Boris Ord (1897 - 1961) was born Bernhard Ord. He was a British organist and choirmaster of Kings College, Cambridge (1929 - 1957) He served in the RAF during World War 2. His arrangement of Adam Lay Ybounden is his only published work.
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| Boris Ord, photographed by Antony Barrington Brown from Wikipedia |
I Saw Three Ships English traditional carol arranged by David Willcocks
Taken from Wikipedia
"I Saw Three Ships (Come Sailing In)" is a traditional and popular Christmas carol from England. The earliest printed version of "I Saw Three Ships" is from the 17th century, possibly Derbyshire, and was also published by William Sandys in 1833.
The lyrics mention the ships sailing into Bethlehem, but the nearest body of water is the Dead Sea about 20 miles (32 km) away. The reference to three ships is thought to originate in the three ships that bore the purported relics of the Biblical magi to Cologne Cathedral in the 12th century.
Another possible reference is to Wenceslaus II, King of Bohemia, who bore a coat of arms "Azure three galleys argent". Another suggestion is that the ships are actually the camels used by the Magi, as camels are frequently referred to as "ships of the desert".
Sir David Valentine Willcocks, CBE, MC (30 December 1919 – 17 September 2015) was a British choral conductor, organist, composer and music administrator. He was particularly well known for his association with the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, which he directed from 1957 to 1974, making frequent broadcasts and recordings. Several of the descants and carol arrangements he wrote for the annual service of Nine Lessons and Carols were published in the series of books Carols for Choirs which he edited along with Reginald Jacques and John Rutter. He was also director of the Royal College of Music in London.
During the Second World War (1939–1945) he served as an officer in the British Army, and was decorated with the Military Cross for his actions on Hill 112 during the Battle of Normandy in July 1944. His elder son, Jonathan Willcocks, is also a composer.
Bethlehem Down Peter Warlock (1894-1930)
Taken from Wikipedia
"Bethlehem Down" is a Christmas carol for SATB choir composed in 1927 by British composer Peter Warlock (1894–1930)—the pseudonym of Philip Arnold Heseltine. It is set to a poem written by journalist and poet Bruce Blunt (1899–1957). Warlock and Blunt wrote the carol to finance an "immortal carouse" (a heavy bout of drinking) over Christmas in 1927. The pair submitted the carol to The Daily Telegraph's annual Christmas carol contest and won. It is characterised by modal harmony with chromatic inflections. The musicologist Barry Smith described "Bethlehem Down" as the finest of all of Warlock's choral works.
In 1930, Warlock composed an arrangement of "Bethlehem Down" for solo voice and keyboard accompaniment. It was the last piece of music that Warlock wrote, less than three weeks before he died. The solo arrangement uses the soprano line from the SATB version as its melody. It features more complex harmony than the choral arrangement, highlighting the text in a more sombre manner.
Peter Warlock was a prolific composer of songs, with over 119 to his name. His choral music is less well-known, but within that genre, "Bethlehem Down" is one of Warlock's most famous carols. The poet and journalist Bruce Blunt told the story behind the creation of "Bethlehem Down" in a letter to Gerald Cockshott, dated 1943. He said that he and Peter Warlock were short on money in the run up to Christmas in 1927, so they had the idea to write a Christmas carol together in the hopes it would be published and earn them enough money for alcohol (or as Blunt called it, an "immortal carouse"). Whilst on a night-time walk between two pubs—The Plough in Bishops Sutton and The Anchor in Ropley—Blunt thought up the words to "Bethlehem Down". He sent the text to Warlock who set it to music within a few days. The completed carol was entered into The Daily Telegraph's Christmas carol competition and won. It was published in the paper on 24 December 1927. The carol would be published again the following year by Winthrop Rogers (now Boosey & Hawkes). Warlock and Blunt worked on other carols together, including The Frostbound Wood, which was published in the Radio Times on 20 December 1929.
The choral arrangement of "Bethlehem Down", written and published in 1927, is written for unaccompanied SATB choir. The piece is in D minor and 6/2 time. It is characterised by long phrasing of lines with melancholic modal harmony in a largely homophonic texture. Smith writes that the music complements the lyrics with a "finely-crafted melody" and "imaginative and sensitive harmony". Chromaticism is used throughout the piece, one example being the Tudor-styled flattened sevenths which populate the melody; Ian Alfred Copley writes that this is a common recurring motif in Warlock's music. A prominent example of a flattened seventh occurs in the soprano line of the fifth bar of each verse:
Each verse ends with a phrase which Smith describes as "haunting".
