EDWARD NESBIT NATIVITY
The Choir of King’s College London
Joseph Fort director
Angharad Lyddon mezzo-soprano 3, 4, 6–9
Benedict Nelson baritone 2, 3, 6–9
Anneke Hodnett harp 1–4, 6–10, 18, 21
Martin Owen horn 1–4, 6, 8–9
Nativity
1 I. Chorus 1: So stick up ivy and the bays [4:23]
2 II. Recitative 1: All-wielding God in trinity [3:06]
3 III. Scherzo 1: God will us guide [1:14]
4 IV. Lullaby 1: Now in my soul great joy have I [3:48]
5 V. Chorus 2: How kind is heaven to man! [1:51]
6 VI. Recitative 2: Ah, Lord God, what the weather is cold [3:34]
7 VII. Scherzo 2: Say, Mary daughter, what cheer with thee? [3:27]
8 VIII. Lullaby 2 (with beasts): Now, Lord that is all this world shall win [4:47]
9 IX. Chorus 3: Peace? and to all the world? [6:13]
10 Drop down, ye heavens – I. Be not wroth very sore [2:58]
Wycliffe Carols
11 I. Be ye comforted [2:20]
12 II. In to plain ways [2:23]
13 III. Thy light is comun [1:30]
14 IV. The shining of thy rising [1:34]
15 V. Forsooth a little child [1:12]
The Choir of King’s College London gratefully acknowledge grants from the Vaughan Williams Foundation and from King’s College London, and also the support of the individuals and institutions who made this project possible. The clergy and staff of All Hallows’, Gospel Oak graciously allowed us to use their church for the recording; the staff of the Dean’s Office of King’s College London (Ellen Clark-King, Tim Ditchfield, Clare Dowding and Natalie Frangos) provided considerable administrative and logistical support.
16 VI. The watches of the night [4:15] Ellie Blewitt soprano, Ruby Bak alto
17 VII. Make joy withoutforth enough [0:54]
18 Drop down, ye heavens – II. We have sinned [2:57]
Metaphysical Songs
19 I. Awake, glad heart! [5:53]
20 II. The Shepherds [4:29]
21 Drop down, ye heavens – III. Comfort ye [2:50]
Four Christmas Lyrics
22 I. At a sprynge-wel under a thorn [1:25]
Recorded on 15-17 June 2023 at
All Hallows’, Gospel Oak and 24 June 2024 in the chapel of Merton College, Oxford (tracks 10, 18, 21)
Producer/Engineer: Paul Baxter
24-bit digital editing: Jack Davis
24-bit digital mastering: Paul Baxter
Design: Drew Padrutt
Booklet editor: Henry Howard Cover: Jr Korpa / unsplash
Session photography: Will Coates-Gibson/Foxbrush Delphian Records Ltd – Edinburgh – UK www.delphianrecords.com
www.delphianrecords.com
23 II. Byhalde merveyles! [1:36]
24 III. Balulalow [1:31]
25 IV. Abowt the fyld thei pyped full right [2:50]
Total playing time [73:13]
All tracks are premiere recordings
The marketplace of Christmas choral music is a crowded one. Christmas music has been written for the best part of two millennia, and many carols are written every year, enlivening carol services with a taste of something new. How, then, is it possible for a composer writing a CD-length body of Christmas music to make a distinctive contribution to this already rich musical repertoire?
From ‘The watches of the night’ (Wycliffe Carols), composed in 2014, to ‘We have sinned’ (Drop down, ye heavens), composed in 2023, the music on this recording spans a period of almost a decade, and is in no sense a unified set. Nevertheless, I believe there are several themes which recur in different guises over the course of the album: there is a preoccupation with texts which emerged from medieval Britain; the music abounds with references to other music from the classical (though not necessarily choral) canon; there is an unusually high proportion of fast music compared to the rather stately pace of much new choral writing; and the music frequently finds humour in this ultimately very serious subject matter.
The programme opens with Nativity, an extended cantata for vocal soloists, chorus, horn and harp. As I composed Nativity, I had in mind the Bach Passions, in which narrative sections setting extracts of the gospels of John and Matthew are interspersed with
contemporary poetry which reflects on the action being narrated. In a similar manner, Nativity alternates between narrative sections, which set extracts from the Tilethatchers Play from the York cycle of Mystery Plays, and three Christmas poems by the Welsh metaphysical poet Henry Vaughan.
The Tilethatchers Play consists of an extended dialogue between Mary and Joseph, who are represented here by mezzo-soprano and baritone soloists. In ‘Recitative 1: All-wielding God in trinity’, Mary and Joseph have failed to find adequate accommodation, and Joseph appeals to God to grant them rest in the stable. In this telling the stable is decidedly inadequate, with broken walls and a collapsing roof – this latter a nod to the trade of the tilethatchers, the guild who took responsibility for the play in medieval York. This is followed by ‘Scherzo 1: God will us guide’ – almost a patter song – in which Mary reassures Joseph that Jesus will be born safely in the stable. At the end of the movement, a rather bumbling Joseph departs on an errand to find some firewood, and so is absent for the birth of Jesus in ‘Lullaby 1: Now in my soul great joy have I’. This lullaby, originally scored for viola and harp, was composed on the occasion of the birth of my son Rowan; it is here repurposed to mark the birth of an even more illustrious infant.
