Piece of the Week – New Year Carol

In the 1980s, when our children were either very small or perhaps not quite born, our friends David and Margaret Cutforth kindly lent us their beautiful Elizabethan house in White Colne for a holiday (in return for a little cat-sitting). The lovely grounds stretched down to the river and the house was a magical warren of rooms where the tall amongst us needed to keep our heads down – the doors were marked with a ‘Duck or Grouse’ sign.

On their many bookshelves was an old poetry book containing the poem ‘Here we bring new water’ – quite a well-known verse (set by Britten in the 1930s) which welcomes in the New Year, though I’ve never found anyone who quite knows what it all means or when it originated!  As a case in point, try reading the Wikipedia entry for the phrase ‘levy-dew’ – which forms the chorus text, and, in my setting, a constantly repeated background to the verses as well. After several learned guesses, the writer has to admit that ‘the meaning of the words is not certainly known’.

I thought it was appropriate to revisit this piece, as David Cutforth passed away a year ago –  early in 2022 –  aged nearly 100 (Margaret having died some years ago). I love these slightly unclear and archaic verses, and I responded, in the productive atmosphere of the old house, with joy and happiness, dedicating it to them. You can hear a performance and see the score here and the music is published by Banks Music Publications .
Happy New Year!