Please turn to number 36 and join with the clarinets in, “In The Bleak Midwinter”.
Name: CRANHAM.
Meter: Irregular.
Tempo: In moderate time
Music: Gustav Theodore Holst, 1874-1934
Text: Christina Georgina Rossetti, 1830-94
I’ll take famous composers for $500! I had no idea that one of my favorite hymns was by Gustav Holst!
From the wikipedia article on Holst:
Gustav Theodore Holst (born Gustavus Theodore von Holst; 21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for his orchestral suite The Planets, he composed a large number of other works across a range of genres, although none achieved comparable success. His distinctive compositional style was the product of many influences, Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss being most crucial early in his development. The subsequent inspiration of the English folksong revival of the early 20th century, and the example of such rising modern composers as Maurice Ravel, led Holst to develop and refine an individual style.
The poem it is based on was first published in Scribner’s magazine. From the wikipedia article:
“In the Bleak Midwinter” is a Christmas carol based on a poem by the English poet Christina Rossettiwritten before 1872 in response to a request from the magazine Scribner’s Monthly for a Christmas poem.[1]It was published posthumously in Rossetti’s Poetic Works in 1904.
I have, of course, arranged it for 4 clarinets:035.WhenChristmasMornIsDawning
I recorded each voice twice and added the usual tweaked Audacity Reverb Effect “Church Hall”.
In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him
Nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When He comes to reign:
In the bleak mid-winter
A stable-place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty,
Jesus Christ.Enough for Him, whom cherubim
Worship night and day,
A breastful of milk,
And a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels
Fall down before,
The ox and ass and camel
Which adore.Angels and archangels
May have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim
Thronged the air –
But only His mother
In her maiden bliss
Worshipped the Beloved
With a kiss.What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb;
If I were a wise man
I would do my part;
Yet what I can, I give Him –
Give my heart.
