Description
Arnold Bax (1883–1953) was an English composer, poet and author. As a composer his output was prolific and includes songs, choral music, chamber pieces and solo piano works, but he is best known for his orchestral music. In addition to a series of symphonic poems, he wrote seven symphonies and was, for a time, widely regarded as the leading British symphonist.
In his mid-twenties Bax’s style began to truly mature and it was in 1909 that he wrote a setting of a well-known 15th century text he titled A Christmas Carol. It was dedicated to his sister Evelyn.
The text begins:
There is no rose of such virtue
As is the rose that bare Jesu
Res miranda Alleluia
(Note: ‘Res miranda’ means ‘wonderful thing’)
Bax reused the song in his 1914 Three Songs with Orchestra in which it becomes the middle movement. Three Songs with Orchestra were premiered in a concert in 1914 in which Vaughan Williams’ London Symphony also received its first performance.
A Christmas Carol was originally scored for high voice and piano but is arranged here for wind quintet.
