Your Favorite Christmas Carol? "Sacred Miscellany" wants to know
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,098
    It's not Christmas for me without "I Wonder As I Wander". In related American idiom, I love "Star in The East" (whence "Brightest and Best" is derived): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iuqOOL49Mo.

    (Not a carol, but Byrd's lesser-known setting of "Hodie Christus Natus Est" my dearest Xmas motet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8uWc3-3imc)

    Thanked by 3CHGiffen JulieColl regissør
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,802
    Thanks for the Byrd link Liam! Christ Church Cathedral Choir sounds like they use boy altos; is this very recent?
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,098
    I haven't a clue.

    CPDL link to music: https://tinyurl.com/y8gbme6e
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,098
    To me, that is about as perfect a piece of supernal word-painting by Byrd as Sicut Cervus is by Palestrina.
  • JulieCollJulieColl
    Posts: 2,465
    "Supernal" is a lovely word for this time of year. Makes one think of twinkling stars on a cold winter's night.
    Thanked by 1Liam
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,802
    Btw,
    Byrd's lesser-known setting of "Hodie Christus Natus Est"
    sent me scurrying after the well-known one; I now realize you meant "the lesser-known setting, the one by Byrd" ;-)
    Thanked by 1Liam
  • Schönbergian
    Posts: 1,063
    Vaughan Williams: "The blessed son of God" from his cantata Hodie.
    Thanked by 1Roborgelmeister
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,421
    'Behold, the Great Creator Makes Himself a House of Clay' as sung to This Endris Night, found at no. 303 in The English Hymnal Service Book.
  • JesJes
    Posts: 576
    All I Want for Christmas is You.
    Gaudete!!
    https://youtu.be/mCuHuIQRd3M
    Thanked by 2StimsonInRehab CHGiffen
  • Incardination
    Posts: 832
    Some other variants of Gaudete... This youtube is interesting with how they handled an overlay on the verses. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KSxg9Ij5r8

    The attached is from several years ago...
    Gaudete (Anon Renaissance).mp3
    3M
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    Lulajże Jezuniu - Chór Akademicki Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
    Thanked by 1Incardination
  • bhcordovabhcordova
    Posts: 1,165
    Got to be Three Dog Nights 'Joy to the World'
    Thanked by 2CharlesW francis
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,471
    youngcatholicgirl suggests Patapan, which I like. But there is a problem with singing words we do not quite understand: the third verse in French, for which a translation has not been quoted, ends with a line that should not be heard in church. Partly because of its inherent vulgarity, and because it is, ahem, inappropriate to invite us to a misuse of our sexuality, even figuratively to subjugate Satan. Much safer to re-express it in respectable English, someone in the congregation might have a knowledge of colloquial French.
    Thanked by 1youngcatholicgirl
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,982
    An oldie, but...

    Good Christian men of zest
    Sue someone you detest.
    Sue someone today (sue,sue)
    Take their worldly goods away.
    Sue someone today (sue, sue)
    seize their throat and make them pay.
    Sue someone today, sue someone today.
    Thanked by 1StimsonInRehab
  • youngcatholicgirlyoungcatholicgirl
    Posts: 39
    a_f_hawkins,

    As you can imagine, I had no idea. I do know that verses I, 2 and 4 are on the CD of the Benedictines of Mary, "Caroling at Ephesus" (and sung in French by the sisters). It makes me glad I don't know very much French. I did notice after I posted that the translation I used left out verse 3.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,982
    My choir has almost universally risen up in revolt and informed me they never want to see or hear Patapan again. I never knew what upset them about it, but it is a hill not worth fighting over.
    Thanked by 1ServiamScores
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,421
    What!
    It took a choral rebellion to get rid of Patapan?
    Your choristers are to be commended for their discerning!
    Thanked by 2CharlesW ServiamScores
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,982
    One of the older members asked for it one year, and to be honest, I wasn't that familiar with it. The other choir members informed me that she was the only one who liked it and they hated it. So the copies repose in the file cabinet and will not be seen again during my tenure.

