Saturday 5th December 2015

The West Somerset Singers

welcome you and present

Tidings of Joy The

West

Som

erset

Sing

ers

The West Somerset Singers welcome you and present

Tidings of Joy

Programme

Musical Director: David Knight Piano: Rachel Robinson

Soprano Solo: Pat Phillips Baritone Solo: John Gillard

Flute/Cello: George MacPherson

We Wish You A Merry Christmas — arr. Arthur Warrell O Little Town of Bethlehem (with audience) — arr. R. Vaughan Williams Three 20th Century carols: A Spotless Rose — Herbert Howells O Magnum Mysterium — Morten Lauridsen Lully, lulla, thou little, tiny child — Kenneth Leighton Flute Solo: Poupee valsante - E. Poldini Morceau de concours - Gabriel Fauré

Be peace on earth — William Crotch arr. Henry G Ley, edited D Knight Patapan — arr. Reginald Jacques While shepherds watched their flocks by night (with audience) — Este‘s Psalter

INTERVAL Unto us is born a Son — trad., arr. David Willcocks Once in royal David's city (with audience) — H.J. Gauntlett Three secular carols: Here we come a-wassailing — arr. John Rutter Gloucestershire wassail — arr. Vaughan Williams The twelve days of Christmas — arr. John Rutter Flute Solo: The fog is lifting - Carl Nielsen

The Snowman – walking in the air — Howard Blake

Lo! star-led chiefs — William Crotch Noël Nouvelet (Nowell, sing nowell) — arr. John Rutter Masters in this Hall — arr. David Willcocks Fantasia on Christmas Carols — Vaughan Williams O come, all ye faithful (with audience) — arr. David Willcocks

*** Please join us for refreshments following this evening’s performance***

A Spotless Rose — Herbert Howells (17 October 1892 – 23 February 1983)

Howells was an English composer, organist, and teacher, most famous for his large output of Anglican church music. Born in Lydney, Gloucestershire, Herbert showed early musical promise, first deputising for his father as the organist at the local Baptist church, and then moving at the age of eleven to the local Church of England parish church as choirboy and unofficial deputy organist. Howells began music lessons in 1905 with Herbert Brewer, the organist of Gloucester Cathedral, and at sixteen became his articled pupil at the Cathedral alongside Ivor Novello and Ivor Gurney.In 1912, Howells moved to London to study at the Royal College of Music and within weeks of his arrival performed Mass in the Dorian Mode at Westminster Cathedral. In 1915 he was diagnosed with Graves disease and given six months to live. His poor health prevented him from being conscripted in World War I, arguably preserving him from the worse fate awaiting Gurney and others of his friends and contemporaries. He was treated with radium injections and carried on composing, producing in 1916 The Piano Quartet in A minor. A grant from the Carnegie Trust paid for Howells to assist R.R. Terry in editing the voluminous Latin Tudor repertoire that Terry and his choir were reviving at Westminster Cathedral. The work provided Howells with a comfortable income and enabled him to absorb the English Renaissance style which he loved and would evoke in his own music. His first significant works for choir, the Three Carol-Anthems (Here is the Little Door, A Spotless Rose and Sing Lullaby) were written around this time. Howells was awarded a CBE in 1953 and Companion of Honour in 1972. He continued to compose until his late 80s and died on 23 February 1983 in a nursing home in Putney. His ashes were interred in Westminster Abbey.

(Note modified from an entry in Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Howells)

Selected Programme Notes

O Magnum Mysterium — Morten Lauridsen (born February 27, 1943)

O Magnum Mysterium is a responsorial chant from the Matins of Christmas. A great number of composers have reworked the chant into a contemporary setting. Translation from Latin to English:

(Note modified from an entry in Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Magnum_Mysterium)

Lully, lulla, thou little, tiny child — Kenneth Leighton

( 2 October 1929 – 24 August 1988) A modern setting of the English Coventry Carol dating from the 16th Century. The carol is the second of three songs included in the Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors, a nativity play that was one of the Coventry Mystery Plays, originally performed by the city's guilds. Leighton was a British composer and pianist. He had various academic appointments at the Universities of Leeds, Oxford and Edinburgh. His compositions include church and choral music, pieces for piano, organ, cello, oboe and other instruments, chamber music, concertos, symphonies, and an opera.

