Duration: 2'00" Ensemble: SATB unaccompanied Grading: Medium |
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Inspired by Richard Rodney Bennett's setting of The Holly and the Ivy - impressed that a new melody for such a well-established
carol could become so firmly bound with the text in his head after one hearing - Jamie W. Hall's first composition sets another text
which is very difficult to sever from its established melody.
Nevertheless, with only a small nod to Gruber's beloved melody, Silent Night is an original setting full of space and light.
Though marked only Lento (who wants to write 'Grave' at the top of a Christmas carol?), the tempo should be slow enough to ensure the
5/8 measures remain smoothly legato with no hint of the jauntiness a faster tempo might create.