The crown of roses - Tchaikovsky, John Rutter, The Cambridge Singers
6. 'The crown of roses'
From the album ‘Images of Christ’
Composer P.I. Tchaikovsky
Conductor John Rutter
Choir The Cambridge Singers
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The crown of roses
Originally a song for voice and piano in Tchaikovsky's 'Sixteen Children's Songs' of 1884, the composer later reworked 'The crown of roses' (which actually bore the title 'Legend') for unaccompanied mixed choir. The text, by Pleshcheyev, was stated to be 'from an English source'. The popularity of the choral version in English-speaking countries stems from its inclusion in the Oxford Book of Carols in 1928 - though the piece is not by any stretch of the imagination a carol.
LYRICS:
When Jesus Christ was yet a child
He had a garden small and wild,
Wherein he cherished roses fair,
And wove them into garlands there.
Now once, as summertime drew nigh,
There came a troop of children by,
And seeing roses on the tree,
With shouts they plucked them merrily.
‘Do you bind roses in your hair?’
They cried, in scorn, to Jesus there.
The boy said humbly: ‘Take, I pray,
All but the naked thorns away.’
Then of the thorns they made a crown,
And with rough fingers pressed it down,
Till on his forehead fair and young
Red drops of blood like roses sprung.
(Pleshcheyev, tr. G. Dearmer)
(Reprinted by permission of Oxford University Press)
Images of Christ
Around the figure of Christ there has grown up over the centuries a body of choral literature that can only be described as among the most remarkable in western civilization. The music of this recording, all for a cappella choir, is grouped loosely according to the themes of its texts (The Coming of Christ, Words of Christ, The Passion of Christ, Resurrection and Ascension, Christ in the Eucharist), drawing together composers as far apart in time and space as 11th-century France; 20th-century Russia and America. The aim is not a liturgical reconstruction, nor an historical survey, but rather a journey of the imagination.
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.
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