On Christmas Night – Bob Chilcott (1955)
Partituur (236)
Uit 2011, met kinderkoor en sopraansolist, begeleid door orgel, hobo, harp, percussie en fluit.
Hier op Spotify te beluisteren (= nr. 10 t/m 17 van dit album)
Oefenbestanden (MuseScore)
Download de musescore-bestanden door de links hieronder met:
Rechtermuisknop > Koppeling opslaan als…
1. This Is The Truth
2. Adam Lay Ybounden
3. A Spotless Rose
4. A Cherry Tree Carol
5. O Little Town
6. Sweet Was The Song
7. Rejoice And Be Merry
8. This Is The Truth
Oefenbestanden per stemgroep:
Afspeelbaar in browser
Tekst
1. This is the truth sent from above,
The truth of God, the God of love;
Therefore don’t turn me from the door,
But hearken all, both rich and poor.
Once in royal David’s city
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her baby
In a manger for his bed:
Mary was that mother mild,
Jesus Christ her little child.
The first thing that I will relate,
That God at first did man create;
The next thing which to you I tell,
Woman was made with him to dwell.
Thus we were heirs to endless woes
Till God the Lord did interpose;
And so a promise soon did run:
That he’d redeem us by his Son.
(Text: Trad. English)
2. Adam lay ybounden,
Bounden in a bond;
Four thousand winter
Thought he not too long.
And all was for an apple,
An apple that he took,
As clerkes finden
Written in their book.
Ne had the apple taken been,
The apple taken been,
Ne had ne’er our Lady
A-been heaven queen.
Blessed be the time
That apple taken was;
Therefore we moun singen:
Deo gratias!
(Text: 15th century)
3. A spotless Rose is blowing,
Sprung from a tender root,
On ancient seers’ fore-showing,
Of Jesse promised fruit;
Its fairest bud unfolds to light
Amid the cold, cold winter,
And in the dark midnight.
The Rose which I am singing,
Whereof Isaiah said,
Is from its sweet root springing
In Mary, purest Maid;
For through our God’s great love and might,
The Blessed Babe she bare us
In a cold winter’s night.
(14th-century German melody, text translated
by Catherine Winkworth, 1827-1878)
Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming
From tender stem hath sprung!
Of Jesse’s lineage coming
As seers of old have sung.
It came, a blossom bright,
Amid the cold of winter,
When half-spent was the night.
(14th-century German melody, text translated
by Theodore Baker, 1851–1934)
4. Joseph was an old man, and an old man was he
When he married Mary in the land of Galilee.
Joseph and Mary walked through an orchard good,
Where was cherries and berries, so red as any blood.
O then bespoke Mary, so meek and so mild:
‘Pluck me a cherry, Joseph; for I am with child’.
‘Go to the tree, Mary, and it shall bow to thee,
And the highest branch of all shall bow to Mary’s knee.’
Then bowed down the tallest tree, it bent to Mary’s hand;
The she cried: ‘See, Joseph, I have cherries at command’.
‘O eat your cherries, Mary, O eat your cherries now!
O eat your cherries, Mary, that grow upon the bough.’
Then Mary plucked a cherry, as red as any blood;
And she did travel onward, all with her heavy load.
(Text: Trad. English)
5. O little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting light;
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight.
O morning stars, together
Proclaim the holy birth,
And praises sing to God the King,
And peace to men on earth;
For Christ is born of Mary,
And gathered all above,
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wond’ring love.
How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is giv’n!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of his heav’n.
No ear may hear his coming;
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him, still
The dear Christ enters in.
(Text: Phillips Brooks, 1835-1893)
6. Sweet was the song the Virgin sang,
When she to Bethlem Juda came
And was delivered of a Son
That blessed Jesus hath to name.
Lulla, lulla, lulla, lullaby,
Lulla, lulla, lullaby.
‘Sweet babe, sweet babe’, sang she, ‘My son
And eke a Saviour born,
Who has vouchsafed from on high
To visit us that were forlorn.’
Lalulla, lalulla, lalullaby
lulla, lalulla, lalullaby.
‘Sweet babe’, sang she,
And rocked him sweetly on her knee.
(Text: from William Ballet’s Lute Book, 16th century)
Silent night, holy night,
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin mother and child,
Holy infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.
(Melody by Franz Xaver Gruber, 1787–1863;
original German text by Joseph Mohr, 1792–1848,
translated by John F. Young, 1820–1885)
7. Rejoice and be merry in songs and in mirth!
O praise our Redeemer, all mortals on earth!
For this is the birthday of Jesus our king,
Who brought us salvation: his praises we’ll sing!
A heavenly vision appeared in the sky;
Vast numbers of angels the shepherds did spy,
Proclaiming the birthday of Jesus our King,
Who brought us salvation: his praises we’ll sing!
Likewise a bright star in the sky did appear,
Which led the wise men from the east to draw near;
They found the Messiah, sweet Jesus our King,
Who brought us salvation: his praises we’ll sing!
And when they were come, they their treasures unfold,
And unto him offered myrrh, incense, and gold.
So blessed for ever be Jesus our King,
Who brought us salvation: his praises we’ll sing!
(Text: Trad. English)
On Christmas night all Christians sing,
To hear the news the angels bring,
On Christmas night all Christians sing,
To hear the news the angels bring.
News of great joy, news of great mirth,
News of our merciful King’s birth.
(Text: Trad. English)
8. And at this season of the year
Our blest redeemer did appear,
And here did live, and here did preach,
And many thousands he did teach.
Thus he in love to us behaved,
To show us how we must be saved;
And if you want to know the way,
Be pleased to hear what he did say.
God grant to all within this place, true saving faith,
God grant to all within this place, that special grace
Which to his people doth belong;
And thus I close my Christmas song.
(Text: Trad. English)
And our eyes at last shall see him,
Through his own redeeming love,
For that child so dear and gentle
Is our Lord in heav’n above;
And he leads his children on
To the place where he is gone.
Not in that poor lowly stable,
With the oxen standing by,
We shall see him but in heaven,
Set at God’s right hand on high,
When like stars his children crowned
All in white shall wait around.
(Melody by Henry John Gauntlett, 1805–1876,
text by Mrs Cecil Frances Alexander, 1818–1895)