0:00:19 > 0:00:23Christmas - the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ
0:00:23 > 0:00:26is a central part of the Christian calendar,
0:00:26 > 0:00:28it's one of our richest and most cherished rituals.
0:00:28 > 0:00:33But in this programme, we're going to go beyond the familiar carols
0:00:33 > 0:00:36and festive songs to explore two millennia of music and texts
0:00:36 > 0:00:41from across Europe, performed by Harry Christophers and his choir, The Sixteen.
0:00:46 > 0:00:48This is a Christmas history,
0:00:48 > 0:00:52a journey back through the music, people and beliefs
0:00:52 > 0:00:55that have given shape to our modern idea of Christmas.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00My story starts in Italy, here in Rome.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09The Romans ruled the world into which Jesus was born
0:01:09 > 0:01:13and for centuries, their language, Latin, dominated church worship.
0:01:16 > 0:01:18And it's here that the celebration of Christmas
0:01:18 > 0:01:22has produced some of choral music's greatest and most evocative works
0:01:22 > 0:01:25for some of the world's most beautiful churches.
0:01:29 > 0:01:31Founded in the early 5th century,
0:01:31 > 0:01:34Santa Maria Maggiore houses underneath its high altar
0:01:34 > 0:01:35an extremely important relic.
0:01:35 > 0:01:41A fragment of the crib, the manger in which the Baby Jesus was laid.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45Brought here from the Holy Land by the Pope in the 7th century,
0:01:45 > 0:01:50it was traditionally carried in procession when the Christmas mass was celebrated here.
0:01:50 > 0:01:54The pious could earn special indulgences by attendance.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02There are five little planks of wood, probably from a sycamore tree,
0:02:02 > 0:02:06native to Palestine. It's quite hard to see in this richly ornamented case the reliquary
0:02:06 > 0:02:09but if you were to assemble these fragments,
0:02:09 > 0:02:12they're supposed to form two X shapes, basically,
0:02:12 > 0:02:14the frame support of the manger.
0:02:23 > 0:02:24"And it came to pass in those days
0:02:24 > 0:02:27"that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus
0:02:27 > 0:02:29"that all the world should be taxed.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31"And Joseph also went up from Galilee,
0:02:31 > 0:02:34"unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem,
0:02:34 > 0:02:36"to be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife,
0:02:36 > 0:02:38"being great with child.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41"And she brought forth her first-born son
0:02:41 > 0:02:44"and wrapped him in swaddling clothes
0:02:44 > 0:02:46"and laid him in a manger,
0:02:46 > 0:02:49"because there was no room for them in the inn."
0:02:49 > 0:02:53Christianity begins to acquire shape and definition
0:02:53 > 0:02:55under the Roman empire. In the 3rd century AD,
0:02:55 > 0:02:57200 years after the event,
0:02:57 > 0:03:00Origen of Alexandria, one of the first great Christian theologians,
0:03:00 > 0:03:05wrote that he considered it God's plan that Jesus had been born in the reign of the Emperor Augustus,
0:03:05 > 0:03:09now the whole world was united under one monarch,
0:03:09 > 0:03:12making conditions perfect for spreading the gospel.
0:03:12 > 0:03:16Christmas is not a major feast during the first two centuries
0:03:16 > 0:03:17because, as Origen argued,
0:03:17 > 0:03:21the celebration of a god's birthday was pagan behaviour.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25The variety of creeds, rites and liturgies was huge,
0:03:25 > 0:03:27and locally based.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29"The Greeks speak Greek," Origen says,
0:03:29 > 0:03:33"the Romans Latin and everyone prays and sings praises to God
0:03:33 > 0:03:36"as best he can in his mother tongue."
0:03:36 > 0:03:40Singing, as ever, was common to Christians everywhere.
0:03:40 > 0:03:46CHORAL MUSIC: "The Oxyrhynchus Hymn"
0:03:53 > 0:03:58This beautiful, haunting song is the earliest piece of Christian music that we know of.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01CHORAL SINGING CONTINUES
0:04:02 > 0:04:05Discovered in Egypt at the beginning of the 20th century,
0:04:05 > 0:04:08and dating from the time of Origen,
0:04:08 > 0:04:10it's known as the Oxyrhynchus Hymn.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13In the Sackler Library in Oxford is the only known copy,
0:04:13 > 0:04:16preserved on a scrap of papyrus.
0:04:16 > 0:04:17CHORAL SINGING
0:04:25 > 0:04:27Well, this is extraordinary.
0:04:27 > 0:04:32Can you explain precisely what this is and what the writing is?
0:04:32 > 0:04:35So, this is the oldest Christian hymn
0:04:35 > 0:04:37which is written in ancient Greek.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41It's contemporary with some of the earliest New Testament papyri.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45It's written by a very professional Greek scribe,
0:04:45 > 0:04:48who wrote the words, the lyrics of the hymn.
0:04:48 > 0:04:53Then another scribe came along and in the blank space he left between the two lines
0:04:53 > 0:04:57annotated it with musical notation of the melody.
0:04:57 > 0:05:01It's a tiny fragment, isn't it? Can you work out what the hymn was for?
0:05:01 > 0:05:03It's a hymn to the Trinity.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06It invokes a chorus of worshippers, us,
0:05:06 > 0:05:11the faithful, to sing a hymn in honour of the Trinity,
0:05:11 > 0:05:13the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost,
0:05:13 > 0:05:18and asks the cosmos, the streams, the rushing winds,
0:05:18 > 0:05:21and the mountains to stay silent while the hymn is sung.
0:05:26 > 0:05:30We have no real clue as to how or where the hymn was originally sung
0:05:30 > 0:05:32but by transcribing the ancient Greek notation,
0:05:32 > 0:05:36Harry Christophers has reconstructed a performance.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50It comes from the Oxyrhynchus Papyri collection
0:05:50 > 0:05:53which were papyri which were brought back to England
0:05:53 > 0:05:55by two Oxford undergraduates,
0:05:55 > 0:05:57BP Grenfell and AS Hunt,
0:05:57 > 0:06:01who went to Egypt specifically to look for papyrus.
0:06:01 > 0:06:05They went to Oxyrhynchus. Oxyrhynchus is right in the middle of Egypt.
0:06:05 > 0:06:10As soon as they stuck their shovel into one of the ancient rubbish mounds that ringed the city
0:06:10 > 0:06:13around the desert edge, there were hundreds of them.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17The first thing they pulled out was a papyrus, the famous Logia Fragment
0:06:17 > 0:06:22of the Sayings of Jesus, the Greek version of the Gospel of Thomas.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26- It's marvellous...- After that, it was just a torrent of papyrus.
0:06:26 > 0:06:28One piece after the next.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31So many that they couldn't package them all up.
0:06:31 > 0:06:35We've published, so far, over 5,000 pieces.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38But we reckon that's about 1%.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41There's at least another 500,000 to go.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44We expect there to be more of this hymn.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46We just haven't found it yet.
