1 00:00:19,360 --> 00:00:23,200 Christmas - the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ 2 00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:26,040 is a central part of the Christian calendar, 3 00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:28,840 it's one of our richest and most cherished rituals. 4 00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:33,040 But in this programme, we're going to go beyond the familiar carols 5 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:36,880 and festive songs to explore two millennia of music and texts 6 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:41,600 from across Europe, performed by Harry Christophers and his choir, 7 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:41,600 The Sixteen. 8 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:48,560 This is a Christmas history, 9 00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:52,200 a journey back through the music, people and beliefs 10 00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:55,600 that have given shape to our modern idea of Christmas. 11 00:00:57,360 --> 00:01:00,800 My story starts in Italy, here in Rome. 12 00:01:06,320 --> 00:01:09,520 The Romans ruled the world into which Jesus was born 13 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:13,200 and for centuries, their language, Latin, dominated church worship. 14 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:18,760 And it's here that the celebration of Christmas 15 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:22,480 has produced some of choral music's greatest and most evocative works 16 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:25,440 for some of the world's most beautiful churches. 17 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:31,120 Founded in the early 5th century, 18 00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:34,200 Santa Maria Maggiore houses underneath its high altar 19 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:35,920 an extremely important relic. 20 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:41,520 A fragment of the crib, the manger in which the Baby Jesus was laid. 21 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:45,360 Brought here from the Holy Land by the Pope in the 7th century, 22 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:50,040 it was traditionally carried in procession when the Christmas mass was celebrated here. 23 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:54,160 The pious could earn special indulgences by attendance. 24 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:02,360 There are five little planks of wood, probably from a sycamore tree, 25 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:06,640 native to Palestine. It's quite hard to see in this richly ornamented case the reliquary 26 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:09,680 but if you were to assemble these fragments, 27 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:12,920 they're supposed to form two X shapes, basically, 28 00:02:12,920 --> 00:02:14,920 the frame support of the manger. 29 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:24,800 "And it came to pass in those days 30 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:27,640 "that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus 31 00:02:27,640 --> 00:02:29,760 "that all the world should be taxed. 32 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:31,840 "And Joseph also went up from Galilee, 33 00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:34,560 "unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, 34 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:36,920 "to be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, 35 00:02:36,920 --> 00:02:38,240 "being great with child. 36 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:41,480 "And she brought forth her first-born son 37 00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:44,040 "and wrapped him in swaddling clothes 38 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:46,600 "and laid him in a manger, 39 00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:49,800 "because there was no room for them in the inn." 40 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:53,000 Christianity begins to acquire shape and definition 41 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:55,440 under the Roman empire. In the 3rd century AD, 42 00:02:55,440 --> 00:02:57,200 200 years after the event, 43 00:02:57,200 --> 00:03:00,760 Origen of Alexandria, one of the first great Christian theologians, 44 00:03:00,760 --> 00:03:05,720 wrote that he considered it God's plan that Jesus had been born in the reign of the Emperor Augustus, 45 00:03:05,720 --> 00:03:09,360 now the whole world was united under one monarch, 46 00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:12,360 making conditions perfect for spreading the gospel. 47 00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:16,240 Christmas is not a major feast during the first two centuries 48 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:17,920 because, as Origen argued, 49 00:03:17,920 --> 00:03:21,520 the celebration of a god's birthday was pagan behaviour. 50 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:25,760 The variety of creeds, rites and liturgies was huge, 51 00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:27,400 and locally based. 52 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:29,640 "The Greeks speak Greek," Origen says, 53 00:03:29,640 --> 00:03:33,840 "the Romans Latin and everyone prays and sings praises to God 54 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:36,040 "as best he can in his mother tongue." 55 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:40,480 Singing, as ever, was common to Christians everywhere. 56 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:46,520 CHORAL MUSIC: "The Oxyrhynchus Hymn" 57 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:58,640 This beautiful, haunting song is 58 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:58,640 the earliest piece of Christian music that we know of. 59 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:01,160 CHORAL SINGING CONTINUES 60 00:04:02,160 --> 00:04:05,680 Discovered in Egypt at the beginning of the 20th century, 61 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:08,000 and dating from the time of Origen, 62 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:10,760 it's known as the Oxyrhynchus Hymn. 63 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:13,720 In the Sackler Library in Oxford 64 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:13,720 is the only known copy, 65 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:16,520 preserved on a scrap of papyrus. 66 00:04:16,520 --> 00:04:17,960 CHORAL SINGING 67 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:27,400 Well, this is extraordinary. 68 00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:32,720 Can you explain precisely what this is and what the writing is? 69 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:35,080 So, this is the oldest Christian hymn 70 00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:37,440 which is written in ancient Greek. 71 00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:41,120 It's contemporary with some of the earliest New Testament papyri. 72 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:45,480 It's written by a very professional Greek scribe, 73 00:04:45,480 --> 00:04:48,880 who wrote the words, the lyrics of the hymn. 74 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:53,720 Then another scribe came along and in the blank space he left 75 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:53,720 between the two lines 76 00:04:53,720 --> 00:04:57,600 annotated it with musical notation of the melody. 77 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:01,600 It's a tiny fragment, isn't it? Can you work out what the hymn was for? 78 00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:03,280 It's a hymn to the Trinity. 79 00:05:03,280 --> 00:05:06,880 It invokes a chorus of worshippers, us, 80 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:11,080 the faithful, to sing a hymn in honour of the Trinity, 81 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:13,840 the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, 82 00:05:13,840 --> 00:05:18,440 and asks the cosmos, the streams, the rushing winds, 83 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:21,880 and the mountains to stay silent while the hymn is sung. 84 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:30,200 We have no real clue as to how or where the hymn was originally sung 85 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:32,960 but by transcribing the ancient Greek notation, 86 00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:36,160 Harry Christophers has reconstructed a performance. 87 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:50,120 It comes from the Oxyrhynchus Papyri collection 88 00:05:50,120 --> 00:05:53,640 which were papyri which were brought back to England 89 00:05:53,640 --> 00:05:55,320 by two Oxford undergraduates, 90 00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:57,840 BP Grenfell and AS Hunt, 91 00:05:57,840 --> 00:06:01,360 who went to Egypt specifically to look for papyrus. 92 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:05,680 They went to Oxyrhynchus. Oxyrhynchus 93 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:05,680 is right in the middle of Egypt. 