Philip Spratley
CAROL FANTASIA for SATB and organ
Bardic Edition BDE1077
This work was begun in late December 2011 and revised in January 2013. It is meant to be a progression from the Annunciation to the Epiphany. Carols 2 and 5 are virtually unknown; 1, 3, and 5 will be known to some. The passages marked solo can also be sung by semi-chorus or tutti.
1. ‘Angelus ad Virginem’ which is mostly sung in Latin was known as long ago as 1250. The Dublin Troper, one of the few surviving sources of notated music contains gives two three part versions. I have chosen an unfamiliar translation by Rev.Gabriel Gillett 1799-1871 who was for 40 years Rector of St. Mary's Church, Waltham on the Wolds, Leicestershire, and whose legacy remains today.
2. A Virgin most Pure. The words are well known but not this Shropshire melody as it has been eclipsed by the one in the Davies Gilbert collection, used in many arrangements. It was collected by Sharp in 1911.
3. Sans Day. This carol was sung by Mr. Thomas Beard at St. Day in Cornwall to Mr W. D. Watson who in turn sang it to Rev G. H. Doble. It is thought to date from the late 18th or early 19th century and is similar in content to 'The Holly and the Ivy'.
4. This Endris Night means the other night or a few nights ago. It was not new when it was written out in the Bodleian library sometime between 1460 and 1490. The text is a conversation between Mary and the infant Jesus.
5. ‘Wassail Song’. I found this joyful and sadly neglected carol with others in the Lucy Broadwood archives in Cecil Sharp House in June 2006. The text was incomplete so verses have been borrowed from mainly familiar Yorkshire sources. This carol was noted by Annie Gilchrist from the singing of one Mrs Bowker of Sunderland Point, Lancashire in September 1909. This was, and still is a remote place on the coast of the north west of the county. This work can be sung by a) choir and organ accompaniment or b) orchestra of flute; oboe; 2 each of clarinets in A (or B flat), bassoons, horns, trumpets, Timpani in G, A, D, E, cymbals, triangle (1 player) organ and strings. Philip Spratley
1. ‘Angelus ad Virginem’ which is mostly sung in Latin was known as long ago as 1250. The Dublin Troper, one of the few surviving sources of notated music contains gives two three part versions. I have chosen an unfamiliar translation by Rev.Gabriel Gillett 1799-1871 who was for 40 years Rector of St. Mary's Church, Waltham on the Wolds, Leicestershire, and whose legacy remains today.
2. A Virgin most Pure. The words are well known but not this Shropshire melody as it has been eclipsed by the one in the Davies Gilbert collection, used in many arrangements. It was collected by Sharp in 1911.
3. Sans Day. This carol was sung by Mr. Thomas Beard at St. Day in Cornwall to Mr W. D. Watson who in turn sang it to Rev G. H. Doble. It is thought to date from the late 18th or early 19th century and is similar in content to 'The Holly and the Ivy'.
4. This Endris Night means the other night or a few nights ago. It was not new when it was written out in the Bodleian library sometime between 1460 and 1490. The text is a conversation between Mary and the infant Jesus.
5. ‘Wassail Song’. I found this joyful and sadly neglected carol with others in the Lucy Broadwood archives in Cecil Sharp House in June 2006. The text was incomplete so verses have been borrowed from mainly familiar Yorkshire sources. This carol was noted by Annie Gilchrist from the singing of one Mrs Bowker of Sunderland Point, Lancashire in September 1909. This was, and still is a remote place on the coast of the north west of the county. This work can be sung by a) choir and organ accompaniment or b) orchestra of flute; oboe; 2 each of clarinets in A (or B flat), bassoons, horns, trumpets, Timpani in G, A, D, E, cymbals, triangle (1 player) organ and strings. Philip Spratley