0:06:50 > 0:06:52It was a very special occasion up in Oxford,
0:06:52 > 0:06:55and looking at the Oxyrhynchus Papyrus,
0:06:55 > 0:06:58it had a wonderful melody, albeit, not necessarily what we'd call
0:06:58 > 0:07:01a totally classical melody,
0:07:01 > 0:07:04but there's something very beautiful about the single line
0:07:04 > 0:07:08and it's a tune that can be sung by the congregation.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18The story is hazy after the time of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21The Greek musical notation it preserves was lost.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24Now nothing musical would be written down for 600 years.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26BELL TOLLS
0:07:26 > 0:07:30CHORAL SINGING
0:07:36 > 0:07:39In the 5th century, under Pope Gregory,
0:07:39 > 0:07:41a body of liturgical chants was established,
0:07:41 > 0:07:43the Gregorian chant.
0:07:49 > 0:07:50With no notation,
0:07:50 > 0:07:54these chants had to be learned by heart and for hundreds of years,
0:07:54 > 0:07:57they were passed down from generation to generation.
0:08:00 > 0:08:05Christmas in the Dark Ages was a dignified, solemn affair.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08This is the chant for Christmas Eve,
0:08:08 > 0:08:14the simplest line of melodies sung in unison, precious little more than the words unadorned.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16CHORAL SINGING
0:08:19 > 0:08:22It's showed its staying power. You've still got composers
0:08:22 > 0:08:24using plainchant themes today
0:08:24 > 0:08:27as the inspiration and basis for their pieces.
0:08:27 > 0:08:29Many of the melodies are hugely inventive,
0:08:29 > 0:08:33extremely beautiful and very evocative, as well.
0:08:37 > 0:08:41This body of chants would serve the church well for almost 1,000 years.
0:08:41 > 0:08:43But in the middle of the 13th century,
0:08:43 > 0:08:46a new sense of how to celebrate Christmas emerged.
0:08:52 > 0:08:54This is the Basilica of St Francis in Assisi
0:08:54 > 0:08:57and inside are some extraordinary frescoes by Giotto,
0:08:57 > 0:09:01revolutionary, naturalistic depictions of the human form
0:09:01 > 0:09:03from the very early Renaissance.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06The story is simple.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09We have the Holy Family, the Virgin Mother,
0:09:09 > 0:09:14the child laid in an animal feeding trough, the ever-patient Joseph.
0:09:14 > 0:09:18The shepherds come from the neighbouring fields and then, of course, there are the angels.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22Heaven and earth, gathered together in joyful celebration
0:09:22 > 0:09:24around the Christ child.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33It was St Francis of Assisi who, on Christmas Day 1223,
0:09:33 > 0:09:36gave the world its first nativity tableau,
0:09:36 > 0:09:41a living scene which allowed worshippers to contemplate the birth of the Christ child
0:09:41 > 0:09:43in a uniquely direct way.
0:09:45 > 0:09:49All the local villagers were invited into this cave
0:09:49 > 0:09:52where a magical surprise had been prepared.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56The straw-filled manger, feeding trough, in which the Baby Jesus
0:09:56 > 0:10:00was lying was surrounded by real, living farm animals.
0:10:00 > 0:10:06St Francis felt it was important that we should make use of all the human senses.
0:10:07 > 0:10:11According to contemporary reports, it was beautiful in its simplicity.
0:10:11 > 0:10:16The manger was later used as the altar for the Christmas mass.
0:10:16 > 0:10:20Afterwards, St Francis is said to have taken the doll which represented the Christ child,
0:10:20 > 0:10:24and cradled it so tenderly that the congregation was reminded forcibly
0:10:24 > 0:10:28that his virginity mirrored that of the Virgin Mary herself.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37The popularity of these nativity tableaux was immediate,
0:10:37 > 0:10:41boosted by musical settings of the traditional Christmas text,
0:10:41 > 0:10:43O Magnum Mysterium.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46This version is by the Spanish priest and composer,
0:10:46 > 0:10:49Tomas Luis de Victoria.
0:10:54 > 0:10:59There's this incredible feeling of time standing still at the beginning of O Magnum Mysterium.
0:10:59 > 0:11:03A real sense of awe and wonder. I always feel it's that feeling
0:11:03 > 0:11:06you get when you're looking at a newborn child.
0:11:06 > 0:11:11Then he creates this wonderful sense of atmosphere so that you almost see
0:11:11 > 0:11:13the animals looking at the child.
0:11:17 > 0:11:22Most brilliantly of all is the way he colours the word presepio, for manger.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26This extraordinary thing that the Son of God is lying in a manger.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29He gives this wonderful colour to the word presepio,
0:11:29 > 0:11:35which I think helps reflect his idea of the divine brought to earth,
0:11:35 > 0:11:37to this extremely simple level.
0:11:37 > 0:11:46# ..presepio... #
0:11:46 > 0:11:51"O magnum mysterium et admirabile sacramentum, ut animalia viderent
0:11:51 > 0:11:55"Dominum natum, jacentem in presepio."
0:11:58 > 0:12:01"Dominum natum, jacentem in presepio."
0:12:01 > 0:12:04Oh, great mystery and wonderful sacrament that the beasts
0:12:04 > 0:12:07should see the newborn Lord lying in a manger.
0:12:07 > 0:12:12Blessed is the virgin whose womb is worthy to bear Christ the Lord.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14Alleluia.
0:12:17 > 0:12:22Curiously, there is no mention of the beasts in the Gospel versions of the nativity.
0:12:22 > 0:12:26But their presence in the story is far older than St Francis' time.
0:12:26 > 0:12:30In the Book of Isaiah, one of the prophetic books of the Old Testament,
0:12:30 > 0:12:34is this phrase which predicts the recognition of the Messiah.
0:12:34 > 0:12:36"The ox knoweth his owner
0:12:36 > 0:12:38"and the ass his master's crib."
0:12:44 > 0:12:48Music was now at the heart of people's Christmas worship.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51The great musical development of the Middle Ages
0:12:51 > 0:12:55was the addition of elaborate choral singing to the traditional chants.
0:13:00 > 0:13:04The Catholic mass was, for many centuries, sung in Latin
0:13:04 > 0:13:11and successive popes have always determined the style of singing the congregation will hear.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17During the Christmas season, the Vatican allowed the mass for the 25th of December
0:13:17 > 0:13:20to be more florid, more ornamented, but within a strict formula.
0:13:25 > 0:13:29This is the Christmas mass composed by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina,
0:13:29 > 0:13:32who took his name from the hill-top town of Palestrina
0:13:32 > 0:13:36just outside Rome where he was born in the early 16th century.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43Details of his childhood are vague but tradition has it
0:13:43 > 0:13:45that a young Pierluigi sang in the streets
0:13:45 > 0:13:48while offering for sale the products of his father's farm,
0:13:48 > 0:13:53and that he was heard on such an occasion by the choirmaster of Santa Maria Maggiore.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05What is documented is that as a teenager, he came to Rome
0:14:05 > 0:14:07and joined the Santa Maria choir.
0:14:10 > 0:14:14It was for his choir here that Palestrina, known as the Prince of Music,
0:14:14 > 0:14:17composed his finest Christmas church music.
0:14:22 > 0:14:27Before Palestrina was all kinds of Christian song and sung liturgy.
0:14:27 > 0:14:31After Palestrina, a discipline emerged and the master was in place.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34This meant, above all, that there were rules.
0:14:34 > 0:14:37Rules governing harmony and the intelligibility of the text.
0:14:37 > 0:14:42One of the arguments going on the 1550s and '60s
0:14:42 > 0:14:44was how important
0:14:44 > 0:14:46the audibility of the words was.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49CHORAL SINGING
0:14:58 > 0:15:03Of course, if everyone's singing a different word at the same time,
0:15:03 > 0:15:07then it's hard to catch exactly which words they are singing.