    The only other time the choir revolted was when the diocese decreed using Misa Luna in 2011 when the new missal was introduced. We didn't do it, but kept it in reserve in case the bishop visited during the mandated year. He didn't visit and we didn't use it.
  • youngcatholicgirlyoungcatholicgirl
    Posts: 39
    I didn't know Patapan was used liturgically by anyone. I mentioned it merely as something I like to listen to and play on the piano during Christmastime (I looked at the lyrics for the first time a few days ago).
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,982
    The only time I used it was during a pre-Midnight Mass concert. I never really knew what it meant anyway.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,832
    Mele Kalikimaka
    Thanked by 2chonak ServiamScores
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,802
    it is, ahem, inappropriate to invite us to a misuse of our sexuality

    I'm sure it shows no more deference than is the gentleman from hell's due, but I'm skeptical about the literal meaning of the phrase various editions of Larousse gloss as "thumb one's nose" or "cock a snook at" (come to think of it, I'd better look up that last!).
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,982
    What!
    It took a choral rebellion to get rid of Patapan?
    Your choristers are to be commended for their discerning!


    Jackson, this group of oldsters is unbelievably independent. During rehearsal, the tenors were singing, "what the hell is a patapan?" Always the tenors who start trouble, isn't it? LOL.
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    I saw three ships
  • henrik.hank
    Posts: 103
    Nu tändas tusen juleljus is awesome.
    Then dont forget Gläns över sjö och strand.
    Thanked by 1M. Jackson Osborn
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,217
    Swedish repertoire isn't known here in the US as it deserves to be, since so few people know how to pronounce it.
    Nu tändas tusen juleljus : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDwIa4e4JJE
    Gläns över sjö och strand : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZGW605aCJo
    Thanked by 2M. Jackson Osborn CHGiffen
  • CeciliaJulia
    Posts: 52
    Angels We Have Heard on High
    Coventry Carol
    Wessex Carol
    What Child Is This (Greensleeves)
    Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella
    He Is Born, the Divine Christ Child
    Of the Father's Love Begotten

    There are so many! I love almost all of the traditional arrangements of the hymn-type tunes, such as those found in that book with the Currier-and-Ives-style illustration on the front cover. But I also love the going-back-to-the-original-style newer arrangements of older carols and chants, except when the arrangements sound modern-pretending-to-be-authentic to my ear. Hard to define, of course.

    Also, while it's not precisely Christmas, the Angelus/Ave Maria setting by Franz Biebl is beautiful and has the most essential distillations of our faith about Christmas, in chant (from the Angelus): the Annunciation, and then "et verbum caro factus est, et habitavit in nobis."
  • narfie13
    Posts: 18
    It came upon a midnight clear (for the meaning of the text!) either tune is OK. No Christmas possible without human response to the angelic song .
    Thanked by 1mmeladirectress
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,421
    Ding-dong Merrily on High
    Thanked by 2a_f_hawkins StimsonInRehab
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,471
    MJO - might have known you would favour something with lengthy, albeit simple, melismata. (As do I.)
    Thanked by 1M. Jackson Osborn
  • StimsonInRehabStimsonInRehab
    Posts: 1,934
    Ding-Dong also encourages active participation of the congregation in singing Latin. ("and i-o, i-o, i-o, by priest and people sungen") as well as promoting the Divine Office in parish life ("Pray you, dutifully prime [ok, a bit of a stretch, I'll suppress that one] your matin chime, ye ringers/may you beautifully rime your eve time song, ye singers.") Excellent choice!
    Thanked by 2a_f_hawkins ServiamScores
  • ClemensRomanusClemensRomanus
    Posts: 1,023
    Adeste fideles
    Silent Night (because I sang it as a lullaby each night to my son when he was born)
    Thanked by 1Carol
  • Daniel Bennett PageDaniel Bennett Page
    Posts: 835
    All poor men and humble
    Here is the little door (Howells)
    music from the Cowley Carol Book, the predecessor and source of many of the arrangements popularized in Carols for Choirs 1 & 2
    https://imslp.org/wiki/The_Cowley_Carol_Book_(Various)
  • cesarfranck
    Posts: 162
    Sussex carol, Once in royal David's city (actually a hymn), The first Nowell, Adeste Fidelis, In dulci jubilo, The holly and the ivy, Divinum Mysterium, The Angel Gabriel...
    Thanked by 3StimsonInRehab CHGiffen CharlesW
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,421
    'Break Forth, O Beauteous Heav'nly Light'
    (Not actually a Christmas carol - but a Christmas chorale.)
    Thanked by 3CHGiffen cesarfranck CharlesW
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    For Liam, "I wander as I wonder" recorded this afternoon at the Phipps Festival Chorus concert (Hudson, Wisconsin). Nice bass part ... with a low D-flat at the end for those of us on second bass.
    03_I_Wander_as_I_Wonder.mp3
    4M
    Thanked by 1Liam
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,098
    Thanks! The parody version of I Wonder as I Wander would of course treat the use of mobile devices by automobile drivers, under the title of I Wander as I Wonder.....
    Thanked by 3WGS StimsonInRehab CHGiffen
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    I Wander as I Wonder.....

