{"id":7207,"date":"2021-11-01T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/?p=4726"},"modified":"2021-11-03T17:58:21","modified_gmt":"2021-11-03T16:58:21","slug":"what-are-the-lyrics-to-the-carol-a-spotless-rose","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/what-are-the-lyrics-to-the-carol-a-spotless-rose\/","title":{"rendered":"What are the lyrics to the carol \u2018A Spotless Rose\u2019?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By BBC Music Magazine\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 01 November 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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When was \u2018A Spotless Rose\u2019 written and who composed the music?<\/h2>\n

It is unknown who wrote the words to the German hymn \u2018Es ist ein Ros entsprungen\u2019 known as \u2018A Spotless Rose\u2019<\/em>, or \u2018Lo, how a rose e\u2019er blooming<\/em>\u2018 <\/b>in Britain but it is thought to date back to the 16th century. Over the centuries verses have been added and different music composed, but one one of its most famous versions is the one by Herbert Howells, who arguably more than anyone influenced British church music in the 20th century, despite not himself a believer.<\/p>\n

Suitably, his A Spotless Rose<\/em> was thought up in the least sacred of circumstances \u2013 Howells said it came to him as he was watching trains shunting on the Bristol-Gloucester line from his cottage window. Shunting trains seem a world away from the arching lines of the anthem itself, in which the flowing melody is carried first by the choir then a baritone soloist over a subdued chorale-like harmony. And, as is so often the case with Howells, a touch of brilliance is saved for the final chords.<\/p>\n

\u2018I should like, when my time comes, to pass away with that magical cadence,\u2019 wrote fellow composer Patrick Hadley. Jeremy Suter, master of music at Carlisle Cathedral agrees: \u2018The scrunchy harmonies of the final few bars are pure, unadulterated bliss!\u2019<\/p>\n

We named \u2018A Spotless Rose\u2019 one of the best Christmas carols<\/a><\/strong> ever and one of the best Advent hymns<\/a><\/strong> of all time<\/p>\n

What are the lyrics to \u2018A Spotless Rose\u2019?<\/h2>\n

A spotless Rose is blowing\nSprung from a tender root,\nOf ancient seers\u2019 foreshowing,\nOf Jesse promised fruit;\nIts fairest bud unfolds to light\nAmid the cold, cold winter\nAnd in the dark midnight.<\/p>\n

The Rose which I am singing,\nWhereof Isaiah said,\nIs from its sweet root springing\nIn Mary, purest Maid;\nFor through our God\u2019s great love and might\nThe blessed babe she bare us\nIn a cold, cold winter\u2019s night.<\/p>\n

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