"In the Bleak Midwinter"
Twitter Poll 2020
On November 6th, we asked our followers on Twitter: which is your favourite setting of "In the Bleak Mid-winter," the one by Gustav Holst, Harold Darke, or another? (Twitter poll)
186 people voted and the Harold Darke setting was a clear winner at 69.4%, followed by Gustav Holst at 26.3% and Other at 4.3%. We asked those who chose "Other" to reply with the preferred composer, who included Benjamin Britten, John Joubert, Becky McGlade, Cheryl Camm and Bob Chilcott.
Consult the full list of settings of Christina Rossetti's poem, "A Christmas Carol" ("In the bleak mid-winter"), which includes numerous arrangements of the one by Gustav Holst and a few of Harold Darke's.
"In the Bleak Mid-winter" in Pop Culture: The Legacies of Holst and Darke’s Tunes
Tune in to the What, Like It’s Hard? podcast episode featuring Emily McConkey's paper presentation called, "Christina Rossetti’s 'In the Bleak Mid-winter' in Pop Culture: The Legacies of Holst and Darke’s Tunes," and her conversation with podcast host, Kirstin. Posted on December 13th, 2020.
Want to know more about this topic? Read Emily McConkey's commentary adapted from the paper presented on What, Like It's Hard?
Emily McConkey is a graduate student in English at the University of Ottawa and our resident expert on "A Christmas Carol" ("In the Bleak Midwinter") settings. She is a research assistant and has been making important contributions to the Christina Rossetti in Music project for many years.