Smith writes that "Bethlehem Down" is "surely the finest of all Warlock's choral works" and a rare example of a modern carol which captures the essence of the genre. The music critic Wilfrid Mellers described it as a small miracle. Music journalist Alexandra Coghlan writes that the piece is Warlock's "unquestioned carol masterpiece", and is particularly impressive given the fact its creation arose from the simple need for money and alcohol. BBC Music Magazine writes that the carol has a beautiful and sombre tone which can act as a change in pace in carol services.
My Blessed Lady's Lullaby Christopher Chivers (1967- )
Taken from Wikipedia
Christopher Mark "Chris" Chivers (born 16 July 1967) is an Anglican priest, composer, and author. From 2015 until 2019, he was the Principal of Westcott House, Cambridge, an Anglican theological college in the Liberal Catholic tradition.
Early life
Chivers was born on 16 July 1967. He was educated at Bristol Cathedral School, an all-boys private school in Bristol which provides a choir to Bristol Cathedral. He then studied at Magdalen College, Oxford.
Following graduation, Chivers held musical teaching posts at New College School, Oxford, Cheltenham Ladies' College and King's College School, Cambridge.
Career
Ordained ministry
After studying at Westcott House, Cambridge, Chivers was ordained a deacon on 28 June 1997 at St Paul's Cathedral by Richard Chartres, Bishop of London and a priest on 28 June 1998 at St Pancras New Church by Brian Masters, area Bishop of Edmonton. He served his curacy in the Parish of Friern Barnet. During his time there he was named one of the top ten preachers of the year in The Times 1999 Preacher of the Year competition.
In 1999 he went to Cape Town as Canon Precentor of St. George's Cathedral, Cape Town. While there he witnessed the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and spoke to the worshippers at Friday Prayers in a local mosque.
In November 2001 he was appointed Precentor of Westminster Abbey in London and Chaplain of Westminster Abbey Choir School. He participated in the funeral of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. In 2005 he became Canon Chancellor of Blackburn Cathedral. While there, he was one of the first to teach the Awareness Course.
In 2010 he became Vicar of John Keble Church, Mill Hill, in the Diocese of London and in 2012 a priest vicar of Westminster Abbey.
On 1 August 2015 Chivers became Principal of Westcott House, Cambridge. On Tuesday 31 January 2017, ordinands at Westcott held a service using excerpts from the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence's Bible in Polari, an event he described as "hugely regrettable".
His resignation with immediate effect for undisclosed reasons was announced on 20 September 2019.
As author
Chivers has written about his experiences in South Africa and made contributions to other collections. As a journalist he has written for the Cape Times, The Times, The Independent, The Guardian, Church Times, Church of England Newspaper and The Tablet.
Musical work
His choral works have been sung at (amongst others) King's College, Cambridge, Westminster Abbey and Gloucester Cathedral; and include: Our Blessed Lady's Lullaby (1988), Ecce Puer (1994), Mayenziwe Magnificat (2000) and Diptych (2006).
The Sussex Carol Trad. arr David Willcox
Taken from Wikipedia
The "Sussex Carol" is a Christmas carol popular in Britain, sometimes referred to by its first line "On Christmas night all Christians sing". Its words were first published by Luke Wadding, a late 17th-century poet and bishop of the Catholic Church in Ireland, in a work called Small Garland of Pious and Godly Songs (1684). It is unclear whether Wadding wrote the song or was recording an earlier composition.
Both the text and the tune to which it is now sung were discovered and written down by Cecil Sharp in Buckland, Gloucestershire, and Ralph Vaughan Williams, who heard it being sung by a Harriet Verrall of Monk's Gate, near Horsham, Sussex (hence "Sussex Carol"). The tune to which it is generally sung today is the one Vaughan Williams took down from Mrs. Verrall and published in 1919.
