Earlier this year I released the CD of my Christmas song cycle, “All Heaven and it was One Hour Old,” featuring soprano Venicia Wilson and pianist Lynn Claire Jemmison-Keisker. It is now available on Bandcamp, which is my favorite method of sharing music with my friends, as you can listen to complete tracks before you purchase.
This cycle is based on the lovely Christmas poetry of Katherine Tynan. When I decided I wanted to do a set of Christmas songs, I naturally gravitated to her thoughtful and thought-provoking work. In searching for a 5th poem to complete the set, I stumbled across an obscure reference to a poem called “The Christmas Bird” in a university ‘special collections’ archive and requested a copy of the poem. Months went by and I figured they were just ignoring my request . . .
Almost a year later a photocopy of Katherine Tynan’s original, hand-written, barely-legible manuscript of ”The Christmas Bird” arrived with a note about how their library email system had crashed they were just now catching up with the old inquiries. I was ecstatic, but could only read about half of the words on the manuscript.
We spent days, as a family, going over that page, comparing letters in known words to the unintelligible scribbles that eluded definition. Though we ended up having to make some guesses in the end, I think we came pretty close to deciphering it, and I hope spot on with the message of the poem. It became the first song in the set of songs, “The Christmas Bird” being a herald announcing with joy the wondrous story of Christmas, to which the rest of the songs focus on more traditionally.
I hope you enjoy my setting and have a very merry, peaceful, joyous, loving Christmas Season.
P.S. Singers! Get the free sheet music for “All Heaven and it was One Hour Old.”
