O Little Town
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O Little Town
By Lewis H. Redner, ed./arr. by Jackson Berkey/ Text by Phillip Brooks, freely adapted by Jackson Berkey.
Item: 36-J07102
$2.95
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Description
In "O, Little Town", Jackson Berkey freely adapts the well-known lyrics of "O little town of Bethlehem" by Phillip Brooks, a rector of Philadelphia's Holy Trinity Episcopal Church. Brooks' text was apparently inspired during an 1865 Christmas Eve service at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, on his trip to the Holy Land. His organist, Lewis Redner, supplied the tune for its first performance at Christmastime three years later at Holy Trinity. The beautiful opening with piano and organ, leads the choir to implore our Lord Emmanuel to "come to us, abide with us." A great extension in the line begs for that blessed visit. Almost as soon as this grand prayer is expressed, a quiet and rather mysterious instrumental background with choral tone clusters paints the picture of the simple town that would soon welcome the Infant, the Son of God, the majestic King. In the silence and the darkness, our hopes and fears come to the forefront and are met in the One, the special Gift to all people. A beautiful baritone solo expresses the silence of the "wondrous gift" and the "blessings of his heaven", which become a mantra in the choir. One more full expression of Him meeting "our hopes and fears of all the years" finishes introspectively with a quiet "holy Child of Bethlehem." The occasional divisi among voice parts is logical and easily heard. The increase of vocal textures, modal shifts, and the mirroring of melodic lines between parts give depth and distinction of timbre and create many hues of vocal color.
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