Christmas 2019

One reality of Christmas (Photo: Simon Meeds)

Thanks to those who turned up for our traditional Christmas session last week. This Friday there will be no theme but I am sure there will be some (pre)Christmas hangovers as well as other seasonal offerings.

Last week we were started off in the Christmas direction by Colin with Sweet Christmas Bells, one of several versions of Nahum Tate's While Shepherds Watched adopted into the Yorkshire Carol repertoire... more of that later.

Talking of versions, and having had two variations of The Red Flag the previous week, Simon sang Mon Beau Sapin, a French version of O Tannenbaum, whose tune is often, though not originally, used for the politically connected anthem. O Tannenbaum was written by Ernst Anschütz in 1824 and translated into French by Laurent Delcasso. It was based on a 16th-century Silesian folk song by Melchior Franck.