''El Noi de la Mare'' (The Child of the Mother) is a traditional Catalan
Christmas song
Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject ma ...
. The song was made famous outside Spain by
Andrés Segovia
Andrés Segovia Torres, 1st Marquis of Salobreña (21 February 1893 – 2 June 1987) was a Spanish virtuoso classical guitarist. Many professional classical guitarists were students of Segovia or their students.
Segovia's contribution to the m ...
who used to perform
Miguel Llobet
Miguel Llobet Solés (18 October 187822 February 1938) was a classical guitarist, born in Barcelona, Spain. Llobet was a renowned virtuoso who toured Europe and America extensively. He made well known arrangements of Catalan folk songs for the ...
's guitar transcription as an encore.
Lyrics
The main stanza has four verses and begins mostly with ''Què li darem a n'el Noi de la Mare?'' In some traditional ways of singing the song every pair of verses is repeated twice. The first stanza of a common version is:
Variants
The text exists in other slightly different variants.
[Miscellània Pere Bohigas 1981 p272 "La cançó popular d'aquest títol diu en una de les versions del segle xviii, que coneixia Verdaguer:" « — Què li darem an el Noi de la Mare? Què li darem a l'hermós Infantó? — Panses i figues i nous i olives, panses i figues i mel i mató."]
Classical vocal arrangements have been made by
Joaquín Nin-Culmell
Joaquín María Nin-Culmell (5 September 190814 January 2004) was a Cuban-Spanish composer, internationally known concert pianist, and emeritus professor of music at the University of California, Berkeley.
Early life
Joaquín Nin-Culmell was born ...
for soprano and
John Rutter
John Milford Rutter (born 24 September 1945) is an English composer, conductor, editor, arranger, and record producer, mainly of choral music.
Biography
Born on 24 September 1945 in London, the son of an industrial chemist and his wife, Rutte ...
for choir.
A version of this in English has been reworked and developed to produce the carol "What Shall we Give?" as sung by the
Mormon Tabernacle Choir
The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, formerly known as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, is an American choir, acting as part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It has performed in the Salt Lake Tabernacle for ov ...
.
Recordings
* (anon.) Title track of ''El Noi de la Mare, Mother and Son''
Zefiro Torna, Cécile Kempenaers, Els van Laethem, Jan van Elsacker and Lieven Termont (2006)
* (anon.)
Catalan Songs (Victoria de Los Angeles album)
''Cançons Tradicionals Catalanes'' (Traditional Catalan songs) is a 1991 album of Catalan music by Victoria de los Ángeles, accompanied by Geoffrey Parsons. Recorded at the Abbey Road Studios, London, it was originally released on Collins Cla ...
* (anon.)
José Carreras Sings Catalan Songs
''José Carreras Sings Catalan Songs'' is a 1991 Sony Classical album featuring José Carreras and the orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu conducted by Joan Casas. The songs are more classical lieder than ''Mi Otro Perfil'', an earlier release ...
See also
*
List of Christmas carols
This list of Christmas carols is organized by country, language or culture of origin. Originally, a "Christmas carol" referred to a piece of vocal music in carol form whose lyrics centre on the theme of Christmas or the Christmas season. The d ...
References
External links
*
Wikisource
{{authority control
Catalan-language songs
Christmas carols
Songwriter unknown
Year of song unknown