An earlier version using a different tune and a variation on the first line, "On Christmas night true Christians sing", was published as early as 1878 in Henry Ramsden Bramley and John Stainer's Christmas Carols New and Old. The carol has been arranged by a number of composers. Vaughan Williams' setting is found in his Eight Traditional English Carols. Several years earlier, Vaughan Williams had included the carol in his Fantasia on Christmas Carols, first performed at the 1912 Three Choirs Festival at Hereford Cathedral. Erik Routley's arrangement in the 1961 University Carol Book adds a modal inflection to the setting. The carol often appears at the King's College "Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols", where it is performed in arrangements by either David Willcocks or Philip Ledger, both former directors of music at the chapel. Willcocks's arrangement appears in the first OUP Carols for Choirs.
The Three Kings Peter Cornelius/Ivor Atkins
Taken from Wikipedia
"The Three Kings", or "Three Kings From Persian Lands Afar", is a Christmas carol by the German composer Peter Cornelius. He set "Die Könige" for a vocal soloist, accompanied by Philip Nicolai's hymn "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern" ("How Brightly Shines the Morning Star"), which he erroneously thought was an Epiphany hymn. In fact, it is an Advent hymn in which the morning star is an allegory for the arrival of Jesus, not the Star of Bethlehem. In Cornelius' original second setting, the accompaniment was played on a piano but the English organist Ivor Atkins later arranged the accompaniment for choir, with the choir singing the words of the original hymn. The German words have been translated into English by H.N. Bate. The carol describes the visit of the Biblical Magi to the Infant Jesus during the Nativity and is also used as an Epiphany anthem.
Composer Peter Cornelius
Cornelius wrote his first version of the German hymn "Die Könige" in 1856 as part of Weihnachtslieder, Op. 8, for a solo voice and piano. This first setting of the text, which does not cite Nicolai's hymn, was published posthumously in 1905 and remained relatively unknown. In 1859 he composed a completely new version again for soloist and piano, using the 16th-century chorale "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern" ("How Brightly Shines the Morning Star") by Philipp Nicolai in the piano accompaniment after a suggestion from Franz Liszt. This version was again revised in 1870 before publication.
Publication
The hymn was originally translated into English in 1916 by W. G. Rothery, as "Three Kings had journey'd from lands afar", and published in Carols Old and Carols New.
A more commonly used English translation, including references to the Magi being from Persian lands, was made in 1928 by H.N. Bate for the "Oxford Book of Carols". The original piano accompaniment by Cornelius was transcribed various times for choir, notably in the 1957 arrangement for solo voice and choir by Ivor Atkins, organist at Worcester Cathedral. This version was included in the first volume of the popular 1961 collection compiled by David Willcocks and Reginald Jacques, Carols for Choirs.
Another arrangement for choir a cappella for five to eight voices was written by Clytus Gottwald in 2011. "The Three Kings" was included in a Nick Hern Books adapted publication of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. In 2016, the carol was included by the head of chapel music at Winchester College, Malcolm Archer, in the 2016 publication of the Carols Ancient and Modern" hymnal.
Resonamus Laudibus 14th Cent, arr Willcox
Taken from Wikipedia
"Resonet in laudibus" (Latin for "Resound in praises") is a 14th-century Christmas carol which was widely known in medieval Europe, and is still performed today. Although probably earlier, in manuscript form it first appears in the Moosburg gradual of 1360 and occurs in several 15th, 16th and 17th century printed collections from both Catholic and Lutheran traditions.
There is no definitive version of the Latin text, and there are many variations and parodies in various sacred songbooks, as well as extended, embellished versions (for example motets by the Franco-Flemish composer Orlande de Lassus or the Slovenian-German composer Jacobus Gallus). Georg Witzel, a contemporary of Martin Luther, referred to the carol as "one of the chief Christmas songs of joy" in 1550. In addition to its literal English translation, it has also appeared as "Christ was Born on Christmas Day" in two different translations by John Mason Neale in 1853 (who based his version on the 1582 Swedish song collection Piae Cantiones) and Elizabeth Poston in 1965.
In Germany, the melody is used for the traditional song "Joseph, lieber Joseph mein (de)" ("Joseph dearest, Joseph mine"), originally sung as a lullaby by the Virgin Mary in a 16th-century mystery play in Leipzig (and doubtfully credited to Johannes Galliculus). The Lutheran poet and composer Johann Walter wrote one of his finest motets using this song. Sir David Willcocks' arrangement in Carols for Choirs 2 titles the work "Resonemus laudibus".
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