Selected Settings for Christmas 2020
This holiday season is going to be a strange one, and for many, it won't be easy. Christina Rossetti's Christmas poems are attentive to life's struggles and grief and they also offer hope for renewal and growth. We hope that these settings offer you a source of comfort.
Throughout December 2020, we are Tweeting about Christina Rossetti settings for Christmas. Here is what we and our followers have shared.
December 1
James Blake’s arrangement of Holst's "In the Bleak Midwinter" was released on November 30th on Apple Music. We are positively starstruck! More info. "As the song progresses, that electronic backbone grows louder and louder, an effect that almost feels like hearing a church organ speak its mind mid-hymn" (Nina Corcoran). In Stereogum, James Rettig cites passages from Blake’s interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe about the carol: his unfamiliarity with the carol's origins and his love of "Anglican church spiritual vibes." Blake quips, "Look man, all the pop Christmas songs have been covered a million times. I’m not going to out-sing Mariah." (Twitter post)
December 2
Today's Rossetti carol is Jens Klimek's haunting "This Advent Moon." It tenderly captures the season of waiting:
This Advent moon shines cold and clear
These Advent nights are long;
Our lamps have burned year after year
And still their flame is strong.
Jens Klimek has generously shared the score for free on ChoralWiki. (Twitter post)
December 3
Annie Lennox's rock-ballad cover of Holst's "In the Bleak Midwinter" was included on her 2010 album "A Christmas Cornucopia." Lennox re-released the album this year and discussed her appreciation of hymns with Rick Fulton at Daily Record: "I’ve been singing these hymns and carols since I was really young. I learned them all mostly by osmosis." (Tweet post)
December 4
Matthew Whittall's song cycle "Christmas Hath a Darkness," composed over the span of nine years, sets four Christmas carols by Christina Rossetti. Whittall describes his interest in Rossetti's Advent/Christmas poems: "I was particularly attracted to Rossetti’s conflation of the dark, fallow winter landscape with that of the soul waiting for salvation." View our records of these carols, beginning with "This Advent Moon", followed by "Earth grown old", "In the bleak mid-winter" and "Love came down at Christmas". (Twitter post)
In a post that we retweeted, Iona Fyfe shared her recording of "In The Bleak Midwinter (Scots)."
December 7
Have you heard Jamie Cullum's brand new cover of Holst's "In the Bleak Midwinter" yet? In a post we retweeted, Cullum states, "It was a pleasure to put a new spin on my favourite Christmas Carol for @amazonmusicuk, In the Bleak Midwinter. We came up with the arrangement and recorded it live in the studio and the cameras caught it all for you to watch. Go check it out! https://jamiecullum.lnk.to/InTheBleakMidw"
Even more, on December 9th, Cullum hosted a virtual music lesson to teach "In the Bleak Midwinter" on the piano to all those who registered and tuned in! He was hoping to set a record for the largest music lesson ever held. How beautiful that he chose Rossetti's poem for this goal. Read more on Pianist Magazine by Ellie Palmer. (Twitter post).
In the video recording of the lesson (below), Cullum shares with viewers what the song means to him and how music can alter the mood of the song. The video includes improvisations by various musicians, including Dodie and Sigrid. According to Evening Express, Cullum broke the Guinness World Record for the largest music lesson ever held. 2,282 people attending the virtual piano lesson to raise money for the charity Age UK. Go to #PIANOWITHJAMIE to view students in action and other improvisations.
December 8
Another fascinating setting is Jo Ross's translation into Afrikaans of Wilfred Kemp's setting of Christina Rossetti's classic carol "Love Came Down at Christmas." The preface indicates the significance of this 1968 setting's contribution to a growing body of South African carols.
We would LOVE to hear a performance of this one! (Twitter post)
December 9
Today's snowfall has us listening to Benjamin Britten's "A Boy Was Born," the fifth variation called, "In the Bleak Mid-winter." The variation combines Rossetti's poem, sung by SSAA chorus, with the anonymous 16th-century "Corpus Christi Carol," sung by boys' unison choir. (Twitter post)
December 10
Robin Milford's 1936 piece "Midwinter" is part of a cantata called "The Passing Year," which also sets poems by W.H. Davies, Thomas Hardy, Tennyson, and more. If you've ever performed this cantata, let us know! The score is available to peruse on our website. One striking feature is its use of tonic sol-fa notation! (Twitter post)
December 11
Here's a setting of Rossetti's poem "A Christmas Carol, for my Godchildren" ("The shepherds had an angel") that we just added to our catalogue: Barlow Bradford's "The Shepherds Had an Angel." You can listen to it on YouTube (below), beautifully performed by the Utah Chamber Choir. (Twitter post)
View the record for this setting or all settings of the poem "A Christmas Carol, for my Godchildren" ("The shepherds had an angel") available on this site.