what the weather is cold’, Joseph makes his way back to the stable. At the end of the movement he finally arrives and, in ‘Scherzo 2: Say, Mary daughter, what cheer with thee?’, is confused by the scene that awaits him. ‘Oh, Mary, what is that on thy knee?’, he says, at the sight of the baby Jesus. Once Mary has clarified matters, the mood turns to one of rejoicing. ‘Hail, my maker’, sings Joseph, echoing Mary’s words from Lullaby 1. In ‘Lullaby 2 (with beasts): Now, Lord that is all this world shall win’, Joseph imagines that the animals in the stable are joining in with the worship of Jesus. The reference here is to ‘Spring’ from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. Throughout the slow movement of ‘Spring’, the violas play a repeated two-note figure to represent a barking dog. In Lullaby 2, the horn plays an almost identical two-note figure throughout the introduction, and thereafter whenever either Mary or Joseph mentions the beasts.
Christmas celebrations in favour of focusing on its religious significance. The theme of religious exhortation is returned to in ‘Chorus 2: How kind is heaven to man!’ a setting of the second half of Vaughan’s poem ‘Christ’s Nativity’, while ‘Chorus 3: Peace? and to all the world?’ provides a joyous finale. Towards the end of Chorus 3, Mary and Joseph make their final appearances. They sing the closing lines of the Tilethatchers Play, which for the first and only time in the cantata is superimposed onto words by Vaughan.
The recitative–scherzo–lullaby sequence is then repeated. In ‘Recitative 2: Ah, Lord God,
Interspersed between the narrative movements are the three settings of Henry Vaughan, which constitute the first, middle and last movements of Nativity. While the choir make sporadic appearances in the narrative movements, they come to the fore in the Henry Vaughan settings, while conversely Mary and Joseph are largely absent from these three movements. ‘Chorus 1: So stick up ivy and the bays’ exhorts the reader (or listener) to eschew extravagant
The Wycliffe Carols tell the story of the Nativity by drawing upon very familiar texts from Part 1 of Handel’s Messiah. The first movement, for example, is a version of ‘Comfort ye my people’; the last, ‘Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion’. Instead of the King James Version used by Handel, however, the Wycliffe Carols set the Wycliffe Bible, the earliest complete translation of the Bible into English, dating from the last two decades of the fourteenth century. The translation is the work of several priests working under the direction of the English theologian John Wycliffe and, in its efforts to make the Bible available to a wider readership through presentation in the vernacular, represents an important precursor to Protestantism. The use of this translation brings about some striking changes to the text: ‘Comfort ye my people’, for example, becomes in this rendering ‘My people, be ye comforted’; and ‘Rejoice greatly,
O daughter of Zion’ becomes – to modern eyes, bizarrely – ‘Thou daughter of Zion, make joy withoutforth enough’. I hope the effect is to defamiliarise these very well-known texts, and through that defamiliarisation to render them freshly vivid and mysterious.
‘Be ye comforted’, a declamatory opening to Wycliffe Carols, cadences onto the first chord of the very hushed ‘In to plain ways’. ‘Thy light is comun’ and ‘The shining of thy rising’ are based on the same repeated pair of chords, though again are highly contrasted in mood. ‘Forsooth a little child’, a delicate dance to mark the moment of Jesus’ birth, then lends a modified version of its melody to ‘The watches of the night’, the most extended movement of the set, in which angels tell the shepherds of the birth. These three pairs of movements are followed by ‘Make joy withoutforth enough’, a radically sped-up version of ‘Be ye comforted’ which brings the set to an effervescent close.
Next comes a pair of two further settings of Henry Vaughan, called Metaphysical Songs (the title is a nod to Gary Tomlinson’s pioneering history of opera, Metaphysical Song). ‘Awake, glad heart!’ is a setting of the first half of Vaughan’s poem ‘Christ’s Nativity’ (the second half of which appears in Nativity), in which the narrator – who is ‘all filth, and obscene’ – feels inadequate when faced with the marvel of the Nativity. The piece opens
with a hushed exclamation: ‘Awake’. This exclamation is repeated with increasing force before giving way to a more light-hearted middle section. A rapturous return to the opening material follows, before the piece concludes with the same warm and quiet sonority with which it began.
Open fifths in the bass register have long been a signifier of the pastoral (think, for example, of the opening sonority of Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral’ Symphony). In ‘The Shepherds’, the notes G and D – spelling out an open fifth – are present continuously for the whole piece, for the most part (though not exclusively) in the bass register. Over (and, occasionally, under) this appear repeating melodic fragments and increasingly florid decorations, leading eventually to a euphoric climax. The point of inspiration here was Ravel’s Boléro, in which two melodies are repeated in alternation without development, and in which, apart from a brief climactic modulation to E major, the music never moves from the home key of C. This obsessiveness lends the music a hypnotic power, and I hope to have captured something similar here.
