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which are popular in Catalan music.

The arrangement is an-


other gem from the Parker/Shaw partnership (see Angels We Child of Peace Noël Nouvelet Angels We Have Heard on High
Have Heard on High). If you didn’t sing this in your high school text and music: Jeffrey Van text and music: trad. French carol text and tune: trad. French
arr. Philip Lawson (b. 1957) arr. Alice Parker (b. 1925) and Robert Shaw (1916–1999)
choir, please raise your hand; if you did, join on in!
Sleep, O sleep, Thou lovely Child divine;
Love distilled in humble form so fine. Noël nouvelet, Noël chantons ici; Angels we have heard on high,
May Thy slumber keep Thee now from pain; Dévotes gens, crions a Dieu merci. sweetly singing o’er the plains:
Ave Maria long and weary journey yet remains. Chantons Noël pour le Roi nouvelet, and the mountains in reply,
music: Franz Biebl (1906–2001)
God of love who gave this little one, Noël nouvelet, Noël chantons ici. echoing their joyous strains:
text: trad. prayer (derived from Luke 1)
God of love who came to overcome, Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Noël nouvelet, Noël chantons ici:
Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae, Holy Spirit, God and Christ in one child. Sing your thanks to God, sing praises joyfully. Come to Bethlehem and see
et concepit de Spiritu sancto. God in man has come to earth this day. Him whose birth the angels sing;
Wise men sought a King and journeyed far,
The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary, guided by a strange and glorious star, Noël nouvelet, Noël chantons ici. come, adore in bended knee
and she conceived of the holy Spirit. offering gifts of incense, myrrh and gold, Christ the Lord, the newborn King.
D’un oiselet après le chant ouis,
witnessing the holy birth foretold. Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum, Qui aux passteurs, disait “Partex ici”
When we seek Thee, Jesus, may we be En Bethlehem trouvenez l’agnelet.” See him in a manger laid,
benedicta tu in mulieribus
guided to Thy cradle there to see Noël nouvelet, Noël chantons ici. whom the choirs of angels praise;
et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus.
prophesies fulfilled and hope revealed. Mary, Joseph, lend your aid,
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. To a hill an angel came with radiant light,
Child of peace who came so long ago, while our hearts in love we raise.
Blessed are you among women Saying to some shepherds, “Leave your flocks this night.
Child of love still with us here we know, Gloria in excelsis Deo!
and blest is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. In Bethlehem you’ll find the new-born Babe.”
may Thy tears of passion freely flow, Noël nouvelet, Noël chantons ici.
melting hearts within us cold as snow. Alice Parker studied choral conducting at Juilliard with 20th-
Maria dixit: Ecce ancilla Domini,
He is come to be our dearest kin, L’étoile y vis qui la nuit eclaircit. century American choral demigod Robert Shaw; there began
fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum.
He is come to take from us our sin: Qui d’Orient dont elle etait sortie. a creative partnership that would span decades and inform
Mary saith, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Jesus, come and make us safe within You. En Bethlehem les trois Rois conduissant. the general choral repertoire of choruses all around the world.
Be it unto me according to thy word.” Noël nouvelet, Noël chantons ici. Parker’s great, two-edged passion is to keep the folk song
Twin Cities guitarist and composer Jeffrey Van wrote this piece alive in modern musical culture and to build up the ability and
Et verbum caro factum est Kings also came there, guided by a star. desire of all people to sing. Her facility with the setting of folk
for chorus and guitar in 1979. The haunting melody stands up
et habitavit in nobis. Came from the East, from lands away so far. songs in simple but enduring arrangements, combined with
beautifully as a solo, a canon, or in harmony, and the text both
To Bethlehem they rode their weary way. her career as a musical facilitator around the world, have af-
And the word was made flesh captures the beauty of the child’s birth and foreshadows the
Noël nouvelet, Noël chantons ici. fected countless people, from “shower singers” to professional
and dwelt among us. sadness of the passion to come.
choristers. Gloria, the French folk tune of this piece, is used
En Bethlehem Marie et Joseph vis,
Sancta Maria, mater Dei, exclusively with this text; both of them seem to date from the
L’Ane et le boeuf, L’Enfant couché parmi.
ora pro nobis peccatoribus.
Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis
Niño lindo La creche était au lieu d’un berrelet. 18th century.
tune: trad. Venezuelan Noël nouvelet, Noël chantons ici.
nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. text: Tim Morris
Amen arr: Alberto Grau (b. 1937) In a stall they found them, Joseph and Mary mild.
Ox and ass were with them, and the holy Child.
Emmanuel, to Us This Night
Holy Mary, Mother of God, text: Bob Chilcott (b. 1955)
Niño lindo, ante ti me rindo,
Laid in a manger, sleeping on the hay. music: Thorkell Sigurbjörnsson (b. 1938)
pray for us sinners. Niño lindo, eres tu mi Dios.
Noël nouvelet, Noël chantons ici.
Holy Mary, pray for us Emmanuel—
now and at the hour of our death. Lovely baby, I kneel before you,
L’un porte l’or l’autre le myrrh aussi. to us this night is born the child He gave us.
Amen lovely baby, you are my God.
L’autre l’encens qui faisait bon senti. Filling our hearts with joy and light,
Esa tu hermosura, Du Paradis semblait le jardinet. clothed as man to save us.
The Angelic Salutation, Hail Mary, or Ave Maria, is a tradi- ese tu candor Noël nouvelet, Noël chantons ici. By him has the Father restored
tional Christian prayer asking for Mary’s intercession on our el alma me roba, all who were affected.
behalf. The Hail Mary is used within Roman Catholicism, and Now the kings presented gifts that they did bring, Through the mercy of our Lord
me roba el amor.
it forms the basis of the Rosary. The prayer is also used by Gold and myrrh and incense for the new-born King. are sin and death rejected.
the Orthodox, Anglican and many other Christian traditions. For it is your fairness Kneeling in awe, to God they now did pray.
Franz Biebl was a Bavarian-born composer and church musi- and your innocence, Noël nouvelet, Noël chantons ici. With the instrument of my heart,
cian. His setting of the Ave Maria was brought to the U.S. in your soul that captures, tuned in song ascending,
1970 by the Cornell University Glee Club, who met Biebl while captures my heart. This text and tune have been associated with one another will I live to play my part
on tour in Germany. This work was originally set for men’s since the seventeenth century, but the tune is at least two cen- with music never ending
Con tus ojos lindos, turies older than that. It’s written in the Dorian mode, and the and praise him who with grace and love
voices (popularized by Chanticleer), but when it became
Jesus, mirame first five notes may come from one of the plainchants associ- comforts us and frees us;
popular Biebl made two more arrangements for SATB and for
y solo con eso, ated with the Latin text Ave Maris stella. This playful setting sing with voices raised above
women’s voices. Listen for the way each phrase just blooms
me consolaré. was written for the King’s Singers by Philip Lawson, one of a lullaby to Jesus.
as it ascends!
their own, in 2001.
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