English Carol #3 - Country Carol The Australian carols I came across a couple of years ago are ALL written in the English Carol tradition. Adapted from the liner notes, “An Australian Christmas”, performed by the Sydney Philharmonia Motet Choir: Fifteen original carols were composed by Australians William James and his lyricist John Wheeler between 1948 and 1957. Some have become iconic in Australian Christmas celebrations, and all reflect the unique characteristics of a Christmas that occurs during the Australian Summer. Wheeler’s words transport Christmas from a chilly Northern winter to a humid Southern summer. They are furnished with local flora and fauna. Black swans and wild dogs, boobook and brolgas, woodlarks and currawongs, in a setting of tree-ferns and Christmas bush, join to praise the Babe of Bethlehem. Oriental wise men are transmuted into hardy drovers. Even so, these Aussie heroes are sufficiently sophisticated to utter a ‘Orana’ here or a ‘Noel’ there. As for the music, as in the English carol tradition it reflected, it is simple and accessible. These are tunes you can hum and it would seem that James wrote in this vein intentionally, while Wheeler reflected the unique characteristics of their home country. The sheet music to these carols are not readily available in the United States, and this weekend’s Portland Community Chorus concerts represent one of the very few times, if not the very first time, they have ever been performed in Northern New England. As you sit by your wide open window On that most blessed night of the year And you look at your slumbering oxen In the paddock the wind has burned sere And you think of that old Christmas story Of the beast and the Heavenly glory You’ll remember it tells how at midnight When the bells are beginning to ring All the oxen kneel down in their paddocks As they worship the Heavenly King All the oxen so patient and lowing Bowing down to the infant most Holy While you gaze through the bright summer moonlight All the pasture will glimmer like gold And you’ll wait by the wide open window Just to see if such wonders unfold Just to see if the oxen are kneeling When the Christmas bells all begin pealing. https://youtube/watch?v=VoynEYAI9QQ
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 15:31:40 +0000