0:15:14 > 0:15:18Palestrina's music was considered by the Catholic church
0:15:18 > 0:15:24to epitomise the perfect liturgical music, full of joy and vigour,
0:15:24 > 0:15:26but you can hear the words very clearly.
0:15:37 > 0:15:42He's taken the Christmas season to have an ethereal, rather celestial, angelic choir.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46It's a sort of extension of plainsong,
0:15:46 > 0:15:51finding a beautiful tune and then developing on it in all sorts of ways.
0:15:56 > 0:16:01It's jubilant. The end is incredibly evocative of Christmas.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11This is sacred church music rather than just festive music.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14Spiritual, rather than just celebratory.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20This liturgical music of the High Renaissance
0:16:20 > 0:16:23seeks to express a new sense of Christmas,
0:16:23 > 0:16:26Christmas post-St Francis, as it were.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31CHORAL SINGING
0:16:36 > 0:16:40Until relatively recently in Europe, the bleak midwinter months
0:16:40 > 0:16:42were a season of food scarcity and famine.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44In the Middle Ages,
0:16:44 > 0:16:47the celebration of Christmas became the last great feast
0:16:47 > 0:16:50before the dark, hungry days of the fast of Lent.
0:16:54 > 0:16:56Welcome to the Restaurant Macaroni.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59Macaroni, a food to which I am particularly partial,
0:16:59 > 0:17:01is, of course, made up of long tubes of pasta,
0:17:01 > 0:17:03cut into shorter pieces.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07The word macaroni is from the Latin macerare, meaning to break into pieces.
0:17:07 > 0:17:11And macerare is also the root of the word macaroon,
0:17:11 > 0:17:14which happens to be not only a rather delicious cake,
0:17:14 > 0:17:15but also a kind of song
0:17:15 > 0:17:18which uses fragments of different languages.
0:17:18 > 0:17:20"Make we joy now in this fest.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22"In quo Christus natus est."
0:17:22 > 0:17:25The first medieval carols were macaroons,
0:17:25 > 0:17:30fragments of familiar church Latin mixed in with the everyday language of the people.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34# Make we joy now in this fest
0:17:34 > 0:17:37# In quo Christus natus est
0:17:37 > 0:17:39# Eya
0:17:39 > 0:17:43# Make we joy now in this fest
0:17:43 > 0:17:46# In quo Christus natus est
0:17:46 > 0:17:48# Eya. #
0:17:51 > 0:17:57No-one really knows whether carols were sung inside the church or not.
0:17:57 > 0:18:02They must have been written by monks because they were the only people
0:18:02 > 0:18:06who would have had the learning to have written texts down
0:18:06 > 0:18:13in Latin and English and yet they probably couldn't have sung more jolly ones, at least,
0:18:13 > 0:18:15in the context of church services.
0:18:29 > 0:18:35The medieval church didn't seem to like too much letting go at Christmas,
0:18:35 > 0:18:41dancing was discouraged and indeed was thought to be the work of Satan.
0:18:45 > 0:18:50In Dulci Jubilo has a gentle, dancing character to it
0:18:50 > 0:18:55and the story goes that it was sung by the angels one Christmas Eve
0:18:55 > 0:19:00to the German mystic Heinrich Seuse, who lived in the 14th century.
0:19:00 > 0:19:04And it's rather nice to think that perhaps the bits sung by the angels
0:19:04 > 0:19:10were the bits in Latin and the bits in the vernacular would have been sung by Heinrich Seuse.
0:19:17 > 0:19:22The story of his spiritual journey, the Life Of The Blessed Heinrich Seuse, written by himself,
0:19:22 > 0:19:28is a handbook of self-mortification techniques that he used to induce religious visions.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33He starved himself, beat himself until he bled,
0:19:33 > 0:19:38but in return, he experienced a series of vivid hallucinations.
0:19:38 > 0:19:42The Virgin Mary appeared before him as a rose
0:19:42 > 0:19:46and then in 1326, after chastising his body with a leather strap,
0:19:46 > 0:19:51before him appeared a troupe of dancing angels.
0:19:57 > 0:20:02"And the angels said that they were sent from God to bring to me joy in the midst of my sufferings,
0:20:02 > 0:20:05"that I must dance with them in heavenly fashion
0:20:05 > 0:20:08"and thus they took me by the hand and drew me into their dance."
0:20:16 > 0:20:20In his autobiography, Heinrich also describes how he liked to mark Christmas,
0:20:20 > 0:20:23standing in his bare feet on the cold stone in front of an altar,
0:20:23 > 0:20:28exposing his hands to the cold until they were black and swollen,
0:20:28 > 0:20:33denying himself water or any other drink until his tongue cracked.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36He must have been a difficult man to buy Christmas presents for.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45My journey now takes me to Saxony in Germany.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49It was here in the 16th century that the Reformation first caught hold
0:20:49 > 0:20:52and Martin Luther's break with the Church of Rome
0:20:52 > 0:20:55would produce something completely new -
0:20:55 > 0:20:57Christmas music for the Protestant Church.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08This is the first purpose-built Lutheran church,
0:21:08 > 0:21:11the chapel at Hartenfels Castle.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14Designed by Luther himself, it was consecrated in 1544
0:21:14 > 0:21:17and the architecture embodies the Lutheran message.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20As he himself said, "nothing should happen here
0:21:20 > 0:21:24"except that the dear Lord talks to us through his holy word
0:21:24 > 0:21:30"and we in turn talk to him through prayer and songs of praise."
0:21:41 > 0:21:44The pulpit is bang in the middle of the church
0:21:44 > 0:21:48and the organ is deliberately placed above the very simple altar
0:21:48 > 0:21:54representative of the fact that music plays such a central role in Lutheran worship.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58The chapel was inaugurated with the music of Johann Walter,
0:21:58 > 0:22:02choirmaster, composer and musical adviser to Luther.
0:22:02 > 0:22:07The two men worked together to create a new Protestant sung liturgy.
0:22:07 > 0:22:12The evocation and re-enactment of the Nativity story as part of the celebration of the Christmas feast
0:22:12 > 0:22:18signifies the Christian faith that Jesus is the Messiah promised by the Old Testament
0:22:18 > 0:22:21and the incarnation of the Word -
0:22:21 > 0:22:23Verbum Caro Factum Est.
0:22:51 > 0:22:56Composed for the Christmas Eve service, and rooted in the ancient plain chant,
0:22:56 > 0:23:00Verbum Caro is one of Walter's earliest compositions.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07He's basically known for his hymns and the association with Luther,
0:23:07 > 0:23:10so to find a Latin chant is a bit of a rarity in his output.
0:23:10 > 0:23:15Are you implying that because he was a very early Protestant,
0:23:15 > 0:23:18that he's still using Catholic techniques?
0:23:18 > 0:23:22He's using the techniques that were used before,
0:23:22 > 0:23:23but he's written it in a simple way.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26He opens this with the chant,
0:23:26 > 0:23:28In All Voices.
0:23:28 > 0:23:35# Verbum... #
0:23:35 > 0:23:38That's the same with the tenor part.