94 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:10,600 As soon as they stuck their shovel into one of the ancient rubbish mounds that ringed the city 95 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:13,600 around the desert edge, there were hundreds of them. 96 00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:17,960 The first thing they pulled out was a papyrus, the famous Logia Fragment 97 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:22,280 of the Sayings of Jesus, the Greek version of the Gospel of Thomas. 98 00:06:22,280 --> 00:06:26,760 It's marvellous... After that, it was just a torrent of papyrus. 99 00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:28,280 One piece after the next. 100 00:06:28,280 --> 00:06:31,840 So many that they couldn't package them all up. 101 00:06:31,840 --> 00:06:35,560 We've published, so far, over 5,000 pieces. 102 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:38,560 But we reckon that's about 1%. 103 00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:41,520 There's at least another 500,000 to go. 104 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:44,120 We expect there to be more of this hymn. 105 00:06:44,120 --> 00:06:46,400 We just haven't found it yet. 106 00:06:50,680 --> 00:06:52,960 It was a very special occasion up in Oxford, 107 00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:55,200 and looking at the Oxyrhynchus Papyrus, 108 00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:58,720 it had a wonderful melody, albeit, not necessarily what we'd call 109 00:06:58,720 --> 00:07:01,000 a totally classical melody, 110 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:04,680 but there's something very beautiful about the single line 111 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:08,640 and it's a tune that can be sung by the congregation. 112 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:18,440 The story is hazy after the time of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri. 113 00:07:18,440 --> 00:07:21,240 The Greek musical notation it preserves was lost. 114 00:07:21,240 --> 00:07:24,280 Now nothing musical would be written down for 600 years. 115 00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:26,280 BELL TOLLS 116 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:30,320 CHORAL SINGING 117 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:39,240 In the 5th century, under Pope Gregory, 118 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:41,600 a body of liturgical chants was established, 119 00:07:41,600 --> 00:07:43,640 the Gregorian chant. 120 00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:50,680 With no notation, 121 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:54,000 these chants had to be learned by heart and for hundreds of years, 122 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:57,600 they were passed down from generation to generation. 123 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:05,360 Christmas in the Dark Ages was a dignified, solemn affair. 124 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:08,480 This is the chant for Christmas Eve, 125 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:14,000 the simplest line of melodies sung in unison, precious little more than the words unadorned. 126 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:16,360 CHORAL SINGING 127 00:08:19,560 --> 00:08:22,800 It's showed its staying power. You've still got composers 128 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:24,600 using plainchant themes today 129 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:27,080 as the inspiration and basis for their pieces. 130 00:08:27,080 --> 00:08:29,360 Many of the melodies are hugely inventive, 131 00:08:29,360 --> 00:08:33,000 extremely beautiful and very evocative, as well. 132 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:41,120 This body of chants would serve the church well for almost 1,000 years. 133 00:08:41,120 --> 00:08:43,600 But in the middle of the 13th century, 134 00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:46,960 a new sense of how to celebrate Christmas emerged. 135 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:54,640 This is the Basilica of St Francis in Assisi 136 00:08:54,640 --> 00:08:57,960 and inside are some extraordinary frescoes by Giotto, 137 00:08:57,960 --> 00:09:01,080 revolutionary, naturalistic depictions of the human form 138 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:03,480 from the very early Renaissance. 139 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:06,080 The story is simple. 140 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:09,200 We have the Holy Family, the Virgin Mother, 141 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:14,120 the child laid in an animal feeding trough, the ever-patient Joseph. 142 00:09:14,120 --> 00:09:18,800 The shepherds come from the neighbouring fields and then, 143 00:09:14,120 --> 00:09:18,800 of course, there are the angels. 144 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:22,320 Heaven and earth, gathered together in joyful celebration 145 00:09:22,320 --> 00:09:24,160 around the Christ child. 146 00:09:30,200 --> 00:09:33,720 It was St Francis of Assisi who, on Christmas Day 1223, 147 00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:36,560 gave the world its first nativity tableau, 148 00:09:36,560 --> 00:09:41,160 a living scene which allowed worshippers to contemplate the birth of the Christ child 149 00:09:41,160 --> 00:09:43,120 in a uniquely direct way. 150 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:49,080 All the local villagers were invited into this cave 151 00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:52,080 where a magical surprise had been prepared. 152 00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:56,920 The straw-filled manger, feeding 153 00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:56,920 trough, in which the Baby Jesus 154 00:09:56,920 --> 00:10:00,880 was lying was surrounded by real, living farm animals. 155 00:10:00,880 --> 00:10:06,600 St Francis felt it was important that we should make use of all the human senses. 156 00:10:07,880 --> 00:10:11,720 According to contemporary reports, it was beautiful in its simplicity. 157 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:16,160 The manger was later used as the altar for the Christmas mass. 158 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:20,800 Afterwards, St Francis is said to have taken the doll which represented the Christ child, 159 00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:24,440 and cradled it so tenderly that the congregation was reminded forcibly 160 00:10:24,440 --> 00:10:28,960 that his virginity mirrored that 161 00:10:24,440 --> 00:10:28,960 of the Virgin Mary herself. 162 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:37,720 The popularity of these nativity 163 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:37,720 tableaux was immediate, 164 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:41,240 boosted by musical settings of the traditional Christmas text, 165 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:43,440 O Magnum Mysterium. 166 00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:46,720 This version is by the Spanish priest and composer, 167 00:10:46,720 --> 00:10:49,360 Tomas Luis de Victoria. 168 00:10:54,880 --> 00:10:59,720 There's this incredible feeling of time standing still at the 169 00:10:54,880 --> 00:10:59,720 beginning of O Magnum Mysterium. 170 00:10:59,720 --> 00:11:03,600 A real sense of awe and wonder. I always feel it's that feeling 171 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:06,680 you get when you're looking at a newborn child. 172 00:11:06,680 --> 00:11:11,280 Then he creates this wonderful sense of atmosphere so that you almost see 173 00:11:11,280 --> 00:11:13,760 the animals looking at the child. 174 00:11:17,640 --> 00:11:22,400 Most brilliantly of all is the way he colours the word presepio, for manger. 175 00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:26,960 This extraordinary thing that the Son of God is lying in a manger. 176 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:29,440 He gives this wonderful colour to the word presepio, 177 00:11:29,440 --> 00:11:35,320 which I think helps reflect his idea of the divine brought to earth, 178 00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:37,240 to this extremely simple level. 179 00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:46,960 # ..presepio... # 180 00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:51,640 "O magnum mysterium et admirabile sacramentum, ut animalia viderent 181 00:11:51,640 --> 00:11:55,880 "Dominum natum, jacentem in presepio." 182 00:11:58,480 --> 00:12:01,320 "Dominum natum, jacentem in presepio." 183 00:12:01,320 --> 00:12:04,720 Oh, great mystery and wonderful sacrament that the beasts 184 00:12:04,720 --> 00:12:07,880 should see the newborn Lord lying in a manger. 185 00:12:07,880 --> 00:12:12,800 Blessed is the virgin whose womb is worthy to bear Christ the Lord. 186 00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:14,560 Alleluia. 187 00:12:17,480 --> 00:12:22,880 Curiously, there is no mention of the beasts in the Gospel versions 188 00:12:17,480 --> 00:12:22,880 of the nativity. 189 00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:26,400 But their presence in the story is far older than St Francis' time. 190 00:12:26,400 --> 00:12:30,000 In the Book of Isaiah, one of the prophetic books of the Old Testament, 191 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:34,040 is this phrase which predicts the recognition of the Messiah. 192 00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:36,680 "The ox knoweth his owner 193 00:12:36,680 --> 00:12:38,880 "and the ass his master's crib." 194 00:12:44,280 --> 00:12:48,600 Music was now at the heart of people's Christmas worship. 195 00:12:48,600 --> 00:12:51,720 The great musical development of the Middle Ages 196 00:12:51,720 --> 00:12:55,440 was the addition of elaborate choral singing to the traditional chants. 