O Holy Night (Rutter) - Alto 2

See the playlist for all the learning tracks :)

Title: O Holy Night

Composer: Adolphe Adam (1803-56)

Arranger: John Rutter (1945-)

Second Arranger: J Hewitt (1997-)

Voicing: SATB with piano / organ

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Our next concert is in December 2019, where we'll be performing this piece of music. I've uploaded this and the other learning tracks predominantly for my choir's usage, but I hope any others who struggle to learn in rehearsals will find this useful. If there are any mistakes, please do let me know.

Sopranos only divide twice (bars 64 and 65, and later at bar 93), and altos only once (bars 35-39).

This is a 'splice' of two different arrangements by John Rutter for the classic 'O Holy Night.' I sang an SSA version in secondary school and I just couldn't let go of some of the more 'epic' moments from the SSA when bringing it to an SATB choir. I wasn't overly keen on Rutter's composition for the first verse either (hmmms and ahhs seemed less interesting, especially when compared) so I wrote out both and replaced the first verse with the SSA version, and left the other two as is. It works quite nicely, with an SA focus for verse one, a TB focus with SA descant for verse two, and tutti in harmony for verse three. Not to everyone's taste, but it seems popular amongst my singers!

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Lyrics:

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining,

It is the night of the dear Saviour’s birth;

Long lay the world in sin and error pining,

'Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn;

Fall on your knees, Oh hear the angel voices!

O night divine! O night when Christ was born.

O night, O holy night, O night divine.

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming;

With glowing hearts by his cradle we stand:

So, led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,

Here come the wise men from Orient land,

The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger,

In all our trials born to be our friend;

He knows our need, He guardeth us from danger!

Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!

Behold your King! your King! before him bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another;

His law is Love and His gospel is Peace;

Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother,

And in his name all oppression shall cease,

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful Chorus raise we;

Let all within us praise his Holy name!

Christ is the Lord, O praise his name forever!

His pow'r and glory, evermore proclaim!

His pow'r and glory, evermore proclaim!

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To find out more about Rutter:

I bought my own score from MusicRoom

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To find out more about Schola Apium:

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