A service of carols, hymns and readings live from the candlelit Chapel of King's College, Cambridge.
2022 programme:
Hymn: Once in royal David's City (Irby, arr. Willcocks)
Bidding Prayer (read by the Dean)
Carol: Up! Good Christen folk, and listen (Piae Cantiones, harm. Woodward)
First lesson: Genesis 3 vv. 8-19 (read by a Chorister)
Carol: The truth from above (Vaughan Williams, arr. Christopher Robinson)
Carol: Adam lay ybounden (Warlock)
Second lesson: Genesis 22 vv. 15-19 (read by a College student)
Carol: Illuminare Jerusalem (Judith Weir)
Third lesson: Isaiah 9 vv. 2, 6-7 (read by a member of College staff)
Carol: O Little town of Bethlehem (Walford Davies)
Hymn: It came upon the midnight clear (Noel, descant Scott)
Fourth lesson: Isaiah 11 vv. 1-9 (read by the Master over the Choristers)
Carol: Peace on Earth (Errollyn Wallen)
Carol: Sans Day Carol (Trad. Cornish, arr. John Rutter)
Fifth lesson: Luke 1 vv. 26-38 (read by a Fellow)
Carol: An old carol (Quilter)
Carol: Angelus ad Virginem (Matthew Martin) – 2022 Commission
Sixth lesson: Luke 2 vv. 1-7 (read by the Mayor of Cambridge)
Hymn: Unto us is born a Son (Puer nobis, arr. Willcocks)
Carol: In the bleak midwinter (Darke)
Seventh lesson: Luke 2 vv. 8-20 (read by the Director of Music)
Carol: The Shepherds’ Cradle Song (Leuner, arr. Macpherson)
Eighth lesson: Matthew 2 vv. 1-12 (read by the Vice-Provost)
Carol: O magnum mysterium (Victoria)
Carol: Tomorrow shall be my dancing day (Gardner)
Ninth lesson: John 1 vv. 1-14 (read by the Provost)
Hymn: O come, all ye faithful (Adeste Fideles, arr. Willcocks)
Collect and Blessing
Hymn: Hark! the herald angels sing (Mendelssohn, arr. Ledger)
Daniel Hyde (Director of Music)
Paul Greally (Organ Scholar)
The Revd Dr Stephen Cherry (Dean)
The Revd Dr Mary Kells (Chaplain)
For many people listening around the world on radio and online, the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols marks the beginning of Christmas. The Service is based around nine Bible readings interspersed with carols old and new. They are sung by the distinguished Chapel choir who also lead the congregation in traditional Christmas hymns.
The lessons have remained largely unchanged since the Service began in Cambridge in 1918 but the selection of carols varies from year to year. This year, a number of pieces by significant 20th-century and contemporary composers, such as Peter Warlock, Judith Weir, Errollyn Wallen and Roger Quilter can be heard alongside traditional carols in arrangements by Sir David Willcocks, Christopher Robinson, John Rutter and Philip Ledger. A new work has been commissioned for the Festival every year since 1983. For 2022, Matthew Martin has chosen to set the text of the famous medieval carol ‘Angelus ad Virginem’. Show less