Benjamin Britten – A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28 – Soprano Solo, SATB Choir and Harp (1943)
1. Procession
2. Wolcum Yole!
3. There is no Rose
4. That yongë child
5. Balulalow
6. As dew in Aprille
7. This little Babe
8. Interlude
9. In Freezing Winter Night
10. Spring Carol
11. Deo Gracias
12. Recession
Britten composed the majority of the music for A Ceremony of Carols aboard the MS Axel Johnson, a Swedish cargo vessel on which Britten and Pears returned from America in 1942 The crossing was both long and treacherous – German U-Boats were a constant threat and the vessel itself was uncomfortable. The environment in which Britten found himself was not particularly conducive to composition. Peter Pears commented that their cabin was
“miserable… very near the huge provisions Ice box, and the smell and heat were intolerable, and it was difficult for [Britten] as people seemed to whistle up and down the corridor all day!”
This, however, did not seem to deter Britten and on the voyage he also finished work on the Hymn to St. Cecilia. Before crossing the Atlantic, the vessel stopped at Halifax in Nova Scotia It is here that Britten purchased a copy of The English Galaxy of Shorter Poems which seemed to inspire him to compose the sequence of carols we hear tonight. Some of the texts are lifted directly from this volume with others being added later.
The carols are accompanied, somewhat unusually, by Harp. Britten had previously been commissioned to write a harp concerto for the principal harpist of the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra. The sketches for this piece have been lost and it is now thought that some of these ideas may have found their way into the accompaniment of A Ceremony of Carols.
The music is, of course, typical Britten! He juxtaposes, quite seamlessly, the ancient with the modern throughout the work. The piece is ‘book ended’ by the plainsong Hodie Christus natus est, sung by sopranos alone. The inner movements explore the traditional stories surrounding the birth of Christ whilst demonstrating Britten’s mastery of choral writing, with each movement in contrast with the next, ranging from the profound solos of That Yongë Childe and In Freezing Winter Night, to the contrapuntal exuberance of This Little Babe through the smooth polyphony of Balulalow and There is no Rose to the irregularity and dynamism of As Dew in Aprille and Deo Gracias.