0:23:38 > 0:23:40Then he goes up a fourth into the alto and bass.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44# Verbum... #
0:23:44 > 0:23:50# Verbum... #
0:23:50 > 0:23:53Very simple. Each voice opens with that little statement.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56# Verbum... #
0:23:56 > 0:23:58# Verbum... #
0:23:58 > 0:23:59# Verbum... #
0:23:59 > 0:24:02THEY SING IN LATIN
0:24:07 > 0:24:11Walter and Luther were seeking a new, simpler relationship
0:24:11 > 0:24:14between the faithful and the Word of God.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16When the Reformation reached Tudor England,
0:24:16 > 0:24:18it would lead to a century of turmoil.
0:24:18 > 0:24:23Between the time of Henry VIII's break with the Church of Rome and
0:24:23 > 0:24:27the restoration of King Charles II the following century,
0:24:27 > 0:24:32religious change became, for the British people, almost a national way of life.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35The country flipped from being Catholic to Protestant
0:24:35 > 0:24:38and then Catholic and then Protestant again.
0:24:38 > 0:24:40People were understandably confused.
0:24:40 > 0:24:45Thomas Tallis, who was organist here at Waltham Abbey at the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries,
0:24:45 > 0:24:48was typical of his generation.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55THEY SING IN LATIN
0:25:12 > 0:25:15Tallis's Christmas Mass Puer Natus -
0:25:15 > 0:25:20The Boy Is Born - was a glorious pinnacle of Catholic choral writing.
0:25:22 > 0:25:24It's both solemn and festive,
0:25:24 > 0:25:27heavenly and human.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30THEY SING IN LATIN
0:25:41 > 0:25:47The 16th century was a fascinating period for the celebration of Christmas.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51When the Reformation really took hold, there was a suspicion
0:25:51 > 0:25:56that too much singing was a relic of Papistry.
0:25:59 > 0:26:06Puer Natus Mass is a glorious outpouring of the sense of joy
0:26:06 > 0:26:09and wonder that accompanies Christmas.
0:26:17 > 0:26:22That kind of marking Christmas in the church,
0:26:22 > 0:26:28I think rather died out because of the Reformers wanting
0:26:28 > 0:26:31to suppress anything too florid.
0:26:31 > 0:26:33It was quite a stern period.
0:26:39 > 0:26:44In the complex and ever-changing world of Tudor England,
0:26:44 > 0:26:48Christmas was often a time of particular anxiety.
0:26:48 > 0:26:54Would your celebrations during this period be the wrong type of celebrations?
0:26:54 > 0:26:58And is there a hint of irony in Shakespeare's play Hamlet
0:26:58 > 0:27:02when he has one of the characters talking about the Christmas period?
0:27:02 > 0:27:04"The nights are wholesome,
0:27:04 > 0:27:05"then no planets strike.
0:27:05 > 0:27:09"No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
0:27:09 > 0:27:13"so hallow'd and so gracious is the time."
0:27:14 > 0:27:17# Lullaby
0:27:17 > 0:27:20# Lullaby
0:27:20 > 0:27:23# Lullaby... #
0:27:23 > 0:27:27William Byrd was a staunch Catholic,
0:27:27 > 0:27:30but was also the favourite composer of the Protestant Queen Elizabeth.
0:27:30 > 0:27:32He refused to give up his faith
0:27:32 > 0:27:36even when the penalty for celebrating the Mass was imprisonment or even execution
0:27:36 > 0:27:41and retired to an obscure corner of Essex to worship in secret.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53His Christmas Lullaby was written for a private domestic observation of Christmas.
0:27:55 > 0:28:00# Be still, my blessed babe
0:28:01 > 0:28:07# Though cause thou hast to mourn
0:28:09 > 0:28:14# Whose blood most innocent to shed... #
0:28:14 > 0:28:18I think he felt he was persecuted and driven underground a little bit.
0:28:18 > 0:28:20It's a beautiful carol,
0:28:20 > 0:28:22but it's quite dark as well
0:28:22 > 0:28:24because it draws on the theme of Herod
0:28:24 > 0:28:26slaying innocent children
0:28:26 > 0:28:31and that was something that they perhaps focussed on a bit more than we do in modern times.
0:28:31 > 0:28:36# ..What slaughter he doth make
0:28:38 > 0:28:44# Shedding the blood of infants all
0:28:44 > 0:28:46# Sweet Saviour... #
0:28:46 > 0:28:50So you had the mother just singing to her child, rocking him to sleep,
0:28:50 > 0:28:55and in the background, a king going off and committing genocide, essentially.
0:28:55 > 0:28:59Perhaps this felt like a reflection of his situation.
0:28:59 > 0:29:04# ..Which King this king would kill
0:29:04 > 0:29:10# Oh woe and woeful heavy day... #
0:29:10 > 0:29:15This century of religious upheaval climaxed in 1649
0:29:15 > 0:29:19when the execution of the king ended the Civil War as a victory for the Puritans.
0:29:21 > 0:29:23Christmas was effectively banned.
0:29:26 > 0:29:29There's no Christmas music from the Parliamentary period.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36Messiah, Handel's great 18th-century masterpiece,
0:29:36 > 0:29:41is still synonymous with Christmas choral music for many of us today
0:29:41 > 0:29:45and represents the next great leap forward for sacred music.
0:29:45 > 0:29:48# For unto us a child is born
0:29:49 > 0:29:51# Unto us
0:29:51 > 0:29:53# A son is given
0:29:53 > 0:29:56# Unto us
0:29:56 > 0:29:58# A son is given
0:29:58 > 0:30:01# For unto us a child is born
0:30:01 > 0:30:04# Unto us a child is born
0:30:04 > 0:30:06# Unto us... #
0:30:06 > 0:30:08The 18th century was obsessed by opera
0:30:08 > 0:30:11and Messiah is an oratorio,
0:30:11 > 0:30:13a halfway house between the church and the theatre -
0:30:13 > 0:30:19sacred stories arranged for singers with an orchestra, but without dramatic action, scenery or costume.
0:30:19 > 0:30:21# Unto us
0:30:21 > 0:30:23# A son is given
0:30:24 > 0:30:25# Unto us... #
0:30:25 > 0:30:29Intended by the composer for performance in the run-up to Easter,
0:30:29 > 0:30:33it tells the story of Jesus from his birth through to the Resurrection and beyond.
0:30:33 > 0:30:38# ..And the government shall be upon His shoulder
0:30:38 > 0:30:40# And the government shall be... #
0:30:40 > 0:30:44The early section soon became the basis for special Christmas concerts
0:30:44 > 0:30:47where professional singers sang alongside amateurs.
0:30:47 > 0:30:51# ..And His name shall be called
0:30:51 > 0:30:53# Wonderful
0:30:53 > 0:30:56# Counsellor
0:30:56 > 0:31:01# The mighty God The everlasting Father
0:31:01 > 0:31:03# The prince of peace
0:31:03 > 0:31:05# To us a child is born... #
0:31:05 > 0:31:10It laid the foundation for the great British tradition of amateur choral singing,
0:31:10 > 0:31:14but it was a movement nourished by the strength of our congregational singing in church.
0:31:15 > 0:31:18From the 16th century on through to the 18th,
0:31:18 > 0:31:21sung liturgy was increasingly discarded
0:31:21 > 0:31:24and the choir tended to lead congregational singing.
