Programme Order:

Bold for solo brass band, * for joint carols with audience

1. Troika (Sergej Prokofiev, Arr. Alan Fenie)

2. The Snowman (Howard Blake, Arr. Philip Sparke
3. O Little Town of Bethlehem* (Trad., Lyrics by Phillips Brooks, Arr. Ralph Vaughan
Williams)
4. The Cloths of Heaven (Victor Johnson, Lyrics by William Butler Yeats)
5. How Can I Keep From Singing (Robert Lowry, Arr. Sarah Quartel)
6. Winter Wonderland (Felix Bernard & Richard Bernhard, Arr. Alan Fernie)
7. Curly Hark (Trad., Arr. Ian Russell)
8. Good King Wenceslas* (from Piae Cantiones, Lyrics by J.M.Neale)
9. The First Noel* (Trad., Arr. Sir John Strainer)
--INTERVAL--
1. Joy to the World* (G.F. Handel, Lyrics by Isaac Watts)
2. Jingle Bells (James Lord Pierpont, Arr. Derek Ashmore)
3. Glow (Eric Whitacre, Lyrics by Edward Esch)
4. Once in Royal David City* (Henry John Gauntlett, Lyrics by Cecil Frances
Alexander)
5. In the Bleak Midwinter (Gustav Holst, Lyrics by Christina Rosetti)
6. The Long Day Closes (Arthur Sullivan, Lyrics by Henry Fothergill Chorley)
7. Jingle Bell Rock (Chaulk Wayne, Arr. Frank Bernaerts)
8. All I Want for Christmas is You (Mariah Cary & Walter Afanasieff)
9. O Come, All Ye Faithful* (Trad., Translation by Frederick Oakeley)
10. We Wish You a Merry Christmas* (Trad.)

Auld Lang Syne* (Trad., Lyrics by Robert Burns)

Troika:
 First of two Alan Fernie arrangements this evening, one of the most frequently played
arrangers and composers of brass band music
 Written by Sergei Prokofiev to accompany a film ‘Lieutenant Kije’
o One of the first Soviet sound films
o About courtiers of Tsar Paul I covering up their mistakes by inventing
‘Lieutenant Kije’
 The main melody of Troika is taken from an old Hussar song and depicts a fast
winter’s journey across Russia
 The piece takes its name from a ‘troika’ which is a Russian three-horse sled

The Snowman:
 Music from the 1982 animated film and symphonic poem based on Raymond Briggs’
book of the same name
o Music by Howard Blake, with the song ‘Walking in the Air’ originally being
performed by Peter Auty
 Cover by Aled Jones as a boy soprano for a Toys “R” Us advert, after Peter Auty’s
voice had broken reached no. 5 in the UK Singles Chart
 Arrangement by Philip Sparke, a well known concert and brass band composer, who
won the EBY New Music for Band Competition three times

O Little Town of Bethlehem:

 Based on a traditional melody collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams called “Forest
Green,” first published in the 1906 English Hymnal
 Text written by Phillip Brooks, based on verses from King James Bible
 Alternate famous version in America with a tune known as “St Lewis” written by
Brooks’ collaborator, Lewis Redner
 This is the first carol of the evening so please join in and sing with the choir and band

The Cloths of Heaven:

 Text is taken from a poem by William Butler Yeats called “Aedh Wishes for the
Cloths of Heaven” published in 1899 in the third volume of ‘The Wind Among the
Reeds’
o The poem has been set to music multiple times by various composers,
including John Tavener in his song cycle ‘To a Child Dancing in the Wind’
 This setting is by American choral composer Victor C Johnson, who has written over
350 choral works, solo vocal books, and keyboard collections
How Can I Keep from Singing:
 American folk song originally written as a Christian hymn by Robert Lowry, a Baptist
minister
o The text was based on a Psalms 145
o The song is mistakenly believed to have been written as a Quaker hymn, but
was not tied to the Quaker movement, although it has since been adopted
widely by them
o Pete Seeger popularised the song in the folk revival of the 1960s, with many
of the more explicitly Christian language being altered
o The poem has been set to music multiple times by various composers
 This setting is by Canadian composer Sarah Quartel

Winter Wonderland:
 A song written by Felix Bernard and lyricist Richard Bernhard Smith in 1934
 Since it’s original recording by Richard Himber, it has been covered by over 200
different artists
 The original version was about a couple’s romance during winter, however a later
addition to the lyrics written in 1947 incorporated the idea of children playing in the
snow to make the song a more universal winter song
 This is our second Alan Fernie arrangement of the night!

