Twelve Carols from Herefordshire

Subject: Twelve Carols from Herefordshire
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 02 Dec 11 - 09:34 AM

A new edition of Twelve Traditional Carols from Herefordshire is published today by Stainer & Bell - just in time for Christmas. It's edited by Roy Palmer, and he has recorded interviews for Woman's Hour during the week before Christmas, probably on 23rd December, and another for Genevieve Tudor's local radio folk programme.

Collected and arranged by E. M. Leather and R. Vaughan Williams
Edited by Roy Palmer Ref D97 £7.50

SATB unaccompanied, or voice(s) and piano

First published in 1920, the Twelve Traditional Carols from Herefordshire have been entirely reset in a new and practical format, with the choral arrangements of the songs underlaid for all the verses and presented in open score alongside voice-and-keyboard versions for accompanied or solo performance. An acknowledged authority in the subject, Roy Palmer has provided fascinating notes on the texts and music. His preface places the collection in the context of Vaughan Williams's lifelong interest in folk song both as collector and creative artist, and of his collaboration with Ella Mary Leather, who did much to preserve the folklore heritage of her native county and of the gipsy tradition in particular. The Twelve Traditional Carols from Herefordshire have been recorded by baritone Derek Welton and pianist Iain Burnside on Albion Records ALBCD013.

CONTENTS
1 The Holy Well (First Version)
2 The Holy Well (Second Version)
3 Christmas Now is Drawing Near at Hand
4 Joseph and Mary (to the tune of There is a Fountain)
5 God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen
6 New Year's Carol
7 The Angel Gabriel
8 On Christmas Day
9 Dives and Lazarus
10 The Miraculous Harvest (or The Carnal and the Crane)
11 The Saviour's Love
12 The Seven Virgins (or Under the Leaves)

Subject: RE: Twelve Carols from Herefordshire
From: JohnB
Date: 02 Dec 11 - 11:20 PM

No doubt the Roy Palmer edition is great, as are his other many books. However I found the original Version here , along with many other complete books, songs etc.
I assume they are all out of original copywrite.
I really only did the search to see what was available, as I am performing one of the Hereford Carols(#8 above) this Christmas. I got my version from a Lucy Broadwood collection, which I purchased last year from Mudcat Auction.
JohnB.

Subject: RE: Twelve Carols from Herefordshire
From: Tradsinger
Date: 03 Dec 11 - 03:59 AM

I have a copy of the original. Are there any recordings of these arrangements?

Tradsinger

Subject: RE: Twelve Carols from Herefordshire
From: Mick Tems
Date: 03 Dec 11 - 04:21 AM

This is The Sally Tree, from the Mick Tems South Wales Archive Collection - a carol from Radnorshire, Wales. I particularly like the twist in the story!

The Sally Tree

1. As it fell out upon one day
It was of a holy day
Sweet Jesus asked his mother dear
If he might go and play

2. To play, to play and you be gone
And play and get you on
And let me hear of no complaint
At night when you return

3. Then he went down in Yonder's Town
As far as he could see
And there he saw some fine children
As fine as tongue could tell

4. He bid God bless them every one
Crying: Save their souls, sighed he
Little children shall I play with you
And you shall play with me

5. Oh no, replied they unto the Lord
That never, never must be
Never can you play with us
Who will never play with thee

6. For we are lords' and ladies' sons
Born in our bowered hall
And you be but a poor maid's child
Born in an ox's stall

7. He turned his back to go away
He neither laughed nor smiled
But the tears ran trickling down his cheek
Like water from the skies

8. Then he went home to his mother
I have been down in Yonder's Town
And there I saw some fine children
As fine as tongue could tell

9. I bid God bless them every one
Crying: Save their souls, signed he
Little children shall I play with you
And you shall play with me

10. Oh no, replied they to the Lord
That never, never must be
Never can you play with us
Who will never play with thee

11. For we are lords' and ladies' sons
Born in our bowered hall
They said I was but a poor maid's child
Born in an ox's stall

12. Go back, go back, mild Mary said
Go back and.... (lost)
And take every one of the sinful souls
And dip them deep in hell

13. Oh no, replied sweet Jesus Christ
For that would never be
There are too many of the sinful world
Crying out for the help of me

14. And then she took a sally twig
And well she twigged me
And after that I set the twig
And it grew to a sally tree.

Subject: RE: Twelve Carols from Herefordshire
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Dec 11 - 06:22 AM

Sweet Jesus, go down to yonder town,
    As far as the Holy Well,
And take away those sinful souls,
    And dip them deep in Hell.

As It Fell Out One May Morning, Alternate Title: The Holy Well
Words and Music: English Folk, England (possibly Herfordshire) (sic), 15-17th Century; Bramley and Stainer indicate "Traditional (Derbyshire)" Source: William Sandys, Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern (London: Richard Beckley, 1833)

From; http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/as_it_fell_out_one_may_morning.htm

Subject: RE: Twelve Carols from Herefordshire
From: Tradsinger
Date: 04 Dec 11 - 04:54 PM

So no recordings, then?

Subject: RE: Twelve Carols from Herefordshire
From: giles earle
Date: 04 Dec 11 - 05:54 PM

This CD is listed by Amazon as including the twelve carols, sung by baritone Derek Welton accompanied by Ian Burnside.

Subject: RE: Twelve Carols from Herefordshire
From: GUEST,davemc
Date: 05 Dec 11 - 08:50 AM

"I found the original Version here , along with many other complete books, songs etc. I assume they are all out of original copywrite."

RVW died in 1958 so all of his arrangements are still in copyright in the UK. Copyright here is usually 70 years after the end of the year of the last remaining author/composer/arranger's death.

