Sing We Now of Christmas
Program Notes
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To a text by Robert Herrick (1591-1674), the prolific British composer John Rutter composed What Sweeter Music for Stephen Cleobury and the choir of King’s College, Cambridge. The result is a beautiful piece both to sing and to listen to. With organ accompaniment the piece makes excellent use of treble voices and male voices individually, but then Rutter unites them to great effect throughout the piece. The entire mood is one of calm, peace, and tranquility.
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Gentle Mary Laid Her Child has become a staple in the repertoire of Christmas music, usually sung to the same tune as Good King Wenceslas. Canadian composer Allan Bevan composed his own melody for the piece. The first verse, with piano, is sung by sopranos and altos alone. The second verse is sung a cappella but using all four voices. In typical British style the last verse is in unison with the sopranos singing a descant and all supported by the piano.
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In 1961 American composer Randall Thompson published his “choric drama” The Nativity According to Saint Luke to honour the 200th anniversary of Christ Church, Cambridge, Massachusetts. His hope was that it would become a yearly presentation akin to Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, but that did not happen, and few performances have occurred. One critic suggested that it would have greater success if it were taken out of the church and performed not as Christmas pageant. One of the pieces from it is Nowel which is scored for solo quartet (of shepherds) who are then joined by the full chorus (of shepherds). The single word used throughout the entire piece is “nowel.” It is simple, yet dignified in its expression of joy.
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Canadian composer Mark Sirett took Thomas Hardy’s famous poem The Oxen and set it to music for chorus and harp (piano) in 2006. The legend is that the oxen knelt in honour of the birth of Christ at midnight on Christmas Eve. The speaker of the poem is torn between believing this, but in his heart hoping that it was so. There is a strong, handsome tune accompanied by a majestic part for piano/harp. The piece is homophonic and has a mysterious nature throughout.
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In 1990, Norman Dello Joio wrote a work called Nativity: A Christmas Canticle for the Child. It also includes dialogue and was meant to be staged. The final piece in that canticle is the chorale O! Star That Makes the Stable Bright. When Nativity is staged, this piece is immediately preceded by the stage being lit to suggest a clear night in which the star of the east shines, as the storyteller says, “But Joseph took the Babe and his mother in the silent night and departed into Egypt.” The lyrics link the “star of God, the world is me, the Babe shall be of both.” These three together are “wed on one dead tree” which predestines the crucifixion. With similarities to Bach the chorale is hymn-like throughout.
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A Cappella Christmas Cantata retells or repeats the familiar story of the birth of Christ but in a new and quite refreshing way. Larry Nickel was commissioned by the Faith Builders Chorale of Pennsylvania to write a work for Christmas without any instrumentation, as their particular Amish sect does not make use of instruments in their church service. One of the pieces from this work is Little Lamb, Who Made Thee?, set to a text by William Blake. This gentle piece is hymnlike but also has the quality of a lullaby.
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On This Day Earth Shall Ring is a resounding anthem for chorus and organ by H.C. Stewart. With alternating rhythms, it has a lyrical bounce and vitality throughout the first and last parts. The middle section begins much more legato but again ends with the same boisterousness. The final words are “Born on earth to save us, Peace and love He gave us, Ideo, Ideo, Ideo, Gloria, Gloria in excelsis Deo” with the organ, all stops out, ending the piece.
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The major work on this concert provides the title for the concert – Sing We Now of Christmas. It is a colourful combination of carols, hymns, and secular songs of the season, mainly traditional. Harry Simeone arranged the thirty songs that comprise this work in 1959, adding only one original song, The Little Drummer Boy, composed by Harry Simeone, Katherine Davis and Henry Onorati. The built-in pace and variety of Sing We Now of Christmas will make this hour of music one that you will want to hear again and again. The piece is written for choir, soloists, and narrator and is accompanied is by three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, three percussion and piano four hands!
Included in this choral extravaganza are:
Part One
Sing We Now of Christmas
Angels We Have Heard on High
Away in a Manager
What Child is This?
Joy to the World
Go Tell It on the Mountain
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
Good King Wenceslas
We Three Kings
Villancico
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Bring a Torch Jeanette, Isabella
Lo! How a Rose E’er Blooming
Deck the Halls
Good Christian Men Rejoice
Masters in This Hall
O Tannenbaum
Part Two
O Holy Night
The Little Drummer Boy
Coventry Carol
Rise Up, Shepherds, and Follow
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
O Little Town of Bethlehem
O Come, Little Children
Ding Dong Merrily on High
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks
The First Nöel
The Friendly Beasts
Silent Night
Adeste Fideles
There will be a short interval between the opening carols on the concert and Sing We Now of Christmas. Simeone has built in an intermission between Parts One and Two which we will observe.
James Hawn, Artistic Director
Text and Translations
John Rutter: What Sweeter Music
Text from A Christmas Carol by Robert Herrick
What sweeter music can we bring
Than a carol, for to sing
The birth of this our heavenly King?
Awake the voice, awake the string!
Dark and dull night, fly hence away!
And give the honour to this day
That sees December turned to May.
Why does the chilling winter's morn
Smile like a field beset with corn?
Or smell like a meadow newly-shorn,
Thus, on the sudden?
Come and see
The cause, why things thus fragrant be:
'Tis He is born, whose quickening birth
Gives life and lustre, public mirth,
To Heaven and the under earth.
We see Him come, and know Him ours,
Who with His sunshine and His showers
Turns all the patient ground to flowers.
The darling of the world is come,
And fit it is, we find a room
To welcome Him.
And of all the house here is the heart,
Which we will give Him; and bequeath
This holly and this ivy wreath
To do Him honour, who's our King
And Lord of all this revelling.