197 00:13:00,800 --> 00:13:04,960 The Catholic mass was, for many centuries, sung in Latin 198 00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:11,120 and successive popes have always 199 00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:11,120 determined the style of singing the congregation will hear. 200 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:17,280 During the Christmas season, the Vatican allowed the mass 201 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:17,280 for the 25th of December 202 00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:20,600 to be more florid, more ornamented, but within a strict formula. 203 00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:29,800 This is the Christmas mass composed by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, 204 00:13:29,800 --> 00:13:32,560 who took his name from the hill-top town of Palestrina 205 00:13:32,560 --> 00:13:36,440 just outside Rome where he was born in the early 16th century. 206 00:13:39,520 --> 00:13:43,280 Details of his childhood are vague but tradition has it 207 00:13:43,280 --> 00:13:45,760 that a young Pierluigi sang in the streets 208 00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:48,800 while offering for sale the products of his father's farm, 209 00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:53,400 and that he was heard on such an occasion by the choirmaster of 210 00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:53,400 Santa Maria Maggiore. 211 00:14:01,760 --> 00:14:05,160 What is documented is that as a teenager, he came to Rome 212 00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:07,440 and joined the Santa Maria choir. 213 00:14:10,560 --> 00:14:14,600 It was for his choir here that Palestrina, known as 214 00:14:10,560 --> 00:14:14,600 the Prince of Music, 215 00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:17,440 composed his finest Christmas church music. 216 00:14:22,360 --> 00:14:27,320 Before Palestrina was all kinds of Christian song and sung liturgy. 217 00:14:27,320 --> 00:14:31,600 After Palestrina, a discipline emerged and the master was in place. 218 00:14:31,600 --> 00:14:34,440 This meant, above all, that there were rules. 219 00:14:34,440 --> 00:14:37,920 Rules governing harmony and the intelligibility of the text. 220 00:14:37,920 --> 00:14:42,840 One of the arguments going on the 1550s and '60s 221 00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:44,600 was how important 222 00:14:44,600 --> 00:14:46,560 the audibility of the words was. 223 00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:49,320 CHORAL SINGING 224 00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:03,320 Of course, if everyone's singing a different word at the same time, 225 00:15:03,320 --> 00:15:07,680 then it's hard to catch exactly which words they are singing. 226 00:15:14,520 --> 00:15:18,920 Palestrina's music was considered by the Catholic church 227 00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:24,280 to epitomise the perfect liturgical music, full of joy and vigour, 228 00:15:24,280 --> 00:15:26,680 but you can hear the words very clearly. 229 00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:42,840 He's taken the Christmas season to have an ethereal, rather celestial, 230 00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:42,840 angelic choir. 231 00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:46,600 It's a sort of extension of plainsong, 232 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:51,040 finding a beautiful tune and then developing on it 233 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:51,040 in all sorts of ways. 234 00:15:56,440 --> 00:16:01,800 It's jubilant. The end is incredibly evocative of Christmas. 235 00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:11,240 This is sacred church music rather than just festive music. 236 00:16:11,240 --> 00:16:14,440 Spiritual, rather than just celebratory. 237 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:20,520 This liturgical music of the High Renaissance 238 00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:23,840 seeks to express a new sense of Christmas, 239 00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:26,480 Christmas post-St Francis, as it were. 240 00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:31,800 CHORAL SINGING 241 00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:40,280 Until relatively recently in Europe, the bleak midwinter months 242 00:16:40,280 --> 00:16:42,520 were a season of food scarcity and famine. 243 00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:44,560 In the Middle Ages, 244 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:47,560 the celebration of Christmas became the last great feast 245 00:16:47,560 --> 00:16:50,360 before the dark, hungry days of the fast of Lent. 246 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:56,160 Welcome to the Restaurant Macaroni. 247 00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:59,360 Macaroni, a food to which I am particularly partial, 248 00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:01,680 is, of course, made up of long tubes of pasta, 249 00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:03,240 cut into shorter pieces. 250 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:07,880 The word macaroni is from the Latin macerare, meaning to break into pieces. 251 00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:11,240 And macerare is also the root of the word macaroon, 252 00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:14,000 which happens to be not only a rather delicious cake, 253 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:15,320 but also a kind of song 254 00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:18,040 which uses fragments of different languages. 255 00:17:18,040 --> 00:17:20,040 "Make we joy now in this fest. 256 00:17:20,040 --> 00:17:22,040 "In quo Christus natus est." 257 00:17:22,040 --> 00:17:25,720 The first medieval carols were macaroons, 258 00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:30,560 fragments of familiar church Latin mixed in with the everyday language 259 00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:30,560 of the people. 260 00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:34,400 # Make we joy now in this fest 261 00:17:34,400 --> 00:17:37,240 # In quo Christus natus est 262 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:39,520 # Eya 263 00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:43,200 # Make we joy now in this fest 264 00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:46,320 # In quo Christus natus est 265 00:17:46,320 --> 00:17:48,480 # Eya. # 266 00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:57,600 No-one really knows whether carols 267 00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:57,600 were sung inside the church or not. 268 00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:02,520 They must have been written by monks because they were the only people 269 00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:06,280 who would have had the learning to have written texts down 270 00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:13,400 in Latin and English and yet they probably couldn't have sung more 271 00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:13,400 jolly ones, at least, 272 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:15,440 in the context of church services. 273 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:35,280 The medieval church didn't seem to like too much letting go at Christmas, 274 00:18:35,280 --> 00:18:41,800 dancing was discouraged and indeed was thought to be the work of Satan. 275 00:18:45,560 --> 00:18:50,720 In Dulci Jubilo has a gentle, dancing character to it 276 00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:55,280 and the story goes that it was sung by the angels one Christmas Eve 277 00:18:55,280 --> 00:19:00,320 to the German mystic Heinrich Seuse, who lived in the 14th century. 278 00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:04,840 And it's rather nice to think that perhaps the bits sung by the angels 279 00:19:04,840 --> 00:19:10,360 were the bits in Latin and the bits in the vernacular would have been sung by Heinrich Seuse. 280 00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:22,200 The story of his spiritual journey, the Life Of The Blessed Heinrich 281 00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:22,200 Seuse, written by himself, 282 00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:28,920 is a handbook of self-mortification techniques that he used to induce 283 00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:28,920 religious visions. 284 00:19:30,080 --> 00:19:33,520 He starved himself, beat himself until he bled, 285 00:19:33,520 --> 00:19:38,560 but in return, he experienced a series of vivid hallucinations. 286 00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:42,400 The Virgin Mary appeared before him as a rose 287 00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:46,960 and then in 1326, after chastising his body with a leather strap, 288 00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:51,240 before him appeared a troupe of dancing angels. 289 00:19:57,320 --> 00:20:02,320 "And the angels said that they were sent from God to bring to me joy in 290 00:19:57,320 --> 00:20:02,320 the midst of my sufferings, 291 00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:05,000 "that I must dance with them in heavenly fashion 292 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:08,880 "and thus they took me by the hand and drew me into their dance." 