Four Christmas Carols

Call the Children is two songs in counterpoint in two languages. The medieval text, Hodie Christus Natus Est (Today Christ is Born), is solemn and cautionary, and was beautifully set in that spirit by Heinrich Schutz in the seventeenth century. I took an opposite approach Here both it and the English text unrelated except in the common nativity theme, are set with uptempo simplicity.

The Snow Child and Run to the Window continue the nativity theme in the same childlike character, but at a more reflective pace. Candles on the Tree closes the group with a Dickensian Christmas scene, spilling jolly nonsense rhymes at racetrack speed.

In each case I wrote the music first. The verse was written or adapted (in the case of Hodie) to fit. This was easy for Hodie, where melisma seemed appropriate, but a chore for the rest. Prima la musica seems to make the job harder, but worth the trouble if the tune matters most.