"Sing We Noel! — A Festival of Lessons and Carols"
A complete service of Lessons and Carols, including selected readings from Scripture and brand-new carol and hymn arrangements scored for choir, chamber orchestra, and organ. (Duration is ca. 1 hour.)
INFORMATION ABOUT "SING WE NOEL!"
Performing the Service in Your Own Church
Instrumentation Notes // Instrumentation
This work will be premiered at 4 PM on Sunday, December 12, 2010, at the Congregational United Church of Christ in Iowa City, Iowa. Admission is free and open to the public — I hope to see you there!
Please plan to ARRIVE EARLY, as seating will be limited, and parking is always difficult downtown! Childcare will be provided.
I'm excited to announce that Joan Kjaer, an eastern-Iowa legend and former host of "Know the Score," will be reading the Lessons at this service. I greatly appreciate her involvement in this event!
PERFORMING THE SERVICE IN YOUR OWN CHURCH
If you're interested in performing this service of lessons and carols (or any of the individual carols), please contact me to learn more about the work.
Please note that you may perform the service in its entirety (as described in the Program Outline below), or you may select any number of individual carol arrangements from it, since each carol is a stand-alone piece. Each carol arrangement is suitable for performance in either a church or concert setting.
The instrumental parts are quite a bit more demanding than the choral parts, so I would highly recommend the hiring of professional players for the chamber orchestra.
There are currently no sound clips for you to hear (since the work has not yet been premiered), but if you'd like to get an idea of my carol arranging, please listen to the sound clips from a previous and similar project: "A Symphony of Carols." Please be sure to check this page again in early 2011, when I hope to have posted some sound clips from this new project.
DESCRIPTION OF "SING WE NOEL!"
BASED ON THE FAMOUS "FESTIVAL"
My own "Festival of Lessons and Carols" is modeled rather loosely after the famous service of "A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols," held every year at King's College, Cambridge, but with my own arrangements of carols and my own selection of Scripture readings. And since I'm scoring the accompaniment for chamber orchestra + organ, instead of just organ, the arrangements are a bit more elaborate than those you might be familiar with from the King's College program. The entire service is around 60 minutes in length.
A TRIBUTE TO MY FATHER
This work is being written as a special tribute to my father, Richard Bloesch, who has been Director of Music at the Congregational United Church of Christ since 1971. I'm thrilled to have this opportunity to honor both him AND my mother, Ethel Bloesch, who's been an invaluable assistant to him in planning and coordinating the church's music programs for almost 40 years.
DIVERSITY OF MUSIC WITHIN THE PROGRAM
In order to create an interesting and varied program of music, I've taken great care to select carols and hymns that will create a pleasing flow of varying moods, styles, and orchestrations. Stylistically, my carol arrangements range from a gentle setting of the traditional German lullaby, "Susani" to a jaunty, fast-paced arrangement of "the Seven Joys of Mary," and from a robust "early American" setting of "Go, Tell It on the Mountain" to an introspective but fervent setting of Wither's Rocking Hymn ("Sweet Baby, Sleep").
PROGRAM OUTLINE FOR "SING WE NOEL!"
Duration of entire service: Around 60 minutes
A note on the MUSIC: All the music in this service is arranged and orchestrated by Peter Bloesch. In addition, four of the pieces feature entirely original music by Peter Bloesch: "Sing We All!," "Sweet Baby, Sleep," "There Is No Rose of Such Virtue," and the Postlude: a toccata on "Of the Father's Love Begotten."
A note on the READINGS: All the readings for this service (including the prayers) have been created and compiled by Peter Bloesch, and make use of the NIV version of the Bible. While you're very welcome to use them in your own performance of the service, you're certainly free to supply your own prayers and to use any version of the Bible you feel the most comfortable with. Let me know if you'd like to see the readings that I've compiled for this service and I'll be happy to share them with you.
COMPLETE PROGRAM:
Welcome (given by the Pastor)
Congregational Hymn: "Prepare the Way, O Zion"
Verses 1 & 2 performed exactly as from the hymnal, with an original descant for sopranos and trumpet on verse 3 — ca. 2.5 minutes
Bidding Prayer (given by the Pastor)
Choir: "Sing We All! 'Tis Christmas Morning"
A jaunty piece for organ and choir, featuring original music by Peter Bloesch, and a traditional Kentucky text — ca. 2.5 minutes
Lesson 1: The prophet Isaiah proclaims good news to a people in Exile.
(Is. 9:1-2, 6-7, and Is. 35:10)
Choir: "On This Day Earth Shall Ring"
A rousing and vigorous setting that brings out the medieval flavor of the tune
— ca. 2.5 minutes
Lesson 2: The Lord will live among us — let us rejoice and sing!
(Is. 7:14 and Zeph. 3:14-17)
Choir: "The Holly and the Ivy"
A charming piece featuring woodwind soli in the introduction and the bridges, with a surprise entrance by the organ near the end of the piece — ca. 3.5 minutes
Lesson 3: The peace that Christ will bring is foreshown.
