A Ceremony of Carols (op. 28) is a piece by Benjamin Britten scored for treble chorus, solo voices, and harp. It consists of eleven movements, the texts of which came from "The English Galaxy of Shorter Poems", by Gerald Bullett; the text is in Middle English. Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH (November 22, 1913 Lowestoft, Suffolk - December 4, 1976 Aldeburgh, Suffolk) was a British composer, conductor, and pianist. ... Treble is a term applied in music to the high or acute part of the musical system, as opposed to the bass, the lower or grave part. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer (solo is an Italian word literally meaning alone). ... Harry Belafonte singing, photograph by C. van Vechten Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, which is often contrasted with speech. ... For other uses, see Harp (disambiguation). ... Gerald William Bullett (1893 – 1958) was a British man of letters. ... Middle English is the name given by historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman invasion of 1066 and the mid-to-late 15th century, when the Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English, began to become widespread, a process aided by the...

A number of the texts were subsequently used by other composers, notably "Adam lay ybounden" or "Deo Gracias" by Boris Ord. The piece was written in 1942 while Britten was at sea, going from the United States to England. It was written at the same time as his Hymn to St. Cecilia and is stylistically very similar. Originally conceived as a series of unrelated songs, it was later unified into one piece with the framing processional and recessional. Adam Lay Ybounden, alternatively titled Deo Gracias, is 15th Century English text of unknown authorship. ... Boris Ord was Organist and Choirmaster of Kings College, Cambridge from 1929 to 1957, though Harold Darke filled in during World War I. His setting of Adam lay ybounden, which is his only published piece of music, used to have an immortal place in the Nine Lessons and Carols... Year 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... Hymn to St. ...

Movements

1. "Procession"
2. "Wolcum Yole!"
3. "There is no Rose"
4a. "That yonge child"
4b. "Balulalow"
5. "As dew in Aprille"
6. "This little Babe"
7. "Interlude" (harp solo)
8. "In Freezing Winter Night"
9. "Spring Carol"
10. "Deo Gracias"
11. "Recession"

Recordings

See also