Subject: RE: Twelve Carols from Herefordshire
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Dec 11 - 09:28 AM

A different take: Ten

Subject: RE: Twelve Carols from Herefordshire
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 04:36 PM

BBC Radio 4 Fri 23 Dec 2011 10:00am

Woman's Hour - Mrs Leather's Carols

This Christmas a collection of traditional carols from Herefordshire, has been re-published after being out of print for almost a century. The carols were collected from gypsies and itinerant hop pickers by the folklorist Mrs EM Leather and Ralph Vaughan Williams around the village of Woebley in Herefordshire.

Ella Mary Leather was in many ways the typical Victorian-Edwardian middle class woman, but she also flouted convention, befriending the singers she recorded on wax cylinders. She died in 1927 and was said to have never fully recovered from the death of her son in the first world war. The musicologist Roy Palmer has edited the new edition of Vaughan Williams and Mrs Leather's work.

Subject: RE: Twelve Carols from Herefordshire
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 06:11 PM

Here's ten more. Listen to this - it really is fantastic.

http://sproatlysmith.bandcamp.com/album/carols-from-herefordshire

Subject: RE: Twelve Carols from Herefordshire
From: giles earle
Date: 23 Dec 11 - 11:06 AM

Woman's Hour - Mrs Leather's Carols

Just been listening on iPlayer. Fascinating. A shame this final section of the programme was so short: I'd have loved to have heard much, much more.

Subject: RE: Twelve Carols from Herefordshire
From: GUEST,Clive Pownceby
Date: 24 Dec 11 - 02:52 AM

Yes, it's a pity the Womans Hour item was so short but remarkable that it was programmed at all! At least it conveyed the humanity of Ella Leather. The 2010 Folk Music Journal carried an extensive piece on her and the manuscript collection in the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library.

Subject: RE: Twelve Carols from Herefordshire
From: GUEST,CJB
Date: 24 Dec 11 - 12:18 PM

Whilst its on iPlayer it can be downloaded using RadioDownloader.

Subject: RE: Twelve Carols from Herefordshire
From: GUEST,CJB
Date: 24 Dec 11 - 12:24 PM

Here's the link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b018fmsv/Womans_Hour_Life_in_the_freezer_contact_after_adoption_breast_implants_and_Mrs_Leathers_carols/

Subject: RE: Twelve Carols from Herefordshire
From: Crowhugger
Date: 24 Dec 11 - 01:18 PM

Thanks for that link CJB. A very enjoyable segment! I, too, would have loved to hear much more. (And what a happy coincidence to find the beeb's dramatization of A.S. Byatt's "Possession.")

Thanks JohnB for the link to the orginal publication now online. Some lovely songs I'd never heard.

Subject: Lyr ADD: The Hereford Carol (Mike Truelove)
From: emtee
Date: 02 Nov 12 - 12:43 PM

LYRICS: "The Hereford Carol" written by Mike Truelove in 2006. Tune sent to [e-mail].

THE HEREFORD CAROL
(Mike Truelove)

From the ancient cathedral sounds drift to the sky
O'er the frost sparkled banks of the old river Wye
The moon and the stars shine down silvery light
In the air is the joy of Christmas Eve night

CHORUS:
From the city rise voices of children in song
Joined by men and by women all singing along
The Hereford carol is joyous and true
The Hereford carol – we sing it for you

Our dear ancient city it echoes with joy
As we celebrate Christmas and the birth of a boy
The bells they ring out 'cross the city tonight
The voices of children thro' the valleys take flight

From the city rise voices of children in song
Joined by men and by women all singing along
The Hereford carol is joyous and true
The Hereford carol – we sing it for you

In this county of mistletoe, green fields and lanes
This county of history, long may it reign
Our ancestors stood in this place where we stand
In this county of Hereford, jewel in this land

From the city rise voices of children in song
Joined by men and by women all singing along
The Hereford carol is joyous and true
The Hereford carol – we sing it for you

From the city rise voices of children in song
Joined by men and by women all singing along
The Hereford carol is joyous and true
The Hereford carol – we sing it for you

Subject: RE: Twelve Carols from Herefordshire
From: emtee
Date: 02 Nov 12 - 01:00 PM

Lyr ADD: The Hereford Carol.
See post below. (Ist time posting - used wrong intro format).

Subject: RE: Twelve Carols from Herefordshire
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 04 Dec 12 - 07:46 AM

Leintwardine History Society presents Christmas carols, but not as you know them, on Thursday 13th December 2012, in the Community Hall, The Leintwardine Centre, north Herefordshire, 6.45 for 7.30pm.

VAUGHAN WILLIAMS AND E M LEATHER HUNTING FOLK CAROLS IN HEREFORDSHIRE
Roy Palmer, editor of the new Stainer and Bell edition of 12 Herefordshire Carols, will give a talk illustrated with recordings and song.

Mulled wine and apple juice – visitors are very welcome (£3 entrance).

Roy Palmer has also recorded a half hour programme on 'The Tailor of Gloucester' (producer, Beatrice Rubens) to go out on Thursday 27th December 2012 on BBC Radio 4 at 11.30am.

It was made in the Folk Museum at Gloucester, with two principal contributors, Roy Palmer and Yvette Staelens (of the Roots Quartet).

Subject: RE: Twelve Carols from Herefordshire
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 10 Dec 12 - 04:27 PM

Roy Palmer's talk in Leintwardine is on Thursday, 13 December.

Subject: RE: Twelve Carols from Herefordshire
From: GUEST,Blandiver
Date: 11 Dec 12 - 03:57 AM

Shame he's not doing it in Ledwardine...

Subject: RE: Twelve Carols from Herefordshire
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 27 Dec 12 - 05:37 AM

Beatrix Potter's Favourite Tale - 'The Tailor of Gloucester'
Today - Thursday 27th December 2012 on BBC Radio 4 at 11.30am.