(Notes modified from an entry in Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Leighton and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coventry_Carol)

O magnum mysterium, et admirabile sacramentum, ut animalia viderent Dominum natum, jacentem in praesepio! Beata Virgo, cujus viscera meruerunt portare Dominum Christum. Alleluia.

O great mystery, and wonderful sacrament, that animals should see the new-born Lord, lying in a manger! Blessed is the Virgin whose womb was worthy to bear the Lord Jesus Christ. Alleluia!

Lo! Star-led chiefs and Be peace on earth — William Crotch (5 July 1775 – 29 December 1847)

Born in Norwich, Norfolk, to a master carpenter William Crotch was an English composer and organist. He showed early musical talent as a child prodigy and at three and a half years was taken to London by his ambitious mother, where he not only played on the organ of the Chapel Royal in St James's Palace, but for King George III. He was for a time organist at Christ Church, Oxford, from which he was later to graduate with a Bachelor of Music degree.

His composition The Captivity of Judah was played at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, on 4 June 1789; his most successful composition in adulthood was the oratorio Palestine (1812). He may have composed the Westminster Chimes in 1793.

In 1797 Crotch became Heather Professor of Music at Oxford University, and in 1799 he acquired a doctorate in music. While at Oxford, he became acquainted with the musician and artist John Malchair, and took up sketching. He followed Malchair's style in recording the exact time and date of each of his pictures, and when he met John Constable in London in 1805, he passed the habit along to the more famous artist.

In 1834, to commemorate the installation of the Duke of Wellington as chancellor of the University of Oxford, Crotch penned a second oratorio titled The Captivity of Judah. The 1834 work bears little resemblance to the oratorio he wrote as a child in 1789.

In 1822, Crotch was appointed to the Royal Academy of Music as its first Principal, but resigned ten years later. He spent his last years at his son's house here in Taunton, Somerset, where he died suddenly in 1847. He was laid to rest at the church of St Peter and St Paul in Bishop’s Hull.

(Note modified from an entry in Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Crotch)

Fantasia on Christmas Carols — Ralph Vaughan Williams (12 October 1872 – 26 August 1958)

This is a 1912 work for baritone, chorus, and orchestra by the English composer Vaughan Williams and was first performed at the 1912 Three Choirs Festival at Hereford Cathedral. With a duration of around 12 minutes, the work is a single movement which consists of the English folk carols "The truth sent from above", "Come all you worthy gentlemen" and "On Christmas night all Christians sing" (i.e. the Sussex Carol). These folk carols were collected in southern England by Vaughan Williams and his friend Cecil Sharp a few years earlier. The carols are interposed with brief orchestral quotations from other carols, such as The First Nowell.

(Note modified from an entry in Wikipedia.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasia_on_Christmas_Carols)

Musical Director — David Knight MA, MMus, LRAM, ARCM, ARCO David was educated at the Royal Academy of Music and the University of London. He has held posts as Director of Music at a comprehensive school and a college of higher education. During this time he also had posts as accompanist and conductor of a selection of choral societies. He has been a church organist for over forty years, not only for the Church of England, but also for the United Reformed Church and the Church of Norway. He has taught at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and was an examiner for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. He has performed in Cathedrals in England, Ireland, Norway and Hong Kong. In addition to his post with the West Somerset Singers, he is Music Director of All Saints’ Church, Dulverton, and Casterbridge Male Voice Choir. Piano — Rachel Robinson Since graduating with a degree in music from Cardiff University Rachel has been teaching piano in schools, music centres and at home. As well as being the West Somerset Singers’ regular rehearsal pianist Rachel accompanies the New Horizon Singers and North Curry Village Choir. Flute and Cello — George MacPherson George Macpherson is an amateur musician, currently a pupil of Arturo Serna, the Venezuelan cellist based at Sherborne. He studied in France for eight years with Lionel Morand at Ribérac School of Music where he also played piano for children’s singing classes. George was an assistant organist at St Thomas’, Wells, from 2004-2006, and before this, organist at St Gluvias, Penryn, in Cornwall. He first learned the flute while doing National Service in 1958, and continued to Grade 8 in the 1980s. He and his wife Jane now live in Dulverton, singing in the church choir and the Barle Singers.

