To Drive The Cold Winter Away…
This wonderfully evocative melody is also known as ‘In Praise of Christmas’ or ‘The Praise of Christmas’. A version of this song dating from the early 17th century has the interesting title of ’A Pleasant Country New Ditty: Merrily Shewing How to Drive the Cold Winter Away’. The song is also included in that classic collection of folk music called Playford’s ‘The English Dancing Master’ of 1651 .
The tune of this carol is so strong that it was a joy to arrange. It’s strong harmonic basis meant that additional passages could be seamlessly connected to it to create a rounded whole and there is much scope for florid instrumentation. ‘To Drive The Cold Winter Away’ certainly is a gem that deserves to be heard much more often and makes a lovely addition to any String Quartet Christmas music collection.
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