Source: (consider it)
|
Thread: Service of Readings and Carols
|
AndyB
Shipmate
# 10186
|
Posted
Actually, I meant this:
Yea, Lord, we bless thee Born for our salvation Jesus, to thee be glory given Word of the Father Now in flesh appearing
It was in the 1960 ICH with the old third line to rhyme with "Christ the Lord": "Jesu, for ever be thy name adored" but the 2000 ICH corrected it to the conventional version.
Incidentally, the 1960 ICH had two versions. 64 was for Christmas Day and had verses 1, 2, 6 and 7 with assorted ugly tweaks to the words (eg Though God of True God, Light of Light eternal, the womb of a virgin hath he not abhorred), and 65 was for afterwards, with verses 1, 6, 3, 4, 7 in that order and with the non-Christmas Day last verse.
Posts: 149 | From: Belfast | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
S. Bacchus
Shipmate
# 17778
|
Posted
Just back from our Advent lessons and carols. All of the right hymns ('O Come, O Come' with the first verse as treble solo; 'Hills of the North'; 'Hark! A thrilling voice is sounding'; 'Lo! He comes') and some very suitable bits for choir, including the Palestrina mattins responsory. If one closed ones eyes and only listened, one might even say that it was a nice service. Shame everything else about it was SNAFU*.
*(see the thread I'm about to write).
-------------------- 'It's not that simple. I won't have it to be that simple'.
Posts: 260 | Registered: Jul 2013
| IP: Logged
|
|
venbede
Shipmate
# 16669
|
Posted
quote: Originally posted by S. Bacchus: 'Hills of the North';
With Oakley's original words, or the New English Hymnal rewrite? The following is a bit of no-holds-bared-putting-the-boot-in, but I was very amused.
http://cathythinks.blogspot.co.uk/2006/12/hills-of-north-rejoice.html
-------------------- Man was made for joy and woe; And when this we rightly know, Thro' the world we safely go.
Posts: 3201 | From: An historic market town nestling in the folds of Surrey's rolling North Downs, | Registered: Sep 2011
| IP: Logged
|
|
S. Bacchus
Shipmate
# 17778
|
Posted
quote: Originally posted by venbede: quote: Originally posted by S. Bacchus: 'Hills of the North';
With Oakley's original words, or the New English Hymnal rewrite? The following is a bit of no-holds-bared-putting-the-boot-in, but I was very amused.
http://cathythinks.blogspot.co.uk/2006/12/hills-of-north-rejoice.html
The the re-written bowdlerization, I'm afraid. That is a great blog, though, and containing much wisdom.
-------------------- 'It's not that simple. I won't have it to be that simple'.
Posts: 260 | Registered: Jul 2013
| IP: Logged
|
|
Bene Gesserit
Shipmate
# 14718
|
Posted
quote: Originally posted by S. Bacchus: quote: Originally posted by venbede: quote: Originally posted by S. Bacchus: 'Hills of the North';
With Oakley's original words, or the New English Hymnal rewrite? The following is a bit of no-holds-bared-putting-the-boot-in, but I was very amused.
http://cathythinks.blogspot.co.uk/2006/12/hills-of-north-rejoice.html
The the re-written bowdlerization, I'm afraid. That is a great blog, though, and containing much wisdom.
We sang this version at Evensong last week. I hadn't come across the rather naff rewrite at all and was quite taken back by it.
-------------------- Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus
Posts: 405 | From: Flatlands of the East | Registered: Apr 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
A.Pilgrim
Shipmate
# 15044
|
Posted
quote: Originally posted by seasick: quote: Originally posted by Honest Ron Bacardi: quote: Originally posted by georgiaboy: quote: Originally posted by AndyB: … O come all ye faithful (with the non-Christmas Day last verse)
And just what is the 'non-Christmas Day last verse'? It's an item I've not encountered.
I suspect AndyB just means the usual penultimate verse. The final verse (Yea, Lord we greet thee) is usually only sung on Christmas day.
(x-posted with venbede)
I have encountered a version of the last verse amended to "Yea, Lord, we greet thee/Born on Christmas morning" to allow it to be sung at the other times. I can't say I'm a fan...