0:31:24 > 0:31:29# Hark, how all the welkin rings
0:31:29 > 0:31:35# Alleluia
0:31:35 > 0:31:40# Glory to the King of Kings
0:31:40 > 0:31:42# Alleluia... #
0:31:42 > 0:31:45In England, 300 years ago, the Wesley brothers
0:31:45 > 0:31:47founded the Methodist movement.
0:31:47 > 0:31:52They were firm believers in the importance of congregational singing.
0:31:52 > 0:31:56Charles Wesley wrote over 6,500 hymns.
0:31:58 > 0:32:03# ..God and sinners reconciled... #
0:32:03 > 0:32:08This is his Christmas hymn, Hark, How All The Welkin Rings.
0:32:08 > 0:32:09Stirring stuff.
0:32:09 > 0:32:12But over the course of the next 100 years,
0:32:12 > 0:32:15it would evolve into an almost completely different song,
0:32:15 > 0:32:18one of our best-loved and most-sung Christmas carols.
0:32:18 > 0:32:22# ..Alleluia... #
0:32:22 > 0:32:25The first change would be a little tweak to the words
0:32:25 > 0:32:29from a Methodist preacher with a rather dodgy past.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35This is George Whitefield,
0:32:35 > 0:32:42born in a pub here in Gloucester around Christmas-time in 1714, the youngest child of seven.
0:32:42 > 0:32:46His father died when he was two and George grew up to be a bit of a rogue.
0:32:46 > 0:32:50He stole money, he shoplifted, he played cards,
0:32:50 > 0:32:53he even had ambitions to be an actor.
0:32:53 > 0:32:56He was handsome and charismatic,
0:32:56 > 0:33:00despite, or perhaps because of, his squint.
0:33:00 > 0:33:03But one day he turned a corner, he met the Wesley brothers
0:33:03 > 0:33:07and all the talents and skills of the potential actor
0:33:07 > 0:33:12were transformed into the oratorical power of the greatest preacher of the 18th century.
0:33:12 > 0:33:18When he was still in his early twenties he preached, from this pulpit, his first sermon,
0:33:18 > 0:33:23one of many thousand he was to preach to hundreds of thousands of people over the next half-century.
0:33:26 > 0:33:29"The celebration of the birth of Christ
0:33:29 > 0:33:33"hath been esteemed a duty by most who profess Christianity.
0:33:33 > 0:33:37"You do not celebrate this aright when you spend most of your time in cards,
0:33:37 > 0:33:42"dice or gaming of any sort.
0:33:42 > 0:33:46"Those of you who have made this your practice in times past,
0:33:46 > 0:33:51"let me beseech you in the bowels of mercy not to do so any more."
0:33:51 > 0:33:57# Hark, how all the welkin rings
0:33:57 > 0:33:59# Alleluia... #
0:33:59 > 0:34:04The genius of George Whitefield was to replace Charles Wesley's plain English
0:34:04 > 0:34:07with these first two dramatic lines.
0:34:07 > 0:34:09# Hark! The herald angels sing
0:34:09 > 0:34:12# Hark! The herald angels sing
0:34:12 > 0:34:16# Glory to the new-born King
0:34:16 > 0:34:18# Glory to the new-born... #
0:34:18 > 0:34:20It was now a lyric in search of a tune
0:34:20 > 0:34:22and many were tried.
0:34:22 > 0:34:27One enterprising soul even managed to glue The Herald Angels onto George Frideric Handel's
0:34:27 > 0:34:29See The Conquering Hero Comes.
0:34:30 > 0:34:39# Hark! The herald angels sing
0:34:39 > 0:34:48# Glory to the new-born King... #
0:34:48 > 0:34:50But it didn't stick.
0:34:50 > 0:34:53Handel's contribution to Christmas music is, of course, the Messiah.
0:34:53 > 0:34:56The melody that brought these words to life
0:34:56 > 0:34:59was to come from another place entirely.
0:34:59 > 0:35:03# Vaterland, in deinen Gauen... #
0:35:03 > 0:35:05In June 1840,
0:35:05 > 0:35:09the citizens of Leipzig gathered in the town square.
0:35:11 > 0:35:16They'd come to hear a new composition by local composer Felix Mendelssohn.
0:35:16 > 0:35:21With a massive male-voice choir of 200 and a vastly expanded orchestra,
0:35:21 > 0:35:25he performed his lengthy Festgesang, his festive songs,
0:35:25 > 0:35:29written for the 400th anniversary of Gutenberg's invention of the printing press.
0:35:29 > 0:35:34His family described it as "market music" and it was never revived.
0:35:34 > 0:35:39It wasn't even deemed worthy of an opus number and was destined to sink without trace.
0:35:39 > 0:35:45# Hark! The herald angels sing
0:35:45 > 0:35:51# Glory to the new-born King... #
0:35:51 > 0:35:54My story leads me back here, for it was
0:35:54 > 0:35:56another organist at Waltham Abbey,
0:35:56 > 0:35:59300 years after Thomas Tallis was here,
0:35:59 > 0:36:03who was to join this obscure piece of music by a great composer
0:36:03 > 0:36:05to the words that fit it so perfectly.
0:36:05 > 0:36:08# ..Nations rise
0:36:08 > 0:36:12# Join the triumph of the... #
0:36:12 > 0:36:18In 1855, this Victorian hero, William H Cummings,
0:36:18 > 0:36:23set George Whitefield's theatrically sharpened-up version of Charles Wesley's original words
0:36:23 > 0:36:25to Mendelssohn's music.
0:36:25 > 0:36:31# ..Hark! The herald angels sing
0:36:31 > 0:36:40# Glory to the new-born King. #
0:36:40 > 0:36:41From the 19th century onwards,
0:36:41 > 0:36:46the overwhelming focus of the season becomes Christmas Day, the birth of Christ.
0:36:46 > 0:36:48TRAIN WHISTLE BLASTS
0:36:48 > 0:36:53As the western world became more industrialised, perhaps more rationalised,
0:36:53 > 0:36:57then it was easier for Protestant Christians to celebrate the birth of a baby boy
0:36:57 > 0:37:03rather than the more problematic, miraculous aspects of the Gospel story, such as the Virgin birth.
0:37:03 > 0:37:07A new age of popular Christmas music was born.
0:37:10 > 0:37:12MUSIC: "Silent Night"
0:37:14 > 0:37:18Silent Night is perhaps the world's most popular Christmas song.
0:37:18 > 0:37:22It exists in over 50 languages and there are hundreds of recordings.
0:37:22 > 0:37:27But its origins lie in the opening decades of the 19th century
0:37:27 > 0:37:30and the tiny Austrian village of Oberndorf.
0:37:34 > 0:37:37The original German lyrics are by the Austrian Priest
0:37:37 > 0:37:40Father Joseph Mohr. In his youth,
0:37:40 > 0:37:43he had a reputation for neglecting his priestly duties,
0:37:43 > 0:37:45frequenting the drinking houses,
0:37:45 > 0:37:48sharing jokes with persons of the opposite sex
0:37:48 > 0:37:51and singing songs that do not edify.
0:37:51 > 0:37:54I find the words that he wrote a little more unsettling
0:37:54 > 0:37:57than the English ones that we're accustomed to sing today.
0:37:57 > 0:37:59Silent night
0:37:59 > 0:38:00Holy night
0:38:00 > 0:38:02All are a-bed
0:38:02 > 0:38:04Awake and afraid.
