Fourth Sunday in Advent

Gradual for the Fourth Sunday in Advent

The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him: yea, all such as call upon him faithfully.
V. My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord: and let all flesh give thanks unto his holy name.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
V. Come, O Lord, and tarry not: forgive the misdeeds of thy people.
R. Alleluia

Manual of Catholic Devotion
For Members of the Church of England (Revised 1969)

As the final candle is lit  on the Advent wreath - unless there is a Christmas candle - we approach the final days of Advent.  The much anticipated day is not far off and the Introit for the day tells us that very soon we will hear: the heavens declare the glory of God: and the firmament showeth his handy-work.

A Child This Day is Born, the last carol that I've chosen from Bramley and Stainers' Christmas Carols New and Old is one with more obscure origins than many of the others.  The words first appeared in Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern, by William Sandys (London 1833).  Sandy's collection was in three parts with a length introduction.  The first part contained 34 carols which he maintained were from the early part of the 15th to the end of the 17th century.  The Second Part was a selection of 40 carols "still used in the West of England".  And the third were six French carols from Provence. There were 80 carols in all without music. There has been some suggestion that perhaps a few of the carols were not quite as old or traditional as Mr Sandys claimed but may have been of his own creation; though that is only rumour.

In the 136 page introduction, which makes for fascinating reading as a history of Christmas in England, he says that the carols (including A Child This Day is Born) are:

..... selected from upwards of one hundred obtained in different parts of the West of Cornwall, many of which, including those now published, are still in use.  Some few of them are printed occasionally in the country, and also in London, Birmingham, and other places, as broadside carols; others have appeared, with some variation, in Mr Gilbert's collection, having been derived from similar sources; but a large portion, including some of the more curious, have, I believe, never been printed before.

When it was published in Christmas Carols New and Old Stainer used a tune referred to as "Bailey" however in other carol collections both the words and music are shown as "traditional" or "anonymous".  Often when the author or authors of a hymn tune were not known publishers would create an "artificial person" to give the credit to rather than our old friend Anon.

The rather fearsome angel, I gather he/she is delivering the message to the waiting world, in the engraving that accompanied the carol in the 1871 edition was by W. J. Wiegand.  He was known for his illustrations for Wonderful Stories from Northern Lands and an edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales.  But much like the origins of this lovely carol I could find out almost nothing about him.

It was also difficult to find an acceptable version of the carol on YouTube so I created one using a very fine recording of the carol by the Choir of Magdelan College and matched it with photographs from the glorious Nativity Façade of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona which I took on our recent visit to that marvellous city.  I Gaudi's incredible design traces the story of Mary and Joseph from their wedding to Christ leaving his family as a young man.
It is a complex and multi-layered panorama and the details are numerous.    You may want to take a look in the expanded version to catch some of those detail.

22 December - 1890: Cornwallis Valley Railway begins operation between Kentville and Kingsport, Nova Scotia.

Third Sunday in Advent

Introit for the Third Sunday in Advent

Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice: let your moderation be known unto all men: the Lord is at hand.  Be careful for nothing: but in every thing, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let you requests be made known unto God

A Manual of Catholic Devotion

For Members of the Church of England (Revised 1969)

So why the rose coloured, rather than sarum blue, candle and why does the celebrant wear rose vestments of the Third Sunday of Advent?  I found this slighty flowery explanatory posting on a blog called the Phat Catholic Apologetics:

The reason for the color change is to emphasize in a poignant way that the Lord is near. Advent is now more than half-way over! The bursting forth of such an unusual color has the effect of a sudden exclamation in a quiet room. In the midst of our penances, and our quiet contemplation, a voice cries out: Gaudete in Domino semper! “Rejoice in the Lord always!” Those are the words of the Entrance Antiphon for today, and that’s why we call this day “Gaudete Sunday.”

As I say a bit flowery but strangely touching and as good as any other I've seen.

These pages come from the expanded 1871 edition of Christmas Carols Old and New.  The illustration
for Come Ye Lofty Come ye Lowly was done by Francis  Arthur Fraser - one of a family of artists
known for their engravings and watercolours.

Stainer and Ramsden Bramley's Christmas Carols Old and New contained more that was old rather than new.  Many of the carols included were indeed old - or at least the melodies were: folk and ballad tunes that had originated in the fields, farmhouses, city streets and even the taverns of England, France and Germany.

Archer T. Gurney's Come Ye Lofty Come Ye Lowly was first published in the Penny Post, vol ii p321 in 1852.  Gurney was born in 1820, studied law and was subsequently called to the bar at Middle Temple in 1846.  However in 1849 he left the legal world and took holy orders; he held several prestigious positions within the Church of England including the chaplaincy of the Court Church in Paris from 1858 until 1871.   He was a prolific writer of sacred poems, hymns and theological texts but also was a playwright of historical dramas and translations of theatrical pieces including Schiller's Turandot.

