Songs For All Seasons

It is the 1st of May - the sun is shining, the air is warm. May Day Bank Holiday may not be until Monday but today is May-Day nonetheless. May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the Northern Hemisphere's Spring equinox and Midsummer solstice. The earliest known May celebrations appeared with the Floralia, festival of Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers, held from 27 April to 3 May during the Roman Republic era, and the Maiouma or Maiuma, a festival celebrating Dionysus and Aphrodite held every three years during the month of May. The best known modern May Day traditions, observed both in Europe and North America, include dancing around the maypole and crowning the Queen of May. The poem for today's Song of the Day is called May-Day by English poet John Clare. From Helpston in rural Northamptonshire, John Clare was born in 1793. He is now regarded as the most important poet of the na...

Today's Song of the Day was written for the theme of St. George's Day, which was yesterday, but it can be used for any April concert as it is a setting of Robert Browning's famous poem "Home-Thoughts, from Abroad". Robert Browning (1812 – 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian poets. By the age of 12, Browning had written a book of poetry, which he later destroyed for want of a publisher. After attending one or two private schools he was educated at home by a tutor, using the resources of his father's 6000-book strong library. By 14 he was fluent in French, Greek, Italian and Latin. He became an admirer of the Romantic poets, especially Shelley, whom he followed in becoming an atheist and a vegetarian. At 16, he studied Greek at University College London, but left after his first year. His parents' evangelical faith prevented his studying at either Oxford or Cambridge University, both then open o...

Happy St. George's Day! Of all the 77 songs in this collection, the one I am sharing with you today is one of my favourites. It almost wrote itself, seemingly springing from my pencil fully-formed! I wrote the whole thing in a single day - the quickest of all of them. I had visions the entire time of a whole football pitch of England fans singing this. Before you laugh, football took Nessun Dorma to its heart in 1990 - and that was chosen simply for the fact that the lyrics contain the word "vincerò" meaning "I will win" in Italian. So, if there are any people out there on whichever committee chooses football theme tunes - check this one out for England's next big tournament! I stole a tiny snippet of a very famous (public domain) hymn tune for part of this song - see if you can spot it! St. George was not actually English. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the Roman army. Of Cappadocian Greek origin, he became a member of the Praetorian Guard...

Today's Song of the Day celebrates a day many of us may be unfamiliar with.  22nd April is Yggdrasil Day. Yggdrasil is the World Tree in Norse mythology, a great Ash Tree that connects our world to the others, with branches that reach high into the Heavens. The tree is supported by its three great roots and is the place where Gods collectively govern over our world. Also known in much of the world as the 'Tree of Life', this day is all about celebrating it as the source of life and of the magnificent nature that supports us and the world around us.  It is important to understand our place within the Universe and to spend time appreciating the co-dependency that we have for each other's existence. You can honour Yggdrasil Day by finding a quiet woodland space. Allow yourself to become immersed with your surroundings and be one with the blessings of nature. The generally accepted meaning of Old Norse Yggdrasill is "Odin's horse", meaning "gallows"....

Happy Easter! After Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, inevitably comes Easter Sunday, the day when Christians globally celebrate the miracle of Christ's resurrection from the tomb. Easter traditions vary across the Christian world, and include sunrise services or late-night vigils, exclamations and exchanges of Paschal greetings, flowering the cross, the wearing of Easter bonnets by women and consuming Easter eggs. The Easter lily, a symbol of the resurrection in Western Christianity, traditionally decorates the chancel area of churches on this day and for the rest of Eastertide. Additional customs that have become associated with Easter and are observed by both Christians and some non-Christians include Easter parades, communal dancing (Eastern Europe), the Easter Bunny and egg hunting. There are also traditional Easter foods that vary by region and culture. Today's Easter Song of the Day is a setting of a poem called "Easter" by American poet Fannie Isabelle Sherrick...

Today is Good Friday - the day when Christians globally remember the crucifixion of Christ on the cross. Members of many Christian denominations observe Good Friday with fasting and church services. In many Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and Methodist churches, the Service of the Great Three Hours' Agony is held from noon until 3 p.m.—the hours the Bible records darkness covering the land until Jesus' death on the cross. The term Good Friday comes from the sense 'pious, holy' of the word good. Less common examples of expressions based on this obsolete sense of good include 'the good book" for the Bible, 'good tide' for Christmas or Shrovetide, and Good Wednesday for the Wednesday in Holy Week. The poem I have set to commemorate this solemn day is "Good Friday" by Christina Rossetti. In it, the narrator is struggling with a crisis of faith, that they can contemplate the crucifixion of Christ, His suffering and sacrifice without being moved, as ot...

Today is Maundy Thursday, the day before Good Friday, the day when Christians commemorate the Last Supper of Jesus and his disciples. The three Synoptic Gospels and the First Epistle to the Corinthians include the account of the institution of the Eucharist in which Jesus takes bread, breaks it and gives it to those present, saying "This is my body given to you". The Gospel of John tells of Jesus washing the feet of the apostles, giving the new commandment "to love one another as I have loved you". The word Maundy is the name of the Christian rite of foot-washing, memorialising the act of Jesus.      "It's beautiful."         ~ Cathures Chamber Choir Today's song is a setting of a poem called Maundy Thursday by Christina Rossetti. In this poem, Christ is described metaphorically as a Great Vine leaving the glory of Heaven to reign as Forest King, to be met with resistance ...