8014 – ‘Now when Jesus was born’

A Christmas Cantata

Roger Harvey (1949-)

Difficulty: Medium

Price: £35.00

(Vocal scores can be photocopied by purchaser at £1.00 per copy)

Programme notes:

This choral cantata was written for performance at Winchester Cathedral on December 13th 2003 by The Wayneflete Singers and Resounding Brass directed by Andrew Lumsden.

It consists of 8 sections of recitative and set-piece choruses, illustrating the journey of the wise men, their meeting with Herod, the arrival at the manger, their departure, Herod’s slaying of the infants and the escape of the holy family to Egypt. It concludes with a hymn of praise.

The words of the recitatives are taken from the 2nd chapter of Matthew’s gospel; the text also includes words from The Coventry Carol and Let all the World by George Herbert.

1. Prelude-recitative: Now when Jesus was born
2. Song of the Wise Men
3. Recitative: when Herod the King
4. Manger Song
5. Recitative: and being warned of God
6. Carol of Grief
7. Recitative: And behold the angel of the Lord
8. Hymn: Let all the World

Performance notes:

Care should be taken not to allow the brass accompaniment to over-power the chorus, particularly when the number of voices is small.

Recitatives should generally be sung in a rhythmic and slightly marked manner to ensure clear enunciation of the text. The tempo of the recits should be fairly strict but shape phrases expressively where appropriate.

Men’s voices should be divided into 3 for the wise men’s solo music and also for the tutti 3 part music: tenor, baritones and bass.