2007 Christmas Concert —
Saturday, December 9, and Sunday, December 10, 2008
Carols: “Bid the night be peace"
The Choral Society has commissioned American composer Steven Sametz to compose a work in honor of Rodney Wynkoop’s 20th anniversary as our conductor. We are pleased to present the world premiere of “Thou whose birth,” a setting of the poem by A. C. Swinburne.
The second half of our concert is a program of carols and Christmas works associated with themes of night, stars, and peace suggested by Swinburne’s poem. Other highlights include carols arrange by the Choral Society’s own Mike Meyer (Assistant to the Conductor) and composed by the late Dr. Waldo Beach (a founding member of the Choral Society) and Durham’s own Pulitizer Prize–winning composer Robert Ward, who celebrated his 90th birthday in September.
Program
Jump to Charpentier: Midnight Mass for Christmas
About Steven Sametz and “Thou whose birth”
Composer’s home page at Lehigh University
Algernon Charles Swinburne: Brief biography
Links to extensive Swinburne resources on the Victorian Web
Text of the poem
Thou whose birth on earth
Angels sang to men,
While the stars made mirth,
Savior, at thy birth,
This day born again.
As this night was bright
With thy cradle-ray,
Very light of light,
Turn the wild world’s night
To thy perfect day.
Bid our peace increase,
Thou that madest morn;
Bid oppressions cease;
Bid the night be peace;
Bid the day be born.
From Songs Before Sunrise, Christmas Antiphones, I. In Church
(first two verses and last verse)