Curly Hark:
 This carol uses a text from Luke 2:14 with Angels singing praises to god at the birth
of Jesus.
o It is based off the same text as ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,’ famously set
with an adaption of Felix Mendelssohn’s ‘Vaterland, in deinen Gauen’ from
his Gutenberg Cantata
o This version is based on a traditional Derbyshire carol, transcribed by Ian
Russel

Good King Wenceslas:

 This carol has a text written by John Mason Neale and a melody using the 13th-
century spring carol ‘Tempus adest floridum’ originally published in 1582 as part of
the Finnish song collection ‘Piae Cantiones’
 The carol tells of a Bohemian king who is traveling through the harsh winter with his
page to give alms to peasants on the Feast of Stephen, December 26th
o His page is about to give up due to the cold but is able to follow the steps that
the king leaves in the snow
o The story is based on Saint Wenceslaus I, a 1st century duke
 Please join us in singing this carol, with the treble voices representing the page and
lower voices representing the king
The First Noel:
 Our final carol before the interval
 This is a traditional English carol from Cornwall, with this version being harmonised
by Sir John Stainer first published in 1871
 There are several versions of this text, although the most commonly used is taken
from the ‘New English Hymnal’
 Please join us in singing this beautiful carol

Joy to the World:

 This carol was written in 1719 by English minister Isaac Watts, using a text based on
Psalm 98, Psalm 96, and the third chapter of the Book of Genisis
 The music is a bit more of a mystery, with the version we use today being ffirst
printed in a book of psalms by Lowell Mason
o In this book, the piece was said to take it’s tune from ‘Antioch’ and attributed
to Handel
o The first four notes from Joy to the World are the same as the first four from
‘Lift up your heads’ from Handel’s Messiah and the third line is the same as
the “Comfort Ye” aria from the Messiah, which premiered almost 100 years
before this tune was published with the text of Joy to the World
o It is unclear as to how much Handel had to do with this carol, with some
speculating that the tune was adapted from various works of Handel by Lowell
Mason who was an avid fan of the composer, although it is possible that the
tune is even older

Jingle Bells:
 One of the best known and commonly sung American songs across the world
 The song was written by James Lord Pierpont and published under the title “The One
Horse Open Sleigh”
 The song was supposedly written to be performed as a Sunday school song or as a
drinking song, and only began to be associated with Christmas in the 1860s and 70s
 It is believed to be the first Christmas song to be recorded, as it was recorded onto an
Edison cylinder in 1889 which has since been lost
 I hope you enjoy this version, arranged by Derek Ashmore

Glow:
 Glow is a song for choir written by renowned American choral composer Eric
Whitacre in 2013, with text written by Edward Esch
 The piece was commissioned by Disney to be used for the ‘World of Color - winter
dreams’ show which premiered at Disneyland California by the World of Color Honor
Choir
Once in Royal David’s City:
 Our next carol takes its text from Cecil Frances Alexander, a famous Anglo-Irish
hymnwriter and poet known for ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’, and ‘There is a
green hill far away’
 A year after it was first published in 1848, the English organist Henry John Gantlett
discovered the poem and set it to music
 This song is commonly performed with the first verse as a treble solo, and the second
verse adding the choir, before the organ or in this case brass band accompaniment
joins in for the final 3 verses, however our soprano soloist has fallen ill and is unable
to perform it today - but please join in for from the 3rd verse with the band

In the Bleak Midwinter:

 This carol uses a text written by English poet Christina Rossetti, who originally wrote
the text as a poem titles simply ‘A Christmas Carol’ in 1872
 In 1906, Gustav Holst composed a setting of Rossetti’s poem and published it in the
English Hymnal. 3 years later, Harold Darke wrote another setting
o Darke’s setting was named the best Christmas carol in a poll by some of the
world’s leading choirmasters and choral experts in 2008
o Both settings are very popular with choirs around the world, and tonight we
are performing Holst’s setting (my favourite)

The Long Day Closes:

 This song is a part song with lyrics by Henry Fothergill Chorley and music by Arthur
Sullivan, of Gilbert and Sullivan fame, and was published in 1868
 The song was originally written for a male chorus, but here we present it with our
mixed-voice choir
 The plaintive harmonies and the text’s touching sentiments on death have made the
song a frequent selection at funerals, especially for members of the D’Oyly Carte
Opera Company who specialise in the light operas of Gilbert and Sullivan

Jingle Bell Rock:

 Jingle Bell Rock is an American popular song first performed by Bobby Helms in
1957, and has remained popular ever since
 There is much contention over the authorship of the song, with the writing credits of
James Ross Boothe and Joseph Carleton Beal being heavily disputed by Bobby Helms
himself and session guitarist Hank Garland
o Garland and Helms claimed that the original song by Boothe and Beal was
called ‘Jingle Bell Hop’ and was nothing like the song that is currently heard
o When the Helms and Garland heard the song they disliked it and decided to
change the lyrics, music, and tempo including the addition of a bridge
 o Neither Garland nor Helms received any credit or royalties for writing the
song
All I want for Christmas is You:
 This famous Christmas song by Mariah Carey was written by Carey and Walter
Afanasieff for her first Christmas album ‘Merry Christmas’ in 1994
 The song is Carey’s biggest international success topping the charts in 26 countries
around the world, and has been covered multiple times including by the cast of Glee
and Michael Buble
 I hope you enjoy this arrangement!

O Come All Ye Faithful:

 This Christmas carol has unknown writers with attributions variously given to John
Francis Wade, John Reading, King John IV of Portugal, and even anonymous
Cistercian monks
 The earliest printed version was published by John Francis Wade in 1751, originally
in Latin called Adestes Fideles
 The English translation is commonly performed in English-speaking countries
 Please join us in singing this traditional carol

We Wish You a Merry Christmas:

 Our final carol of the evening is the traditional English Carol ‘We Wish You a Merry
Christmas’
 The carol originates from the West Country and was popularised by composer,
conductor and organist Arthur Warrell who wrote an elaborate 4-part arrangement for
the University of Bristol Madrigal Singers where he lectured