Welcome to Anthem 43 in my attempt to write a new choir anthem every week for a year. I’m Kevin Mulryne and I hope you will enjoy listening to my progress throughout 2024. Please do visit the website Anthem52.com, follow along on x.com – @realanthem52 or Instagram – @realanthem52 and send me a message to show@anthem52.com.

Despite fitting in little bits of composition time around everything else that is currently occupying us, this anthem seemed to flow fairly well. I’ve resisted the temptation to start writing Christmas Carols until now. Writing carols is how I discovered that I could compose for choirs quickly, much to my surprise so I have been looking forward to having another go at this seasonal activity.

The words came from the practically inexhaustible source of Isaac Watts, yet again and I went for verse 1 and 2 and the final one from his carol.

Here are the words I chose:

Words for Anthem 43:

Behold, the grace ap­pears,
The pro­mise is ful­filled;
Mary, the won­drous vir­gin, bears,
And Je­sus is the Child.

The Lord, the high­est God,
Calls Him His on­ly Son;
He bids Him rule the lands abroad,
And gives Him Da­vid’s throne.

Glory to God on high!
And heav’n­ly peace on earth;
Goodwill to men, to an­gels joy,
At our Re­deem­er’s birth!

I was a little concerned that Christmas Carols can tip over into saccharine banality if you are not careful but, on the other hand, I suppose Christmas Carols need to sound … Christmassy, for want of a better word. I’m not sure I managed to do that.

After a short organ introduction that just manages to stay the right side of ‘ordinary’ harmony, the choir enter and repeat a version of what the organ has played. The concluding cadence is elongated to try and avoid the ordinary and then organ and choir repeat similar material another twice. It’s fairly declamatory to reflect the opening 2 lines – “Behold, the grace ap­pears, The pro­mise is ful­filled;” before a quieter section to emphasis the next words – “Mary, the won­drous vir­gin, bears, And Je­sus is the Child.” I quite like the way the organ accompanies this section with lots of movement before the words are repeated by 2 choir parts at a time.

A short unaccompanied section leads to the organ part repeating the same material as the opening several times while the bass is alone, then the 2 inner parts, then the soprano part enters and finally the bass again. The effect of growth to a climax is fun. Finally in this section, the unaccompanied choir declaims, “And gives Him David’s throne.”

I realise now that the opening organ material has become a theme or refrain and I think it works quite well. We hear it again before the final climactic verse where passages of accompanied and unaccompanied singing lead to a rallentando and the repeated final phrase.

I’m still not sure it really sounds like a Christmas Carol but I think it works well as a piece of music – so that’s a start, at least.

Anyway, see what you think:

Well, what do you think? Let me know on X.com @realanthem52, Instagram @realanthem52, as a comment below or via email show@anthem52.com

I hope you will join me next week for a new episode – and a new anthem – only 9 to go – but until then the question remains – will I make it to Anthem 52?