A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols Sunday, 25th December 2016

[DracoM]

A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols
Sunday, 25th December 2016
R3 @ 2 p.m.

Order of Service:

Hymn: Once in Royal David's City (desc. Cleobury)
Bidding Prayer read by the Dean
A Babe is born (Mathias)

First lesson: Genesis 3: 8-19 read by a Chorister
Jesus Christ the apple tree (Poston)
Adam lay ybounden (Gaynor Howard)

Second lesson: Genesis 22: 15-18 read by a Choral Scholar
Riu, riu chiu (Flecha the Elder)
In dulci jubilo (H. Praetorius)

Third lesson: Isaiah 9: 2, 6-7 read by a representative of the Cambridge Churches
Sussex Carol (arr. Brian Kelly)
Hymn: O Little Town of Bethlehem (arr. Vaughan Williams)

Fourth lesson: Isaiah 11: 1-3a, 4a, 6-9 read by a representative of the City of Cambridge
The Lamb (Tavener)
A spotless rose (Howells)

Fifth lesson: Luke 1: 26-38 read by a representative of our sister college at Eton
I sing of a maiden (Lennox Berkeley)
Joys Seven (arr. Cleobury)

Sixth lesson: Luke 2: 1 -7 read by the Chaplain
Quelle est cette odeur? (arr. Willcocks)
This ender night (Michael Berkeley) Commission (world première))

Seventh lesson: Luke 2: 8-16 read by the Director of Music
In the bleak midwinter (Darke)
Hymn: While shepherds watched (desc. Cleobury)

Eighth lesson: Matthew 2: 1-12 read by the Vice-Provost
Bethlehem Down (Warlock)
Ding, dong merrily (Wood arr. Wilberg and Stevens)

Ninth lesson: John 1: 1-14 read by the Provost
Hymn: O come, all ye faithful (arr. Willcocks)
Collect and Blessing
Hymn: Hark, the Herald Angels sing (desc. Ledger)

Organ voluntaries:
In dulci jubilo (BWV 729) (Bach)
Dieu parmi nous (La Nativité du Seigneur) (Messaien)

Organ Scholar: Richard Gowers
Director of Music: Stephen Cleobury

[vinteuil]

.

... all these arrs and descs.

One day it wd be nice to have an unadorned urtext reading ..

[light_calibre_baritone]

But so many Crimbo tunes are folk or traditional so are going to have to be arr'd - lest we we fall into some strophic stupor...

[ardcarp]

strophic stupor

Excellent turn of phrase l-c-b ! Nothing makes my heart sink more than a choir singing 8 verses all the same. Three cheers for arr-ers.

[DracoM]

KCC have themselves manacled to, and through the relentless BBC, us locked in quick-setting concrete with a carol / readings format that needs serious re-thinking IMO.

TS Eliot: 'Journey of the Magi' for example?
Other suggestions for an alternative Christmas Carol / Readings list?

[Alison]

I'd like to see In the Bleak dropped, just every so often, say two years out of five!

[ardcarp]

KCC have themselves manacled to, and through the relentless BBC, us locked in quick-setting concrete with a carol / readings format that needs serious re-thinking IMO.

Q. How many Cambridge Fellows does it take to change a light bulb?
A. Change ?????????????

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Q. How many Cambridge Fellows does it take to change a light bulb?
A. Change ?????????????

[CallMePaul]

This is also broadcast live on R4 at 3pm on Christmas Eve. Beware the BBC2 version though, which is heavily edited and gives only the lessons and carols, cutting the rest of the service (at least that has happened in previous years!).

[jean]

Isn't it a different thing entirely?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

A Ledger descant, but not his best one, which I regard as the one he wrote for Once in Royal (for which we get a Cleobury one )

I persuaded our choir director to use Ledger's Once in Royal descant in out carol concerts this year. She did so with initial reluctance, but it was just as stunning as I'd remembered.

[Vox Humana]

Isn't it a different thing entirely?

Yes.

[ardcarp]

Recorded in October?

[DracoM]

And in the R3 version, there is more organ music.
Not sure about October, but it's usually at least a month ahead of the big day. Means of course that the choir will have been rehearsing Xmas Fare for weeks. Then the TV / film crews arrive, and.........

............by the time Christmas Day evening actually arrives, you don't much care if you never, ever sing or hear another Bleak Midwinter.

[Petrushka]

Recorded in October?

No, it was recorded on December 11. The BBC2 Carols from King's is completely different and includes readings and format that DracoM might prefer (see #5).

In the Bleak Midwinter is one of my favourites, Alison, ii wouldn't be Christmas without it and fondly remembered from my own 1960s choir days. It's a rare instance in the carol world of a newer version supplanting the old to better effect.