''Angels' Carol'' is a popular sacred choral piece by

John Rutter Sir 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, R ...

for

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

. He wrote his own text, beginning "Have you heard the sound of the angel voices", three stanzas with the refrain "Gloria in excelsis Deo". It has been part of recordings of collections of Christmas music, including one conducted by the composer.

History

Rutter first composed ''Angels’ Carol'' in the 1980s to be performed by the winners of a competition ''choirboy and choirgirl'' in London, now defunct. He later arranged it for mixed-voice choir (

SATB In music, SATB is a scoring of compositions for choirs or consorts of instruments consisting of four voice types: soprano, alto, tenor and bass. Choral music Four-part harmony using soprano, alto, tenor and bass is a common scoring in classic ...

), with harp, piano or orchestra. A version for upper voices (SS or SA) is also available. All versions of the work were published by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

Text and music

Rutter, who composed many works to celebrate Christmas, wrote his own text for ''Angels' Carol'', beginning "Have you heard the sound of the angel voices". The text alludes to several aspects of the Christmas story, with the Latin refrain "Gloria in excelsis Deo" from the angels' song mentioned in the

Gospel of Luke The Gospel of Luke is the third of the New Testament's four canonical Gospels. It tells of the origins, Nativity of Jesus, birth, Ministry of Jesus, ministry, Crucifixion of Jesus, death, Resurrection of Jesus, resurrection, and Ascension of ...

narration of the

annunciation to the shepherds The annunciation to the shepherds is an episode in the Nativity of Jesus described in the Bible in Luke 2, in which angels tell a group of shepherds about the birth of Jesus. It is a common subject of Christian art and of Christmas carols. Bibl ...

. The music is in

F major F major is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat.Music Theory'. (1950). United States: Standards and Curriculum Division, Training, Bureau of Naval Personnel. 28. Its relati ...

alla breve ''Alla breve'' also known as cut time or cut common timeis a Meter (music), musical meter notated by the time signature symbol (a C) with a vertical line through it, which is the equivalent of . The term is Italian language, Italian for "on t ...

-time, and marked "Brightly". It begins with two measures of

arpeggio An arpeggio () is a type of Chord (music), chord in which the Musical note, notes that compose a chord are individually sounded in a progressive rising or descending order. Arpeggios on keyboard instruments may be called rolled chords. Arpe ...

s by harp or piano, reminiscent of Bach's Prelude in C major from ''

The Well-Tempered Clavier ''The Well-Tempered Clavier'', BWV 846–893, consists of two sets of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach. In the composer's time ''clavier'' referred to a variety of keyboard instruments, ...

''. The harp, the first instrument the composer had in mind, was also played by King

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

, and plays a major role in Britten's ''

A Ceremony of Carols ''A Ceremony of Carols'', Op. 28 is an extended choral composition for Christmas by Benjamin Britten scored for three-part treble chorus, solo voices, and harp. The text, structured in eleven movements, is taken from ''The English Galaxy of Sho ...

''. The sopranos, optionally with the altos, sing the first phrase, marked "eagerly". Their motif, an upward triad of two identical quavers and two crotchets beginning after the beat and arriving at a long note. The rhythmic pattern is repeated in all voices throughout the verses. The reply in a different key is given by the tenors alone, then the first lenor is repeated by sopranos and tenors in

unison Unison (stylised as UNISON) is a Great Britain, British trade union. Along with Unite the Union, Unite, Unison is one of the two largest trade unions in the United Kingdom, with over 1.2 million members who work predominantly in public servic ...

, leading to the first

refrain A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the Line (poetry)">line or lines that are repeated in poetry or in music">poetry.html" ;"title="Line (poetry)">line or lines that are repeat ...

"Gloria", which is marked "joyfully". The quotation from the angels' song after

according to the

is sung by the choir, now in harmony with third parallels. In the refrain, two quavers begin on the beat. In the second verse, the tenors have the first line, "He is come in peace", with the upper voices humming. The third verse, "He will bring new light", is transposed by a shift in harmony, and is intensified by

imitation Imitation (from Latin ''imitatio'', "a copying, imitation") is a behavior whereby an individual observes and replicates another's behavior. Imitation is also a form of learning that leads to the "development of traditions, and ultimately our cu ...

, and by more entries with new thoughts about Earth and Heavens rejoicing. The final refrain also appears is in a denser texture with divided sopranos, before the piece ends softly, marked "Tranquil", with the high voices sing "Christ is born" over the humming men's voices.

Recordings

''Angels' Carol'' was recorded in 2001 as part of ''The John Rutter Christmas Album'', sung by The Cambridge Singers with the

City of London Sinfonia City of London Sinfonia (CLS) is an English chamber orchestra based in London. CLS is orchestra-in-residence at Opera Holland Park since 2004 and holds a residency at St Paul's Cathedral. CLS also performs regularly across the city of London i ...

, conducted by the composer.

Stephen Layton Stephen David Layton (born 23 December 1966) is an English conductor. He was raised in Derby, where his father was a church organist. He was a chorister at Winchester Cathedral, and subsequently won scholarships to Eton College and then King's ...

led a recording with his Polyphony chamber choir and the

, released in 2001. It was recorded as part of ''A Christmas Celebration'' in 2014 by the Hallé Choir, youth choir, children’s choir and orchestra, conducted by Stephen Bell.

References

External links

* {{italic title Christmas music 1990 compositions Choral compositions by John Rutter