0:38:04 > 0:38:07# Heilige Nacht
0:38:07 > 0:38:10# Alles schlaft
0:38:10 > 0:38:15# Einsam wacht
0:38:15 > 0:38:24# Nur das traute heilige Paar
0:38:24 > 0:38:32# Holder Knabe im lockigen Haar
0:38:32 > 0:38:41# Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh'... #
0:38:41 > 0:38:47The carol was first sung on 24th December, 1818,
0:38:47 > 0:38:50here in the poor village of Oberndorf
0:38:50 > 0:38:54in the church of Saint Nicholas. It is like a miracle.
0:38:54 > 0:38:57Two stars met here -
0:38:57 > 0:39:01Joseph Mohr, a very poor priest,
0:39:01 > 0:39:03and the teacher Franz Xaver Gruber,
0:39:03 > 0:39:07who came to play the organ in here,
0:39:07 > 0:39:10but there was a problem with the organ
0:39:10 > 0:39:13because Oberndorf always had high-water floods
0:39:13 > 0:39:16and so the church was wet, the organ was wet
0:39:16 > 0:39:23and the legend said the poor mice in the church nipped at the bellows
0:39:23 > 0:39:28- and it was impossible to play the organ.- Though you don't think that's true about the mice?
0:39:28 > 0:39:34No, it is a legend, but our visitors like to hear it.
0:39:34 > 0:39:35So what did they do?
0:39:35 > 0:39:39They had only the guitar of Joseph Mohr.
0:39:39 > 0:39:45He said, "I wrote a poem for Christmas.
0:39:45 > 0:39:49"Perhaps you can go and make the music."
0:39:49 > 0:39:54# Silent night... #
0:39:54 > 0:39:57They came together and stood before the crib
0:39:57 > 0:40:00and sang this melody.
0:40:04 > 0:40:07Just like a melody for a baby.
0:40:09 > 0:40:16# ..Hark, the wondrous angel throng... #
0:40:16 > 0:40:20Silent Night's one of my favourites, definitely.
0:40:20 > 0:40:22The text is so powerful
0:40:22 > 0:40:25and it conjures up such images of Christmas.
0:40:25 > 0:40:29It sounds like it's existed for ever
0:40:29 > 0:40:31and everyone's known it for ever.
0:40:31 > 0:40:38# ..Saviour is born
0:40:38 > 0:40:45# Christ the Saviour is born. #
0:40:45 > 0:40:51It's a curious thing. We've been making this film in July and it's been a pretty hot European summer,
0:40:51 > 0:40:55but for me, that doesn't feel so incongruous.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59When I was a child my family spent some time in the Far East and in North Africa
0:40:59 > 0:41:04and so heat and fierce sunshine on December 25th is not so extraordinary.
0:41:04 > 0:41:08Of course, in the Holy Land, there wouldn't have been the snow and the frost
0:41:08 > 0:41:12and all the winter images that are so synonymous with the Nativity in the European mind.
0:41:12 > 0:41:19# In the bleak midwinter
0:41:19 > 0:41:24# Frosty wind made moan... #
0:41:24 > 0:41:27The power of this story, of course,
0:41:27 > 0:41:30lies in its marvel, its mystery and its drama
0:41:30 > 0:41:34and part of our story is how the setting, the scenery
0:41:34 > 0:41:39can be changed to suit the requirements and the expectations of its audience.
0:41:39 > 0:41:42# ..Snow had fallen
0:41:42 > 0:41:45# Snow on snow
0:41:45 > 0:41:51# Snow on snow
0:41:51 > 0:41:59# In the bleak midwinter
0:41:59 > 0:42:05# Long ago. #
0:42:05 > 0:42:08The text is by Christina Rossetti.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11She wrote it towards the end of a long life,
0:42:11 > 0:42:13but extraordinarily enough,
0:42:13 > 0:42:16here in the Tate Britain is a painting by her elder brother -
0:42:16 > 0:42:21Gabriel Dante Rossetti, one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood -
0:42:21 > 0:42:22of the teenage Christina.
0:42:22 > 0:42:27She is the model for this sensational painting.
0:42:27 > 0:42:28I mean sensational.
0:42:28 > 0:42:32When it was first shown in 1850, it drew such hostility from the critics and the press
0:42:32 > 0:42:34the he never exhibited it again.
0:42:34 > 0:42:38It shows the Virgin Mary at the moment of the Annunciation.
0:42:38 > 0:42:43Apparently it's a very good likeness of Christina,
0:42:43 > 0:42:47although the hair is different, she didn't have this colour hair.
0:42:47 > 0:42:50She looks like a young girl who's just woken up
0:42:50 > 0:42:53and I'm not quite sure whether it's fear or puzzlement.
0:42:53 > 0:42:56It's a complex look.
0:42:56 > 0:42:58When she was in her mid-teens
0:42:58 > 0:43:01Christina suffered some kind of breakdown
0:43:01 > 0:43:03and for several years was obsessed with religion
0:43:03 > 0:43:08and distressed by her own inability to match the high standards her faith seemed to demand of her.
0:43:08 > 0:43:12She emerged from this with deeply held convictions.
0:43:12 > 0:43:14She could never bring herself to marry,
0:43:14 > 0:43:17so she devoted all the considerable energies of a Victorian spinster
0:43:17 > 0:43:19to a narrow range of activities.
0:43:19 > 0:43:23She was her widowed mother's companion, always worried about her brother.
0:43:23 > 0:43:28Gabriel Dante was always teetering on the edge of scandal with his controversial paintings
0:43:28 > 0:43:31and his indecorous relationships with several beautiful models.
0:43:31 > 0:43:34There was the church. She was High Anglican -
0:43:34 > 0:43:37about as Catholic as you can get without actually being Catholic.
0:43:37 > 0:43:39Then there was the poetry -
0:43:39 > 0:43:44sad, simple lyrics concerned with death and loss.
0:43:47 > 0:43:50Christmas hath a darkness
0:43:50 > 0:43:52Brighter than the blazing noon
0:43:52 > 0:43:53Christmas hath a chillness
0:43:53 > 0:43:55Warmer than the heat of June
0:43:55 > 0:44:00Earth, put on your whitest bridal robe of spotless snow
0:44:00 > 0:44:03For Christmas bringeth Jesus
0:44:03 > 0:44:05Brought for us so low.
0:44:05 > 0:44:08And here she is,
0:44:08 > 0:44:11in a grave with her father, mother.
0:44:11 > 0:44:15Ten years after her death, in 1904, her collected poems were published,
0:44:15 > 0:44:18including In The Bleak Midwinter.
0:44:28 > 0:44:32Gustav Theodore Holst was an unknown young composer
0:44:32 > 0:44:35when he first encountered Christina Rossetti's poem.
0:44:35 > 0:44:42# ..When He comes to reign
0:44:42 > 0:44:47# In the bleak midwinter
0:44:47 > 0:44:48# A stable... #
0:44:48 > 0:44:52Almost immediately, he set it to a tune which he called Cranham
0:44:52 > 0:44:57after the Gloucestershire village where his mother had grown up and which he visited in 1905,
0:44:57 > 0:44:59a quarter of a century after her death.
0:45:01 > 0:45:04He's supposed to have stayed in this cottage,
0:45:04 > 0:45:07which was, for many years, a bed and breakfast.
