From medieval lyrics with a modern melody to a very modern lullaby, and from the 18th century to the 20th. John Tavener apparently wrote this piece as a birthday present for his three year old nephew. My niece is three,…
Tag: advent calendar
Advent Calendar Day 19: O Little One Sweet *and* Schlafe, mein Liebster – JS Bach
I knew I wanted some Bach in this bracket, but I couldn’t decide whether to go with O Little One Sweet, which is a standalone carol, or Schlafe, Mein Liebster, the lullaby from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. But then I realised…
Advent Calendar Day 18: Coventry Carol (Anon)
I think the most well-known of all the lullay-themed carols for a modern audience is the Coventry Carol. The melody is, in fact, one of the first things I learned how to play on the recorder when I was at…
Advent Calendar Day 17: Lullay myn lyking – Lawson
Lullay myn lyking is a slightly more traditional form of the text from yesterday’s piece, but with a far more modern arrangement. This particular text dates from a 15th-century manuscript (from which the lyrics to Adam Lay Y Bounden and…
Advent Calendar Day 16: I saw a maiden sitten and sing – Trad. Basque
Much as artists throughout the ages have been inspired to paint the Madonna and Child, composers have been similarly inspired to write songs depicting Jesus on Mary’s knee. Many of these include a lullaby chorus, and I think that these…
Advent Calendar Day 15: There is no rose of such virtue – Maconchy
I thought I’d finish this sequence with a 20th century arrangement by a woman composer, Elizabeth Maconchy. Maconchy was born in 1907 in Hertfordshire, England, and seems to have written mostly for string quartets and chamber orchestras, though she wrote…
Advent Calendar Day 14: There is No Rose of Such Virtue – Chanticleer
I bet you thought that Jesus was the only rose in this story. Surprise! Mary also gets to be a rose. Obviously, this horticultural affinity runs in the family. There is no rose of such virtue is a medieval text…
Advent Calendar Day 13: Den yndigste rose er funden – Klug / Faurschou
Just in case you thought that the only people in the Medieval era comparing Jesus to a rose were the English, and the Germans, and anyone who spoke Latin, here’s a Danish carol dating back to 1542 on a similar…
Advent Calendar Day 12: Virga Jesse – Bruckner
Basically, I’ll take any excuse to listen to (or sing) Bruckner. I am not always a huge fan of Romantic music, but I love the richness and lushness of Bruckner’s choral harmonies, and his tendency to set the sopranos soaring…
Advent Calendar Day 11: Det är en ros utsprungen – Praetorius / Sandström
So now that we’ve prepared the highway, and made it nice and straight with the rough places plain and so forth, it it’s time to plant some flowers by the side of the road. Theme number three is all things…