What Sweeter Music?

After church today.

One of the parts of Christmas I love most is the music. The power of music to instill and then invoke memories is Christmas magic. I especially love the old carols. When I sing the ancient carols, it creates in my mind a time warp of sorts connecting the present to past Christmases stretching back into distant ages long before my time on earth. Some of the carols are very ancient. One of my favorites, In dulci jubilo, usually sung as Good Christian Men Rejoice in English, dates back to around 1328 and Of the Father's Love Begotten (Corde natus ex parentis), considered to be the oldest carol of all, has words that go all the way back to the 4th century A.D. set to a tune from the 13th century.

Back in the '80s, while browsing for Christmas music in Tower Records in Los Angeles, I came across an album (vinyl, before CDs) called A Medieval Christmas, recorded in 1975 by the Boston Camerata. As a lover of things medieval (medieval history was my major in college), I snatched it up and added it to our Christmas music collection. I know it might not be to everyone's taste, but I love this recording. It has carols and Gregorian chant, instrumental music, and readings in Old English. Fascinating stuff! At some point in the Christmas season every year I listen to it, usually when I'm alone, preferably at night. It has the power to conjure fantastic and ancient ghosts of Christmases past. Here is one track from the album, Congaudet hodie celestis curia (May the heavenly court rejoice today) and In dulci jubilo (In sweet rejoicing).

Sometime back in the late 1990s, when we lived in Frazier Park, California, I was listening to Christmas carols on a Bakersfield radio station when a carol came on that I had not heard before. It was beautiful. I listened to that station for days after that hoping to hear it again, but I never did. Then in 2004, I bought the album Sing Choirs of Angels by the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square and it was track number eight. With new information, I was able to do some research and discovered the carol is What Sweeter Music?, based on a poem by Robert Herrick (1591-1674) and set to music by John Rutter in 1987.

Robert Herrick was an English lyric poet and a cleric in the Anglican Church. He is best known for Hesperides, a book of poems that includes the poem To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time that begins with the famous line "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may." Also included in Hesperides is A Christmas Caroll that begins with the line "What sweeter musick can we bring."  At that time, I was not familiar with Herrick or his poems, so I went online and found a little copy of Hesperides for sale and I bought it. When it arrived, it was (and still is) in a very fragile state. This little book was published by J. M. Dent and Co. in 1899. Sadly, within a week of arriving at our house, a child (I won't name names) got hold of it and tore the cover off of it. Poor little book. I keep it on the shelf with my other books of poetry, wedged securely between William Blake and Emily Dickenson, so at least it is in good company. Here is the poem as printed in my book. Rutter altered it when he set it to music.

A CHRISTMAS CAROLL, SUNG TO THE KING in the PRESENCE at WHITE-HALL

Chor.    What sweeter musick can we bring,
             Than a Caroll, for to sing
             The Birth of this our heavenly King?
             Awake the Voice! awake the String!
             Heart, Eare, and Eye, and every thing
             Awake! the while the active Finger
             Runs division with the Singer.

From the Flourish they came to the Song.

1.    Dark and dull night, flie hence away,
       And give the honour to this Day,
       That sees December turn'd to May.

2.    If we may ask the reason, say:
       The why, and wherefore all things here
       Seem like the Spring-time of the yeere?

3.    Why do's the chilling Winters morne
       Smile, like a field beset with corne?
       Or smell, like to a meade new-shorne,
       Thus, on a sudden? 4. Come and see
       The cause, why things thus fragrant be:

       'Tis He is borne, whose quickning Birth
       Gives life and lustre, publick mirth,
       To Heaven, and the under-Earth.

Chor.    We see Him come, and know him ours,
             Who, with His Sun-shine, and His showers,
             Turnes all the patient ground to flowers.

1.    The Darling of the world is come,
       And fit it is, we finde a roome
       To welcome Him. 2. The nobler part
       Of all the house here, is the heart,

Chor.    Which we will give Him; and bequeath
             This Hollie, and this Ivie Wreath,
             To do Him honour; who's our King,
             And Lord of all this Revelling.

The king mentioned in the title is King Charles I (1600-1649) famous for, among other things, being executed by Parliament. The White-hall mentioned is Whitehall Palace, which burned down in 1698.

