Post by Slinger on Jan 1, 2016 16:41:02 GMT
From now until Jan 4th I'm going to post 12 Christmas themed pieces of music with a little bit of info about each. Rest assured I had to look 99% of it up, so I'm not trying to look clever, 
I just think it's nicer to have a bit of background sometimes. The 12 pieces are in no particular order, some famous and some not so famous, so hopefully you'll find a few you've never heard before as well as some old favourites.
#9 - BENJAMIN BRITTEN: A CEREMONY OF CAROLS
A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28, is a choral piece by Benjamin Britten, scored for three-part treble chorus, solo voices, and harp. Written for Christmas, it consists of eleven movements, with text from The English Galaxy of Shorter Poems, edited by Gerald Bullett; it is in Middle English. The piece was written in 1942 while Britten was at sea, going from the United States to England.
The piece was written at the same time as Britten's Hymn to St. Cecilia and is stylistically very similar. Originally conceived as a series of unrelated songs, it was later unified into one piece with the framing processional and recessional chant in unison based on the Gregorian antiphon "Hodie Christus natus est", heard at the beginning and the end. A harp solo based on the chant, along with a few other motifs from "Wolcum Yole", also serves to unify the composition. In addition the movements "This Little Babe" and "Deo Gracias" have the choir reflecting harp-like effects by employing a canon at the first in stretto.
I just think it's nicer to have a bit of background sometimes. The 12 pieces are in no particular order, some famous and some not so famous, so hopefully you'll find a few you've never heard before as well as some old favourites.#9 - BENJAMIN BRITTEN: A CEREMONY OF CAROLS
A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28, is a choral piece by Benjamin Britten, scored for three-part treble chorus, solo voices, and harp. Written for Christmas, it consists of eleven movements, with text from The English Galaxy of Shorter Poems, edited by Gerald Bullett; it is in Middle English. The piece was written in 1942 while Britten was at sea, going from the United States to England.
The piece was written at the same time as Britten's Hymn to St. Cecilia and is stylistically very similar. Originally conceived as a series of unrelated songs, it was later unified into one piece with the framing processional and recessional chant in unison based on the Gregorian antiphon "Hodie Christus natus est", heard at the beginning and the end. A harp solo based on the chant, along with a few other motifs from "Wolcum Yole", also serves to unify the composition. In addition the movements "This Little Babe" and "Deo Gracias" have the choir reflecting harp-like effects by employing a canon at the first in stretto.