293 00:20:16,080 --> 00:20:20,480 In his autobiography, Heinrich also describes how he liked to mark Christmas, 294 00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:23,840 standing in his bare feet on the cold stone in front of an altar, 295 00:20:23,840 --> 00:20:28,080 exposing his hands to the cold until they were black and swollen, 296 00:20:28,080 --> 00:20:33,480 denying himself water or any other drink until his tongue cracked. 297 00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:36,840 He must have been a difficult man to buy Christmas presents for. 298 00:20:42,360 --> 00:20:45,080 My journey now takes me to Saxony in Germany. 299 00:20:45,080 --> 00:20:49,320 It was here in the 16th century that the Reformation first caught hold 300 00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:52,400 and Martin Luther's break with the Church of Rome 301 00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:55,200 would produce something completely new - 302 00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:57,600 Christmas music for the Protestant Church. 303 00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:08,480 This is the first purpose-built Lutheran church, 304 00:21:08,480 --> 00:21:11,000 the chapel at Hartenfels Castle. 305 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:14,720 Designed by Luther himself, it was consecrated in 1544 306 00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:17,760 and the architecture embodies the Lutheran message. 307 00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:20,880 As he himself said, "nothing should happen here 308 00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:24,720 "except that the dear Lord talks to us through his holy word 309 00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:30,200 "and we in turn talk to him through prayer and songs of praise." 310 00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:44,000 The pulpit is bang in the middle 311 00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:44,000 of the church 312 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:48,680 and the organ is deliberately placed above the very simple altar 313 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:54,400 representative of the fact that music plays such a central role in Lutheran worship. 314 00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:58,520 The chapel was inaugurated with the music of Johann Walter, 315 00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:02,640 choirmaster, composer and musical adviser to Luther. 316 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:07,360 The two men worked together to create a new Protestant sung liturgy. 317 00:22:07,360 --> 00:22:12,880 The evocation and re-enactment of the Nativity story as part of the celebration of the Christmas feast 318 00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:18,360 signifies the Christian faith that Jesus is the Messiah promised by 319 00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:18,360 the Old Testament 320 00:22:18,360 --> 00:22:21,280 and the incarnation of the Word - 321 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:23,400 Verbum Caro Factum Est. 322 00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:56,880 Composed for the Christmas Eve service, and rooted in the ancient plain chant, 323 00:22:56,880 --> 00:23:00,480 Verbum Caro is one of Walter's earliest compositions. 324 00:23:03,720 --> 00:23:07,640 He's basically known for his hymns and the association with Luther, 325 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:10,880 so to find a Latin chant is a bit of a rarity in his output. 326 00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:15,640 Are you implying that because he was a very early Protestant, 327 00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:18,720 that he's still using Catholic techniques? 328 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:22,080 He's using the techniques that were used before, 329 00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:23,640 but he's written it in a simple way. 330 00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:26,120 He opens this with the chant, 331 00:23:26,120 --> 00:23:28,760 In All Voices. 332 00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:35,040 # Verbum... # 333 00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:38,120 That's the same with the tenor part. 334 00:23:38,120 --> 00:23:40,280 Then he goes up a fourth into the alto and bass. 335 00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:44,240 # Verbum... # 336 00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:50,200 # Verbum... # 337 00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:53,440 Very simple. Each voice opens with that little statement. 338 00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:56,000 # Verbum... # 339 00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:58,040 # Verbum... # 340 00:23:58,040 --> 00:23:59,760 # Verbum... # 341 00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:02,480 THEY SING IN LATIN 342 00:24:07,960 --> 00:24:11,560 Walter and Luther were seeking a 343 00:24:07,960 --> 00:24:11,560 new, simpler relationship 344 00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:14,400 between the faithful and the Word of God. 345 00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:16,880 When the Reformation reached Tudor England, 346 00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:18,960 it would lead to a century of turmoil. 347 00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:23,480 Between the time of Henry VIII's break with the Church of Rome and 348 00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:27,720 the restoration of King Charles II the following century, 349 00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:32,360 religious change became, for the British people, 350 00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:32,360 almost a national way of life. 351 00:24:32,360 --> 00:24:35,560 The country flipped from being Catholic to Protestant 352 00:24:35,560 --> 00:24:38,320 and then Catholic and then Protestant again. 353 00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:40,520 People were understandably confused. 354 00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:45,560 Thomas Tallis, who was organist here at Waltham Abbey at the time of the 355 00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:45,560 Dissolution of the Monasteries, 356 00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:48,200 was typical of his generation. 357 00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:55,800 THEY SING IN LATIN 358 00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:15,600 Tallis's Christmas Mass Puer Natus - 359 00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:20,400 The Boy Is Born - was a glorious pinnacle of Catholic choral writing. 360 00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:24,960 It's both solemn and festive, 361 00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:27,640 heavenly and human. 362 00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:30,960 THEY SING IN LATIN 363 00:25:41,360 --> 00:25:47,320 The 16th century was a fascinating period for the celebration of Christmas. 364 00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:51,400 When the Reformation really took 365 00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:51,400 hold, there was a suspicion 366 00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:56,760 that too much singing was a relic of Papistry. 367 00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:06,040 Puer Natus Mass is a glorious outpouring of the sense of joy 368 00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:09,320 and wonder that accompanies Christmas. 369 00:26:17,360 --> 00:26:22,800 That kind of marking Christmas in the church, 370 00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:28,480 I think rather died out because of the Reformers wanting 371 00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:31,000 to suppress anything too florid. 372 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:33,240 It was quite a stern period. 373 00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:44,920 In the complex and ever-changing 374 00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:44,920 world of Tudor England, 375 00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:48,400 Christmas was often a time of particular anxiety. 376 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:54,040 Would your celebrations during this period be the wrong type of celebrations? 377 00:26:54,040 --> 00:26:58,000 And is there a hint of irony in Shakespeare's play Hamlet 378 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:02,520 when he has one of the characters talking about the Christmas period? 379 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:04,040 "The nights are wholesome, 380 00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:05,920 "then no planets strike. 381 00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:09,120 "No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, 382 00:27:09,120 --> 00:27:13,200 "so hallow'd and so gracious is the time." 383 00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:17,720 # Lullaby 384 00:27:17,720 --> 00:27:20,160 # Lullaby 385 00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:23,880 # Lullaby... # 386 00:27:23,880 --> 00:27:27,080 William Byrd was a staunch Catholic, 387 00:27:27,080 --> 00:27:30,880 but was also the favourite composer of the Protestant Queen Elizabeth. 388 00:27:30,880 --> 00:27:32,400 He refused to give up his faith 389 00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:36,560 even when the penalty for 390 00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:36,560 celebrating the Mass was imprisonment or even execution 391 00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:41,480 and retired to an obscure corner of Essex to worship in secret. 