Most people acknowledge that phrases like “the Christmas spirit” and “the magic of Christmas” describe real phenomena, but precisely how to define them is another matter. Perhaps we could say that a whole array of traditions creates something more meaningful than the sum of its parts. These traditions include not only exterior decorations and gifts but also the interior, haunting sensibilities of childhood, a nostalgia for long-gone people and places, and even the sentimental associations we feel from revisiting, yet again, long-cherished and beautiful music.
The centuries-old tradition of choral music, or more generally of people singing together as a group in many forms, must certainly also hold a place deep in our collective cultural consciousness. One choral focal point (or, pardon me, vocal point) for many people is the Christmas Eve tradition of “Nine Lessons and Carols,” especially as it has been established at King’s College, one of the colleges of the University of Cambridge, in England.
King’s College annual performances of that service began in 1918 and have been broadcast every Christmas Eve (but one, 1930) since 1928, and worldwide since World War II. This year, in spite of the pandemic, the performance and broadcast will go on, although without a live audience present.
The Performance
The traditional version still performed at King’s College is only slightly varied from year to year. In a nutshell, after the choir processes in to a solo boy chorister singing “Once in David’s Royal City,” there are nine parts to the service, each of which begins with a short Scripture reading, done by nine different people associated with the choir, college, or community, followed by two “carols” sung by the choir.A few of the carols are replaced by a “hymn,” which by definition is sung by the congregation with the choir. The carols can vary from year to year and may be recent or several centuries old, such as “Angels From the Realms of Glory,” “In Dulci Jubilo,” and “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming.” Every year since 1982, a new carol has been commissioned for inclusion, from composers including John Tavener and James MacMillan.
The “Service of Nine Lessons and Carols” actually predates King’s College. It was devised in 1880 by one Edward White Benson in Truro, England, in Cornwall.
At the end of World War I, a former chaplain who had become dean of King’s College, Eric Milner-White, decided that after the horrors of the war it would be more uplifting to celebrate the “Lessons and Carols” on Christmas Eve, rather than the usual Evensong (the early evening Anglican service that takes place around the same time as Catholic Vespers).
However, those of us of a certain age can remember a bit more singing by the public generally than we notice in popular culture now, whether around the campfire or on a hayride, in kids’ clubs, or around a home piano. More people then, it seems to this writer, could sing “Happy Birthday” in tune than can now. A check with the American Choral Directors’ Choral Journal does not confirm any statistics on this speculation, but anecdotal observation would suggest that the month of December may be the most likely month that many people hear a choir at all.
So, thanks to classic Christmas recordings and live holiday concerts, December is a month to celebrate the genre and perhaps to add the “Lessons and Carols” to our annual playlist, if it is not already there.