The final piece in the album is Four Christmas Lyrics, a series of short carols which set Middle English (or, in the case of ‘Balulalow’, slightly later than Middle English) lyrics. The text of ‘At a sprynge-wel under a thorn’ survives in a fifteenth-century
manuscript, and can be read as both a secular and a sacred lyric. In the secular reading, the lyric draws upon the common Middle English trope of wells acting as the meeting place for lovers, and the ‘maid completely bound by love’ is waiting in anticipation of a tryst with her lover. In some early Christian writings, however, the annunciation took place at a fountain beside a thornbush, giving rise to a second, religious reading, in which the maid is the Virgin Mary and the love is of a more spiritual variety. The understated sensuality of ‘At a sprynge-wel under a thorn’ is followed by an energetic setting for double choir of the thirteenth-century lyric ‘Byhalde merveyles!’, an exploration of the paradoxes of the Christian faith, in which, among other marvels, a maiden is a mother and her son is also her father.
The text of ‘Balulalow’ is the latest of the four, and was published by Scottish poets James, John and Robert Wedderburn in 1567. It is a lullaby for the infant Jesus, and has previously provided inspiration to many composers, including a notable appearance in Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols. In the present setting, an artless lullaby melody in compound time appears twice, only to give way both times to a more contemplative and rather darker mood. Ultimately, the piece both is and isn’t a lullaby. ‘Abowt the fyld thei pyped full right’ returns to the fifteenth century, and is punctuated by the repeated exclamation
of joy, ‘Tyrlé, tyrlo’. The piece describes the shepherds’ journey to Bethlehem, and the return to the subject matter of the second of the Metaphysical Songs brings about a return to the (this time not quite so) static open fifths in the lower register.
Interspersed between the choral works are three harp solos, collectively called Drop down, ye heavens. The melodic material in all three movements is loosely derived from the Advent Prose, a seventeenth-century hymn which was popularised in the English Hymnal and which combines ‘Rorate caeli’ – an extract of Isaiah – with other scriptural passages used in the liturgy for Advent. The movement titles correspond to the opening lines of three verses of the hymn. ‘Be ye not wroth very sore’ is delicate and gentle, and is followed by the much more vigorous ‘We have sinned’. ‘Comfort Ye’ (this time not a reference to Messiah) provides a joyful conclusion to the set.
© 2024 Edward Nesbit
Nativity
Texts anon., from the Tilethatchers Play in the York Corpus Christi cycle, and by Henry Vaughan (1621–1695)
1 I. Chorus 1: So stick up ivy and the bays
Chorus
So stick up ivy and the bays, And then restore the heathen ways. Green will remind you of the spring, Though this great day denies the thing. And mortifies the earth and all But your wild revels, and loose hall. Could you wear flowers, and roses strow Blushing upon your breasts’ warm snow, That very dress your lightness will Rebuke, and wither at the ill. The brightness of this day we owe Not unto music, masque, nor show: Nor gallant furniture, nor plate; But to the manger’s mean estate. His life while here, as well as birth,
Was but a check to pomp and mirth; And all man’s greatness you may see Condemned by His humility.
Then leave your open house and noise, To welcome Him with holy joys, And the poor shepherd’s watchfulness: Whom light and hymns from heaven did bless. What you abound with, cast abroad
To those that want, and ease your load. Who empties thus, will bring more in; But riot is both loss and sin.
Dress finely what comes not in sight, And then you keep your Christmas right.
Henry Vaughan
2 II. Recitative 1: All-wielding God in trinity
Joseph
All-wielding God in trinity, I pray thee, Lord, for thy great might, Unto thy simple servant see, Here in this place where we are pight, Ourselves alone.
Lord, grant us good harbour this night, Within this wone.
And if we here all night abide We shall be stormed in this stead, The walls are down on each side, The roof is raved above our head, As have I roo;
Say Mary, daughter, what is thy rede, How shall we do?
For in great need now are we stead, As thou thyself the sooth may see, For here is neither cloth nor bed, And we are weak and all weary And fain would rest.
Now gracious God, for thy mercy, Advise us the best.
3 III. Scherzo 1: God will us guide
Mary
God will us guide, full well know ye; Therefore, Joseph, be of good cheer, For in this place born will he be That shall us save from sorrows sere, Both eve and morn.
Sir, know ye well the time is near, He will be born.
Joseph
Then behoves us bide here still, Here in this same place all this night.
Mary Yea, sir, forsooth it is God’s will.
Joseph
Then would I fain we had some light, What so befall.
It waxes murk unto my sight And cold withal.
I will go get us light therefore, And fuel try with me to bring.
4 IV. Lullaby 1: Now in my soul great joy have I
Mary
Now in my soul great joy have I, I am all clad in comfort clear, Now will be born of my body Both God and man together in fere, Blessed may he be.
Jesu, my son that is so dear, Now born is he.
Hail, my Lord God, hail prince of peace, Hail my father, and hail my son; Hail sovereign Lord all sins to cease, Hail, God and man in earth to won.
Chorus
How kind!
5 V. Chorus 2: How kind is heaven to man!
Chorus
How kind is heaven to man! If here One sinner doth amend Straight there is joy, and every sphere In music doth contend; And shall we then no voices lift? Are mercy, and salvation
Not worth our thanks? Is life a gift Of no more acceptation?
Shall He that did come down from thence, And here for us was slain, Shall He be now cast off? No sense Of all His woes remain?
