King’s College Cambridge: Lessons & Carols 2019

For the 102nd consecutive Christmas Eve, the choir of King’s College Cambridge sang its Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. As every year since 1928 (but one), this service was broadcast worldwide by the BBC; thanks to the Internet, it is also available for replay for the next 30 days.

This year’s Lessons and Carols service was the first led by Daniel Hyde. As an undergraduate, Hyde was an organ scholar at King’s, and then served in a variety of choral posts before becoming Director of Music at King’s in October 2019.

It also marked the first service since the Nov. 22 death of Stephen Cleobury, who suffered a skull fracture when he was knocked over by a bicyclist in March 2018 but died of cancer. Cleobury led last year’s 100th anniversary service, and with 37 years at the helm was the choir’s longest serving leader since Arthur Henry Mann, who launched the modern King’s choir as its music director from 1876 to 1929.

Finally, it is the first King’s service I’ve heard since finishing Timothy Day’s masterful history of King’s: I Saw Eternity the Other Night: King's College Cambridge, and an English Singing Style. Although it makes only passing reference to its signature annual radio broadcast, it provides a well-researched and detailed explanation of the context for how the choir became so influential (even before its first 1926 evensong radio broadcast).

This Year’s Service

In this year’s program, the lessons were as in previous years, except that (as in 2018, 2017 and 1997-2007) the college censored Genesis 3:16 (“Your desire shall be for your husband”) from the opening lesson. At David Sinden’s website, the sung music has been added to his database of all services since 1997 (along with last month’s Advent service at St. John’s Cambridge).

The program included only seven pieces used last year† — including the three obligatory hymns: Once in Royal David’s City, O Come All Ye Faithful, and Hark the Herald Angels. Only four of the pieces had the same arrangement.††  For the first time since 2013, the service drops “In the bleak midwinter,” which in the last four years was to the tune by Harold Darke (acting King’s music director during WWII); in 2008, English choirmasters voted it the best Christmas carol “of all time.”

The service included descants by the three most recent choir directors: Stephen Cleobury, Philip Ledger and David Willcocks, but (unlike last year) only one(?) Cleobury descant rather than three (restoring the better-known Ledger descant for the final hymn); however, it has two other Cleobury arrangements not used in his final Christmas Eve service.

 It also included a newly-commissioned anthem, as it had every year since 1983 when Cleobury instituted the practice. This year, it was an anthem by Philip Moore to the text of “The angel Gabriel.”

From the program — and from listening to the descants — the sung music credits are:

• [Hymn] ††Once in royal David’s city: words, C. F. Alexander; melody, H. J. Gauntlett, harmonized A. H. Mann; descant Stephen Cleobury
• On Christmas night all Christians sing: Sussex Carol; arr. R. Vaughan Williams
• This is the truth sent from above: Herefordshire Carol; arr. R. Vaughan Williams & C. Robinson
• Angels from the realms of glory: words, J. Montgomery; music, French trad., arr. R. Jacques
• Ding! dong! merrily on high: words, G.R. Woodward; music, 16th century French, arr. David Willcocks (from 100 Carols for Choirs)
• [Hymn] It came upon the midnight clear: words, Edmund H. Sears; music: Arthur Sullivan (as in New English Hymnal) with descant by John Scott
• Unto you is born this day: words, P. Brooks; music: Walford Davies
• There is no rose of such virtue; words, anon. c. 1420; music, Elizabeth Maconchy
• ††Little Lamb, who made thee: words, William Blake; music: John Tavener
• The angel Gabriel: words, Basque; music, Philip Moore
• ††Seven Joys of Mary: arr. Cleobury
• †Silent Night: words: Joseph Mohr; music: Franz Gruber, arr. Cleobury
• How do you capture the wind on the water: words and music, John Rutter
• [Hymn] †While shepherds watched: words, N. Tate; music from Thomas Este’s Psalter
• Away in a manger: words, anon.; music, W.J. Kirkpatrick, arr. Cleobury
• Lully, lulla, thou little tiny child: Coventry Carol; music: Kenneth Leighton
• Who is there that singeth so, Nowell: words, anon.; music, William Mathias
• [Hymn] ††O come all ye faithful: Adeste fideles, transl. Frederick Oakley; music, J.F. Wade, descant David Willcocks
• [Hymn] †Hark the Herald Angels: words, Charles Wesley “et al“; music, Mendelssohn, descant Philip Ledger

Applicability to Parish Choirs

In the English tradition (even more than in the U.S.), there is a dramatic difference between the cathedral and parish choirs. The KCC service is highly influential, spawning lessons & carols services on five continents. But what application does this program have for ordinary parish churches?

First, although all the non-congregation pieces are listed as “carols”, many don’t really correspond to the medieval (or at least pre-Victorian) English carol genre but instead are choral anthems. The new Moore anthem would be an excellent choice for a small parish — particularly one where the organ and organist can manage the instrumental interludes.

However, many of the other choices are so complex (if not ornate) that they would not work for most choirs (or, for that matter, most audiences). Subjectively, it seems like this year’s by Hyde has moved further in this direction than under Cleobury — and certainly that under King’s unquestioned dominance from 1925-1975 under Boris Ord and David Willcocks. (OTOH, it may not be a fair comparison if we what consider incremental by Willcocks in 1960 or 1970 was highly avant garde at the time).

For the American audience, Sullivan’s tune Noel for For “It came upon the midnight clear” (although in some U.S. hymnals) would not be familiar to Americans raised on the more familiar Carol.

Still, lessons & carols services worldwide have copied the King’s pattern since 1919 of opening “Once in royal David’s city” with a soprano soloist, and many delay congregation singing until verse 3 (as King’s did today). The request by Hyde that men’s voices not sing the first 2/3 of each refrain of “O come, all ye faithful” also seems easy to adopt.

While Cleobury’s “Seven joys” was sung as a choral carol, some of the verses could be sung by the congregation. Similarly, Cleobury’s “Away in a manger” or “Silent night” would work for a small church choir, as would Willcocks’ “Ding dong” from 100 Carols for Choirs. (The latter remains an invaluable Christmas resource for church choirs large and small).

Overall, the annual King’s service remains an inspiration both for church musicians, and also ordinary congregation members who are unable to experience such excellence locally.