Peter Lawson

Star of Bethlehem

Star of Bethlehem is a set of three carols for Christmas and is a tribute to the memory of the late Kath Hayes with whom I collaborated on a number of projects, notably the recent "A Bed of Hay - Seven Carols for Christmas". In this I had set to music poems by Kath but although I wrote the words for the three Star of Bethlehem carols, they are partly in a similar style to that of Kath Hayes - in particular, recalling her love of animals and anthropomorphising their thoughts into human speech.
The carols, which can be performed individually or as a twelve-minute-long sequence, begin with Star of Bethlehem, in which the eponymous member of the lily family is discovered by a little lamb. The lily begs the lamb not to eat it and explains that it is named after the star which the shepherds saw and which the three wise men followed to find the baby Jesus. The lambs and sheep gather round and eagerly listen to the flower's tale and are moved henceforth to respect it and let it grow in peace.
The second carol, A Wond'rous Night, recalls the chorus of angels singing and events that followed, as described by the flower in the first carol. The third carol, Come, Let's Gather Mistletoe! juxtaposes secular verses describing the gathering of mistletoe to welcome Christmas guests, with the sacred reasons for the celebration. Peter Lawson

The carols can be performed with an orchestra accompaniment (see GMCO200) or with piano.
Four different choral versions are available:
SATB (GM371), SA+Men (GM372), SSA (GM373) or TTBB (GM374).
The orchestral parts are the same for whichever choir version is used.
Duration 12 minutes