Can neither Love, nor sufferings bind? Are we all stone, and earth?
Neither His bloody passions mind, Nor one day bless His birth?
Alas, my God! Thy birth now here Must not be numbered in the year.
Henry Vaughan
6 VI. Recitative 2: Ah, Lord God, what the weather is cold
Joseph
Ah, Lord God, what the weather is cold, The fellest freeze that ever I feeled; I pray God help them that is old And namely them that is unwield, So may I say.
Now, good God, thou be my bield, As thou best may.
Ah, Lord God, what light is this
That comes shining thus suddenly? I cannot say, as have I bliss, When I come home unto Mary Than shall I speer. Ah, praised be God, for now come I.
Mary Ye are welcome, sir.
7 VII. Scherzo 2: Say, Mary daughter, what cheer with thee?
Joseph Say, Mary daughter, what cheer with thee?
Mary Right good, Joseph, and have been.
Joseph Oh, Mary, what is that on thy knee?
Mary
It is my son, the sooth to say, That is so good.
Joseph
Well is me I bade this day To see this child.
Me marvels mickle of this light That thusgates shines in this place, Forsooth it is a marvellous sight.
Mary
This has he ordained of his grace, My son so young, A star to be shining a space At his bearing.
For Balaam told full long before How that a star should rise full high, And of a maiden should be born
A son that shall our saving be From cares keen.
Forsooth, it is my son so free, Whom Balaam mean.
Joseph
Now welcome, flower of fairest hue, I shall thee worship with main and might.
Hail, my maker, hail Christ Jesu, Hail, royal king, root of all right; Hail, saviour, Hail, my Lord, leamer of light, Hail, blessed flower.
8 VIII. Lullaby 2 (with beasts): Now, Lord that all this world shall win
Mary
Now, Lord that all this world shall win, To thee, my son, is that I say, Here is no bed to lay thee in; Therefore, my dear son, I thee pray, Since it is so, Here in this crib I might thee lay Between these beasts two.
Joseph
Oh Mary, behold these beasts mild, They make lofing in their manner
As they were men.
Forsooth, it seems their Lord they ken.
Mary
Oh, now sleeps my son, blessed must he be, And lies full warm these beasts between.
9 IX. Chorus 3: Peace? and to all the world?
Chorus
Peace? and to all the world? sure, One
And He the Prince of Peace, hath none. He travels to be born, and then Is born to travel more again. Poor Galilee! thou canst not be The place for His nativity.
His restless mother’s called away, And not delivered till she pay.
A tax? ’tis so still! we can see The church thrive in her misery; And like her Head at Bethlem, rise When she, oppressed with troubles, lies. Rise? should all fall, we cannot be In more extremities than He.
Great Type of passions! come what will, Thy grief exceeds all copies still. Thou cam’st from heaven to earth, that we Might go from earth to heaven with Thee. And though Thou foundest no welcome here, Thou didst provide us mansions there.
A stable was Thy court, and when Men turned to beasts, beasts would be men. They were Thy courtiers, others none; And their poor manger was Thy throne. No swaddling silks Thy limbs did fold, Though Thou couldst turn Thy rays to gold. No rockers waited on Thy birth, No cradles stirred, nor songs of mirth; But her chaste lap and sacred breast Which lodged Thee first did give Thee rest.
But stay: what light is that doth stream, And drop here in a gilded beam? It is Thy star runs page, and brings Thy tributary Eastern kings. Lord! grant some light to us, that we May with them find the way to Thee. Behold what mists eclipse the day: How dark it is! shed down one ray To guide us out of this sad night, And say once more, ‘Let there be light.’
Henry Vaughan
Mary
Thou merciful maker, most mighty, My God, my Lord, my son so free, Thy handmaiden forsooth am I, And to thy service I oblige me.
With all mine heart entire, Thy blessing, I beseech thee, Thou grant us all together.
Joseph
Honour and worship both day and night, Ay-lasting Lord, be done to thee, And Lord, to thy service I oblige me With all mine heart, wholly .
Wycliffe Carols
Texts from the Wycliffe Version of the Bible (c.1380–94)
11 I. Be ye comforted
My people, be ye comforted, be ye comforted, saith your Lord God. Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem, and clepe ye it, for the malice thereof is filled, the wickedness thereof is forgiven; it hath received of the hand of the Lord double things for all his sins. The voice of a crier in desert, Make ye ready the way of the Lord, make ye rightful the paths of our God in wilderness.
Isaiah 40: 1–3
12 II. In to plain ways
Each valley shall be enhanced, and each mountain and little hill shall be made low; And shrewd things schulen be in to straight things, and sharp things schulen be in to plain ways.
Isaiah 40: 4
13 III. Thy light is comun
Thou that preachest to Zion, stie on an high hill; thou that preachest to Jerusalem, enhance thy voice in strength; enhance thou, nyle thou dread; say thou to the cities of Judah, Lo! your God. Rise thou, Jerusalem, be thou lightened, for thy light is comun, and the glory of the Lord is risen on thee.
Isaiah 40: 9, 60: 1
14 IV. The shining of thy rising
For Lo! Darknesses schulen hile the earth, and mist shall hile peoples; but the Lord shall rise on thee, and his glory shall be seen in thee. And heathen men shulen go in thy light, and kings shulen go in the shining of thy rising.