392 00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:53,720 His Christmas Lullaby was written for a private domestic observation of Christmas. 393 00:27:55,400 --> 00:28:00,560 # Be still, my blessed babe 394 00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:07,440 # Though cause thou hast to mourn 395 00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:14,960 # Whose blood most innocent to shed... # 396 00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:18,880 I think he felt he was persecuted and driven underground a little bit. 397 00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:20,600 It's a beautiful carol, 398 00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:22,160 but it's quite dark as well 399 00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:24,640 because it draws on the theme of Herod 400 00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:26,320 slaying innocent children 401 00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:31,000 and that was something that they perhaps focussed on a bit more than we do in modern times. 402 00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:36,480 # ..What slaughter he doth make 403 00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:44,480 # Shedding the blood of infants all 404 00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:46,560 # Sweet Saviour... # 405 00:28:46,560 --> 00:28:50,840 So you had the mother just singing to her child, rocking him to sleep, 406 00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:55,120 and in the background, a king going off and committing genocide, essentially. 407 00:28:55,120 --> 00:28:59,520 Perhaps this felt like a reflection of his situation. 408 00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:04,960 # ..Which King this king would kill 409 00:29:04,960 --> 00:29:10,920 # Oh woe and woeful heavy day... # 410 00:29:10,920 --> 00:29:15,560 This century of religious upheaval climaxed in 1649 411 00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:19,960 when the execution of the king ended the Civil War as a victory for the Puritans. 412 00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:23,640 Christmas was effectively banned. 413 00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:29,720 There's no Christmas music from the Parliamentary period. 414 00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:36,840 Messiah, Handel's great 18th-century masterpiece, 415 00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:41,800 is still synonymous with Christmas choral music for many of us today 416 00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:45,160 and represents the next great leap forward for sacred music. 417 00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:48,280 # For unto us a child is born 418 00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:51,320 # Unto us 419 00:29:51,320 --> 00:29:53,920 # A son is given 420 00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:56,920 # Unto us 421 00:29:56,920 --> 00:29:58,680 # A son is given 422 00:29:58,680 --> 00:30:01,960 # For unto us a child is born 423 00:30:01,960 --> 00:30:04,080 # Unto us a child is born 424 00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:06,520 # Unto us... # 425 00:30:06,520 --> 00:30:08,720 The 18th century was obsessed by opera 426 00:30:08,720 --> 00:30:11,040 and Messiah is an oratorio, 427 00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:13,720 a halfway house between the church and the theatre - 428 00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:19,440 sacred stories arranged for singers with an orchestra, but without dramatic action, scenery or costume. 429 00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:21,400 # Unto us 430 00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:23,480 # A son is given 431 00:30:24,600 --> 00:30:25,640 # Unto us... # 432 00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:29,320 Intended by the composer for performance in the run-up to Easter, 433 00:30:29,320 --> 00:30:33,560 it tells the story of Jesus from his birth through to the Resurrection and beyond. 434 00:30:33,560 --> 00:30:38,640 # ..And the government shall be upon His shoulder 435 00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:40,800 # And the government shall be... # 436 00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:44,720 The early section soon became the basis for special Christmas concerts 437 00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:47,600 where professional singers sang alongside amateurs. 438 00:30:47,600 --> 00:30:51,000 # ..And His name shall be called 439 00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:53,480 # Wonderful 440 00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:56,160 # Counsellor 441 00:30:56,160 --> 00:31:01,440 # The mighty God The everlasting Father 442 00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:03,360 # The prince of peace 443 00:31:03,360 --> 00:31:05,480 # To us a child is born... # 444 00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:10,000 It laid the foundation for the great British tradition of amateur choral singing, 445 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:14,640 but it was a movement nourished by the strength of our congregational 446 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:14,640 singing in church. 447 00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:18,280 From the 16th century on through to the 18th, 448 00:31:18,280 --> 00:31:21,240 sung liturgy was increasingly discarded 449 00:31:21,240 --> 00:31:24,040 and the choir tended to lead congregational singing. 450 00:31:24,040 --> 00:31:29,520 # Hark, how all the welkin rings 451 00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:35,120 # Alleluia 452 00:31:35,120 --> 00:31:40,400 # Glory to the King of Kings 453 00:31:40,400 --> 00:31:42,920 # Alleluia... # 454 00:31:42,920 --> 00:31:45,880 In England, 300 years ago, the Wesley brothers 455 00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:47,800 founded the Methodist movement. 456 00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:52,000 They were firm believers in the importance of congregational singing. 457 00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:56,000 Charles Wesley wrote over 6,500 hymns. 458 00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:03,120 # ..God and sinners reconciled... # 459 00:32:03,120 --> 00:32:08,080 This is his Christmas hymn, Hark, How All The Welkin Rings. 460 00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:09,160 Stirring stuff. 461 00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:12,280 But over the course of the next 100 years, 462 00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:15,360 it would evolve into an almost completely different song, 463 00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:18,480 one of our best-loved and most-sung Christmas carols. 464 00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:22,840 # ..Alleluia... # 465 00:32:22,840 --> 00:32:25,840 The first change would be a little tweak to the words 466 00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:29,600 from a Methodist preacher with a rather dodgy past. 467 00:32:33,800 --> 00:32:35,720 This is George Whitefield, 468 00:32:35,720 --> 00:32:42,400 born in a pub here in Gloucester around Christmas-time in 1714, 469 00:32:35,720 --> 00:32:42,400 the youngest child of seven. 470 00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:46,680 His father died when he was two and George grew up to be a bit of a rogue. 471 00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:50,240 He stole money, he shoplifted, he played cards, 472 00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:53,000 he even had ambitions to be an actor. 473 00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:56,080 He was handsome and charismatic, 474 00:32:56,080 --> 00:33:00,320 despite, or perhaps because of, his squint. 475 00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:03,760 But one day he turned a corner, he met the Wesley brothers 476 00:33:03,760 --> 00:33:07,200 and all the talents and skills of the potential actor 477 00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:12,480 were transformed into the oratorical power of the greatest preacher of the 18th century. 478 00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:18,120 When he was still in his early twenties he preached, from this pulpit, his first sermon, 479 00:33:18,120 --> 00:33:23,880 one of many thousand he was to preach to hundreds of thousands of people over the next half-century. 480 00:33:26,600 --> 00:33:29,480 "The celebration of the birth of Christ 481 00:33:29,480 --> 00:33:33,640 "hath been esteemed a duty by most who profess Christianity. 482 00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:37,800 "You do not celebrate this aright when you spend most of your time in cards, 483 00:33:37,800 --> 00:33:42,440 "dice or gaming of any sort. 484 00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:46,320 "Those of you who have made this your practice in times past, 485 00:33:46,320 --> 00:33:51,920 "let me beseech you in the bowels of mercy not to do so any more." 486 00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:57,240 # Hark, how all the welkin rings 487 00:33:57,240 --> 00:33:59,880 # Alleluia... # 488 00:33:59,880 --> 00:34:04,000 The genius of George Whitefield was to replace Charles Wesley's plain English 489 00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:07,000 with these first two dramatic lines. 