Friends,

I came across the wonderful poem by James Matthew Wilson a couple years ago and knew it needed a musical setting. After a long compositional process, rounding up my finest singers, losing one to quarantine(!), and a rigorous rehearsal schedule, I finally have something to show for it!

I've attached a score and I'll link the recording from my Christmas concert below. The poem is a pantoum, inspired by the preface for Xmas Day:

"For in the mystery of the Word made flesh
a new light of your glory has shone upon the eyes of our mind,
so that, as we recognize in him God made visible,
we may be caught up through him in love of things invisible."

For the music, I used a free rhythm, and, as you'll see, an expansive harmonic language. You'll notice that, when Wilson repeated a line in different context, I re-used the harmonies from the first occurrence of the text, but voiced them differently.

I'm grateful to Dr. Wilson for allowing me to use the poem, my fabulous student singers, and some colleagues who gave me valuable feedback. Enjoy!

Recording: https://uofi.app.box.com/s/1y6gxk8ukcuzz5rah8nk9q0fpeppo5gp/file/894954514227



The Christmas Preface
by James Matthew Wilson



There, in the hay’s warmth and the steaming sty,

The Word born to the frailty of flesh

Cracks our mortality with a weak cry

And seals our life within his endlessness.



The Word born to the frailty of flesh,

He lies wrapped in the cloths of mystery,

And seals our life within his endlessness,

In infant finitude, eternity.



He lies wrapped in the cloths of mystery,

The straining of small limbs, unopened eyes.

In infant finitude, eternity

And love invisible we recognize.



The straining of small limbs, unopened eyes

Draw us from torchlight to the light of glory,

And love invisible we recognize

Shaping the child’s dream of the Christmas story.



Draw us from torchlight to the light of glory.

Crack our mortality with a weak cry,

Shaping the child’s dream of the Christmas story,

Here in the hay’s warmth and the steaming sty.