14. I sing of a maiden

From the album 'Christmas Night'

Composer Patrick Hadley

Conductor John Rutter

Choir The Cambridge Singers

Orchestra City of London Sinfonia

Buy, download or stream: https://smarturl.it/XmasNight

Find more of the catalogue and curated playlists by subscribing to the channel:

http://bit.ly/2uQMe9P

Social Media Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johnruttermusic

Twitter: https://twitter.com/johnmrutter

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnrutter.composer

Website: https://www.johnrutter.com

I sing of a maiden

This, the loveliest of all medieval religious lyrics, has received many musical settings: Patrick Hadley’s, with its magical atmosphere of stillness and peace, remains unsurpassed among them. Like Wood, Hadley was a Cambridge composer and Professor of Music (from 1946-62). He was a pupil of Vaughan Williams and outstandingly gifted, but his life was overshadowed by personal tragedy and his output remained small.

LYRICS:

I sing of a maiden that is makeless;

King of all kings to her son she ches.

He came all so still where his mother was,

As dew in April that falleth on the grass.

He came all so still to his mother’s bower,

As dew in April that falleth on the flower.

He came all so still where his mother lay,

As dew in April that falleth on the spray.

Mother and maiden was never none but she;

Well may such a lady God’s mother be.

Christmas Night

The theme of the album - Christmas Night - is the birth of Christ, reflected in the words and music of twenty-two carols spanning more than six centuries. Some of these carols have long been widely known and loved; others have become so thanks to the annual Christmas Eve Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King’s College, Cambridge. But all of them focus on the central event of the Christmas story – the birth at Bethlehem – and on the characters in that story: the angels, the shepherds, the wise men, and the mother with her child.

John Rutter, English composer and conductor, is associated with choral music throughout the world. His recordings with the Cambridge Singers (the professional chamber choir he set up in 1983) have reached a wide global audience, many of them featuring his own music in definitive versions. Among John’s best-known choral works are Gloria, Requiem, Magnificat, Mass of the Children, and Visions, together with many church anthems, choral songs and Christmas carols.

Contact

info@collegium.co.uk