King Charles I.

Whitehall Palace before it burned in 1698.

Here is the cover and title page of my little book.

Here is The Choir at King's College, Cambridge, singing What Sweeter Music? by John Rutter.

I mentioned several weeks ago that I listen to a station broadcast from the UK called Classic FM. They have a Christmas music feed that I listen to every day now. This station broadcasts a nice mix of carols and secular music. I especially love carols sung by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge. This choir has an interesting history.

The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, was founded in 1441 by King Henry VI, who specified that the choristers were to be "poor boys, of strong constitution and of honest conversation." They had to be under twelve years of age when admitted, and able to read and sing. In addition to their choral duties, they were to wait at table in the Hall. The boys were provided with meals and clothing, and eight pence a week for their board. During the turbulent Tudor years, the role of music within the liturgy changed with each successive monarch. The choir was disbanded around 1550 under an edict from the protestant king, Edward VI (1547-1553), then it was reinstituted during the reign of catholic Queen Mary (1553-58), and continued to thrive under Elizabeth I (1558-1603). Originally the choristers were local Cambridge boys, either the sons of college servants or of those working elsewhere in the university, but by the time of Elizabeth I, they were drawn from across southern England. During the reign of the Stuarts -- James I (16023-1625), Charles I (1625 -1649), Charles II (1660-1685), James II (1685-1688), Mary II (1688-1694), William III (1689-1702), and Anne (1702-1714) the choir flourished. There was a break during the Interregnum (1640-1660) after the execution of Charles I in 1649, when under the Commonwealth, the recruitment of new choristers was forbidden, because of the puritan prohibition on music as part of church services. Each time a boy’s voice changed, he was not replaced. By 1650 there was only one chorister left. Music in church services was completely banned from 1652 to 1660. With the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, ten new choristers were immediately elected to the choir and by 1666, there was the full number of sixteen again. There were times during the 18th and 19th centuries when the quality of the choir declined. Conditions for choristers and the lay clerks were quite abysmal for the first half of the 19th century. There are records of rough initiation rites and brawling in the streets with boys from other schools and thefts from local shops. In 1856, an Act of Parliament enabled the Cambridge colleges to rewrite their statutes. The new statutes provide for sixteen choristers, boys who are educated at King's College School, that come from a variety of backgrounds with monetary awards available to families unable to afford the school fees. Boys usually join the choir as probationers at the age of eight following a successful audition at age six or seven. After two years as probationers, they join the choir as full choristers, and depart three years later or earlier if their voice changes. Every Christmas Eve millions of people worldwide tune in to hear the choir sing A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, a service that has been broadcast almost every year by the BBC since 1928. I try to listen to it every year.

King's College Choir, Cambridge.

In addition to the ancient and the sacred, we also have a large collection of more recent and secular Christmas music. I personally am not a big fan of most of the more recent songs. I think my preference for secular Christmas songs probably stops at those written before 1970, but I do like those songs sung by more recent artists -- usually. I don't like them to be jazzed up too much, sorry Mariah Carey and the rest of the current pop warblers. One of our favorite albums is Christmas Time with the Judds, which was released in 1987. And my favorite compilation of carols and songs is the old Reader's Digest four record set that we got from my Aunt Sally with carols and songs sung by all sorts of people -- Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, Gene Autry, Doris Day, and other greats. 

During the first part of the week, Christmas music helped the house feel Christmassy, but the weather was not cooperating. It was relatively warm, in the 40s. It rained on Monday and washed away most of the snow. Tuesday was bright and sunny. I took advantage of the sunshine and spent an hour basking in my greenhouse. I also took a walk to inspect the flowerbeds. Nothing is actively growing (except the weeds, of course), but the biennials and perennials that have visible above-ground leaves all look good. Seeing their promise of flowers in distant days made me happy. 

Sunny Tuesday.

Wednesday morning was cold and gray. No sunshine and no snow made for a pretty bleak landscape. Then, that afternoon it snowed. It started right at chore time, as it is wont to do. It surprised me. When I looked out at 2:00, there was no snow. When I opened the door at 3:00 to go down to the barn, the ground was covered. By sundown, things were starting to look appropriately Yule-like again and I was glad for it.

