Music Box
December 18, 2022
Katherine Edison, soprano
Jubal Joslyn, tenor and cantor
Cathryn Wilkinson, organ
The Story of a Carol
In 1865, Phillips Brooks, rector of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, spent time traveling in Israel, riding on horseback through the fields around Bethlehem. He was in Bethlehem for Christmas and attended the Church of the Nativity on Christmas Eve. The text for “O Little Town of Bethlehem” was probably inspired by this journey, but Brooks did not complete the hymn until three years later. He commissioned a tune for it from his church organist, Lewis Redner. Redner delayed composing the tune until the night before it was to be sung for the first time, on December 27, 1868. He later wrote, “Neither Mr. Brooks nor I ever thought the carol or the music to it would live beyond that Christmas of 1868.” The version we sing today was published in 1894 and was included in more than 100 hymnals in the succeeding years. Excerpt from www.hymnary.org by Tiffany Shomsky.
And on that night in Bethlehem, after the Holy Child descends, the poet shares a vision of peace and calm:
Mary’s Lullaby
Mary sits by the rose bower
And rocks her little Jesus,
Softly through the leaves
The warm wind of summer blows.
A brightly coloured bird
Sings at her feet:
Go to sleep, sweet child,
It’s time to go to sleep!
Your smile is lovely,
Your happy sleep lovelier still,
Lay your tired little head
Against your mother’s breast!
Go to sleep, sweet child,
It’s time to go to sleep!
By Martin Boelitz
Translation © Richard Stokes, author of: The Book of Lieder (Faber); The Complete Songs of Hugo Wolf (Faber); A French Song Companion (Oxford University Press); The Spanish Song Companion (Scarecrow Press); The Penguin Book of English Song (Penguin Classics); and J.S. Bach: The Complete Cantatas (Scarecrow Press). Provided via Oxford Lieder (www.oxfordlieder.co.uk)
About our guest artist
Katherine Edison, soprano, holds an MFA in Performance from the Art Institute in Chicago. Katherine’s career shows her passion for the arts: “In a world with so little harmony, I believe that it is my duty to teach and express the blessings of music.”