Allan Bevan: Gentle Mary Laid Her Child
Text by Joseph Simpson Cook
Gentle Mary laid her child
Lowly in a manger;
There he lay, the undefiled,
To the world a stranger,
Such a babe in such a place,
Can he be the Saviour?
Ask the saved of all the race
Who have found his favour.
Angels sang about his birth,
Wise men sought and found him;
Heaven's star shone brightly forth,
Glory all around him.
Shepherds saw the wondrous sight,
Heard the angels singing;
All the plains were lit that night,
All the hills were ringing.
Gentle Mary laid her child
Lowly in a manger,
He is still the undefiled,
But no more a stranger.
Son of God of humble birth,
Beautiful the story;
Praise his name in all the earth,
Hail the King of Glory.
Randall Thompson: Nowel
From the Christmas oratorio The Nativity According to St. Luke
Nowel
Mark Sirett: The Oxen
Text by Thomas Hardy
Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock.
“Now they are all on their knees,”
An elder said as we sat in a flock
By the embers in hearthside ease.
We pictured the meek mild creatures where
They dwelt in their strawy pen,
Nor did it occur to one of us there
To doubt they were kneeling then.
So fair a fancy few would weave
In these years! Yet, I feel,
If someone said on Christmas Eve,
“Come; see the oxen kneel,
“In the lonely barton by yonder coomb
Our childhood used to know,”
I should go with him in the gloom,
Hoping it might be so.
Norman Dello Joio: O Star That Makes the Stable Bright
Larry Nickel: Little Lamb, Who Made Thee?
Text by William Blake
Little Lamb who made thee?
Do you know who made thee?
Gave thee life & bade thee feed.
By the stream & o’er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Sof clothing wooly bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice;
Making all the vales rejoice!
Little Lamb who made thee?
Little Lamb who made thee?
Little Lamb I’ll tell thee
Little Lamb I’ll tell thee
He is called by thy name,
For he calls himself a Lamb:
He is meek & he is mild,
He became a little child:
I a child & thou a lamb,
We are called by his name.
Little Lamb God bless thee.
H. C. Stewart: On This Day Earth Shall Ring
Words from an old Swedish Carol
On this day earth shall ring
With the song children sing
To the Son, Christ the King.
Born on earth to save us,
Him the Father gave us,
Ideo, Ideo, Ideo.
Gloria, Gloria in excelsis Deo.
His the doom, ours the mirth,
When He came down to earth,
Bethlehem saw His birth,
Ox and ass beside Him,
From the cold would hide Him.
Ideo, Ideo, Ideo.
Gloria, Gloria in excelsis Deo.
God’s bright star o’er His head,
Wise men three to Him led,
Kneel they low by His bed,
Lay their gifts before Him,
Praise Him and adore Him.
Ideo, Ideo, Ideo.
Gloria, Gloria in excelsis Deo.
On this days angels sing,
With their song earth shall ring
Praising Christ, Heaven’s King.
Born on earth to save us,
Peace and love He gave us,
Ideo, Ideo, Ideo.
Gloria, Gloria in excelsis Deo.
Arr. Harry Simeone: Sing We Now of Christmas
Part One
Sing We Now of Christmas
Angels We Have Heard on High
Away in a Manager
What Child is This?
Joy to the World
Go Tell It on the Mountain
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
Good King Wenceslas
We Three Kings
Villancico
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Bring a Torch Jeanette, Isabella
Lo! How a Rose E’er Blooming
Deck the Halls
Good Christian Men Rejoice
Masters in This Hall
O Tannenbaum
Part Two
O Holy Night
The Little Drummer Boy
Coventry Carol
Rise Up, Shepherds, and Follow
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
O Little Town of Bethlehem
O Come, Little Children
Ding Dong Merrily on High
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks
The First Nöel
The Friendly Beasts
Silent Night
Adeste Fideles
Artist Information
James Hawn, Director
Photo Credit: Amy Violet Photography
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James Hawn, Director of Music since 2003, has been active with the Saskatoon Chamber Singers for most of its history, and has been involved with singing and choirs for as long he can remember. Prior to his current appointment as Director, he was a long-time member of the bass section, and served as the choir’s president for ten years. James has also been actively involved in national and provincial choral organizations for over twenty-five years. He is a member of the Saskatchewan Choral Federation (SCF) and Choral Canada and has served for a number of years on both organizations’ boards. In 2006 he was presented with the SCF’s Pro Musica Award, which recognizes “exemplary service to choral music in Saskatchewan.” James was an English language arts teacher for thirty- two years with the Saskatoon Public Board of Education. During that time he also taught music, was involved in choral and church music, musicals, and drama both in the school system and in the community.
Rod Epp, Accompanist
Photo Credit: Amy Violet Photography
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Rod Epp has been accompanist of the Saskatoon Chamber Singers since 2002. Prior to this role, he sang baritone with the choir, which he continues to do when the choir performs a capella pieces. Born and raised in Saskatoon, Rod received his B.Mus. degree from the University of Saskatchewan, and obtained Licentiate and Fellowship diplomas in piano performance from the Trinity College of London, England. He works part time for the Saskatoon Health Region, and he also maintains a small private piano studio and directs a local church choir.
Janet Wilson, Organ and Piano
Photo Credit: Nicole Stevenson
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Janet Wilson is the Minister of Music at Grace-Westminster United Church. She is also the Musical Director of Zodiac Tapestry Handbells, a community based handbell choir. A graduate of the University of Saskatchewan, Janet received her Bachelor of Music with Distinction. She also holds Associate Diplomas from Trinity College of Music, England, in both piano and pipe organ performance. As a freelance accompanist, she works with many soloists, instrumentalists, schools, and choirs in the city.