Biographies

The Choir

Sopranos Judi Boobyer Marianne Bray Diana Davies Alison Edwards Lucy Gratland Gillian Greig Catherine Hartland Christine Knapman Pat Moore Pat Phillips Julie Pope Anne Rogers Hilary Shaw Heather Stone Altos Gill Brown Alix Cathcart Janet Hall Louise Hayden Ann McCabe Sheila Ruff Sue Sutton

Tenors John Cottrell Mike Hawkins John Page Basses John Gillard David Greig Bob Hart Nigel Moyle Malcolm Summers Keith Taylor Bob Town

O little town of Bethlehem

1. 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.

2. 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 wondering love.

3. How silently, how silently, The wondrous gift is given! So God imparts to human hearts The blessings of His heaven. No ear may hear His coming; But in this world of sin, Where meek souls will receive Him still The dear Christ enters in.

4. O holy Child of Bethlehem,

Descend to us, we pray; Cast out our sin and enter in, Be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels The great glad tidings tell: O come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Emmanuel.

While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks 1. While shepherds watched their flocks by night,

All seated on the ground, The angel of the Lord came down, And glory shone around.

2. ‘Fear not,’ said he, for mighty dread

Had seized their troubled mind; "Glad tidings of great joy I bring To you and all mankind”.

3. ‘To you in David's town this day Is born of David's line A Saviour who is Christ the Lord; And this shall be the sign: 4. ‘The heavenly Babe you there shall find To human view displayed, And meanly wrapped in swathing bands, And in a manger laid”.

5. Thus spake the Seraph; and forthwith Appeared a shining throng Of angels praising God, who thus Addressed their joyful song: 6. All glory be to God on high, And to the earth be peace; Good-will henceforth from heaven to men Begin and never cease.’

O Come, All Ye Faithful

1. O come, all ye faithful Joyful and triumphant, O Come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem. Come and behold Him, Born the King of angels; O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!

2. See how the shepherds, Summoned to his cradle, Leaving their flocks draw nigh with lowly fear; We too will thither, bend our joyful footsteps: O Come, etc. 3. Lo! Star-led chieftains, Magi, Christ adoring, Offer him incense, gold and myrrh; We to the Christ Child, bring our hearts’ oblations;

O Come etc.

4. Child, for us sinners

Poor and in the manger,

Fain we embrace thee, with awe and love;

Who would not love thee, loving us so dearly?

O Come etc.

5. Sing choirs of angels, Sing in exultation. Sing, all ye citizens of heav’n above; Glory to God in the highest:

O Come etc.

6. Yea, Lord we greet thee,

Born that happy morning,

Jesu, to thee be glory giv’n;

Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing:

O Come etc.

Acknowledgements

The West Somerset Singers would like to thank Taunton Baptist Church for their hospitality..

Special thanks also to Rachel Robinson for accompanying the

choir during their Monday evening rehearsals.

Thank you to Somerset, Bournemouth, Leicester and Plymouth music libraries for loan of the music copies.

Future Performances

The West Somerset Singers are delighted to have been asked to sing once again at

Dunster Castle on Saturday 12th December 2015 from 11am—1.30pm

Our next performance will be our

Spring concert on Saturday 21st May 2016 when we will be singing a concert version of

Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Mikado.

Rehearsals begin on Monday 11th January 2016. New members always welcome.

The West Somerset Singers are members of TAPA (Taunton Association of Performing Arts).

For details of all forthcoming events please visit www.tapa.org.uk.

Come and Sing with Us!

An invitation to sing

Captain Noah and His Floating Zoo

by Joseph Horovitz

Saturday 30th January 2016

Taunton Baptist Church, Silver Street TA1 3DH

A wonderful opportunity to sing this popular cantata with

Musical Director, David Knight

An afternoon rehearsal commencing at 2.30pm

with a performance at 5pm

Cost £7 per person

Tea and coffee provided

Music will be supplied. Some experience of singing as part of a

choral group and the ability to read music would be helpful

To register your interest of for more information please call our

Secretary, Chris Knapman on (01823) 335303 or email

secretary@westsomersetsingers.org.uk

www.westsomersetsingers.org.uk

www.westsomersetsingers.org.uk

The West Somerset Singers