For many readers, this week marks the ‘beginning of term’ for choir or school, and possibly the planning of repertoire for the coming year. I recently focussed on listing a selection of upper voice music, and of unaccompanied mixed choir music, categorised by subject matter to help with concert planning. I will soon do the same for accompanied mixed choir music, but I thought that this time I would focus on Christmas! Then at the end of the post there are details of a few new publications as well.
Now, there’s never a good time to tell people about Christmas music. Some conductors will have planned their Christmas music many months ago – and others are putting it off for as long as possible. So if these suggestions feel mistimed, my apologies!
I have written, at the last count, at least 80 Christmas carols. That is far too many, so I’m just going to list and describe about a third of them, loosely put into two groups according to character.
Additionally:
a) Unaccompanied carols are marked *.
b) if you are looking for ‘quick and easy to learn’ pieces for smaller choirs, some with flexible scoring, it might be worth looking at these ones: All in Tune, Patapan, Candle Carol, Infant Holy, O Little One Sweet (all in the lists below). These are all pieces that I wrote/arranged for a small village choir that only meets once a year!
For each, the link will take you to a page with details of recording or scrolling score, and purchase details. Please note that the OUP carols that are listed as ‘out of stock’ on the OUP website are generally available as digital downloads from www.sheetmusicplus.com (as are the Colne Edition and Novello ones). The prices are in dollars, but turn into pounds at checkout if you are in the UK.
I hope this list will help you to decide what would be suitable for your concert or service, but please contact me for any advice you may need.
Mainly lively and rhythmic carols
Angel Alleluias*Energetic, syncopated, and highly rhythmic, using a vibrant call-and-response style, keeping the momentum right through to a fortissimo ending. Fifteenth-century text. SATB unaccompanied with optional percussion. OUP.
A little child there is yborn *If you like carols in a fast 7/8, then this is the one. Not as difficult as this sounds, with an up-tempo modal flavour, with another fifteenth-century text. SATB unaccompanied. OUP.
All in Tune Easy to learn, a joyful lively carol, praising God through dance, music, and friendship. Two versions, upper voices in 2 or three parts, or mixed voices SABar, with piano/organ and optional flute/treble recorder. Colne Edition
Feast Day Carol A lively 6/8 and 3/4 rhythm, with a more secular text: ‘So now is come our joyful Feast, Let everyone be jolly; Each room with ivy leaves is dressed, And every post with holly’. SATB with piano. Banks Music Publications
Glory to the Christ Child *Performed at the King’s College Cambridge Nine Lessons and Carols, and many other places worldwide, this lively and rhythmic carol juxtaposes fast-moving unison passages with joyful alleluias – but ending quietly and intensely with the words ‘This blessed babe divine’. SATB unaccompanied. OUP.
He is born (Il est né) A lively arrangement, with subtle harmonic shifts, of the traditional French carol. A movement from ‘A Light in the Stable’. SATB with piano/organ. OUP (digital download)
Ideo, ideo Alternating 3/4 and 6/8, this lively carol sets a traditional text in modern translation, building up to a joyful ending. SATB with piano/organ. Novello/Music Sales.
Merrily did the shepherds blow A substantial and varied carol, optionally for double choir, incorporating call-and-response exchanges in the lively opening and closing sections, flanking a central calm and prayerful section including distant echoes from solo trebles/sopranos. First performed in Rochester Cathedral. SATB (optional double choir) with organ/piano. Encore Publications.
Patapan An easy-to-learn arrangement of a traditional Burgundian carol, with a rhythmic ‘pat-a-pat-a-pan’ refrain and a melody which sings of celebrating with ‘fife and drum’ and the joyful linking of heaven and earth that Christmas brings. Three-part SABar with piano. Colne Edition.
Ring the Bells A lively and jubilant carol in which a rhythmic theme is presented in different contrapuntal textures, ending with an exciting build-up. Two versions, SATB or SSA, both with piano. OUP.
Sing out, Angels Originally written to support Marie Curie Cancer Care, this moderate in tempo but uplifting carol is a setting of a text by the composer celebrating the work of the ‘caring angels’ and the ‘shining stars’ at Christmas time. Two versions, unison and SATB, both with piano/organ. GIA Publications.
Relaxed, expressive, and slower-paced carols
A baby so small, a message so great An expressive Christmas song setting a text by me. Contrasting gentle melodies and sparse piano writing with richly dramatic chords, it creates a sense of anticipation for the arrival of Jesus. SATB and piano. OUP.
A light for today *A tender and moving portrayal of the manger scene, based on a poem by Longfellow. A movement from ‘A Light in the Stable’. SATB unaccompanied. OUP (digital download).