490 00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:09,600 # Hark! The herald angels sing 491 00:34:09,600 --> 00:34:12,600 # Hark! The herald angels sing 492 00:34:12,600 --> 00:34:16,080 # Glory to the new-born King 493 00:34:16,080 --> 00:34:18,440 # Glory to the new-born... # 494 00:34:18,440 --> 00:34:20,680 It was now a lyric in search of a tune 495 00:34:20,680 --> 00:34:22,360 and many were tried. 496 00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:27,280 One enterprising soul even managed to glue The Herald Angels onto George Frideric Handel's 497 00:34:27,280 --> 00:34:29,600 See The Conquering Hero Comes. 498 00:34:30,280 --> 00:34:39,560 # Hark! The herald angels sing 499 00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:48,680 # Glory to the new-born King... # 500 00:34:48,680 --> 00:34:50,000 But it didn't stick. 501 00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:53,800 Handel's contribution to Christmas music is, of course, the Messiah. 502 00:34:53,800 --> 00:34:56,880 The melody that brought these words to life 503 00:34:56,880 --> 00:34:59,600 was to come from another place entirely. 504 00:34:59,600 --> 00:35:03,600 # Vaterland, in deinen Gauen... # 505 00:35:03,600 --> 00:35:05,200 In June 1840, 506 00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:09,240 the citizens of Leipzig gathered in the town square. 507 00:35:11,080 --> 00:35:16,080 They'd come to hear a new composition by local composer Felix Mendelssohn. 508 00:35:16,080 --> 00:35:21,080 With a massive male-voice choir of 200 and a vastly expanded orchestra, 509 00:35:21,080 --> 00:35:25,320 he performed his lengthy Festgesang, his festive songs, 510 00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:29,960 written for the 400th anniversary of Gutenberg's invention of the printing press. 511 00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:34,960 His family described it as "market music" and it was never revived. 512 00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:39,600 It wasn't even deemed worthy of an opus number and was destined 513 00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:39,600 to sink without trace. 514 00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:45,280 # Hark! The herald angels sing 515 00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:51,000 # Glory to the new-born King... # 516 00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:54,720 My story leads me back here, for it was 517 00:35:54,720 --> 00:35:56,880 another organist at Waltham Abbey, 518 00:35:56,880 --> 00:35:59,720 300 years after Thomas Tallis was here, 519 00:35:59,720 --> 00:36:03,280 who was to join this obscure piece of music by a great composer 520 00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:05,840 to the words that fit it so perfectly. 521 00:36:05,840 --> 00:36:08,400 # ..Nations rise 522 00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:12,320 # Join the triumph of the... # 523 00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:18,160 In 1855, this Victorian hero, William H Cummings, 524 00:36:18,160 --> 00:36:23,760 set George Whitefield's theatrically sharpened-up version of Charles Wesley's original words 525 00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:25,960 to Mendelssohn's music. 526 00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:31,360 # ..Hark! The herald angels sing 527 00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:40,000 # Glory to the new-born King. # 528 00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:41,840 From the 19th century onwards, 529 00:36:41,840 --> 00:36:46,600 the overwhelming focus of the season becomes Christmas Day, the birth of Christ. 530 00:36:46,600 --> 00:36:48,200 TRAIN WHISTLE BLASTS 531 00:36:48,200 --> 00:36:53,160 As the western world became more industrialised, perhaps more rationalised, 532 00:36:53,160 --> 00:36:57,840 then it was easier for Protestant Christians to celebrate the birth of a baby boy 533 00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:03,560 rather than the more problematic, miraculous aspects of the Gospel story, such as the Virgin birth. 534 00:37:03,560 --> 00:37:07,880 A new age of popular Christmas music was born. 535 00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:12,120 MUSIC: "Silent Night" 536 00:37:14,640 --> 00:37:18,240 Silent Night is perhaps the world's most popular Christmas song. 537 00:37:18,240 --> 00:37:22,560 It exists in over 50 languages and there are hundreds of recordings. 538 00:37:22,560 --> 00:37:27,280 But its origins lie in the opening decades of the 19th century 539 00:37:27,280 --> 00:37:30,480 and the tiny Austrian village of Oberndorf. 540 00:37:34,640 --> 00:37:37,480 The original German lyrics are by the Austrian Priest 541 00:37:37,480 --> 00:37:40,360 Father Joseph Mohr. In his youth, 542 00:37:40,360 --> 00:37:43,480 he had a reputation for neglecting his priestly duties, 543 00:37:43,480 --> 00:37:45,480 frequenting the drinking houses, 544 00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:48,960 sharing jokes with persons of the opposite sex 545 00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:51,640 and singing songs that do not edify. 546 00:37:51,640 --> 00:37:54,520 I find the words that he wrote a little more unsettling 547 00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:57,680 than the English ones that we're accustomed to sing today. 548 00:37:57,680 --> 00:37:59,240 Silent night 549 00:37:59,240 --> 00:38:00,440 Holy night 550 00:38:00,440 --> 00:38:02,320 All are a-bed 551 00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:04,320 Awake and afraid. 552 00:38:04,320 --> 00:38:07,120 # Heilige Nacht 553 00:38:07,120 --> 00:38:10,960 # Alles schlaft 554 00:38:10,960 --> 00:38:15,920 # Einsam wacht 555 00:38:15,920 --> 00:38:24,160 # Nur das traute heilige Paar 556 00:38:24,160 --> 00:38:32,840 # Holder Knabe im lockigen Haar 557 00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:41,880 # Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh'... # 558 00:38:41,880 --> 00:38:47,640 The carol was first sung on 24th December, 1818, 559 00:38:47,640 --> 00:38:50,640 here in the poor village of Oberndorf 560 00:38:50,640 --> 00:38:54,480 in the church of Saint Nicholas. 561 00:38:50,640 --> 00:38:54,480 It is like a miracle. 562 00:38:54,480 --> 00:38:57,680 Two stars met here - 563 00:38:57,680 --> 00:39:01,160 Joseph Mohr, a very poor priest, 564 00:39:01,160 --> 00:39:03,840 and the teacher Franz Xaver Gruber, 565 00:39:03,840 --> 00:39:07,520 who came to play the organ in here, 566 00:39:07,520 --> 00:39:10,000 but there was a problem with the organ 567 00:39:10,000 --> 00:39:13,720 because Oberndorf always had high-water floods 568 00:39:13,720 --> 00:39:16,920 and so the church was wet, the organ was wet 569 00:39:16,920 --> 00:39:23,520 and the legend said the poor mice in the church nipped at the bellows 570 00:39:23,520 --> 00:39:28,360 and it was impossible to play the organ. Though you don't think that's true about the mice? 571 00:39:28,360 --> 00:39:34,440 No, it is a legend, but our visitors like to hear it. 572 00:39:34,440 --> 00:39:35,920 So what did they do? 573 00:39:35,920 --> 00:39:39,960 They had only the guitar of Joseph Mohr. 574 00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:45,880 He said, "I wrote a poem for Christmas. 575 00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:49,600 "Perhaps you can go and make the music." 576 00:39:49,600 --> 00:39:54,160 # Silent night... # 577 00:39:54,160 --> 00:39:57,520 They came together and stood before the crib 578 00:39:57,520 --> 00:40:00,240 and sang this melody. 579 00:40:04,640 --> 00:40:07,560 Just like a melody for a baby. 580 00:40:09,160 --> 00:40:16,800 # ..Hark, the wondrous angel throng... # 581 00:40:16,800 --> 00:40:20,400 Silent Night's one of my favourites, definitely. 582 00:40:20,400 --> 00:40:22,640 The text is so powerful 583 00:40:22,640 --> 00:40:25,640 and it conjures up such images of Christmas. 584 00:40:25,640 --> 00:40:29,560 It sounds like it's existed for ever 585 00:40:29,560 --> 00:40:31,280 and everyone's known it for ever. 586 00:40:31,280 --> 00:40:38,480 # ..Saviour is born 587 00:40:38,480 --> 00:40:45,160 # Christ the Saviour is born. # 588 00:40:45,160 --> 00:40:51,760 It's a curious thing. We've been making this film in July and it's been a pretty hot European summer, 589 00:40:51,760 --> 00:40:55,080 but for me, that doesn't feel so incongruous. 590 00:40:55,080 --> 00:40:59,160 When I was a child my family spent some time in the Far East and in North Africa 591 00:40:59,160 --> 00:41:04,120 and so heat and fierce sunshine on December 25th is not so extraordinary. 592 00:41:04,120 --> 00:41:08,040 Of course, in the Holy Land, there wouldn't have been the snow and the frost 593 00:41:08,040 --> 00:41:12,720 and all the winter images that are so synonymous with the Nativity in the European mind. 594 00:41:12,720 --> 00:41:19,200 # In the bleak midwinter 595 00:41:19,200 --> 00:41:24,920 # Frosty wind made moan... # 596 00:41:24,920 --> 00:41:27,240 The power of this story, of course, 597 00:41:27,240 --> 00:41:30,840 lies in its marvel, its mystery and its drama 598 00:41:30,840 --> 00:41:34,600 and part of our story is how the setting, the scenery 599 00:41:34,600 --> 00:41:39,520 can be changed to suit the requirements and the expectations of its audience. 600 00:41:39,520 --> 00:41:42,160 # ..Snow had fallen 601 00:41:42,160 --> 00:41:45,440 # Snow on snow 602 00:41:45,440 --> 00:41:51,000 # Snow on snow 603 00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:59,440 # In the bleak midwinter 604 00:41:59,440 --> 00:42:05,200 # Long ago. # 605 00:42:05,200 --> 00:42:08,200 The text is by Christina Rossetti. 606 00:42:08,200 --> 00:42:11,520 She wrote it towards the end of a long life, 607 00:42:11,520 --> 00:42:13,240 but extraordinarily enough, 608 00:42:13,240 --> 00:42:16,640 here in the Tate Britain is a painting by her elder brother - 609 00:42:16,640 --> 00:42:21,200 Gabriel Dante Rossetti, one of the founders of 610 00:42:16,640 --> 00:42:21,200 the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood - 611 00:42:21,200 --> 00:42:22,680 of the teenage Christina. 