Thursday, July 26, 2007

Burt carols

Just a list for the moment of the Alfred Burt Christmas carols. These are in surprisingly few hymnals, in my opinion. HWC has one (O Hearken Ye), and HFG has two (Some Children See Him and The Star Carol [Long years ago]). Of the fifteen Burt carols, I would find room in the inn of my hymnal for at least eleven, I think:

  • Ah, bleak and chill the wintry wind
  • Carol of the Mother (Sleep, baby mine)
  • Caroling, Caroling
  • Christ in the Stranger's Guise (I met a stranger yest're'en)
  • Christmas Cometh Caroling
  • Jesu Parvule
  • Nigh Bethlehem on a wintry night (all 7 verses)
  • O hearken ye who would believe
  • Some children see him
  • The Star Carol (Long years ago on a deep winter night)
  • What are the signs of the morning
The other four strike me mostly as too secular-domestic for my hymnal, though they too are well worth singing! These are:
  • All on a Christmas Morning (Oh, who are these that throng the way)
  • Come, Dear Children
  • This Is Christmas (Bright, bright the holly berries)
  • We'll Dress the House
I'm also interested in the question of whether any of the Bates Burt carols that antedated Alfred's collaboration survive, since Bates's texts (even moreso than the admirable Wihla Hutson's ones) seem great in their own right to my palate, and it would be a joy to see the others.

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