A Winter Breviary — I. We Look for You (Evensong – Raag Hamsadhwani)

Music by Reena Esmail
Text by Rebecca Gayle Howell

Eventide, our single star,
One looking star, this night.
Next to me, the sparrow hen,
Two pilgrims small and bold.
Dusking hour, that lonely hour
The sky dims blue to grey.
Our forest road will fade,
We look for You.
Pines glisten wet with sleet,
She looks with me,
We look for You.
Fog falls in
So close, my breath,
She looks with me,
We look for You:
Great Silent One Unseen,
We look for You.
Eventide, our single star,
One looking star, this night.
We look for You,
Forgiving light, our guide.

In the Bleak Midwinter

Music by Harold Drake
Text by Christina Rosetti

In the bleak midwinter,
Frosty wind made moan.
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone.
Snow had fallen snow on snow,
Snow on snow.
In the bleak midwinter long ago.

Our God, Heav’n cannot hold Him,
Nor earth sustain.
Heav’n and earth shall flee away,
When He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter,
A stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, whom cherubim
Worship night and day,
A breast full of milk,
And a mangerful of hay,
Enough for Him, whom angels
Fall down before,
The ox and ass and camel, which adore.

What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd,
I would bring a lamb.
If I were a wise man,
I would do my part,
Yet what can I give Him, give my heart.

Angels We Have Heard on High

Gloria, traditional French carol
Translation by James Chadwick

Angels we have heard on high
Sweetly singing o’er the plains,
And the mountains in reply
Echoing their joyous strains.
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!

Shepherds, why this jubilee?
Why your joyous strains prolong?
What the gladsome tidings be
Which inspire your heav’nly song?
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!

Come to Bethlehem and see
Christ Whose birth the angels sing;
Come, adore on bended knee,
Christ the Lord, the newborn King.
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!

A Lullaby

Greek folksong
Music by Gerald Finzi
Translation by M. D. Calvocoressi

Rock my baby, rock my baby.
Lightning is flashing in the East.
(Rock my baby, nanny,
Rock him to sleep!)
Westwards, hark, there’s thunder loudly rolling.
Rock my baby, nanny, lest the storm awake him,
Rock him gently, may his dreams be happy!
Sleep, my darling son, while mother o’er thee watches.

Rock my baby, rock my baby.
Take him and lull him, kindly sleep!
(Sleep, my darling, baby safe in thy cot!)
Bring him sweet dreams and kindly sleep!
Three watchers have I summoned.
In the sky the sun,
The eagle on the mountain,
Over the sea the keen cool north wind blowing,
Over thee will watch, avert from thee all danger.

Nativity

Music by James Lavino
Text by John Donne

Immensity cloistered in thy dear womb,
Now leaves His well-belov’d imprisonment,
There He hath made Himself to His intent
Weak enough, now into the world to come;
But O, for thee, for Him, hath the inn no room?
Yet lay Him in this stall, and from the Orient,
Stars and wise men will travel to prevent
The effect of Herod’s jealous general doom.
Seest thou, my soul, with thy faith’s eyes, how He
Which fills all place, yet none holds Him, doth lie?
Was not His pity towards thee wondrous high,
That would have need to be pitied by thee?
Kiss Him, and with Him into Egypt go,
With His kind mother, who partakes thy woe.

Hark! the Herald Angels Sing

Music by Felix Mendelssohn
Arranged by David Willcocks
Text by C. Wesley, T. Whitefield, M. Madan, and others

Hark! the herald angels sing
Glory to the newborn King;
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled;
Joyful all ye nations rise,
Join the triumph of the skies,
With th’angelic host proclaim,
Christ is born in Bethlehem.
Hark! the herald angels sing
Glory to the newborn King.

Christ, by highest heav’n adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord,
Late in time behold him come
Offspring of a virgin’s womb;
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,
Hail th’incarnate Deity!
Pleased as man with man to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel.
Hark! the herald angels sing
Glory to the newborn King.

Hail the heav’n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
Risen with healing in his wings;
Mild he lays his glory by,
Born that man no more may die,
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth,
Hark! the herald angels sing
Glory to the newborn King.

A Winter Breviary — II. The Year’s Midnight (Matins – Raag Malkauns)

Music by Reena Esmail
Text by Rebecca Gayle Howell

The longest night is come,
A matins for beasts, they low, they kneel,
O, their sleep, their psalm sung.
A matins for trees, they slow, they stem,
O, their reach, their psalm won.
Hush, hush,
Can I hear them?
Can I hear what is not said?
Hush, hush,
Can I hear You?
Ev’ry need met.
To light, the path is dark,
Our star has gone.
Beneath my feet a year of leaves fallen, frozen, done.
I walk these woods,
The longest night is come,
Above me, the sparrow,
She brings our new seed home.
Brown true sparrow,
Take tomorrow home.

There Will Be Rest

Music by Frank Ticheli
Text by Sara Teasdale

There will be rest, and sure stars shining
Over the roof-tops crowned with snow,
A reign of rest, serene forgetting,
The music of stillness holy and low.

I will make this world of my devising
Out of a dream in my lonely mind.
I shall find the crystal of peace, – above me
Stars I shall find.

Two Christmas Lullabies

Music by Valentin Silvestrov
Traditional text

I. Sleep, Jesus…

Спи, Ісусе, спи, засни, спатоньки ходи.
Тебе буду колихати, пісеньками присипляти
Люляй, люляй, Серденько, спи, Ісусе, спи, Ісусе, засни.

Спи, Ісусе, спи, засни, оченьки зажмури.
Не питай, що колись будехрест готовлять Тобі люди
Люляй, люляй, Серденько, спи, Ісусе, спи, Ісусе, засни.

Sleep, Jesus, go to sleep, have a snooze.
I will rock you and lull you to sleep with songs. Lyu-lyay, lyu-lyay.
Sleep, my Sweetheart, sleep, Jesus, sleep well.

Sleep, Jesus, go to sleep. Close your little eyes.
Don’t ask what will be—people prepare a cross for you. Lyu-lyay, lyu-lyay.
Sleep, my Sweetheart, sleep, Jesus, sleep well.

II. Silent Night…

Тиха ніч, святая ніч, ясність ллється від зірниць.
Дитинонька пресвята така ясна, мов зоря, спочиває втихім сні.

Silent Night, Holy Night, clarity is flowing down from the stars.
A holy child, as bright as a sunrise, is resting in silent sleep.

Joy to the World!

Antioch, Handel
Music by Lowell Mason
Text by Isaac Watts

Joy to the world! the Lord is come:
Let earth receive her King.
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing.

Joy to the earth! the Savior reigns;
Let all their songs employ,
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of his righteousness
And wonders of his love.

Balulalow

Music by Francis Pott
Text by James, John, and Robert Wedderburn

O my deare hert, young Jesu sweit,
Prepare thy creddil in my spreit,
And I sall rock thee to my hert,
And never mair from thee depart.
But I sall praise thee evermoir
With sanges sweit unto thy gloir.
The knees of my hert sall I bow,
And sing that richt Balulalow.

Wake, Awake, for Night is Flying

Music and Text by Philipp Nicolai
Arrangement by F. Melius Christiansen
Translation by William Cook

Wake, awake, for night is flying:
The watchmen on the heights are crying,
Awake, Jerusalem, arise!
Midnight’s solemn hour is tolling,
His chariot wheels are nearer rolling;
He comes; prepare, ye virgins wise.
Rise up; with willing feet,
Go forth, the Bridegroom meet,
Hallelujah.
Bear through the night your well-trim’d light,
Speed forth to join the marriage rite.

Hear Thy praise, O Lord, ascending
From tongues of men and angels blending
With harps and lute and psaltery.
By Thy pearly gates in wonder
We stand, and swell the voice of thunder,
In bursts of choral melody.
No vision ever brought,
No ear hath ever caught,
Such bliss and joy:
We raise the song, we swell the throng,
To praise Thee ages all along.

O Come, All Ye Faithful

Adeste Fideles, arrangement by David Willcocks
Translation by F. Oakeley and W.T. Brooke

O come, all ye faithful,
Joyful and triumphant.
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem:
Come and behold him
Born the King of Angels:
O come, let us adore him,
Christ the Lord!

God of God,
Light of Light.
Lo! he abhors not the Virgin’s womb:
Very God,
Begotten, not created:
O come, let us adore him,
Christ the Lord!

Sing, choirs of angels,
Sing in exultation,
Sing, all ye citizens of heav’n above;
Glory to God
In the highest:
O come, let us adore him,
Christ the Lord!

Yea, Lord we greet thee,
Born this happy morning,
Jesu, to thee be glory giv’n;
Word of the Father,
Now in flesh appearing:
O come, let us adore him,
Christ the Lord!

Silent Night

Music by Franz Xaver Gruber
Arrangement by Patrick Vu
Text by Franz Joseph Mohr
Translation by John F. Young

Silent night! Holy night!
All is calm, all is bright.
Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child.
Holy Infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night! Holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight;
Glories stream from heaven afar;
Heav’nly hosts sing “Alleluia!
Christ the Savior is born.”

Silent night! Holy night!
Son of God, love’s pure light;
Radiant beams from Thy holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord at thy birth.

A Winter Breviary — III. The Unexpected Early Hour (Lauds – Raag Ahir Bhairav)

Music by Reena Esmail
Text by Rebecca Gayle Howell

Praise be! praise be!
The dim, the dun, the dark withdraws
Our recluse morning's found.
The river’s alive
The clearing provides
Lie down, night sky, lie down.
I feel the cold wind leaving, gone,
I feel the frost’s relief.
My tracks in the snow can still be erased
In us, the sun believes.
Winter is, Winter ends,
So the true bird calls.
The rocks cry out
My bones cry out
All the trees applaud.
Ev’ry hard thing lauds.
Lie down, night sky, lie down.
I know the seeding season comes,
I know the ground will spring.
My fate is not night
I don't need to try
Behold! The dawn, within.
Horizon lights across my thoughts,
Horizon lines redraw.
Inside of my throat a rise of the gold
Inside my chest I thaw.
Winter is, Winter ends,
Nothing stays the same.
The moon strikes high,
The sun strikes high and
Now I hear your name:
Earth’s Untired Change.
Praise be! praise be!
The unexpected early hour
grows the good light long.
Our darkness ends,
O mercy sun,
Trust can warm us all.
Begin again, again, again,
O may our day begin!