So, for Extraordinary Rite choirs, good news: we can at last sing this glorious carol during mass !! I've altered a couple of Litzel's words, but it's substantially the same.
Please hoping he doesn't sue - I've no idea who he is, but many thanks, George.
We tried it out at Midnight Mass on Friday/Saturday. Wonderful !!
I'm intending to underlay the equally splendid Robert de L. Pearsall arrangement with this text by next Christmas. Anyone else is free to do the same, of course ...
A. This harmonization is NOT due to Bach, but to Bartholomew Gesius (1601). It is often misrepresented as being by Bach when followed by a Bach setting of the final stanza.
Is there really that parallel octave in the final cadence in the original version?
B. The parallel octave (between the soprano and tenor) in the penultimate measure is not in the original Gesius, which uses an alternate (and often heard) melodic formula on "Alpha es et O" that avoids the parallel octave. The correct Gesius setting is attached.
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