for SATB, brass ensemble, timpani, optional handbells, and optional organ OR SATB and piano This is a joyful carol in which John Rutter sets a traditional English text to a bold and straightforward melody and creates an uplifting work replete with forthright Christmas cheer. Instrumental parts are available on hire. The handbell part is printed in the vocal score.
John Rutter studied music at Clare College, Cambridge and first came to notice as a composer and arranger of Christmas carols and other choral pieces during those early years; today his compositions, including such concert-length works as Requiem,Magnificat,Mass of the Children,The Gift of Life, and Visionsare performed around the world. John edits the Oxford Choral Classics series,and, with Sir David Willcocks, co-edited four volumes of Carols for Choirs.In 1983 he formed his own choir The Cambridge Singers, with whom he has made numerous recordings on the Collegium Records label, and he appears regularly in several countries as a guest conductor and choral ambassador.John holds a Lambeth Doctorate in Music in 2007 was awarded a CBE for services to music.In September 2023, he received the Ivors Academy Fellowship, and in 2024 he was knighted in the Kings Birthday Honours.
