These final few days of Advent leading into Christmas take us from a Gloucestershire wood and the Norwegian tundra, to a TV studio, on to Cambridge and finally arriving in an organ loft in the City of London.
In 1872, the American literary magazine Scribner’s Monthly asked the English poet Christina Rossetti to contribute a Christmas poem for publication. Rossetti wrote A Christmas Carol, better known as In the Bleak Midwinter.
It is notable for its simple pastoral description and its placing of the birth of Jesus In a Western European midwinter setting. So we have the frosty wind, the hard earth, and the ‘snow on snow’ replacing the milder climate found in Bethlehem. But Rossetti was conveying a deeper truth. Midwinter is a dark time and becomes a metaphor for life itself. It is into this darkness that Love in human flesh is birthed. For Rosetti, the birth of Jesus has cosmic significance and impacts all of humanity forever.
Three different musical settings will take us through the final days of our Advent journey.
Sunday 22 December
The first setting is by Gustav Holst: simple and even a bit stark. Holst named the tune Cranham, after the village he had lived in near Cheltenham. It’s a wild and woody place (trust me on this), and a bit off the beaten track. A straightforward, even ‘cold’ tune which is easy to sing and focuses our attention less on itself and rightly, in my opinion, on these wonderful words. In a sense it is a tune that simply serves the words. And of course this points us to the One who is at the heart of Christmas. The One who came ‘not to be served, but to serve’.
Oscar Gjeilo (Yayloh) is a Norwegian composer and pianist whose music expresses his core belief that music is there to be uplifting and inspire harmony. He creates a beautiful winter sound from which Holst’s tune emerges. A Gloucestershire wood in midwinter meets a snowbound Norwegian Tundra.
Monday 23 December
The same tune to these divine words but transported into a TV studio at the end of an Andrew Marr live political discussion. Annie Lennox – great singer and great campaigner – gives this simple tune a dose of passion down to earthness. And the setting simply makes the writer’s point: here, now and for every human being. It certainly puts the political debate that preceded it in its place! The tune and the voice simply help the words cut through it all: ‘Our God heaven cannot hold him …’ Even the world of politics is not out of reach of divine love, truth and justice, however hard that is to believe sometimes.
Tuesday 24 December: CHRISTMAS EVE
Same words but a different tune … no, not that one yet!
Bob Chilcott learnt his craft as a choral scholar under David Willcocks at King’s, Cambridge and was subsequently mentored by Mr Christmas himself, John Rutter. Bob was first and foremost a singer, so learnt early on that the tune is vital, especially in choral music. This version is beautiful, tuneful and wonderfully evokes the midwinter landscape transformed by the warmth and kindness of Loving tenderness. A love that is at the heart of this poem and Rossetti’s own spiritual life.
The words with Chilcott’s music are just right for Christmas Eve, so maybe listen when all is quiet and you have space. A time for deep reflection and self giving. Allow the music to carry the text into your very soul.
What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.
Wednesday 25 December: CHRISTMAS DAY
A very happy and blessed Christmas! I hope you will find space to both read and listen. Read Christina Rosetti’s words and then listen to what has been described as one of the most popular Christmas songs in the world … ever! Not just the words but this particular tune, composed by a serving church musician. Harold Darke spent most of his working life as Organist at St Michaels, Cornhill, in the City. He wrote this piece as a gift to a lady friend. What a great gift!
Darke was a serving and humble musician who stuck to what he felt called to do, yet produced a piece of music that has fixedRosetti’s poem in the hearts and minds of countless numbers of people all over the world. The power contained in the quite emphatic entry of the second verse is tangible. ‘Our God… heaven cannot hold him’ simply cries out to all of us.
Yet the climax of the piece is of course the last verse and Darke simply hits the spot. ‘What can I give him? Give my heart.’ This is not a moment for fanfares, drum rolls and clever chords. Simplicity and intimacy as heart meets heart… love is given and love is received. ‘Emmanuel – God is with us.’
I have chosen a recording made by Kings, Cambridge under the late and great Stephen Cleobury who gave so much to the world of music in this country and globally.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPpy3XSk6c0