There are two tunes associated with this hymn: one an old Breton folk tune and the other written by Sir George Job Elvey (1816-1893).  Elvey served as Master of the Boys Choir and organist at St George's Chapel, Windsor for more than 50 years and wrote, amongst other hymns, Crown Him with Many Crowns and (one of my favourites) Come Ye Thankful People Come.  Rather than go with the Breton (the older melody) Stainer and Ramsden Bramley included Elvey's setting in their carol collection.

As often happens, while researching  this carol I came across a third version - written in 1897 by George William Warren, the organist at St Thomas, New York City.  The sheet music was issued as a supplement to various Hearst newspapers throughout the United States in December of that year.

I have only been able to find examples of Gurney's text set to the Breton tune - one version is sung by the Williamsville High School Madrigal Choir conducted by Eric Henderson at a concert in the Old State Capital Building in 2012.

The second is the old Breton folk melody played on the organ by Richard R. Cronham and recorded in 1946.

As I was researching this carol I came across a supplement issued in December 1897 by various Hearst newspapers across the United States: sheet music for Come Ye Lofty Come Ye Lowly  in third setting.  In those days every middle-class family had a piano and sheet music would have been a popular give away - particularly if it were "free" with the day's San Francisco Examiner or New York Journal.  The music was by George William Warren who was organist at St Thomas Fifth Avenue in New York City from 1870 until 1900.  When Warren died in 1902 he was buried from the church he had served for so long and thousands attended the funeral - however no music was played as it was felt there was no organist finer than the diseased.  William C McFarlane, who had succeeded him and was a much respected concert organist must have been a bit miffed to be told this.  And of course this led to me doing a bit more digging and a question arose: was this William C. McFarlane the same Will C. McFralane who is recorded in the Milken Archive of Jewish Music as composing music for the Reform church in the late-1800s early-1900s?

It is very strange how a Christmas Carol published in the 1870s in Englands leads through a labyrinth of websites to a church organist who played at Temple Emanu-El in New York City for the delegates at the twenty-second Council of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in 1911.  The council was held with much fanfare—and at which the former United States president, Theodore Roosevelt, was among the non-Jewish as well as Jewish dignitaries who addressed the convention. Sadly I could find nothing more about the ecumenical MacFarlane nor any samples of his music.

December 15 - 1890: Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull is killed on Standing Rock Indian Reservation, leading to the Wounded Knee Massacre.

Second Sunday in Advent

Offertory for the Second Sunday in Advent

Wilt thou not turn again, O God, and quicken us, that they people may rejoice in thee; show us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation.

A Manual of Catholic Devotion

For Members of the Church of England (Revised 1969)

In 2011 and I posted a series on Christmas carols and included several of the carols that Sir John Stainer and Henry Ramsden Bramley had compiled in their Christmas Carols Old and New.   Published in 1871 that slim volume contained twenty carols, many that are sung today - by the last edition in 1878 it had expanded to over seventy. As we approach Christmastide I thought I'd celebrate the Sunday's in Advent by seeing if I could find versions of some of the lesser known carols in their collection and sharing them with you.

Though better known than some of the other carols, A Virgin Unspotted is heard more often these days performed by choirs in concert than as a congregational hymn.  Perhaps it is feared that its jaunty tune will lead to dancing in the pews ... or worse!


Its melody is certainly in the style of the old carole and could have just as easily served for a country dance.    It was a particular favourite in Gloucestershire and the first known printings of a text was in 1661.  Samuel Harward (b1740 - d1809), a local ballad printer, published a set of the words in Tewekesbury in the late 18th century. 

It is possible that it derived from A Virgin Pure that appears in several collections prior to the Stainer-Bramley collaboration.  In his introduction to this earlier carol in his Songs of the Nativity William Henry Husk notes that this version was first printed by Rev. Arthur Bedford around 1734.  He finds the Reverend gentleman rather suspect in his knowledge of Christmas music or language:

Mr. Bedford, in the title of the carol, has given us a singular etymological derivation of the word carol from Carolus; viz. "A Christmas carol, so called because such were in use in K. Charles I. Reign."! The reader of the present volume will not, it is feared, entertain a very high opinion of Mr. Bedford's antiquarian learning, at least on the subject of Christmas carols.

Until recent times both variations were sung at Christmas in various Gloucestershire villages though A Virgin Pure was often set to the tune of Admiral Benbow, a popular ballad.  The tune most commonly used and included by Stainer and Bramley is Herefordshire.

This version of Herefordshire by the Riga Dom Cathedral Boys Choir  brings out the dance like rhythm of the carol.  The choir's recordings of Christmas music is quite enjoyable and features both the sacred and secular - including a rollicking Jolly Old St Nicholas.

