Music Notes for Jan. 3 - Lessons & Carols

The Kings College Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols was first held on Christmas Eve 1918. Yet that celebrated event was not the first celebration of Lessons and Carols. It was actually sung first at on Christmas Eve 1880, at Truro Cathedral thirty-eight years earlier! A mythos has emerged from that first celebration. It was said that Christmas Eve was selected for this service because it would “get the men out of the pubs early so that they would not be drunk for the midnight service”! The true source of the liturgy was Truro bishop, the Rt. Revd. Edward White Benson, who became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1883. Regardless of where this liturgy originated, the Anglican Communion has made great use of Lessons and Music as similar service formats now exist for Advent, Holy Week, Easter and Pentecost. Imitated world-wide since the 1918 Kings College celebration, the backbone of the service, the lessons and the prayers, have remained virtually unchanged and is heard worldwide via annual broadcasts. Christmas Lessons and Music is a capstone worship experience at St. Paul’s as we hear the word read and sung by our choirs, sing carols, and enjoy the glorious message of the season.

In addition to beloved Christmas Carols and Hymns, featured music for this service includes works for flute by Michel Corrette (1707-1795), solos by Samuel Scheidt (1587-1684) and J.S. Bach (1685-1750) and a Brahms Chorale Prelude. I deeply appreciate the hard work and dedication of our singers and instrumentalists who have presented marvelous worship music this Christmas season.

Please join us for our next Friends of Music concert on Sunday, January 31 at 4:00 pm. The West Liberty University Choirs led by Dr. Scott Glysson will present a concert of choral singing in our beautiful sanctuary. The program will include Dan Forrest’s Requiem for the Living as well pieces by American Composers.The concert will be around an hour. Please join us for an evening of exquisite choral music from our West Virginia neighbors! Suggested Donation at the door: $10