{"id":21901,"date":"2022-11-21T13:26:26","date_gmt":"2022-11-21T12:26:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/?p=175961"},"modified":"2022-11-24T10:54:11","modified_gmt":"2022-11-24T09:54:11","slug":"a-guide-to-brittens-a-ceremony-of-carols-and-its-best-recordings","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/a-guide-to-brittens-a-ceremony-of-carols-and-its-best-recordings\/","title":{"rendered":"A guide to Britten\u2019s A Ceremony of Carols and its best recordings"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Jeremy Pound\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 21 November 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

What is Britten\u2019s A Ceremony of Carols<\/em>?<\/h2>\n
A Ceremony of Carols<\/em> is an 11-movement work by the British composer Benjamin Britten<\/a><\/strong> (1913-76). Its text consists of an eclectic mix of anonymous medieval texts and later poems rather than familiar carols. Not all of the texts are festive, or even about winter \u2013 one of the carols, the Spring Carol, sings of \u2018The deer in the dale, the sheep in the vale, the corn springing.\u2019<\/p>\n\n<h2><strong>When did Britten write <\/strong><em>A Ceremony of Carols<\/em><strong>?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Britten composed it in March to April 1942, while crossing the Atlantic on the <em>Axel Johnson<\/em>, a Swedish cargo ship, in the thick of the Second World War. At the time, the composer and his partner Peter Pears were heading back to Britain after a three-year stay in the US. According to Pears, their cabins were hot and stuffy, and the company on board \u2018callow, foul-mouthed and witless\u2019. Plus, of course, there was always the danger of being attacked by German U-Boat.<\/p>\n<section class=\""highlight\"> <div class=\""highlightcontent\" editor-content=\"\"> \n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/composers\/how-the-queen-inspired-britten-to-start-composing-again-after-he-almost-died\/"\">How Queen Elizabeth II inspired Britten to start composing again after he almost died<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/five-essential-works-benjamin-britten\/"\">Five essential works by Benjamin Britten<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/benjamin-britten-and-peter-pears\/"\">Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> <\/p><\/div> <\/section> <h3><strong>Why is it called a \u2018Ceremony\u2019?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The work begins and ends with a plainchant Procession and Recession that the choir enter and leave the stalls or concert hall to. The eighth movement, meanwhile, is an Interlude for the harp alone.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3><strong>And where do the texts for <em>A Ceremony of Carols<\/em> come from?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Shortly after the Axel Johnson left the US, it docked briefly in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was while browsing in a bookshop there that Britten found a copy of <em>The English Galaxy of Shorter Poems<\/em>, compiled by Gerald Bullett. The poems in it fired his imagination to write a Christmas work.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3><strong>What performers is it written for?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><em>A Ceremony of Carols<\/em> is for three lines of either boy trebles or female sopranos, plus a harp. Britten originally scored it for women\u2019s voices, but then had second thoughts after the debut performance in December 1942. The revised, and published, version was first sung by the Morriston Boys\u2019 Choir the following Christmas.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>What are the best recordings of Britten\u2019s <em>A Ceremony of Carols<\/em>?<\/h2>\n<p>There are many good recordings. For a version with boys\u2019 voices, try the 1990 recording by the Choir of King\u2019s College, Cambridge (Argo)<\/p>\n<div class=\""monetizerprice-comparison-container"\" data-position=\""adhoc"\" hidden=\"\"> <h5 class=\""monetizerprice-comparison-title\" monetizer-title=\"\" style=\""background-color:\" color:=\"\"\/> <div id=\""monetizerdeals"\" data-type=\""price-comparison"\" data-config=\"'{"shopId":"1378","market":"gbp_en","template":"default","searchKeywords":"https:\\\/\\\/www.amazon.co.uk\\\/Ceremony-Carols-Rachel-Masters-CASSETTE\\\/dp\\\/B07J55ZT1S\\\/ref=sr_1_5","excludeKeywords":"","geolocation":true,"limit":"4","priceRange":"8.4-15.6","sid":"term-classicalmusic-114-pcs-txt-pos"}'\"\/> <div class=\""monetizerprice-comparison-explanatory-text\" body-copy-extra-small=\"\" editor-content=\"\"\/><\/div> <p>For women\u2019s voices, the recently released recording by Tenebrae (Signum) comes recommended<\/p>\n<div class=\""monetizerprice-comparison-container"\" data-position=\""adhoc"\" hidden=\"\"> <h5 class=\""monetizerprice-comparison-title\" monetizer-title=\"\" style=\""background-color:\" color:=\"\"\/> <div id=\""monetizerdeals"\" data-type=\""price-comparison"\" data-config=\"'{"shopId":"1378","market":"gbp_en","template":"default","searchKeywords":"https:\\\/\\\/www.amazon.co.uk\\\/music\\\/player\\\/albums\\\/B0BBYNPLKY?","excludeKeywords":"","geolocation":true,"limit":"4","priceRange":"2.1-3.9","sid":"term-classicalmusic-114-pcs-txt-pos"}'\"\/> <div class=\""monetizerprice-comparison-explanatory-text\" body-copy-extra-small=\"\" editor-content=\"\"\/><\/div> <p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>We named Britten\u2019s <em>A Ceremony of Carols<\/em> one of the <a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/christmas-classical-music-the-best-festive-pieces-of-all-time\/"\">best pieces of Christmas classical music<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<section class=\""highlight\"> <div class=\""highlightcontent\" editor-content=\"\"> \n<h4>More festive music<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/best-christmas-ballets\/"\">The best Christmas ballets of all time<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/six-best-pieces-christmas-choral-music\/"\">Six of the best pieces of Christmas choral music<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/recordings\/the-best-christmas-classical-music-albums\/"\">The best Christmas classical music albums and recordings<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/25-greatest-christmas-carols-all-time\/"\">The 32 best Christmas carols of all time<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> <\/p><\/div> <\/section> <p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jeremy Pound Published: Monday, 21 November 2022 at 12:00 am What is Britten\u2019s A Ceremony of Carols? A Ceremony of Carols is an 11-movement work by the British composer Benjamin Britten (1913-76). Its text consists of an eclectic mix of anonymous medieval texts and later poems rather than familiar carols. Not all of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":21902,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/11\/a-guide-to-brittens-a-ceremony-of-carols-and-its-best-recordings.jpg",1890,1417,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/11\/a-guide-to-brittens-a-ceremony-of-carols-and-its-best-recordings-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/11\/a-guide-to-brittens-a-ceremony-of-carols-and-its-best-recordings-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/11\/a-guide-to-brittens-a-ceremony-of-carols-and-its-best-recordings-768x576.jpg",768,576,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/11\/a-guide-to-brittens-a-ceremony-of-carols-and-its-best-recordings-1024x768.jpg",800,600,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/11\/a-guide-to-brittens-a-ceremony-of-carols-and-its-best-recordings-1536x1152.jpg",1536,1152,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/11\/a-guide-to-brittens-a-ceremony-of-carols-and-its-best-recordings.jpg",1890,1417,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Jeremy Pound Published: Monday, 21 November 2022 at 12:00 am What is Britten\u2019s A Ceremony of Carols? A Ceremony of Carols is an 11-movement work by the British composer Benjamin Britten (1913-76). Its text consists of an eclectic mix of anonymous medieval texts and later poems rather than familiar carols. Not all of the…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/21901"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}