Gledelig jul!

Julemorgen må jeg alltid høre denne:

Siste satsen i Ralph Vaughan Williams julekantate, Hodie, XVI Epilogue, satt sammen av Johannesprologen (In the beginning was the Word) og kor-satsen Ring Out Ye Chrystal Spheres.

Tusen takk for alle som har fulgt julebloggen i 2020. Det har blitt 100 blogginnlegg på 26 dager. Ingen skal si noe på kvantiteten i alle fall. Nå tar julebloggeren juleferie. De håper jeg leserne har gjort for lenge siden. En gledelig jul ønskes alle!

Teksten er som følger (jamfør allvitende Wikipedia):

XVI: Epilogue
The epilogue opens with a setting, for the three soloists, of a text adapted from John 1:1, 4, and 14, and Matthew 1:23:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. In him was life; and the life was the
light of men. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among
us, full of grace and truth. Emmanuel, God with us.

The chorus joins in on the final words, and the remainder of the work is scored for full chorus and orchestra, with soloists. It again sets Milton’s words, slightly adapted, from «On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity»:

Ring out, ye crystal spheres,
Once bless our human ears,
If ye have power to touch our senses so;
And let your silver chime
Move in melodious time,
And let the bass of heaven’s deep organ blow;
And with your ninefold harmony
Make up full consort to the angelic symphony.
Such music (as ’tis said)
Before was never made,
But when of old the sons of the morning sung,
While the Creator great
His constellations set,
And the well-balanced world on hinges hung,
And cast the dark foundations deep,
And bid the weltering waves their oozy channel keep.
Yea, truth and justice then
Will down return to men,
Orbed in a rainbow; and, like glories wearing,
Mercy will sit between,
Throned in celestial sheen,
With radiant feet the tissued clouds down steering;
And heaven, as at some festival,
Will open wide the gates of her high palace hall.