This week’s Advent song is possibly not so well known. Lo, how a rose e’er blooming is in my humble opinion simply lovely. The song text was first printed in 1599 but it can be traced back to the 7th century. The rose in the first line is a symbolic reference to Mary and the rest of the song draws on Old Testament prophecies foretelling the birth of Jesus.
The tune is of German origin and harmonised by Michael Praetorius in 1609. It has been developed by composers and arrangers down the centuries. It is also used for the famous Christmas hymn “A great and mighty wonder”.
Sunday 15 December
Most Christmas carols, and most of our popular music generally, exist for the rhythm or melody. Consider “Angels from the realms of Glory” and its cascading glorias, or how much the impact of the “Carol of the Bells” is contained in its bell like sequences and constant strident tempo. Musically “Lo, How a Rose” exists for the chords. It is not rhythmic like “Ding Dong” and there is no variation in that rhythm. Listen to this version which is basically the words (in German) and Praetorius’ arrangement of the tune. We are simply called to behold and listen. What will be revealed… will be revealed. Simples!
Monday 16 December
Mannheim Steamroller is described as an “American neoclassical new-age music group”, which blends classical music with elements of new age and rock. It is also known for its modern renditions of Christmas music. Rather than jazz up our song for this week they have kept it simple and fairly straightforward, honouring the nature of the music and words. The use of a brass quintet all the way through speaks to me of a royal event and one worthy of full attention. Something or rather someone important is coming. “Lo.”
Tuesday 17 December
And now for something completely different. From yesterday’s brass version to Brahms’ organ prelude based on our Advent song. These organ pieces were the last Brahms wrote and followed a time of the loss of close friends. This plus a prolonged illness took their toll.
This is intensely private music, and while certain of the pieces are about death and endings this one speaks about the most important beginning … the birth of Jesus.
So no “brassiness” here. Just a gentle melody line with the song tune being played amongst the other notes and their harmonies. Virtually hidden. See if you can spot it. Just like the birth of Jesus that happened quietly, in a place of relative insignificance and in the midst of life. That’s often how God does it … coming to ordinary people in their ordinary lives. Sometimes hidden, sometimes gently and quietly but always where they are and always in Love.
Wednesday 18 December
Our guest “archive” slot this week is by Bishop Paul Bayes of Liverpool.
This year (2018) I became a grandfather for the second time, and God willing, another baby will be born to our family before the end of the year. The joy of new birth also causes parents – and grandparents – to look afresh at the future, and to ask whether the world we are shaping will be worthy of our children – and grandchildren – when they grow up. The fragility of a child in an imperfect world inspires us to act.
So it is in the life of faith. Advent prepares us for Christmas, and Christmas prepares us for – what? In St Luke’s gospel the prophet Simeon blesses the baby Jesus and then says to Mary: This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.” And all through the nativity stories in the Gospels we see the echoes of pain and of the redemption of the world – echoes of the cross in the manger, of thorns in the straw.
Graham Kendrick catches this dimension of the nativity beautifully in his song “Thorns in the Straw”. In one of the parishes I served, we made a multimedia presentation of this song and it spoke to so many of the parents and grandparents about the fragility of the world, the vulnerability of a child, and the hope that all will be well. May it bless you, too, and inspire you to give thanks to God – and to act.
Thursday 19 December
Back to our Advent Song for this week. The words of the song for us to reflect on as we listen to them in an arrangement by Jan Sandstrom. The Praetorius tune, but now every chord is extended and embellished. We are literally transported into another world and given time to explore and wander around. And as the minor chord becomes a major chord on the word winter we are reminded that the power of Love can turn the coldest day into something better and warmer.
Lo, how a rose e’er blooming,
From tender stem hath sprung.
Of Jesse‘s lineage coming,
As men of old have sung;
It came, a flow’ret bright,
Amid the cold of winter,
When half spent was the night.
Isaiah twas foretold it,
The Rose I have in mind,
With Mary we behold it,
The virgin mother kind;
To show God’s love aright,
She bore to men a Saviour,
When half spent was the night.
O Flower, whose fragrance tender
With sweetness fills the air,
Dispel with glorious splendour
The darkness everywhere;
True man, yet very God,
From Sin and death now save us,
And share our every load.
Friday 20 December
As a Gloucestershire lad I am immensely proud of my home county’s musical heritage: Holst, Finzi, Vaughan Williams, Parry, Gurney plus more modern musicians like Brian Jones and Jet Black of the Stranglers. Today we will end our look at the Advent Song ‘Lo, how a Rose’ by looking at a version which uses a different translation of the text and a new tune. The Gloucestershire composer Herbert Howells wrote his most popular work ‘A spotless rose’ while watching trains being shunted on the Bristol to Gloucester railway line. Not the obvious scenario for heavenly inspiration but God is everywhere and full of surprises.
Shunting trains seem a world away from the arching lines of the anthem itself, in which the flowing melody is carried first by the choir then a baritone solo enters over a subdued hymn-like harmony. And, as is so often the case with Howells there is a moment of pure ecstasy on the the final chords. As one contemporary composer commented “I should like, when my time comes, to pass away with that magical cadence”. (A cadence is a musical term for a series of chords that leaves us with a sense of needing completion which the final chord in this piece duly does.).
Simply put these scrunchy harmonies of the final few bars are pure, unadulterated bliss. The poets phrase that the birth of Christ ‘turns December into May’ comes to mind.
For through our God’s great love and might
The blessed babe she bare us
In a cold, cold winter’s night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JJP43Qj4AQ
Saturday 21 December
Today marks the longest night of the year, so a post from last year. We are at Midwinter and from now the darkness very slowly begins to get less and more light filters into our lives. However, it will take a while before we notice it. Elvis Presley popularised the song “Blue Christmas”. The song with its melancholy tune reminds us of the darker side of Christmas. Sad things like the loss of loved ones, difficult family relationships or difficult life circumstances can clash with the bright lights and jolly Santas.
Blue Christmas is a time to remember that the first Christmas had more than its fair share of “blueness” yet from within that darkness the light of hope and future emerges. Whether you have faith or not, whether you pray or not: if the colours of Christmas for you are predominantly darker, then be assured you are not alone. We wish to come alongside, albeit in spirit, and honour you. For those with faith and for whom the Light has come and the darkness will never overcome it: “we will hold the Christ light for you, in the night time of your fear”.