Down to the barn, Wednesday afternoon.

On Wednesday I picked up the meat from the two hogs we had butchered. There is sausage, pork chops, spare ribs, bratwurst, roasts, and ground pork. The hams are still being cured and won't be ready for another month. We also got the back fat and leaf fat that I will render into lard sometime in the new year when things have settled down. The butcher said our hogs were exceptionally fine, so I guess we did a good job raising them. At this point, we are thinking we will raise two more next year.

Thursday was colder, in the 20s all day. The snow that fell on Wednesday afternoon and on through the night was beautiful. As I went out Thursday morning, the air was still and a delicate layer of soft, lacy snow decorated every surface it could cling to. As I opened the upper barn door, the slight stirring of the air made the snow on the branches above come floating down around me. Later, as I stood in the kitchen and watched the birds at the feeders in the crab apple tree, their comings and goings among the branches sent feathery clumps of snow swirling. It was a very pretty, if cold, morning.

Thursday morning.

Thursday morning: tracks to and from the barn.

Miriam and Hannah were in the kitchen all evening on Thursday baking cookies. They have finished over sixty dozen cookies of various kinds. I don't know if they are done yet.

A sampler of last week's cookie baking.

On Friday snow was falling when I woke up and it continued all day. It was soft, fluffy snow and there was not even the slightest breeze, so it floated down and settled on the world and made it a winter wonderland. I couldn't stay indoors. I had to go out and experience it first hand.

The orchard.

The house from the edge of the orchard.

The hawthorn wood up the road.

Up the Rapley Road.

The house from the front.

Miriam took a walk up to the hollow.

Later in the day, the snow let up and the sun tried to shine. It was lovely. I had to take another walk. Later in the season, probably around the end of February and on into March and even April, it will be harder for me to admit that the snow is beautiful, but in December, it is undeniable.

Later in the day.

Later on Friday.

Saturday was colder still -- in the teens. From what I can see on the extended forecast, it looks like we might have a white Christmas. It will warm up a little and the snow might turn to rain on Christmas day, but right now, it looks hopeful. Out of the last five years, only one Christmas, 2022, was white. Fingers crossed. 

Yesterday was the Winter Solstice. The sun didn't rise until 7:35. I went out to watch it, as is my custom on the solstices, but it was a feeble affair, barely noticeable through the heavy snow clouds. The sun tried to break through two hours later, but the clouds swallowed it. It made a brief reappearance later in the afternoon. All through the day it snowed lightly off and on, which was  appropriate for the first day of winter. Sunset was at 4:43. It was pretty, but mostly obscured by clouds. And so we came to the longest, darkest night of the year. It made me think of Robert Frost's poem Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, a poem I love and know by memory. Now we've turned a corner in the year. Even though the lengthening of the days might not be apparent for a while, just knowing that it is happening makes me happy. Because it was the solstice, I listened to my Windham Hill Winter Solstice albums, as is also my custom. 

The belated appearance of the Winter Solstice sun.

Sunset on the solstice.

Miriam and Hannah spent the day on Saturday down at the Foster's making candy with Sarah. They made orange, raspberry, and mint truffles and pecan turtles. 

It was cold this morning -- just one degree above zero. Today was our Christmas program at church. I was hoping that, because it was the Christmas program and only a one hour meeting, we would see some of the less frequent attenders, but no. Only 26 people were there. I put the program together, mostly carols with some narration in between. It went well. 

After church today.

From 1997 to 2007 we made and sent our homemade Christmas cards. I drew some of them and Miriam drew some of the later ones. Stacey made them into a little video. I thought you'd get a kick out of seeing them. 

The week ahead will be full of fun. On Tuesday, Christmas Eve, the Thayns arrive. They are bringing a friend with them and we will have a full house. Having the grandchildren here will bring the excitement level to fever pitch. Over Christmas Eve and Day, we will keep our traditions, eat the traditional foods, sing the traditional carols, tell the ancient story, and do all the things that make this celebration the brightest time in the darkest days of the year.

🎄I wish you a very Merry Christmas!🎄