Isaiah 60: 2–3
15 V. Forsooth a little child
Forsooth a little child is born to us, and a son is given to us, and princehood is made on his shoulder; and his name shall be clepid Wonderful, A counsellor, God, Strong, A father of the world to coming, A prince of peace. His empire shall be multiplied, and none end shall be of his peace; he shall sit on the seat of David, and on the realm of him, that he confirm it, and make strong in doom and rightfulness, from hence forth and till in to with out end. The fervent love of the Lord of oostis shall make this.
Isaiah 9: 6–7
16 VI. The watches of the night
And shepherds were in the same country, waking and keeping the watches of the night on their flock. And lo! The angel of the Lord stood beside them, and the clearness of God shined about them; and they dreaded with great dread. And the angel said to them, Nyle ye dread; for lo! I preach to you a great joy, that shall be to all people. For a saviour is born
today to you, that is Christ the Lord, in the city of David. And this is a token to you; ye schulen find a young child wrapped in cloths, and laid in a cratch. And suddenly there was made with the angel a multitude of heavenly knighthood, hearing God, and saying, Glory be in the highest things to God, and in earth peace be to men of good will.
Luke 2: 8–14
17 VII. Make joy withoutforth enough
Thou daughter of Zion, make joy withoutforth enough, sing, thou daughter of Jerusalem; lo! thy king shall come to thee, he just, and saviour; he poor, and ascending on a she ass, and on a foal, son of a she ass. And I shall lose four-horsed cart of Ephraim, and an horse of Jerusalem, and the bow of battle shall be destroyed; and he shall speak peace to heathen men, and the power of him shall be from sea till to sea, and from floods, till to the endis of earth.
Zechariah 9: 9–10
Metaphysical Songs
19 Awake, glad heart!
Awake, glad heart! Get up and sing, It is the birthday of thy King, Awake! Awake!
The sun doth shake
Light from his locks, and all the way Breathing perfumes, doth spice the day.
Awake, awake! Hark, how the wood rings, Winds whisper, and the busy springs
A consort make; Awake, awake!
Man is their high-priest, and should rise
To offer up the sacrifice.
I would I were some bird or star, Fluttering in woods, or lifted far
Above this inn
And road of sin!
Then either star, or bird, should be Shining, or singing still to Thee.
I would I had in my best part
Fit rooms for Thee! Or that my heart
Were so clean as Thy manger was!
But I am all filth, and obscene, Yet if Thou wilt, Thou canst make clean.
Sweet Jesu! will then; Let no more This leper haunt, and soil Thy door, Curse him, ease him
O release him!
And let once more by mystic birth
The Lord of life be born in earth.
Henry Vaughan, from ‘Christ’s Nativity’
20 II. The Shepherds
Sweet, harmless lives! (on whose holy leisure Waits innocence and pleasure),
Whose leaders to those pastures, and clear springs, Were patriarchs, saints, and kings, How happened it that in the dead of night
You only saw true light, While Palestine was fast asleep, and lay Without one thought of day?
Was it because those first and blessed swains
Were pilgrims on those plains
When they received the promise, for which now ’Twas there first shown to you?
’Tis true, He loves that dust whereon they go That serve Him here below, And therefore might for memory of those His love there first disclose;
But wretched Salem, once His love, must now No voice, nor vision know, Her stately piles with all their height and pride Now languished and died, And Bethlem’s humble cotes above them stepped
While all her seers slept; Her cedar, fir, hewed stones and gold were all Polluted through their fall, And those once sacred mansions were now Mere emptiness and show; This made the angel call at reeds and thatch, Yet where the shepherds watch, And God’s own lodging (though He could not lack)
To be a common rack;
No costly pride, no soft-clothed luxury
In those thin cells could lie, Each stirring wind and storm blew through their cots
Which never harbored plots, Only content, and love, and humble joys
Lived there without all noise,
Perhaps some harmless cares for the next day
Did in their bosoms play,
As where to lead their sheep, what silent nook,
What springs or shades to look, But that was all; and now with gladsome care
They for the town prepare, They leave their flock, and in a busy talk
All towards Bethlem walk
To see their souls’ Great Shepherd, Who was come
To bring all stragglers home, Where now they find Him out, and taught before That Lamb of God adore, That Lamb whose days great kings and prophets wished And longed to see, but missed.
The first light they beheld was bright and gay And turned their night to day, But to this later light they saw in Him, Their day was dark, and dim.
Henry Vaughan
Four Christmas Lyrics
22 I. At a sprynge-wel under a thorn
At a sprynge-wel under a thorn, Ther was bote of bale, A lytel here aforn. Ther bysydë stant a mayde, Fulle of love y-bounde; Hoso wol sechë trwë love, Yn hyr hyt schal be founde.
Anon., 15th century
23 II. Byhalde merveyles!
Byhalde merveyles! A mayde ys moder!
Her sone her fader ys and broder!
Lyfe faught with dethe and dethe is slayne; Most high was lowe – he styghe agayne!