0:45:07 > 0:45:10We're in your beautiful garden of Midwinter Cottage,
0:45:10 > 0:45:11where you live.
0:45:11 > 0:45:18We're here in the height of midsummer, so this Midwinter Cottage isn't looking remotely midwinter.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21Now we've got some pictures from last Christmas.
0:45:21 > 0:45:24- Shall we look at these?- We had snow before Christmas and after.
0:45:24 > 0:45:26Oh, look at that!
0:45:26 > 0:45:30- That's an In The Bleak Midwinter shot, isn't it?- Yes.
0:45:30 > 0:45:33- Holst's mother died when he was seven, Laura, that's right?- Yes.
0:45:33 > 0:45:35So why would he come back?
0:45:35 > 0:45:38I think he was probably searching for his roots.
0:45:38 > 0:45:41He felt the loss of his mother profoundly
0:45:41 > 0:45:45and when he came to write the tune for In The Bleak Midwinter,
0:45:45 > 0:45:48wanted something that was personal to him.
0:45:48 > 0:45:50But she was a great musician as well, herself.
0:45:50 > 0:45:53She played harmonium in the church here in Cranham,
0:45:53 > 0:45:56she sang, she also had played piano.
0:45:56 > 0:46:00That must have been a profound influence on Holst
0:46:00 > 0:46:03and he did feel very alone, I think, as a young child.
0:46:05 > 0:46:08Here in the drawing room of Midwinter Cottage, they have a piano
0:46:08 > 0:46:11and on the music stand is a copy of Carols For Children,
0:46:11 > 0:46:13including In The Bleak Midwinter,
0:46:13 > 0:46:16so I couldn't really resist.
0:46:18 > 0:46:22HE PLAYS "In The Bleak Midwinter"
0:46:27 > 0:46:29When Holst visited Cranham,
0:46:29 > 0:46:33I wonder if he imagined the congregation in the village church singing his carol.
0:46:39 > 0:46:44His setting of Christina Rossetti's simple words is suffused with a personal nostalgia,
0:46:44 > 0:46:48but it also created a picture of an idealised Christmas,
0:46:48 > 0:46:50one we all know and share.
0:46:57 > 0:46:59The trend in 20th-century British Christmas music
0:46:59 > 0:47:05was to turn away from the modern world and embrace a medieval aesthetic.
0:47:05 > 0:47:09# Make we joy now in this fest
0:47:09 > 0:47:12# In quo Christus natus est
0:47:12 > 0:47:15# Eya... #
0:47:15 > 0:47:17Born in Oldham and self-taught as a composer,
0:47:17 > 0:47:20William Walton rediscovered long-forgotten musical styles
0:47:20 > 0:47:23and reshaped them for contemporary audiences.
0:47:23 > 0:47:27# A Patre Unigenitus
0:47:27 > 0:47:29# Is through a maiden... #
0:47:29 > 0:47:31He uses a medieval set of words -
0:47:31 > 0:47:34that macaronic idea, Latin and English together -
0:47:34 > 0:47:37but he puts his own 20th-century take on it
0:47:37 > 0:47:42and by jangling the chords together, makes it, you know, slightly wacky,
0:47:42 > 0:47:44but it's still... it's still earthy and exciting.
0:47:44 > 0:47:49# In quo Christus natus est
0:47:49 > 0:47:52# Eya... #
0:47:52 > 0:47:55It's an up-beat, celebratory Christmas carol.
0:47:55 > 0:47:57He sets it in this wonderful,
0:47:57 > 0:47:59lilting triple time, which gives it
0:47:59 > 0:48:02this sort of rumbustious holiday-season feel.
0:48:02 > 0:48:05# ..Maria ventre concepit
0:48:05 > 0:48:09# The Holy Ghost was aye her with... #
0:48:09 > 0:48:11In the refrain of the "Eya, eya, eya,"
0:48:11 > 0:48:15he suddenly slips into this lovely sort of faux-Renaissance polyphony
0:48:15 > 0:48:19to give it a nice, gentle contrast with the upbeat verses.
0:48:19 > 0:48:23So he's nodding to two different traditions, the early-medieval and...
0:48:23 > 0:48:26And something a little bit later. The two are very complementary.
0:48:26 > 0:48:31# ..Eya
0:48:31 > 0:48:37# Eya. #
0:48:37 > 0:48:4130 years later,
0:48:41 > 0:48:44an idealistic young composer called Peter Maxwell Davies
0:48:44 > 0:48:47was running the music department at Cirencester Grammar School.
0:48:47 > 0:48:52# Alleluia, Vergine Maria... #
0:48:52 > 0:48:54I don't want to be pompous about it,
0:48:54 > 0:48:59but I have got enough confidence to know that
0:48:59 > 0:49:02I AM at the beginning of something.
0:49:02 > 0:49:08Max, probably the most unusual music teacher in history,
0:49:08 > 0:49:13wanted his pupils to experience the most cutting-edge post-war music experiments.
0:49:13 > 0:49:17ORCHESTRA PLAYS AVANT-GARDE MUSIC
0:49:17 > 0:49:21For the local church's pre-Christmas concert,
0:49:21 > 0:49:23he composed a special cycle of carols
0:49:23 > 0:49:24for them to perform.
0:49:26 > 0:49:30Apparently it left the audience of parents and interested locals baffled -
0:49:30 > 0:49:34a collage of medieval English poetry and ecclesiastical Latin texts,
0:49:34 > 0:49:39whose setting served as an uncompromising introduction to the avant-garde.
0:49:41 > 0:49:44I felt that this was very important then,
0:49:44 > 0:49:46in the late '50s particularly,
0:49:46 > 0:49:52because the whole question of the composition techniques
0:49:52 > 0:49:53that a composer employs
0:49:54 > 0:49:59had gone into some kind of melting-pot. Tonality,
0:49:59 > 0:50:03rhythmic structure, had disintegrated into something,
0:50:03 > 0:50:05which had to be rethought.
0:50:05 > 0:50:12# O magnum
0:50:12 > 0:50:20# Mysterium
0:50:20 > 0:50:30# Et admirabile
0:50:30 > 0:50:35# Sacramentum... #
0:50:35 > 0:50:38Peter Maxwell Davies has been inspired by
0:50:38 > 0:50:40those lovely medieval texts.
0:50:40 > 0:50:42They're very settable to music.
0:50:42 > 0:50:45The lines are usually short, simple
0:50:45 > 0:50:47and memorable.
0:50:52 > 0:50:54The idea, I think, in the Middle Ages
0:50:54 > 0:50:58was that people who were not necessarily literate could pick them up
0:50:58 > 0:51:04and one of the things you look for, as a composer, is simplicity in the texts that you set
0:51:04 > 0:51:08and the best of those medieval lyrics,
0:51:08 > 0:51:11just are so simple and so inspired.
0:51:17 > 0:51:21THEY SING IN LATIN
0:51:28 > 0:51:33John Rutter is probably the most prolific, successful and genuinely popular
0:51:33 > 0:51:35of all modern church-music composers
0:51:35 > 0:51:39and songs celebrating Christmas, either written or arranged by him,
0:51:39 > 0:51:41have become a seasonal essential.
