Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella

A luminous setting of the traditional French carol for treble choir and piano with obbligato flute, oboe, and violin.  The instruments provide much interest, trading off the solo phrases of the carol’s beautiful melody to open and close the piece.  On the second verse, they circle around the unison voices, with the flute on a soaring descant and the violin on an active, baroque-style accompaniment.  A beautiful, modulating interlude leads into a third verse in which the three treble parts enter successively, suggesting the excitement of rushing to see the new baby.  But as soon as they arrive, they quickly grow quiet, not wanting to wake the sleeping baby: “Hush, hush, see how fast he slumbers; hush, hush, see how fast he sleeps!”

Background

In 2004, I served as music director for a CBS Christmas Eve special called “Enter the Light of Life.”  I wrote a number of new arrangements for that broadcast, including a setting of “Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella” for solo flute, oboe, and violin.  The following year, I was commissioned to provide a CD’s worth of Christmas arrangements for the Juniata College Concert Choir, and decided to add womens’ voices to the flute, oboe, violin version of “Bring a Torch”.  Since most of the musical activity was already provided by the instruments, the singers are mostly unison throughout the piece.  But with a melody as beautiful as this one, it does not seem a loss!  On the third verse, a crest is reached as the singers break into three parts and are joined by all the instruments, as if they were all rushing together to the stable to see the newborn child.  Then the excitement subsides and the piece closes softly as it began, with the solo instruments giving one last hearing of the carol’s perfect melody.