 Many carols were brought to the New World and sung in community celebrations at Christmastide.  A Virgin Unspotted was a well known carol in colonial America and there are variations recorded as far as Appalachia.   The tune was also used in a variation known under the title  In Bethlehem City.
 

 In 1778 William Billings published his The Singing Master's Variations and included the carol set to a new tune:  Judea.  The carol was to appear in various forms in at least four other collections of shape-note song books however of the American settings Billing's remains the favoured.

No matter the version used the refrain always exhorts us: 

Therefore be merry
Set sorrow away!
For Jesus our Savour
Was  born on this day!

December 8 - 1596: Luis de Carabajal the younger, one of the first Jewish authors in the Americas, died in an auto-da-fé in Mexico City.

A Carol for Christmas - A Hymn for Christmas Day

The cover of the last (1878)  "library" edition
of Bramley and Stainers Christmas Carols New and Old.

In 1871 Henry Ramsden Bramley and Sir John Stainer published Christmas Carols New and Old,  a book of hymns and songs that could to be said to be responsible for the revival of the Christmas Carol in Victorian England and the English speaking world.  The two had met at in 1860 at Magdalen College, Oxford where Bramely was a fellow of the College and Stainer had been appointed organist.  At the beginning of the 1870s they  collaborated on a book of Christmas music - Bramley acting as editor, translator and in some cases lyricist while Stainer saw to the music and included arrangements thought suitable for use in church and parlor.

That first slim volume was to be expanded to a series of three hymnals and from twenty to seventy carols by the time the last combined edition was published in 1878.  In those seven years Bramley and Stainer introduced most of the carols that we hear in concerts, office parties, on TV specials, in shopping malls and at church during Christmastide.

That first edition included carols which we now take as givens at this time of year but for their time were if not new were certainly not well known - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, The First Nowell, What Child is This and Good King Wenceslas.  A wonderful interactive copy of that first series can be thumbed through at the Internet Archive - and notice the use of "f" or the "long s" in the lyrics.

The second book in the series included a carol which was often sung at Festal Evensongs during the Christmas season at St. Thomas and which  became one of my favourites.   "See amid the winter's snow" was published under the title A Song for Christmas and I particularly remember the wonderful descant and organ variations that Walter McNutt and his choir wove around it on those solemn evenings on Huron Street.  The text was by Edward Caswall, an Anglican priest who followed Newman's example and joined the Oratorians, and set to music by Sir John Gross who was known for the popular hymn Praise My Soul the King of Heaven.

I searched for a version that could perhaps bring back memories of those candlelit and garland festooned services at St Thomas's but came across this version by Annie Lennox that is as moving and memorable in its own way.  In 2010 Annie released an album of Christmas carols and songs and toured  extensively in North American during the time leading up to the holiday.  Though there are several postings on YouTube of the studio recording, one of which can be heard here, however  I choose a live recording that she did on a syndicated American morning show.  Despite the inanities of the hosts in the post performance segment - which can be fortunately avoided - there is a joy that shines through and illuminates the true meaning of this carol in her performance.  

The standard editions of Bramley and Stainers carol books (as in the Internet Archive edition) were simply the words and music.  However there was a more elaborate "library edition" published for the home archives.  The illustrations were done by famous engravers of the period - the winter landscape for Caswell and Gross lovely carol was created by Edward Dalziel  one of the four Dalziel brothers who were popular engravers and lithographers of the period. 

The first page of "See amid the winter's snow"
illustrated by Edward Dalziel.

The "library" editions were illustrated and
annotated with the history of the carol

In the introduction to the final combined volume in 1878 Bramley and Stainer wrote:

The following collection of Christmas Carols, new and old, has been formed with the purpose of providing a single source, easily accessible, from which those who are so disposed may make choice of songs, suitable in words and music, for the sacred and joyous season of our Lord's Nativity.

The time-honoured and delightful custom of thus celebrating the Birthday of the Holy Child seems, with some change of form, to be steadily and rapidly gaining ground. Instead of the itinerant ballad-singer or the little bands of wandering children, the practice of singing Carols in Divine Service, or by a full choir at some fixed meeting, is becoming prevalent.

Among the Carols here given are some which are best suited for the old simple mode of rendering; others which require more ample means for their performance. Some, from their legendary, festive, or otherwise less serious character, are unfit for use within the Church.
.......

With this brief account of the purpose and nature of their undertaking they again submit the result to those orthodox lovers of music who desire to keep the Feast of Christmas with mirth which shall not overstep the bounds of reverence.

Henry Ramsden Bramley and John Stainer
London, 1878

I can't be alone in feeling that their stated purpose and nature was more than achieved.

15 dicembre/December - Beato Carlo Steeb