0:51:41 > 0:51:44# And God himself
0:51:44 > 0:51:47# Sowed with his hand
0:51:47 > 0:51:51# In Nazareth... #
0:51:51 > 0:51:56John's achievement is very much to do with that beauty of the vocal line.
0:51:56 > 0:51:59First and foremost, he writes beautifully for voices.
0:51:59 > 0:52:01# ..A maiden found... #
0:52:01 > 0:52:06In the piece we're doing, he starts just with the men on the tune,
0:52:06 > 0:52:08accompanied by humming by the choir
0:52:08 > 0:52:11and then it just changes to the sopranos singing the tune.
0:52:11 > 0:52:14Simple little ideas, but very, very effective.
0:52:14 > 0:52:20# When Gabriel this maid did meet
0:52:20 > 0:52:27# With Ave Maria he did her greet... #
0:52:27 > 0:52:30Christmas is a time for congregational singing
0:52:30 > 0:52:33and so you want the congregations to be able to achieve these pieces.
0:52:33 > 0:52:35That's John Rutter's great strength -
0:52:35 > 0:52:38he manages to combine great artistry
0:52:38 > 0:52:40and technically very well-written pieces,
0:52:40 > 0:52:43but they are approachable by choirs of all sorts of standards.
0:52:43 > 0:52:49# ..On a day in Bethlehem... #
0:52:49 > 0:52:54There Is A Flower is, I think, one of the loveliest texts I've ever come across.
0:52:54 > 0:52:55It's by a blind
0:52:55 > 0:52:5915th-century monk called John Audelay.
0:52:59 > 0:53:01The original music doesn't survive,
0:53:01 > 0:53:03but what, for me, makes it so moving
0:53:03 > 0:53:08is the fact that John Audelay himself never saw a flower.
0:53:08 > 0:53:11And so it was all in his imagination.
0:53:11 > 0:53:17# ..Then rich and poor of ev'ry land... #
0:53:17 > 0:53:20But it likes the Virgin Mary to a rose,
0:53:20 > 0:53:26which is an image that, of course, runs through the whole of medieval Christian poetry.
0:53:26 > 0:53:29# Till kinges three
0:53:29 > 0:53:37# That blessed flower came to see... #
0:53:37 > 0:53:40I looked at that text and I thought, "I want to set this to music."
0:53:40 > 0:53:42# ..Alleluia
0:53:42 > 0:53:44# Alleluia
0:53:44 > 0:53:47# Alleluia
0:53:47 > 0:53:49# Alleluia
0:53:49 > 0:53:52# Alleluia... #
0:53:52 > 0:53:56John's writing has been influenced by modern music -
0:53:56 > 0:53:58Broadway musicals, even The Beatles -
0:53:58 > 0:54:03but nevertheless, it never fails to evoke the feeling of a traditional Christmas.
0:54:03 > 0:54:07# ..Alleluia... #
0:54:07 > 0:54:10I wanted the idea of a single, innocent solo voice
0:54:10 > 0:54:13just accompanied by gentle humming.
0:54:13 > 0:54:15'There is a flower
0:54:15 > 0:54:16'Sprung of a tree
0:54:16 > 0:54:18'The root of it is called Jesse.'
0:54:18 > 0:54:23# There is a flower
0:54:23 > 0:54:26# Sprung of a tree
0:54:26 > 0:54:30# The root thereof
0:54:30 > 0:54:33# Is called Jesse... #
0:54:33 > 0:54:35'The flower of Christ
0:54:35 > 0:54:38'There is none such in Paradise.'
0:54:38 > 0:54:44# There is none such
0:54:44 > 0:54:57# In Paradise. #
0:54:59 > 0:55:03He knows the nature of the human voice inside out,
0:55:03 > 0:55:04so whatever he writes,
0:55:04 > 0:55:06you know it will be wonderfully vocal.
0:55:06 > 0:55:13# What sweeter music can we bring
0:55:13 > 0:55:14# Than a carol... #
0:55:14 > 0:55:16Since the end of the First World War
0:55:16 > 0:55:19King's College, Cambridge, has held a Christmas Eve service,
0:55:19 > 0:55:23that, thanks to broadcasting, has become an international institution
0:55:23 > 0:55:27and in 1987, John Rutter made his own unique contribution.
0:55:30 > 0:55:35It was a great day when the phone rang and Stephen Cleobury, the Director Of Music at King's College,
0:55:35 > 0:55:41said, "We've got a vacant spot in this year's Festival Of Nine Lessons And Carols.
0:55:41 > 0:55:44"Would you care to write a carol specially for us this year?"
0:55:47 > 0:55:52# ..That sees December turned to May... #
0:55:52 > 0:55:54John Rutter is one of
0:55:54 > 0:55:58the supreme contemporary composers of choral music
0:55:58 > 0:56:00and I knew that when I asked him,
0:56:00 > 0:56:03he would produce a Rolls-Royce model,
0:56:03 > 0:56:05which he absolutely did.
0:56:05 > 0:56:11# ..Or smell like a meadow newly shorn
0:56:11 > 0:56:16# Thus on the sudden Come and see... #
0:56:16 > 0:56:19I've always loved that Festival Of Lessons And Carols.
0:56:19 > 0:56:23It's one of my very first memories of Christmas, listening to it on the radio.
0:56:23 > 0:56:27And then when I became a student at Cambridge,
0:56:27 > 0:56:29I actually walked into King's College Chapel
0:56:29 > 0:56:33and I thought, "This is the place where, each year, it all happens
0:56:33 > 0:56:37"and people in their millions, all round the world, stop what they're doing
0:56:37 > 0:56:43"to join in this moment of anticipation and celebration of Christmas."
0:56:43 > 0:56:46For me, it was always magic
0:56:46 > 0:56:50and magic is what it remains.
0:56:50 > 0:56:55# ..With his sunshine and his showers
0:56:55 > 0:57:01# Turns all the patient ground to flowers
0:57:01 > 0:57:05# Turns all the patient ground... #
0:57:05 > 0:57:09I think the amazing thing now is that we've come full circle really
0:57:09 > 0:57:13and we're seeing this return to the great music of the past,
0:57:13 > 0:57:16but set alongside the great music of the modern day.
0:57:16 > 0:57:18# ..To this day
0:57:18 > 0:57:22# That sees December... #
0:57:22 > 0:57:27We've got 21st-century composers looking back to those medieval and renaissance ideals
0:57:27 > 0:57:30and putting their own take on this wonderful music.
0:57:30 > 0:57:35# ..Turn to May... #
0:57:35 > 0:57:37The revival of interest, in my lifetime,
0:57:37 > 0:57:40in the rich and sophisticated of sacred choral music
0:57:40 > 0:57:44is a living alternative to the secular sound of Christmas.
0:57:44 > 0:57:47Thanks to modern scholarship, modern technology,
0:57:47 > 0:57:48many wonderful choirs,
0:57:48 > 0:57:54it's never been easier to explore how the Nativity story has inspired composers,
0:57:54 > 0:57:56from humble to great, from Anonymous to JS Bach.
0:58:00 > 0:58:04Heaven and Earth filled with music celebrating the birth of Christ.
0:58:10 > 0:58:12A sacred continuity of the Christmas story,
0:58:12 > 0:58:15which is, perhaps, best expressed in music.
0:58:15 > 0:58:20THEY SING JOYFULLY
0:58:33 > 0:58:36Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:36 > 0:58:39E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk