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Cantique de Nöel |
for soprano and baritone soloists, chorus, strings, harp and organ (with optional timpani and brass)
Adolphe Adam (1805-56) is best known in Europe for his classical ballet, Giselle , but in North America it is Cantique de Noel (O Holy Night) that has made him a household name during the Christmas season. The song was written in Paris in the 1840's and scored for high solo voice with a simple, arpeggiated piano accompaniment. The original French text was by Mary Cappeau, with a later English adaptation by J. S. Dwight.
Since my youth choir days in West Virginia, I have enjoyed and admired Adam;s straighforward, economical setting of these texts as well as the wide variety of arrangements that appear each Christmas season. In recent years, however, I was attracted to the idea of an extended concert version using larger forces including soloists, chorus, string orchestra, timpani, organ and off-stage brass. As I began the project I was reminded that Hector Berlioz and Adolphe Adam wer exact contemporaries, born only a few months apart in 1803. The question that soon beguiled me was how Berlioz might have treated this same material if he had been given the opportunity to arrange it. My recomposition, elaboration and orchestration of Cantique de Noel was inspired by that whimsical thought and intriguing idea.
This new version of Cantique de Noel was written in November 1996, when I was the Associate Composer with the Orchestra of St Johns, Smith Square, London. It was a Christmas present to the orchestra and chorus and their conductor, John Lubbock, and originally formed the finale in a triptych of Christmas carol arrangement I composed between 1996 and 1998 which included The Carnal & the Crane and I Wonder as I Wander.
© Stephen Montague