Anon., 14th century
24 III. Balulalow
O my deare hert, young Jesu sweit, Prepare thy creddil in my spreit, And I sall rock thee to my hert, And never mair from thee depart.
But I sall praise thee evermoir With sanges sweit unto they gloir; The knees of my hert sall I bow, And sing that richt Balulalow!
James, John and Robert Wedderburn, 1567
25 IV. Abowt the fyld thei pyped full right Tyrlé, tyrlo, So merylye the shepperdes began to blowe.
Abowt the fyld thei pyped full right, Even abowt the middes off the nyght; Adown frome heven thei saw cum a lyght. Tyrlé, tirlo …
Off angels ther came a company With mery songes and melody; The shepperdes anonne gane them aspy. Tyrlé, tirlo …
‘Gloria in excelsis,’ the angels song And said who peace was present among To every man that to the faith wold long. Tyrlé, tyrlo …
The shepperdes hyed them to Bethleme
To se that blyssëd sonës beme, And ther they found that glorious streme. Tyrlé, tyrlo …
Now preye we to that mekë chyld, And to his mothere that is so myld, The which that was never defyld, Tyrlé, tyrlo …
That we may cum unto his blysse Where that joy shall never mysse; Than may we syng in paradice, Tyrlé, tirlo …
I pray yow allë that be here Fore to syng and mak good chere, In the worschip off God thys yere. Tyrlé, tirlo …
Anon., 15th century
Biographies
The Choir of King’s College London is one of the leading university choirs in England, and has existed since its founding by William Henry Monk in the middle of the nineteenth century. The choir today consists of some thirty choral scholars reading a variety of subjects. The choir’s principal role at King’s is to provide music for chapel worship, with weekly Eucharist and Evensong services offered during term, as well as various other services. Services from the College Chapel are regularly broadcast on BBC Radio. The choir also frequently sings for worship outside the university, including at Westminster Abbey and St Paul’s Cathedral.
In addition, the choir gives many concert performances. Recent festival appearances in England include the Barnes Music Festival, London Handel Festival, Oundle International Festival, St Albans International Organ Festival, Spitalfields Festival, and the Christmas and Holy Week Festivals at St John’s Smith Square. In 2017 the choir joined forces with Britten Sinfonia to give the UK premiere of Samuel Barber’s The Lovers (chamber version) at Kings Place, the performance described in The Times as ‘sung beautifully, the voices judiciously blended’. The choir tours widely, with destinations including Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Nigeria and the USA. In 2017 it served as Choir-In-Residence for the northeast convention of American Guild of Organists and Royal Canadian College of Organists in Montreal.
The choir has made many recordings, and enjoys an ongoing relationship with Delphian Records. Recordings include the German Requiem of Johannes Brahms in its 1872 English-language setting (DCD34195), praised as ‘utterly uplifting’ (Norman Lebrecht, La Scena Musicale) and ‘an intimate, highly charged performance’ (Stephen Pritchard, The Observer); and the Masses for Double Choir by Kenneth Leighton and Frank Martin (DCD34211), described as ‘a performance of astonishing intensity and musicality’ (Marc Rochester, Gramophone), and ‘a colourful performance … Joseph Fort’s superbly drilled Choir of King’s College London singing with shedloads of oomph’ (Graham Rickson, The Arts Desk). More recent releases include Gustav Holst’s The Cloud Messenger in a new chamber version by Joseph Fort (DCD34241), Sergei Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil (DCD34296), Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s partsongs (DCD34271), and albums of new works by Lliam Paterson (DCD34246), Edward Nesbit (DCD34256) and Kerensa Briggs (DCD34298).
Following some twenty years under the leadership of David Trendell, the Choir has been directed by Dr Joseph Fort since 2015.
Joseph Fort is College Organist & Director of the Chapel Choir, and Senior Lecturer in Music at King’s College London, where he directs the Choir of King’s College London in the chapel services, broadcasts, recordings, concerts and international tours.
The choir’s performances under his direction have been recognised as ‘English choral singing at its best’ (Choir & Organ) and ‘a performance of astonishing intensity and musicality’ (Gramophone). Recent orchestral conducting includes performances with Britten Sinfonia, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Hanover Band and the London Mozart Players. Festival conducting appearances across the world include the Festival de México, the White Nights Festival of St Petersburg, the Montreal Organ Festival, the London Handel Festival, the St Albans International Organ Festival, and the conventions of the American Guild of Organists and the Royal Canadian College of Organists.
Joseph is known for his innovative and creative programming, and his track record of eclectic commissions ranges from new canticle settings to large-scale works for choir and electric guitar. His expansive discography with Delphian Records has received considerable critical acclaim, including Editor’s Choice and the ‘best new classical albums’ selections in Gramophone. 2023 saw three new releases – Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil, to mark the composer’s 150th anniversary, the premiere recording of Kerensa Briggs’s
new Requiem, and a complete disc of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s partsongs, many of which were previously unpublished and unrecorded. He broadcasts regularly on BBC Radio 3, and conducts the annual King’s Foundation Carol Concert for Classic FM.
Joseph is also known for his expertise as an arranger and editor, and his chamber arrangement of The Cloud Messenger by Gustav Holst is credited with causing a recent resurgence of performances of that work, both in the UK and overseas. He conducted the English Chamber Orchestra in the premiere of his new arrangement of The Choral Symphony as part of the #Holst150 celebrations in 2024.