And all the stars looked down *This setting of a haunting and memorable poem by G. K. Chesterton contrasts the traditional manger-scene with the real world outside, with antiphonal exchanges between the upper and lower voices, and rich harmonies. Appears on several CDs, including one by The Sixteen. SSATBB unaccompanied. OUP.
And can this newborn mystery This carol sets an unusual contemporary text by Brian Wren: thoughtful and challenging, this colourful piece highlights the meaning of the Christmas mystery today. SATB with piano or organ. OUP.
Candle Carol With words by me, this gentle carol focusses on the four candles lit in many churches during Advent, one each week, representing hope, peace, joy, and love. SATB or SA and piano/organ. OUP (in Carols for Choirs 6, or digital download)
For Christ is born! Moving through the verses from the calm manger scene to the joy of Christ’s birth, this carol sets the well-known text ‘What child is this’ to a flowing and shapely melody. SATB and piano/organ. GIA Publications.
Hill-side Carol Setting a text by the 20th century poet Clive Sansom, this carol paints a picture of the empty and bleak hillside suddenly lit by the star and the appearance of the angels. SATB with piano/organ and optional flute/treble recorder. OUP.
Infant holy An easy-to learn arrangement of the traditional Polish cradle-side carol. Three part mixed choir SABar, with piano/organ. GIA Publications
I saw a stable *A touching and expressive setting of lines by Mary Coleridge, coloured with richly diatonic harmonies and flexible melodic shaping. SATB unaccompanied. OUP (in Carols for Choirs 5, or digital download)
Love came down at Christmas The poem by Christina Rossetti set to a shapely tune with a gentle, flowing accompaniment. Rich, expressive, and accessible in style. SATB and piano. OUP.
O Little one sweet An easy-to-learn and melodious setting of the traditional German words, also incorporating the sixteenth-century melody as used by J. S. Bach. Three-part mixed choir SABar, with piano/organ. Colne Edition
Rose of such virtue *The well-known medieval Advent text, ‘There is no rose’ combining expressive harmonies with gently interweaving lines for solo or soli voices. SSATB unaccompanied. OUP.
Shepherds, guarding your flocks An expressive setting of a Victorian text, painting the Nativity scene in six verses from the shepherds on the dark hillside to a joyful cradle scene, each interspersed with an exultant ‘Gloria in excelsis’ chorus. SATB with piano/organ. OUP.
Sleep, baby, sleep This carol, both dramatic and peaceful, alternates between the calm manger scene and the outside world of the shepherds, wise men, and angels. SATB with piano/organ. Colne Edition
Sweet babe, sang she *An expressive portrait of the traditional Nativity scene. While the chorus sing an ostinato lullaby in the background, the solo soprano (or semichorus) sings reflectively in the foreground. Passages of gentle ‘alleluias’ make contrasting interludes for all voices together. Solo/semichorus + SATB, unaccompanied. Colne Edition.
The world has waited long A calm and poignant setting of an early twentieth-century poem – flowing melody and expressive alleluias. SATB and piano/organ. OUP
This night A substantial setting of a traditional Hebridean text takes us to a world far removed from today: the poem’s strange blend of pagan and Christian imagery is matched by a dramatic and colourful musical response. SATB and piano/organ. OUP
And finally: three cantatas – each about 30 minutes long, and each with a different focus:
O Come Emmanuel – Advent focus. OUP
A Light in the Stable– Christmas focus. OUP
A Feast for Christmas– secular focus. Colne Edition
New Colne Edition publications include:
Cyprus Dances for piano duet (four hands at one piano)
Three Picasso Portraits for saxophone quartet (SATBar)
Little Suite (five short contrasting movements). Three (five) versions: Two oboes and cor anglais; 3 flutes or flute choir; 3 clarinets or clarinet choir
To God be the Glory (an easy arrangement in the Colne Prayer and Praise for Choirs series)
Three Blues for Clarinet and Piano (three colourful pieces inspired by blues harmony)
Three Blues for Alto Saxophone and Piano (the same, in an Alto Sax version)
Six Dances for Small Orchestra (an arrangement for small orchestra of my Six Dances for Four Hands)
Also newly published are Volume 8 and Volume 9 of the Oxford Hymn Settings for Organists series (edited jointly by Rebecca Groom te Velde and myself, and with contributions from both of us) and another hymn-tune prelude on ‘Sussex’ in the collection Be Still for the Presence vol. 1 ( Church Organ World). And new publications from GIA, Banks Music Publications, and Church Organ World, are on the way too!