(Is. 11:1-3, 6-9)
Choir: "Susani"
A gently flowing arrangement of a traditional German lullaby — ca. 4.5 minutes
Congregational Hymn: "Lo! How a Rose E'er Blooming"
Not arranged at all -- simply the straightforward but beloved version found in your hymnal — ca. 2 minutes
Lesson 4: The angel Gabriel salutes the Virgin Mary.
(Luke 1:26-38)
Choir: "The Seven Joys of Mary"
A fast-paced, jaunty arrangement of this delightful traditional English carol
— ca. 3 minutes
Lesson 5: St. Luke tells of the birth of Jesus.
(Luke 2:1, 3-7)
Choir: "Sweet Baby, Sleep"
A fervent setting of the 1641 poem by George Wither, with original music by Peter Bloesch — ca. 4.5 minutes
Lesson 6: The angels announce the birth of Jesus.
(Luke 2:8-14)
Choir: "Ding Dong! Merrily on High"
A colorfully orchestrated setting of this charming carol. (Note: This setting is also available in a version for piano-only accompaniment, but the piano-only version is probably more appropriate for a concert setting than a church setting, since it has a highly dramatic ending.) — ca. 4 minutes
Congregational Hymn: "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear"
An original organ accompaniment for congregational singing, done in a rather "Romantic" style, for verses 1-2 of the hymn — ca. 2.5 minutes
Lesson 7: The shepherds go to the manger.
(Luke 2:15-20)
Choir: "Go, Tell It on the Mountain"
A robust setting done in 9/8 that's inspired by the simple but energetic shape-note songs of early America — ca. 3 minutes
Lesson 8: The wise men seek the Christ Child.
(Matt. 2:1-12)
Choir: "We Three Kings"
An arrangement that creates a rather "exotic" atmosphere, featuring woodwind solos, muted strings, and a frequent vacillation between the minor and Dorian modes
— ca. 4 minutes
Lesson 9: St. John unfolds the great mystery of the Incarnation.
(John 1:1-5, 14, 18)
Choir: "There Is No Rose of Such Virtue"
An a cappella piece (with optional organ accompaniment) that features original music by Peter Bloesch. A simple but haunting melody provides a chant-like feel designed to evoke the mysterious ancient text — ca. 3.5 minutes
Congregational Hymn: "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing"
A dramatic and somewhat "Hollywood" style hymn setting of the first 3 verses, with a brief, majestic "coda" for the choir — ca. 4 minutes
Blessing (given by the Pastor)
Postlude (for organ solo): Toccata on "Of the Father's Love Begotten"
An original piece by Peter Bloesch. This jubilant organ piece would make a dramatic ending to any Christmastide service — ca. 2 minutes
INSTRUMENTATION FOR "SING WE NOEL!"
AN IMPORTANT NOTE ON INSTRUMENTATION
If you're considering performing this work, please carefully read the instrumentation list below. At some point in the future, I plan on revising all of the individual pieces for either a piano-only or organ-only accompaniment, but currently you must have all of the musicians listed below in order to perform most of the pieces in this work.
The following pieces, however, are currently suitable for performance without the chamber orchestra:
> "Sing We All! 'Tis Christmas Morning" (scored for choir and organ)
> "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" (an organ accompaniment for congregational singing)
> "There Is No Rose of Such Virtue" (an a cappella piece, which has an optional organ part doubling the voices)
> Toccata on "Of the Father's Love Begotten" (an organ solo)
> "Ding Dong! Merrily on High" is arranged for choir and chamber orchestra for this service (and I highly recommend this version), but there's also a version for choir and piano available, if you're interested in that. However, the version for piano-only accompaniment is probably more suited for a concert setting, since it has a highly dramatic ending.
CHOIR: SATB choir (with a soprano soloist for "Susani"). A minimum of 40 singers is recommended.
Note: The instrumental parts are quite a bit more demanding than the choral parts, so I would highly recommend the hiring of professional players for the chamber orchestra.
WINDS: 1 Flute (doubling Piccolo), 1 Oboe, 1 Clarinet (playing clarinets in Bb and A), 1 Bassoon, 1 Horn, 1 Trumpet (playing trumpets in Bb and C).
STRINGS: A minimum of 4, 4, 2, 2, 1. (As always, the more strings, the better!)
HARP
KEYBOARD: Only 1 keyboardist is required: The organist is asked to play the organ for 10 of the 15 pieces, and is asked to play the piano for 2 of the pieces. The remaining 3 pieces do not use a keyboard.
PERCUSSION: 1 Percussionist on the following instruments: Glockenspiel, Triangle, Finger Cymbal, Tambourine, Suspended Cymbal, Piatti (crashed cymbals), Mark Tree, and Snare Drum.
Percussion Notes: The Snare Drum is required only for "Ding Dong! Merrily on High," and the Suspended Cymbal could be used in its place if necessary, so the snare drum is not required. At some point in the future, I may add an optional 2nd percussion part, which would consist mainly of added timpani parts. If you have additional percussionists at your disposal, please let me know, and I might be able to create additional parts for them.