Joseph holds a PhD from Harvard University, and his academic research focuses on eighteenth-century music and dance. His monograph Haydn’s Minuets and EighteenthCentury Dance was published by Cambridge University Press in late 2024. He has published in the Eighteenth-Century Music and Die Tonkunst journals, and has chapters in books with Cambridge University Press and Leipzig University Press. Prior to Harvard, he studied at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he was the organ scholar, and at the Royal Academy of Music, who in 2017 elected him to their Associateship. In 2021 he was also appointed Director of Music at St Paul’s, Knightsbridge, where he conducts the acclaimed professional choir.
Mezzo-soprano Angharad Lyddon, a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in London, has trained under Janice Chapman, Audrey Hyland and Glenville Hargreaves. She made her professional debut with English National Opera in 2015 as Kate Pirates of Penzance, later performing in their revival of Akhnaten in 2019. Her diverse operatic repertoire spans roles such as Hippolyta A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Suzuki Madam Butterfly, performing with companies such as The Grange Festival, West Green House Opera and Glyndebourne. Recent engagements include Third Lady The Magic Flute at the Nevill Holt Festival; Flosshilde Gotterdämmerung at the Royal Festival Hall with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Jurowski; her company debut as Branwen in Welsh National Opera’s Blaze of Glory; Irene Tamerlano for The Grange Festival; Waltraute for Grimeborn Festival’s Götterdämmerung; and Lola Cavalleria Rusticana and Cherubino Le nozze di Figaro, both for West Green House Opera.
Angharad represented Wales in the 2019 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, where she was a finalist in the Song Prize. A Samling Artist and a BBC Cardiff Singer of the World finalist, Angharad has appeared in concert highlights including ‘An Evening with Sir Bryn Terfel’ at the Royal Albert Hall,
Stravinsky’s Requiem Canticles with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and Bach Cantatas with Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
British Baritone Benedict Nelson was an inaugural Harewood Artist with English National Opera where he sang Valentin Faust, Demetrius A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Belcore L’elisir d’amore, Count Le nozze di Figaro, Figaro Il barbiere di Siviglia, Ping
Turandot, and the title role in Billy Budd. Since then he has enjoyed a successful career working with opera companies and orchestras across the world. Notable engagements include the role of Algernon in The Importance of Being Earnest at ROH and Lincoln Center New York, Aeneas at Teatro Regio di Torino, Salzburg Festival, Verbier Festival and Wiesbaden, Demetrius A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Wiener Staatsoper and Henry Cuffe Gloriana for Teatro Real.
From the 2023–4 season Benedict has been a member of the ensemble at Musiktheater im Revier in Gelsenkirchen, where he made notable role debuts as Jochanaan Salome, Ibn-Hakia
Iolanta and Pizarro Fidelio. Other highlights from last season included Mahler’s Rückert Lieder with the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra in Ankara, Elgar’s Apostles in Frankfurt and Gunther in Longborough Festival Opera’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. In the 2024–5 season Benedict will undertake the roles of Henrik in the German
premiere of Kajia Saariaho’s Innocence, Peter Hänsel und Gretel, Marcello La Boheme and the title role in Verdi’s Falstaff. Harpist Anneke Hodnett began her musical life in her native Ireland and came to London to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she was generously supported by the Arts Council of Ireland. She is now much sought after as a chamber and orchestral harpist. She plays as Guest Principal with orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia, City of London Sinfonia, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland.
A passionate chamber musician, Anneke is a founding member of the award-winning Trio Anima. She works with ensembles such as the Callino Quartet, Riot Ensemble, Octandre Ensemble and the Suoni Ensemble (Copenhagen). Her chamber work has taken her to festivals including Presteigne, Ryedale, Dartington Music, Cowbridge Music and Lake District Summer Music. She has recorded for the Tŷ Cerdd, LAWO Classics, Delphian, Coviello Classics, HCR Recordings and Meridian labels. Reviews have praised her ‘striking warmth and precision’ (Harp magazine) and ‘beautiful playing’ (Wales Online).
Anneke has a wide experience and deep interest in performing contemporary music and has given world premieres of solo and chamber works by composers such as Francisco Coll, Julian Philips and Rory Boyle. Her varied career has also included working with theatre and ballet companies, concerto performances and solo appearances at festivals across the UK. Anneke teaches at Junior Guildhall and has given masterclasses and coaching at institutions such as Oxford, Cardiff and Warwick universities.
Martin Owen is regarded as one of Europe’s leading horn players, appearing as a soloist and chamber musician all around the world. Martin currently holds the position of Principal Horn at the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia and the Haffner Wind Ensemble, having served as Principal Horn of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and as Solo Horn of the Berliner Philharmoniker on a temporary contract.