December 14
Ever wondered how the classic Christmas carol "In the Bleak Mid-winter" became so popular? Our own Emily McConkey shares the story on the What, Like it's Hard? podcast. Check it out!
If you liked the episode and want to learn more, we are excited to share that Emily McConkey has also created an exhibit on this site outlining the history of "In the Bleak Midwinter" from its choral origins all the way to its 2020 adaptations. (Twitter post)
December 15
Jacob Collier's "In the bleak-midwinter" is one of our favourite arrangements of Darke's setting! Emily McConkey discusses it here. In a post he shared earlier in the day he states: "Four years ago... In The Bleak Midwinter! My first foray into the microtonal realm :-)" (Twitter post)
Composer Robert Sirota tweeted "Spotlight On: In the Bleak Midwinter (2014) Determined not to be intimidated by Holst’s version, I composed this original setting, for soprano, viola, & harp, of Christina Rossetti’s poem "In the Bleak Midwinter" for a Holiday Concert I produced at @metmuseum [The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York] in Dec '14." Fantastic! (Twitter post)
December 16
Paul Mealor's original setting of "In the Bleak Midwinter" is quite different from the familiar Holst and Darke settings. Here it is performed live by the University of Aberdeen Chamber Choir with baritone soloist, Ross Cumming. (Twitter post)
Listen to two performances we like of Holst's "In the Bleak Midwinter" setting by singer, Pip Lewis (Twitter post) and the other by pianist, Alexis Ffrench (Twitter post).
December 17
A beautiful performance of a beautiful Christmas piece called "Love Came Down at Christmas" by Eleanor Daley. This setting of Rossetti's poem "Christmastide" is in our catalogue. The Gesualdo Six have posted a new video today of their performance of this setting (see below), which is also featured on a recording they did in 2019. (Twitter post)
December 18
Rossetti may be best-known for "In the Bleak Midwinter," but she wrote other Christmas poems that were often set to music too. "Love Came Down at Christmas" has been set at least 90 times! What are your favourite versions of this one? (Twitter post)
December 21
Who else will be watching for the "Star of Bethlehem" tonight? Glowing star in the meantime, listen to Derek Healey's setting of "Before the Paling of the Stars." (Twitter post)
December 22
We retweeted a post by Luke Thomas, "What’s the best version of In The Bleak Midwinter? Darke? Holst? How about both at the same time? 'A Christmas Choral' - Written and Performed by Luke Thomas [2020]." (Twitter post)
December 23
It's Christmas Eve Eve!! Here is an enchanting new arrangement, a medley of "Love Came Down at Christmas" mixed with "It's in Every One of Us" by Gaelynn Lea. She performed it alongside other carols, including "In the Bleak Mid-winter," on her Christmas album "Deepest Darkness Brightest Dawn," which features imaginative, live-looped versions of traditional carols. (Twitter post)
December 24
We retweeted a post by Dinah Roe: "Feeling a little bit ambivalent this #ChristmasEve2020? Christina Rossetti understands. Celebrate the darkness and the light with her poem for the occasion." (Twitter post)
Christmas Eve
Christmas hath a darkness
Brighter than the blazing noon,
Christmas hath a chillness
Warmer than the heat of June,
Christmas hath a beauty
Lovelier than the world can show;
For Christmas bringeth Jesus,
Brought for us so low.Earth, strike up your music,
Birds that sing and bells that ring;
Heaven hath answering music
For all Angels soon to sing:
Earth, put on your whitest
Bridal robe of spotless snow:
For Christmas bringeth Jesus,
Brought for us so low.
View musical settings of this poem by Christina Rossetti.
December 25
Merry Christmas from all of us on the Christina Rossetti in Music team!
Darke's setting may have won the polls, but @ChoirOfKingsCam performed "In the bleak mid-winter," a beautiful arrangement by Mack Wilberg of Holst's "Cranham" this year. (Twitter post)
December 27
A beautiful setting of Rossetti's poem "Holy Innocents" ("Sleep, little Baby, sleep") to commemorate Holy Innocents' Day. Performed by Therese Hood, from her album Broken To Bethany (Twitter post)
January 6
"The shepherds had an angel,
The Wise Men had a star,
But what have I, a little child,
To guide me home from far,
Where glad stars sing together,
And singing angels are?"
Happy Epiphany! (Twitter post)
Musical settings of Christina Rossetti's poem, "A Christmas Carol, for my Godchildren" ("The shepherds had an angel")