Songs For All Seasons

Continuing our Yule theme with only 3 days to go until Winter Solstice, today's Song of the Day is a setting of a poem called "The Mistletoe" by Bryan Waller Procter (1787-1874). Unusually for a poem it has a chorus of sorts, which lends itself nicely to a musical setting. This song is being beta tested by my friends The Mearns Singers and I am very much looking forward to hearing their recording of it! Bryan Waller Procter was a Yorkshire man and a lawyer, educated at Harrow and schoolmates with such notable fellows as Lord Byron and Sir Robert Peel, who was to become Prime Minister. He began writing poetry in 1815 under the pseudonym Barry Cornwall. This poem is written from the point of view of young ladies who enjoy watching their menfolk bring in various evergreens to decorate the house, beginning with laurel and holly, but then the poem takes a slightly cheeky turn when the men "laugh low" and bring in the mistletoe. The Mistletoe By Bryan Waller Procter ...

We are well into the heart of Christmas season now - winter solstice is almost upon us, Christmas shopping is in full swing, trees are up and spirits are high - that Out of Office is just around the corner! As well as writing "Christmas" songs, I decided to also write "Yule" songs - looking at the Yule traditions that have been incorporated into our modern-day Christmas celebrations, such as singing, lighting candles, decorating our homes with holly and mistletoe, burning a Yule log, decorating a tree branch (later a whole tree), and of course, feasting! Today's Song of the Day is a setting of a poem called The Story of the Holly Sprig by American poet Arthur Upson (1877 – 1908). Upson's life was tragically brief, ending at just 31 when he fell from a boat, either inadvertently or, as some speculated, in a heart-breaking act of despair. In the heartfelt tributes that followed his passing, he was hailed as a bright talent, with his work drawing comparisons to...