Martin Owen is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, where he is Alfred Brain Professor of Horn, and is French horn tutor to the European Union Youth Orchestra. He has appeared on hundreds of film and television soundtracks – the Star Wars, Harry Potter, James Bond and Pirates of the Caribbean franchises, to name a few, plus a plethora of Marvel movies! Martin lives in the Surrey Hills with his violinist wife, Anna. Biographies
He has collaborated with conductors such as Michael Tilson Thomas, Edward Gardner, Sakari Oramo, Sir Roger Norrington, John Wilson, Jiří
Bělohlávek, Dalia Stasevska, Oliver Knussen, David Robertson and Martyn Brabbins in performances of solo works by Mozart, Richard Strauss, Schumann, Weber, Messiaen, Britten, Elliott Carter, Oliver Knussen and Thea Musgrave with the BBCSO, RPO, BBC Philharmonic, Orquesta Nacional de España, the Hallé, New World Symphony, Nurnberg Staatsphilharmonie, Bergen Philharmonic, Trondheim Symphony, Bucharest Philharmonic, Ensemble Modern, Aalborg Symfoniorkester and Britten Sinfonia.
Martin has recorded concertos for many labels including Chandos, Linn, RPO, Dutton, BBC, Signum Classics and Bridge records.
The Choir of King’s College London
Soprano
Ellie Blewitt
Paige Broadhurst
Isobel Coughlan Helen Hudson Choral
Scholar
Joni Foster
Sarah James Harrow Choral Scholar
Anastasia Nunez
Julia Sherlock
Katie Walker Eileen Lineham Choral Scholar
April West
Alto
Ruby Bak Trendell Memorial Choral Scholar
Sheena Jibowu Ouseley Trust Choral Scholar
Katie Santi
Christine van der Wal
Klara Watson
Lorraine Wong
Tenor
William Collison
Harry Rowland
Julian Siemens
Christopher Trotter
Glyn Webster
Bass
Nicholas Bacon Gough Choral Scholar
Jacob Fitzgerald
Thomas Hughes Glanfield Choral Scholar
Henry Page
Ricky Taing
Edward Nesbit: Sacred Choral Music
The Choir of King’s College London, Ruby Hughes soprano, Joshua Simões organ / Joseph Fort DCD34256
As a young composer, Edward Nesbit was drawn to the rich complexities of contemporary instrumental music; little more than a decade later, he has found himself returning to the inheritance of his early youth as a chorister: the texts of mass, psalms and canticles, and the long centuries of the Anglican choral tradition. Not that there is anything traditional about Nesbit’s music, which synthesises these two heritages into a soundworld that is accessible, full of references yet always recognisably its own voice. Joseph Fort – his colleague at King’s College London – and organist Joshua Simões and the King’s choir rise to the challenges expertly, while multi-awardwinning soprano Ruby Hughes gives the lead in the clarion textures of Nesbit’s Mass.
‘highly original and brilliantly crafted’
— Choir & Organ, February 2022, five stars
Gabriel Jackson: The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ
Emma Tring soprano, Guy Cutting tenor, Choir of Merton College, Oxford & Oxford Contemporary Sinfonia / Benjamin Nicholas
DCD34222
Strikingly coloured and richly imaginative, Gabriel Jackson’s re-telling of the ageold story of Christ’s betrayal and crucifixion – commissioned by Merton College, Oxford – interweaves biblical narrative, Latin hymns and English poetry by Merton alumni, culminating in a rare setting of lines from T.S. Eliot’s ‘Little Gidding’. Under the direction of longtime Jackson collaborator Benjamin Nicholas, and with soloists and instrumentalists handpicked by the composer for this world premiere recording, The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ receives here a performance to match the work’s own harrowing drama and dark ecstasy.
‘majestic and deeply moving’ — Choir & Organ, March/April 2019, five stars
Kerensa Briggs: Requiem
The Choir of King’s College London, Anita Monserrat mezzo-soprano, Richard Gowers baritone / Joseph Fort DCD34298
Now in her early thirties, Kerensa Briggs could hardly have enjoyed a more salubrious childhood for a composer of sacred choral music, surrounded by music in Gloucester Cathedral close, singing in choirs and hearing the daily choral services. Briggs went on to study music and sing as a choral scholar at King’s College London, and her music and her understanding of the way the voice works have their roots in this deep immersion. This recording is the first dedicated to her music, in a portrait programme of premieres. Joseph Fort and The Choir of King’s College London continue to attract widespread critical acclaim, both for the ambition of their recorded programmes and for their polished and mature execution.
‘a substantial statement ... alluring and heartfelt music’ — BBC Music Magazine, July 2023
Lliam Paterson: Say it to the Still World
Sean Shibe electric guitar, The Choir of King’s College London / Joseph Fort DCD34246
Multi-award-winning Sean Shibe, widely recognised as the leading guitarist of his generation, joins Delphian regulars The Choir of King’s College London in these beguilingly conceived works by Shibe’s friend and compatriot Lliam Paterson, for the rare combination of choir with electric guitar. Say it to the still world casts Shibe as Orpheus with his lyre, in a work which draws fragments of text from poetry by Rilke to meditate on language, loss and the transcendent power of song. Elegy for Esmeralda is a rawer, angrier response to grief, while poppies spread – composed especially, like the other two works, for the performers who bring it to life here – is a further testament to art’s ability to reflect and transform the outer world.
‘Fort’s evocative choir and Shibe’s moody though equally ecstatic electric guitar … Gorgeous’ — The Scotsman, November 2021, FIVE STARS
