In the last couple of weeks I’ve been spending some time revising and finalising a Christmas Carol that I originally wrote in 2006, but I was never quite happy with it. Several times over the years I rewrote it, tinkering particularly with the melody and the links between the verses, but never felt completely convinced. But then, a few weeks ago, I looked at it again, and realised that it would work much better with a more flowing accompaniment texture – and now, I have a ‘new’ version of this carol that I’m really pleased with!
So, Great Joy, Glad Joy! Is now available for the first time, and in two versions, SATB and two-part (SA), both with organ/piano accompaniment – and thanks to Cantamus music software, I’ve produced a digital performance, which I hope will encourage real choirs to do better!
The text originates from 17th century Germany – ‘Zu Bethlehem geboren ist uns ein Kindelein’, and the four verses, with the original tune, were given an English paraphrase by Percy Dearmer in the original 1928 Oxford Book of Carols. My setting takes these words as a starting point, but further develops them and adds a chorus to each verse in which the words ‘Great Joy, Glad Joy! are substituted for the German ‘Eia, eia’ and are given a richly harmonised treatment using some jazz-inspired chords. My new melody – which I spent a lot of time adjusting and rewriting over the years – begins at the bottom of the scale with a four-bar phrase (the last note extended into a 5/4 bar), which is then repeated in the same rhythm but higher notes, leading straight into the highest part of the melody, the ‘Great Joy, Glad Joy’ chorus, which then descends to the starting note. The total range of this melody is only an octave, and the four verses use it as follows, with the full choir for the chorus in each verse:
Verse 1 (To us in Bethlem city was born a little son) – solo/unison voice
Verse 2 (And all our love and fortune lie in his caring hands) – in harmony, unaccompanied in SATB version
Verse 3 (O Shepherd, ever near us, we’ll go where you will lead) Key change: Melody in lower voices (TB in SATB version, A in two-part version) and descant above in SA (or S)
Verse 4 (Though sorrowful or happy, whate’er may us befall) Back to home key. Melody sung in canon at a half-bar distance, S+A, T+B (or S, A in two-part version) – and this last time the chorus is extended to one note higher, repeated lower, then falling and subsiding to a quiet ending on ‘A Saviour for us all’.
Throughout, the rich harmony adds colour to my simple folk-song-like melody, to create a carol which sings tenderly of the joy of Jesus’s birth and its meaning for humankind over the centuries.
Please follow this link to hear the recording of both versions and to see purchase details. After many years, I’m pleased with how it’s turned out now – hope you enjoy it!