    This is exactly the sentiment I had when walking in the Institute for Advanced Study woods in Princeton, NJ, when I was in residence at the IAS ... a perfect place to wander whilst wondering about ones research.
    Thanked by 3Liam CharlesW StimsonInRehab
  • StimsonInRehabStimsonInRehab
    Posts: 1,934
    Not all those who wander are lost. Neither are all those who wonder, thank heavens.
    Thanked by 5CHGiffen M. Jackson Osborn mmeladirectress MarkS ServiamScores
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,421
    Not to wonder is to have died spiritually.
    Wonder is, if not the keystone, then a pillar of sanity.
    Thanked by 1Carol
  • Maureen
    Posts: 678
    I recently spent an evening on YouTube, finding out that St. Alphonsus Liguori wrote a bunch of famous Christmas songs.
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,421
    ...finding out...
    Such as?
  • GregoriusGregorius
    Posts: 18
    Resonet in laudibus by Bartłomiej Pękiel
    Gratanter jubilemus from the Kancjonał Staniątecki
    King Jesus hath a garden - which I think maybe based on a Dutch carol.

    Greg
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,421
    ...which I think maybe...
    It is.
    Heer Jesus heeft een Hofken,
    from Geestlijcke Harmonie,
    1633
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,217
    Welcome, Gregorius!

    I found these samples:

    Resonet in laudibus · Bartlomiej Pekiel
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoKhDeozamI

    "King Jesus hath a garden":
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M31QPqdqz04

    But alas, no examples of performances of Gratanter jubilemus. It doesn't even seem to be in the Choral Public Domain Library, so if you have a score old enough to be in the public domain (1923 or before), perhaps we should transcribe it and add the work.

    Thanks, incidentally, for mentioning the Kancjonały Staniąteckie; I hadn't heard of them before. Apparently they are a collection of 16th-18th century music manuscripts from the Benedictine convent at Staniątki in Poland.
    Thanked by 2M. Jackson Osborn CHGiffen
  • GregoriusGregorius
    Posts: 18
    I quite like this recording of Resonet in laudibus by Pękiel (Not sure if this clip can be accessed in the US) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G8wOrhSAiU

    I am quite a fan of Bartłomiej Pękiel's music. We always sing his Magnum nomen Domini each year for Christmas.

    The music for Grantanter jubilemus - http://biblioteka2.caecilianum.eu/religijne/boze-narodzenie/933-gratanter-iubilemus-2-anonim-partytura/file.html

    Also it can be found in Kolędy polskie: średniowiecze i wiek XVI Pax 1966.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,982
    For the most part, I tend to love Christmas and Advent carols. But I can't believe this post has gone this far without someone mentioning "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer." Where is Melo Charles when you need him and his sterling sense of humor?

    May his memory be eternal.
    Thanked by 4tomjaw Incardination StimsonInRehab Carol
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,098
    What could be worse? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlIs27Z5Hrk
    Thanked by 2CharlesW Carol
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,982
    Priceless. LOL
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,217
    Here's a (caution!) simulated instrumental MP3 rendition of Gratanter iubilemus.
    Anonymous-Gratanter-iubilemus.mp3
    2M
    Thanked by 1CharlesW
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