612 00:42:22,680 --> 00:42:27,160 She is the model for this sensational painting. 613 00:42:27,160 --> 00:42:28,240 I mean sensational. 614 00:42:28,240 --> 00:42:32,880 When it was first shown in 1850, it drew such hostility from the critics and the press 615 00:42:32,880 --> 00:42:34,560 the he never exhibited it again. 616 00:42:34,560 --> 00:42:38,880 It shows the Virgin Mary at the moment of the Annunciation. 617 00:42:38,880 --> 00:42:43,520 Apparently it's a very good likeness of Christina, 618 00:42:43,520 --> 00:42:47,680 although the hair is different, she didn't have this colour hair. 619 00:42:47,680 --> 00:42:50,280 She looks like a young girl who's just woken up 620 00:42:50,280 --> 00:42:53,840 and I'm not quite sure whether it's fear or puzzlement. 621 00:42:53,840 --> 00:42:56,240 It's a complex look. 622 00:42:56,240 --> 00:42:58,520 When she was in her mid-teens 623 00:42:58,520 --> 00:43:01,040 Christina suffered some kind of breakdown 624 00:43:01,040 --> 00:43:03,640 and for several years was obsessed with religion 625 00:43:03,640 --> 00:43:08,640 and distressed by her own inability to match the high standards her faith seemed to demand of her. 626 00:43:08,640 --> 00:43:12,280 She emerged from this with deeply held convictions. 627 00:43:12,280 --> 00:43:14,320 She could never bring herself to marry, 628 00:43:14,320 --> 00:43:17,960 so she devoted all the considerable energies of a Victorian spinster 629 00:43:17,960 --> 00:43:19,600 to a narrow range of activities. 630 00:43:19,600 --> 00:43:23,480 She was her widowed mother's companion, 631 00:43:19,600 --> 00:43:23,480 always worried about her brother. 632 00:43:23,480 --> 00:43:28,280 Gabriel Dante was always teetering on the edge of scandal with his controversial paintings 633 00:43:28,280 --> 00:43:31,960 and his indecorous relationships with several beautiful models. 634 00:43:31,960 --> 00:43:34,400 There was the church. She was High Anglican - 635 00:43:34,400 --> 00:43:37,960 about as Catholic as you can get without actually being Catholic. 636 00:43:37,960 --> 00:43:39,440 Then there was the poetry - 637 00:43:39,440 --> 00:43:44,320 sad, simple lyrics concerned with death and loss. 638 00:43:47,560 --> 00:43:50,040 Christmas hath a darkness 639 00:43:50,040 --> 00:43:52,240 Brighter than the blazing noon 640 00:43:52,240 --> 00:43:53,760 Christmas hath a chillness 641 00:43:53,760 --> 00:43:55,280 Warmer than the heat of June 642 00:43:55,280 --> 00:44:00,480 Earth, put on your whitest bridal robe of spotless snow 643 00:44:00,480 --> 00:44:03,280 For Christmas bringeth Jesus 644 00:44:03,280 --> 00:44:05,400 Brought for us so low. 645 00:44:05,400 --> 00:44:08,320 And here she is, 646 00:44:08,320 --> 00:44:11,240 in a grave with her father, mother. 647 00:44:11,240 --> 00:44:15,240 Ten years after her death, in 1904, her collected poems were published, 648 00:44:15,240 --> 00:44:18,720 including In The Bleak Midwinter. 649 00:44:28,160 --> 00:44:32,360 Gustav Theodore Holst was an unknown young composer 650 00:44:32,360 --> 00:44:35,360 when he first encountered Christina Rossetti's poem. 651 00:44:35,360 --> 00:44:42,200 # ..When He comes to reign 652 00:44:42,200 --> 00:44:47,240 # In the bleak midwinter 653 00:44:47,240 --> 00:44:48,920 # A stable... # 654 00:44:48,920 --> 00:44:52,640 Almost immediately, he set it to a tune which he called Cranham 655 00:44:52,640 --> 00:44:57,800 after the Gloucestershire village where his mother had grown up and which he visited in 1905, 656 00:44:57,800 --> 00:44:59,920 a quarter of a century after her death. 657 00:45:01,720 --> 00:45:04,600 He's supposed to have stayed in this cottage, 658 00:45:04,600 --> 00:45:07,320 which was, for many years, a bed and breakfast. 659 00:45:07,320 --> 00:45:10,680 We're in your beautiful garden of Midwinter Cottage, 660 00:45:10,680 --> 00:45:11,840 where you live. 661 00:45:11,840 --> 00:45:18,120 We're here in the height of midsummer, so this Midwinter Cottage isn't looking remotely midwinter. 662 00:45:18,120 --> 00:45:21,600 Now we've got some pictures from last Christmas. 663 00:45:21,600 --> 00:45:24,920 Shall we look at these? We had snow before Christmas and after. 664 00:45:24,920 --> 00:45:26,400 Oh, look at that! 665 00:45:26,400 --> 00:45:30,080 That's an In The Bleak Midwinter shot, isn't it? Yes. 666 00:45:30,080 --> 00:45:33,840 Holst's mother died when he was 667 00:45:30,080 --> 00:45:33,840 seven, Laura, that's right? Yes. 668 00:45:33,840 --> 00:45:35,560 So why would he come back? 669 00:45:35,560 --> 00:45:38,280 I think he was probably searching for his roots. 670 00:45:38,280 --> 00:45:41,480 He felt the loss of his mother profoundly 671 00:45:41,480 --> 00:45:45,480 and when he came to write the tune for In The Bleak Midwinter, 672 00:45:45,480 --> 00:45:48,240 wanted something that was personal to him. 673 00:45:48,240 --> 00:45:50,640 But she was a great musician as well, herself. 674 00:45:50,640 --> 00:45:53,440 She played harmonium in the church here in Cranham, 675 00:45:53,440 --> 00:45:56,840 she sang, she also had played piano. 676 00:45:56,840 --> 00:46:00,640 That must have been a profound influence on Holst 677 00:46:00,640 --> 00:46:03,960 and he did feel very alone, I think, as a young child. 678 00:46:05,320 --> 00:46:08,560 Here in the drawing room of Midwinter Cottage, they have a piano 679 00:46:08,560 --> 00:46:11,760 and on the music stand is a copy of Carols For Children, 680 00:46:11,760 --> 00:46:13,800 including In The Bleak Midwinter, 681 00:46:13,800 --> 00:46:16,840 so I couldn't really resist. 682 00:46:18,840 --> 00:46:22,480 HE PLAYS "In The Bleak Midwinter" 683 00:46:27,880 --> 00:46:29,560 When Holst visited Cranham, 684 00:46:29,560 --> 00:46:33,800 I wonder if he imagined the congregation in the village church singing his carol. 685 00:46:39,400 --> 00:46:44,560 His setting of Christina Rossetti's simple words is suffused with a personal nostalgia, 686 00:46:44,560 --> 00:46:48,080 but it also created a picture of 687 00:46:44,560 --> 00:46:48,080 an idealised Christmas, 688 00:46:48,080 --> 00:46:50,160 one we all know and share. 689 00:46:57,080 --> 00:46:59,960 The trend in 20th-century British Christmas music 690 00:46:59,960 --> 00:47:05,400 was to turn away from the modern world and embrace a medieval aesthetic. 691 00:47:05,400 --> 00:47:09,240 # Make we joy now in this fest 692 00:47:09,240 --> 00:47:12,160 # In quo Christus natus est 693 00:47:12,160 --> 00:47:15,040 # Eya... # 694 00:47:15,040 --> 00:47:17,480 Born in Oldham and self-taught as a composer, 695 00:47:17,480 --> 00:47:20,760 William Walton rediscovered long-forgotten musical styles 696 00:47:20,760 --> 00:47:23,800 and reshaped them for contemporary audiences. 697 00:47:23,800 --> 00:47:27,720 # A Patre Unigenitus 698 00:47:27,720 --> 00:47:29,960 # Is through a maiden... # 699 00:47:29,960 --> 00:47:31,680 He uses a medieval set of words - 700 00:47:31,680 --> 00:47:34,200 that macaronic idea, Latin and English together - 701 00:47:34,200 --> 00:47:37,320 but he puts his own 20th-century take on it 702 00:47:37,320 --> 00:47:42,160 and by jangling the chords together, makes it, you know, slightly wacky, 703 00:47:42,160 --> 00:47:44,840 but it's still... it's still earthy and exciting. 704 00:47:44,840 --> 00:47:49,120 # In quo Christus natus est 705 00:47:49,120 --> 00:47:52,760 # Eya... # 706 00:47:52,760 --> 00:47:55,640 It's an up-beat, celebratory Christmas carol. 707 00:47:55,640 --> 00:47:57,400 He sets it in this wonderful, 708 00:47:57,400 --> 00:47:59,400 lilting triple time, which gives it 709 00:47:59,400 --> 00:48:02,080 this sort of rumbustious holiday-season feel. 710 00:48:02,080 --> 00:48:05,600 # ..Maria ventre concepit 711 00:48:05,600 --> 00:48:09,400 # The Holy Ghost was aye her with... # 712 00:48:09,400 --> 00:48:11,360 In the refrain of the "Eya, eya, eya," 713 00:48:11,360 --> 00:48:15,880 he suddenly slips into this lovely sort of faux-Renaissance polyphony 714 00:48:15,880 --> 00:48:19,000 to give it a nice, gentle contrast with the upbeat verses. 715 00:48:19,000 --> 00:48:23,080 So he's nodding to two different traditions, the early-medieval and... 716 00:48:23,080 --> 00:48:26,560 And something a little bit later. The two are very complementary. 717 00:48:26,560 --> 00:48:31,920 # ..Eya 718 00:48:31,920 --> 00:48:37,520 # Eya. # 719 00:48:37,520 --> 00:48:41,240 30 years later, 720 00:48:41,240 --> 00:48:44,280 an idealistic young composer called Peter Maxwell Davies 721 00:48:44,280 --> 00:48:47,640 was running the music department at Cirencester Grammar School. 722 00:48:47,640 --> 00:48:52,120 # Alleluia, Vergine Maria... # 723 00:48:52,120 --> 00:48:54,680 I don't want to be pompous about it, 724 00:48:54,680 --> 00:48:59,840 but I have got enough confidence to know that 725 00:48:59,840 --> 00:49:02,600 I AM at the beginning of something. 726 00:49:02,600 --> 00:49:08,160 Max, probably the most unusual music teacher in history, 727 00:49:08,160 --> 00:49:13,000 wanted his pupils to experience the most cutting-edge post-war music experiments. 728 00:49:13,000 --> 00:49:17,880 ORCHESTRA PLAYS AVANT-GARDE MUSIC 729 00:49:17,880 --> 00:49:21,320 For the local church's pre-Christmas concert, 730 00:49:21,320 --> 00:49:23,680 he composed a special cycle of carols 731 00:49:23,680 --> 00:49:24,920 for them to perform. 732 00:49:26,360 --> 00:49:30,440 Apparently it left the audience of parents and interested locals baffled - 733 00:49:30,440 --> 00:49:34,120 a collage of medieval English poetry and ecclesiastical Latin texts, 734 00:49:34,120 --> 00:49:39,400 whose setting served as an uncompromising introduction to the avant-garde. 