titus 2:11-14
Luke 2:1-14 [15-20]

Christmas Day: Proper III
Isaiah 52:7-10
Psalm 98
Hebrews 1:1-4 [5-12]
John 1:1-14

The idea is that you’re supposed to use Proper III at some point, because of John’s Gospel. Most people seem to use it at Midnight Mass. Sorry, I’m not summarising all of these readings! Maybe next year.

Jennifer Higdon, O Magnum Mysterium
Text in Latin and English, moderately challenging, 6min.
SATB with three accompaniment options:
A – 2 flutes, 2 crystal glasses, chimes;
B – organ;
C – a cappella
Available from the composer’s website: http://jenniferhigdon.com/choralworks.html
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeDqzRPK06I

Tawnie Olson, O Inexpressible Mystery
English text, SSAATBB and viola obbligato, moderately challenging, 2min 30s.
Published by E C Schirmer, available in print and download from Canticle Distributing: https://www.canticledistributing.com/catalog/product/view/id/39673/
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9E5SMz2w4U

Rhian Samuel, So Long Ago
English text by John Pudney, SATB a cappella with soprano solo, moderately challenging, 2min 50s.
Published by Stainer & Bell: https://stainer.co.uk/shop/y154/
Recording: https://youtu.be/-9oCNhKR-ag

Rosephanye Powell, The Word Was God
English text, SSAATTBB a cappella (also available in SATB, SSAA, TTBB)
Available from J W Pepper: https://www.jwpepper.com/The-Word-Was-God/8068120.item
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWvCNrTrx_s

Patricia Van Ness, Into Winter’s Glimm’ring Night
English text by Patricia Van Ness, SSAATTB a cappella, moderately challenging, 4min. Available from the composer’s website: http://www.patriciavanness.com/works-CM-acappella.html
Recording: http://www.patriciavanness.com/mp3/INTO%20WINTERS%20GLIMMRING%20NIGHT.mp3

This is, of course, an incomplete list. I have quite a backlog to add to the site again, as soon as things quiet down a bit on the PhD front.

May you have a happy, holy and blessed Christmas.

12th Day of Christmas: ‘I walked in darkness’ by Kathryn Rose

For the twelfth day of Christmas, here’s I walked in darkness by Kathryn Rose, with words by Marnanel Thurman:

I walked in darkness. Many a lonely mile,
my eyes and footsteps hesitant and blind.
I sought a kindly light I did not find
in land or ocean, asking all the while
if lightless lives are taken in exchange
for light eternal; still the shades of sight
would whisper, “Even I shall see the light!”
I never thought the light would look so strange.
Not in a temple, echoing and awed,
Nor in a palace, glistening and grand,
Nor in my home, nor any friendly land.
But distant, dirty, in a shed abroad,
I met a maiden bloody from a birth
and in her arms, the light of all the earth.

[Listen to I walked in darkness on Youtube]

The score is available from the Choral Public Domain Library.

10th Day of Christmas: Christmas Eve by Tansy Davies

For the tenth day of Christmas, here’s Tansy Davies’s setting of Christmas Eve by Christina Rossetti.

Christmas hath a darkness
Brighter than the blazing noon,
Christmas hath a chillness
Warmer than the heat of June,
Christmas hath a beauty
Lovelier than the world can show:
For Christmas bringeth Jesus,
Brought for us so low.

Earth, strike up your music,
Birds that sing and bells that ring;
Heaven hath answring music
For all Angels soon to sing:
Earth, put on your whitest
Bridal robe of spotless snow:
For Christmas bringeth Jesus,
Brought for us so low.

[Listen to Christmas Eve on Youtube]

A printable download is available for purchase from Faber and Faber.

5th Day of Christmas: Lullaby for the Christ Child, Ruth Watson Henderson

For the fifth day of Christmas, here’s Lullaby for the Christ Child by Ruth Watson Henderson:

[Listen to Lullaby for the Christ Child on YouTube]

The music is available from Good Music Publishing for unison voices; the Canadian Music Centre says the work is for “children’s choir (unison with descant), or for soprano solo, with piano or organ accompaniment, and optional adult choir SATB.”

Music for Sunday 31st December: Christmas 1, Year B

This week’s readings are:

Isaiah 61:10-62:3
Psalm 148
Galatians 4:4-7
Luke 2:15-21

It’s very much still Christmas, so any of the music from the Christmas page or from the twelve days of Christmas tags would work well.

It’s also New Year’s Eve; if you wanted to focus on that a bit, “Ring Out, Wild Bells” by Stephanie Martin might well be appropriate. It’s available from Leading Note, but I haven’t been able to find a recording. The words are taken from the poem by Tennyson, but I’m not sure if it’s the complete poem or just part of it.