Details, words and tunes for your participation. No practice or rehearsal needed.

PROGRAMME (order may change)

Carols (scroll down for the words and tunes):

God rest ye merry gentlemen
O little town of Bethlehem
The First Nowell
It came upon a midnight clear
We wish you a Merry Christmas

Instrumental piece:

world première of DuoBlues for Henry by David Loxley-Blount (click the title for further details about the piece, which includes quotes from the above carols)

Playing for you today are:

Jonathan Rennert (organ) &
David Loxley-Blount (saxophone)
The organ is called Henry and we are collecting donations for Pipe Up for Pipe Organs

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GOD REST YE MERRY GENTLEMEN

God rest ye merry, gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember, Christ, our Saviour
Was born on Christmas day
To save us all from Satan's power
When we were gone astray
O tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

 

From God our Heavenly Father
A blessed Angel came
And unto certain Shepherds
Brought tidings of the same
How that in Bethlehem was born
The Son of God by Name
O tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

 

Now to the Lord sing praises
All you within this place
And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace
This holy tide of Christmas
All other doth deface
O tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

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O LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM

O little town of Bethlehem,
    How still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
    The silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
    The everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years
    Are met in thee to-night.

O morning stars, together
    Proclaim the holy birth!
And praises sing to God the King,
    And peace to men on earth.
For Christ is born of Mary
    And gathered all above,
While mortals sleep the Angels keep
    Their watch of wondering love.

O holy Child of Bethlehem,
    Descend to us, we pray!
Cast out our sin and enter in,
    Be born in us to-day.
We hear the Christmas angels,
    The great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,
    Our Lord Emmanuel!

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THE FIRST NOWELL

The first Nowell the angel did say
Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay;
In fields where they lay, keeping their sheep,
On a cold winter's night that was so deep

Refrain:
Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Nowell,
born is the King of Israel.

They looked up and saw a star,
Shining in the east, beyond them far:
And to the earth it gave great light,
And so it continued both day and night
[Refrain]

Then let us all with one accord
Sing praises to our heavenly Lord
That hath made heaven and earth of nought,
And with his blood mankind hath bought
[Refrain]

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IT CAME UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR

It came upon a midnight clear,
    That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth
    To touch their harps of gold;
"Peace on the earth, good will to men
    From heaven’s all-gracious King" –
The world in solemn stillness lay
    To hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come
    With peaceful wings unfurled,
And still their heavenly music floats
    O'er all the weary world;
Above its sad and lowly plains
    They bend on hovering wing,
And ever o'er its Babel-sounds
    The blessed angels sing.

For lo! the days are hastening on
    By prophet bards foretold,
When, with the ever circling years
    Shall come the age of gold;
When Peace shall over all the earth,
    Its ancient splendors fling,
And the whole world give back the song,
    Which now the angels sing.

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WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS

We wish you a merry Christmas,
we wish you a merry Christmas,
we wish you a merry Christmas
and a happy New Year.
Good tidings we bring
to you and your kin;
we wish you a merry Christmas
and a happy New Year.

Now bring us some figgy pudding,
now bring us some figgy pudding,
now bring us some figgy pudding,
and bring some out here.
Good tidings we bring
to you and your kin;
we wish you a merry Christmas
and a happy New Year.

For we all like figgy pudding,
we all like figgy pudding,
we all like figgy pudding,
so bring some out here!
Good tidings we bring
to you and your kin;
we wish you a merry Christmas
and a happy New Year.

For we won't go until we've got some,
we won't go until we've got some,
we won't go until we've got some,
so bring some out here!
Good tidings we bring
to you and your kin;
we wish you a merry Christmas
and a happy New Year.

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Biographies:

Jonathan Rennert is an English organist, conductor and writer. He gave his debut broadcast organ recital at the age of 19 in Westminster Cathedral, having become a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists at 18.

Rennert studied at the Royal College of Music under Richard Popplewell, John Barstow and William Lloyd Webber, and at Cambridge (where he was organ scholar of St John's College) under George Guest and Gillian Weir. Awards included Cambridge University's John Stewart of Rannoch Scholarship in Sacred Music and 'Greater London Arts Association Young Musician 1975'. Short periods based in London and Ottawa were followed by his appointment in 1979 as Director of Music of St Michael's Cornhill, the church which has been his base for 40 years. Here he has given more than 400 of the weekly lunchtime organ recitals, and continued the musical traditions of such predecessors as William Boyce (the 18th-century composer) and Harold Darke.

He has tended to specialise in the music of J S Bach and romantic English composers, though he also gives first performances of new music. He has given organ recitals in many countries, and in 'celebrity' series at the Royal Festival Hall, St Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, and was Musician-in-Residence at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco. There are several CDs, including a choral disc of music by George Dyson in which Rennert conducted St Michael's Singers and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Other choirs of which he has been chief conductor include the Elizabethan Singers and St Cecilia Chorus.

His writings include biographies of the infant prodigy and composer William Crotch (1975) and of the organist George Thalben-Ball (1979). He has served as President of The Organ Club, Warden of the Incorporated Society of Musicians and Master of the Worshipful Company of Musicians. He was until recently a senior moderating examiner for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music.

David Loxley-Blount is an award winning British Composer based in London. Besides performances in many churches and Cathedrals his work has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, performed at the Palace of Westminster and sung under the Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square. Recent performances outside the UK have taken place in Switzerland, Denmark and the USA. In the last couple of months his music has been premiered in Bloomsbury, and played at Westminster Cathedral and in Bristol, at St Mary Redcliffe. His first instrument is Saxophone, but this is a relatively rare public outing as a saxophonist. He was last heard performing in recital (saxophone and organ) in the beautiful acoustic of the J. L. Pearson designed church of St Michael and All Angels, Croydon. David is currently still recovering from a devastating left wrist fracture sustained in the autumn of 2021; which has required 2 operations, a lot of screws and a metal plate. For David's full biobraphy as a composer please visit: http://www.djloxley-blount.co.uk/about.html

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David Loxley-Blount BSc BA (Hons) FNCM ALCM MISM FRSA