735 00:49:41,400 --> 00:49:44,480 I felt that this was very important then, 736 00:49:44,480 --> 00:49:46,920 in the late '50s particularly, 737 00:49:46,920 --> 00:49:52,200 because the whole question of the composition techniques 738 00:49:52,200 --> 00:49:53,840 that a composer employs 739 00:49:54,640 --> 00:49:59,080 had gone into some kind of melting-pot. Tonality, 740 00:49:59,080 --> 00:50:03,480 rhythmic structure, had disintegrated into something, 741 00:50:03,480 --> 00:50:05,200 which had to be rethought. 742 00:50:05,200 --> 00:50:12,560 # O magnum 743 00:50:12,560 --> 00:50:20,800 # Mysterium 744 00:50:20,800 --> 00:50:30,920 # Et admirabile 745 00:50:30,920 --> 00:50:35,920 # Sacramentum... # 746 00:50:35,920 --> 00:50:38,400 Peter Maxwell Davies has been inspired by 747 00:50:38,400 --> 00:50:40,600 those lovely medieval texts. 748 00:50:40,600 --> 00:50:42,640 They're very settable to music. 749 00:50:42,640 --> 00:50:45,600 The lines are usually short, simple 750 00:50:45,600 --> 00:50:47,000 and memorable. 751 00:50:52,520 --> 00:50:54,960 The idea, I think, in the Middle Ages 752 00:50:54,960 --> 00:50:58,800 was that people who were not necessarily literate could pick them up 753 00:50:58,800 --> 00:51:04,320 and one of the things you look for, as a composer, is simplicity in the texts that you set 754 00:51:04,320 --> 00:51:08,680 and the best of those medieval lyrics, 755 00:51:08,680 --> 00:51:11,800 just are so simple and so inspired. 756 00:51:17,400 --> 00:51:21,240 THEY SING IN LATIN 757 00:51:28,160 --> 00:51:33,240 John Rutter is probably the most prolific, successful and genuinely popular 758 00:51:33,240 --> 00:51:35,640 of all modern church-music composers 759 00:51:35,640 --> 00:51:39,400 and songs celebrating Christmas, either written or arranged by him, 760 00:51:39,400 --> 00:51:41,640 have become a seasonal essential. 761 00:51:41,640 --> 00:51:44,920 # And God himself 762 00:51:44,920 --> 00:51:47,840 # Sowed with his hand 763 00:51:47,840 --> 00:51:51,800 # In Nazareth... # 764 00:51:51,800 --> 00:51:56,160 John's achievement is very much to do with that beauty of the vocal line. 765 00:51:56,160 --> 00:51:59,120 First and foremost, he writes beautifully for voices. 766 00:51:59,120 --> 00:52:01,920 # ..A maiden found... # 767 00:52:01,920 --> 00:52:06,640 In the piece we're doing, he starts just with the men on the tune, 768 00:52:06,640 --> 00:52:08,840 accompanied by humming by the choir 769 00:52:08,840 --> 00:52:11,920 and then it just changes to the sopranos singing the tune. 770 00:52:11,920 --> 00:52:14,680 Simple little ideas, but very, very effective. 771 00:52:14,680 --> 00:52:20,520 # When Gabriel this maid did meet 772 00:52:20,520 --> 00:52:27,880 # With Ave Maria he did her greet... # 773 00:52:27,880 --> 00:52:30,360 Christmas is a time for congregational singing 774 00:52:30,360 --> 00:52:33,880 and so you want the congregations to be able to achieve these pieces. 775 00:52:33,880 --> 00:52:35,960 That's John Rutter's great strength - 776 00:52:35,960 --> 00:52:38,080 he manages to combine great artistry 777 00:52:38,080 --> 00:52:40,400 and technically very well-written pieces, 778 00:52:40,400 --> 00:52:43,640 but they are approachable by choirs of all sorts of standards. 779 00:52:43,640 --> 00:52:49,720 # ..On a day in Bethlehem... # 780 00:52:49,720 --> 00:52:54,240 There Is A Flower is, I think, one of the loveliest texts I've ever come across. 781 00:52:54,240 --> 00:52:55,760 It's by a blind 782 00:52:55,760 --> 00:52:59,040 15th-century monk called John Audelay. 783 00:52:59,040 --> 00:53:01,800 The original music doesn't survive, 784 00:53:01,800 --> 00:53:03,760 but what, for me, makes it so moving 785 00:53:03,760 --> 00:53:08,640 is the fact that John Audelay himself never saw a flower. 786 00:53:08,640 --> 00:53:11,640 And so it was all in his imagination. 787 00:53:11,640 --> 00:53:17,040 # ..Then rich and poor of ev'ry land... # 788 00:53:17,040 --> 00:53:20,720 But it likes the Virgin Mary to a rose, 789 00:53:20,720 --> 00:53:26,120 which is an image that, of course, runs through the whole of medieval Christian poetry. 790 00:53:26,120 --> 00:53:29,880 # Till kinges three 791 00:53:29,880 --> 00:53:37,000 # That blessed flower came to see... # 792 00:53:37,000 --> 00:53:40,400 I looked at that text and I thought, "I want to set this to music." 793 00:53:40,400 --> 00:53:42,400 # ..Alleluia 794 00:53:42,400 --> 00:53:44,760 # Alleluia 795 00:53:44,760 --> 00:53:47,400 # Alleluia 796 00:53:47,400 --> 00:53:49,880 # Alleluia 797 00:53:49,880 --> 00:53:52,480 # Alleluia... # 798 00:53:52,480 --> 00:53:56,400 John's writing has been influenced by modern music - 799 00:53:56,400 --> 00:53:58,760 Broadway musicals, even The Beatles - 800 00:53:58,760 --> 00:54:03,520 but nevertheless, it never fails to evoke the feeling of a traditional Christmas. 801 00:54:03,520 --> 00:54:07,360 # ..Alleluia... # 802 00:54:07,360 --> 00:54:10,680 I wanted the idea of a single, innocent solo voice 803 00:54:10,680 --> 00:54:13,680 just accompanied by gentle humming. 804 00:54:13,680 --> 00:54:15,200 'There is a flower 805 00:54:15,200 --> 00:54:16,560 'Sprung of a tree 806 00:54:16,560 --> 00:54:18,440 'The root of it is called Jesse.' 807 00:54:18,440 --> 00:54:23,480 # There is a flower 808 00:54:23,480 --> 00:54:26,360 # Sprung of a tree 809 00:54:26,360 --> 00:54:30,640 # The root thereof 810 00:54:30,640 --> 00:54:33,800 # Is called Jesse... # 811 00:54:33,800 --> 00:54:35,080 'The flower of Christ 812 00:54:35,080 --> 00:54:38,600 'There is none such in Paradise.' 813 00:54:38,600 --> 00:54:44,640 # There is none such 814 00:54:44,640 --> 00:54:57,440 # In Paradise. # 815 00:54:59,520 --> 00:55:03,120 He knows the nature of the human voice inside out, 816 00:55:03,120 --> 00:55:04,640 so whatever he writes, 817 00:55:04,640 --> 00:55:06,840 you know it will be wonderfully vocal. 818 00:55:06,840 --> 00:55:13,320 # What sweeter music can we bring 819 00:55:13,320 --> 00:55:14,400 # Than a carol... # 820 00:55:14,400 --> 00:55:16,200 Since the end of the First World War 821 00:55:16,200 --> 00:55:19,480 King's College, Cambridge, has held a Christmas Eve service, 822 00:55:19,480 --> 00:55:23,760 that, thanks to broadcasting, has become an international institution 823 00:55:23,760 --> 00:55:27,640 and in 1987, John Rutter made his own unique contribution. 824 00:55:30,120 --> 00:55:35,720 It was a great day when the phone rang and Stephen Cleobury, the Director Of Music at King's College, 825 00:55:35,720 --> 00:55:41,160 said, "We've got a vacant spot in this year's Festival Of Nine Lessons And Carols. 826 00:55:41,160 --> 00:55:44,960 "Would you care to write a carol specially for us this year?" 827 00:55:47,040 --> 00:55:52,800 # ..That sees December turned to May... # 828 00:55:52,800 --> 00:55:54,560 John Rutter is one of 829 00:55:54,560 --> 00:55:58,320 the supreme contemporary composers of choral music 830 00:55:58,320 --> 00:56:00,880 and I knew that when I asked him, 831 00:56:00,880 --> 00:56:03,600 he would produce a Rolls-Royce model, 832 00:56:03,600 --> 00:56:05,320 which he absolutely did. 833 00:56:05,320 --> 00:56:11,960 # ..Or smell like a meadow newly shorn 834 00:56:11,960 --> 00:56:16,880 # Thus on the sudden Come and see... # 835 00:56:16,880 --> 00:56:19,800 I've always loved that Festival Of Lessons And Carols. 836 00:56:19,800 --> 00:56:23,880 It's one of my very first memories of Christmas, listening to it on the radio. 837 00:56:23,880 --> 00:56:27,160 And then when I became a student at Cambridge, 838 00:56:27,160 --> 00:56:29,760 I actually walked into King's College Chapel 839 00:56:29,760 --> 00:56:33,520 and I thought, "This is the place where, each year, it all happens 840 00:56:33,520 --> 00:56:37,520 "and people in their millions, all round the world, stop what they're doing 841 00:56:37,520 --> 00:56:43,360 "to join in this moment of anticipation and celebration of Christmas." 842 00:56:43,360 --> 00:56:46,240 For me, it was always magic 843 00:56:46,240 --> 00:56:50,440 and magic is what it remains. 844 00:56:50,440 --> 00:56:55,600 # ..With his sunshine and his showers 845 00:56:55,600 --> 00:57:01,120 # Turns all the patient ground to flowers 846 00:57:01,120 --> 00:57:05,520 # Turns all the patient ground... # 847 00:57:05,520 --> 00:57:09,560 I think the amazing thing now is that we've come full circle really 848 00:57:09,560 --> 00:57:13,120 and we're seeing this return to the great music of the past, 849 00:57:13,120 --> 00:57:16,200 but set alongside the great music of the modern day. 850 00:57:16,200 --> 00:57:18,840 # ..To this day 851 00:57:18,840 --> 00:57:22,240 # That sees December... # 852 00:57:22,240 --> 00:57:27,560 We've got 21st-century composers looking back to those medieval 853 00:57:22,240 --> 00:57:27,560 and renaissance ideals 854 00:57:27,560 --> 00:57:30,280 and putting their own take on this wonderful music. 855 00:57:30,280 --> 00:57:35,360 # ..Turn to May... # 856 00:57:35,360 --> 00:57:37,680 The revival of interest, in my lifetime, 857 00:57:37,680 --> 00:57:40,680 in the rich and sophisticated of 858 00:57:37,680 --> 00:57:40,680 sacred choral music 859 00:57:40,680 --> 00:57:44,080 is a living alternative to the secular sound of Christmas. 860 00:57:44,080 --> 00:57:47,360 Thanks to modern scholarship, modern technology, 861 00:57:47,360 --> 00:57:48,720 many wonderful choirs, 862 00:57:48,720 --> 00:57:54,240 it's never been easier to explore how the Nativity story has inspired composers, 863 00:57:54,240 --> 00:57:56,920 from humble to great, from Anonymous to JS Bach. 864 00:58:00,880 --> 00:58:04,720 Heaven and Earth filled with music celebrating the birth of Christ. 865 00:58:10,040 --> 00:58:12,480 A sacred continuity of the Christmas story, 866 00:58:12,480 --> 00:58:15,880 which is, perhaps, best expressed in music. 867 00:58:15,880 --> 00:58:20,920 THEY SING JOYFULLY 868 00:58:33,120 --> 00:58:36,160 Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd 869 00:58:36,160 --> 00:58:39,200 E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk