King Jesus Hath a Garden is an English translation of the traditional Dutch carol, "Heer Jezus heeft een Hofken." In the first video we have the Wells Cathedral Choir singing John Rutter' arrangement of the carol. In the second video we hear the song as it was originally written .
The YouTube notes are written in Dutch. Since I don't speak Dutch, I had Google translate for me:
"Sing along with 'Lord Jesus has a courtship', performed by choir Capella during the recordings of the Netherlands Zingt in the Westerkerk of Amsterdam."
My introduction to John Rutter was in the recording, The Holly and the Ivy: Carols from Clare College. I love Christmas music and this album became a favorite and made me pay attention to the work of John Rutter who is one of the most notable composers and choral directors living today. Rutter has certainly made his mark in sacred choral music. “Nativity Carol” is one of Rutter’s compositions and appears on The John Rutter Christmas Album. It is performed here by the King’s College Choir, Cambridge
St. Andrew's Church in Winter
photo by Parrish Nored
The Wexford Carol may be my all time favorite carol. It is an Irish carol that originated in County Wexford and dates from the 12th century. This is another one that I came late in knowing. My first encounter with the carol was in the mid 1980s when I was singing in the choir at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Birmingham. We were then under the direction of Lester Seigel, a most superb organist and choirmaster who was also choir director at Temple Emanu-El at the time (his weekends were quite busy!). These days, Dr. Seigel is an internationally known conductor and is Department Chair for the Music Department at Birmingham-Southern College. I am proud to have known him back in the day.
There is great joy in listening to music, but to sing in the choir adds another dimension. The choir works with the song over and over before it is presented to the public. As a result, the choir member has a much more intimate involvement with the music, and has had the repeated experience of finding that place of harmony, balance, timing and accord with the rest of the choir. The congregation enjoys the results of the choir's many rehearsals, but the entire process brings rich reward to the choir member.
One of the best recordings I have found of The Wexford Carol is performed by the Clare College Choir under John Rutter's direction.
This hymn is based upon an ancient liturgical song of Eucharistic devotion, written in Greek and dating back to the third century. It was used as the Offertory for The Divine Liturgy of St. James, in honor of James, the brother of Jesus who was at the Church in Jerusalem. The modern version of the hymn was arranged by Ralph Vaughan Williams using Gerard Moultrie's English translation of the Greek text, and an arrangement of the French folk tune, Picardy. The rendition here is an arrangement by John Rutter and performed by the Cambridge Singers.
There is definite value in praising the Creator. It may not be for the reasons we think (who can plumb the depths?), but those who have been involved in a choir understand. They know that praise can have a cleansing effect, it puts things in a new light. We see the world differently from the vantage-point of praise. Our lives are given a different perspective.
"For the Beauty of the Earth." is John Rutter's wonderfully soaring take on an older hymn, lyrics by Folliott Sandford Pierpoint. Listen to this beautiful rendition, sung by Paya Lebar Methodist Girls' School (Primary) choir, which someone has thankfully interwoven with beautiful pictures of the earth's beauty.
