![]() ![]() ‘On Christmas Eve 1818 priest Joseph Mohr turned up on the doorstep of his friend Franz Xaver Gruber and asked him to write a Christmas carol’ ( read more about how the carol Silent Night was composed here…) 24. We named ‘Away in the Manger’ one of the easiest pieces of Christmas music to play on the piano and violin 25. A particular favourite in primary schools, where many parents over the generations have found themselves shedding a proud tear or two in that ‘I love thee lord Jesus’ solo verse… ‘ Away in a Manger’ may be one of the simplest carols of all, whether to sing, play or learn – but none the worse for that. Arranged by several composers since, ‘I Wander as I wander’ has proved a draw for choirs the world over. ![]() Paying her to sing it again, Niles wrote what he heard down and filled in the gaps. In North Carolina in 1933 a girl called Annie Morgan caught the ear of folklorist john Jacob Niles as she sang a garbled version of an Appalachian folksong. It should, reckoned Britten biographer Humphrey Carpenter, be sung with ‘all the vigour of a pillow fight’. This Little Babeīenjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols for treble voices and harp had an unlikely genesis, written as it was on a Danish cargo ship crossing the Atlantic in the Middle of World War II – in the mid-summer! From it comes ‘This Little Babe’ in which the choir divides thrillingly into a rapid three-way canon over furious harp rhythms. Here are the lyrics to ‘Jesus Christ the Apple Tree’. ‘Elizabeth Poston rediscovered this early American text, which recalls the world of the Shakers,’ composer John Rutter tells us about this 1967 carol, ‘and set it to music so simply that it’s difficult to believe no one thought of her tune before (a perfect choral setting too, not a note too many). Wexford Carolĭating right back to the 12th century, the ‘Wexford Carol’ comes from the town of Enniscorthy in, yes, County Wexford, Ireland.īeginning ‘Good people all, this Christmas time’ it has become familiar to many today through John Rutter’s beautiful arrangement of 1978, which begins with a melodious, if frighteningly exposed, baritone solo. Here are the lyrics to The angel Gabriel from heaven came’ also known as ‘Gabriel’s Message’ 30. For the rest of us, the gentle ebb and flow of this Basque tradition folk carol, which describes the story of Gabriel’s annunciation to Mary, has a uniquely haunting quality. Gabriel’s MessageĬhortling choristers love it for the sheer amusement of singing ‘Most highly flavoured gravy’ in place of the intended words. Here are the full lyrics for Ding Dong Merrily on High ‘, if you want to know what’s sung between the glorias’ and Hosannas’! 31. ‘Glo-o-o-o-o-o-orr, o-o-o-o-o-orr, o-o-o-o-o-orr, o-o-o-o-o-oria, Hosanna in Excelsis!’ Need we say more?
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