In the Bleak Mid-Winter (1998)
A cappella SATB choir; ca. 3 min; can be paired with Cast Off All Doubtful Care (2012).
I chose to set four of the five stanzas of Christina Rossetti’s famous text of 1872 to music for two reasons. First, I liked the poem. I was attracted to Rossetti’s profound metaphysical imagery, curiously and yet comfortably wedded to a kind of Pre-Raphaelite simplicity.
The second reason was because I had never heard any of the previous settings of this poem. I was aware that Gustav Holst, Benjamin Britten, Harold Darke and others had composed settings of the text, but it was only after I had written my own version that I listened to these works. I saw my ignorance as a virtue, as it meant that I would not be unduly influenced by those who had gone before me.
LISTEN ...
TEXT
In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.
Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.
Enough for Him, whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.
What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.
I chose to set four of the five stanzas of Christina Rossetti’s famous text of 1872 to music for two reasons. First, I liked the poem. I was attracted to Rossetti’s profound metaphysical imagery, curiously and yet comfortably wedded to a kind of Pre-Raphaelite simplicity.
The second reason was because I had never heard any of the previous settings of this poem. I was aware that Gustav Holst, Benjamin Britten, Harold Darke and others had composed settings of the text, but it was only after I had written my own version that I listened to these works. I saw my ignorance as a virtue, as it meant that I would not be unduly influenced by those who had gone before me.
LISTEN ...
TEXT
In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.
Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.
Enough for Him, whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.
What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.
