Sunday, December 17, 2023

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

 The descant at 0:20...



2 comments:

Thos. said...

I enjoy these when you put them up here. Sometimes I see things I wouldn't otherwise.

Not apropos to this video, but related to the holiday music theme: over the last couple of years, my appreciation for the old carol "Gaudete" has really grown. But over this last weekend I was thinking, as I hummed some of the parts to myself, that I'm not sure the song really shines without the acoustics of a cathedral behind it.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

Gaudete came back into common knowledge when Steeleye Span did it in 1973. It was apparently a single in the UK, but I first heard it when a pianist we sometimes played with, who worked in a record store< brought me in, pulled out "Below the Salt" the album and put this on, grinning. I was captivated, bought the album and have been a SS and then Maddy Prior fan ever since. That version did have the cathedral, monks processing, sound to it, which was part of the charm.

I believe it was originally Finnish! It is very typical of those medieval arrangements common when few were literate. The chorus is learned by everyone while the verses are sung by a trained leader. Lots of Black Spirituals have that form as well, and if you look for it you can see it the world over.