Archive for November, 2011
Rocking Carol
The ‘Rocking Carol’ (often simply called ‘Rocking’) is a Czech Christmas carol that is also well loved here in Britain. It begins with the lines ‘Little Jesus, sweetly sleep, do not stir; We will lend a coat of fur, We will rock you, rock you, rock you. . .’ and this insistence adds to the [...]
Good King Wenceslas
This melody is said to have originated in the 13th century with the pretty title ‘Tempus Adest Floridum’ (’The Time For Flowering’) and as such was a spring carol. It appeared in the famous Finnish collection of 1582 entitled ‘Piae Contiones’ and it wasn’t until the 19th century that it gained it’s present title, along [...]
Wedding at Notley Tythe Barn, Buckinghamshire
This Saturday, the quartet were engaged to play for a wedding held at a venue which is very local to us - Notley Tythe Barn. We began by playing some music to create an elegant atmosphere as guests arrived. The Bride entered to Pachelbel’s Canon in D (always a favourite!) and we performed two pieces [...]
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing’ was one of the most popular carols that didn’t appear on our first disc ’I Saw Three Ships and other carols’. It is a rousing melody by Felix Mendelssohn and was originally composed as a chorus for a secular cantata in celebration of the invention of the printing press! It is well worth listening [...]
It Came Upon The Midnight Clear…..
The fourth carol on the album ‘It Came Upon The Midnight Clear and other carols’ is the title track itself. The words of this carol were written in 1849 by the Unitarian minister Edmund Sears from Massachusetts and these words spawned two separate melodies. In the United States it is widely known set to a [...]
Joy To The World - Lowell Mason
The third carol on our disc is a bit of a curiosity. I had always assumed that this universally loved Christmas song was written by George Frideric Handel. It contains many of his traits with more than a touch of the ‘Messiah’ about it and yet it is a pastiche concocted by the 19th century American [...]
Wedding at the Reid Rooms, Essex
Yesterday, Adrian and I performed for a wedding held at the Reid Rooms which is located near Margaret Roding in Essex. The violin and viola string duo fit perfectly at the front of the wedding room and we entertained guests as they entered, then played at various points of the ceremony itself (entrance of the [...]
