13 Dec 2019

Harold DARKE arr John Rutter: In The Bleak Midwinter

From Music Alive, 8:02 pm on 13 December 2019
The Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's Celebrate Christmas concert in Holy Trinity Cathedral.

The Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's Celebrate Christmas concert in Holy Trinity Cathedral. Photo: Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra

Christina Rossetti, by her brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Christina Rossetti, by her brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti Photo: Public Domain

A setting of Christina Rossetti's poem by English composer and organist Harold Darke.

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.
 
Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.
 
Enough for Him, whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.
 
Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.
 
What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

Recorded at the APO's Celebrate Christmas concert, Holy Trinity Cathedral, 13 December 2019.