The amendment that I've come across for non-Christmas Day usage is to change 'born this happy morning' to 'born that...' which seems neat and simple to me. Angus
Posts: 434 | From: UK | Registered: Aug 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Carys
Ship's Celticist
# 78
|
Posted
I'll sing born that happy morning after Christmas but I get very grumpy if expected to sing that verse before midnight mass. Thankfully despite several carol services already that hasn't happened this year. I'm living with carols early, but keeping that verse until Christmas itself is one small thing left...
Carys
-------------------- O Lord, you have searched me and know me You know when I sit and when I rise
Posts: 6896 | From: Bryste mwy na thebyg | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
daviddrinkell
Shipmate
# 8854
|
Posted
To a number of points....
I used to experiment with various alternatives to 'born this happy morning', but I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter, despite the near-apoplexy induced in some clergymen when used other than on The Day.
Rutter - he doesn't deserve the wholesale trashing some people give him. His music is beautifully written in the technical sense and often fits perfectly with a specific theme. Over-exposure is tedious, but that's not his fault. One could argue that he has sometimes written the same thing several times (I once played for a Rutterfest carol service and it was not my idea of a nice evening. Rutter wouldn't have liked it, either). I can think of a number of his pieces that strike me as near perfect.
'O little town of Bethlehem'. As the Organist of Piglet's church (being also married to Piglet is irrelevent in this context), I am thankful that a predecessor introduced 'Forest Green'. The combination is my favourite of all Christmas carols. Walford Davies' 'Christmas Carol' is a fine tune, too, but 'Forest Green' has the edge on it. One might use 'Christmas Carol' for a choir-only verse, with 'Forest Green' for the rest. 'St. Louis' is utter tripe. Having been written for the words is no reason for it to be perpetuated (hardly anyone uses 'Groeswen' for 'All my hope on God is founded' since Herbert Howells wrote 'Michael' - 'Groeswen' is a good tune, 'Michael' is a great tune). Having done a bit of research, I believe that 'O little town' was actually written with the tune we associate with 'He smiles within his cradle' in mind. 'St. Louis' came later, although not much later.
I'm prepared to have 'Carol' instead of Sullivan's 'Noel' for 'It came upon the midnight clear', providing I can have 'Forest Green' for 'O little town'!
Some clergy will go to enormous extremes to stop the use of the King James Bible (or the Book of Common Prayer). We are lucky in that all principal services here (St. John's Cathedral, Newfoundland) are conducted using the BCP (which in Canada still is the BCP and not some compendium with a pirated title) and that our young folk, when asked to read, generally march up to the lectern with their KJB in their hand, rather than use the version provided. KJB is used at the Carol Service, the Advent Procession and the Candlemas Procession.
O Antiphons - our Advent Procession is built round these, with an antiphon, a reading and a motet or hymn at each station.
Our Carol Service is still held on the Sunday after Christmas. In practical terms, I'm not convinced that it is entirely right - it's certainly tough to have got through a demanding schedule of music for Midnight and Christmas morning and still have the Nine Lessons and Carols to do. There's no doubt that Christmas ends no later than 26th December for many people. I'm sitting on the fence on this one, although this year we've had so much snow that there's not much fence to sit on....
-------------------- David
Posts: 1983 | From: St. John's, Newfoundland | Registered: Dec 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
bib
Shipmate
# 13074
|
Posted
My choir sings "born that happy morning" except on Christmas Day which seems to solve any perceived semantic difficulty.
-------------------- "My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End, accept the praise I bring"
Posts: 1307 | From: Australia | Registered: Oct 2007
| IP: Logged
|
|
Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
|
Posted
quote: Originally posted by piglet: O little town*,
* to the tune Forest Green, no American nonsense here!
Sorry for the huge bump and resurrection, but given that we are celebrating the feast day of Phillips Brooks tomorrow at Evensong, I thought I should mention something that I just learned.
Brooks, an American, wrote the words to "O Little Town of Bethlehem," in 1865. He handed the text to his church organist, another American, who produced a tune special for the poem, "St Louis." Forest Green in hymn tune form didn't yet exist, and it wouldn't appear in hymn form for another 41 years or so.
So while I honestly prefer Forest Green to St Louis, be aware that what you call "American nonsense" is actually the original tune, and "Forest Green" is the innovation that happened 40+ years later.
You may now go back to the your regularly scheduled season after Epiphany discussions, armed with a boring story for 11 months from now.
-------------------- "I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
|