A Suite of Carols

A Suite of Carols 1: Hark! the Herald Angels Sing - Felix Mendelssohn 2: Still, Still, Still - Austrian Melody 3: It Came upon a Midnight Clear - Richard Storrs Willis 4: Angels from the Realms of Glory - Traditional French Carol (Angels We Have Heard on High) Programme note: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing This carol first appeared in 1739 in the collection Hymns and Sacred Poems. Words were provided by the Methodists Charles Wesley and George Whitefield. In 1840 Mendelssohn composed a cantata to commemorate Johann Gutenbergs invention of movable type printing, and it is music from this cantata that we associate with the carol today. Still, Still, Still. The melody of this carol is first to be found in an 1865 book of folk-songs from Salzburg. The words are a gentle lullaby. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear Edmund Sears wrote the words of this carol in 1849, and they refer, unusually, to contemporary times. The original melody was soon abandoned and Richard Storrs Willis was requested to write a new one. The result is a classic. Angels from the Realms of Glory. This carol, known as Angels We Have Heard on High in the USA, has words written by Scottish Poet James Montgomery. Since their first publication in 1825 they have been sung to numerous different tunes but the modern choice is a version of the French carol Anges dans nos campagnes. This set was kindly commissioned by Mainstreet Brass, from Easton, PA, USA.