My introduction to John Rutter was in the recording, The Holly and the Ivy: Carols from Clare College. I love Christmas music and this album became a favorite and made me pay attention to the work of John Rutter who is one of the most notable composers and choral directors living today. Rutter has certainly made his mark in sacred choral music. “Nativity Carol” is one of Rutter’s compositions and appears on The John Rutter Christmas Album. It is performed here by the King’s College Choir, Cambridge
The beloved carol, “O Little Town of Bethlehem” was written
by the Rev. Phillips Brooks for his Sunday School in 1868. He had spent
Christmas in Bethlehem two years
before. Brooks was born in Boston in 1835, graduated at Harvard College 1855,
and was ordained in 1859. He served as rector at the Church of the Advent, Philadelphia,
and later at Trinity Church,
Boston.
Most congregations that sing this carol use the tune ST LOUIS, composed by Lewis Redner. Here we hear FOREST GREEN which
is an English folk tune associated with the ballad "The Ploughboy's
Dream." Ralph Vaughan Williams turned FOREST GREEN into a hymn tune for The
English Hymnal (1906), using it as a setting for "O Little Town of
Bethlehem." Vaughan Williams played a primary role in establishing English
sacred music in the 20th century. Himself an agnostic, he took on the task of
revising the English Hymnal and the result was both solid and magical. He had
long collected English folk tunes and incorporated many of those tunes in hymns
he composed for the hymnal.
