Manor House String Quartet - It Came Upon the Midnight Clear

Following on from the 2010 release of 'I Saw Three Ships and Other Carols', this is a second volume of Christmas carols arranged for string quartet. This collection continues in a similar vein, but has developed a life of it's own, exploring the Christmas musical tradition from countries such as France, Germany, Ireland and the Ukraine - as well as many well loved carols from the British Isles. Researching the history of these carols has made me aware of the often piecemeal nature of their development (such as 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' and 'Jingle Bells'), where luck often played a part in arriving at the final versions that we know and love today. Many started life in a non-religious form or for purposes other than being played at Christmas ('Good King Wenceslas' and 'Hark! The Herald Angels Sing' being two well-known examples). Whatever their origins, we hope that by re-arranging and harmonising these pieces for string quartet, we have given them a fresh feel, with original counter melodies illuminating the traditional tunes in an authentic way. Vaughan Jones 2011 The Carols Sussex Carol. The words and melody now used for this carol were written down by two pioneers of English folk music collection: Cecil Sharp and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Sharp collected his version in Buckland, Gloucestershire whereas Vaughan Williams gathered his from a Harriet Verrall of Monk's Gate, near Horsham, Sussex. This is how it acquired the title 'Sussex Carol' and is the most popular version nowadays, being published in 1919. Il est Né, le Divin Enfant. Grosjean's 'Airs des Noêl Lorrain' published in 1862 contains the melody for this carol, where it is entitled 'Ancien Air de Chasse'. It does bear a similarity with an ancient hunting tune from Normandy called 'Tête Bizarde' and it has also been speculated that it may have originated in the 18th century as a composition in a rustic style. It has a fanfare like quality which lends itself to ornamentation and can also be performed as a gavotte. Joy to the World. The melody we now know as 'Joy To the World' is often called 'Antioch' and has been accredited to the prolific American hymn writer Lowell Mason. Many still assume it is the work of George Frideric Handel but it seems more likely that Mason took snippets of Handel's music and formed a convincing pastiche of the great master's style. It is an uplifting melody and melds perfectly with the words (which were written 120 years previously by the English hymn writer Isaac Watts in 1719). It Came Upon the Midnight Clear. The words of this carol were written in 1849 by the Unitarian minister Edmund Sears from Massachusetts. From there it evolved a parallel existence; being sung in the United States to a melody by Richard Storrs Willis called 'Carol' (written in 1850) and known in Britain by a traditional tune called 'Noel' which Arthur Sullivan arranged in 1874. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing. Felix Mendelssohn composed the melody for this famous carol as a chorus in his 1840 cantata 'Festgesang'. It was not intended for religious use as the work was written to commemorate Johann Gutenberg's invention of the printing press! Equally interesting is the scoring Mendelssohn originally employed for this tune, with bass trombones and tubas accompanying the tenors and basses of the chorus to produce some murky sonorities in the lower registers. It was re-harmonised by William H. Cummings in 1855 and set to a text by Charles Wesley written in 1739. Wesley expected his words to be set to solemn music and would have no doubt been as surprised as Felix Mendelssohn at the unlikely marriage which finally immortalised them - so is the often strange history of familiar carols which we might otherwise assume were always thus. Good King Wenceslas. This famous 13th century carol was originally meant as a celebration of spring and was entitled 'Tempus Adest Floridum' ('The Time for Flowering'). It was published in 1582 in the Finnish collection 'Piae Cantiones', a copy of which found it's way into the hands of the British ambassador to Sweden, G. J. R. Gordon in 1853 who presented it to John Mason Neale. Neale then added lyrics concerning a Bohemian Duke who goes forth on the feast of St. Stephen (26th December) to give alms to a beggar. The words are pure Victorian whimsy but have not totally obscured a delightful ancient melody. Rocking Carol. Collected in the 1920s by a Miss Jacubickova, this traditional Czech carol was originally called 'Hajej, nynjej'. The comforting words speak about rocking the infant Jesus and keeping him warm. The melody bears a close resemblance to 'Twinkle, twinkle, little star' and may be Medieval in origin. Gaudete! Gaudete! Christus est Natus. This was another of the collection of 74 songs known as 'Piae Cantiones' and published in 1582 by the Finnish clergyman and headmaster Jacobus Finno. The piece appears without the verses which seem to have been taken from older chants. It is a song of praise at the birth of Christ as 'God has become man, to the wonderment of nature'. We Wish You a Merry Christmas is one of the most enduring and widely arranged of all Christmas songs. It is believed to have originated in the West Country of England where groups of travelling singers (or 'waits') would sing for food and gifts. The lyrics are a plea for festive treats and include the lines 'Now bring us some figgy pudding, For we all like figgy pudding, And we won't go until we've got some, So bring some out here!' The 'figgy pudding' in question contained molasses, figs, lemon peel, walnuts and spices. O Holy Night. Adolphe Adam (the famous composer of the ballet 'Giselle') wrote this carol in 1847. It was based on the poem 'Minuit, Chretiens' (Midnight, Christians') by a wine merchant and poet Placide Cappeau and was later modified by the American Unitarianist minister John Sullivan Dwight. Despite the religious content of the poem and beauty of the melody it has an operatic feel to it that is reminiscent of Rossini's forays into religious music. It is also known as 'Cantique de Noel'. Past Three O' Clock. The words to this traditional carol were set to the tune originally known as 'London Waits' by George Ratcliffe Woodward for the 'Cambridge carol book' of 1924. The words of the refrain however can be traced back to Playford's 'Dancing Master' of the 17th century. Woodward also provided words for the old French carol that became 'Ding Dong Merrily on High' which is one of the carols included on our first album. See Amid the Winter's Snow. The words for this carol (also known as 'Hymn for Christmas Day') were penned by Edward Caswall and the music composed by John Goss. Goss also wrote the memorable hymn 'Praise my Soul, the King of Heaven' and this carol certainly has a hymnlike quality to it. Goss was a pupil of Thomas Attwood (himself a favourite pupil of Mozart) and went on to teach Arthur Sullivan. Shakespeare's Carol. The auuthor of this particular carol was the eighteenth century English composer Thomas Arne. He is reported to have been a difficult character, forcing his favourite singers on to theatre managers so that by the time he reached later life few would employ him. He did have considerable success though (including the patriotic song 'Rule Brittania' written for the masque 'Alfred') and this carol was part of a production for the play 'As You Like It'. Jingle Bells. One of the world's most popular Christmas songs isn't all that it appears. Written in 1857 by the American James Lord Pierpont it was in fact written for Thanksgiving and entitled 'One Horse Open Sleigh'. Harmonically the original chorus is completely different from the version we are now familiar with and in this arrangement it was decided to incorporate it into the third verse (from the modulation onwards this is how it would have originally sounded!). O Tannenbaum. This beloved German carol is often translated as 'O Christmas Tree' but it's exact translation is 'O Fir Tree'. The first a